Intermediate (ages 9-14)

Material appropriate for intermediate age groups

Lety Out Loud

Lety Muñoz’s first language is Spanish, and she likes to take her time putting her words together. She loves volunteering at the Furry Friends Animal Shelter because the dogs and cats there don’t care if she can’t always find the right word. When the shelter needs a volunteer to write animal profiles, Lety jumps at the chance. But grumpy classmate Hunter also wants to write profiles — so now they have to work as a team. Hunter’s not much of a team player, though. He devises a secret competition to decide who will be the official shelter scribe. Whoever helps get their animals adopted the fastest wins. The loser scoops dog food. Lety reluctantly agrees, but she’s worried that if the shelter finds out about the contest, they’ll kick her out of the volunteer program. Then she’ll never be able to adopt Spike, her favorite dog at the shelter!

This book has been included in WOW’s Language and Learning: Children’s and Young Adult Fiction Booklist. For our current list, visit our Booklist page under Resources in the green navigation bar.

Orphaned

Snub is a young female gorilla, somewhat jealous because her mother is occupied with a new baby, curious of the world around her, a world that is being reshaped by shaking ground and mountains that bleed fire, and most terrifyingly by a new form of predator that walks on two legs; when her mother is killed Snub finds herself in charge of her baby brother–and accompanied by one of the not-gorillas, a very young female who has been orphaned by the violence of her own kind.

Olympians Hephaistos

Thrown from Mount Olympus as a newborn and caught by Thetis and Eurynome, who raised him on the island of Lemnos, Hephaistos had an aptitude for creating beautiful objects from a very young age. Despite his rejection from Olympus, he swallowed his anger and spent his days perfecting his craft. His exquisitely forged gifts and weapons earned him back his seat in the heavens, but he was not treated as an equal―his brothers and sisters looked down at him for his lame leg, and even his own wife, Aphrodite, was disloyal. In this installment of George O’Connor’s bestselling Olympians graphic novel series, witness Hephaistos’ wrath in God of Fire as he creates a plan that’ll win him the respect he deserves.

The Language Of Spells

Grisha the dragon is born in the Black Forest in 1803, the last year any dragon was born, and while young he was trapped by the emperor’s sorcerer, and turned into a teapot, which was frustrating but kept him alive while magic and other dragons were disappearing–until one day he meets Maggie, a poet’s daughter, and the two of them set out to discover what happened to all the other dragons.

Code Word Courage

In September 1944 eleven-year-old Billie lives with her great aunt, Doff, eagerly waiting for her older brother Leo to return from boot camp, and desperate to find the father that left when she was little; but Leo brings a friend with him, a Navajo named Denny, and the injured dog they have rescued and named Bear–and when the two young men go off to war Bear becomes the thread that ties them all together, and helps Billie to find a true friend.

Magnificent Birds

From the bird of paradise that performs an extravagant courtship dance in the rain forest to the bar-tailed godwit that flies thousands of miles across the ocean without stopping, readers can learn about incredible birds from all over the world with this strikingly illustrated gift book. In stylish linocut prints, Narisa Togo captures the beauty of both rare and familiar winged creatures from every part of the globe, presenting Japanese cranes, kakapos from New Zealand, and Andean flamingos, among the fourteen graceful birds on display. Attractive and informative, this celebration of magnificent birds around the world will set hearts soaring — a perfect book for avid bird-watchers and art lovers alike.

Love To Everyone

In 1902 England, Clarry and Peter struggle with the challenges of living with an indifferent father, but the summers they spend in Cornwall with their grandparents and cousin Rupert provide much needed comfort, and in the years that follow Clarry looks back on those leisurely days to help her cope with the trying times of World War I and its aftermath.

The War Below

Luka, a Ukrainian boy working in a slave labor camp, plays dead after an explosion at the factory and escapes, eventually joining a resistance group that opposes both the Nazis and the Soviets, and through the danger of the guerilla fighting he has two overriding goals–find out if his parents are still alive, and reunite with Lida, a girl who was a friend in the labor camp.