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Nancy's picks for the best junior novels
of winter 2002-2003. Compiled by Nancy Polette © 2002.
Last updated: Saturday, November 30, 2002 |
- Bauer, Marion Dane. RUNT. Clarion Books, 2002. Gr 4-6.
- The smallest wolf pup, Runt, struggles to learn the ways of
the wild, often making mistakes, many of them serious.
- Cannon, A.E. CHARLOTTE'S
ROSE. Wendy Lamb Books, 2002. Gr 4-7.
- A twelve-year-old girl looks after an orphaned baby on the
Morman trail as the pioneers push their carts from Iowa City to
Utah.
- Cindrich, Lisa. IN THE SHADOW OF
THE PALI. Putnam, 2002. Gr 5-8
- Liliha is sent to Molokai because she is a leper. This
harrowing tale is one of survival and hope. Can the 12 year old
survive? A well told tale.
- Crowe, Chris. MISSISSIPPI TRIAL,
1955. Phyllis Fogelmann Books, 2002.
- Based on the true story of Emmett Till whose tragic murder
helped to spark the Civil Rights movement.
- Cutler, Jane. LEAP
FROG. Farrar, 2002. Gr 3-4
- Edward and Jason see trouble coming when a karate-chopping
first grade kid moves in next door, especially when the kid wants
to stick to Edward like glue.
- Datlow, Edden & Windling, Terri Ed. THE GREEN MAN; TALES FROM THE MYTHIC
FOREST. Viking, 2002. Gr 5-8
- Spirits of nature interpreted in fiction and poetry.
- Dahlberg, Maurine. THE SPIRIT AND
GILLY BUCKET. Farrar, 2002. Gr 4-7
- In 1854 whenher mother dies, Gilly Bucket, is sent to her
Uncle's farm where she doesn't fit in. Her uncle has slaves which
Gilly knows is wrong. Gilly learns about the Underground Railroad
but finds, too, there is a lot she doesn't know when she attempts
to find her father.
- Easton, Richard. A REAL
AMERICAN. Clarion, 2002. Gr 5-7
- When immigrants arrive at a coal mining town, prejudice rears
its head until two boys show that being an American has nothing to
do with color, religion or language.
- Ferreria, Anton. ZULU
DOG. Farrar, 2002. Gr 4-7
- A poor Zulu boy adopts a helpless puppy who is mauled by a
leopard and loses a leg. The novel depicts post-apartheid South
Africa with honesty and compassion,
- Funke, Cornelia. THE THIEF
LORD. Scholastic, 2002
- Brothers run away and manage to survive in Venice, Italy with
the help of The Thief Lord who has secrets that can be
devastating. An exciting read!
- Garden, Nancy. MEETING
MELANIE. Farrar, 2002. Gr 5-7.
- Allie's family is poor, Melanie's family is rich. Can the two
girls form a friendship that will withstand the secrets of one
family?
- George, Jean Craighead. TREE
CASTLE ISLAND. HarperCollins, 2002. Gr 4-7
- A young boy sets out in a handmade canoe to search for a
mythical Paradise Island deep in a swamp and stumbles across some
very unusual mysteries.
- Gilson, Jamie. STINK
ALLEY. HarperCollins, 2002. Gr. 5-7.
- A spunky heroine in 17th century Holland in a culture that
fostered both the Mayflower Pilgrims and master painters such as
Rembrandt.
- Gurney, James. DINOTOPIA. HarperCollins, 2002.Gr
4-8
- A trip to a mysterious island helps visitors gain insight into
their own world. Meet 50 ton dinosurs, aquatic cities and tree
towns in this strange world.
- Hobbs, Will. WILD MAN
ISLAND. HarperCollins, 2002. Gr. 4-6
- Andy must survive in the Alaskan wilderness and follows a dog
to a cave..a Wild Man's lair.
- Ibbotson, Eva. THE GREAT GHOST
RESCUE. Dutton, 2002. Gr 4-7
- Humphrey, a ghost, and his ghost family are driven out of an
old castle. In their search for a new place to haunt they meet the
homeless ghosts and a boy who takes their cause to the Prime
Minister who throws the ghosts into the care of an evil Lord. It
is up to Humphrey to save the day.
- Jones, Diana Wynne. WITCH'S
BUSINESS. Greenwillow, 2002. Gr 5-8
- To earn money Jess and Frank start a business to help people
get revenge. The local witch sees this as competition to her
business and trouble is not far away.
- Keehn, Sally M. ANNA
SUNDAY. Philomel, 2002. Gr 4-7
- The Civil War is raging and a determined girl sets out across
enemy lines to find her wounded father and bring him home.
Kinsey-
- Warnock, Natalie. A DOCTOR LIKE
PAPA. HarperCollins, 2002. Gr 3-6
- In a time when women were not a part of the medical world,
Margaret longs to be a doctor just like her father. Then a
terrible virus breaks out, threatening her dream.
- Koller, Jackie French.
SOMEDAY. Orchard Books, 2002. Gr 4-7
- How three generations of women cope with wrenching change as
their small town disappears in 1938.
- Levin, Betty. THAT'LL DO,
MOSS. Greenwillow, 2002. Gr 4-6
- An injured dog, a determined girl and a sheepherding contest
come together to make a touching tale.
- Lowry, Lois. GOONEY BIRD
GREENE. Houghton-Mifflin, 2002. Gr 2-4.
- Second grader, Gooney Bird is different and so are her
"absolutely true" tales.
- Morgenstern, Susie. PRINCESSES ARE
PEOPLE, TOO. Viking, 2002. Gr 3-6
- Two charming stories of princesses who are lonely and bored
and do something about it.
- Nickerson, Sara. HOW TO DISAPPEAR
COMPLETELY AND NEVER BE FOUND. HarperCollins,
2002. Gr 4-7.
- How can her father's death, her mother's silence and an old
abandoned mansion be related? Margaret is determined to find out.
- Snyder, Zilpha Keatley. THE GHOSTS
OF RATHBURN PARK. Delacorte, 2002 Gr 4-7.
- Matt, new in town, gets lost in Rathburn Park and meets a girl
and a dog that don't exist.
- Taylor, Theodore. LORD OF THE
KILL. Blue Sky Press, 2002. Gr 5-8
- In a big cat preserve two jaguars are covered with blood and a
human body is in their home. Is it murder? A suspenseful tale that
reveals the senseless slaughter of endangered animals for sport
and the poaching of endangered tigers by organized crime groups.
- Wiley, Melissa. THE ROAD TO
ROXBURY. HarperCollins, 2002. Gr 4-7
- The story of Charlotte Tucker, Laura Ingalls Wilder's
grandmother, a little eastern girl who would grow up to move west
to the frontier.
- Wood, Frances M. DAUGHTER OF THE
MADRUGADA. Delacorte Press, 2002. Gr. 4-7.
- The ranch, which is Cesa's world is changing. Mexico has lost
the 1846 war with the United States and each day more and more
Americans arrive in California, hungry for gold and land. Cesa's
family's way of life is threatened.
- Wisler, G. Clifton, KING'S
MOUNTAIN. HarperCollins, 2002. Gr 4-6.
- The Revolutionary War is raging and young Francis must watch
his every move as he serves the enemy in his grandmother's tavern.
- Woods, Brenda. THE RED ROSE
BOX. Putnam, 2002. Gr 4-6
- Leah finds life with hre Aunt Olivia a far cry from the
cottonfields of Louisiana but is it possible to grow up between
two worlds?
- Yolen, Jane and Robert J. Harris. GIRL IN A CAGE. Philomel, 2002. Gr
5-8.
- Marjorie, the 11 year old daughter of Robert the Bruce, is
captured and put in a wooden cage in the town square, exposed to
wind and rain, rude taunts and hurled garbage. Still she is
determined to stand up to Longshanks.
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