 |
Little Women
Alcott, Louisa May.
Chronicles the joys and sorrows of the four March sisters as they grow into young women in nineteenth-century New England. |
 |
Nothing but the Truth: A Documentary Novel
Avi.
A ninth-grader's suspension for singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" during homeroom becomes a national news story. |
 |
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
Brashares, Ann.
Four best girlfriends spend the biggest summer of their lives enchanted by a magical pair of pants. |
 |
The Princess Diaries
Cabot, Meg.
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. |
 |
The Face on the Milk Carton
Cooney, Caroline B.
A photograph of a missing girl on a milk carton leads Janie on a search for her real identity. |
 |
Over Sea, Under Stone
Cooper, Susan.
Three children on vacation in Cornwall find an ancient manuscript which sends them on a dangerous quest that entraps them in the eternal battle between the forces of the Light and the Dark. |
 |
Inkheart
Funke, Cornelia.
Twelve-year-old Meggie learns that her father, who repairs and binds books for a living, can "read" fictional characters to life when one of those characters abducts them and tries to force him into service. |
 |
Just Ella
Haddix, Margaret Peterson.
In this continuation of the Cinderella story, fifteen-year-old Ella finds that accepting Prince Charming's proposal ensnares her in a suffocating tangle of palace rules and royal etiquette, so she plots to escape. |
 |
Hoot
Hiaasen, Carl.
Roy, who is new to his small Florida community, becomes involved in another boy's attempt to save a colony of burrowing owls from a proposed construction site. |
 |
Redwall
Jacques, Brian.
When the peaceful life of ancient Redwall Abbey is shattered by the arrival of the evil rat Cluny and his villainous hordes, Matthias, a young mouse, determines to find the legendary sword of Martin the Warrior which, he is convinced, will help Redwall's inhabitants destroy the enemy. |
 |
The Giver
Lowry, Lois.
Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives. |
 |
A Corner of the Universe
Martin, Ann M.
The summer that Hattie turns twelve, she meets the childlike uncle she never knew and becomes friends with a girl who works at the carnival that comes to Hattie's small town. |
 |
Anne of Green Gables
Montgomery, Lucy Maud.
Anne, an eleven-year-old orphan, is sent by mistake to live with a lonely, middle-aged brother and sister on a Prince Edward Island farm and proceeds to make an indelible impression on everyone around her. |
 |
Eragon
Paolini, Christopher.
In Aagaesia, a fifteen-year-old boy of unknown lineage called Eragon finds a mysterious stone that weaves his life into an intricate tapestry of destiny, magic, and power, peopled with dragons, elves, and monsters. |
 |
Hatchet
Paulsen, Gary.
After a plane crash, 13-year-old Brian spends 54 days in the Canadian wilderness, surviving with only the aid of a hatchet, and learning also to deal with his parents' divorce. |
 |
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Rowling, J. K.
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. |
 |
Esperanza Rising
Ryan, Pam Munoz.
Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California, where they must adapt to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression. |
 |
Holes
Sachar, Louis.
As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself. |
 |
The Fellowship of the Ring
Tolkien, J. R. R.
In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins is faced with an immense task as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the One Ring of Sauron to his care. Frodo must make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the all-powerful Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose. |
 |
The Man Who Loved Clowns
Wood, June Rae.
Thirteen-year-old Delrita, whose unhappy life has caused her to hide from the world, loves her uncle Punky but sometimes feels ashamed of his behavior because he has Down's syndrome. |