The Incredible Journey

 

Title: The Incredible Journey

Author: Sheila Burnford

Rating: ★★★★★

Ages: 8 - 18+

    Back Cover Synopsis:

    Home lay to the west, his instinct told him; but he could not leave the other two - so somehow he must take them with him, all the way.

    Three beloved pets - Luath, a young Labrador retriever; Tao, a Siamese cat; and Bodger, an old bull terrier - have been separated from their family. Luath makes the decision to head for home, setting out with his companions on an incredible journey through the wilderness of northwestern Ontario.

    They do not know the dangers they will face. They do not know that winter is approaching, or that home is four hundred kilometres away. They will be separated by a rushing river and attacked by wild animals. They will face injury, starvation, cold and sheer exhaustion. Individually, they would never survive. But together, can they find their way home?

The Song Spinner

 

Title: The Song Spinner

Author: Pauline Le Bel

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Ages: 8 - 14

    Back Cover Synopsis: 

    In the land of Pindrop, noise is forbidden. Not even the sweet song of a bird is tolerated. But Aurora hears music in her head. So while she does her whispering exercises like other good children and wears her regulation Hushcloth, she dares to dream of a different life. It's not surprising then that Zantalalia should be the one to offer her more than dreams. Banished to the Water World because she refused to stop singing, Zantalalia has secretly returned to Pindrop in time for the Sunwatch.

    Why has she returned on the eve of the winter festival? What is the Song Spinner? Who has put the songs inside Aurora's head? And what chance do dreamers like Aurora have against Captain Nizzle of the Noise Police, who enforces the Hush Laws at any cost? Aurora is determined to find the answers in this lyrical fantasy with a score of fascinating characters. 

Caddie Woodlawn

 

Title: Caddie Woodlawn

Author: Carol Ryrie Brink

Rating: ★★★★☆

Ages: 8 - 15

    Back Cover Synopsis: 

    Caddie Woodlawn is a real adventurer. She'd rather hunt than sew and plow than bake, and tries to beat her brothers' dares every chance she gets. Caddie is friends with Indians, who scare most of the neighbors - neighbors who, like her mother and sisters, don't understand her at all. 

    Caddie is brave, and her story is special because it's based on the Life and memories of Carol Ryrie Brink's grandmother, the real Caddie Woodlawn. Her spirit and sense of fun have made this book a classic that readers have taken to their hearts for more than seventy years. 

Five Children & It

Title: Five Children & It

Author: Edith Nesbit

Rating: ★★★★☆

Ages: 6 - 16

    Back Cover Synopsis: 

    The five children are Cyril, Anthea, Robert, Jane and the Lamb, their baby brother. And 'It' is the Psammead that lives in the gravel pits. It is furry and fat with hands like a monkey's - and, when it's in the mood, has the power to grant wishes. The children discover that wish-making is fun at first, but sometimes, when wishes come true, fun can soon turn into trouble . . . 

Minn of the Mississippi

Title: Minn of the Mississippi

Author: Holling Clancy Holling

Rating: ★★★★★

Ages: 6 - 18+

    Back Cover Synopsis: 

    A turtle hatched at the source of the Mississippi is carried through the heart of America to the Gulf of Mexico.

Old Yeller

Title: Old Yeller

Author: Fred Gipson

Rating: ★★★★☆

Ages: 10 - 16

    Back Cover Synopsis: 

    It was lucky that old yellow-haired dog came along. Travis couldn't have managed without him. When his dad goes off on a cattle drive, 14-year-old Travis is left in charge. First a bear attacks his kid brother . . . then he hears about a terrifying disease that turns animals and humans into mad creatures! Before his dad returns, that "Old Yeller" dog has become the best-loved friend a boy could ever want. 

Small Acts of Amazing Courage

Title: Small Acts of Amazing Courage

Author: Gloria Whelan

Rating: ★★★★☆

Ages: 13 - 18+

     Back Cover Synopsis: 

    As an English girl in India in 1918, Rosalind is alone. Ever since the death of Rosalind's brother, Edward, Rosalind's mother hasn't been the same. Her father, away at war, wishes for Rosalind to live in England and get a proper British education. England is "home" to Rosalind, but she has never been there. 

    Rosalind awaits the return of her father from the war, and more and more she ventures out onto the streets. There she learns of a man named Gandhi and hears talk of how India must be free to rule itself. Then late one night she makes a fateful discovery. She knows that she should not be seeking out the beggars who live under the bridge near the river, but she wants to help, even if her parents will never understand.

    National Book Award recipient Gloria Whelan weaves a captivating story of love and family, secrets and sisterhood, and most of all, identity.

The Hawk and the Dove

Title: The Hawk and the Dove

Author: Penelope Wilcock

Rating: ★★★★★

Ages: 12 - 18+

    Back Cover Synopsis: 

    Father Peregrine is appointed Abbot of St Alcuin's Benedictine abbey. An arrogant, impatient man, a hawk trying hard to be a dove - his name in religion is "Columbia" - he is respected, but not loved. 

    A sudden, shocking act of violence changes everything. As the story unfolds, this community of monks, serious about their calling but as flawed and human as we are, come to love their ascetic but now vulnerable leader. 

    They lived six centuries ago, yet their struggles are our own. Finding our niche; coping with failure; living with impossible people; and discovering that we are the impossible ones. 

Pagoo

 

Title: Pagoo

Author: Holling Clancy Holling

Rating: ★★★★★

Ages: 6 - 18+

    Back Cover Synopsis: 

    An intricate study of tide pool life is presented through the story of Pagoo, a hermit crab.

Island of the Blue Dolphins

Title: Island of the Blue Dolphins

Author: Scott O'Dell

Rating: ★★★★★

Ages: 8 - 16

    Back Cover Synopsis: 

    Far off the coast of California looms a harsh rock known as San Nicolas Island. Blue Dolphins splash in the water surrounding it, sea otters play in the kelp beds, and seabirds roost in its crags. Once, Indians also lived on the island - until one day they decided to leave and sailed to the east. 

    A young girl was left behind.

    Karana is that girl. Year after year, she waits for the ship to come back. But it never does. Finally, she realizes she must make a fateful choice: follow her people on her own or remain alone on the island for the rest of her life. 

The Little Prince

 

Title: The Little Prince

Author: Antoine de Saint Exupery

Rating: ★★★★★

Ages: 12 - 18+

    The little prince lived alone on a tiny planet no larger than a house. He owned three volcanoes, two active and one extinct. He also owned a flower, unlike any flower in all the galaxy, of great beauty and of inordinate pride. It was this pride that ruined the serenity of the little prince's world and started him on the interplanetary travels that brought him to Earth, where he learned, finally, from a fox, the secret of what is really important in life.

    There are few stories that in some way, in some degree, change the world forever for their readers. This is one.

The Jungle Book

Title: The Jungle Book

Author: Rudyard Kipling

Rating: ★★★★★

Ages: 8 - 14

    "The Tiger's roar filled the cave with thunder. Mother Wolf shook herself clear of the cubs and sprang forward, her eyes, like two green moons in the darkness, facing the blazing eyes of Shere Khan. 'The man's cub is mine. . . . He shall live to run with the Pack and to hunt with the Pack; and in the end, look you, hunter of little naked cubs, he shall hunt thee.'"

    When Mowgli the young Man-cub wanders into the jungle one day, he is adopted by the wolf pack. With help from Baloo the Bear and Bagheera the Black Panther, they teach him the laws of the jungle. Mowgli's fearless adventures are featured in the enduring stories and poems of The Jungle Book, along with tales of many other favorite characters, such as the mongoose Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and Toomai of the Elephants.

A Long Walk to Water

Title: A Long Walk to Water

Author: Linda Sue Park

Rating: ★★★★★

Ages: 12 - 18+

    Nya goes to the pond to fetch water for her family. She walks eight hours every day. 

    

    Salva walks away from his war-torn village. He is a "lost boy" refugee, destined to cover Africa on foot, searching for his family and safety. 

    Two young people . . . two stories.

    One country: Sudan.

    This mesmerizing dual narrative follows two threads -- one unfolding in 2008 and one in 1985 -- with one hopeful message: that even in a troubled country, determined survivors may find the future they are hoping for.

Adam of the Road

 

Title: Adam of the Road

Author: Elizabeth Janet Gray

Rating: ★★★★★

Ages: 8 - 15

    Back Cover Synopsis: 

    Eleven-year-old Adam loved to travel through the open roads of thirteenth-century England with his father, a wandering minstrel, and his red spaniel, Nick. But when his father suddenly disappears and Nick is stolen, Adam finds himself alone searching these same roads filled with rich merchants, Pilgrim's with cockleshells upon their hats, farming folk driving pigs to the fair, minstrels and priests, saints and thieves - and somewhere in the crowd his father and his dog. 

The Family Under the Bridge

 

Title: The Family Under the Bridge

Author: Natalie Savage Carlson

Rating: ★★★★★

Ages: 6 - 14

    Back Cover Synopsis: 

    Once there was an old man named Armand who lived under a bridge in Paris. Everything he owned could be pushed around in an old baby buggy without a hood - it was easy for him to move from place to place. Armand loved his solitary, carefree life. Children, he said, were like starlings, and one was better off without them. 

    But the children who lived under the bridge knew a true friend when they saw one, even if that friend was a little bit grumpy to begin with. And it did not take Armand long to see he had gotten himself a ready-made family - one he loved with all his heart, and one he would have to find a better home than the bridge.  

The Magician's Nephew

 

Title: The Magician's Nephew

Author: C. S. Lewis

Rating: ★★★★☆

Ages: 9 - 15

    Back Cover Synopsis: 

    NARNIA . . . where the woods are thick and cool, where Talking Beasts are called to life . . . a new world where adventure begins. 

    Digory and Polly meet and become friends one cold, wet summer in London. Their lives burst into adventure when Digory's Uncle Andrew, who thinks he is a magician, sends them hurtling to . . . somewhere else. They find their way to Narnia, newborn from the Lion's song, and encounter the evil sorceress Jadis before they finally return home. 

The Swiss Family Robinson

 

Title: The Swiss Family Robinson

Author: Johann Rudolf Wyss

Rating: ★★★★☆

Ages: 10 - 16

    Back Cover Synopsis: 

    The Swiss Family Robinson is a story of the happy discovery of the wonders of natural history by a family shipwrecked on a desert island, who remain united through all the adversities that they encounter. 

Pollyanna

Title: Pollyanna

Author: Eleanor H. Porter

Rating: ★★★★☆

Ages: 7 - 14

     Back Cover Synopsis: 

    When orphaned Pollyanna Whittier comes to live with her stern maiden aunt, the entire town of Beldingsville is affected by the bubbly nature of this lively eleven-year-old. Not only is she perpetually cheerful, she also brightens the lives of everyone she meets. 

    How does Pollyanna manage to be so eternally optimistic? How does she spred her bright outlook amont the sick, sad, and abrasive people of the town and transform the life of her lonely aunt? It's the "glad game", she says, describing the antidote to hardship and depressed spirits. But in a serious accident, the town almost loses its "Glad Girl", and everyone looks for a way to make this youngster happy again. 

 

A Wrinkle in Time

 Title: A Wrinkle in Time

Author: Madeleine L'Engle

Rating: ★★★★☆

Ages: 10 - 16

 Back Cover Synopsis: 

    It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and their mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger. 

    "Wild nights are my glory," the unearthly stranger told them. "I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me sit down for a moment, and then I'll be on my way. Speaking of way, by the way, there is such thing as a tesseract."

    A tesseract (in case you don't know) is a wrinkle in time. To tell mroe would spoil your enjoyment of Madeleine L'Engle's unusual book.

Hatchet

Title: Hatchet

Author: Gary Paulsen

Rating: ★★★★★

Ages: 12 - 18+

    Back Cover Synopsis:

    Thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson is on his way to visit his father when the single-engine plane in which he is flying crashes. Suddenly, Brian finds himself alone in the Canadian wilderness with nothing but a tattered Windbreaker and the hatchet his mother gave him as a present - and the dreadful secret that has been tearing him apart since his parents' divorce. But now Brian has no time for anger, self-pity, or despair - it will take all his know-how and determination, and more courage than he knew he possessed, to survive.