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Absolutely Normal Chaos
Sharon Creech
1995
Mary Lou Finney grudgingly begins writing a journal as an assignment for school, convinced that nothing interesting will ever happen to her. How could she know about Carl Ray and the black car? Or about what would happen on Booger Hill?
J/Creech
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The Agony of Alice
Phyliss Reynolds Naylor
1985
Eleven-year-old, motherless Alice decides she needs a gorgeous role model who does everything right; and when placed in homely Mrs. Plotkins's class she is greatly disappointed until she discovers it's what people are inside that counts.
J/Naylor
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The Akhenaten Adventure
Philip Kerr
2004
When twelve-year-old twins Philippa and John discover that they are descended from a long line of djinn, their mother sends them away to their Uncle Nimrod, who takes them to Cairo where he starts to teach them about their extraordinary powers.
J/Kerr
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Al Capone Does My Shirts
Gennifer Choldenko
2004
Today I moved to a twelve-acre rock covered with cement, topped with bird turd and surrounded by water. I'm not the only kid who lives here. There's my sister, Natalie, except she doesn't count. And there are twenty-three other kids who live on the island because their dads work as guards or cook's or doctors or electricians for the prison, like my dad does. Plus, there are a ton of murderers, hit men, con men, stickup men, kidnappers and maybe even an innocent man or two, though I doubt it. The convicts we have are the kind other prisons don't want. You get to Alcatraz by being the worst of the worst. Unless you're me. I came here because my mother said I had to.
J/Choldenko
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Alanna
Tamora Pierce
1983
Eleven-year-old Alanna, who aspires to be a knight even though she is a girl, disguises herself as a boy to become a royal page, a learning many hard lessons along her path to high adventure.
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The Amazon Papers
Beverly Keller
1996
Fifteen-year-old Iris gets into hilarious trouble when her mother goes on vacation and leaves her alone.
T/Keller
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Backwater
Joan Bauer
1999
Ivy Breedlove's family is driving her crazy. Generations of Breedloves have been prominent lawyers and her relatives expect her to follow suit. "We'll make her a lawyer yet!" they pronounce at a family reunion. Well, not if Ivy has her say. But how do you have your say when the voices surrounding you are so loud?
T/Bauer
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Bloomability
Sharon Creech
1998
When her aunt and uncle take her from New Mexico to Lugano, Switzerland, to attend an international school, thirteen-year-old Dinnie discovers her world expanding.
J/Creech
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The Breadwinner
Deborah Ellis
2000
The Breadwinner brings to life an issue that has recently exploded in the international media -- the reality of life under the Taliban.
J/Ellis
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Burning Up
Caroline Cooney
1999
When a girl she had met at an innercity church is murdered, fifteen-year-old Macey channels her grief into a school project that leads her to uncover prejudice she had not imagined in her grandparents and their wealthy Connecticut community.
T/Cooney
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Catherine, Called Birdy
Karen Cushman
The thirteen-year-old daughter of an English country knight keeps a journal in which she records the events of her life, particularly her longing for adventures beyond the usual role of women and her efforts to avoid being married off.
TEEN/CUSHMAN
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Charmed Life
Diana Wynne Jones
1977
Gwendolen Chant and her brother Cat find the Chrestomancie Castle family's magic powers difficult to counter with the inferior powers of the Coven Street witches.
J/Jones
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Chasing Vermeer
Blue Balliett
2004
When seemingly unrelated and strange events start to happen and a precious Vermeer painting disappears, eleven-year-olds Petra and Calder combine their talents to solve an international art scandal.
J/Baliett
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The China Garden
Liz Berry
1996
After college Clare moves with her mother from London to a rural home where her psychic ability helps unravel the past and where she searches for something called the Benison.
T/Berry
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The City of Ember
Jeanne Duprau
2003
In the year 241, twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a Messenger to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse Unknown Regions.
J/Duprau
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Coraline
Neil Gaiman
2002
Looking for excitement, Coraline ventures through a mysterious door into a world that is similar, yet disturbingly different from her own, where she must challenge a gruesome entity in order to save herself, her parents, and the souls of three others.
T/Gaiman
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Crusader
Edward Bloor
1999
Roberta Ritter has been waiting for a knight in shining armor for most of her humdrum life. She's a doormat, a nobody whose mother died a few years back, a smart girl who wastes her afternoons working in a failing arcade. And then a Crusader arrives....Only this Crusader is a virtual reality war game. Roberta's
boring life explodes.
T/Bloor
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Dealing with Dragons
Patricia Wrede
1990
This young adult fantasy novel has become a modern classic. Rather than marry a boring prince, Princess Cimerone runs away from her kingdom and becomes an assistant to the dragon Kazul. "School Library Journal" Best Book of 1990.
T/Wrede
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A Door Near Here
Heather Quarles
1998
Four siblings struggle to maintain a seminormal home life when their single mother's alcoholism becomes debilitating.
T/Quarles
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Down the Rabbit Hole : an Echo Falls Mystery
Peter Abrahams
2005
Like her idol Sherlock Holmes, eighth grader Ingrid Levin-Hill uses her intellect to solve a murder case in her home town of Echo Falls.
J/Abrahams
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East
Edith Pattou
2003
A young woman journeys to a distant castle on the back of a great white bear who is the victim of a cruel enchantment.
T/Pattou
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Ella Enchanted
Gail Carson Levine
1997
In this novel based on the story of Cinderella, Ella struggles against the childhood curse that forces her to obey any order given to her.
J/Levine
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Escape from memory
Margaret Peterson Haddix
2005
Allowing herself to be hynotized, fifteen-year-old Kira reveals memories of another time and place that may eventually cost her and her mother their lives.
T/Haddix
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Face in the Mirror
Stephanie S. Tolan
1998
Fifteen-year-old Jared Kingsley has been sent to spend the summer with a father he has never met. He discovers it means joining this father's theatre company. Jared meets a face shimmering in the dressing-room mirror of the old theatre. Who and what is it?
T/Toolan
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Feathers
Jacqueline Woodson
When a new, white student nicknamed "The Jesus Boy" joins her sixth grade class in the winter of 1971, Frannie's growing friendship with him makes her start to see some things in a new light.
J/WOODSON
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Firegirl
Tony Abbott
A middle school boy's life is changed when Jessica, a girl disfigured by burns, starts attending his Catholic school while receiving treatment at a local hospital.
J/ABBOTT
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For the Love of Venice
Donna Jo Napoli
1998
Spending the summer in Venice with his family turns confusing for Percy when he meets a beautiful, politically radical Venetian girl who wants him to help sabotage his father's engineering project in order to drive tourists out of the city.
T/Napoli
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Granny the Pag
Nina Bawden
1996
Originally abandoned by her actor parents who later attempt to gain custody, Cat wages a spirited campaign to decide her own fate and remain with her grandmother.
J/Bawden
Gypsy Rizka
Lloyd Alexander
1998
Laced with laughs throughout, this high comic adventure is about the absurd inhabitants of a town and their interactions with a gypsy girl.
J/Alexander
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Harry Potter
J.K. Rowling
1998
Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School for Wizards and Witches.
J/Rowling
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Holes
Louis Sachar
1998
A darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment, written by the author of "There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom".
J/Sachar
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Juniper
Monica Furlong
1991
While apprenticed to the witch woman Juniper, a young girl struggles to save her family from the evil machinations of her power-hungry aunt Meroot.
J/Furlong
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The Last Book in the Universe
W.R. Philbrick
2000
After an earthquake has destroyed much of the planet, an epileptic teenager nicknamed Spaz begins the heroic fight to bring human intelligence back to the Earth of a distant future.
J/Philbrick
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Leon and the Spitting Image
Allen Kurzweil
Leon, a fourth grader at The Ethical School, tries to outwit the school bully and learn to sew for fanatical teacher Miss Cronheim, with unexpected help from his final project--a doll with magical powers.
J/KURZWEIL
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Little Women
Louisa May Alcott
1868
Originally written as a "girls" story, its appealing to all ages, it is a story of happiness, hope, family love and friendship as seen through the eyes of the March sisters. Which sister will appeal to the reader? Jo, Meg, Amy, or Beth?
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A Long Way from Chicago
Richard Peck
1998
A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister during the Great Depression to visit their larger-than-life grandmother.
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The Man in the Ceiling
Jules Feiffer
1993
Jimmy has one thing going for him. Though he's no good at sports and not much better in school, he can draw. Which is what he does. Day and night. Comic books. Jimmy's dream is to be a great cartoonist someday, even greater than Walt Disney. Father thinks Jimmy is wasting his time. And Mother, well her mind is always on something else, so she isn't much help.
J/Feiffer
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The Maze
Will Hobbs
1993
Stowing away in the back of a pickup, 14-year-old runaway Rick Walker finds himself at a dead end in the surreal landscape of redrock spires and deep canyons called the Maze.
J/Hobbs
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The Midwife's Apprentice
Karen Cushman
1995
The girl known only as Brat has no family, no home and no future until she meets Jane the Midwife and becomes her apprentice. As she helps the sharp-tempered Jane deliver babies, Brat--who renames herself Alyce--gains knowledge, confidence, and the courage to want something from life.
T/Cushman
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Money Hungry
Sharon Flake
2001
Thirteen-year-old Raspberry Hill has memories of being homeless and poor that haunt her. But even money can't answer the question: will she and her mother ever move out of the projects?
T/Flake
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Murder for Her Majesty
Beth Hilgartner
1986
Horrified at having witnessed her father's murder and fearing that the killers are agents of Queen Elizabeth I, eleven-year-old Alice Tuckfield hides in the Yorkshire cathedral by disguising herself as one of the choirboys.
J/Hilgartner
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Nightmare Mountain
Peg Kehret
1989
Twelve-year-old Molly's visit to her aunt and uncle's llama ranch in the state of Washington leads her into unexpected danger and suspense.
J/Kehret
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No More Dead Dogs
Gordon Korman
Eighth-grade football hero Wallace Wallace is sentenced to detention attending rehearsals of the school play where, in spite of himself, he becomes wrapped up in the production and begins to suggest changes that improve not only the play but his life as well.
J/Korman
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No More Nice
Amy MacDonald
1996
Eleven-year-old Simon has been raised to be extremely well-behaved, but when he goes to visit his unconventional great-aunt he discovers that not everyone has the same ideas about good manners.
J/MacDonald
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No Pretty Pictures: a Child of War
Anita Lobel
1998
The beloved Caldecott Honor artist recounts a tale of a vastly different kind--her own gripping memoir of childhood of imprisonment and uncommon bravery in Nazi-occupied Poland. Illustrated with 12 pages of archival photos.
JB/Lobel
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The Other Side of Truth
Beverley Naidoo
2001
After their mother's murder, 12-year-old Sade and her younger brother are smuggled out of Nigeria by their journalist father to escape the corrupt government and growing violence. They are sent to their uncle in London, but when they arrive he is missing. Their father escapes Nigeria and comes for them, but he will be sent back unless Sade can find a way to tell the world what happened to her family.
T/Naidoo
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P.S. Longer Letter Later
Paula Danziger
1998
Twelve-year-old best friends Elizabeth and Tara-Starr continue their friendship through letter-writing after Tara-Starr's family moves to another state.
J/Danziger
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Point Blank
Anthony Horowitz
2003
Fourteen-year-old Alex continues his work as a spy for the British MI6, investigating an exclusive school for boys in the French Alps
T/Horowitz
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Princess Academy
Shannon Hale
2005
While attending a strict academy for potential princesses with the other girls from her mountain village, fourteen-year-old Miri discovers unexpected talents and connections to her homeland.
T/Hale
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The Princess Diaries
Meg Cabot
2000
Fourteen-year-old Mia, who is trying to lead a normal life as a teenage girl in New York City, is shocked to learn that her father is the Prince of Genovia, a small European principality, and that she is a princess and the heir to the throne.
T/Cabot
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Princess in the Spotlight
Meg Cabot
2001
Just when Mia thinks life will be back to normal (as normal as life can get for the Princess of Genovia), her indomitable "grandmere" schedules a national TV interview for Mia and her mother is having her algebra teacher's baby.
T/Cabot
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Queen's Own Fool: a novel of Mary Queen of Scots
Jane Yolen
2000
When twelve-year-old Nicola leaves Troupe Brufort and serves as the fool for Mary, Queen of Scots, she experiences the political and religious upheavals in both France and Scotland.
T/Yolen
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Red Kayak
Priscilla Cummings
Living near the water on Maryland's Eastern Shore, thirteen-year-old Brady and his best friends J.T. and Digger become entangled in a tragedy which tests their friendship and their ideas about right and wrong.
TEEN/CUMMINGS
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Regarding the Fountain : a Tale, in Letters, of Liars and Leaks
Kate Klise
1998
When the principal asks a fifth-grader to write a letter regarding the purchase of a new drinking fountain for their school, he finds that all sorts of chaos results.
J/Klise
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Ruby Holler
Sharon Creech
2002
Thirteen-year-old fraternal twins Dallas and Florida have grown up in a terrible orphanage but their lives change forever when an eccentric but sweet older couple invites them each on an adventure, beginning in an almost magical place called Ruby Holler.
J/Creech
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Rules of the Road
Joan Bauer
1998
Hired by Madeline Gladstone, the president of a shoe company, to help her prevent a corporate takeover, 16-year-old Jenna Boller embarks on an eye-opening adventure that teaches both of them the rules of the road--and the rules of life.
T/Bauer
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Running Out of Time
Margaret Haddix
1995
When a diphtheria epidemic hits her 1840 village, thirteen-year-old Jessie discovers it is actually a 1995 tourist site under unseen observation by heartless scientists, and it's up to Jessie to escape the village and save the lives of the dying children.
J/Haddix
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Saffy's Angel
Hilary McKay
2002
Saffron Casson has discovered that she's adopted. The daughter of her mother's twin, Saffy was brought back by her Grandad from Siena, Italy, when her mom died in a car crash. At Grandad's death, he leaves something to Saffy: it is "her angel." How Saffy discovers what her angel is lies at the heart of this enchanting story.
J/MCKAY
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Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief
Wendelin Van Draanen
1998
With this debut book of a new mystery series, Wendelin Van Draanen establishes Samantha Keyes as a crime fighter to watch. When a man with a wad of cash in one hand and the open purse in the other catches Sammy watching him, the chase is on. But is Sammy on the trail of a thief or is he on hers?
J/Van Draanen
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Sammy Keyes and the Skeleton Man
Wendelin Van Draanen
1998
It's Halloween and Sammy Keyes is drawn to the scariest house in town like a moth to a flame. As she approaches the door, a huge trick-or-treater in a skeleton costume nearly plows her over in his panic to get away. So she knocks and finds a fire just taking hold in the entryway. Sammy dives in to stomp out the flames and sees Frankenstein sprawled on the floor. What could Frankenstein have that a skeleton would try to kill for?
J/Van Draanen
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The Second Summer of the Sisterhood
Anna Brashares
2003
With a bit of last summer's sand in the pockets, the Traveling Pants and the sisterhood that wears them--Bridget, Lena, Carmen, and Tibby--embark on their 16th summer in this sequel to "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants."
T/Brashares
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Stranded
Ben Mikaelsen
1995
Stranded is the story of Koby who finds herself stranded in the middle of the ocean with two dying pilot whales with no rescuers in site.
J/Mikaelsen
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A Summer on Thirteenth Street
Charlotte Herman
1991
World War II affects Shirley Frances Cohen and her buddy Morton, Manny who joins the army, their parents, a German immigrant suspected of being a spy, and the other people in their Chicago neighborhood
J/Herman
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Tangerine
Edward Bloor
1997
Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight.
T/Bloor
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The Thief
Megan Whalen. Turner
1996
Deception, intrigue and adventure abound in this entertaining and original book. The king's scholar, the magus, has discovered the location of an ancient treasure that invests the possessor with the right to rule a neighboring country. He springs a skilled thief from the king's prison to do the job.
J/Turner
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The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
Avi
1990
As the lone "young lady" on a transatlantic voyage in 1832, Charlotte learns that the captain is murderous and the crew rebellious
J/Avi
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Uglies
Scott Westerfeld
2005
In Tally's world, a 16th birthday brings an operation, transforming one from a repellent Ugly to an attractive Pretty. Turning Pretty is all Tally has ever wanted. Her friend Shay would rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally must make a terrible choice.
T/ Westerfeld
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The Upstairs Room
Johanna Reiss
1972
This autobiographical Newbery Honor Book shares the trials and triumphs of survival as the author depicts hiding in the upstairs room of a farmhouse for more than two years during World War II.
J B/Reiss
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The View from Saturday
E.L. Konisburg
1996
Four students, with their own individual stories, develop a special bond and attract the attention of their teacher, a paraplegic, who choses them to represent their sixth-grade class in the Academic Bowl competition.
J/Konisburg
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The Voices of Silence
Bel Mooney
1997
Thirteen-year-old Flora Popescu and her family find themselves caught up in events leading to the overthrow of the repressive regime of Nicholae Ceausescu in Romania in 1989.
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The Voices of Silence
Bel Mooney
1997
Thirteen-year-old Flora Popescu and her family find themselves caught up in events leading to the overthrow of the repressive regime of Nicholae Ceausescu in Romania in 1989.
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Weather Eye
Howarth Lesley
1995
In England in 1999, thirteen-year-old Telly organizes her fellow climate observation club members to calm the planet's turbulent weather.
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The Westing Game
Ellen Raskin
1978
The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance.
J/Raskin
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What Could Go Wrong?
Willo Davis Roberts
1989
During a frightening trip spent in airplanes and airports between Seattle and San Francisco, eleven-year-old Gracie and her two cousins Charlie and Eddie get involved with sinister characters, identical flight bags, and an assault on an innocent old lady.
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Where it Stops, Nobody Knows
Amy Ehrlich
1988
Nina and her mother move from place to place, never revealing anything of themselves, and causing Nina to wonder if they will ever stop hiding.
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Whirligig
Paul Fleischman
1998
While traveling to each corner of the country to build a whirligig in memory of the girl whose death he causes, sixteen-year-old Brian finds forgiveness and atonement.
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Wonder
Rachel Vail
1991
Everything changes for twelve-year-old Jessica when she enters junior high school and finds herself a social outcast, ignored by all her former friends.
J/Vail
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Yolanda's Genius
Carol Fenner
1995
After moving from Chicago to Grand River, Michigan, fifth grader Yolonda, big and strong for her age, determines to prove that her younger brother is not a slow learner but a true musical genius.
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Zel
Donna Jo Napoli
1996
Based on the fairy tale Rapunzel, the story is told in alternating chapters from the point of view of Zel, her mother, and the prince, and delves into the psychological motivations of the characters.
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