2007 - 2008 Winter Junior Novels

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Nancy's picks for the best junior novels of Winter 2007 - 2008. Compiled by Nancy Polette © 2008.

Last updated: Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Avi. IRON THUNDER: A CIVIL WAR NOVEL. Hyperion, 2007. Grades 5-8
The battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac.

Barrows, Annie. THE MAGIC HALF. Bloomsbury, 2008. Grades 4-6
A piece of glass reveals another world and a girl waiting there who needs Miiri's help.

Bartoletti, Susan C. THE BOY WHO DARED. Scholastic, Grades 5-8.
Based on the life of a German youth who dared to standup to the Nazi regime.

Coleman, Evelyn. FREEDOM TRAIN. McElderry Books, 2008. Grades 5-8
The Freedom Train is passing through all 48 states with important documents everyone can see. Clyde's brother is one of the guards on the train and Clyde has been chosen to recite the Freedom Pledge when the train arrives in Atlanta. But bullies and racial tensions interfere. Clyde finds he must find the courage to make a difficult choice.

Cox, Judy. Puppy POWER. Holiday House, 2008. Grades 2-4
Fran knows she is best at everything except making friends but she has her dog, Hercules for company. The part she receives in the school play depends on her curbing her bullying behavior. Can she do it?

Kandel, Charlotte. THE SCARLET STOCKINGS. Dutton, 2008. Grades 5-8
Daphne realized that in the competitive world of ballet there are many challenges to be faced including the scheming of others and her own childhood demons of loneliness and insecurity.

Hennesy, Carolyn. PANDORA GETS JEALOUS. Bloomsury, 2008.
Curious Pandy opens a box to unleash seven kinds of evil on the world and is ordered to collect all the evils within six months.

Lewis, J. Patrick. THE WORLD'S GREATEST POEMS. Illustrated by Keith Graves. Chronicle Books, 2008. Grades 2-6
Poems about zany records: Who has kissed the most cobras, eaten the most live scorpions, been stuck the longest in an elevator?

McMullan, Margaret. WHEN I CROSSED NO-BOB. Houghton-Mifflin, 2007. Grades 4-6.
Abandoned Addie is taken in by Mr. Frank and his new wife. Then a terrible event drags her back into No Bob and the disreputable O'Donnell clan.

O'Connor, Barbara. GREETINGS FROM NOWHERE. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 2008, Grades 5-7
Aggie is ready to sell her motel which does almost no business when a variety of guests arrive and find just what they need in a shabby motel in the middle of nowhere.

Smith, Roland. ELEPHANT RUN. Hyperion, 2007. Grades 5-8
World War Two and the Japanese invasion of Burma means the arrest of Nick's father and a daring escape for Nick and his friend, Myra.

Snyder, Zilpha Keatly. THE BRONZE PEN. Atheneum, 2008.
What would happen if the words you wrote with a magic pen came true? Is the bronze pen really a gift or a curse?

Springer, Nancy. THE CASE OF THE BIZARRE BOUQUETS. Philomel, 2008. Grades 4-7
A bizarre bouquet means death and young Enola Holmes fears that the missing Dr. Watson may be the victim. It is up to her to stop disaster from happening.

Wulffson, Don. THE GOLDEN RAT. Bloomsbury, 2007. Grades 6-9
Baoliu is falsely accused of murder and sentenced to death. No one believes in his innocence and no one will defend him. How can he escape an almost certain fate? A hard-to-put down murder mystery.