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Middle School Reads September 2017
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Family Trivia Night Friday, September 15, 6 - 8 PM Meeting RoomCalling trivia buffs of all ages! Come share your expert knowledge, win prizes, and have a blast! Teams of 4-6 players are invited to participate in a fun night of family friendly trivia. A pizza dinner will be served. If you want to play but don't have a full team, we will find you some great teammates. Advanced registration required. For ages 8 through adult.
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Wishtree by Katherine Applegate Trees can't tell jokes, but they can certainly tell stories. . . . Red is an oak tree who is many rings old. Red is the neighborhood "wishtree"--people write their wishes on pieces of cloth and tie them to Red's branches. Along with her crow friend Bongo and other animals who seek refuge in Red's hollows, this "wishtree" watches over the neighborhood. You might say Red has seen it all. Until a new family moves in. Not everyone is welcoming, and Red's experiences as a wishtree are more important than ever. MS FICTION APPLEGATE
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The Handbook by Jim BentonThere's nothing Jake likes more than some good trash-picking, so when his elderly neighbors move out and leave an especially promising-looking pile of household refuse on the curb, he goes right for it. He only has the chance to grab one box before his mom catches him and orders him in for dinner, though. When mysterious goings-on begin to occur in the neighborhood, the trio investigates the hidden box from Jack's garage. In it, they find the Secret Parent's Handbook and with it all the means to subvert the irrational rules and petty tyranny of their home lives. No more clean rooms! No more vegetables! No more brushed hair or washed hands! It's all videogames and junk food all the time! But the authorities -- and the resistance -- have taken notice of the strange goings-on in Jack and his friends' neighborhood. And they are closing in. MS FICTION BENTON
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Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti BowlingAven Green loves to tell people that she lost her arms in an alligator wrestling match, or a wildfire in Tanzania, but the truth is she was born without them. And when her parents take a job running Stagecoach Pass, a rundown western theme park in Arizona, Aven moves with them across the country knowing that she'll have to answer the question over and over again. Her new life takes an unexpected turn when she bonds with Connor, a classmate who also feels isolated because of his own disability, and they discover a room at Stagecoach Pass that holds bigger secrets than Aven ever could have imagined. It's hard to solve a mystery, help a friend, and face your worst fears. But Aven's about to discover she can do it all . . . even without arms. MS FICTION BOWLING
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The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding by Alexandra BrackenProsper is the only unexceptional Redding in his old and storied family history-that is, until he discovers the demon living inside him. Turns out Prosper's great-great-great-great-great-something grandfather made-and then broke-a contract with a malefactor, a demon who exchanges fortune for eternal servitude. And, weirdly enough, eight-hundred-year-old Alastor isn't exactly the forgiving type. The fiend has reawakened with one purpose--to destroy the family whose success he ensured and who then betrayed him. With only days to break the curse and banish Alastor back to the demon realm, Prosper is playing unwilling host to the fiend, who delights in tormenting him with nasty insults and constant attempts to trick him into a contract. MS FICTION BRACKEN
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The Last Kids on Earth and the Nightmare King by Max BrallierLife after the zombie apocalypse is pretty good for 13-year-old Jack Sullivan: he lives in a mind-clobberingly cool tree fort with his best friends, speeds through town playing Real-Life Mario Kart, has a crew of monster buddies, battles zombies on the regular, and generally treats life like it's a videogame! But then Jack's friends make a startling discovery: they may not be the last kids on earth, after all. This is great news for everyone... except Jack. Once they've found other humans, his friends won't stick around for long! Jack's only hope for keeping things the way they are is to prove that everything here is perfect, life is crazy fun, and nothing else could be any better. One problem: it's hard convincing his friends that everything is great when they're being hunted by a monstrous Nightmare King and an ancient evil who won't rest until Earth has been devoured. Crud! MS FICTION BRALLIER
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Quests for Glory by Soman ChainaniWith every end comes a new beginning in the fourth installment of Soman Chainani’s bestselling School for Good and Evil series. The students at the School for Good and Evil thought they had found their final Ever After when they vanquished the malevolent School Master. Now, on their required fourth-year quests, the students face obstacles both dangerous and unpredictable, and the stakes are high: success brings eternal adoration, and failure means obscurity forever. For their quests, Agatha and Tedros are trying to return Camelot to its former splendor as queen and king. For her quest, Dean Sophie seeks to mold Evil in her own image. But soon they all feel themselves growing more isolated and alone. When their classmates’ quests plunge into chaos, however, someone must lead the charge to save them... MS FICTION CHAINANI
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Michael Vey 7 : The Final Spark by Richard Paul EvansThe final book in the Michael Vey series opens with the Electroclan facing a devastating loss: Michael is missing. He made the ultimate sacrifice to save his friends and now he's gone. What is next for them and the revolution? The battle on the island of Hades ended with a devastating explosion that left the island a smoking ruin and much of Hatch's army dead. However, Hatch survived and while his plans have certainly suffered a setback, he's more determined than ever to bring the world's governments under his control. But first, he wants to wipe out the Resistance and capture the remaining members of the Electroclan. As Hatch's forces storm into action, it seems nothing can stand in their way. The Electroclan is divided. The voice is captured, and Michael's mother is being used as bait to lure the leader of the Resistance out of hiding. Can anything--or anyone--stop the Elgen? Or is this the end? MS FICTION EVANS
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Children of Refuge by Margaret Peterson HaddixAfter Edwy is smuggled off to Refuge City to stay with his brother and sister, Rosi, Bobo, and Cana are stuck alone--and in danger--in Cursed Town in the thrilling follow-up to Children of Exile.It's been barely a day since Edwy left Fredtown to be with his parents and, already, he is being sent away. He's smuggled off to boarding school in Refuge City, where he will be with his brother and sister, who don't even like him very much. The boarding school is nothing like the school that he knew, there's no one around looking up to him now, and he's still not allowed to ask questions! Alone and confused, Edwy seeks out other children brought back from Fredtown and soon discovers that Rosi and the others--still stuck in the Cursed Town--might be in danger. Can Edwy find his way back to his friends before it's too late? MS FICTION HADDIX
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Slider by Pete HautmanDavid can eat an entire sixteen-inch pepperoni pizza in four minutes and thirty-six seconds. Not bad. But he knows he can do better. In fact, he'll have to do better: he's going to compete in the Super Pigorino Bowl, the world's greatest pizza-eating contest, and he has to win it, because he borrowed his mom's credit card and accidentally spent $2,000 on it. So he really needs that prize money. Like, yesterday. As if training to be a competitive eater weren't enough, he's also got to keep an eye on his little brother, Mal (who, if the family believed in labels, would be labeled autistic, but they don't, so they just label him Mal). And don't even get started on the new weirdness going on between his two best friends, Cyn and HeyMan. MS FICTION HAUTMAN
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The Exact Location of Home by Kate MessnerKirby "Zig" Zigonski lives for the world of simple circuits, light bulbs, buzzers, and motors. Electronics are, after all, much more predictable than most people--especially his father, who he hasn't seen in over a year. When his dad's latest visit is canceled with no explanation and his mom seems to be hiding something, Zig turns to his best friend Gianna and a new gizmo--a garage sale GPS unit--for help. Convinced that his dad is leaving clues around town to explain his absence, Zig sets out to find him. Following one clue after another, logging mile after mile, Zig soon discovers that people aren't always what they seem . . . and sometimes, there's more than one set of coordinates for home. MS FICTION MESSNER
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Auma's Long Run by Eucabeth A OdhiamboAuma loves to run. In her small Kenyan village, she's a track star with big dreams. A track scholarship could allow her to attend high school and maybe even become a doctor. But a strange new sickness called AIDS is ravaging the village, and when her father becomes ill, Auma's family needs her help at home. Soon more people are getting sick--even dying--and no one knows why. Now Auma faces a difficult choice. Should she stay to support her struggling family or leave to pursue her own future? Auma knows her family is depending on her, but leaving might be the only way to find the answers to questions about this new disease. MS FICTION ODHIAMBO
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The Dollmaker of Krakow by R. M. RomeroKarolina is a living doll whose king and queen have been overthrown. But when a strange wind spirits her away from the Land of the Dolls, she finds herself in Krakow, Poland, in the company of the Dollmaker, a man with an unusual power and a marked past. The Dollmaker has learned to keep to himself, but Karolina's courageous and compassionate manner lead him to smile and to even befriend a violin-playing father and his daughter--that is, once the Dollmaker gets over the shock of realizing a doll is speaking to him. But their newfound happiness is dashed when Nazi soldiers descend upon Poland. Karolina and the Dollmaker quickly realize that their Jewish friends are in grave danger, and they are determined to help save them, no matter what the risks. MS FICTION ROMERO
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The Explorer by Katherine RundellLeft stranded in the Amazon jungle when their plane crashes on their way back to England from Manaus, Brazil, four children struggle to survive for days until one of them finds a map that leads them to a ruined city and a secret hidden among the vines. MS FICTION RUNDELL
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Click'd by Tamara Ireland StoneAllie Navarro can't wait to show her best friends the app she built at CodeGirls summer camp. Click'd pairs users based on common interests and sends them on a fun (and occasionally rule-breaking) scavenger hunt to find each other. And it's a hit. By the second day of school, everyone is talking about Click'd. Watching her app go viral is amazing. Leaderboards are filling up! Everyone's making new friends. And with all the data Allie is collecting, she has an even better shot at beating her archenemy, Nathan, at the upcoming youth coding competition. But when Allie discovers a glitch that threatens to expose everyone's secrets, she has to figure out how to make things right, even if that means sharing the computer lab with Nathan. Can Allie fix her app, stop it from doing any more damage, and win back the friends it hurt-all before she steps on stage to present Click'd to the judges? MS FICTION STONE
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Pumpkin Spice Secrets by Hillary HomzieJust as Maddie picks up her favorite pumpkin spice drink from the coffee shop counter, she spills it all over the cute guy standing behind her! Luckily, her embarrassment evaporates into a crush when she starts chatting with him -- his name is Jacob, and he's just starting in her grade at her middle school. But before Maddie can tell her best friend Jana about him at lunch the next day, Jana announces her huge new crush -- on the same guy! Maddie doesn't want to cause trouble, so she keeps her feelings hidden. Jana will get over her crush soon, right? Add major school stress to Maddie's secret, and it's a recipe for disaster. Can she keep her cool and work things out with both Jacob and Jana before it all turns into a total mess? MS FICTION SWIRL
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The Way to Bea by Kat YehRecently estranged from her best friend and weeks away from shifting from only child to big sister, seventh grader Beatrix Lee consoles herself by writing haiku in invisible ink and hiding the poems, but one day she finds a reply--is it the librarian with all the answers, the editor of the school paper who admits to admiring her poetry, an old friend feeling remorse, or the boy obsessed with visiting the local labyrinth? MS FICTION YEH
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Poison : deadly deeds, perilous professions, and murderous medicines by Sarah AlbeeFrom spurned spouses and rivals, to condemned prisoners like Socrates, to endangered emperors like Alexander the Great, to modern-day leaders like Joseph Stalin and Yasser Arafat, poison has played a starring role in the demise of countless individuals. And those are just the deliberate poisonings. Medical mishaps, greedy "snake oil" salesmen and food contaminants, poisonous Prohibition, and industrial toxins also impacted millions. Part history, part chemistry, part whodunit, Poison: Deadly Deeds, Perilous Professions, and Murderous Medicines traces the role poisons have played in history from antiquity to the present and shines a ghoulish light on the deadly intersection of human nature . . . and Mother Nature. MS NF FYI ALB
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What Would Happen? : Serious Answers to Silly Questions by Crispin BoyerEver wondered what would happen if some cool or crazy things were possible? Like what would happen if: you got sucked into a black hole; dinosaurs still existed; humans could fly; you could communicate with dolphins; or you could dig a hole through to the center of the Earth? Get ready to explore all kinds of scenarios that would or could happen if the world was just a slightly different place. Each scenario is examined with real scientific, historical, and cultural facts in mind. MS NF FYI BOY
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Bound by Ice : A True North Pole Survival Story by Sandra Neil WallaceIn the years following the Civil War, Arctic fever gripped the American public, fueled by myths of a fertile, tropical sea at the top of the world. Several explorers attempted to find a route to the North Pole, but none succeeded. Bound by Ice follows the journey of George Washington De Long and the crew of the USS Jeannette, who departed San Francisco in the summer of 1879 hoping to find a route to the North Pole. However, in mid-September the ship became locked in ice north of Siberia and drifted for nearly two years before it was crushed by ice and sank. De Long and his men escaped the ship and began a treacherous journey in extreme polar conditions in an attempt to reach civilization. Many did not survive. MS NF FYI WAL
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The Red Bandanna by Tom RinaldiThe inspirational story of the iconic September 11 hero traces his faith-based life outlook, his decision to walk away from more lucrative career interests to volunteer as a FDNY firefighter and the accounts of survivors who revealed how he sacrificed his life to save people trapped in the South Tower. MS NF VOICES RIN
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