Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver
retold by Martin Jenkins
illustrated by Chris Riddell
Age: 8+ (read to); 10+ (independent reading)
Interests: travel, ships, strange lands and customs, satire, adventure, humour, politics, philosophy
Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver
13 Jan 2014 Leave a comment
in Books, books 10+, books 8+, books 9+, Classics Tags: adventure, boats, comedy, philosophy, politics, satire, travel
Call it Courage
08 Jan 2014 Leave a comment
in Books, books 10+ Tags: adventure, animals, boats, dogs, folktales, island, nature, ocean, pets, Polynesia, sea creatures, storms, travel, wilderness survival
Call It Courage
by Armstrong Sperry
Age: 10+
Interests: survival, boats, ocean, sea creatures, storms, Polynesia, islands
The Westing Game
18 Oct 2013 Leave a comment
in Books, books 10+ Tags: bad behavior, crime, mystery, treasure
The Westing Game
by Ellen Raskin
Age: 10+
Interests: mystery, crime, bad behaviour, treasure, murder More
The Otterbury Incident
19 Sep 2013 Leave a comment
in Books, books 10+ Tags: action, adventure, bad behavior, crime, detective, England, money, mystery, school, violence
The Otterbury Incident
by C. Day Lewis
illustrated by Edward Ardizzone
Age: 10+
Interests: mystery, crime, kid detectives, England, action, some violence, school, bad behaviour, money
A Land Divided
17 Sep 2013 Leave a comment
in Books, books 10+, Canadian books Tags: action, adventure, boats, Canada, Canadian history, country life, history, travel, war
GOVERNOR GENERAL’S AWARD WINNER – 1951
by John F. Hayes
illustrated by Fred J. Finley
Age: 10+ (independent reading)
Interests: Canadian history, war, adventure
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
05 Jun 2013 Leave a comment
in Books, books 10+ Tags: art, museum, mystery, New York, running away from home, siblings
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
by E. L. Konigsburg
Age: 10+
Interests: museums, art, running away from home, New York City, mysteries
Starbuck Valley Winter
04 Apr 2013 Leave a comment
in Books, books 10+, Canadian books Tags: animals, Canada, forest, hunting, independence, nature, wilderness survival, winter
CANADIAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION BOOK OF THE YEAR – 1947
Starbuck Valley Winter
by Roderick Haig-Brown
Age: 10 +
Interests: hunting, wilderness survival, winter survival, animals, canoeing, Canada, British Columbia
Black Ships Before Troy
12 Mar 2013 Leave a comment
in Books, books 10+, books 8+ Tags: action, adventure, boats, gods, Greece, history, Magic, morality, myths, romance, war
GREENAWAY MEDAL WINNER -1993
Rosemary Sutcliff, text
Alan Lee, illustrations
Frances Lincoln Limited: 1993
125 pages, 19 chapters
Age: 8+ (read to) ; 10+ (independent reading)
Interests: Greek history and mythology, war, romance, ethical dilemmas
Next: Sutcliffe’s The Wanderings of Odysseus, D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths
Also by this author: many historical fiction novels for young people, including The Eagle of the Ninth Chronicles (3 books about the Romans in Britain, including Carnegie winner The Lantern Bearers), Warrior Scarlet (about life in the Bronze Age), Tristan and Iseult, The Shining Company (medieval Britain)
Holes
13 Feb 2013 3 Comments
in Books, books 10+ Tags: desert, family history, friendship, jail, mystery
NEWBERY MEDAL WINNER – 1999
by Louis Sachar
Random House: 1998
233 pp.
Age: 10 +
Interests: mystery, fate, jail, desert, survival, friendship
Also by this author: Sideways Stories from Wayside School, Marvin Redpost series, and Small Steps – a sequel of sorts to Holes, following some of the other boys from Camp Green Lake
Next: the movie version Holes (2003) is very good, and quite faithful to the novel
The Giver
12 Feb 2013 Leave a comment
in Books, books 10+ Tags: dystopia, family, morality, philosophy, sci fi
NEWBERY MEDAL WINNER – 1994
by Lois Lowry
Random House: 1993
179 pp.
Age: 10+
Interests: science fiction, dystopia, morality, questioning authority, freedom
Next: the rest of ‘The Giver Quartet’: Messenger, Gathering Blue, Son
More science fiction: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine l’Engle, The Iron Man by Ted Hughes, The Martian Chronicles or Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Also by this author: Number the Stars, Autumn Street, The Silent Boy
Rarest Kind of Best 