4 BOOKS FRee! - Junior Library Guild

MIDDle & HIGH sCHool TITles
*NEW* Secret Subway: The Fascinating Tale
of an Amazing Feat of Engineering
by Martin W. Sandler
NM GROUP (GRADES 7–11) • Reviews: BL, K, V
90 www.juniorlibraryguild.com
A nearly insurmountable challenge faced inventor
Alfred Beach in 1869. He wanted to build America’s
first air-powered railway underneath New York City,
but Boss Tweed, powerful politician and notorious
crook, stood opposed. Working under the cover of
night, Beach and his crew carved a three-hundredfoot
tunnel beneath an unassuming department
store. It wasn’t long before Beach’s secret project was
discovered and the public began to rave about its
potential. But no further tunnels were ever built,
and it was many years before New York began
construction on another subway. What happened
to Beach’s railway, and where is it now? Black-andwhite
illustrations.
Isbn: 9781426304620 • Dewey: 388.4/28097471 • 8 3/4" x 9 3/4" • 96 pp
aR level: 9 • aR Points: 4 • sRC level: 11.9 • sRC Points: 7 • lexile: 1260l
JLG: $13.25 • national Geographic: $17.95 • JlG Month: JUn 2009
The Serial Garden:
The Complete Armitage Family Stories
by Joan Aiken
C GROUP (GRADES 6–9) • Reviews: BL, HG, K
For the first time, all twenty-four of Joan Aiken’s
stories about the Armitage family are assembled
in one volume. Set in and around British suburbs,
Aiken’s stories follow the escapades of young Harriet
and Mark Armitage. The children, always engaged
in high adventure, find a unicorn in the garden,
restrain disobedient robots, struggle with a cursed
Egyptian mask, and more—much to their parents’
chagrin. This collection includes four previously
unpublished stories as well as Aiken’s prelude to the
series. Introductions by Lizza Aiken and Garth Nix.
Black-and-white illustrations.
Isbn: 9781931520577 • Dewey: f • 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" • 320 pp
aR level: 6.2 • aR Points: 17 • sRC level: 6.5 • sRC Points: 24 • lexile: 930l
JLG: $9.00 • small beer: $20.00 • JlG Month: DeC 2008
Seven Paths to Death
by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler
MM GROUP (GRADES 7–11) • Reviews: BL, HG
Eighteenth-century Japan: Seven men volunteered
to have their backs tattooed with maps in exchange
for money. Now, one by one, the men are turning
up dead. To prevent more murders, sixteen-yearold
Seikei and his foster father, Judge Ooka, must
find the men and make copies of their maps before
the ninja Kitsune gets to them. If Judge Ooka is
correct, those maps, when pieced together, lead to a
cache of outlawed weapons—weapons that Kistune’s
employer, Lady Osuni, plans to use to overthrow the
shogun. Authors’ note.
Isbn: 9780399246104 • Dewey: f • 5 1/2" x 8 1/4" • 176 pp
aR level: 4.9 • aR Points: 6 • sRC level: 4.7 • sRC Points: 11 • lexile: 780l
JLG: $9.00 • Philomel: $14.99 • JlG Month: feb 2009
Shadowed Summer
by Saundra Mitchell
MM GROUP (GRADES 7–11) • Reviews: BCCB, BL, HG, SLJ
“Nothing ever happened in Ondine, Louisiana,
not even the summer Elijah Landry disappeared.”
Fourteen-year-old Iris and her friend, Collette, expect
their summer to be as boring as everything else in
their town—until they raise the ghost of a boy who’s
been missing from Ondine for twenty years. Iris is
eager to uncover the mystery behind Elijah’s death,
but her neighbors aren’t talking—and Elijah may be
more dangerous than Iris first thought.
Isbn: 9780385905602 • Dewey: f • 5 1/2" x 8 1/4" • 192 pp
aR level: 5.1 • aR Points: 7 • sRC level: 4.6 • sRC Points: 12 • lexile: 760l
JLG: $9.00 • Random House: $18.99 • JlG Month: MaR 2009
She Touched the World:
Laura Bridgman, Deaf-Blind Pioneer u
by Sally Hobart Alexander and Robert Alexander
B GROUP (GRADES 5–7) • Reviews: BL, HG, KH, SLJH, WC
“In the early 1800s people who were ‘just’ deaf or
‘just’ blind were considered impossible to educate.”
So it was especially remarkable that Laura Bridgman,
deaf and blind from age two, was recognized as
having great promise to learn. She left home to
attend the first American school for blind children;
by the age of twelve she had become so famous that
Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin wrote about her
and people came from all over the world to see her.
Introduction. Afterword. Source notes. Bibliography.
Web sites. Index. Black-and-white photographs.
Isbn: 9780618852994 • Dewey: 362.4/1092 b • 8" x 10" • 96 pp
aR level: 6.9 • aR Points: 2 • sRC level: 6.8 • sRC Points: 5 • lexile: 990l
JLG: $9.00 • Clarion: $18.00 • JlG Month: MaY 2008
The Shepherd’s Granddaughter u
by Anne Laurel Carter
C GROUP (GRADES 6–9) • Reviews: CL, BL, HG, KH, SLJ
In the hills of Palestine, Amani learns from her
grandfather, Seedo, how to herd sheep. When Seedo
dies, Amani struggles to continue his legacy. Her
uncle Hani continually sells off sheep to support the
family, and Israeli settlers encroaching on the family’s
land limit where the flock can graze. Amani knows
that it’s unsafe for anyone, not to mention a young
girl, to travel alone in the disputed land, even if she
is just herding her sheep. But with the occupation
threatening her flock—and her family—what choice
does Amani have? Glossary. A 2009 Jane Addams
Honor Book.
Isbn: 9780888999023 • Dewey: f • 5" x 7" • 192 pp
aR level: 4.1 • aR Points: 6 • sRC level: 3.4 • sRC Points: 11 • lexile: 600l
JLG: $9.00 • Groundwood: $17.95 • JlG Month: oCT 2008