The Shrunken Head


Lauren Oliver - 2015
    But when a fourth child, Max, a knife-thrower, joins the group, it sets off an unforgettable chain of events. When the museum’s Amazonian shrunken head is stolen, the four are determined to get it back. But their search leads them to a series of murders and an explosive secret about their pasts. This sensational new series combines the unparalleled storytelling gifts of Lauren Oliver with the rich knowledge of the notorious relics collector H.C. Chester. What you will NOT find in this book:– An accountant named Seymour– A never-ending line at the post office– Brussel sprouts (shudder)– A lecture on finishing all your homework on time– A sweet, gooey story for nice little girls and boys.

Carbonel: The King of the Cats


Barbara Sleigh - 1955
    for the first time in over 30 years.Rosemary's plan to clean houses during her summer break and surprise her mother with the money hits a snag when an old lady at the market talks her into buying a second-rate broom and a cat she can't even afford to keep. But appearances can be deceiving. Some old ladies are witches, some brooms can fly, and some ordinary-looking cats are Princes of the Royal Blood. Rosemary's cat ("You may call me Carbonel. That is my name.") soon enlists her help in an adventure to free him from a hideous spell and return him to his rightful throne. But along the way Rosemary and her friend John must do some clever sleuthing, work a little magic of their own, and—not least— put up with the demands of a very haughty cat.

Holes


Louis Sachar - 1998
    A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnats. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys’ detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the boys build character by spending all day, every day digging holes exactly five feet wide and five feet deep. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. But there are an awful lot of holes.It doesn’t take long for Stanley to realize there’s more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys are digging holes because the warden is looking for something. But what could be buried under a dried-up lake? Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment—and redemption.

Remarkable


Lizzie K. Foley - 2012
    Everyone, that is, except Jane Doe, the most average ten-year-old who ever lived. But everything changes when the mischievous, downright criminal Grimlet twins enroll in Jane’s school and a strange pirate captain appears in town.Thus begins a series of adventures that put some of Remarkable’s most infamous inhabitants and their long-held secrets in danger. It’s up to Jane, in her own modest style, to come to the rescue and prove that she is capable of some rather exceptional things.With a page-turning mystery and larger-than-life cast of characters, Lizzie K. Foley’s debut is nothing short of remarkable.

From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (Scholastic Literature Guides)


Terry Cooper - 1997
    Each guide includes an author biography, background information, summaries, thought-provoking discussion questions, as well as creative, cross-curricular activities and reproducibles that motivate students.

Of Two Minds


Carol Matas - 1995
    Trapped in a strange land and stripped of their powers (Coren had been able to read the thoughts not only of humans, but also of animals and objects), the two must work together to overthrow the tyrannical Hevak, restore harmony to the country, and return home safely.

Insincerity


Richard Godwin - 2018
    With the help of her colleague Arlene, she locates a killer known as The Pimp, who killed her sister Holly.The Pimp has Tammy under surveillance, coming and going to her house as he wants, sending her Holly’s body parts. The Beekeeper, a killer that abducts women and coats them in latex before killing them, enters the story. Both killers collect body parts. Karen Sincere is married to dangerous and disturbed Micky Sincere. His obsession with bees convinces her Mickey is leading a double life as a killer. She hires Tammy, who begins tailing Micky and discovers he is gay and is involved with a gangster named Gary Krane. Karen meets the handsome Julius Gold in the exclusive Attic bar in Canary Wharf and starts an affair with him. The model Kitten Rogers, aka Ashley Greene - also having an affair with Julius - hires a detective. Ashley is convinced Julius is hiding something. The Pimp closes in, abducting Tammy, Arlene, and Ashley. Only Julius can save them - the man hiding his involvement with a gangster. A novel replete with characters leading double lives, Insincerity'ssecrets are not yielded until the final pages.

The Name of This Book Is Secret


Pseudonymous Bosch - 2007
    As much as he'd love to sing the praises of his book (he is very vain), he wouldn't want you to hear about his brave 11-year old heroes, Cass and Max-Ernest. Or about how a mysterious box of vials, the Symphony of Smells, sends them on the trail of a magician who has vanished under strange (and stinky) circumstances. And he certainly wouldn't want you to know about the hair-raising adventures that follow and the nefarious villains they face. You see, not only is the name of this book secret, the story inside is, too. For it concerns a secret. A Big Secret.

The Children of the King


Sonya Hartnett - 2012
    Cecily and Jeremy have been sent to live with their uncle Peregrine in the English countryside, safe from the war, along with a young refugee named May. But when Cecily and May find two mysterious boys hiding in the ruins of a nearby castle, an extraordinary adventure begins.

Cherub Boxed Set, #1-12


Robert Muchamore
    and Shadow WaveThe RecruitCHERUB agents are highly trained, extremely talented--and all under the age of seventeen. For official purposes, these agents do not exist. They are sent out on missions to spy on terrorists, hack into crucial documents, and gather intel on global threats—all without gadgets or weapons. It is an exceptionally dangerous job, but these agents have one crucial advantage: adults never suspect that teens are spying on them. James is the latest CHERUB recruit. He’s a bit of a troublemaker, but he’s also brilliant. And CHERUB needs him. James has no idea what to expect, but he’s out of options. Before he can start in the field he must first survive one hundred grueling days of basic training, where even the toughest recruits don’t make it to the end.Class ADrugs, cars and guns! Keith Moore is Europe's biggest cocaine dealer. The police have been trying to get enough evidence to nail him for more than twenty years. Now, four CHERUB agents are joining the hunt. Can a group of kids successfully infiltrate Keith Moore's organisation when dozens of attempts by undercover police officers have failed? James Adams must start at the bottom, making deliveries for small time drug dealers and getting to know the dangerous underworld they inhabit. He needs to make a big splash if he's going to win the confidence of the man at the top.Maximum SecurityCHERUB agents are highly trained, extremely talented—and all under the age of seventeen. For official purposes, these agents do not exist. They are sent out on missions to spy on terrorists, hack into crucial documents, and gather intel on global threats—all without gadgets or weapons. It is a highly dangerous job, but these agents have one crucial advantage: Adults never suspect that teens are spying on them. In Maximum Security, James’s newest mission brings him to the sun-baked desert prison Arizona Max, home to 280 child criminals. One of them is the son of a weapons dealer who has been selling U.S. missiles to terrorists. If James can get the kid, CHERUB has a chance to stop the father. Getting into the prison is easy. Breaking out is the hard part.The KillingLeon is a small time crook who's ridden his luck for three decades. When he starts splashing big money around, the cops are desperate to know where it came from. James' latest mission looks routine: make friends with Leon's kids, infiltrate his home and dig up some leads. But the plot James begins to unravel isn't what anyone expected. And the only person who might know the truth is an eighteen-year-old boy. There's just one problem. The boy fell to his death thirteen months earlier.Divine MadnessWhen religion goes bad... When CHERUB uncovers a link between eco-terrorist group Help Earth and a wealthy religious cult known as The Survivors, James Adams is sent to Australia on an infiltration mission. It's his toughest job so far. The Survivors' outback headquarters are completely isolated and the cult's brainwashing techniques put James under massive pressure to confirm. This time, James isn't just fighting terrorists. He's got to battle to keep control of his own mind.Man vs BeastCHERUB agents are all seventeen and under. They wear skate tees and hemp, and look like regular kids. But they're not. They are trained professionals who are sent out on missions to spy on terrorists and international drug dealers. CHERUB agents hack into computers, bug entire houses, and download crucial documents. It is a highly dangerous job. For their safety, these agents DO NOT EXIST. Mainstream animal protection groups have always stayed within the law, but a new band of radical liberationists argues that if humans and animals are equal, then it's right to kill or threaten one human in order to save the lives of many animals. In a new mission, James and the other CHERUB agents must go up against the most radical group yet in a daring and violent attempt to save hundreds of lives . . . including their own.The FallWhen an MI5 mission goes disastrously wrong, James Adams needs all of his skills to get out of Russia alive. Meanwhile, his sister Lauren is on her first solo mission trying to uncover a brutal human trafficking operation. And when James does get home, he finds that his nightmare is just beginning.Mad DogsThe British underworld is controlled by gangs. When two of them start a turf war, violence explodes onto the streets. The police need information fast and James Adam has the contacts to infiltrate the most dangerous gang of all.The Sleepwalker345 people are dead... An airliner has exploded over the Atlantic leaving 345 people dead. Crash investigators suspect terrorism, but they're getting nowhere. A distressed twelve year old calls a police hotline and blames his father for the explosion. It could be a breakthrough, but there's no hard evidence and the boy has a history of violence and emotional problems.The GeneralRiots, robbery & the biggest ever training exercise. The world's largest urban warfare training compound stands in the desert near Las Vegas. Forty British commandos are being hunted by an entire American batallion. But their commander has an ace up his sleeve: he plans to smuggle in ten CHERUB agents and fight the best war game ever.Brigands M.C.Every CHERUB agent comes from somewhere. Dante Scott still has nightmares about the death of his family, brutally murdered by a biker gang. Dante is given the chance to become a member of CHERUB, a trained professional with one essential advantage: adults never suspect that children are spying on them.Shadow WaveAfter a tsunami causes massive devastation to a tropical island, its governor sends in the bulldozers to knock down villages, replacing them with luxury hotels. Guarding the corrupt governor’s family isn’t James Adams’ idea of the perfect mission, especially as it’s going to be his last as a CHERUB agent. And then retired colleague Kyle Blueman comes up with an unofficial and highly dangerous plan of his own. James must choose between loyalty to CHERUB, and loyalty to his oldest friend.

Alone on a Wide Wide Sea


Michael Morpurgo - 2006
    None of us spoke. It was a grey day with drizzle in the air, the great sad cranes bowing to the ship from the docks as we steamed past. That is all I remember of England! When orphaned Arthur Hobhouse is shipped to Australia after WW II he loses his sister, his country and everything he knows. The coming years will test him to his limits, as he endures mistreatment, neglect and forced labour in the Australian outback. But Arthur is also saved, again and again, by his love of the sea. And when he meets a nurse whose father owns a boat-building business, all the pieces of his broken life come together. Now, at the end of his life, Arthur has built a special boat for his daughter Allie, whose love of the sea is as strong and as vital as her father's. Now Allie has a boat that will take her to England solo, across the world's roughest seas, in search of her father's long-lost sister! Will the threads of Arthur's life finally come together?

The Ghost Next Door


Wylly Folk St. John - 1971
    So when Sherry came to visit her Aunt Judith, no one could explain the odd things that started to happen. Who was the elusive friend Sherry said she saw in the garden? Was she an imaginary playmate - or could she be the ghost of Miranda who had drowned in the pond years ago? Uncanny reminders of Miranda began to turn up - a blue rose, a lost riding whip... Lindsey and Tammy, who lived next door, decided to delve into the meaning of the apparent psychic phenomena. They soon found themselves drawn deeper and deeper into an intriguing mystery.

Christmas at the Inn


Andrea Twombly - 2015
     Heading north for the holidays, things certainly hadn’t gone as she had planned. A snowstorm, an apple pie, and an old friend, all conspire to bring her to a crossroads. Will a Christmas Eve detour send her back to her snug village home, or will she forge ahead and let a turn in the road lead her to a newfound happiness? In this, the first entry in her new Rose and Briar Inn series, From Women’s Pens author Andrea Twombly weaves a warm story of the Christmas season, rich in challenges overcome and courage discovered along a twisting road to love. You won’t want to miss this one!

Mary Jane


Dorothy Sterling - 1959
    Mary Jane had been sheltered from white antagonisms, and is now suddenly thrust into a world of snobbery, prejudice and suspicion. At first she bitterly resents the role of ambassador, but slowly becomes less defensive and forms a sound relationship with her classmates based on genuine compatability. While the fictional aspects of the story are little more than adequate, the real value for the high school reader is the clear, undeviating challenge to prejudice, the expose of some of its evils in their active and virulent forms, and a removal of the issue from the academic to the recognizable level

Secrets of a Charmed Life


Susan Meissner - 2015
    Young American scholar Kendra Van Zant, eager to pursue her vision of a perfect life, interviews Isabel McFarland just when the elderly woman is ready to give up secrets about the war that she has kept for decades...beginning with who she really is. What Kendra receives from Isabel is both a gift and a burden—one that will test her convictions and her heart. 1940s, England. As Hitler wages an unprecedented war against London’s civilian population, hundreds of thousands of children are evacuated to foster homes in the rural countryside. But even as fifteen-year-old Emmy Downtree and her much younger sister Julia find refuge in a charming Cotswold cottage, Emmy’s burning ambition to return to the city and apprentice with a fashion designer pits her against Julia’s profound need for her sister’s presence. Acting at cross purposes just as the Luftwaffe rains down its terrible destruction, the sisters are cruelly separated, and their lives are transformed...