Intermediate (ages 9-14)

Material appropriate for intermediate age groups

Indigo’s Star

It’s back to school for the start of a new term, and the eccentric Cassons are up to their old tricks! Indigo, having just recovered from a bout of mononucleosis, must return to school after missing an entire semester. Only his younger sister and loyal sidekick, Rose, knows why he’s dreading it so much. As it turns out, the school bullies are eagerly awaiting Indigo’s return so that they can pick up where they left off — flushing his head in the toilet. But Indigo hasn’t counted on meeting Tom, an American student who is staying with his grandmother in England for the year. With his couldn’t-care-less attitude and rock-and-roll lifestyle, Tom becomes Indigo’s ally, and together they work to take back the school. Meanwhile, eight-year-old Rose is desperately trying to avoid wearing horrible glasses, nineteen-year-old Caddy is agonizing over her many suitors, Saffy is working overtime with her best friend, Sarah, to protect Indigo from the gang, and with their father, Bill, in London at his art studio, their mother, Eve, is just trying to stay on top of it all! In this hilarious, heartwarming companion to her award-winning Saffy’s Angel, Hilary McKay shows us a new side of the Cassons and reminds us that nothing is stronger than the bonds of family.

Ways to Live Forever

1. My name is Sam. 2. I am eleven years old. 3. I collect stories and fantastic facts. 4. I have leukemia. 5. By the time you read this, I will probably be dead. Living through the final stages of leukemia, Sam collects stories, questions, lists, and pictures that create a profoundly moving portrait of how a boy lives when he knows his time is almost up.

Little (Grrl) Lost

When fourteen-year-old TJ and her family are forced to move from their farm to the suburbs, she has to give up her beloved horse, Red—but she makes a surprising new friend. Elizabeth is a “Little,” a six-inch-high punked-out teen with an attitude, who has run away from home to make her way in the world. TJ and Elizabeth—the Big and the Little—soon become friends, but each quickly finds herself in a truly life-threatening situation, and they are unable to help each other. Little (Grrl) Lost is a delightful combination of realism, magic, humor, and hope, and is sure to win Charles de Lint many new teen and adult fans.

Caddy Ever After

Love is in the air for the Casson family! Four hilarious, endearing tales unfold as Rose, Indigo, Saffy, and Caddy each tell their intertwining stories. Rose begins by showing how she does special with her Valentine\’s card for Tom in New York. Not to be outdone, Indigo has his own surprise in store for the Valentine,s Day disco at school. For her part, Saffy has an unusual date in a very, very dark graveyard, and is haunted by a balloon that almost costs her her best friend.But it is Caddy who dares everything — as she tells all about love at first sight when you have found the Real Thing. Unfortunately the Real Thing is not darling Michael. What is Rose going to do?

The Tarantula Scientist (Scientists In The Field)

Yellow blood, silk of steel, skeletons on the outside! These amazing attributes don”t belong to comic book characters or alien life forms, but to Earth”s biggest and hairiest spiders: tarantulas. Here you are invited to follow Sam Marshall, spider scientist extraordinaire (he”s never been bitten), as he explores the dense rainforest of French Guiana, knocking on the doors of tarantula burrows, trying to get a closer look at these incredible creatures. You”ll also visit the largest comparative spider laboratory in America—where close to five hundred live tarantulas sit in towers of stacked shoeboxes and plastic containers, waiting for their turn to dazzle and astound the scientists who study them.

No Girls Allowed: Tales Of Daring Women Dressed As Men For Love, Freedom And Adventure

A female pharaoh? A woman general in the Kahn’s army? A female Viking raider? No way, you say? Look again. Appearances can be deceiving… Based on legends, poems, letters and first-hand accounts, these seven biographical tales tell of women who disguised themselves as men. From ancient Egypt through the Middle Ages to the 19th century, this historically accurate graphic treatment is perfect to transport readers back to bygone eras. The lives of these daring women were often filled with danger and the fear of discovery. However, for the sake of freedom, ambition, love or adventure, these women risked everything. No Girls Allowed brings a contemporary edge to a part of history largely untold – until now.

The Bomb

It is 1946, a year after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and World War II is over. But the U.S. government has decided that further tests of atomic bombs must be conducted. Bikini Atoll is chosen for the testing site, so the people who have lived there for generations must be relocated for two years. Sixteen-year-old Sorry Rinamu believes the Americans are lying and that it will never be safe for his people to return. He must find a way to stop the first bomb before it is dropped . . . even if that means risking his own destruction. This chilling novel is based on the true story of atomic weapons testing at Bikini Atoll in the western Pacific Ocean. “A haunting, soundly researched work.”–Publishers Weekly

Dance, Nana, Dance / Baila, Nana, Baila: Cuban Folktales In English And Spanish

If you travel to Cuba, the people will greet you with a smile. Right away they’ll want you to come to their home and eat a meal. In the meal, you’ll find a mixture of foods and flavors from Spain and Africa-and from many Caribbean cultures as well. In Cuban folktales, you will taste the same delicious mixture of flavors.Folklorist and storyteller Joe Hayes first visited Cuba in 2001. He fell in love with the island and its people and began to look for opportunities to meet and listen to Cuban storytellers and to share the stories he knew from the American Southwest. He has returned every year, establishing a rich cultural exchange between US and Cuban storytellers. Out of that collaboration came this savory collection of Cuban folktales, which Joe frames with an introduction and an all-important Note to Storytellers.Joe Hayes is one of America’s premier storytellers. His bilingual Spanish-English tellings have earned him a distinctive place among America’s storytellers. Joe has published over twenty books. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and travels extensively throughout Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.Mauricio Trenard Sayago was born in Santiago de Cuba in 1963. He was raised in a home that was closely linked with art and was surrounded by the artistic debates sustained by the various artists and art history professors in his family. This environment strongly influenced him. Mauricio came to the United States in 2000, and now lives in Brooklyn.