Family life

The Center of Everything

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Copies: 7

For Ruby Pepperdine, the center of everything is on the rooftop of Pepperdine Motors, stargazing from the circle of her grandmother Gigi's hug. That's how everything is suppose to be - until it goes spinning out of control. Now Ruby's best friend, Lucy, is mad at her. Her new friendship with Nero is pretty bumpy too. Worst of all, Ruby regrets what happened with Gigi. How Ruby didn't listen. And now it's too late to make things right.

Author:

Linda Urban

Binny for Short

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Copies: 7

By the time Binny is eleven years old she has lived in two worlds. A child's world, and a time-to-start-growing-up-now world. An easy world, and a hard world. The first world held Binny; her mother and father; her big sister, Clem; and her little brother, James. And Max, the best dog in the whole world. But after her father's death, money was tight, and Binny's world became cramped apartments with no room for Max. So horrible Aunty Violet stepped in and gave Max away.

Author:

Hilary McKay

Lexile:

680L

Liar & Spy

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Copies: 7

When seventh grader Georges (the S is silent) moves into a Brooklyn apartment building he meets Safer, a twelve-year-old coffee-drinking loner and self-appointed spy. Georges is happy to hang out with Safer's warm, eccentric family, because lately things haven't been so easy at home: his dad lost his job, and his mom has started working extra shifts at the hospital. Life is no better at school, where Georges is the new target of Dallas, who is always on the lookout for other kids' weak spots (so he knows exactly where to hit them).

Author:

Rebecca Stead

Lexile:

670L

Nora's Chicks

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Copies: 7

Nora and her family have just arrived from Russia and are making a new home on the American frontier. The prairie is very different from the forested hills Nora is used to. Most of all, it’s lonely. Papa has the cows he sings to as he milks them. Baby brother Milo has a dog to follow him wherever he goes. But Nora has no one and nothing to call her own until Papa brings home a dozen chicks and two geese. Nora names each one, and they follow her everywhere — even to church! But what will happen when one of her beloved chicks goes missing?

Author:

Patricia MacLachlan

Lexile:

AD490L

Papa's Mechanical Fish

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Copies: 7

Clink! Clankety-bang! Thump-whirr! That's the sound of Papa at work. Although he is an inventor, he has never made anything that works perfectly, and that's because he hasn't yet found a truly fantastic idea. But when he takes his family fishing on Lake Michigan, his daughter Virena asks, "Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a fish?"—and Papa is off to his workshop. With a lot of persistence and a little bit of help, Papa—who is based on the real-life inventor Lodner Phillips—creates a submarine that can take his family for a trip to the bottom of Lake Michigan.

Author:

Candace Fleming

Lexile:

480L

The Long Winter

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Copies: 5

The adventures of Laura Ingalls and her family continue as Pa, Ma, Laura, Mary, Carrie and Little Grace bravely face the hard winter of 1880-1881 in their little house in the Dakota territory. Blizzards cover the little town in snow, cutting off all supplies. Soon they are almost out of food, so young Almanzo Wilder and a friend make a dangerous trip across the prairie to find some wheat. Finally a joyous Christmas is celebrated in a very unusual way with the most exciting of all the Little House books.

Author:

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Lexile:

790L

By the Shores of Silver Lake

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Copies: 5

The adventures of Laura Ingalls and her family continue as they move from their little house on the banks of Plum Creek to the wilderness of the unsettled Dakota Territory. Here Pa works on the new railroad until he finds a homestead claim that is perfect for their new little house. Laura takes her first train ride as she, her sisters, and their mother come out to live with Pa on the shores of Silver Lake. After a lonely winter in the surveyors' house, Pa puts up the first building in what will soon be a brand-new town on the beautiful shores of Silver Lake.

Author:

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Lexile:

820L

On the Banks of Plum Creek

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Copies: 5

The adventures of Laura Ingalls and her family continue as they leave their little house on the prairie and travel in their covered wagon to Minnesota. Here they settle in a little house made of sod beside the banks of beautiful Plum Creek. Soon Pa builds a wonderful new little house with real glass windows and a hinged door. Laura and her sister Mary go to school, help with the chores, and fish in the creek. At night everyone listens to the merry music of Pa's fiddle.

Author:

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Lexile:

720L

Little House on the Prairie

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Copies: 5

Laura Ingalls likes her little house in the big woods, which she shares with Ma and Pa, and her two, sisters Mary and Carrie. Winter is coming, and their log house is snug and warm. But the big woods are becoming crowded. Everyday, they hear the thud of an axe on a tree, and Pa wants to leave. In fact, he wants to move the entire family west, to Indian country. The family prepares a covered wagon and Laura leaves her home in the woods forever.

Author:

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Lexile:

760L

Little House in the Big Woods

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Copies: 5

The book that started it all! Little House in the Big Woods is the first book in Laura Ingalls Wilder's treasured Little House series, which was based on her life growing up as an American pioneer. This edition features Garth Williams' interior art in vibrant full color.

Told from four-year-old Laura's point of view, this story begins in 1871 in a little log cabin on the edge of the Big Woods of Wisconsin. Laura lives in the little house with her Pa, her Ma, her sisters Mary and Carrie, and their trusty dog, Jack.

Author:

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Lexile:

930L

Family life

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