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Cool New Books for March
March’s roundup of Cool New Books includes THE WILLOUGHBYS by two-time Newbery Medal winner Lois Lowry, in which four thoroughly old-fashioned children seek happiness, fortune --- and a way to get rid of their parents; THE BATTLE FOR SKANDIA, the fourth installment in John Flanagan’s hugely popular Ranger’s Apprentice fantasy/adventure series; STEEL TRAPP, an action-packed thriller from Ridley Pearson, whose main character’s photographic memory proves to be both a blessing and a curse; THE BIG FIELD, a middle-grade novel that marks the return of Mike Lupica to America’s pastime since his 2006 bestseller HEAT; and THE GOLLYWHOPPER GAMES by Jody Feldman, an inventive and interactive page-turner in which a determined young boy sets out to win the Golly Toy & Game Company's ultimate competition --- his future happiness depends on it.
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Stand-Alone Chapter Books/Middle Grade Novels
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THE BIG FIELD
Mike Lupica
Philomel Books
ISBN: 9780399246258
Ages 10-up
288 pages
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For Hutch, shortstop has always been home. It’s where his father once played professionally, before injuries relegated him to watching games on TV instead of playing them. And it’s where Hutch himself has always played and starred. Until now. The arrival of Darryl “D-Will” Williams, the top shortstop prospect from Florida since A-Rod, means Hutch is displaced, in more ways than one. Second base feels like second fiddle, and when he sees his father giving fielding tips to D-Will --- the same father who can’t be bothered to show up to watch his son play --- Hutch feels betrayed. With the summer league championship on the line, just how far is Hutch willing to bend to be a good teammate?
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THE BRONZE PEN
Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Atheneum/Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 9781416942016
Ages 8-12
208 pages
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Twelve-year-old Audrey Abbott dreams of becoming a writer, but with her father's failing health and the family's shaky finances, it seems there is no room for what her overworked mother would surely call a childish fantasy. So Audrey keeps her writing a secret. That is, until she meets a mysterious old woman who seems able to read her mind. Audrey is surprised at how readily she reveals her secret to the stranger.
One day the old woman gives Audrey a peculiar bronze pen and tells her to "use it wisely and to good purpose." It turns out to be just perfect for writing her stories with. But as Audrey writes, odd things start happening. Could the pen be more of a curse than a gift? Or will Audrey be able to rewrite the future in the way that she wishes --- and save her father's life?
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THE DRAGON’S CHILD: A Story of Angel Island
Laurence Yep, with Dr. Kathleen S. Yep
HarperCollins Children’s Books
ISBN: 9780060276928
Ages 8-12
144 pages
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Ten-year-old Gim Lew Yep knows that he must leave his home in China and travel to America with the father who is a stranger to him. Gim Lew doesn't want to leave behind everything that he's ever known, but he’s even more scared of disappointing his father. He uses his left hand rather than the "correct" right hand; he stutters; and most of all, he worries about not passing the strict immigration test administered at Angel Island.
THE DRAGON’S CHILD is based on actual conversations between two-time Newbery Honor author Laurence Yep and his father, and on research on his family's immigration history by his niece, Dr. Kathleen S. Yep.
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THE GOLLYWHOPPER GAMES
Jody Feldman
Greenwillow Books
ISBN: 9780061214509
Ages 9-12
320 pages
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Gil Goodson’s future happiness depends on winning the Golly Toy & Game Company's ultimate competition. If Gil is victorious, his dad has promised that the family can move out of Orchard Heights --- away from all the gossip, the false friends and bad press that have plagued the Goodsons ever since The Incident. Gil has been studying for months and thinks he knows everything about Golly's history and merchandise. But does he know enough to answer the trivia? Solve the puzzles? Complete the stunts? Will it be more than all the other kids know? Gil's formidable opponents have their own special talents. He must be quicker and smarter than all of them.
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LOST BOY
Linda Newbery
David Fickling Books/Random House
ISBN: 9780375845741
Ages 8-12
208 pages
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New house, new school, new friends --- but Matt Lanchester knows it won’t all be that easy when he moves to the town of Hay-on-Wye. Almost as soon as he arrives, he is drawn into a mystery when he sees a roadside memorial marked by a little wooden cross with the initials M.L. carved into it. His initials! Then he meets Robbo and Tig and Old Wil Jones and his wife, Gwynnie. There’s history here and a well-kept village secret --- and Matt is desperate to find out more.
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THE SEER OF SHADOWS
Avi
HarperCollins Children’s Books
ISBN: 9780060000158
Ages 8-12
208 pages
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The time is 1872. The place is New York City. Horace Carpetine has been raised to believe in science and rationality. So as apprentice to Enoch Middleditch, a society photographer, he thinks of his trade as a scientific art. But when wealthy society matron Mrs. Frederick Von Macht orders a photographic portrait, strange things begin to happen. Horace's first real photographs reveal a frightful likeness: it's the image of the Von Machts' dead daughter, Eleanora. Pegg, the Von Machts' servant girl, then leads him to the truth about who Eleanora really was and how she actually died.
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SWINDLE
Gordon Korman
Scholastic Press
ISBN: 9780439903448
Ages 9-12
256 pages
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After a mean collector named Swindle cons him out of his most valuable baseball card, Griffin Bing must put together a band of misfits to break into Swindle's compound and recapture the card. There are many things standing in their way --- a menacing guard dog, a high-tech security system, a very secret hiding place and their general inability to drive --- but Griffin and his team are going to get back what's rightfully his…even if hijinks ensue.
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TENNYSON
Lesley M. M. Blume
Knopf Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780375847035
Ages 8-12
240 pages
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During the Great Depression, Tennyson Fontaine and her sister Hattie live in a rickety shack of a house with their mother and father and their wild dog, Jos. There is no school, only a rope swing in the living room and endless games of hide-and-seek in the woods on the banks of the Mississippi. But when their mother disappears and their father sets off to look for her, the girls find themselves whisked away to Aigredoux, once one of the grandest houses in Louisiana, and now a vine-covered ruin. Under the care of their Aunt Henrietta, who is convinced the girls will save the family’s failing fortunes, Tennyson discovers the truth about Aigredoux, the secrets that have remained locked deep within its decaying walls.
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THE WILLOUGHBYS
Lois Lowry
A Walter Lorraine Book/Houghton Mifflin
ISBN: 9780618979745
Ages 9-12
176 pages
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Abandoned by their ill-humored parents to the care of a less than pleasant nanny, Tim and his siblings --- the twins, Barnaby A and Barnaby B, and their sister, Jane --- attempt to fulfill their roles as good old-fashioned children. Following the models set in such tales as "A Christmas Carol" and "Mary Poppins," the four Willoughbys hope to attain their proscribed happy ending too --- or at least a satisfyingly maudlin one. However, it is an unquestionably ruthless act that sets in motion the transformations that lead to their salvation and to happy endings for not only the four children, but their nanny, an abandoned baby, a candy magnate and his long-lost son.
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Series Books/Sequels
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Barnstormers: The Tales of the Travelin’ Nine
BARNSTORMERS: The Tales of the Travelin’ Nine – Game 3
Phil Bildner and Loren Long
Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9781416918653
Ages 7-10
208 pages
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As the Travelin' Nine head to Chicago, the team is filled with hope and optimism. After a disappointing loss in Cincinnati at the start of their baseball tour, the heroes of the Spanish-American War bounced back in Louisville. By the end of the thrilling contest, there was no doubt in the minds of Griffith, Ruby and Graham that the baseball their Uncle Owen had given to them on the night of their father's funeral was magical. Indeed, the mysteries surrounding their baseball, which their uncle had urged them to keep secret, were deepening. And as excited as they were by the barnstormers' win, the Payne siblings' fears and worries continued to grow.
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Ranger’s Apprentice
RANGER'S APPRENTICE, Book Four: The Battle for Skandia
John Flanagan
Philomel Books
ISBN: 9780399244575
Ages 10-up
272 pages
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Still far from their homeland after escaping slavery in the icebound land of Skandia, Will and Evanlyn's plans to return to Araluen are spoiled when Evanlyn is taken captive by a Temujai warrior. Though still weakened by the warmweed's toxic effects, Will employs his Ranger training to locate his friend, but an enemy scouting party has him fatally outnumbered. Will is certain death is close at hand, until Halt and Horace make a daring, last-minute rescue. The reunion is cut short, however, when Halt makes a horrifying discovery: Skandia's borders have been breached by the entire Temujai army. And Araluen is next in their sights. If two kingdoms are to be saved, an unlikely union must be made. Will it hold long enough to vanquish a ruthless new enemy? Or will past tensions spell doom for all?
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Steel Trapp
STEEL TRAPP: THE CHALLENGE
Ridley Pearson
Disney Editions/Hyperion Books for Children
ISBN: 9781423106401
Ages 10-up
336 pages
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Fourteen-year-old "Steel" Trapp sets off with his mom and their dog, Cairo, on a two-day Amtrak journey to compete in the National Science Competition in Washington, D.C. Steel is both blessed and cursed with a remarkable photographic memory. Trying to be a good Samaritan on the train, he unwittingly becomes embroiled in an ingenious international plot of kidnapping that may have links to terrorists. Federal agents track Steel and his newfound accomplice, Kaileigh Augustine, as they attempt to put together the pieces of a complex puzzle. Using Steel's science contest invention --- and with the help of Cairo --- Steel and Kaileigh lead readers on an action-packed adventure as they attempt to prevent the unimaginable, before it's too late.
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Storm
STORM: THE INFINITY CODE
E. L. Young
Dial Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780803732650
Ages 10-up
336 pages
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STORM is the name of the ambitious organization formed by three brainiac kids: Will, the loner, inventive genius and creator of cutting-edge gadgets; Andrew, the software whiz-kid, millionaire and fashion disaster; and Gaia, the brilliant and mysterious teen chemist, fluent in French, Italian, Mandarin and blowing stuff up. Will first scoffs at STORM’s grand plans to combat global strife. But when the group uncovers a plot to create a deadly revolutionary weapon, the three race from England to Russia, determined not only to find and dismantle the weapon, but to confront the psychopathic scientist behind it all.
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Picture Books
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NEVER TAKE A SHARK TO THE DENTIST (AND OTHER THINGS NOT TO DO)
written by Judi Barrett
illustrated by John Nickle
Atheneum/Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 9781416907244
Ages 4-8
34 pages
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There are many things you should never do, under any circumstances. Like sit next to a porcupine on the subway (ouch!). Or hold hands with a lobster (double ouch!). Or take a shark to the dentist (triple ouch!). Bestselling author Judi Barrett and illustrator John Nickle give readers a raucous look at the perils of taking giraffes to the movies, goats to the library and pigs out to lunch...and other such silly stuff.
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SEAMORE, THE VERY FORGETFUL PORPOISE
written by Darcie Edgemon
illustrated by J. Otto Seibold
HarperCollins Children’s Books
ISBN: 9780060850753
Ages 4-8
48 pages
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Seamore is just about the sweetest porpoise you’ll ever meet. But he has one small problem: He can never remember anything. Homework? Favorite games? The names of his friends? Forget it! Then one day Seamore runs into a killer whale and completely forgets that porpoises are supposed to be afraid of killer whales. Or are they?
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--- Compiled and written by Tom Donadio
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