Rascal

By Sterling North 

 


 A true story about a boy named Sterling (Yes, that's right the author), and a raccoon he cares for named Rascal. Sterling first finds Rascal when he and his friend Oscar are supposed to be night fishing but they discover a nest of raccoon babies. They decide to take one of the babies home. Since Oscar's strict German father would never let him keep a pet, Sterling takes the raccoon home and names him Rascal.
 The boy and raccoon are very close, they go fishing together, camping adventures together, and taking on the class bully together. 
 As Rascal gets older he starts causing more mischief then he usaully does. Since they are getting a full time house keeper Rascal would need to be hidden if the raccoon didn't want to be chained up. Sterling knows what must be done, let Rascal decide between the boy who has cared for him for a year, or life free and in the wild.
 This is really a book that you would want to read from cover to cover in one sitting.


    This book is suitable for 5th grade and up 

Gaia Girls Enter the Earth

by Lee Welles



 This is an exciting book about how one girl is chosen by Gaia (the earth) to help rid her of pollution.  Elizabeth Angier is chosen by Gaia as one of the four girls representing the elements, earth, air, fire, and water. Which element is Elizabeth's to control? Earth, she has powers of the earth.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I am sure you will to. This book is captivating and allows us to see the truth behind commercial farming, and that Gaia really does need our help.


This book is suitable for 6th grade and up. (Girls are more likely to enjoy.)

The Swiss Family Robinson

By Johann D. Wyss


Everyone knows this book. A family is shipwrecked off of a tropical island they make the island their home name it new Switzerland. 10 years later they find a woman who was stranded there also. The oldest and youngest sons decide to go with a ship and travel to mother England. I always found this story, yes entertaining but also I found that they were spoiled. Their island had every kind of convenience imaginable for them. If any of you are ever lost on a desert island don't expect even half that many resources or a desert and a jungle on the same island.

The Family Under the Bridge

By Natalie Savage Carlson


 A heart warming story about a tramp named Armand, who meets a family under his bridge. After their mother explains their situation to Armand he grudgingly lets them stay.
 The Children see through his crustiness, love him and call him grandfather. And Armand despite himself starts to care for them! The children like sharing a bridge with their own grandfather but they miss having a house of their own.
 Armand doesn't know what to do he does not want to work but he all the same can't let the children down.

             This book is suitable for 4th grade and up.

Wise Child

by Monica Furlong

A fascinating book that takes place in a remote Scottish village.
  Wise Child's parents abandoned her so she is taken in by a healer and sorceress named Juniper after her grandmother dies.
 Under Juniper's kind but stern guidance she is taught the ways of being a doran. 
But her mother the black witch Maeve has  other ideas for her daughter.
Wise Child escapes from her mothers clutches to return to Juniper and her hopes of becoming a doran. An over all fascinating book with realistic characters and a captivating story line.

  This book is suitable for 7th grade and up

The Tale of Despereaux

By Kate Dicamillo

 Do you enjoy stories about knights and heroic deeds? If so this is the tale for you!
 The death of a queen! A little mouse who falls in love with a princess! A girl named Miggory Sow! A rat with a mangled heart! A king who outlaws soup and rats! 
 All of this you'll find in the captivating, touching, and delightful story of Despereaux.

 This book is suitable for 5th grade and up. 

The Neverending Story

By Michael Ende translated by Ralph Manheim

 You will find between the covers of this creative masterpiece: imaginative names, ingenious storyline, original characters, and best of all..... adventure.
 
 Some words my brother used to describe The Neverending Story were:
Exciting and entertaining, though a bit confusing.

My brother's favorite part was when the main character (Bastian) is taken by a dessert lion to his palace.

My favorite part would have to be when Bastian first starts reading a book he stole from the owner of a bookstore in the school's attic.
   
This book is suitable for 5th grade and up

The Children of Noisy Village

by Astrid Lindgren


The Children of noisy Village is a fun playful book filled with lively characters, cheeky humor, and the daily life of Swedish children.
 Here are the first five chapters of the book:
                 
                           1. The Children of Noisy Village
                           2. Brothers Are a Nuisance
                           3. My Nicest Birthday
                           4. More Fun on My Birthday
                           5. How Olaf Got His Dog

 The  main characters of this book are:
         Lisa, the Narrator of this book 
         Karl and Bill, Lisa's older brothers
         Olaf, he lives in south farm
         Kerstin, Olaf's little sister
         Britta, lives in north farm
         Anna, is Britta's little sister who is Lisa's age

This book is suitable for 4th grade and up.              

Bartlett and the Ice Voyage

     By Odo Hirsch


A Queen of seven countries longs for a Delicious and hard to find Melidrop. Bartlett is called to the palace of the Queen to find her one. Bartlett and friend his friend Jacques must take a ship and journey to the land of the Melidrop.
 According to Bartlett's training as an explorer he will need inventiveness, desperation, and perseverance in order to bring a Melidrop back to the Queen.


     "this is a wonderful adventure series that will keep you captivated until 
     the very end."
         This book is suitable for 3rd grade and up.

An Excerpt from The Family Under the Bridge

  By Natalie Savage Carlson

Armand scowled ferociously as he pushed his buggy along the river. He walked through another bridge tunnel. It was deep and inviting and there were iron rings over which he could hang his things. But the Paris fire boats were moored along the quay.
 "Comes a fire on the water front and all of Paris will gather on my roof," He mumbled.
 so he plodded on to another bridge. He only stopped once to watch a man pull in his fishing line  because he thought there was a big fish on the hook. But it was only a sodden shoe.
 "Ah, that's the way our hopes go, monsieur," Armand sadly told the fisherman. Then he started jumping up and down with excitement. "The mate to the one in my buggy ," He cried. "That's it!" 
 The fisherman yanked the old shoe off the hook and tossed it to Armand. "Oh, la, la, monsieur," said the hobo, "but that just goes to show we should never give up hope." 
 At last he found a bridge shelter that suited him. He spread his canvas out as carefully as a family man laying a rug in a new house.
           
             This book is suitable for 4th grade and up.
                          



         "What a lovely book." says mom.
         Tristan says "I really liked that book."
         "I didn't want to read it at first, but I soon changed my mind." 
         Rowan informed me.
 

The Chaos Clock

  by Gill Arbuthnott


 Kate and David are two eleven year old friends from Edinburgh, Scotland.
In Edinburgh time is breaking loose, the lords of chaos and the guardians of time are battling.
 Mr. Flowerdew has given Kate her Grandmothers necklace to use to restrain the power of chaos. 
 Will David be able to help the guardians if it means loosing his mother all over again?

This book is suitable for 5th grade and up.
                4 out of 5 stars

The Talking Earth

by Jean Craighead George 



A tale of a Seminole girl and her adventure in the Everglades with an otter, a panther, and an old land tortoise.
 Billie Wind was sent to the Everglades by the Seminole counsel for doubting the stories and legends of the Seminole.
 She must learn to understand the animals "talk" before she can go back home.

This book is suitable for 4th grade and up. 

An Excerpt From The Chaos Clock

                                 PROLOGUE 

 The rising wind howled through the small trees at the water's edge, flattening the grass between the village and the loch.
 "Hurry. We don't have much time."
 The smith took no notice.
 " the blade will not be hurried." He raised the hammer and brought it down once more on the edge of the sword he was forging. "Are the children away?" 
 "Yes. The village is empty save for us four. Listen."
Twisted into the noise of the wind were other sounds: voices, howling, roars, grinding.
 The chief caught the smith's arm as he raised it again. "There is no more time. Quench the blade."
 The smith nodded shortly. "Go. Stand with the others. I will bring the sword." He raised from the great blackened oak stump that served as an anvil and, his hand protected by thick layers of leather, dropped it into the tub of water. The water boiled as it cooled the metal and the air filled with the reek of hot bronze. Satisfied, the Chief lifted the deerskin, which served as a door curtain.
 Outside in the twilight, two women waited: the Wise Woman and the smith's wife. They stood braced against the wind, looking around for the source of the howls and cries that it carried to them.
 The Wise Woman handed the Chief a spear, headed with a shaft of rowan wood.