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Pretty Pearl
Virginia Hamilton

The Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearl

Genre:
Historical Fiction
Age Level:
Middle Grade

Craving knowledge about mankind, Pretty Pearl, a god-child who lives on a mountain-top in Africa, transforms herself into a human and stows away on a slave ship bound for America. What will she discover about the true nature of people?

magic fish
Trung Le Nguyen

The Magic Fish

Genre:
Fiction
Age Level:
Middle Grade, YA

Vietnamese American teen Tien and his mother like to read fairy tales together to learn English, yet Tien struggles to find the right words to come out to his parents as gay.

 

The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam
Ann Marie Fleming

The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam

Genre:
Autobiography and Memoir, Biography, Nonfiction
Age Level:
YA

In his day, Long Tack Sam was an acrobat, a magician, an entrepreneur, a world traveler, a celebrity, a father, a ladies man, and a husband. This graphic collage biography pairs narrative writing, handbills, photographs, and news clippings along with interviews, comics, and commentary to convey the inevitable effects of cultural shifts and global politics on individual lives.

The Magical Reality of Nadia
Bassem Youssef, Catherine R. Daly

The Magical Reality of Nadia (the Magical Reality of Nadia #1)

Genre:
Fiction
Age Level:
Middle Grade

Nadia loves fun facts. Here are a few about her:

- She collects bobbleheads — she has 77 so far.

- She moved from Egypt to America when she was six years old.

- The hippo amulet she wears is ancient… as in it’s literally from ancient Egypt.

- She’s going to win the contest to design a new exhibit at the local museum. Because how cool would that be?!

(Okay, so that last one isn’t a fact just yet, but Nadia has plans to make it one.)

But then a new kid shows up and teases Nadia about her Egyptian heritage. It’s totally unexpected, and totally throws her off her game. And something else happens that Nadia can’t explain: Her amulet starts glowing! She soon discovers that the hippo is holding a hilarious — and helpful — secret. Can she use it to confront the new kid and win the contest?

Includes sections of black-and-white comics as well as lively black-and-white illustrations throughout.

 

the man in the woods
Rosemary Wells

The Man in the Woods

Genre:
Fiction, Mystery / Crime
Age Level:
Middle Grade

When a high school freshman witnesses a man’s crime, and follows him into the woods to investigate the case, she finds herself in the middle of an intricate web of town secrets…and a lot of danger.

The Man-Eating Tigers of Sundarbans
Sy Montgomery

The Man-Eating Tigers of Sundarbans

Genre:
Nonfiction

Why tigers that live on the Sundarbans Tiger Reserve (on the Bay of Bengal) feast regularly on men (preferred over females) is a mystery studied by scientists and the subject of much local lore. And it makes riveting reading as it unfolds in the capable hands of this author. The region and its unusual treasures are further explored in a book for adults (and young adults), Spell of the Tiger: The Man-Eaters of Sundarbans(opens in a new window).

 

The Marvels
Brian Selznick

The Marvels

Genre:
Historical Fiction

The journey begins at sea in 1766, with a boy named Billy Marvel. After surviving a shipwreck, he finds work in a London theatre. Nearly a century later, runaway Joseph Jervis seeks refuge with an uncle in London. Albert Nightingale’s strange, beautiful house captivates Joseph and leads him on a search for clues about the house, his family, and the past. A gripping adventure and an intriguing invitation to decipher how the two stories connect

the-master-puppeteer
Katherine Paterson

The Master Puppeteer

Genre:
Historical Fiction

Jiro becomes an apprentice puppeteer during a difficult time in Osaka, Japan. Though clumsy for a puppeteer, Jiro has other qualities that help him overcome grave situations and solve a dangerous mystery.

The Middle of Everywhere: Helping Refugees Enter the American Community
Mary Pipher

The Middle of Everywhere: Helping Refugees Enter the American Community

Genre:
Nonfiction
Age Level:
YA

They come from Laos, Bosnia, Northern Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, and the former Soviet Union. War-scarred refugees, searching for freedom, move into cities across the American heartland to face one more challenge — adjusting to life in a strange new land.

The Midnight Charter
David Whitley

The Midnight Charter

Genre:
Fantasy, Science fiction / Dystopian
Age Level:
Middle Grade

In this first of a series fantasy, two children (children are possessions until their 12th birthday), Lily and Mark, cross paths when they both find themselves in the service of an astrologer, but they each have other plans: Mark outsmarts his master and learns how to thrive in barter system; Lily chooses to strike out on her own in an unheard of direction-she starts a charity.