Book Finder

Each section of the first in the Pearls Before Swine collections is organized by each of the strip’s characters: Rat, Goat, Zebra, Croc and Pig. Understated humor is evident in the line drawings and minimal language create an accessible, offbeat humor just right for middle schoolers.

Katy lives in Montreal with her Mom, an archeologist. When Mom leaves on a dig, Katy must stay in L.A. with her estranged father, an ex-addict and aging punk rock drummer in LA. Though, Katy is determined to stick to her “beige” personality, she and her Dad’s edgy companions have a lot to learn from each other.

Beowulf is a famous warrior who arrives in Denmark to kill the terrible monster, Grendel. Grendel is a formidable foe who emerges out of the swamp at night in order to kill the Danish people. Will Beowulf be successful in his battle or will Grendel slay him instead? This epic poem is more than 1,000 years old, but its story of a hero overcoming villains still engages students.

Jenna is happy with her job at Gladstone Shoes, although she doesn’t understand why Mrs. Gladstone hires a man that she caught shoplifting to help around the store. This is a sequel to Bauer’s earlier Rules of the Road (1998), but readers need not read the books in order.

Fourteen-year-old English girl Betsy Balcombe and her family have an unusual houseguest: Napoleon Bonaparte, former emperor of France and the most feared man on earth. Once lord and master to eighty-two million souls, now, in 1815, Napoleon is a captive of the British people. Stripped of his empire and robbed of his young family and freedom, he is confined to the forbidding, rat-infested island of St. Helena.

The one bright star in Napoleon’s black sky is Betsy, a blazingly rebellious teenager whose family is reluctantly housing the notorious prisoner. Betsy is the only foreigner Napoleon’s ever met who is not impressed by him — and Napoleon is more than intrigued.

An unexpected alliance is formed. And a remarkable friendship between emperor and girl spawns gossip, and inspires Betsy to hatch a daring and dangerous scheme that could threaten both their lives and shake entire empires to their foundations.

Fourteen-year-old Louise Keller and her family leave Ohio for the Philippines in order to join a missionary camp in 1941. Soon after their arrival, the Japanese have invaded and established internment camps that Louise avoids for a time in the jungle but is later captured. This story is a bit different in that it is an American version of being held in a Japanese Internment camp established by the Japanese in the Philippines.

The Edge Chronicles, which includes 14 titles, begins with Beyond the Deepwoods, where we meet Twig, a human who has been raised by woodtrolls., and is now wondering about his roots. Twig’s journey to discover the truth about his past introduces the wild, weird flora and fauna that make up the world that is the Edge.

Nate’s prominence in his scout troop is threatened by a newcomer with hilarious results.

Three Indian sisters are growing up in London with their widowed father, and now, his sister, their strict Auntie. The story is light, but paints a vivid picture of Indian immigrants and British culture.

Poems and photographs subtly introduce the stunning church bombing in which four girls were killed. Readers come to know each child as individuals as well as glimpse this sad, tumultuous period while looking toward a more hopeful future.

Marcus and Eddie are basketball teammates and best friends. But when they get involved in a crime, will the fact that Marcus is black and Eddie is white affect how they are treated? Great sports action and a compelling premise make this a page turner.

A powerful coming-of-age story about two brothers, one who presents as white, the other as black, and the complex ways in which they are forced to navigate the world, all while training for a fencing competition. Black Brother, Black Brother is a careful examination of the school-to-prison pipeline and follows one boy’s fight against racism and his empowering path to find his voice. 

Seventeen stories that offer unique perspectives to explore what it means to be young and Black in America today.

Frances and her brother Daniel attend the same prep school. Popular Daniel is a member of a secret society, while Frances is much more of a loner. When Daniel seems to OD, however, Frances infiltrates the society to find out the real story of what happened to her brother.

Forced to tend to his mother and two sisters by himself while on the wagon train to California, biracial Colton Wescott and his family have great difficulties and are shunned by others, thus Colton decides to join up with the Pony Express in the hopes of making money for his family, knowing that he is risking his life if his true identity is ever discovered.

Apple has always felt a little different from her classmates. She and her mother moved to Louisiana from the Philippines when she was little, and her mother still cooks Filipino foods and chastises Apple for becoming “too American.” When Apple’s friends turn on her and everything about her life starts to seem weird and embarrassing, Apple turns to music. If she can just save enough to buy a guitar and learn to play, maybe she can change herself. It might be the music that saves her … or it might be her two new friends, who show her how special she really is.

A summer heatwave blankets New York City in darkness. But as the city is thrown into confusion, a different kind of electricity sparks in this collection of linked stories about teens navigating life, love, and just getting by.

Eleven-year-old piano-prodigy Isabella, whose Black father and White mother struggle to share custody, never feels whole, especially as racial tensions affect her school, her parents both become engaged, and she and her stepbrother are stopped by police.

Set in the time of the Crusades, this is a horse story, a war story, and a love story, all in one tale of historical fiction. This book is the first in a trilogy, but completely satisfying on its own.

Now that high school is over, Ari is dying to move to the big city with his ultra-hip band — if he can just persuade his dad to let him quit his job at their struggling family bakery. Though he loved working there as a kid, Ari cannot fathom a life wasting away over rising dough and hot ovens. But while interviewing candidates for his replacement, Ari meets Hector, an easygoing guy who loves baking as much as Ari wants to escape it. As they become closer over batches of bread, love is ready to bloom…that is, if Ari doesn’t ruin everything.

Kidnapped!

The kidnappers are actually her Aunt Sandy and Uncle Max, but that doesn’t matter to Domenica Santolina Doone, better known as Dinnie. She feels as if she’s being taken out of the country against her will. Certainly no one asked her opinion. Dinnie is used to change-with her family constantly moving from state to state while her father searches for one new “opportunity” after another. But when her aunt and uncle whisk her away to an international school in Lugano, Switzerland, Dinnie feels that this might be one “opportunity”that isn’t right for her.

Suddenly Dinnie’s surrounded by kids from many different cultures, backgrounds, and beliefs. Home, and her first life, seem so far away. Can she adapt to a new country, a new home, and new friends? Or will it just be easier to close herself off-just survive-and never realize all the “bloomabilities” that are possible?

While visiting her father and stepmother in a lakeside cabin, Maggie notices a beautiful blue heron in the sky. Seeing this bird each morning helps Maggie through the tough visit, and she summons the strength to help the heron when it seems to be in danger.

Teenage Jessie shares the ups and downs of her life in these clever, and cleverly constructed, poems. This is a sequel to Technically It’s Not My Fault, which was told in the voice of her younger brother.

Joyce is 15 years old with all the recognizable ups and downs of adolescence. She finally comes to terms with herself and others when she finds expression through dance though not the ballet she thought she wanted.