Grades 5-8 Recommended Reading

Dangerous by Shannon Hale

How far would you go to save the world?

When Maisie Danger Brown nabbed a spot at a NASA-like summer boot camp, she never

expected to uncover a conspiracy that would change her life forever. And she definitely

didn't plan to fall in love. But now there's no going back--Maisie's the only thing standing

between the Earth and annihilation. She must become the hero the world needs.

Boy in the tower by Polly Ho-Yen Ade loves living at the top of a block. One day the other tower blocks start falling down around him. Strange menacing plants begin to appear and no one knows where they came from. Ade and his mum are trapped.

Candor by Pam Bachorz

For a fee, "model teen" Oscar Banks has been

secretly--and selectively--sabotaging the subliminal messages that program the

behavior of the residents of Candor, Florida, until his attraction to a rebellious new girl

threatens to expose his subterfuge.

Grades 5 to 8 recommended reading.

Great new books to enjoy

Dangerous by Shannon Hale How far would you go to save the world? When Maisie Danger Brown nabbed a spot at a NASA-like summer boot camp, she never expected to uncover a conspiracy that would change her life forever. And she definitely didn't plan to fall in love. But now there's no going back--Maisie's the only thing standing between the Earth and annihilation. She must become the hero the world needs.

Boy in the tower by Polly Ho-Yen Ade loves living at the top of a block. One day the other tower blocks start falling down around him. Strange menacing plants begin to appear and no one knows where they came from. Ade and his mum are trapped.

Candor by Pam Bachorz For a fee, "model teen" Oscar Banks has been secretly--and selectively--sabotaging the subliminal messages that program the behavior of the residents of Candor, Florida, until his attraction to a rebellious new girl threatens to expose his subterfuge.

Alex McLean, Time Traveller by Morag Ramsey Living in a block of flats that looks across to Edinburgh Castle, Alex a keen climber, dreams of scaling the north face of the Rock on which the castle stands. But it's illegal to do so. Is it this dream that makes him accept the challenge to travel back in time when he is contacted by scientist from the world's distant future.

Archie Greene and the magician’s secret by D.D. Everest

Archie Greene has lived with his grandmother

since he was a baby, but when a mysterious package arrives on his twelfth birthday with

instructions to take it to a strange bookshop in Oxford, he finds himself involved with a secret

society of people who protect the world's magical books, and discovers that he has

family he never knew about.

The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare

A collection of eleven short stories, previously published online, that illuminate the life of the enigmatic, flashy, and flamboyant High Warlock of Brooklyn, Magnus Bane, a character in "The Mortal Instruments" series.

Alex McLean, Time Traveller by Morag Ramsey Living in a block of flats that looks across to Edinburgh Castle, Alex a keen climber, dreams of scaling the north face of the Rock on which the castle stands. But it's illegal to do so. Is it this dream that makes him accept the challenge to travel back in time when he is contacted by scientist from the world's distant future.

Archie Greene and the magician’s secret by D.D. Everest Archie Greene has lived with his grandmother since he was a baby, but when a mysterious package

arrives on his twelfth birthday with instructions to take it to a strange bookshop in Oxford, he finds himself involved with a secret society of people who protect the world's magical books, and discovers that he has family he never knew about.

Bane chronicles by Cassandra Clare A collection of eleven short stories, previously published online, that illuminate the life of the enigmatic, flashy, and flamboyant High Warlock of Brooklyn, Magnus Bane, a character in "The Mortal Instruments" series.

Alex McLean, Time Traveller by Morag Ramsey Living in a block of flats that looks across to Edinburgh Castle, Alex a keen climber, dreams of scaling the north face of the Rock on which the castle stands. But it's illegal to do so. Is it this dream that makes him accept the challenge to travel back in time when he is contacted by scientist from the world's distant future.

Archie Greene and the magician’s secret by D.D. Everest Archie Greene has lived with his grandmother since he was a baby, but when a mysterious package

arrives on his twelfth birthday with instructions to take it to a strange bookshop in Oxford, he finds himself involved with a secret society of people who protect the world's magical books, and discovers that he has family he never knew about.

Bane chronicles by Cassandra Clare A collection of eleven short stories, previously published online, that illuminate the life of the enigmatic, flashy, and flamboyant High Warlock of Brooklyn, Magnus Bane, a character in "The Mortal Instruments" series.

 A little in love by Susan Fletcher

As a young child Eponine never knew kindness, except once from her family's

kitchen slave, Cosette. When at sixteen the girls' paths cross again and their

circumstances are reversed, Eponine must decide what that friendship is worth, even

though they've both fallen for the same boy. In the end, Eponine will sacrifice everything to keep true love alive. Based on the Victor Hugo

novel, “Les Misérables”.

Napoleon and Josephine: the sword and the hummingbird by Gerald & Loretta Hausman From her childhood in Martinique, Josephine knew that she would someday be "more than a queen," and she eventually fulfils her destiny at the side of Napoleon Bonaparte as Empress of the French.

 Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

The nineteenth-century French novel about

Jean Valjean, a peasant who is released from prison, where he spent nineteen years for

stealing a loaf of bread for his starving family, only to find himself threatened by people and

events from his past.

Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot is called upon to solve an archaeologist's wife's murder while she was on an archaeological dug in Iraq.

 Agent 21 reloaded by Chris Ryan

In the year since Zak Darke was approached

by a shadowy government agency to become Agent 21 his world has changed completely.

But there is no time to reflect on this - the undercover operations go on. Zak is sent to a

port in west Africa, a known terrorist stronghold, under the guise of working on a

charity volunteer project. But charity work could not be further from Zak's real mission -

he must sneak on board an enemy ship, gather information - and then destroy it.

Never has Zak's training been more useful: Trust nobody.

Refugee boy by Benjamin Zephaniah Fourteen-year-old Alem Kelo adjusts to life as a foster child seeking asylum in London, while his Eritrean mother and Ethiopian father work for peace between their homelands in Africa.

Updated June 2016

Fault in our stars by John Green

Sixteen-year-old Hazel, a stage IV thyroid cancer patient, has accepted her terminal

diagnosis until a chance meeting with a boy at cancer support group forces her to re-

examine her perspective on love, loss, and life.

Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot is called upon to solve an archaeologist's wife's murder while she was

on an archaeological dug in Iraq.

Agent 21 reloaded by Chris Ryan In the year since Zak Darke was approached by a shadowy government agency to become Agent 21 his world has changed completely. But there is no time to reflect on this - the undercover operations go on. Zak is sent to a port in west Africa, a known terrorist stronghold, under the guise of working on a charity volunteer project. But charity work could not be further from Zak's real mission - he must sneak on board an enemy ship, gather information - and then destroy it. Never has Zak's training been more useful: Trust nobody.

Refugee boy by Benjamin Zephaniah Fourteen-year-old Alem Kelo adjusts to life as a foster child seeking asylum in London, while his Eritrean mother and Ethiopian father work for peace between their homelands in Africa. Fault in our stars by John Green Sixteen-year-old Hazel, a stage IV thyroid cancer patient, has accepted her terminal diagnosis until a chance meeting with a boy at cancer support group forces her to re-examine her perspective on love, loss, and life.

Updated May 2016