Featured Authors: Kenneth Oppel, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Rebecca Stead,
Wendy Mass, Rick Riordan & Kit Pearson |
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SORA eBOOKS and Audiobooks
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Artemis Fowl
by Eoin Colfer
When twelve-year-old evil genius Artemis Fowl tries to restore his family fortune by capturing a fairy and demanding a ransom in gold, the fairies fight back with magic, technology, and a particularly nasty troll. Read more of the Artemis Fowl series.
Reading Level: 600L SORA ebook
Pillar: Service
Themes: Fantasy adventure, magic, kidnapping, farting trolls, fairies, evil masterminds.
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The City of Ember
by Jeanne Duprau
In the year 241, twelve-year-old Lina finds part of an ancient message that she is sure holds a secret to save her underground city from ruin, but Lina and her friend Doon must decipher the message before the lights go out on Ember forever. Read more of the City of Ember series.
Reading Level: 680L SORA ebook and audiobook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Science fiction, resourcefulness in children, dystopias, survival, natural resources.
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Fablehaven
by Brandon Mull
When Kendra and Seth go to stay at their grandparents' estate, they discover that it is a sanctuary for magical creatures and that a battle between good and evil is looming. Read more of the Fablehaven series.
Reading Level: 700L SORA ebook
Pillar: Courage, Service
Themes: Fantasy adventure, action-packed, suspenseful, caretakers of mythical creatures, family, good and evil, magic.
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Hatchet
by Gary Paulsen
After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the Canadian wilderness, learning to survive with only the aid of a hatchet given him by his mother, and learning also to survive his parents' divorce.
Reading Level: 650L SORA audiobook
Pillar: Service
Themes: Realistic adventure, wilderness survival.
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I am Malala : The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
by Malala Yousafzai
When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education. On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive. Instead, Malala's miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she has become a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest nominee ever for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Reading Level: 830L SORA ebook and audiobook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Autobiography, education, human and children's rights, positive role model.
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Only You Can Save Mankind
by Terry Pratchett
The alien spaceship is in his sights. His finger is on the Fire button. Johnny Maxwell is about to set the new high score on the computer game Only You Can Save Mankind. Suddenly, a message appears:We wish to talk. We surrender. But the aliens aren't supposed to surrender—they're supposed to die! Read more of the Johnny Maxwell series.
Reading Level: 540L SORA ebook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Science fiction, humour, aliens, computer game, heroes.
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Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes
by Jonathan Auxier
Raised to be a thief, blind orphan Peter Nimble, age ten, steals from a mysterious stranger three pairs of magical eyes, that lead him to a hidden island where he must decide to become a hero or resume his life of crime. Read more of the Peter Nimble series.
Reading Level: 790L SORA ebook
Pillar: Service
Themes: Fantasy adventure, clues, mystery, magic, quests, sidekicks.
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Stargirl
by Jerry Spinelli
After 15 years of home schooling, Stargirl bursts into tenth grade in an explosion of color and a clatter of ukulele music, enchanting the Mica student body. But the delicate scales of popularity suddenly shift, and Stargirl is shunned for everything that makes her different. Somewhere in the midst of Stargirl's arrival and rise and fall, normal Leo Borlock has tumbled into love with her. Read more of the Stargirl series.
Reading Level: 590L SORA audiobook
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Realistic fiction, nonconformity, emotional, popularity, first love.
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The Strange Case of Origami Yoda
by Tom Angleberger
Sixth-grader Tommy and his friends describe their interactions with a paper finger puppet of Yoda, worn by their weird classmate Dwight, as they try to figure out whether or not the puppet can really predict the future. Includes instructions for making Origami Yoda. Read more of the Origami Yoda series.
Reading Level: 760L SORA ebook
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Realistic fiction, origami, finger puppets, middle schools.
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The Sword of Summer
by Rick Riordan
Living alone on the streets of Boston, Magnus Chase learns he is the son of a Norse god, from an uncle his mother claimed was dangerous.
Read more of the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series.
Reading Level: 630L SORA audiobook and ebook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Fantasy adventure, Norse mythology, quests, children.
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Under the Egg
by Laura Marx Fitzgerald
Her grandfather's dying words lead thirteen-year-old Theodora Tenpenny to a valuable, hidden painting she fears may be stolen, but it is her search for answers in her Greenwich Village neighborhood that brings a real treasure.
Reading Level: 790L SORA ebook
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Mystery, humour, friendship, families.
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The Unwanteds
by Lisa McMann
In a society that purges thirteen-year-olds who are creative, identical twins Aaron and Alex are separated, one to attend University while the other, supposedly Eliminated, finds himself in a wondrous place where youths hone their abilities and learn magic. Read more of the Unwanteds series.
Reading Level: 880L SORA audiobook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Fantasy adventure, world building, twins, mystery, magic, survival.
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The Wishing Spell
by Chris Colfer
Using a mysterious book to travel to a land of wonder and magic, twins Alex and Connor meet a host of classic fairy tale characters and nefarious monsters before discovering that returning back home will be more difficult than anticipated. Read more of the The Land of Stories series.
Reading Level: 760L SORA audiobook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Fantasy adventure, magic, brothers and sisters, twins, fairy tale characters.
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The Wild Robot
by Peter Brown
Initializing for the first time on a remote island where she is all alone, Roz the robot learns survival strategies from the island's hostile animals and finally gains acceptance when she cares for an orphaned gosling.
Reading Level: 740L SORA ebook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: survival, friendship, orphaned animals.
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Wonder
by R. J Palacio
I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse. August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face.
Reading Level: 790L SORA ebook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Realistic fiction, friendships, facial differences, bullying, school life.
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The Night Parade
by Kathryn Tanquary
When thirteen-year-old Saki Yamamoto unintentionally invokes a death curse, she must enter the dangerous spirit world at the Night Parade and attempt to perform deeds that can break the curse.
Reading Level: 760L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Adventure, spirits, magic, curses.
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Flora & Ulysses
by Kate DiCamillo
A girl named Flora and a squirrel named Ulysses, whose life was saved by Flora after he was involved in an incident with a vacuum cleaner, team up to use Ulysses' superpowers to conquer villains and protect the weak.
Reading Level: 520L
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Friendships, superheroes, girls, squirrels.
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The Goose Girl
by Shannon Hale
She can whisper to horses and communicate with birds, but the crown princess Ani has a difficult time finding her place in the royal family and measuring up to her imperial mother. When she is shipped off to a neighboring kingdom as a bride, her scheming entourage mounts a bloody mutiny to replace her with a jealous lady-in-waiting. Barely escaping with her life, Ani disguises herself as a goose girl and wanders on the royal estate. Does she have the pluck to reclaim her rightful place? Read more of the The Books of Bayern.
Reading Level: 870L
Pillar: Honesty, Courage
Themes: Courage, human/animal communication, betrayal, strong female protagonist, fairy tale retelling.
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The Dragonet Prophecy
by Barry Deutsch
Determined to end a generations-long war among the seven dragon tribes, a secret movement called the Talons of Peace draws on a prophecy that calls for a great sacrifice, compelling five appointed dragonets to fulfill a painful destiny against their will.
Read more of the Wings of Fire series.
Reading Level: 740L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Dragons, dramatic battle scenes, double-crosses, rulers, escapes, imaginary kingdoms.
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Down the Mysterly River
by Bill Willingham
When expert Boy Scout Max "the Wolf" finds himself in an unfamiliar wood, he is joined by three talking animal companions who are just as confused about how they got there, and soon the group is being chased by ruthless hunters and their relentless hounds.
Reading Level: 1040L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Animals, memory, human-animal communication, suspense, friendship, magic.
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The Boundless
by Kenneth Oppel
Aboard "The Boundless," the greatest train ever built, on its maiden voyage across Canada, teenage Will enlists the aid of a traveling circus to save the train from villains.
Reading Level: 730L
Pillar: Honesty, Courage
Themes: Adventure, railroad trains, circus, Canadian history-1864-1914, magic, survival.
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Book Scavenger
by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
After Emily and her family move to San Francisco, she teams up with new friend James to figure out the secrets of an odd book they find before the men who attacked Emily's hero solve the mystery or come after the friends.
Reading Level: 810L
Pillar: Service
Themes: Mystery, courage, problem-solving, friendship.
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The Mysterious Benedict Society
by Trenton Lee Stewart
After passing a series of mind-bending tests, four children are selected for a secret mission that requires them to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules. Read more of the The Mysterious Benedict Society series.
Reading Level: 900L
Pillar: Service
Themes: Mystery, courage, problem-solving, friendship.
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Secret Coders
by Gene Luen Yang
Using their wits and their growing prowess with computer coding, Hopper and her friend Eni try to solve the mysteries at Stately Academy by following the many clues the founder of the school left to challenge his enterprising students. Read more of the Secret Coders series.
Reading Level: 400L
Pillar: Service
Themes: Graphic novel, problem-solving, mystery, friendship, coding.
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Awake and Dreaming
by Kit Pearson
While living a miserable, poverty-stricken life with her young, irresponsible mother, nine-year-old Theo dreams of belonging to a real family but finds a shadowy figure haunting her thoughts.
Reading Level: 650L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Friendship, families, urban poverty, wishes, ghosts, Victoria.
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Fires of Invention
by J. Scott Savage
Even though technology and inventions have been outlawed in the mountain city of Cove, in order to save the city Trenton and Kallista must follow a set of mysterious blueprints to build a creature to protect them from the dragons outside their door.
Read more of the The Mysteries of Cove series.
Reading Level: 690L
Pillar: Service
Themes: Steampunk, dragons, inventions, robots, teen boys.
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The Candymakers
by Wendy Mass
When four twelve-year-olds, including Logan, who has grown up never leaving his parents' Life Is Sweet candy factory, compete in the Confectionary Association's annual contest, they unexpectedly become friends and uncover secrets about themselves during the process.
Continue with the sequel: The Candymakers and the Great Chocolate Chase
Reading Level: 740L
Pillar: Service
Themes: Adventure, candy, secrets, contests, friendship.
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The Black Book of Secrets
by F. E. Higgins
After running away from his evil parents in the City, Ludlow Fitch meets Joe Zabbidou, a pawnbroker of secrets who enlists Ludlow as an apprentice to record the confessions of the townspeople of the remote village of Pagus Parvus. Read more of the Tales from the sinister city series.
Reading Level: 830L
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Suspense, apprentices, pawnbrokers, betrayal.
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Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library
by Chris Grabenstein
Twelve-year-old Kyle gets to stay overnight in the new town library, designed by his hero (the famous gamemaker Luigi Lemoncello), with other students but finds that come morning he must work with friends to solve puzzles in order to escape. Read more of Mr. Lemoncello's Library series.
Reading Level: 720L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Adventure, literature trivia games, code solving, contests, friendship, libraries.
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Three Times Lucky
by Sheila Turnage
Making a home in a small North Carolina town where she washed up as a baby during a hurricane 11 years earlier, sixth-grader Mo taps the power of her strong will and tough attitude when a lawman arrives in town to investigate a murder case that threatens to destabilize Mo's adopted family.
Reading Level: 560L
Pillar: Service
Themes: Murder mystery, family, adoption.
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Spy School
by Stuart Gibbs
Twelve-year-old Ben Ripley leaves his public middle school to attend the CIA's highly secretive Espionage Academy, which everyone is told is an elite science school. Read the rest of the series!
Reading Level: 740L
Pillar: Service
Themes: Mystery, spies, suspense, adventure, school.
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Millions
by Frank Cottrell Boyce
It was a one-in-a-million chance. A bag crammed with cash comes tumbling out of the air and lands right at Damian's feet. Suddenly the Cunningham brothers are rich. Very rich. They can buy anything they want. There's just one problem -- they have only seventeen days to spend all the money before it becomes worthless. And the crooks who stole the cash in the first place are closing in -- fast.
Reading Level: 650L
Pillar: Service
Themes: Humour, money, morality, choices, brothers.
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Middle School, the Worst Years of My Life
by James Patterson
This illustrated chapter book follows the misadventures of Rafe and his best friend, who plan to enjoy the year by breaking every single rule in their school's oppressive Code of Conduct. Read more of the Middle School series.
Reading Level: 680L
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Humour, bullies, first crushes, friendships.
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11 Birthdays
by Wendy Mass
Amanda and Leo, best friends with the same birthday, had a falling out on their tenth birthday and have not spoken since, but peculiar things begin to happen as the day of their eleventh birthday repeats itself again and again. Read more of the Willow Falls series.
Reading Level: 650L
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Friendships, middle school, family dynamics.
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From Ant to Eagle
by Alex Lyttle
My name is Calvin Sinclair, I'm eleven years old and I have a confession… I killed my brother.
It's the summer before grade six and Calvin Sinclair is bored to tears. He's recently moved from a big city to a small town and there's nothing to do. Cal occupies his time by getting his brother to do almost anything: from collecting ants to doing Calvin's chores. And Sammy is all too eager - as long as it means getting a "Level" and moving one step closer to his brother's Eagle status.
Reading Level: 800L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Brothers, competitions, friendships, adventure, grief.
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Walk Two Moons
by Sharon Creech
After her mother leaves home suddenly, thirteen-year-old Sal and her grandparents take a car trip retracing her mother's route. Along the way, Sal recounts the story of her friend Phoebe, whose mother also left.
Reading Level: 770L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Family dynamics, mother-daughter relationships, heart-warming and humorous.
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Schooled
by Gordon Korman
After his hippie grandmother ends up in the hospital, Cap Anderson is forced to leave the commune where he is homeschooled and attend Claverage Middle School, where his odd looks and behavior make him the target of bullies.
Reading Level: 740L
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Humour, friendships, homeschool, hippies, belonging, individuality, heart-warming.
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Wolf Brother
by Michelle Paver
6,000 years in the past, twelve-year-old Tarak and his guide, a wolf cub, set out on a dangerous journey to fulfill an oath the boy made to his dying father--to travel to the Mountain of the World Spirit seeking a way to destroy a demon-possessed bear that threatens all the clans.
Read more of the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series.
Reading Level: 660L
Pillar: Service
Themes: Prehistoric humans, boys and wolves, prophecies, quests.
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The War that Saved my Life
by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
A young disabled girl and her brother are evacuated from London to the English countryside during World War II, where they find life to be much sweeter away from their abusive mother.
Read more of The War that saved my life series.
Reading Level: 580L
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Life during wartime, living with visible disability, home front during WWII, families.
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The Way of the Warrior
by Chris Bradford
Orphaned by a ninja pirate attack off the coast of Japan in 1611, twelve-year-old English lad Jack Fletcher is determined to prove himself, despite the bullying of fellow students, when the legendary sword master who rescued him begins training him as a samurai warrior.
Read more of the Young Samurai series.
Reading Level: 750L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Samurai, ninja, pirates, orphans, bullying.
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Wilder Boys
by Brandon Wallace
To evade their mother's abusive boyfriend, brothers Jake, thirteen, and Taylor, eleven, venture from the suburbs of Pittsburgh toward the wilds of Wyoming in search of the father they have not seen in four years, using their wilderness skills to survive against both natural and human dangers. Includes wilderness tips.
Reading Level: 750L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Adventure stories; survival, runaway brothers, wilderness.
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Liar & Spy
by Rebecca Stead
Moving into an apartment when his father loses his job, Georges befriends Safer, a twelve-year-old coffee-drinking loner and self-appointed spy, who recruits Georges into the world of espionage so that they can investigate a mysterious neighbour who lives on the top floor.
Reading Level: 670L
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Humour, friendship, families, spies.
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Swindle
by Gordon Korman
After unscrupulous collector S. Wendell Palamino cons him out of a valuable baseball card, sixth-grader Griffin Bing puts together a band of misfits to break into Palomino's heavily guarded store and steal the card back, planning to use the money to finance his father's failing invention, the SmartPick fruit picker.
Reading Level: 710L
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Suspenseful, baseball cards, collectors and collecting, friendship, crime
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George
by Alex Gino
Knowing herself to be a girl despite her outwardly male appearance, George is denied a female role in the class play before teaming up with a friend to reveal her true self.
Reading Level: 790L
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Gender identity, middle school students, bullying.
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Paint
by Jennifer Dance
In the late 1800s, a Lakota boy befriends an orphaned mustang named Paint, and the two are forced to separate when the U.S. Cavalry attacks the boy's camp, and Paint must make her own way in the Canadian prairie.
Reading Level: 830L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Indigenous, horses, pioneer life, orphaned animals.
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Hawk
by Jennifer Dance
When Adam is diagnosed with leukemia, he reclaimes his First Nations name Hawk as he fights for his life and for the land of his ancestors and the creatures that inhabit it.
Reading Level: 750L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Indigenous, animal rescue, family, health.
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The Girl Who Could Fly
by Victoria Forester
After leaving her quiet farm to attend a top-secret school for kids with unique skills, Piper McCloud enjoys the ability to fly freely with her peers, but as everyone settles in to the daily routine, it becomes clear to all at this special place that Piper has a quality even more special than the rest.
Reading Level: 750L SORA ebook
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Mystery, friendships, family relations.
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When You Reach Me
by Rebecca Stead
In the 1980s, as her mother prepares to be a contestant on a television game show, Miranda tries to make sense of a series of mysterious notes received from an anonymous source that seems to defy the laws of time and space.
Reading Level: 750L SORA ebook
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Mystery, friendships, family relations.
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The Arctic Code
by Matthew J. Kirby
The Earth is in the grip of a new Ice Age, and when Eleanor's scientist mother disappears in the Arctic, Eleanor journeys to find her and uncovers a mystery, a crime, and evidence that Earth has been visited by extraterrestrials.
Read more of the Dark Gravity Sequence.
Reading Level: 720L
Pillar: Service
Themes: Adventure, mystery, science, cryptic codes.
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The Fourteenth Goldfish
by Jennifer L Holm
Hating change and missing both her best friend and her dead goldfish, 11-year-old Ellie encounters a boy who strongly resembles her immortality-obsessed grandfather, in a story that introduces the work of famous historical scientists. Read the sequel: The Third Mushroom.
Reading Level: 550L
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Scientists, families, humour, wit.
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Diego and the Rangers of the Vastlantic
by Armand Baltazar
A debut entry in an illustrated epic fantasy adventure is set in a world where a space-time cataclysm has torn apart time and space, reshaping the Earth into a place where people from all historical eras and cultures coexist and where a 13-year-old boy discovers he has a secret destiny. Read more of the Timeless series.
Reading Level: 650L
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Action adventure, dinosaurs, robots, destiny.
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The True Meaning of Smekday
by Adam Rex
In the chaotic turmoil that follows the Boov invasion of Earth, eleven-year-old Gratuity Tucci finds herself driving her mother's car to Florida, where all of the humans are being relocated, with her cat and a renegade extraterrestrial named J. Lo as her copilots.
Read the sequel: Smek for President!
Reading Level: 670L
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Humour, friendships, family relationships, UFO abductions, alien invasion.
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Randoms
by David Liss
A twelve-year-old boy is chosen to join a four-person applicant team to work towards membership in the Confederation of United Planets, and stumbles across conspiracies resembling science fiction he's been a fan of his entire life. Read more of the Randoms series.
Reading Level: 840L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Conspiracies, intergalactic space station, aliens, misfits.
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Making It Home: Real-Life Stories from Children Forced to Flee
by Beverley Naidoo
Children from around the world share their personal experiences with war and other forms of conflict that have shattered their homes and families, in a powerful volume that shows readers what it's like to be a refugee.
Reading Level: 750L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Child refugees, war, emotionally intense.
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Believe: the Victorious Story of Eric LeGrand
by Eric LeGrand
The defensive lineman for the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights, who was paralyzed from the neck down after suffering a spinal injury during a game, shares his transformative journey as he drew on his optimism to triumph over adversity.
Reading Level: 1040L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Biography, football players, athletes with disabilities.
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Navy SEAL Dogs: My Tale of Training Canines for Combat
by Mike Ritland
A young adult adaptation of the best-selling Trident K9 Warriors presents an insider's tour of the world of elite Navy SEAL working dogs to explain how they are trained, the extreme missions they undertake and how after retiring they are placed in loving homes.
Reading Level: 900L
Pillar: Service
Themes: Military, working dogs, war, Navy Seals.
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