When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

     Have you ever watched a movie with a surprise ending and then said,"I want to watch that again!"? When You Reach Me evoked that same reaction in me, and I actually flipped to the beginning of the book and started reading again.
     Miranda is a latch-key child in the late 1970's, and her life begins to change the day her best friend is punched by a stranger on the way home from school. Then she begins to get a series of mysterious notes, asking her to write a letter telling the sender odd things, like where her house key is hidden. The sender also mentions that someone's life is at stake.
     I find books and movies about time travel to be fascinating, and I think readers who like a little bit of mystery and science fiction will like this book also. It won the Newbery medal for 2009, so it's worth checking out! The book makes several references to A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L'Engle, and now I also want to go back and re-read this classic book about time travel.

Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell

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The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma

This is the third book of the Mysterious Benedict Society series by Trenton Lee Stewart. This series is a favorite among my fifth grade students, probably because of the delightful characters and the non-stop action. The series is about four extremely gifted children who have been recruited by Mr. Benedict to fight the evil Mr. Curtain and his mind-altering machine, The Whisperer.All of the books contain puzzles which must be solved, and the kids combine talents to find their way out of the many difficulties which they face.
In this third book, many of the mysteries of the entire series are solved and loose plot ends are tied up. The children feel like prisoners in Mr. Benedict's house as they hide from Mr. Curtain's villainous Ten Men,but of course, they eventually leave the house and embark on a daring and dangerous adventure.This was actually my least favorite of all the books, but still worth reading. I love Mr. Stewart's writing style and his sense of humor.

The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo

Peter saw the fortune-teller's tent, and he fingered the coin that did not really belong to him. However, he had to know the answer to the question: does my sister still live? "She lives," answered the fortune-teller, and followed up this statement with a puzzle: "Follow the elephant." Knowing there were no elephants in the city of Baltese, Peter walks away disappointedly. But hope stirs in his heart when he hears of a fascinating occurrence. An elephant comes crashing through the roof of the opera house, crushing the legs of Madam Lavaughn and surprising the magician who had wanted something spectacular to happen.
Kate DiCamillo's writing style is magical, and I think adults will love this book. It would make a nice family read-aloud. However, I'm not sure all children will enjoy this book, since there are many characters with foreign names to keep track of, and we never fully connect with a character. However, I recommend this book and would love to hear others' opinions.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, by Jacqueline Kelly

It is the summer of 1899 and 106 degrees in the sleepy little town of Fentress, Texas. It is also a time of growing up for eleven year old Calpurnia Tate, also know as Callie Vee. When her older brother Harry notices her interest in animals, he gives her a notebook to write down her scientific observations. She begins to spend time each day observing the natural world around her, which leads to questions. When she wonders why some grasshoppers are large and yellow, while others are small and green, this leads her to ask her mysterious scientist grandfather. This begins a wonderful friendship between the two and sparks a secret desire within Callie to become a naturalist.I think all my students would enjoy reading of Callie's adventures at school and home.
Caution: There are some positive comments about Charles Darwin, and each chapter begins with a quote from The Origin of Species (which I'm sure most of the kids will skip anyway.) However, this book does not teach evolution.

The Little White Horse, by Elizabeth Goudge

Even though this book was written in 1942, I had never read it until I discovered it at a used book sale this summer. The language Elizabeth Goudge uses drew me in to a fantasy world described in perfect detail.
Thirteen year old Maria Merriwether travels with her governess in Victorian England to Moonacre Manor, the home of her great-uncle Ben. She is delighted with her new home and her perfect tower bedroom with a small door just her size.  But mysteries and secrets abound: Who lays out her wonderful clothes each morning? What kind of dog is Wrolf, and is he ferocious or tame? Who are the Men of the Black Wood and why do they do such evil things? Maria meets many unusual characters and animals in the book, and they all help her fulfill her destiny as the next Moon Princess.
This book will probably not appeal to all children; there is a lot of description and the writing is slightly old-fashioned, but some children and adults may certainly want to try it out. I did read on the internet that a movie has been made from the book, The Secret of Moonacre.