2011 Book List
Download a printable Book List to track what you’ve read.
One-Handed Catch by M. J. Auch
Norm is a big help in the family grocery store, but his mind is usually elsewhere. He wants to be an artist so he’s often thinking of the next picture he wants to draw, usually a super sleek car. But it’s July 4, 1946, the war is over, and baseball is uppermost in his mind, both playing himself and listening on the radio to his favorite team, the Giants. But then an accident with his father’s meat grinder changes everything. Will he ever play baseball or be able to draw again?
Masterpiece by Elise Broach
Marvin is a beetle who lives, with his large extended family, in the Pompaday family’s apartment. James Terik also lives there with his mother, Mrs. Pompaday and his stepfather and baby brother. James is a quiet boy, and the beetles like him very much. They don’t approve of the Pompadays, however, and Marvin really doesn’t like the way Mrs. Pompaday treats James. Marvin decides to do something special for James on his birthday, and so begins the adventures that change both their lives.
All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg
Matt Pin has two mothers, two fathers, and two little brothers. There is his adoptive American family who love him very much, but with whom he feels unsure. Then there is his Vietnamese mother and brother towards whom he has deep seated feelings of guilt, and his American soldier father who he has never met and isn’t sure if he ever wants to meet. Pitching and the piano offer him a refuge from all these emotions, but the time is coming when he will have to meet them head on.
Wild Things by Clay Carmichael
Zoë Royster has learned in her eleven years that trust is not an option. Her father was gone before she was born, and her mother didn’t seem to know she was there most of the time. Now that her mother is dead she has been handed over to an uncle she didn’t know existed. Uncle Henry seems alright though a bit strange, but Zoë knows she can’t count on his continued care. She could run away, but there’s the stray cat and the wild boy with his white deer, and people who keep surprising her.
Extra Credit by Andrew Clements
Abby Carson doesn’t like schoolwork. Gym class is fine especially the rock wall, but the rest of her schoolwork isn’t very interesting, and homework takes time from exploring her woods, learning about climbing knots, and building forts. Abby has promised her parents she will do better, but she hasn’t. Now her back is to the wall. It’s either nothing lower than a B, plus extra credit, or she repeats 6th grade. Abby is determined not to let that happen. Can she do it?
The Girl Who Threw Butterflies by Mick Cochrane
Molly misses her dad who died in a car accident that shouldn’t have happened, but she also misses her mom who just doesn’t seem to be there anymore. Only her best friend Celia treats her the way she always did, and not like the girl whose father died. Molly decides to step out of the box she’s been placed in, and find out where being true to herself will take her.
Powerless by Matthew Cody
Daniel and his family have moved to Noble’s Green to be with Gran during her illness. He’s worried about Gran, but starting at a new school and making new friends is difficult too. The friends he makes are nice but different, and he soon discovers just how different when Eric flies to his rescue. Daniel is just an ordinary kid with some detecting skills he’s been developing; can he fit in with these “super” kids?
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
Calpurnia is the only girl in the Tate family stuck in the middle of six brothers. This is bad enough but it is 1899, and girls are expected to behave themselves and learn the arts that will prepare them for marriage. Calpurnia is not interested and manages a reprieve of sorts by spending time helping her scientific grandfather. She soon develops dreams of her own that are directly opposed to her mother’s plans for her.
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin
Minli loves her parents and doesn’t mind the hard life in her village in the shadow of Fruitless Mountain, but her mother is very unhappy with their life of poverty. Her father tells wonderful stories lighting up their poor home with riches and adventure each evening, but Ma thinks he’s just filling their daughter’s head with nonsense. Mingli decides to leave home in search of happiness for her mother, and adventure finds her.
The Rock and the River by Kekla Magoon
Sam Childs is thirteen years old and has always been a minor celebrity in his community, because his father is a well known civil rights activist. He believes his father is right, but he would rather be just an ordinary kid and not have to go to all the speeches and demonstrations. When his brother begins to move toward the Black Panthers and away from Dr. King’s movement, Sam becomes confused and doesn’t know what to think. He must find his own path, however, no matter what others expect of him.
Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass
Three kids meet at an isolated campground called Moon Shadow, where thousands of people will be coming from all over the world to watch a total eclipse of the sun. Ally who has helped her family run Moon Shadow for years and never wants to leave. Bree who desperately wants to be home with her friends and civilized activities, but who’s family is going to take over the camp after the eclipse. And Jack who has been stumbling through his life, but now must step up to his responsibilities.
Greetings from Nowhere by Barbara O’Connor
Aggie, Willow, Kirby, and Loretta have all suffered a loss which has upset their lives. Each has a dream, but in the real world those dreams don’t seem possible. At the Sleepytime Motel, a small rundown motel in the beautiful Smoky Mountains, their lives converge, and hope begins to come alive as friendships blossom.
Heart of a Shepherd by Roseanne Parry
Brother is the youngest of 5 brothers; he has grown up on the family ranch in a very isolated part of Oregon. His brothers will all be away at school, and his father, who is in the army reserves, is being sent to Iraq. He must help his grandparents keep the ranch up, but Brother doesn’t feel like he’s up to the job. Helping with the birth of animals is hard physical labor, but dealing with their death is emotional trauma, and, on top of that, is the worry about his dad. How will he make it through this year?
Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen
Samuel lives with his parents on the Pennsylvania frontier. His parents work hard as all settlers do, but are more scholars than farmers. Samuel, at thirteen, has become the woodsman of the family and provides them with meat. Out hunting one day he senses that things are not right, and takes off for home, where he finds destruction and death and signs that his parents have been captured. The Revolutionary War has erupted all around him, and Samuel must find his parents and save them.
The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick
Homer and his brother Harold lost their father before Homer was born, and their Dear Mother died when he was just four. Now Homer is about to lose his big brother to the Civil War and he can’t let that happen! Homer stretches the truth a bit and it gets him in and out of many adventures as he does whatever it takes to get Harold out of the army before it’s too late.
The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas
The city of Wellmet is powered by magic, but the magic is diminishing causing all kinds of worries. Conn isn’t a wizard so the problems of magic aren’t his to solve. He is, however, an excellent pickpocket and lock pick, and staying alive through these means is his business. When he picks the pocket of a passing wizard and inadvertently steals his magicalicus, what is and isn’t his business changes forever.
Knucklehead: Tall Tales & Mostly True Stories about Growing up Scieszka by Jon Scieszka
Jon Scieszka author of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, The Time Warp Trio Series, and many other books writes about growing up with four brothers in Michigan. It’s a wonder any of them survived to adulthood, but it’s pretty easy to see where many of his book ideas came from. It’s also clear why his father called them Knucleheads.
Peak by Roland Smith
Peak Marcello’s parents were both mountain climbers, so it’s not surprising that he too loves to climb. He lives in New York City with his mother, stepfather, and twin sisters, and the only thing resembling mountains are skyscrapers. It is illegal to climb those, however, and Peak is arrested after he scales one. The judge wants to throw the book at him, but his long-lost father shows up and offers to whisk him out of the country in order to placate the judge. What no one realizes is that Josh plans to make his son the youngest climber of Mt. Everest.
Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith
Ida Mae Jones loves to fly ever since her daddy took her up in his crop duster plane. He taught her to fly, and, when he dies in a farm accident, she takes over the crop dusting to help supplement the family’s farm income. With the coming of World War II, her flying must end, and it’s killing Ida Mae. She’s willing to risk everything to get back in a cockpit, and, when the Army forms the WASP –Women’s Airforce Service Pilots—it looks like she might have her chance. A chance, that is, if she’s willing to use her light skin to pass for white.
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
Alek is a prince, but that doesn’t mean anything; his great-uncle the emperor will not let him inherit. When his parents are murdered, the emperor doesn’t even seem willing to let him remain living. As he and his protectors run for their lives, they encounter Clankers who want to murder him, Darwinists who want to lock him up, and one girl, masquerading as a boy, who wants to help. In this steampunk novel everyone has secrets and the adventure never stops.
