CMS Summer Reading 2012

In 1347, when fourteen-year-old orphan William Paynel, an impoverished servant at Crowfield Abbey, goes into the forest to gather wood and finds a magical creature caught in a trap, he discovers he has the ability to see fays and becomes embroiled in a strange mystery involving Old Magic, a bitter feud, and ancient secrets.

A boy who may be part changeling, twins involved in a bizarre secret experiment, and a clurichaun in a red tracksuit try to save the world from an evil cereal company whose ultimate goal is world domination.

Cassandra and Max find a missing magician's notebook and start to investigate the fire which burnt down his house and his mysterious "symphony of smells."

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.

Maggie Brooklyn Sinclair, who works after school as a dog-walker, looks into a case of kidnapped dogs, even though it means possibly helping Ivy, her ex-best friend, to help recover her rescue dog, Kermit.

August Pullman was born with a facial deformity that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid-but his new classmates can't get past Auggie's extraordinary face.Several perspectives converge in a portrait of one community's struggle with empathy, compassion, and acceptance.

Hazel and Jack are best friends until an accident with a magical mirror and a run-in with a villainous queen find Hazel on her own, entering an enchanted wood in the hopes of saving Jack's life.

Jack is practically invisible at home, but when his parents send him to Hazelwood, Iowa, to spend a summer with his odd aunt and uncle, he suddenly makes friends, is beaten up by the town bully, and is plotted against by the richest man in town.

Sequel to The Search for WondLa. Eva thinks she has everything she's ever dreamed of, especially when Hailey brings her and her friends to the colony of New Attica, where humans of all shapes and sizes live in apparent peace and harmony. But all is not idyllic in New Attica, and Eva Nine soon realizes that something sinister is going on. If she doesn't stop it, it could mean the end of everything and everyone on planet Orbona...

An old foe is bent on bringing back to life the horrible Grotesquery, an unkillable monster assembled from the most fearsome beasts of legend. It's up to the ingenious, fearless, and hilarious Skulduggery and his apprentice Valkyrie Cain (a.k.a. Stephanie Edgely) to stop it. (Highly recommended by rising 6th graders from Thoreau!)

Cracker is an important weapon: a German shepherd trained to sniff out bombs, traps, and the enemy. The fate of entire platoons rests on her keen sense of smell. Told in part through the uncanny point of view of a German shepherd, Cracker! is an action-packed glimpse into the Vietnam War as seen through the eyes of a dog and her handler. It's an utterly unique powerhouse of a book.

Ben and Rose secretly wish their lives were different. Ben longs for the father he has never known. Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his mother's room and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out alone on desperate quests to find what they are missing. Set fifty years apart, these two independent stories--Ben's told in words, Rose's in pictures--weave back and forth with mesmerizing symmetry.

Everyone is afraid of something... With very few options left, the parents of four twelve year-olds send them to the highly elusive and exclusive School of Fearto help them overcome their phobias. But when their peculiar teacher, Mrs. Wellington, and her unconventional teaching methods turn out to be more frightening than even their fears, the foursome realize that this just may be the scariest summer of their lives. (Recommended by rising sixth graders at Willard!)