Spring 2015Ms. Sillin

Seventh Grade

Some people won’t believe any of this story. You might be one of them. But every single word is true. Tony DiMarco does catch a murderer, solve a mystery, and find a treasure—all in the first few days he moves, unexpectedly, to 13 Hangman’s Court in Boston. The fact that he also turns thirteen at the same time is not a coincidence.

Some people won’t believe any of this story. You might be one of them. But every single word is true. Tony

DiMarco does catch a murderer, solve a mystery, and find a treasure—all in the first few days he moves,

unexpectedly, to 13 Hangman’s Court in Boston.

The fact that he also turns thirteen at the same time is

not a coincidence.

Peculiar things are going on in the town of Medley over the summer of 1963, but it's hard for twelve-year-old Cully Pennyacre to figure out what it all means. His father has disappeared mysteriously, people don't seem like themselves, and his apprenticeship at Betty's Attic antique store gets stranger each day. The owner has a disturbing hobby of collecting people's shadows with a weird projectorlike machine and foul-smelling chemicals. He claims the process is harmless, but it leaves his victims listless and passive. Odd happenings become the norm as Cully, Batty's granddaughter Isabel, and Cully's best friend band together to get to the bottom of a secret black market in human shadows.

Tyrone "Li'l T" Roberts meets Buddy when his family's car accidentally hits the stray dog on their way to church. Buddy turns out to be the dog Li'l T's always wished for--until Hurricane Katrina comes to New Orleans and he must leave Buddy behind. After the storm, Li'l T and his father return home to find a community struggling to rebuild their lives--and Buddy gone. But Li'l T refuses to give up his quest to find his best friend.

A moving debut novel about a foster child learning to open her heart to a family's

love.Carley uses humor and street smarts to keep her emotional

walls high and thick. But the day she becomes a foster child, and

moves in with the Murphys, she's blindsided. This loving, bustling family shows Carley the stable family life she never thought

existed, and she feels like an alien in their cookie-cutter-perfect

household. Despite her resistance, the Murphys eventually show her what it feels like to belong--until her mother wants her back and Carley has to decide where and how to live. She's not really a Murphy, but the gifts they've

given her have opened up a new future.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Gordon Korman comes a

hilarious and heartfelt novel in which one middle-school troublemaker

accidentally moves into the gifted and talented program—and changes

everything. For fans of Louis Sachar and Jack Gantos, this funny and

touching underdog story is a lovable and goofy adventure with robot fights,

middle-school dances, live experiments, and statue-toppling pranks!

As twelve-year-old Marlee starts middle school in 1958 Little Rock, it feels like her

whole world is falling apart. Until she meets Liz, the new girl at school. Liz is everything

Marlee wishes she could be: she's brave, brash and always knows the right thing to say. But when Liz leaves school without

even a good-bye, the rumor is that Liz was caught passing for white. Marlee decides

that doesn't matter. She just wants her friend back. And to stay friends, Marlee and Liz

are even willing to take on segregation and the dangers their friendship could bring to

both their families.

Katerina has a dream. It’s her papa’s dream, too. Her family came to America to buy their own farm.

But a year later, Papa is still working in the dangerous coal mine. Each day, the farm seems farther away.Then

Katerina is reminded of the carp that granted three wishes in an old folktale. When her

younger sisters hear the story, they immediately make wishes. Trina doesn’t

believe in such silliness—but what is she to think when her sisters’ wishes come true?A farm is still too big to wish for. But, with the help of the neighbor’s handsome son, Trina

starts building her dream with hard work and good sense. Then tragedy strikes, and it

seems that nothing Trina wishes for will ever come true again.With warmth and gentle

humor, Jeannie Mobley tells the story of a girl whose determination is as inspiring as her

dreams.

Temple Grandin may be the most famous person with autism, a condition that affects 1 in 88 children. Since her birth in 1947, our understanding of it has undergone a great transformation, leading to more hope than ever before that we may finally learn the causes of and treatments for autism.

Weaving her own experience with remarkable new discoveries, Grandin introduces the advances in neuroimaging and genetic research that link brain science to behavior, even sharing her own brain scan to show which anomalies might explain common symptoms. Most excitingly, she argues that raising and educating kids on the autism spectrum must focus on their long-overlooked strengths to foster their unique contributions. The Autistic Brain brings Grandin’s singular perspective into the heart of the autism revolution.

In this first book in a remarkable trilogy, an orphan is forced into a twisted game with deadly stakes.Choose to lie...or choose to die.In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king's long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner's motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword's point -- he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage's rivals have their own agendas as well.As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner's sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together.An extraordinary adventure filled with danger and action, lies and deadly truths that will have readers clinging to the edge of their seats.

Based on a true story!

When Ivan's mother disappears, he's abandoned on the streets of Moscow, with little chance to make it through the harsh winter. But help comes in an unexpected form: Ivan is adopted by a pack of dogs, and the dogs quickly become more than just his street companions: They become his family. Soon Ivan, who used to love reading fairytales, is practically living in one, as he and his pack roam the city and countryside, using their wits to find food and shelter, dodging danger, begging for coins. But Ivan can't stay hidden from the world of people forever. When help is finally offered to him, will he be able to accept it? Will he even want to?A heart-pounding tale of survival and a moving look at what makes us human.

In December of 1938, a chemist in a German laboratory made a shocking discovery: When

placed next to radioactive material, a Uranium atom split in two. That simple discovery launched a scientific race that

spanned 3 continents. In Great Britain and the United States, Soviet spies worked their

way into the scientific community; in Norway, a commando force slipped behind enemy lines to attack German heavy-water manufacturing; and deep in the desert, one

brilliant group of scientists was hidden away at a remote site at Los Alamos. This is the story of the plotting, the risk-taking, the

deceit, and genius that created the world's most formidable weapon. This is the story of

the atomic bomb.

I come from a country that was created at midnight. When I almost died it was just after midday."When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education.On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive.Instead, Malala's miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she became a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest nominee ever for the Nobel Peace Prize.I AM MALALA is the remarkable tale of a family uprooted by global terrorism, of the fight for girls' education, of a father who, himself a school owner, championed and encouraged his daughter to write and attend school, and of brave parents who have a fierce love for their daughter in a society that prizes sons.I AM MALALA will make you believe in the power of one person's voice to inspire change in the world.Text

The Giver, the 1994 Newbery Medal winner, has become one of the most influential novels of our time. The

haunting story centers on twelve-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly

ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community. Lois Lowry has

written three companion novels to The Giver, including Gathering Blue,

Messenger, and Son.

When twelve-year-old Dana Shannon starts to strip away wallpaper in her family's old house,

she's unprepared for the surprise that awaits her. A hidden room -- containing a human skeleton! How did such a thing get there? And why was

the tiny room sealed up? With the help of a diary found in the room, Dana learns her house was once a station on the Underground Railroad. The young

woman whose remains Dana discovered was Lizbet Charles, a

conductor and former slave. As the scene shifts between Dana's world and 1856, the story of the families

that lived in the house unfolds. But as pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place, one haunting question remains

-- why did Lizbet Charles die?

Award-winning author Andrea Warren presents a life-changing story of a young boy's struggle for survival in a Nazi-run

concentration camp. In this Robert F. Silbert Honor Book, narrated in the voice of

Holocaust survivor Jack Mandelbaum, readers will glimpse the dark reality of life

during the Holocaust, and how one boy made it out alive.

When twelve-year-old Jack Mandelbaum is separated from his family and shipped off to the Blechhammer concentration camp, his life becomes a never-ending nightmare. With minimal food to eat and harsh living conditions threatening his health, Jack manages to survive by thinking of his family.

Doomed to—or blessed with—eternal life after drinking

from a magic spring, the Tuck family wanders about trying to

live as inconspicuously and comfortably as they can.

When ten-year-old Winnie Foster stumbles on their

secret, the Tucks take her home and explain why living

forever at one age is less a blessing that it might seem. Complications arise when Winnie is followed by a

stranger who wants to market the spring water for a fortune.