Park View Summer Reading 2012 - Grade 4

It's summer and the three Barker brothers--Simon, Henry, and Jack--just moved from Illinois to Arizona. Their parents have warned them repeatedly not to explore Superstition Mountain, which is near their home. But when their cat Josie goes missing, they see no other choice. There's something unusually creepy about the mountain and after the boys find three human skulls, they grow determined to uncover the mystery. Have people really gone missing over the years, and could there be someone or some thing lurking in the woods? Together with their new neighbor Delilah, the Barker boys are dead-set on cracking the case even if it means putting themselves in harm's way.

Here's the first book in an action-packed mystery series by a "New York Times" bestselling author. …More

New student Artie King is a nice, comics-loving kid who just wants to ease into life at Camelot Middle School without attracting too much attention. But by second period, Artie already has enemies. …More

California Young Reader Medal Winner - 2007
Beatty Award Winner - 2005
Set in 1935, when guards actually lived on Alcatraz Island with their families, Choldenko's second novel brings humor to the complexities of family dynamics and illuminates the real struggle of a kid trying to free himself from the "good boy" stance he's taken his whole life. …More

Jack hates poetry, but he can't avoid Ms. Stretchberry's assignments. But then something amazing happens. The more he writes, the more he learns he does have something to say. …More

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A CCBC Selection of the Week

With plenty of poetry from Tennyson, Eliot, and Poe, along with a hilarious hero and one amazing surprise, Newbery Medalist Creech makes magic once again, in this narrative poem sequel to her acclaimed "Love That Dog." …More

The creators of "Poop" are back with an entertaining look at the most incredible survivors on Earth. …More

2003 Iowa Children's Choice Award Winner
2003 California Young Reader Medal Winner
2003 Mark Twain Award Winner
2003 Sequoyah Children's Winner2003 YHBA Winner
2002-2003 Viginia Readers' Choice - Elementary
2002 Texas Bluebonnet Award Winner
2001-2002 Maine Student Book Award Winner
2001-2002 Sunshine State Young Reader's Award
2001 CCBC Choices - 2001
2000 Mitten Award Winner

In a first novel recalling the fiction of Harper Lee and Carson McCullers, the narrator--ten-year-old Opal--describes her first summer in the town of Naomi, Florida, and all the good things that happen because of her big, ugly dog, Winn-Dixie. …More

Soon after arriving at the Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale Academy for Proper Young Ladies, resourceful seven-and-one-quarter-year-old Alice-Miranda finds her new boarding school to be a very curious establishment with no flowers in the gardens, a headmistress that has not been seen for years, and a mysterious stranger that seems to be hiding out on the premises. …More

In this winning, long-anticipated companion to "The Scrambled States of America," young readers are sure to revel in the madcap adventure and silly antics of those scrambled states, all the while learning interesting facts about states and geography. Full color. …More

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The first book in an all-new series introduces a 10-year-old boy named Adam Melon--also known as Melonhead. When he learns that his class is entering an invention fair, Melonhead and his friend Sam begin dreaming up plans. Illustrations. …More

Franklin D. Roosevelt was born into one of the wealthiest families in America, yet this ultimate rich kid grew up to do more for ordinary Americans than any other president. This appealing picture book biography shows how FDR was compassionate and enormously likable. Full color. …More

In "The Manatee Scientists, "John Reynolds does an aerial count of manatees from the Florida sky; Lucy Keith spends a weekend rescuing manatees trapped in a dam in Senegal; and Fernando Rosas takes the author on an Amazonian boat trip, looking for a young manatee he released back into the wild, with emotional results. These scientists are working hard to save manatees: docile, large sea mammals who are eaten in some parts of the world, feared in others, and adored in still others. But factors such as human encroachment, disease, environmental hazards, and being hunted are causing their numbers to decline: they are an endangered species, in need of help. …More

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It's the summer of 1969, and things are not only changing in Tamara's little Long Island town, but in the world. Perhaps Tamara could stand to take one small step toward a bit of compassion and understanding? …More

It's Amanda's 11th birthday and she is super excited -- after all, 11 is so different from 10. But from the start, everything goes wrong. The worst part of it all is that she and her best friend, Leo, with whom she's shared every birthday, are on the outs and this will be the first birthday they haven't shared together. When Amanda turns in for the night, glad to have her birthday behind her, she wakes up happy for a new day. Or is it? Her birthday seems to be repeating iself. What is going on?! And how can she fix it? Only time, friendship, and a little luck will tell. . .

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An established writer of adult suspense makes a stunning entry into children's literature with this extraordinary novel about two boys--a slow learner too large for his age, and a tiny, crippled genius--who pair up to create on formidable human force. …More

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. …More

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When Alice's Aunt Polly passes away, she takes with her the secret to her world-famous pie-crust recipe. Or does she? In her will, Polly leaves the recipe to her extraordinarily surly cat Lardo . . . and then leaves Lardo in the care of Alice. Suddenly Alice is thrust into the center of a piestorm, with everyone in town trying to be the next pie-contest winner. …More

When popular Rolly Maloo asks outcast Jenna Lee to help her cheat on a math test, Jenna doesn't know what to do. Cheating is wrong. But maybe Rolly just needs a little help? Illustrations. …More