Book picks similar to
Firebug by Marianne Mitchell


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The Friendship Code


Stacia Deutsch - 2017
    Finally, an after school activity that she's really interested in. But Lucy's excitement turns to disappointment when she's put into a work group with girls she barely knows. All she wanted to do was make an app that she believes will help someone very special to her.Suddenly, Lucy begins to get cryptic coding messages and needs some help translating them. She soon discovers that coding - and friendship - takes time, dedication, and some laughs!

How I, Nicky Flynn, Finally Get a Life (and a Dog)


Art Corriveau - 2010
    His parents are going through a messy divorce, and as a result he’s starting a new life, in a new city, in a new school. Now his mom has brought home Reggie, an eighty-pound German shepherd fresh from the animal shelter, who used to be a seeing-eye dog. At first Nick isn’t sure about this canine intrusion—it’s just another in a series of difficult changes. Soon, however, Nick is on the path to finding out why a seeing-eye dog would be left at an animal shelter, and along the way discovers that Reggie is a true friend that Nick can rely on. But when he tries to reconnect with his dad, Nick puts everything on the line, including the life of his new best friend.Art Corriveau is a brilliant new voice for middle-grade fiction. How I, Nicky Flynn, Got a Life (and a Dog) is a heartfelt and honest look at the effects of divorce and the wonders of friendship.F&P Level: TF&P Genre: RF

Help! I'm a Prisoner in the Library!


Eth Clifford - 1979
    Two girls spend an adventure-filled night trapped inside the public library.

F.A.I.T.H.: A Dorm. A Delinquent. A Girl.


Jo PR - 2016
    Nothing, no one could fix me. Until you came into my life again. I wish I had gone with you that day instead of him. Because, now I can't imagine how I spent the previous years of my life without you by my side. You are my savior. You showed me that its okay to be broken and you showed me that I wasn't alone. You were with me. i love you for that. But I hate that I love you. I was never good with love. I'm scared that one day I'll wake up without you by my side. One day you will realize that you are better off without me and I don't want that day to come. Not now, not ever. I love you too much to let you go. I finally have a place in this world and that is next to you. You once said, 'Our mistakes compliment each other.' Truer words than these were never said before. We are both broken and incomplete but together, we're whole and we're fixed. We might be too bad for the others, but we are good for each other. They say all good things come to an end, but I'm bad and so are you. Together, we are horrible. But that just means that we're inevitable. You are mine and I promise to forever be yours." UNEDITED VERSION OF F.A.I.T.H. (Equivalent to 100 Ch. on Wattpad)

Thea Stilton and the Black Forest Burglary (Thea Stilton #30)


Thea Stilton - 2019
    The mouselets are on the case. Can they find the thief and return the clock before time runs out?

The Chicken Dance


Jacques Couvillon - 2007
    . . . But instead, his batty parents get into their monthly argument. This time it's because his mother has to feed the chickens. It ends with her shouting the same thing as always about their Louisiana chicken farm: I hate it here! What follows is Don's journey from obscurity to fame and back again, when he becomes the youngest kid to ever win the Horse Island Dairy Festival chicken-judging contest. Gradually, his mom notices that something strange is going on--everyone knows her son!--but once she realizes that Don has become the town celebrity, she sees that there may be benefits to living on a chicken farm. What she doesn't seem to see are the benefits of having a son like Don. For Don, the contest is the beginning of a big, big adventure. It involves trips to New Orleans and Baton Rouge, fair weather friends, a missing sister, and one big secret. Readers will cheer for Don, who goes out of his way to see the good in everything.

The Day My Mother Left


James Prosek - 2007
    He throws himself into recreating the "Book of Birds, " a collection of drawings that his mother took with her on the day she left. While his father fights his own depression and his sister distances herself from their lives, Jeremy turns wholeheartedly to nature, and finds solace in the quiet comfort of drawing.In this novel, James Prosek tells Jeremy's story without blame, without self-pity, and without excuses. "The Day My Mother Left" should be read by anyone who has gone through the pain of losing a parent, and by anyone who wants to meet Jeremy, a boy who can see inside himself the person he wants to become.

The Great Good Summer


Liz Garton Scanlon - 2015
    At least that's where Ivy and her dad think Mama is. But since the church has no website or phone number and Mama left no forwarding address, Ivy's not entirely sure. She does know she's missing Mama. And she's starting to get just a little worried about her, too.Paul Dobbs, one of Ivy's schoolmates, is also having a crummy summer. Paul has always wanted to be an astronaut, and now that NASA's space shuttle program has been scrapped, it looks like his dream will never get off the ground.Although Ivy and Paul are an unlikely pair, it turns out they are the perfect allies for a runaway road trip to Florida to look for Mama, to kiss the Space Shuttle good-bye, and maybe, just maybe, regain their faith in the things in life that are most important.

The Night the Heads Came


William Sleator - 1996
    When Leo comes to, Tim is gone, and no one believes his story. After Leo sees a psychiatrist and undergoes hypnosis, even he doesn't believe his story. But then memories begin to surface, and when Tim suddenly returns, Leo knows they are in otherworldly, extraterrestrial danger.The author's many fans...will find plenty here to please. -- Kirkus Reviews

Leon and the Spitting Image


Allen Kurzweil - 2003
    And an evil ice maker. And glass eyeballs -- oh, and really old panty hose and Possibly Fake Hair. But mostly, it's about Leon Zeisel and his epic quest to survive fourth grade, despite his teacher, Miss Hagmeyer, and his archenemy, Lumpkin the Pumpkin, a human tank with a deadly dodgeball throw. Luckily, Leon has friends who will stand by him even if his magical plans for rescue and revenge involve ... SPIT!

Almost There and Almost Not


Linda Urban - 2021
    This time it’s her eccentric Great-Aunt Monica, a woman she’s never even met. Aunt Monica has no idea what to do with an eleven-year-old, so she puts California to work researching their ancestor, the once-famous etiquette expert Eleanor Fontaine. California soon discovers that Great-Great-Great Aunt Eleanor is...not exactly alive and well, but a ghost—and a super sensitive one at that. The grand dame bursts into clouds of dust whenever she loses her composure, which happens quite often. Still, an unexpected four-legged friend and some old-fashioned letter writing make this decidedly strange situation one that California can handle. Just as California’s starting to feel like she’s found a place for herself, life turns upside-down yet again. Thankfully, this time she has some friends almost by her side...

Strange Birds: A Field Guide to Ruffling Feathers


Celia C. Pérez - 2019
    But they soon bond over a shared mission to get the Floras, their local Scouts, to ditch an outdated tradition. In their quest for justice, independence, and an unforgettable summer, the girls form their own troop and find something they didn't know they needed: sisterhood.

The Solid Gold Kid


Norma Fox Mazer - 1977
    The central character is superrich Derek Chapman, and very early on he is kidnapped from near his prep school along with four relatively poor townies who just happen to be waiting at the same bus stop. The kidnappers, a man and a woman, are brutal and increasingly desperate, and the five teenagers--one black, two female--alternately bear up, bicker, scheme, despair, and even neck (if that's what you call it when your hands are tied behind your back) as they are beaten, imprisoned, shot at and shifted from a speeding van to an isolated cabin to a burning boathouse to a remote water tower..."

The Music of Dolphins


Karen Hesse - 1996
    When she is eventually spotted on an unpopulated island off Cuba, she is an adolescent and seems hardly human to her rescuers. Mila is taken to a child study center in Boston. Eager to please, she makes rapid progress in language and social skills. With her recorder, Mila finds she can even make music like the dolphin songs she yearningly remembers. But the more Mila discovers about what it means to be human--the locked doors, the rules, the betrayals--the more she longs for her watery home and gentle dolphin family. In an emotionally wracking conclusion, she returns to the world where her ears never want for song. Where, although she cannot stand on her tail or jump the waves, she is part of the music of dolphins.

A Girl Called Problem


Katie Quirk - 2013
    So when the village’s elders make a controversial decision to move their people to a nearby village, Shida welcomes the change. Surely the opportunity to go to school and learn from a nurse can only mean good things.However, after a series of puzzling misfortunes plague the new village, Shida must prove to her people that moving was the right decision, and that they can have a better life in their new home.