Chapter Book recommendations

The Postcard (Abbott, Tony)

While in St. Petersburg, Florida, to help clean out his recently deceased grandmother's house, 13 year-old Jason finds an old postcard which leads him on an adventure that blends figures from an old, unfinished detective story with his family's past.

The Puzzling World of Winston Breen (Berlin, Eric)
Winston Breen finds puzzles everywhere, even on pizzas, and solving them is what he does best. But when his sister uncovers mysterious wooden strips with words and letters that even Winston can't figure out, the entire family is obsessed. It turns out the strips are part of a scavenger hunt that a town patriarch set up for his children. If all four sets are put together, they will lead to a ring worth thousands of dollars. Cooperating seems like a no-brainer to Winston, but to solve the puzzle, the group has to overcome mysterious threats, mutual mistrust, 25-yearold clues, and participants who will do anything to keep the treasure for themselves.

Chock full of puzzles to solve, some involving the mystery and others Winston runs into along the way, this treasure hunt will keep readers challenged right to the end.

The Water Castle (Megan Frazer)
Ephraim Appledore-Smith is an ordinary boy, and up until his father's stroke he lived an ordinary life. But all that changes when his family moves to the Water Castle-their ancestral home in the small town of Crystal Springs. Mallory Green's family has always been the caretakers of the Water Castle-and the guardians of its secrets. She has been raised to protect the legendary Fountain of Youth, hidden on the estate grounds. But ever since her mom left, she's stopped believing in magic. Will Wylie's family has been at war with the Applegates for generations, all because of the Water Castle's powerful secrets. But Will has rejected legend and magic, putting all his faith in science.When Ephraim learns of the Fountain, he's sure finding it can cure his dad. With Mallory and Will's help, the trio embarks on a mission that brings them deep into their families' shared history, through every secret room in the Water Castle, and on a quest that will blur the lines of magic and science, creativity and discovery, leaving readers left to wonder: Do you believe in the unbelievable?

Madhattan Mystery (Bonk, John J.)
All set to spend their summer in New York City with their aunt while their father is honeymooning with his new wife, Lexi and her younger brother Kevin's snoozy summer plans turn into high-stakes adventure when Lexi overhears a plot to steal Cleopatra's famous jewels from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Joining forces with budding investigative journalist Kim Ling Levine, they ditch day camp to track down the thieves and rake in the reward money. Can Lexi, Kevin, and Kim find out who's behind the jewel heist without getting into too much trouble themselves?

The Name of This Book Is Secret (Bosch, Pseudonymous)
Warning: this description has not been authorized by Pseudonymous Bosch. As much as he'd love to sing the praises of his book (he is very vain), he wouldn't want you to hear about his brave 11-year old heroes, Cass and Max-Ernest. Or about how a mysterious box of vials, the Symphony of Smells, sends them on the trail of a magician who has vanished under strange (and stinky) circumstances. And he certainly wouldn't want you to know about the hair-raising adventures that follow and the nefarious villains they face. You see, not only is the name of this book secret, the story inside is, too. For it concerns a secret. A Big Secret.

The Fairy-Tale Detectives(Buckley, Michael)
Orphaned sisters Sabrina and Daphne are sent to live with their newly discovered grandmother, Relda Grimm, in the strange town of Ferryport Landing. The girls soon learn a family secret: that they are descendants of the famous Brothers Grimm, whose book of fairy tales is actually a history book. When a terrorizing giant goes on a rampage through the town, it's up to the Sisters Grimm to stop him and to solve the mystery of who set the giant loose in the first place. Was it Mayor Charming, formerly Prince Charming, who desperately wants his kingdom back? The Three Not-So-Little Pigs, the shifty town cops? Or one of the many other fairy-tale characters who seem to have it out for the Grimms?

The London Eye Mystery (Dowd, Siobhan)
Ted and Kat watched their cousin Salim board the London Eye. But after half an hour it landed and everyone trooped off–except Salim. Where could he have gone? How on earth could he have disappeared into thin air? Ted and his older sister, Kat, become sleuthing partners, since the police are having no luck. Despite their prickly relationship, they overcome their differences to follow a trail of clues across London in a desperate bid to find their cousin. And ultimately it comes down to Ted, whose brain works in its own very unique way, to find the key to the mystery. This is an unput-downable spine-tingling thriller–a race against time.

Sly the Sleuth and the Pet Mysteries (Napoli, Donna Jo and Furrow, Robert)

There are some strange new pets in Sly's neighborhood: a cat on a diet that keeps getting fatter, a fish that seems angry at its owner, and a peculiar pet named Wilson that suddenly disappears! Only Sly the Sleuth can solve these mysteries. Grade-schooler by day, private detective by afternoon, Sly (a.k.a Sylvia) uses her sharp wits and reasoning skills to get to the bottom of these odd goings-on.

Treasure Hunters (Patterson, James, Grabenstein, Chris, and Shulman, Mark)
The Kidd siblings have grown up diving down to shipwrecks and traveling the world, helping their famous parents recover everything from swords to gold doubloons from the bottom of the ocean. But after their parents disappear n the job, the kids are suddenly thrust into the biggest treasure hunt of their lives. They'll have to work together to defeat dangerous pirates and dodge the hot pursuit of an evil treasure hunting rival, all while following cryptic clues to unravel the mystery of what really happened to their parents--and find out if they're still alive.

The Westing Game (Raskin, Ellen)

When an eccentric millionaire dies mysteriously, 16 very unlikely people are gathered together for the reading of the will--and what a will it is. A Newbery Medal-winning novel.

Three Times Lucky (Turnage, Sheila)
Meet Miss Moses LoBeau - rising sixth grader natural born detective, borderline straight-A student, and goddess of free enterprise. Mo washed ashore in Tupelo Landing, North Carolina, eleven years ago during one of the meanest hurricanes in history, and she's been making waves ever since. Mo's summer is looking good. She'll take karate with her best friend, Dale Earnhardt Johnson III (whose daddy believes in naming for the famous), and plot against her sworn enemy, Anna Celeste (aka Attila). She'll help out at the café run by the Colonel and Miss Lana, and continue her lifelong search for her Upstream Mother. But when the cafés crankiest customer turns up dead and a city-slick lawman shows up asking questions, Mo's summer takes an unexpected turn. With another hurricane bearing down on Tupelo Landing, Mo and Dale set out to save those they love and solve a mystery of epic proportion.

Flight of the Genie (Abbott, Tony)
The city of Ut is a city of secrets. Mysteriously, it only appears once every one hundred years. And to enter, you need the key, which is kept in the magical bottle of Ut. Eric, Keeah, and the others need to get inside the city to help a friend. The good genie, Hoja, is being held prisoner there, and he needs rescuing! They have discovered the secret of the magic bottle, and so they know they can get inside the city walls. But what they don't know is that Ut holds other secrets. Dark, dangerous secrets. Secrets that involve a certain sorcerer named Sparr...

The Twenty-One Balloons (Du Bois, William Pene)
Professor William Waterman Sherman intends to fly across the Pacific Ocean. But through a twist of fate, he lands on Krakatoa, and discovers a world of unimaginable wealth, eccentric inhabitants, and incredible balloon inventions.

Aliens for Breakfast (Etra, Jonathan)

Join Richard and Aric, a tiny, wisecracking creature from the planet Ganoob, as they battle to save the world from evil aliens in Aliens for Breakfast, Aliens for Lunch, and Aliens for Dinner.

Swordbird (Fan, Nancy Yi)
Written by the author when she was in the fifth grade, this extraordinary fantasy--inspired by a dream and her complicated feelings about terrorism after September 11th--portrays a world of warfare, deception, bravery, and freedom.

Dude, Where's My Spaceship? (Greenburg, Dan)

Klatu is such a varna! He crashed the spaceship into planet Earth with his brother Lek and sister Ploo onboard. Stuck in the middle of the Nevada desert with nowhere to run, Ploo is captured by army Earthlings who think that she is an enemy of humankind. Can Klatu and Lek to rescue Ploo from the terrifying Major Paine? Or will Ploo be held prisoner in Area 51 forever?

Babe & Me: A Baseball Card Adventure (Gutman, Dan)
On October 1, 1932, during Game Three of the Chicago Cubs-New York Yankees World Series, Babe Ruth belted a long home run to straightaway centerfield. According to legend, just before he hit, Babe pointed to the bleachers and boldly predicted he would slam the next pitch there. Did he call the shot or didn't he? Witnesses never agreed. Like other baseball fans, twelve-year-old Joe Stoshack wants to know the truth. But unlike other fans, Joe has the astonishing ability to travel through time using baseball cards--and now he's determined to settle one of baseball's greatest debates. With historical photos and back matter to separate the facts from the fiction, New York Times bestselling author Dan Gutman takes readers on a page-turning trip through baseball's past.

Found (Haddix, Margaret Peterson)
Thirteen-year-old Jonah has always known that he was adopted, and he's never thought it was any big deal. Then he and a new friend, Chip, who's also adoped, begin receiving mysterious letters. The first one says, "You are one of the missing." The second one says, "Beware! They're coming back to get you."
 
Jonah, Chip, and Jonah's sister, Katherine, are plunged into a mystery that involves the FBI, a vast smuggling operation, an airplane that appeared out of nowhere -- and people who seem to appear and disappear at will. The kids discover they are caught in a battle between two opposing forces that want very different things for Jonah and Chip's lives. Do Jonah and Chip have any choice in the matter? And what should they choose when both alternatives are horrifying?
With Found, Margaret Peterson Haddix begins a new series that promises to be every bit as suspenseful as her Shadow Children series -- which has sold more than 41/2 million copies -- and proves her, once again, to be a master of the page-turner.

The Journey (Lasky, Kathryn)
The second book in the GUARDIANS OF GA'HOOLE series continues this classic hero mythology about the battle between good and evil. This book chronicles Soren's quest for nobility.
 
In the second book in the GUARDIANS OF GA'HOOLE series, Soren, Gylfie, Twilight, and Digger travel to the Great Ga'Hoole Tree, a mythical place where an order of owls rises each night to perform noble deeds. Soren and his group are seeking help to fight the evil they discovered in the owl world (in GUARDIANS #1). After a harrowing journey, they arrive at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree and learn they will need to stay to receive training from the Ga'Hoolian elders. During his time at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree, Soren finds (and then loses) a great mentor and he is reunited with his beloved sister.

What Came from the Stars (Schmidt, Gary D.)
The Valorim are about to fall to a dark lord when they send a necklace containing their planet across the cosmos, hurtling past a trillion stars . . .  all the way into the lunchbox of Tommy Pepper, sixth grader, of Plymouth, Mass.
   

 Mourning his late mother, Tommy doesn't notice much about the chain he found, but soon he is drawing the twin suns and humming the music of ahanorah.As Tommy absorbs the art and language of the Valorim, their enemies target him. When a creature begins ransacking Plymouth in search of the chain, Tommy learns he must protect his family from villains far worse than he's ever imagined.

Spaceheadz (Scieszka, Jon and Sedita, Francesco)

The perfect combination of the age old experience of holding and poring over a physical book with newest media technology that kids love!
 
Michael K. just started fifth grade at a new school. As if that wasn't hard enough, the kids he seems to have made friends with apparently aren't kids at all. They are aliens. Real aliens who have invaded our planet in the form of school children and a hamster. They have a mission to complete: to convince 3,140,001 kids to BE SPHDZ. But with a hamster as their leader, "kids" who talk like walking advertisements, and Michael K as their first convert, will the SPHDZ be able to keep their cover and pull off their assignment?

When You Reach Me (Stead, Rebecca)
Shortly after a fall-out with her best friend, sixth grader Miranda starts receiving mysterious notes, and she doesn't know what to do. The notes tell her that she must write a letter--a true story, and that she can't share her mission with anyone.
 
 It would be easy to ignore the strange messages, except that whoever is leaving them has an uncanny ability to predict the future. If that is the case, then Miranda has a big problem--because the notes tell her that someone is going to die, and she might be too late to stop it.