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Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre that uses magic and other supernatural forms as key elements in plot, theme or setting.

No Passengers Beyond This Point

Gennifer Choldenko JF Choldenko

With their house in foreclosure, sisters India and Mouse and brother Finn are sent to stay with an uncle in Colorado until their mother can join them, but when the plane lands, the children are welcomed by cheering crowds to a strange place where each of them has a perfect house and a clock that is ticking down the time.

The Dead Gentleman

Matthew Cody/ JF Cody

Eleven-year-old orphan Tommy Learner’s world in 1900 New York City collides with that of twelve-year-old, modern-day Jezebel Lemon in the basement of her apartment building, where together they must use the portals between worlds to thwart the Dead Gentleman, a legendary villain whose last unconquered world is the planet Earth.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Roald Dahl JF Dahl

Each of five children lucky enough to discover an entry ticket into Mr. Willy Wonka’s mysterious chocolate factory takes advantage of the situation in his own way.

Beyonders: A World Without Heroes

Brandon Mull/ JF Mull

Fourteen-year-old Jason Walker is transported to a strange world called Lyrian, where he joins Rachel and a few rebels to piece together the Word that can destroy the malicious wizard emperor, Surroth.

The Son of Neptune

Rick Riordan JF Riordan

Demigod Percy Jackson, still with no memory, and his new friends from Camp Jupiter, Hazel and Frank, go on a quest to free Death, but their bigger task is to unite the Greek and Roman camps so that the Prophecy of Seven can be fulfilled.

School Stories

School’s in!

Ivy + Bean: No News Is Good News

Annie Barrows + Sophie Blackall JF/Barrows

Ivy and Bean try to make money by writing a newspaper about Pancake Court but the neighbors are not pleased to read about themselves.

Judy Moody Goes to College

Megan McDonald JF/McDonald

When her substitute teacher realizes she is struggling in math, Judy is sent to a math tutor at the local college and soon is completely into the spirit of college life.

Gooney Bird on the Map

Lois Lowry JF/Lowry

When her second-grade classmates are envious of the three students who are going away on winter vacation, the creative and ingenious Gooney Bird Greene thinks of a geography activity to cheer them all up.

The Homework Machine

Dan Gutman JF Gutman

Four fifth-grade students–a geek, a class clown, a teacher’s pet, and a slacker–as well as their teacher and mothers, each relate events surrounding a computer programmed to complete homework assignments. 

My Weird School (Series)

Dan Gutman JF Gutman

All the teachers at Ella Mentry School are weird in their own way, and readers will love meeting them through reluctant student A. J.’s lively commentary on everyone and everything weird and wacky.

Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians

Jarrett J. Korsoczka J741/KRO

The school lunch lady, a secret crime fighter, sets out to stop a group of librarians bent on destroying a shipment of video games, while a group of students known as the Breakfast Bunch provides back-up.

Super Fly Guy

Tedd Arnold JE Arnold

Fly Guy visits the school cafeteria and gets the lunch lady fired.

Sideways Stories From Wayside School

Louis Sachar JF Sachar

Humorous episodes from the classroom on the thirtieth floor of Wayside School, which was accidentally built sideways with one classroom on each story.

Humor

Stories to tickle your funny bone!

The Adventures of Captain Underpants (Series)

Dav Pilkey JF Pilkey

Pranksters George and Harold, caught on videotape by school principal Mr. Krupp, decide to hypnotize him into letting them off the hook and end up creating the comic book superhero Captain Underpants.

The Hoboken Chicken Emergency

Daniel Pinkwater JF Pinkwater

Arthur goes to pick up the turkey for Thanksgiving dinner but comes back with a 266-pound chicken.

A Long Way From Chicago

Richard Peck JF Peck

A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister during the Great Depression to visit their larger-than-life grandmother.

Mystery

Detectives! Crimes! Puzzles! Psychic Investigators!

The Romeo and Juliet Code

Phoebe Stone JF Stone

A sudden trip to a seaside house. A boy with brown sugar eyes. And then, a mysterious letter.

The Trouble with Chickens

Doreen Cronin JF Cronin

A funny and suspenseful mystery featuring J. J. Tully, retired search-and-rescue dog.

The Case of the Missing Marquess: An Enola Holmes Mystery

Nancy Springer JF Springer

Enola Holmes, much younger sister of detective Sherlock Holmes, must travel to London in disguise to unravel the disappearance of her missing mother.

Chasing Vermeer

Blue Balliett JF Balliett

When seemingly unrelated and strange events start to happen and a precious Vermeer painting disappears, eleven-year-olds Petra and Calder combine their talents to solve an international art scandal.

Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator

Jennifer Allison JF Allison

During the summer before 9th grade, intrepid Gilda Joyce invites herself to the San Francisco mansion of distant cousin Lester Splinter and his t13-year-old daughter, where she uses her purported psychic abilities and detective skills to solve the mystery of the mansion’s boarded-up tower.

The Maze of Bones (39 Clues Series)

Rick Riordan JF Riordan

Amy and Dan, members of the powerful Cahill family, try to uncover the thirty-nine clues which will reveal the secrets of their lineage and find out what really happened to their parents.

Animal Stories

Stories in which animals are the main characters and are sometimes given human characteristics.

The One and Only Ivan

Katherine Applegate JF/Applegate

When Ivan, a gorilla who has lived for years in a down-and-out circus-themed mall, meets Ruby, a baby elephant that has been added to the mall, he decides that he must find her a better life.

Maggie & Oliver or A Bone of One’s Own

Valerie Hobbs JF/Hobbs

A dog whose beloved owner has died and an orphaned ten-year-old girl find each other while enduring poverty and homelessness in early twentieth-century Boston.

Mr. and Mrs. Bunny – Detectives Extraordinaire!

Polly Horvath JF/Horvath

Middle-schooler Madeline’s hippy parents have been kidnapped from Hornby Island, Canada, by foxes and Madeline, upon discovering that she can understand animal languages, hires two rabbit detectives to find them.

Soldier Bear

Bibi Dumon Tak JF/Dumon Tak

An orphaned Syrian brown bear cub is adopted by Polish soldiers during World War II and serves for five years as their mischievous mascot in Iran and Italy. Based on a true story.

War Horse

Michael Morpurgo JF/Morpurgo

Joey the horse recalls his experiences growing up on an English farm, his struggle for survival as a cavalry horse during World War I, and his reunion with his beloved master.

Sports

Stories about sports and athletes.

One Handed Catch

M. J. Auch JF Auch

After losing his hand in an accident in his father’s butcher shop in 1946, sixth-grader Norman uses hard work and humor to learn to live with his disability and to succeed at baseball, art, and other activities.

Million-Dollar Throw

Mike Lupica JF Lupica

Eighth-grade star quarterback Nate Brodie’s family is feeling the stress of the troubled economy, and Nate is frantic because his best friend Abby is going blind, so when he gets a chance to win a million dollars if he can complete a pass during the halftime of a New England Patriot’s game, he is nearly overwhelmed by the pressure to succeed.

Soccer Hero

Stephanie Peters JF Peters

One afternoon at his soccer game, Rob Lasher finds himself saving his coach’s life in front of the team and suddenly he becomes the team’s hero; but Rob’s new-found popularity doesn’t make him as happy as he thought it would.

Sugar and Ice

Kate Messner JF Messner

When Russian skating coach Andrei Grosheva offers farm girl Claire a scholarship to train with the elite in Lake Placid, she encounters a world of mean girls on ice, where competition is everything.