Paperbacks

Picture Books | Younger Fiction | Intermediate Fiction |
Young Adult Fiction | Poetry | Nonfiction

The paperbacks listed below are recommended titles recently received in the Horn Book offices. Grade levels are only suggestions; the individual child is the real criterion.

Picture Books
Suggested grade level listed with each entry

Keeper of Soles by Teresa Bateman, illustrated by Yayo (Holiday)
When Death comes calling, aging master-shoemaker Colin tries to trick him buying some more time. Grade level: K-3 32 pages

Nine Ducks Nine by Sarah Hayes (Candlewick)
In a satisfying counting-down book, nine gawky, energetic ducks outwit a fox by luring him to a rickety bridge. Grade level: K-3. 26 pages

Ms. Frizzle's Adventures: Imperial China by Joanna Cole, illustrated by Bruce Degan (Scholastic)
With a watch that functions as a time machine, Ms. Frizzle leads three youngsters back a thousand years into China's past. Grade level: K-3. 48 pages

Younger Fiction
Suggested grade level for each entry: 1–3

Please Write in This Book by Mary Amato, illustrated by Eric Brace (Holiday)
Discover what happens when Ms. Wurtz assigns her class to collectively fill a notebook with poems, drawings, and stories. 97 pages.

Missy Violet & Me by Barbara Hathaway (Houghton)
To work off a family debt, eleven-year old Viney goes to spend the summer with Missy Violet, the local midwife, to learn about "catchin' babies." 100 pages.

Judy Moody around the World in 8 1/2 Days by Megan McDonald, illustrated by
Peter H. Reynolds (Candlewick)
Third-grader Judy befriends new girl Amy Namey and neglects her old friends, Rocky and Frank. 158 pages.

Clementine by Sara Pennypacker, illustrated by Marla Frazee (Hyperion)
Spunky third-grader Clementine feels lucky that spectacular ideas (like cutting her friend's hair) are continually "sproinging up" in her brain, but her parents and other adults don't feel the same way. 136 pages.

Intermediate Fiction
Suggested grade level for each entry: 4–6

Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce (Harper)
When paintings from London's National Gallery, which has suffered flood damage, are temporarily relocated to narrator Dylan Hughes's Welsh hometown, it seems to be just what the former slate-mining community needs to improve its self-image. 308 pages.

Free Baseball by Sue Corbett (Puffin)
In a fast-paced, engaging story, eleven-year-old Felix knows almost nothing about his father, a baseball star who stayed behind when Felix and his mother left Cuba. After Felix runs away with a minor league Florida team, his mother finally realizes his passion for the game and reveals how his father risked everything to get them to America. 152 pages.

Space Station Rat by Michael J. Daley (Holiday)
Lab-escapee Rat meets twelve-year-old human Jeff on a space ship, and the adventures begin. 182 pages.

Water Street by Patricia Reilly Giff (Random)
The story begun in Nory Ryan's Song continues: it's now 1875, and Nory is a hardworking healer/midwife; her thirteen-year-old daughter Bird aspires to be just like her. 164 pages.

The Road to Paris by Nikki Grimes (Puffin)
Mixed-race foster child Paris goes to live with the Lincoln family in upstate New York, but when her biological mother comes back for her who will she choose? 153 pages.

The Cat with the Yellow Star: Coming of Age in Terezin by Susan Goldman Rubin, with Ela Weissberger (Holiday)
Relying on such well-documented sources as interviews with Terezin survivor Weissberger, Rubin extends the story she told in Fireflies in the Dark focusing on the children's concentration camp production of Hans Krása's opera, Brundibár. Ind. 40 pages.

House of the Red Fish by Graham Salisbury (Random)
In this sequel to Under the Blood-Red Sun, Tomi has one dream: to raise and repair his father's sunken fishing boat. 293 pages.

Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley, illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline (Harper)
A new twist on the story of Cinderella. 278 pages.

Young Adult Fiction
Suggested grade level for each entry: 7 and up

Search and Destroy by Dean Hughes (Simon)
Through journal entries, we learn about Rick, a new high school graduate who enlists in the army and is sent to Vietnam. 216 pages.

Girl, (Nearly) 16, Absolute Torture by Sue Limb ( Random)
Jess (Girl, 15, Charming but Insane) can't wait to spend summer break with her new boyfriend--until her mum decides on an extended tour of England, culminating in a visit with Jess's father. 217 pages.

The Legend of Bass Reeves: Being the True and Fictional Account of the Most Valiant Marshal in the West by Gary Paulsen (Random)
Paulsen constructs a coming-of-age narrative for Bass Reeves, an African American federal marshal who served in the Indian Territory in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. 137 pages.

Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins (HarperTrophy)
Perkins's explores the stories of a 1970s small a floating third person perspective. 337 pages.

Accidental Love by Gary Soto (Harcourt)
Ninth-grader Marisa Rodriguez accidentally switches cell phones with someone. When they meet to exchange phones, she finds herself falling for Rene, a skinny nerd who needs both her protection and her love. 179 pages.

How I Changed My Life by Todd Strasser (Simon)
Alternating chapters narrated by two high school seniors describe how they change their lives.186 pages.

Poetry
Suggested grade level listed with each entry

Hey There, Stink Bug! by Leslie Bulion, illustrated by Leslie Evans (Charlesbridge)
Each of the nineteen poems in this slim volume takes a different poetic form to convey information on the bug in question. Grade level: 4-6. 45 pages.

Good Dog by Maya Gottfried, illustrated by Robert Rahway Zakanitch (Random)
Learn what dogs are thinking in these amusing and thoughtful poems from the perspectives of sixteen different canine characters. Grade level: K-3. 40 pages.

Nonfiction
Suggested grade level listed with each entry

Up Close: Robert F. Kennedy by Marc Aronson (Viking)
Not your average biography, this is meaty fare, sure to satisfy readers looking for something more than a hero portrait. Grade level: 4-6. 202 pages.

The Inside-Outside Book of Libraries by Julie Cummins, illustrated by Roxie Munro (Random)
A broad spectrum of libraries are explored with a unique perspective. Grade level: K-3. 48 pages.

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