Intermediate (ages 9-14)

Material appropriate for intermediate age groups

Lockie Leonard, Scumbuster

Nothing’s simple for Lockie Leonard. He’s only lived in town for a year and his dad’s the local police sergeant, two facts that don’t win Lockie any popularity contests. Dumped by his popular girlfriend, he’s back to being the loneliest kid in town until he makes friends with Geoff Eggleston, or Egg, the weirdest human being Lockie’s ever known. Egg is a dark-haired, pimply-faced, very bright “Metal Head” who can’t even swim, though their town is right on the Australian coast. By contrast, Lockie is a trim, blond, expert surfer. Lockie and Egg decide to somehow clean up the town’s harbor, partly covered with scum from industrial waste. In the middle of all their planning, Lockie falls in love again, with a girl who turns out to be only eleven. To make it worse, she surfs better than he does, though he’s the best in his school. Can a thirteen-year-old surfrat have a headbanger for a best friend, stay in love with an eleven-year-old gremmie, and still save his town from industrial pollution? Tim Winton is a prize-winning Australion novelist whose The Riders was short-listed for the 1996 Booker Prize. He himself is an, expert surfer. With rich characterization, strong narrative drive, and much humor, Winton has written a contemporary story that reflects the concerns of all teenagers and will reach a wide audience.

The War Of The Witches

Outsider Anaíd leads a solitary life in a small village in the Pyrenees with her mother Selene. She does not suspect there is anything particularly strange about her family, aside from her mother’s personal eccentricities . . . until one day Selene disappears without a trace and Anaíd is confronted with a shocking truth: her mother is a witch, prophesied to be the chosen one to end an ancient war between two feuding clans.

Strange Objects

During a school field trip, Steven discovers some gruesome relics from a seventeenth-century shipwreck and massacre–including the diary of a convicted murderer–and soon becomes obsessed with the past.

Hitler’s Daughter (Bccb Blue Ribbon Fiction Books (Awards))

Her name was Heidi, and she was Hitler’s daughter.

It began on a rainy morning in Australia, as part of a game played by Mark and his friends. It was a storytelling game, and the four friends took turns weaving tales about fairies and mermaids and horses. But Anna’s story was different this time: It was not a fairy tale or an adventure story. The story was about a young girl who lived during World War II. Her name was Heidi, and she was Hitler’s daughter.

As Anna’s story unfolds, Mark is haunted by the image of Hitler’s daughter. He wonders what he would have done in her place if he had known his father was an evil man leading the world into a war that was destroying millions of lives. And if Mark had known, would he have had the power and determination to stop him?

This intriguing novel poses powerful questions about a frightening period in history and will force readers to examine moral issues in a fresh, compelling light.

Operation Siberian Crane: The Story Behind the International Efforts to Save an Amazing Bird

This book describes the cooperative effort by scientists in the Soviet Union and the United States to save the Siberian crane, with the support and aid of conservationists from other nations.

Wildflower Girl

Thirteen-year-old Peggy O’Driscoll, left orphaned and homeless by the Great Famine of the 1840s, leaves Ireland to seek her fortune in America.

The Travel Game

Tad and his aunt Hattie take an imaginary trip to Hong Kong. Armed with a globe, an illustrated almanac, and their imaginations, Tad and Aunt Hattie play the travel game. They ride elephants in India, escape deadly piranhas in the Amazon River, and hail a water taxi to visit the beautiful boat city of Hong Kong—all without leaving the apartment above the family tailor shop in Buffalo, New York. This funny, affectionate story is based on author John Grandits’s own childhood experiences. The charming and highly detailed illustrations will encourage children to play their own version of the travel game.