Magic Tree House #43: Leprechaun in Late Winter (A Stepping Stone Book(TM)) (Random House Books for Young Readers) Mary Pope Osborne (Author), Sal Murdocca (Illustrator). The bestselling, fan-favorite chapter-book series sends Jack and Annie to Ireland—the land of leprechauns!

Jack and Annie are whisked back to long-ago Ireland. Their mission? To inspire a girl named Augusta to share her creativity with the world. But when they meet Augusta, Jack and Annie don’t see how they can inspire her at all—she is the least imaginative person they’ve ever met! Luckily, Jack and Annie have a special whistle that they can use to show Augusta a magical world. But their plan backfires! Can Jack and Annie rescue their new friend? Or will Augusta be lost forever?

Initiation (Canterwood Crest) (Aladdin) - Jessica Burkhart (Author). It’s time: The new girls are taking the spotlight at Canterwood Crest!Lauren has moved around enough to have the “new girl” code down:

1. Lay low.

2. But not too low.

3. Don’t amubush the in crowd.

But Canterwood isn’t just any school. And Lauren is about to face an initiation unlike any she’s ever encountered. Bon chance, Lauren–you’re going to need it!

The Zombie Chasers #3: Sludgement Day (HarperCollins) – John Kloepfer (Author), Steve Wolfhard (Illustrator). The maul of America! It’s been two days since a zombie virus turned Zack Clarke’s parents, neighbors, and most of the country into brain-munching fiends. Zack and his crew of Zombie Chasers—Rice, Madison, Ozzie, and Zoe—are ready to end this nightmare once and for all!

With the antidote in hand, the gang sets off on a wild cross-country road trip to defeat the evil genius behind the zombie apocalypse. After battling undead Elvis in Memphis, ghoulish tourists at a rest stop, and a crew of zweenyboppers at the Mall of America, the Zombie Chasers are still only halfway there! Will Sludgment Day be the dawn of the dead?

The Genius Files #2: Never Say Genius (HarperCollins) – Dan Gutman (Author). Today is Coke and Pepsi McDonald’s thirteenth birthday. Someone’s out to make sure they never make it to thirteen and a half.

Racing across America,
the twins will nearly be
boiled alive
in a huge basket of french fries,
frozen to death
by soft-serve ice cream,
stampeded
in a wild stadium riot,
kidnapped
from a high-speed
roller coaster, and
worst of all
their parents think
they’re totally joking!

Will they survive? Will they defeat Archie Clone? Will they be dropped out of a helicopter onto the tip of the Washington Monument? Will they ever say “genius”?

Revenge of the Horned Bunnies, Book 6 (Dragonbreath) (Dial) Ursula Vernon (Author). Ride ‘em, cowboy! Danny’s off to summer camp! Danny Dragonbreath is counting down the days to his awesome western summer camp . . . until he gets the terrible news that his annoying younger cousin Spencer is going too. Good-bye, Danny the Cowboy; Hello, Danny the Babysitter. But when Spencer befriends a mythical jackalope (or horned bunny) and then uncovers a diabolical jackalope-napping ring, things start looking up again. After all, if you need a math problem solved, you call a nerd. But if you need a villainous ring of horned-bunnynappers broken up, you call Danny Dragonbreath. The sixth book in this laugh-until-smoke-comes-out-of- your-nose series is perfect for Wimpy Kid fans everywhere.

Bad Kitty for President (Roaring Brook Press) – Nick Bruel (Author). The votes are in–it’s a Bad Kitty landslide! It’s time to elect a new president of the Neighborhood Cat Coalition! Who will win the election? The candidate chosen by the kitties on the right side of the street or the candidate chosed by the kitties on the left side of the street? When election time rolls around, one candidate (guess who?) will discover that she never bothered to register to vote and the entire election will be decided by a surprise, last minute absentee ballot sent by Old Kitty.

Horse Diaries #8: Black Cloud (Random House Books for Young Readers) – Patricia Hermes (Author), Astrid Sheckles (Illustrator). Born in Northern Nevada in 1950, Black Cloud is a black-and-white mustang colt. He loves roaming free with the rest of his herd, playing with the other foals, and learning the ways of wild horses. But when humans intrude on this wandering life, Black Cloud’s worled is changed forever. Like Black Beauty, this moving novel is told in first person from the horse’s own point of view and includes an appendix full of photos and facts about mustangs and the history of the laws protecting them.

Lego Ninjago: Official Guide (Scholastic, Inc.) Masters of Spinjitzu: a new force to save the world! This handbook is a comprehensive and detailed guide to all the characters and statistics in the first Ninjago story arc: giving readers all the basic info they’ll need to follow the narrative and play the game! Includes exclusive information fans won’t be able to get anywhere else–and a buildable LEGO minifigure!

Star Wars: The Wrath of Darth Maul (Scholastic, Inc.) – Ryder Windham (Author). The most anticipated Star Wars biography yet! One of the most feared villains of all time. One of the most iconic characters of the Star Wars saga. One incredible story. Features new, never-before-told secrets about Darth Maul!

Who Was Babe Ruth? (Grosset and Dunlap) – Joan Holub (Author), Ted Hammond (Author), Nancy Harrison (Illustrator). Just in time for baseball season! Babe Ruth came from a poor Baltimore family and, as a kid, he was a handful. It was at a reform school that Babe discovered his talent for baseball, and by the age of nineteen, he was on his way to becoming a sports legend. Babe was often out of shape and even more often out on the town, but he had a big heart and an even bigger swing! Kids will learn all about the Home Run King in this rags-to- riches sports biography. With black-and-white illustrations throughout, a true sports legend is brought to life.

The Whites of Their Eyes (Keepers of the School) (Atheneum Books for Young Readers) Andrew Clements (Author), Adam Stower (Illustrator). Andrew Clements delivers the latest in his adventure-filled school series. This could be the last great Memorial Day weekend on Barclay Bay, and Ben knows it. This time next year, he might not be able to stand in the yard of the Oakes School and watch the harbor shake off winter—boats buzzing just beyond the bulkhead and families spreading picnics in the fields. If the school gets torn down and replaced by an amusement park, the town will never be the same. But that’s only if the school gets torn down. Ben and Jill are determined to keep that from happening. And the evil janitor Lyman has taken note. He’s following their every move—and undoing their progress along the way. Good thing Ben and Jill have a secret weapon. (Who knew that annoying Robert Gerritt would be such a spy wiz?) But Lyman has a secret weapon as well: a vicious guard dog. These kids are smart, but can they outsmart Lyman—and his beast—as the clock tick, tick, ticks toward total demolition?

A Boy Called Dickens (Schwartz and Wade) – Deborah Hopkinson (Author), John Hendrix (Illustrator). For years Dickens kept the story of his own childhood a secret. Yet it is a story worth telling. For it helps us remember how much we all might lose when a child’s dreams don’t come true . . . As a child, Dickens was forced to live on his own and work long hours in a rat-infested blacking factory. Readers will be drawn into the winding streets of London, where they will learn how Dickens got the inspiration for many of his characters. The 200th anniversary of Dickens’s birth is February 7, 2012, and this tale of his little-known boyhood is the perfect way to introduce kids to the great author. Here is historical fiction at its ingenious best.

Who Cut the Cheese? (Doctor Proctor’s Fart Powder) (Aladdin) – Jo Nesbo (Author) Mike Lowery (Illustrator) This time the adventure includes aliens, disappearing socks, an American Idol style talent show, and a plot to takeover the world . . . nothing that some well-timed farts can’t help fix.

Vanishing Acts – Maggie Brooklyn Mystery(Bloomsbury USA Children’s) – Leslie Margolis (Author).When a movie starring tween heartthrob Seth Ryan starts filming in Park Slope, everyone gets movie mania-including Maggie Brooklyn Sinclair. Though her plans to become a movie extra don’t quite work out, Maggie manages to capture Seth’s attention and he seeks her out at the Pizza Den to talk. But just when Maggie’s life is feeling like a romantic comedy, Seth disappears! Everyone thinks he’s been kidnapped, but Maggie knows better. . . .

This young Nancy Drew is back, along with her twin brother and dog-walking business, in a second mystery that shines a spotlight on her super-sleuth skills. Leslie Margolis’s pitch-perfect tween voice will leave fans begging for more of this loveable heroine.

Glory Be (Scholastic Press) – Augusta Scattergood (Author). A Mississippi town in 1964 gets riled when tempers flare at the segregated public pool.

As much as Gloriana June Hemphill, or Glory as everyone knows her, wants to turn twelve, there are times when Glory wishes she could turn back the clock a year. Jesslyn, her sister and former confidante, no longer has the time of day for her now that she’ll be entering high school. Then there’s her best friend, Frankie. Things have always been so easy with Frankie, and now suddenly they aren’t. Maybe it’s the new girl from the North that’s got everyone out of sorts. Or maybe it’s the debate about whether or not the town should keep the segregated public pool open.

May B.(Schwartz and Wade) – Caroline Starr Rose (Author).

I’ve known it since last night:
It’s been too long to expect them to return.
Something’s happened.

May is helping out on a neighbor’s Kansas prairie homestead—just until Christmas, says Pa. She wants to contribute, but it’s hard to be separated from her family by 15 long, unfamiliar miles. Then the unthinkable happens: May is abandoned. Trapped in a tiny snow-covered sod house, isolated from family and neighbors, May must prepare for the oncoming winter. While fighting to survive, May’s memories of her struggles with reading at school come back to haunt her. But she’s determined to find her way home again. Caroline Starr Rose’s fast-paced novel, written in beautiful and riveting verse, gives readers a strong new heroine to love.

I have four daughters. Yeah… that’s right. Four. Your sympathy is welcomed and appreciated, thank you.

My youngest is now eight… just hitting the age to start reading Middle Grade novels. Her teacher is reading the students Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume. The teacher read this same book to my oldest daughters nine years ago. They loved it then, my youngest loves it now.

So, as I did nine years ago, I’m reading Double Fudge by Jude Blume to my daughter at night.

It’s been a while, but I can remember my teacher (during the Middle Grade years) reading The Wind and the Willows by Kenneth Grahame to the class. It was that book that really sparked my love for reading.

All this got me wondering… what other books are teachers reading to Middle Grade students these days? If you’re a teacher… what are you reading (or have you read) to your students? If you’re a parent, what are your kid’s teachers reading to them?

November New Book Releases:

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever (Amulet Books) – Jeff Kinney. Greg Heffley is in big trouble. School property has been damaged, and Greg is the prime suspect. But the crazy thing is, he’s innocent. Or at least sort of. The authorities are closing in, but when a surprise blizzard hits, the Heffley family is trapped indoors. Greg knows that when the snow melts he’s going to have to face the music, but could any punishment be worse than being stuck inside with your family for the holidays?

Secrets of the Magic Ring (AmazonEncore) – Karen McQuestion. The eagerly anticipated sequel to Celia and the Fairies!
When nine-year-old Paul explores the hole dug for his backyard swimming pool, he discovers a box containing a ring–a ring that turns out to be magical. Moments later, a mysterious boy shows up demanding the ring; luckily, Paul’s trusty dog, Clem, scares him away. To keep the ring safe, Paul hides it in his pillow case, where, to his horror, it’s discovered by his mother, who loans it to his Aunt Vicky. Things get even stranger when Vicky, a nonswimmer, falls into the now finished pool and discovers that her greatest secret wish has been granted–she can swim! As the ring gets passed around and wishes are made, a wild series of talents and circumstances threaten to turn their lives upside down forever. But Jasmine, a fairy of the woods, has an idea–and if everyone cooperates, she just might be able to put an end to the shenanigans and return
their lives to normal. Wildly original and full of vibrant, chaotic imagination, Secrets of the Magic Ring is proof of the old adage
“Be careful what you wish for.”

Ivy and Bean No News Is Good News – Book 8 (Chronicle Books) – Annie Barrows. Ivy and Bean need some money. Ten dollars, to be exact. Never mind what for. Okay, it s for low-fat Belldeloon cheese in a special just-for you serving size. Don t ask why. How are Ivy and Bean going to make ten dollars? Hey, maybe they should write a newspaper about Pancake Court and sell it! Great idea! And easy, too. All they have to do is snoop around the neighborhood. Wow…It s very interesting what they can find out. It s even more interesting when the neighbors read about it in the newspaper.

How to Train Your Dragon Book 8 (Little Brown Books for Young Readers) – Cressida Cowell. Stranded on the exceptionally dangerous, and possibly haunted, Beach of the Broken Heart, Hiccup must face Ug the Uglithug and complete the Impossible Task–or die trying. Along the way, he’ll have to battle Berserks, dodge Scarers, and save Fishlegs from being fed to the Beast, all while being hunted down by an old enemy with a dark secret about the mysterious Lost Throne. With Toothless by his side, and time to stage his rescue running out, what’s a Hero to do?

The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline: An Enola Holmes Mystery (Puffin) – Nancy Springer. Enola’s landlady, Mrs. Tupper, is the closest thing Enola has to family these days, besides her occasional run-ins with her brother Sherlock. Even though Mrs. Tupper is nearly deaf and can barely cook, she’s an endearing presence as Enola longs for her absent mother. So imagine her horror when Enola comes home to find Mrs. Tupper kidnapped! Who would take her, and why? And what does Florence Nightingale have to do with it? From the master of mystery Nancy Springer, here’s another absorbing adventure for our award-winning, unstoppable heroine, Enola Holmes.

The Cats in the Doll Shop (Viking Juvenile) – Yona Zeldis McDonough. When Anna spots a cat in the yard behind her parents’ doll shop, she is excited. Then she realizes the cat is about to have kittens-even better! And Anna has something else to look forward to: her cousin Tania is coming from Russia to stay with Anna’s family. Anna already has two sisters, but she and Tania are the exact same age-eleven-and she imagines they will get along perfectly. But Tania doesn’t respond to Anna’s friendly overtures, and her sisters don’t seem to like Tania at all. Luckily, Anna finds a creative way to use her love of dolls and cats to bring everyone together.

Daisy Dawson and the Big Freeze (Candlewick) – Steve Voake. It’s snowing! And Daisy Dawson couldn’t be happier enjoying the winter weather with all of her animal friends. There are even newborn lambs to meet, including Woolverton, whose curiosity about the world beyond the farmer’s field soon gets him into trouble. When Daisy hears that Woolverton is lost in the woods, she bundles up and, with the farm dog Boom at her side, sets out to find him. In her third adventure, Daisy finds out that no matter how far she travels, she’ll always find her way home. Steve Voake’s gentle tale and Jessica Meserve’s winning illustrations make this a perfect story for a snug winter’s day.

Gooney Bird on the Map (Houghton Mifflin Books for Children) – Lois Lowry. Mrs. Pidgeon’s second grade class has a lot to celebrate in February: presidents’ birthdays, Valentine’s Day, and school vacation. Of course, the students are talking about their awesome vacation plans every chance they get. It can be hard to focus on subtraction problems when you’re heading to Hawaii or Florida in seventeen minus seven days! But most of the class (twelve minus three of them, in fact) will be staying home during vacation.Can Gooney Bird Greene keep spirits up while everyone is feeling down? Gooney Bird has a great idea that sends her classmates and her on a snowy spin through U.S. history and geography!

The Hugo Movie Companion: A Behind the Scenes Look at How a Beloved Book Became a Major Motion Picture (Scholastic Press) – Brian Selznick. Brian Selznick takes readers on an intimate tour of the movie-making process as his Caldecott Award-winning book The Invention of Hugo Cabret is turned into a 3-D major motion picture by Academy Award-winning director, Martin Scorsese, written by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, John Logan. Lavishly illustrated with full-color photographs from the movie, and filled with fun, informative interviews of the cast and crew, comparisons of artwork from the book alongside people, props, costumes, and sets from the movie, plus fascinating information about automatons, and an essay on the birth of movies written by Martin Scorsese, The Hugo Movie Companion beautifully extends the experience of the book and the movie, and is a must-have for fans of all ages.

Poison Apple #8: At First Bite (Scholastic Paperbacks) – Ruth Ames. Ashlee Lambert, the queen bee from THIS TOTALLY BITES, has had a tough time ever since she became a full-fledged vampire. But now that she’s moving from New York City to sunny Los Angeles, she’s excited to make a fresh new start. But Ashlee never counted on a clique of popular mean girls or awful sunburns. Keeping her huge secret is suddenly harder than ever. And when something — or someone — starts attacking people at her school, Ashlee realizes she’s not the only vampire in town. It’s up to Ashlee to figure out who’s behind the attacks before her cover is blown forever!

Scholastic Book of World Records 2012 (Scholastic Paperbacks) – Jenifer Corr Morse. A LOT can change in a year, and the bestselling SCHOLASTIC BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS has been updated to include all the most recent events with a fresh new cover and interior design! Whether kids want to know what the world’s fastest shark is, which country eats the most fast food, who has the most career hits in the MLB, or which state has the largest teddy bear, the SCHOLASTIC BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS 2012 has all of the answers and much, much more! Over the past ten years, kids, parents, and teachers have come to love this kid-friendly book. Each of the 300 records on pop culture, sports, science, and more has its own page that includes a full-color photograph and a detailed description of the record.

Mousenet (Hyperion) – Prudence Breitrose. When ten-year-old Megan helps her uncle invent the Thumbtop, the world’s smallest computer, mice are overjoyed, and they want one for every mouse hole. The Big Cheese, leader of the Mouse Nation, has orders: follow that girl—even if it means high-tailing it to Megan’s new home on the other side of the country. While Megan struggles as the new girl, the mice watch, waiting for their chance. But when they tell Megan the biggest secret in the history of the world—mice have evolved, and they need her help—she isn’t sure anyone will believe her. With all of Mouse Nation behind her, Megan could become the most powerful girl alive, but just how will she create a Thumptop for every mouse? Brought to life with whimsical illustrations, Prudence Breitrose’s debut novel is full of charm and adventure and will captivate today’s computer-savvy middle-graders.

Mason Dixon – Fourth-Grade Disasters (Knopf Books for Young Readers) – Claudia Mills. Here’s the second entry in veteran author
Claudia Mills’ charming middle-grade series, which finds the lovably sardonic title character starting the fourth grade, which he’s dreading: everyone in fourth grade is expected to join the school choir. And sing. In front of everyone. Mason can’t think of many things he enjoys less than singing. But performing in front of other people might come close; Mason devises a foolproof plan that will keep him out of the spotlight on concert night. Of course, in the world of Mason Dixon, there is no such thing as a foolproof plan. There is only disaster.

Wolven Book 2 – The Twilight Circus (The Chicken House) – Di Toft.  Werewolves, vampires, furry little monsters: It’s a three-ring circus of spooky! After dodging mutant werewolves and mad scientists all summer, Nat and Woody have joined the Twilight Circus of Illusion, hoping it might bring them closer to Nat’s fugitive dad or, just maybe, any surviving members of Woody’s long-lost Wolven clan. But instead they end up in a stinking pile of peril! A pair of strange secret agents is sniffing out their every step, while underneath the big top the boys meet a brand-new batty batch of evil: a black widow vampire and her horrifying hive! Will they escape her sticky web so that they can search for the noble Wolven? And now that Nat has Wolven blood, too, how — when?! — is HE about to change? The second book in Di Toft’s fast-paced, funny series about
a boy and his pet werewolf!

I Before E – Except After C: Young Readers Edition (Reader’s Digest Juvenile) – Susan Randol. Just like adults, kids need easy ways to recall stuff-especially now, when they don’t even have to remember a phone number because their cell phones remember it for them. And just like the bestselling i before e (except after c) for adults, this book is jammed with easy-to-use tricks for remembering lots of stuff-especially stuff they need to know for school. Through entertaining (and often silly) examples, kids will learn to remember everything they need to know about: The Earth-including fun facts about geography, geology, and the weather- and the sky -revolving around planets, stars, atmosphere, and so on,  Reading and writing-covering everything from the smallest punctuation mark to the prickliest words to spell to the trickiest grammar to the grandest figure of speech, the mysteries of history-from Way Before You Were Born (ancient history) to the most recent American history facts every kid needs to memorize.

Sucked Under – Monstrum House (Hardie Grant Books) – Z. Fraillon. It’s exam time at Monstrum House, and the top students in Jasper’s
year will be rewarded. They’ll get to hunt a monster that lives at the bottom of the lake and likes to drown people for fun—so, maybe it’s just as well that Jasper hasn’t studied. Life’s never easy when you’re a student at the Monstrum house.

The Witch’s Revenge (Delacorte Books for Young Readers) – D.A. Nelson. Two months after she saved the Eye of Lornish, a large white stone that prevents the magical kingdom of Mor from being discovered, Morag is adjusting to life in the secret northern kingdom. But dark dreams trouble her, and a series of unsolved robberies proves that even with the protection of her friends—Shona the dragon, Bertie the dodo, and Aldiss the rat—Morag is still not safe.

The Winter Pony (Delacorte Books for Young Readers) – Iain Lawrence. In the forests of Siberia, in the first years of the 20th century, a white pony runs free with his herd. But his life changes forever when he’s captured by men. Years of hard work and cruelty wear him out. When he’s chosen to be one of 20 ponies to accompany the Englishman Robert Falcon Scott on his quest to become the first to reach the South Pole, he doesn’t know what to expect. But the men of Scott’s expedition show him kindness, something he’s never known before. They also give him a name—James Pigg. As Scott’s team hunkers down in Antarctica, James Pigg finds himself caught up in one of the greatest races of all time. The Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen has suddenly announced that he too means to be first to the Pole. But only one team can triumph, and not everyone can survive—not even the animals.

Circus Galacticus (Harcourt Children’s Books) – Deva Fagan. Trix can deal with being an orphan charity case at a snotty boarding school. She can hold her own when everyone else tells her not to dream big dreams. She can even fight back against the mysterious stranger in a silver mask who tries to steal the meteorite her parents trusted her to protect. But her life is about to change forever. The Circus Galacticus has come to town, bringing acts to amaze, delight, and terrify. And now the dazzling but enigmatic young Ringmaster has offered Trix the chance to be a part of it. SoonTrix discovers an entire universe full of deadly enemies and potential friends, not to mention space leeches, ancient alien artifacts, and exploding chocolate desserts. And she just might unravel the secrets of her own past if she can survive long enough.

Chico’s Challenge: The Story of an American Quarter Horse (Feiwel and Friends) – Jessie Haas. Set in Wyoming, Chico’s Challenge follows a young buckskin quarter horse who is trade to Sierra, a teen who works her father’s ranch and dreams of becoming a
cutting horse champion. Chico seems to have the makings of a great cow horse, but…he has never seen a cow in his life! Can he and Sierra, both novices, learn to work together as a team?