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t's 1863 and dinosaurs roam the streets of New York as the Civil War rages between raptor-mounted armies down South. Magdalys Roca and her friends from the Colored Orphan Asylum are on a field trip when the Draft Riots break out, and a number of their fellow orphans are kidnapped by an evil magistrate, Richard Riker. Magdalys and her friends flee to Brooklyn and settle in the Dactyl Hill neighborhood, where black and brown New Yorkers have set up an independent community -- a safe haven from the threats of Manhattan. Together with the Vigilance Committee, they train to fly on dactylback, discover new friends and amazing dinosaurs, and plot to take down Riker. Can Magdalys and the squad rescue the rest of their friends before it's too late?
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The Library of Unruly Treasures by Jeanne BirdsallGwen MacKinnon's parents are dreadful. Truly, deeply, almost impressively dreadful. So Gwen's not upset at all when she's foisted onto her never-before-seen Uncle Matthew for two weeks. Especially when it turns out he has a very opinionated dog named Pumpkin.
Things take a turn for the weird when Gwen makes a discovery in the local library. A discovery that involves tiny creatures with wings. And no, they're not birds. They're called Lahdukan. But why can only Gwen and the youngest children, gathered for storytime, see them?
The Lahdukan insist that Gwen is destined to help them find a new home. But how can a girl as unwanted, uncourageous, and generally unheroic as Gwen possibly come to the rescue? Pumpkin has a few ideas...
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Wildfire by Rodman PhilbrickFlames race toward Sam Castine's summer camp as evacuation buses are loading, but Sam runs back to get his phone. Suddenly, a flash of heat blasts him as pine trees explode. Now a wall of fire separates Sam from his bus, and there's only one thing to do: Run for his life. Run or die. Lungs burning, Sam's only goal is to keep moving. Drought has made the forest a tinderbox, and Sam struggles to remember survival tricks he learned from his late father. Then, when he least expects it, he encounters Delphy, an older girl who is also lost. Their unlikely friendship grows as they join forces to find civilization. The pace never slows, and eventually flames surround Sam and Delphy on all sides. A powerful bond is forged that can only grow out of true hardship -- as two true friends beat all odds and outwit one of the deadliest fires ever. Read more in the Wild series. |
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Isabel in Bloom by Mae RespicioTwelve-year-old Isabel is the new kid in her San Francisco middle school. It’s the first time in many years that she’ll be living with her mother again. Mama's job in the US allowed Isabel and her grandparents to live more comfortably in the Philippines, but now Isabel doesn't really know her own mother anymore.
Making new friends in a new city, a new country, is hard, but joining the gardening and cooking club at school means Isabel will begin to find her way, and maybe she too, will begin to bloom.
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The Boy Who Met a Whale by Nizrana FarookRazi, a local fisherboy, is watching turtle eggs hatch when he sees a boat bobbing into view. With a chill, he notices a small, still hand hanging over the side.
Inside is Zheng, who's escaped a shipwreck and is full of tales of mutiny, sea monsters, and hidden riches. But the villains who are after Zheng are soon after Razi and his sister, Shifa, too. And so begins an exhilarating escapade in the shadow of the biggest sea monster of them all.
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Egg Marks the Spot by Amy Timberlake; illustrated by Jon Klassen Buried in the heart of every animal is a secret treasure. Badger’s is the Spider Eye Agate, stolen years ago by his crafty and treasure-trade-dealing cousin, Fisher. Skunk’s is Sundays with the New Yak Times Book Review. When Mr. G. Hedgehog threatens to take the Book Review as soon as it thumps on the doorstep, Skunk decides an adventure (“X marks the spot!”) will solve both their problems. Badger agrees, and together they set off for his favorite campsite on Endless Lake. But all is not as it seems at Campsite #5. Harrumphs in the night. Unexpected friends. Then Fisher appears, and Badger knows something is up. Something involving secrets, betrayals and lies.
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30 dangerous paths. 30 minutes to escape. YOU choose the path to survive!
You are strapped tightly into your seat on the bullet train. As it accelerates to top speed, a passenger slips out of his seat and begins to fall towards the back of the train. Do you unstrap yourself to save him, or do you stay in your seat?
This is a thrilling action-packed survival choose your own adventure. Choose wrong and risk being: bitten by monster ticks, buried in an avalanche, transported into the past, run over by bandits, locked in a room by secret ops, zapped by a giant transformer, eaten by a bear, trapped in a sealed-off cave, or squashed by a train (among other unpleasant ends). Choose well — join the bandits and escape the avalanche by helicopter, or snowboard on scraps of wood to safety just ahead of the lava flow — and live to read another day.
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Band Nerd by Sarah Clawson Willis; illustrated by Emma Cormarie For Lucy Carver, music isn’t just a way of life, it’s an escape from homework and home life with her alcoholic father. When Lucy starts seventh grade at Windley School of the Arts, with its high academic standards and even higher artistic expectations, it becomes much harder to keep everything in tune. As things spiral out of control with her parents and her schoolwork, Lucy grows desperate for a win and focuses all her energy on beating snobby Tolli Claybourne for first chair flute. But just when she thinks she’s hitting all the right notes, an accident leaves Lucy unable to play, and her mother threatens to withdraw her for poor grades. Now Lucy must choose: sabotage Tolli or give up on her dream
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Marty, Ralph, and Skyler might make the ultimate secret combo when battling alien-slime ninjas in their favorite video game, but in real life they're just regular kids. That is, until the three best friends discover Awesome Dog 5000, a robotic dog with very real power-ups. Awesome Dog can "bark" a sonic boom, "walk" at speeds over three hundred miles per hour, and "fetch" with an atomic cannon. Life for Marty, Ralph, and Skyler just got a major turbo-boost!
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Found Sound by Meg WolitzerFelix used to love summer vacation, when his family would trade the bustling noise of New York City for the small-town quiet of Blissfield, Massachusetts. But vacation hasn’t been the same since his big brother left home, and Felix is sure this summer is going to be the worst yet. Then he finds a mysterious box with the words OPEN ME written on the outside. Inside, there’s an audio recorder, headphones, and a list of timecodes. What does it mean?
Felix and his offbeat neighbor, Marigold, follow a string of clues through town. But as the hunt builds to a crescendo, Felix begins to wonder about the identity of the anonymous puzzle-maker behind their adventure.
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Ivy and Bearlock Holmes: The Case of the Missing Flowerby Kristyna Litten When a prize‑winning flower mysteriously disappears from Bearona’s famous botanical gardens, Ivy and Bearlock are called in to investigate. As clues begin to emerge, readers are invited to join the detectives in unraveling the mystery through 15 interactive puzzles woven into the story. Spot patterns, follow trails and test theories to help move the case forward.
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Seventh-grader Millie has the best friends in the whole world: Florence, Claire, Gabby, and Rosie, but when Rosie dies in a car accident everything changes. Rocked by grief, the remaining four girls struggle to move on. Millie barely understands her normal pre-teen feelings, let alone the messy ones left behind by Rosie, so she outruns her emotions by throwing herself into a mystery: a cryptic notebook abandoned at her family's laundromat. Could the clues in the notebook be related to Rosie?
Together, Millie and her friends embark on a heartwarming journey to heal from the loss of Rosie and end up finding more than they ever could have even imagined.
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