Dying to Meet You: 43 Cemetery Road, Book 1 by Kate Klise

Ghost writer, Ignatius B. Grumply rents 43 Old Cemetery Road in Ghastly, Illinois, hoping to find some peace and quiet so he can break his writer's block. But the three-story, run-down, Victorian house is already occupied by eleven-year-old Seymour, his cat Shadow, and an irritable ghost named Olive.

The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau by Dan Yaccarino

Jacques Cousteau was the world’s ambassador of the oceans. His popular TV series brought whales, otters, and dolphins right into people’s living rooms. Now, in this exciting picturebook biography, Dan Yaccarino introduces young readers to the man behind the snorkel.

From the first moment he got a glimpse of what lived under the ocean’s waves, Cousteau was hooked. And so he set sail aboard the Calypso to see the sea. He and his team of scientists invented diving equipment and waterproof cameras. They made films and televisions shows and wrote books so they could share what they learned. The oceans were a vast unexplored world, and Cousteau became our guide. And when he saw that pollution was taking its toll on the seas, Cousteau became our guide in how to protect the oceans as well.

The Hinky Pink: An Old Tale by Megan McDonald

When Princess Isabella Caramella Gorgonzola sends for Anabel to make her a dress for the Butterfly Ball, Anabel’s dream is about to come true. With one week only to make the dress, Anabel must get her sleep. Each night something pinches her and steals her bed covers. If Anabel can’t determine who or what is pinching and how to make it happy, her dream of one of her dresses being worn to a ball will never come true.

Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate

Kek, an African refugee, is confronted by many strange things at the Minneapolis home of his aunt and cousin, as well as in his fifth-grade classroom, and longs for his missing mother, but finds comfort in the company of a cow and her owner.

Jake Ransom and the Skull King’s Shadow by James Rollins

When a mysterious envelope arrives for Jake Ransom, he and his older sister, Kady, are plunged into a gripping chain of events. An artifact found by their parents—on the expedition from which they never returned—leads Jake and Kady to a strange world inhabited by a peculiar mix of long-lost civilizations, a world that may hold the key to their parents' disappearance.

But even as they enter the gate to this extraordinary place, savage grackyls soar across the sky, diving to attack. Jake's new friends, the pretty Mayan girl Marika and the Roman Pindor, say the grackyls were created by an evil alchemist—the Skull King. And as Jake struggles to find a way home, it becomes obvious that what the Skull King wants most is Jake and Kady—dead or alive.

Mudshark by Gary Paulsen

Mudshark is cool. He's fast-thinking and fast-moving, and with his photographic memory, he's the go-to guy with the answers. Lost your shoe? Your dad's car? Can't find your homework? Ask Mudshark. At least, until the Psychic Parrot takes up residence in the school library.


The word in school is that the parrot can out-think Mudshark. And right now, the school needs someone who's good at solving problems. There's an escaped gerbil running the halls, a near-nuclear emergency in the faculty restroom, and an unexplained phenomenon involving disappearing erasers. Once Mudshark solves the mystery of the erasers, he plans to investigate the Psychic Parrot. . . .

Pirates by David Harrison

We were a rough and tumble lot, not at all like you see in the movies. A collection of poems describes the highs and lows of a pirate's life at sea.