Teaching Guides and Activities
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Middle Grade
Fiction
Cats at Sea
Anton and Cecil, Book 1
In the tradition of The Wind in the Willows, Stuart Little, and Poppy come two cat brothers whose curiosity about the world and passion for adventure takes them on a journey from their harborside home to see places and creatures beyond their wildest imaginings. Black-and-white line drawings illustrate each chapter.
Cats on Track
Anton and Cecil, Book 2
The adventurous cats who sailed the open seas in Anton and Cecil: Cats at Sea head west by train to rescue a missing mouse friend. With few clues, the two depend on the help of prairie dogs, bison, ferrets, and a wise lynx to solve the mystery of Hieronymus's whereabouts.
Brightwood
When Daisy Fitzjohn’s mother leaves their crumbling Gothic home early one morning and doesn’t return, Daisy, with no one to help her but her imaginary friends, must fight to save her home and her life from a dangerous and mysterious stranger.
The Wingsnatchers
Carmer and Grit, Book One
In this stunning debut Carmer, a magician's apprentice, and Grit, a one-winged faerie princess, must vanquish the mechanical monsters that stalk the industrial streets and threaten the faerie kingdom.
Catch You Later, Traitor
From Newbery Medalist Avi comes the thrilling and suspenseful story of an ordinary American family that falls under suspicion in 1950s New York. When twelve-year-old Pete Collison is labeled a communist by his teacher, he sets out to discover the truth about his family.
The Girl in the Well Is Me
Newcomer Kammie Summers has fallen into a well during a (fake) initiation into a club whose members have no intention of letting her join. Now Kammie’s trapped in the dark, growing increasingly claustrophobic, and waiting to be rescued—or possibly not.
The Girl Who Drank the Moon
In this New York Times bestselling epic fantasy, a young girl raised by a witch, a swamp monster, and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon must unlock the dangerous magic buried deep inside. The New York Times Book Review calls The Girl Who Drank the Moon “impossible to put down . . . as exciting and layered as classics like Peter Pan or The Wizard of Oz."
Hurricane Season
Eleven-year-old Fig navigates friendships and her first crush while looking for answers about her pianist father’s mental illness by immersing herself in the life and works of Vincent Van Gogh in this own voices LGBTQ middle grade debut.
The Jumbies
When eleven-year-old Corinne stumbles into the forest on her Caribbean island home, she rouses a jumbie—a malevolent spirit—who emerges to wreak havoc. Corinne must call on her courage and her friends and use ancient magic to stop the jumbie and save the island.
Rise of the Jumbies
The sequel to The Jumbies takes Corinne and her friends on another spine-tingling adventure — this time under the sea, where they travel with mermaids and meet the powerful jumbie who rules the ocean.
The One Safe Place
In a near-future dystopia with echoes of The Giver and Among the Hidden, Tania Unsworth has created an unsettling page-turner—fast-paced, filled with dread—that’s wholly satisfying, and startlingly original.
The Secret of Dreadwillow Carse
After a chance meeting, Princess Jeniah and peasant girl Aon hatch a plan to send Aon into the heart of the Dreadwillow Carse, a desolate bog, to unlock its darkest secret. But when Aon doesn’t return, a guilt-stricken Jeniah must enter the carse to try and rescue her friend--even if it means risking the entire Monarchy.
The Show Must Go On!
Three-Ring Rascals #1
Three-Ring Rascals is the first series for newly independent readers from Kate and M. Sarah Klise (Regarding the Fountain, 43 Old Cemetery Road series). In their trademark style bursting with humor and wordplay complemented by illustrations, documents, and graphics, The Show Must Go On! introduces a cast of talking animals in the friendliest and funniest family circus in the world.
The Greatest Star On Earth
Three-Ring Rascals #2
The rascals from the world’s friendliest family circus are back in the second installment of the new illustrated series that Kirkus Reviews calls “smafunderful (smart + fun + wonderful).”
The Circus Goes to Sea
Three-Ring Rascals #3
The rascals hit the high seas in the third installment of the popular fully illustrated Three-Ring Rascals series.
Pop Goes the Circus!
Three-Ring Rascals #4
Two favorite characters from Sir Sidney's Circus, Bert the circus mouse and Flora Endora Eliza LaBuena LaPasta, have run away from their troubles. But can the duo evade bad drivers, angry mobs, and greedy robbers? And just how long can they survive on their own?
Secrets of the Circus
Three-Ring Rascals #5
When the New Pork Times announces a pig race at the Iowa State Fair with a five-thousand-dollar prize, the circus members and Farmer Farley all rush to the fair in hopes that they can win the prize and save Pablo, Gert's secret pig pen pal, and Farmer Farley’s farm.
The Time Fetch
A middle-grade fantasy in the vein of A Wrinkle in Time and When You Reach Me, Amy Herrick’s story begins when Edward picks up what he thinks is a rock—but is really a Time Fetch—and causes a dangerous time rip. Only Edward and a band of three mismatched classmates who have touched the Fetch can see what is happening, so it’s up to them to repair the entire fabric of space and time.
The Trickster's Tale
The Unbelievable FIB #1
In Adam Shaughnessy's debut, the first in an adventurous new series, 11-year-old Pru and her classmate ABE—with help from an uncommonly rude squirrel and the enigmatic Mr. Fox—must save their town from being destroyed by battling Norse gods. But first they have to find the lost Eye of Odin.
Over the Underworld
The Unbelievable FIB #2
ABE and Pru team up with Mr. Fox and Ratatosk, the insult squirrel, for a new adventure among the gods and lands of Norse mythology as they race to stop the chain of events foretold to lead to Ragnarok — the war that ends the world.
The Witch's Boy
“A lightning bolt erupted from the cloud and aimed directly at Ned’s heart. He couldn’t cry out. He couldn’t even move. He could just feel the magic sink into his skin and spread itself over every inch of him, bubbling and slithering and cutting deep, until he didn’t know where the magic stopped and he began.”
Nonfiction
Radioactive!
Irene Curie won a Nobel Prize, but was denied admission to the French Academy. Lise Meitner solved the riddle of nuclear fission, but was written out of the record. This is the first book for young readers that sets the story straight and explains the importance of these two women in science and world history.
Wicked Bugs
The young reader’s adaptation of Amy Stewart’s bestselling Wicked Bugs—a full-color illustrated guide to the scariest, most dangerous, and most repulsive bugs on earth.
Teen
Fiction
The Art of Secrets
When Saba Khan’s apartment burns in a mysterious fire, her high school rallies around her. But then a quirky piece of art donated to a school fund-raising effort for the Khans is revealed to be worth a fortune and Saba’s life quickly turns upside down again. Greed, jealousy, and suspicion create an increasingly tangled web as adults and teens alike debate who should get the money and begin to question one another’s motives and make accusations.
A Fierce and Subtle Poison
Seventeen-year-old Lucas lives in Puerto Rico, where he’s grown up hearing stories about the cursed girl, Isabel. When letters from Isabel begin appearing in his room the same day his new girlfriend disappears, Lucas turns to Isabel for answers--and finds himself lured into her strange and enchanted world. But the more entangled Lucas becomes, the less certain he is of escaping with his own life.
Ghostly Echoes
In the third volume of the New York Timesbestselling Jackaby series, Jenny Cavanaugh, the ghostly lady of 926 Augur Lane, has enlisted the services of her fellow residents to solve a decade-old murder—her own. Abigail Rook and her eccentric employer, R. F. Jackaby, dive into the cold case, starting with a search for Jenny’s fiancé, who went missing the night she died.
Hit Count
Acclaimed author Chris Lynch explores the American love affair with football and our attempts to come to terms with the dangers of the sport through Arlo Brodie, a teen who loves being at the heart of the action on the football field, getting hit hard and hitting back harder.
If You're Lucky
After Georgia’s brother, Lucky, drowns in a surfing accident, a charming stranger comes to town for his funeral. As Georgia seeks the truth about what really happened to Lucky and her suspicions about the stranger grow, the line between Georgia’s increasingly fragile mental state and reality begin to blur.
If You Could Be Mine
In Iran, it’s a crime punishable by death to be gay. Sex reassignment surgery is covered by the government health program, though, and regarded by many as a way to fix a “mistake.” Sahar, seventeen, has been in love with her best friend, a girl named Nasrin, since they were six. Sahar even lets herself dream that one day they might marry. But when Nasrin’s parents announce her arranged marriage will take place in a matter of months, Sahar must decide just what lengths she’ll go to for true love.
Jackaby
Doctor Who meets Sherlock in William Ritter’s debut novel, which features a detective of the paranormal as seen through the eyes of his adventurous and intelligent assistant in a tale brimming with cheeky humor and a dose of the macabre.
Beastly Bones
In this highly anticipated sequel, Abigail and Sherlockian detective of the supernatural Jackaby follow a trail of mysterious murders from New Fiddleham to nearby Gad's Valley. There they are reunited with exiled police detective Charlie Caine, and the three race to find the culprit before more lives are lost.
The Dire King
The dramatic and shocking conclusion to the Jackaby series sends the Sherlockian detective of the supernatural and his indispensable assistant, Abigail Rook, into the heart of an apocalyptic war between magical worlds.
In the Neighborhood of True
New York transplant Ruth Robb hides her Jewish identity to fit into the segregated Atlanta of the 1950s, until a hate crime forces her to come to face the whole truth about the choices she’s made, the boy she might love, and the true cost of living only in the neighborhood of true. Inspired by a real-life event.
Somebody Up There Hates You
Richie is a normal seventeen-year-old—except he’s in hospice care. The end of his story is clear, but the people who love Richie want to keep him alive as long as possible. Richie wants to live as much as he can till the end. Oh, and there’s a fifteen-year-old girl named Sylvie across the hall. Somebody Up There Hates You is smart, funny, painful, and bawdy—with no holds barred.
The Summer of Letting Go
Four years ago, Francesca’s little brother, Simon, drowned, and Francesca’s the one who should have been watching. Now Francesca is about to turn sixteen, but guilt keeps her stuck in the past. Then she meets four-year-old Frankie Sky, a little boy who bears an almost eerie resemblance to Simon. Is it possible he’s Simon’s reincarnation?
Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel
High-school junior Leila has made it most of the way through Armstead Academy without having a crush on anyone, which is something of a relief. Her Persian heritage already makes her different from her classmates; if word got out that she liked girls, life would be twice as hard. But when a sophisticated, beautiful new girl, Saskia, shows up, Leila starts to take risks she never thought she would, especially when it looks as if the attraction between them is mutual.
The Walls Around Us
The Walls Around Us is a ghostly story of suspense told in two voices—one still living and one dead. Nova Ren Suma tells a supernatural tale of guilt and innocence, and what happens when one is mistaken for the other.
Wrecked
On the same night college freshman Haley sustains a career-ending concussion on the soccer field, her bookish roommate Jenny arrives home shell-shocked from a wild party. The next morning, on the other side of campus, Jordan brags to his housemate, Richard, about the cute freshman he hooked up with. When Jenny formally accuses Jordan of rape, gossip spreads like wildfire through the campus.
Nonfiction
Leaving China
In a unique memoir comprising more than fifty watercolor paintings and accompanying text, award-winning artist and New York Times bestselling author James McMullan explores how his early childhood in China and wartime journeys with his mother influenced his whole life, especially his artwork.
Passenger on the Pearl
The page-turning, heart-wrenching true story of one young woman willing to risk her safety and even her life for a chance at freedom in the largest slave escape attempt in American history.
Votes for Women
The story of the tenacious American women who demanded, fought for—and finally won—their right to vote; paving the way for generations of civil rights activists.
Adult Crossover
Fiction
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents
Acclaimed writer Julia Alvarez’s beloved first novel gives voice to four sisters as they grow up in two cultures. The García sisters—Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofía—and their family must flee their home in the Dominican Republic after their father’s role in an attempt to overthrow brutal dictator Rafael Trujillo is discovered.
In the Time of Butterflies
It is November 25, 1960, and three beautiful sisters have been found near their wrecked Jeep at the bottom of a 150-foot cliff on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. Through the art and magic of Julia Alvarez’s imagination, the martyred Butterflies live again in this novel of courage and love, and the human costs of political oppression.
