New Children's Fiction
Clarice Bean spells trouble by Lauren Child.
Clarice Bean, aspiring actress and author, unsuccessfully tries to avoid getting into trouble as she attempts to help a friend in need by following the rules of the fictional, "exceptionordinarily" spy, Ruby Redfort.
Criss cross by Lynne Rae Perkins.
Teenagers in a small town in the 1960s experience new thoughts and feelings, question their identities, connect, and disconnect as they search for the meaning of life and love.
I, Coriander by Sally Gardner.
Coriander Hobie, born in 1643, has a remarkable tale to tell -- the tale of a childhood touched by unexplained bits of wonder, but too soon marked by tragedy. After her beloved mother dies and her father is forced to flee London, Coriander is left at the mercy of a stepmother full of cruelty. In the very nick of time, Coriander finds that she has somehow managed to transport herself to a land of fairies, and there she discovers what she has always suspected: that her mother was from a more magical world than grimy old London. And that she herself has inherited some of her mother's mysterious abilities -- abilities that she now has a desperate need to master.
The misadventures of Maude March, or, Trouble rides a fast horse by Audrey Couloumbis.
After the death of the stern aunt who raised them since they were orphaned, eleven-year-old Sallie and her fifteen-year-old sister escape their self-serving guardians and begin an adventure resembling those in the dime novels Sallie loves to read.
Not-so-weird Emma by Sally Warner.
Eight-year-old Emma is just beginning to like her new school when her friend Cynthia starts telling other kids that Emma is, well, a little strange.
Replay Sharon Creech.
While preparing for a role in the school play, twelve-year-old Leo finds an autobiography that his father wrote as a teenager and ponders the ways people change as they grow up. Includes the text for the play, "Rumpopo's Porch."
The scarecrow and his servant by Philip Pullman.
A scarecrow and his boy servant, Jack, set off on a dangerous adventure as they try to outwit the crooked Buffaloni family and stake their claim to valuable Spring Valley.
Sweetgrass basket by Marlene Carvell.
In prose poetry and alternating voices, Marlene Carvell weaves a heartbreakingly beautiful story based on the real-life experiences of Native American children. Mattie and Sarah are two Mohawk sisters who are sent to an off-reservation school after the death of their mother. Subject to intimidation and corporal punishment, with little hope of contact with their father, the girls are taught menial tasks to prepare them for life as domestics. How Mattie and Sarah protect their culture, memories of their family life, and their love for each other makes for a powerful, unforgettable historical novel.
Tackling Dad by Elizabeth Levy.
When Cassie tries out for the middle school football team, she faces unexpected opposition from her father, a former professional football player.