Intermediate (ages 9-14)

Material appropriate for intermediate age groups

Escape from Shangri-La

When the strange man who has been watching their house turns out to be the grandfather she has never seen, eleven-year-old Cessie couldn’t be happier — at first sight. But then he has a stroke and actually has to come live with them. Popsicle, as she calls him, is impossible to live with: moody, forgetful, clumsy. Only Cessie loves him and believes in him. So when he is sent off to a home for the elderly, she helps him escape. And plays first mate to him on a dramatic nighttime boat trip across the English channel to unravel a secret only the two of them know. This Morpurgo story makes the reader want to cheer — young people, the elderly, and courage at any age.

Twist of Gold

Carrying a torc, a golden necklace symbolizing their clan, for good luck, Sean and Annie O’Brien embark on a dangerous voyage in search of their father, traveling from famine-torn Ireland to America. By the author of Waiting for Anya.

The Adventures of Tintin: Tintin in America / Cigars of the Pharaoh / The Blue Lotus (3 Complete Adventures In One Volume, Vol. 1)

As all Tintin fans know, once you’ve read one of his terrific adventures, you’ve got to read another and then another. Each of these collections contains three classic and fully complete Tintin adventures. Packed with all the color, wit, and derring-do that has made Tintin one of the world’s most beloved comic characters, these books are easy to carry and fun to read. each.

Dancing through the Shadows

Into the pattern of Ellen’s days, filled with dance practice and vacation plans, comes an unwelcome surprise: her mother has breast cancer. Suddenly her family’s life hinges on endless rounds of hospital visits and support groups, cancer nurses and chemotherapy. Ellen learns to cope with her mother’s illness as she helps uncover an ancient secret that holds special meaning for her. As they work and learn together, her friends and teachers guide her through her own healing process shaped by life-giving water and life-affirming dance. In Dancing Through the Shadows, Theresa Tomlinson describes a family faced with a devastating crisis.

Ten Things I Hate About Me

“At school I’m Aussie-blonde Jamie — one of the crowd. At home I’m Muslim Jamilah — driven mad by my Stone Age dad. I should win an Oscar for my acting skills. But I can’t keep it up for much longer…” Jamie just wants to fit in. She doesn’t want to be seen as a stereotypical Muslim girl, so she does everything possible to hide that part of herself. Even if it means pushing her friends away because she’s afraid to let them know her dad forbids her from hanging out with boys or that she secretly loves to play the darabuka (Arabic drums). But when the cutest boy in school asks her out and her friends start to wonder about Jamie’s life outside of school, her secrets threaten to explode. Can Jamie figure out how to be both Jamie and Jamilah before she loses everything?

Finn’s Search

Although he is afraid of Andrew Aldie, twelve-year-old Chris Cooper agrees to help his friend Finn Lochlan look for a way to stop Andrew’s father from opening a gravel pit near their Scottish village.

At the Sign of the Star

The tale of a bookseller’s daughter, Meg Moore is the motherless and only child of a bookseller with a thriving business in Restoration London-and that makes her an heiress. She knows that someday she will have her pick of suitors, and that with the right husband she can continue in the book trade and be friends with wits and authors, as her father is. But Mr. Moore’s unexpected marriage throws all Meg’s dreams into confusion. Meg resists the overtures and edicts of her stepmother with a cleverness equaled only by her fierceness, but in spite of it all her rival’s belly soon swells with what Meg fears will be her father’s new heir. Meg seeks wisdom from almanacs and astrologers, plays and books of jests, guides for ladies and guides for midwives. Yet it is through her own experience that she finds a new matrimony with which to face her unknown future. This vibrant novel recreates a lively and fascinating historical period when women claimed a new and more active role in London’s literary scene.

A Meeting Of Minds

“How dare these authors put us in a book? Believe me, I’m going to give them a piece of my mind.” It was a good idea, Coren told himself. Assuming, of course, that Lenora could actually find a piece of her mind that they didn’t already have in their possession. Suddenly transported against their will, the Princess Lenora and her fiancé, Prince Coren, find themselves in a strange place — bone-chilling cold and snow outside, garish marketplaces and angry people inside. The inhabitants call it the city of Winnipeg. Lenora and Coren, however, have no idea where it is or why they are there. They can’t return home because, yet again, their imaginitive powers have deserted them. The Winnipeggers refuse to believe Lenora and Coren are who they say they are. Strangely enough, though, they have read about Lenora and Coren in a series of fantasy novels by the authors Carol M. and Perry N. But just who created whom, Lenora and Coren wonder. And how will they ever manage to escape this frightening city, worse than their worst nightmare, so that their long-awaited wedding can finally take place?