Intermediate (ages 9-14)

Material appropriate for intermediate age groups

The Wish Pony

When the balloon was born I was going to tell it exactly what I thought about it, how sick it had made my mother and how it had ruined my life. Ruby’s mum is having a baby, but why does she need one of those when she’s already got a Ruby? To make matters worse, her best friend Sarah has just found another, BETTER friend. It seems like everyone is abandoning her. But when Ruby meets the mysterious Magda, who gives her a very special gift that might, just MIGHT even be a bit magical, everything begins to change.

The Wish Pony was Catherine’s first exploration of magic realism. It was partly inspired by a small ornamental horse she once saw in a relatives display cabinet.

Nips Xi

If white boys can’t jump, can Asian boys play cricket? And if they can why aren’t there any in the district cricket team? Vietnamese born Tran is fed up with being called a nip, sick of being on the sidelines so he and Izram decide to establish their own cricket team, and after a series of elimination trials, Nips XI is born!

Island’s End

A fascinating story set on a remote island untouched by time. Uido is ecstatic about becoming her tribe’s spiritual leader, but her new position brings her older brother’s jealousy and her best friend’s mistrust. And looming above these troubles are the recent visits of strangers from the mainland who have little regard for nature or the spirits, and tempt the tribe members with gifts, making them curious about modern life. When Uido’s little brother falls deathly ill, she must cross the ocean and seek their help. Having now seen so many new things, will Uido have the strength to believe in herself and the old ways? And will her people trust her to lead them to safety when a catastrophic tsunami threatens? Uido must overcome everyone’s doubts, including her own, if she is to keep her people safe and preserve the spirituality that has defined them.

See the review at WOW Review, Volume 5, Issue 3.

Sisters . . . No Way!

Cindy, a savvy yet cynical teenager, still traumatized by her mother’s recent death, is appalled when her father falls in love with one of her teachers, a woman with two teenage daughters of her own. She cannot imagine a worse fate than having her teacher as her stepmother, and as for the two prissy girls, she is never going to call them sisters . . . no way! But if Cindy dislikes her prospective sisters, Ashling and Orla think she is an absolute horror — spoiled, arrogant, and atrociously rude to them and their mother when they visit her house. Will the girls ever get along and learn to be a family? Featuring the girls’ stories in two unique, back-to-back diaries, one for Cindy and the other for Ashling and Orla, readers can choose which story to begin with and will enjoy the varying viewpoints recording the same events.

Stickman Odyssey

When Zozimos is banished by an evil witch (his stepmother!) from the kingdom of Sticatha-the kingdom he was next in line to rule-he trains at battle (if you call chasing after butterflies training), travels across stormy seas (thanks for that, Poseidon), slays golems and monsters (with a lot of help), charms beautiful women (not really), and somehow (despite his own ineptitude) survives quest after quest. By the love of Zeus, though, none of it brings him any closer to home!

Long Story Short

From Ireland’s first laureate for children’s literature comes a story of abuse and neglect told with sincerity, heart, and a healthy dose of humor.  Jono has always been able to cope with his mother’s drinking, but when she hits his little sister Julie, he decides it’s time for them to run away. Told in Jono’s funny, self-conscious voice, the layers of his past and the events of his escape are gradually revealed.

The Ascension: A Super Human Clash

They’d done it. Not only had Roz, Abby, Lance, and Thunder survived their first battle with a super villain, they’d defeated him. Krodin was dead, and they had saved the world. Now everything could go back to normal-good old, boring normal. School. Parents. Friends. But three weeks later, the world suddenly changes. The United States is under martial law, the people are little more than drones, and where Central Park should be there now stands a massive glass-and-steel building, home to the all-powerful Chancellor.

The Spaghetti Detectives

Living with his mother in a Berlin apartment house, Rico, a young boy with ADHD, enjoys playing detective games but when his friend Oskar suddenly disappears, possibly taken by a serial kidnapper, Rico determines to use his skills to find his friend.

Aftershock

Makis and his moher Sofia escape a devastating Greek earthquake which has claimed his father’s life. North London is a ver different place – but Makis quickly wins a covetted place in the school football team. Unlike her son, Sofia, isolated by her grief and lack of English, sinks into depression. Makis has a brilliant idea to help her – using books from school he begins to teach her to read. But competing loyalites mean that sooner or later, something has to give and his hard-won reputation at school appears to be in ruins.

Four Kids, Three Cats, Two Cows, One Witch (Maybe)

Beverly, who is bossy and a bit of a snob, convinces her cautious friend Elizabeth to accompany her on an adventure to the island off the coast. Gerard, Beverly’s messy brother who is barely tolerated by the girls, insists on going with them and brings his cat. Things begin to look up when at the last minute the good-looking Kevin joins the trip, but when they become stranded on the island and encounter a strange inhabitant, this motley crew must find ways to support each other and put up with one another’s shortcomings.