Intermediate (ages 9-14)

Material appropriate for intermediate age groups

Elly: My True Story Of The Holocaust

At just 15, her mother, and brother were taken from their Romanian town to the Auschwitz-II/Birkenau concentration camp. When they arrived at Auschwitz, a soldier waved Elly to the right; her mother and brother to the left. She never saw her family alive again. Thanks to a series of miracles, Elly survived the Holocaust. Today she is dedicated to keeping alive the stories of those who did not. Elly appeared on CBS’s 60 Minutes for her involvement in bringing an important lawsuit against Volkswagen, whose German factory used her and other Jews as slave laborers.

Legend Of Orpheus And Eurydice

Orpheus, a brave musician who is dearly loved by the gods and admired by all of humankind, attempts to use the power of song to rescue his beautiful wife, Eurydice, from the Underworld after she dies from a serpent bite on their wedding day. When Orpheus finally reaches the center of the Underworld, Hades relents to his beautiful music and agrees to set Eurydice free. However, he tells Orpheus that he must not look back at his wife as he leads her to the surface. Just before the couple reaches the upper world, Orpheus cannot help but look back at Eurydice, and he therefore loses her forever.

Little Brother

“Fleeing from the Khmer Rouge soldiers, Vithy becomes separated from his older brother, Mang, as they escape from Cambodia into Thailand. . . . As Vithy makes the dangerous journey, he comes to rely on his own wits and instincts. Historical novel, adventure, and character study, this book takes readers to another place and time”.–Booklist. American Bookseller Pick of the Lists; NCSS-CBC Notable Children’s Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies; Bank Street Child Study Children’s Book Assn. Children’s Book of the Year.

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

T4: A Novel

It is 1939. Paula Becker, thirteen years old and deaf, lives with her family in a rural German town. As rumors swirl of disabled children quietly disappearing, a priest comes to her family’s door with an offer to shield Paula from an uncertain fate. When the sanctuary he offers is fleeting, Paula needs to call upon all her strength to stay one step ahead of the Nazis.

See the review at WOW Review, Volume 3, Issue 2

Blue Mountain Trouble

After being saved from a disastrous landslide by an extraordinary goat that blocks their usual way to school, twins Pollyread and Jackson, living with their parents high in the mountains of Jamaica, find the strange goat reappearing at crucial intervals as their day-to-day life is changed by series of mysterious events involving the return of a local troublemaker and secrets from their family’s past.