Own the Night
Buchholz, Rachel. How to Survive Anything. Presents humorous
depictions of survival skills needed in a variety of situations, from school
problems to encounters with wild animals, while imparting important
safety information. gr4-8.
Cowell, Cressida. A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons : The Heroic
Misadventures of Hiccup the Viking. Hiccup must now save his dragon
Toothless from being banished by sneaking into the Meathead Public
Library and stealing the Viking's sacred book. Hiccup now wonders what he must do to live to see his next
birthday since the Hairy Scary Librarian is watching his every move. gr4-8.
Gosselink, John. Free Thaddeus! : A Novel. Thaddeus A. Ledbetter is being punished with an in-school
suspension, but he has a defense for his actions. This defense is presented as a story in the form of journal
entries, notes, and emails. gr6-10.
Greenwald, Tom. Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Not Reading. Proud of never having read an entire book,
Charlie Joe Jackson finds his feat harder to maintain now that he is in middle school. When his friend decides
to stop covering for him, Charlie has to figure out new ways to keep himself from ever having to read a book.
gr6-10.
Holm, Jennifer L. Middle School Is Worse than Meatloaf : A Year Told through Stuff. A scrapbook format is
used to tell a story of a year in middle school. Describes Ginny's problems such as turning her hair pink, getting
detention for throwing frogs in class, and losing the lead in the ballet recital. gr6-10.
Knudsen, Shannon. Fantastical Creatures and Magical Beasts. Provides a collection of monsters and scary
stories about them told throughout history and around the world. Discusses how, in many tales, people die at
the hands of the monster and in others, how they overcome their fear and kill the monster. Includes photos,
an index, current books, TV, and movies depicting modern monsters, and sources for additional information.
gr4-8
Korman, Gordon. Showoff. Luthor, a former attack dog, ruins the career of a three-time national dog show
champion. Griffin Bing feels bad for Luthor, so he springs him from the pound and comes up with a plan to
restore the dog's name--train him to be the new national champion. gr4-8.
Pierce, Lincoln. Big Nate and Friends. A collection of comic strips that features eleven-year-old Nate Wright as
he experiences life as a middle-schooler. gr5-8.
Poblocki, Dan. The Stone Child. When friends Eddie, Harris, and Maggie discover that the scary adventures in
their favorite author's fictional books come true, they must find a way to close the portal that allows evil
creatures and witches to enter their hometown of Gatesweed. gr4-8.
Raschka, Christopher. Seriously, Norman! Norman, his friends Leonard and the twins Anna and Emma, and
Norman's new tutor, Balthazar Birdsong, become involved in a dangerous adventure with some shady
characters that are doing business with Norman's dad. gr6-8.
Skye, Obert. Wonkenstein. Twelve-year-old Rob has stuffed his closet with old laboratory experiments,
unread books, and more, and when a creature emerges from that chaos causing a great deal of trouble, Rob
has to do such horrible things as visit a library and speak at a school assembly to set things right again. gr4-8.
Summy, Barrie. I So Don’t Do Spooky. Someone is out to get Sherry's step-mom and the Academy of Spirits
has asked her to begin an investigation. But Sherry admits she doesn't want to get involved in scary things.
gr5-8.
Tracy, Kristen. The Reinvention of Bessica Lefter. As Bessica Lefter tries to prepare for a new life as a sixthgrader, a disaster at the hair salon costs her her lifelong friend and only ally. Now, Bessica must navigate the
halls of her new middle school on her own, encountering no shortage of humorous situations along the way.
gr6-10.
Van Draanen, Wendelin. The Greatest Power. While evil Damien Black is holding people in the bank hostage,
Dave enlists the aid of Sticky, a heroic Gecko, to put an end to the trouble. gr4-8.
Scary Stories, gr4-8
Bites: Scary Stories to Sink Your Teeth Into. Collects seven short, scary stories written by a variety of authors,
including Kevin Emerson, Ellen Wittlinger, and Terry Black. gr4-8.
Bones: Terrifying Tales to Haunt Your Dreams. Collects short scary stories about skeletons, ghosts, three-eyed
men, and rogue cell phones by authors like R.L. Stein and Margaret Mahy. gr4-8.
Half-Minute Horrors. An anthology of very short, scary stories by an assortment of authors and illustrators
including Chris Raschka, Joyce Carol Oates, Neil Gaiman, Jack Gantos, and Lane Smith. gr4-10.
Kopp, Megan. Scary Folktales. Collects an assortment of horror-themed folktales that have been told by
various individuals over the years. Includes photographs, a glossary, and further reading sources. gr4+
Olson, Arielle North. More Bones: Scary Stories from Around the World. Twenty-two scary tales collected
from around the world and retold. gr4-8.
O’Shei, Tim. Bone-chilling Myths. Offers a collection of myths from ancient civilizations that explain the
creation of the world, teach a lesson, and presents some of the most frightening tales. Includes color photos, a
glossary, and index. gr4+
Creepy Urban Legends. Details an assortment of urban legends and horror stories and discusses
how they originated. Includes full-color photographs, a glossary, and further reading sources. gr4+
Rich, Susan, ed. Half-Minute Horrors. An anthology of very short, scary stories by an assortment of authors
and illustrators.
San Souci, Robert D. Dare to Be Scared: Thirteen Tales to Chill and Thrill. Thirteen short stories about ghosts,
monsters, spirits and other scary creatures will give the reader thrills and chills. San Souci is also the author of
Double-Dare to Be Scared, Triple-Dare to Be Scared and Dare to Be Scared 4. gr4-8.
Haunted House. A collection of ten scary stories for kids centered around haunted
houses. gr4-8.
Schwartz, Alvin. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. A collection of stories of ghosts and witches, “jump” stories,
scary songs, and modern-day scary stories.
Stine, RL ed. Fear: 13 Stories of Suspense and Horror. Presents a collection of thirteen suspenseful stories
written by popular contemporary authors including five "New York Times" bestselling authors and four Edgar
Award nominees.
Websites for additional teen titles:
TeenReads http://www.teenreads.com/
GuysRead
http://www.guysread.com/
RECENTLY PUBLISHED
SOUND RECORDINGS for
TRAVEL TIME
Barnhill, The Mostly True Story of Jack. When Jack is sent to live with his strange uncle and aunt in Iowa,
he experiences real, not imaginary, friends, he is beaten up by the town bully, and his death is plotted by
the town's richest man. Unable to understand why he is now the center of attention when he had always
been mostly invisible before, he tries to figure out the reason for the mystery. gr4-7.
Birney, Summer According to Humphrey. When summer arrives, Humphrey, the pet hamster of
Longfellow School's Room 26, is surprised and pleased to learn that he will be going to Camp Happy
Hollow. gr2-4.
Geronimo Stilton (series) Books 25 & 26 Search for Sunken Treasure / and / The Mummy with No Name.
gr1-5
Haddix, 39 Clues (series). gr4-7.
Hahn, The Old Willis Place: A Ghost Story. Tired of the rules that have bound them ever since "the bad
thing happened," twelve-year-old Diana ignores her brother's warnings and befriends the daughter of the
new caretaker, setting in motion events that lead to the release of the spirit of an evil, crazy woman who
once ruled the old Willis place. gr5-8.
Lasky, Lone Wolf. When a wolf mother gives birth to a pup who has a twisted paw, she knows the law of
the pack that they cannot have any weakness and she must abandon him on an icy riverbank. But the pup,
Faolan, survives and forever changes the ways of the wolves of the Beyond. gr4-7.
Paolini, Inheritance (series). The young Dragon Rider Eragon confronts the evil king Galbatorix to free
Alagaesia from his rule once and for all. gr7-12.
Reichs, Virals. Fourteen-year-old Tory Brennan goes to live with her dad, a marine biologist whom Tory
has never known. Tory tries to adjust to her new life by making friends with a group of kids who are also
science geeks. When the friends rescue a stray wolf dog pup from a top-secret lab, they are exposed to a
rare canine parvovirus that alters their DNA. Now with canine sense and reflexes, they are called upon to
solve a murder. gr7-10.
Riordan, Heroes of Olympus (series). Demigod Percy Jackson, and his new friends from Camp Jupiter,
Hazel and Frank, must unite the Greek and Roman camps so that the Prophecy of Seven can be fulfilled.
gr5-8.