Display: Dear Diary

Pippa Morgan's Diary
By Annie Kelsey

When Pippa tells a small lie to impress her best friend, she is entered into the school talent show even though she cannot sing at all.

Tales From a Not-So-Happily Ever After
By Rachel Renee Russell

A bump on the head suffered during gym class causes middle school drama queen Nikki Maxwell to have a crazy dream where all of her acquaintances assume the roles of familiar fairy tale characters.

Amelia's Notebook
By Marissa Moss

The hand-lettered contents of a nine-year-old girl's notebook, in which she records her thoughts and feelings about moving, starting school, and dealing with her older sister as well as keeping her old best friend and making a new one.

Early Sunday Morning: The Pearl Harbor Diary of Amber Billows
By Barry Denenberg

In her diary, twelve-year-old Amber describes moving to Hawaii in 1941 and experiencing the horror of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

The Journal of Biddy Owens, The Negro Leagues
By Walter Dean Myers

Teenager Biddy Owens' 1948 journal about working for the Birmingham Black Barons includes the games and the players, racism the team faces from New Orleans to Chicago, and his family's resistance to his becoming a professional baseball player.

Mary, Queen of Scots, Queen Without a Country
By Kathryn Lasky

Mary, the young Scottish queen, is sent a diary from her mother in which she records her experiences living at the court of France's King Henry II as she awaits her marriage to Henry's son, Francis.

Lady Ch'iao Kuo: Warrior of the South
By Laurence Yep

In 531 A.D., a fifteen-year-old princess of the Hsien tribe in southern China keeps a diary which describes her role as liaison between her own people and the local Chinese colonists, in times of both peace and war.

Blood Diaries: Tales of a 6th-Grade Vampire
By Marissa Moss

Middle school is tough enough for normal humans, but when you're a vampire, it's even more challenging. Edgar rises to the occasion with wit, humor, and some help from his friends.

Secret at Mystic Lake
By Carolyn Keene

To celebrate her birthday, George is taking Nancy and Bess on a bike tour around Mystic Lake, but when their tour guide disappears and unknown adversaries steal their supplies and slash their tires, Nancy begins looking for clues.

Harriet the Spy
By Louise Fitzhugh

Eleven-year-old Harriet keeps notes on her classmates and neighbors in a secret notebook, but when some of the students read the notebook, they seek revenge.

Hatched
By Bruce Coville

Gerald the griffin isn't brave enough or fierce enough to fit in with the other griffins of the Enchanted Realm. When he runs away to the human world. he finds himself up to his beak in trouble, friendship, and fun!

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Five Faves: Mysterious High-Low Intermediate Books

Intermediate Mystery books are a gold mine. High-low books refer to titles that are of high interest to readers, but contain low level vocabulary. These titles are clever, action-packed, and have several books in the series to keep the mystery alive. These intermediate mystery books are the first in their series and are sure to appease any mystery loving reader. The Ghost Tree Written by Natasha Deen Illustrated by Lissy Marlin New York: Random House Children's Books, 2022. Intermediate. 95 pages. With a dash of paranormal mixed with mystery, this book introduces Asim, a Guyanese American fourth grader who moves to a new town. After a visit to a graveyard, an evil spirit is unleashed. Asim works with new friends, Rokshar and Max, to save their town. With scarily cool illustrations to accompany this text, this book is great for any amateur sleuths who love a touch of creepy. Detective Duck: The Case of the Strange Splash Written by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver Illustrated by Dan San

Display: Dino-mite Reads

Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs By Mo Willems New York: Balzar + Bray, 2012. Picture Book. "Once upon a time, there were three hungry Dinosaurs: Papa Dinosaur, Mama Dinosaur . . . and a Dinosaur who happened to be visiting from Norway. One day--for no particular reason--they decided to tidy up their house, make the beds, and prepare pudding of varying temperatures. And then--for no particular reason--they decided to go . . . someplace else. They were definitely not setting a trap for some succulent, unsupervised little girl. Definitely not!" --Editor Smart Vs. Strong! Written by Jill Esbaum Illustrated by Miles Thompson New York: Simon Spotlight, 2021. Easy Reader. 64 pages. "When Thunder gets stuck in quicksand, Cluck uses his smarts to free his friend." --Editor How Dinosaurs Went Extinct Written by Ame Dyckman Illustrated by Jennifer Harney New York: Brown and Company, 2023. Picture Book. "When a child in a museum asks how dinosaurs became extinct, Dad co

Review: The Enigma Girls

The Enigma Girls By Candace Fleming New York: Scholastic Focus, 2024. Informational. 371 pages. If you have an interest in little known aspects of history or in World War II in particular, this book is for you. The Enigma Girls tells the story of 10 young women who worked at Station X at Bletchley Park in England helping to break ciphers during World War II. Each of the girls grew up in different circumstances, and thus, each worked at in a different part of Station X cracking codes. The reader learns about how Station X worked through the stories of each of the girls. Whether it was transcribing the Morse code messages that the Germans were sending to their armies or decoding, translating, or paraphrasing messages, each girl had a part to play. The stories of the girls are intermixed with plenty of photographs as well as special chapters about how to decode various types of ciphers. Learning about Station X through the eyes of the girls that worked there helps the reader gain a huma

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