ADVANCED READS

AMERICAN BORN CHINESE by Gene Luen YangThree stories--one following the Chinese folk hero Monkey King, another, the Jin Wang and his struggle to fitin with his American classmates, and a third, of Danny, who changes schools to keep away from hisembarrassing cousin--ultimately converge in this graphic novel about race and self-identity.

ASHFALL by Mike MullinFifteen-year-old Alex is home alone when a supervolcano erupts, descending the world as he knows it intodarkness, ash, and violence. All seems hopeles until he teams up with Darla, and together they fight forsurvival.

DEATH CLOUD (Young Sherlock Holmes series) byAndrew LaneAbout to begin his summer vacation from boarding school, the fourteen-year-old Sherlock learns he has tospend the holidays with remote relatives. Before long he becomes deeply involved in attempting to solve amurder mystery, and suddenly Sherlock’s summer vacation is anything but dull.

ERAGON (Inheritance Cycle series) by ChristopherPaoliniEragon comes across a mysterious polished blue stone, which soon hatches--and Eragon finds himself incharge of training a baby dragon he names Saphira. King Galbatorix, the feared and hated ruler of allAlagaësia, murders Eragon’s uncle, and Eragon and Saphira flee, vowing vengeance.

FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST (Fullmetal Alchemist series) byHiromu ArakawaThis manga follows two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, whose lives--and even their own bodies--havebeen taken over by the dangerous powers of alchemy.

THE GOATS by Brock ColeWhen kids from a summer camp strip and maroon a young boy and girl alone on an island for a night as aprank, the pair--or rather, the "goats"--decide to stay.

THE KID FROM TOMKINSVILLE by John R. TunisThis classic author of books for boys writes of a young baseball player named Roy Tucker. The pitcher isdrafted to the Brooklyn Dodgers to help the team out of a slump, but after a serious accident, Roy must findanother place for himself on the team.

LEVIATHAN (Leviathan series) by Scott Westerfeld

Climb on board the Leviathan, a living airship, and join the action with two teenage heroes as they’re sweptup in an alternate universe version of World War I.

LOCKDOWN (Escape from Furnace series) by AlexanderGordon SmithLockdown is a story about criminals and thugs, about monsters and madmen, about a bunch of kids who’vebeen thrown into the most terrifying prison ever conceived.

THE ANGEL EXPERIMENT (Maximum Ride series) byJames Patterson'The Flock', Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, and Angel are pretty normal kids--except that they're 98percent human, 2 percent bird. And they were raised in a lab by evil scientists. And they can fly. Oh--andthey've been called on to save the world.

THE MAZE RUNNER and the rest of the series by JamesDashnerThomas wakes up in an elevator, remembering nothing. He joins a group of boys who have been pennedinto a large walled-in area called the Glade, which opens up to a maze every morning. When the first girljoins them the next day, Thomas realizes he may be more important than he could ever guess.

THE MOVES MAKE THE MAN by Bruce BrooksJerome Foxworthy, basketball extraordinaire, can handle anything--he grew up without a father, he was thefirst black kid in his school. When Jerome meets Bix Rivers, Jerome takes it upon himself to teach his newfriend all his greatest moves.

THE OBSIDIAN BLADE (Klaatu Diskos series) by PeteHautmanAround Tucker's idyllic town of Hopewell, unearthly disks appear, suspended in the sky. Not everyone cansee them, but for those who can, the disks serve as portals to other places and times. When Tucker'sparents disappear, it's up to him to find them, against all the ghosts, mega-maggots, futuristic medicine andweapons that come in his path.

THE RED PYRAMID (The Kane Chronicles series) by RickRiordanFourteen-year-old Carter Kane and his twelve-year-old sister Sadie Kane discover that the blood of thepharaohs runs through their veins, and they are the most powerful royal children to be born in centuries.Can they summon enough magic to rescue their father and reconcile the gods with the Per Ankh, the Houseof Life, before Set—the Red Lord, the evil god of chaos—destroys North America and more?

SCORPIA RISING (Alex Rider series) by AnthonyHorowitzAfter eight dangerous and daring missions, teen spy Alex Rider has come to his last. But this mission is likeno other. The danger is greater, the stakes higher, the villains deadlier, as Alex once again goes up againstScorpia, the terrorist organization that he’s fought and barely defeated twice before.

DISASTERS: Natural and Man-Made Catastrophesthrough the Centuries by Brenda GuibersonTen well-known catastrophes including the great Chicago fire, the sinking of the Titanic, and hurricaneKatrina are dissected alongside detailed photographs and drawings.

SHIPWRECK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD by JenniferArmstrongIn 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton attempted to be the first explorer to cross Antarctica by foot "from sea tosea," but he and his team never reached their objective. The ship became entrapped in ice, and the menwere forced to abandon their mission and try to survive in the brutally harsh Antarctic wasteland for 19months.

WE ARE THE SHIP: The Story of Negro League Baseballby Kadir NelsonKadir Nelson says in his Author's Note, "I chose to present the voice of the narrator as a collective voice, thevoice of every player, the voice of we." It takes about a page before you figure this out, and then it feelslike everyone is telling you stories about what it was like to be a Negro League player.

GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS 2012

PAGETURNERS

ASTRONAUT ACADEMY by Dave RomanHakata Soy leaves his past as the leader of a superhero team to attend Astronaut Academy, a school on aspace station orbiting Earth. He hopes to make a fresh start in life, but his heroic past keeps catching upwith him.

CHARLIE JOE JACKSON by Tommy GreenwaldCharlie Joe shares the tactics that have gotten him all the way to Middle School without EVER reading awhole book. Reluctant readers ready to learn his secrets will find instead that they have just finished (andenjoyed!) an entire book.

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID (Wimpy Kid series) by JeffKinneyWriting and drawing his stick-figure pictures in his new journal helps Greg deal with middle school,overbearing parents, and two brothers.

THE HAUNTED SCHOOL (Goosebumps series) by R.L.StineTommy has a hard time making new friends at his new school. And the school is big--so big, Tommy getslost. And that's when he hears the voices, kids crying for help, coming from beyond the classroom walls...

HERO by Mike LupicaFourteen- year-old Zach Harriman knows he has a pretty amazing dad. He accepts that his dad’s job as agovernment agent with a high security clearance means that Zachary must be kept in the dark about muchof what he does. When Zach’s father dies in an airplane crash, Zach starts to learn just how many secretshis dad really had, including his super-hero powers--and that the powers are hereditary.

THE LIGHTNING THIEF (Percy Jackson and the Olympiansseries) by Rick RiordanPercy is about to find out the truth about the father he's never met. "Lost at sea" is all his mother has evertold him. Well, Percy's father is a god. A Greek god. A real one. And that makes Percy a demigod, ahalf-blood, and he's now in mortal danger.

MIDDLE SCHOOL: THE WORST YEARS OF MY LIFE (MiddleSchool series) by James PattersonMiddle School doesn’t begin well for Rafe Khatchadorian. Between run-ins with the school bully, Miller “TheKiller” and a book of rules that the school actually takes seriously, to say Rafe is disillusioned with theeducational system would be understatement. And so it’s totally understandable when his best friend,Leonardo, suggests that Rafe set out to break every rule in the book.

SIDEKICKS by Dan SantatIn this graphic novel romp, Superhero Captain Amazing needs a new sidekick. Enter four super pets, all

vying for the coveted spot as his right-hand man… er… animal.

THE STORM MAKERS by Jennifer SmithTwins Ruby and Simon move to a Wisconsin farm, and suffer the consequences of the worst drought inhistory. Enter MOSS, the Makers of Storm Society, and Simon discovers he holds powerful weather-changingpowers

SWINDLE (Swindle series) by Gordon KormanGriffin sells an old Babe Ruth baseball carp to a memorabilia shop, where the owner gives him 120 bucks forthe card, claiming it is a knockoff made in 1967. What a liar! Griffin soon sees the dealer being interviewedon TV, showing the selfsame 1920 baseball card, worth a cool million. Griffin assembles a heist team andtogether they plan to steal back that card.

THE UNWANTEDS and others in the series by LisaMcCannIn Quill there are three types of people: Wanteds, Necessaries, and Unwanteds. Wanteds, as their namesuggests, are the most valued members of society. Necessaries are tolerated for whatever menial skill theymay possess. And Unwanteds, typically those showing a flare for creativity and resistance to conformity, areput to their deaths. Or so the Quillians think.

THE WITCHES by Roald DahlA recently-orphaned boy stumbles upon the yearly meeting of the Royal Society for the Prevention ofCruelty to Children while staying at a posh hotel. But wait. These are not ordinary ladies. Alas, the group isactually made up of nasty witches, who are meeting to hatch a hideous plan to turn all of the children inEngland into mice.

BABY MAMMOTH MUMMY by Christopher SloanThe discovery of baby mammoth Lyuba allows for a never-before-seen inside look at prehistoric Sibera,31,000 years later.

EVERY DAY ON EARTH: Fun Facts That Happen Every 24Hours by Steve & Matthew MurrieYour taste bud cells are replaced at a rate of 50,000 a day. Almost 40,000 trees are cut down every day justto make paper bags. What else happens around the Earth in the span of a day?

GREAT MOMENTS IN THE SUMMER OLYMPICS by MattChristopher and Stephanie PetersRelive great moments in Olympic summer sports history, especially in the games of Track and Field,Gymnastics, and Swimming.

Humor BooksThe Fourth Stall by Chris Rylander – Sixth­graders Mac and Vince run a business from thefourth stall of the boy’s bathroom in the east wing of their school. They solve problems inexchange for money and favors. Need answers to tests? Tickets to an R­rated movie?

Protection from school bullies? Mac solves the problems, and Vince keeps the books. But whena nervous client shows up looking to get away from Staples, the legendary high school crimeboss, Mac and Vince find themselves in over their heads and with problems bigger than theybargained for. Written in the style of noir detective fiction,The Fourth Stall is an excellentmiddle­grade title with Mafia­like sensibilities, plenty of humor and action. Even the cover design,which references the Godfather, with a wink towards bathroom humor, is certain to intrigue andattract readers.

The Popularity Papers: Book Three: Words of (Questionable) Wisdom from Lydia Goldblattand Julie Graham­Chang written and illustrated by Amy Ignatow – I’ve mentioned this seriesabout two best friends navigating the middle­school social scene in Letter Blocks before. In myopinion, Ignatow’s fresh and original full­color take on the diary­style format gets better with eachbook. Written and illustrated in the distinctive voices of the two friends, The Popularity Papers:Book Three is the funniest yet. Deeply shaken by the death of their friend’s mother, Julie andLydia are inspired to try to do good deeds for others. Their schemes quickly go awry, ending witheveryone mad at them, and worse, graffiti about them on the bathroom wall. As the girls try torepair their friendships and reputations, their creative solutions to problems bring the book to ahilarious climax, proving that even books that deal with difficult topics can still be fun to read. Thebathroom humor in this book is mild, but hilarious, especially when the two girls come up with aplan to sneak into the boys bathroom to plant new, positive, graffiti, to boost the confidence ofone of their friends.

Rumors from the Boys' Room by Rose Cooper – This sequel to Rose Cooper’s Gossip from theGirls' Room is also written in the popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid format. While lighter on thebathroom humor than some of the other books on this list, the premise ­­­ that some of the bestgossip is written or overheard in the school bathrooms ­­­ is right on topic. Sofia has a gossipblog covering all the juiciest news in middle school, but first she captures it in her notebooks. Herquest for popularity and the ability to navigate the labyrinthine social terrain of middle schoolmake this series an excellent recommendation for fans of the genre.

Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder by Jo Nesbo – A boy named Nilly moves to a new neighborhood inNorway where his first new friends include an intelligent girl named Lisa, and the eccentricinventor Dr. Proctor, who is having difficulty marketing his latest invention: fart powder. The twokids find ways of selling it in school and using it to trick their enemies. But a nefarious neighborhas plans to steal the powder to make a profit of his own. An adventure that is complicated by atrip to jail for Nilly and Jill, an anaconda living in the city’s sewers, and a missing crate ofgunpowder, there is more to this book than fart jokes, though readers amused by bathroomhumor will not be disappointed. Fans of the series will be happy to know that Dr. Proctor’s FartPowder already has a sequel:Bubble in the Bathtub (Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder Series #2) , in whichDr. Proctor invents a time­traveling bathtub.

Day My Butt Went Psycho! by Andy Griffiths – This infamous novelty title is about what happenswhen Zack Freeman’s butt runs away. In search of his missing body part, he embarks on anepic journey across the Great Windy Desert, through the Brown Forest, and over the Sea ofButts, before arriving at an explosive buttcano. I know, I know, there is nothing about this title thatis in good taste, but (no pun intended) the gratuitous bathroom humor in this book is extremelypopular among young readers and an excellent gateway title to reading. Perhaps what is mostsurprising about the book is author Griffiths’s ability to take a novelty premise and spin it, not justinto a full­length novel, but into an entire series. Readers will not be caught by surprise as theseries advertises itself honestly, even rating itself “G” for “gross.”

The BFG by Roald Dahl – If bathroom humor has a classic, The BFG would be it. Even thoughthe “F” in “BFG” stands for “friendly,” this story about a boy kidnapped by giants has severalscenes, which involve joyful use of a soda called “frobscottle” in which bubbles go down, insteadof up, resulting in “whizpoppers.” Generations of elementary school readers lovingly refer to TheBFG as “the big farting giant” and they would not be wrong. But the genius of Dahl and theappeal of this book is its gentle blend of all the elements that appeal to readers most, not justbathroom humor, but adventure, action, and a poignant friendship between a boy and a giant. Forme, this book, which never grows stale, is like one of the dreams the BFG keeps in a jar, one Ican revisit over and over again.

SWEETFARTS by Raymond BeanImagine one of the worst experiences of your life, and then making yourscience experiment around it!