Teens

H.I.S.D. Name That Book Contest: Middle School To find out if Houston Public Library owns a copy of these titles,
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Last Updated February 1, 2009

• + ALEXA - The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio by Lloyd Alexander
  Naive and bumbling Carlo, his shady camel-puller Baksheesh, and Shira, a girl determined to return home, follow a treasure map through the deserts and cities of the infamous Golden Road, as mysterious strangers try in vain to point them toward real treasures.
• + BERRY - Chance Fortune and the Outlaws by Shane Berryhill
  Joshua Blevins enlists the aid of his mentor, Captain Fearless, to gain entrance to the Burlington Academy for the Superhuman under the false identity of Chance Fortune.
• + CURTI - Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Curtis
  Eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman, the first free-born child in Buxton, Canada, which is a haven for slaves fleeing the American South in 1859, uses his wits and skills to try to bring to justice the lying preacher who has stolen money that was to be used to buy a family's freedom.
• + DOWD - The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd
  When Ted and Kat's cousin Salim disappears from the London Eye ferris wheel, the two siblings must work together--Ted with his brain that is "wired differently" and impatient Kat--to try to solve the mystery of what happened to Salim.at, become sleuthing partners, since the police are having no luck.
• + HAHN - All the Lovely Bad Ones: A Ghost Story by Mary Hahn
  Travis and his sister Corey decide to boost business at their grandmother's Vermont inn by staging a few "hauntings" that soon draw tourists from across the country, but when their antics awaken a dark force, they must find a way to put torest the ghosts they have disturbed.
• + HOBBS - Go Big or Go Home by Will Hobbs
  Fourteen-year-old Brady and his cousin Quinn love extreme sports, but nothing could prepare them for the aftermath of Brady's close encounter with a meteorite after it crashes into his Black Hills, South Dakota, bedroom.
• + LAFEV - Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos by R La Fevers
  Eleven-year-old Theodosia has the ability to detect black magic and ancient curses that are attached to objects in the Museum of Legends and Antiquities, which her father is the curator of, and discovers that a new artifact from Egypt is cursed and she must return it to the tomb it was excavated from before it destroys the British Empire.
• + MCNIS - Breathe: A Ghost Story by Cliff Mcnish
  When he and his mother move into an old farmhouse in the English countryside, asthmatic, 12-year-old Jack discovers that he can communicate with the ghosts inhabiting the house and finds a spirit out to do harm to him and his mother.
• + RYAN - Paint the Wind by Pam Ryan
  After her overprotective grandmother has a stroke, eleven-year-old Maya, an orphan, leaves her extremely restricted life in California to stay with her mother's family on a remote Wyoming ranch, where she discovers a love of horses and encounters Artemisia, a wild mare that her mother once rode.
• + SCHMI - The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt
  During the 1967 school year, on Wednesday afternoons when all his classmates go to either Catechism or Hebrew school, seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood stays in Mrs. Baker's classroom where they read the plays of William Shakespeare and Holling learns much of value about the world he lives in.
• + STEWA - The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Stewart
  Reynie, Kate, Sticky, and Constance, all graduates of the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened and members of the Benedict Society, embark on a scavenger hunt that turns into a desperate search for the missing Mr. Benedict.
• + WHITE - Blue Fingers: A Ninja's Tale by Cheryl Whitesel
  In this action-packed story, a young twin boy, identical only in appearance to his brother, is forced to fulfill a destiny far different from any he imagined when he faces a dangerous world suffused with mystery and intrigue.Japan, 1545.
• + WOODS - Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson
  When a new, white student nicknamed "The Jesus Boy" joins her sixth grade class in the winter of 1971, Frannie's growing friendship with him makes her start to see some things in a new light.
• + ZIMME - Reaching For Sun by Tracie Zimmer
  Josie, who lives with her mother and grandmother and has cerebral palsy, befriends a boy who moves into one of the rich houses behind her old farmhouse. Josie tells her story through free verse poems.
• + B S622 - The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis
  Artist Sis Peter describes what it was like growing up in a Communist country and discusses how Western culture influenced his life.Czech.
• YA 001.944 H193 - Tales of the Cryptids: Mysterious Creatures That May or May Not Exist by Kelly Halls
  Introduces young readers to the animals studied in cryptozoology, animals which may or may not be real.
• YA BAUER - Peeled by Joan Bauer
  In an upstate New York farming community, high school reporter Hildy Biddle investigates a series of strange occurrences at a house rumored to be haunted.
• YA BLOOR - Taken by Edward Bloor
  In 2036 kidnapping rich children has become an industry, but when thirteen-year-old Charity Meyers is taken and held for ransom, she soon discovers that this particular kidnapping is not what it seems.
• YA CARTE - Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter
  Genius Cammie Morgan begins the spring semester of her sophomore year with many questions about her ex-boyfriend, mother, and the last term, and intends to use her spying abilities to have them answered.
• YA COMPE - Revolution is Not a Dinner Party: A Novel by Ying Compestine
  Starting in 1972 when she is nine years old, Ling, the daughter of two doctors, struggles to make sense of the communists' Cultural Revolution, which empties stores of food, homes of appliances deemed "bourgeois," and people of laughter.Chinese.
• YA CONNO - Waiting For Normal by Leslie Connor
  Twelve-year-old Addie tries to cope with her mother's erratic behavior and being separated from her beloved stepfather and half-sisters when she and her mother go to live in a small trailer by the railroad tracks on the outskirts of Schenectady, New York.
• YA FREDE - Love by Mariah Fredericks
  Thirteen-year-old Anna hopes that her newly inherited tarot cards will predict an exciting future, including becoming the girlfriend of eighth-grade hottie, Declan Kelso.
• YA HALE - Dark Water Rising by Marian Hale
  While salvaging and rebuilding in the aftermath of the Galveston flood of 1900, sixteen-year-old Seth proves himself in a way that his previous efforts never could, but he still must face his father man-to-man.
• YA HARPE - The Secret Life of Sparrow Delaney by Suzanne Harper
  In Lily Dale, New York, a community dedicated to the religion of Spiritualism, tenth-grader Sparrow Delaney, the youngest daughter in an eccentric family of psychics, agonizes over whether or not to reveal her special abilities in order tohelp a friend.
• YA HAYDO - The Floating Island: The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme by Elizabeth Haydon
  Charles is the youngest son of a long line of famous shipwrights. He dreams of sailing the ships instead of building them. Set in the same universe as the author's bestselling adult series, this title is the first in a trilogy.
• YA HOLM - Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf: A Year Told Through Stuff by Jennifer Holm
  Ginny makes a to do list for her seventh grade year, which includes landing a role in the school play, trying to make friends, ignoring her horoscope, and going to see her grandpa Joe in Florida; but she always seems to come up short in accomplishing any of it.
• YA KORMA - Schooled by Gordon Korman
  Cap lives in isolation with his grandmother, a former hippie; but when she falls from a tree and breaks her hip, Cap is sent to a foster home where he has his first experience in a public school.
• YA KOSTI - Epic by Conor Kostick
  On New Earth, a world based on a video role-playing game, fourteen-year-old Erik pursuades his friends to aid him in some unusual gambits in order to save Erik's father from exile and safeguard the futures of each of their families.
• YA LANDY - Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
  When twelve-year-old Stephanie inherits her weird uncle's estate, she must join forces with Skulduggery Pleasant, a skeleton mage, to save the world from the Faceless Ones.
• YA LURIE - Brothers, Boyfriends, and Other Criminal Minds by April Lurie
  While living on the same block as several members of the Mafia does have the advantage of a lower crime rate, fourteen-year-old April and her brother find there are times when it is also a major disadvantage.
• YA PFEFF - Life as We Knew it by Susan Pfeffer
  Through journal entries, 16-year-old Miranda describes her family's struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.
• YA RESAU - What the Moon Saw: A Novel by Laura Resau
  Fourteen-year-old Clara has never met her father's parents. So when she receives a letter from Mexico inviting her to come visit for the summer, she is in for an experience of a lifetime.Hispanic.
• YA SALIS - Night of the Howling Dogs by Graham Salisbury
  Eleven Boy Scouts, their leaders, and some new friends camping at Halape, Hawaii, in 1975, find their survival skills put to the test when a massive earthquake strikes, followed by a tsunami.
• YA SCOTT - The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
  Fifteen-year-old twins, Sophie and Josh, find themselves caught up in the deadly struggle between rival alchemists, Nicholas Flamel and John Dee, over the possession of an ancient book that holds the secret formulas for alchemy and everlasting life.
• YA SHARE - My Mother the Cheerleader: A Novel by Rob Sharenow
  Thirteen-year-old Louise uncovers secrets about her family and her neighborhood during the violent protests over school desegregation in 1960 New Orleans.
• YA SMITH - Peak by Roland Smith
  A fourteen-year-old boy attempts to be the youngest person to reach the top of Mount Everest.
• YA SONNE - Zen and the Art of Faking It by Jordan Sonnenblick
  When thirteen-year-old San Lee moves to a new town and school for the umpteenth time, he is looking for a way to stand out when his knowledge of Zen Buddhism, gained in his previous school, provides the answer--and the need to quickly become a convincing Zen master.
• YA STEAD - First Light by Rebecca Stead
  When twelve-year-old Peter and his family arrive in Greenland for his father's research, he stumbles upon a secret his mother has been hiding from him all his life, and begins an adventure he never imagines possible.
• YA WELLS - Red Moon at Sharpsburg: A Novel by Rosemary Wells
  As the Civil War breaks out, India, a young Southern girl, summons her intelligence and courage to survive the war that threatens to destroy her family, her Virginia home, and the only life she has ever known.