Don’t let the title fool you – girls will also love this book! 

This is an exciting collection of short stories that will make you bite your nails until the very end. Creepy but funny. Scary but not too scary. There are tales about ghosts, pirates, wishes, a terrible private investigator, and more. 


My favorite story was "Ghost Vision Goggles"; a story about boy who sends away for weird items from the back of old comics. When he receives goggles that let him see ghosts, he gets more than he expected.

The best part of this book? When I held it up in my classroom the first student to jump up and grab it was a girl. Oh yeah, I love that. I don't expect this book to stay on my shelf for long stretches at a time.

The stories are by authors my students already love: Anthony Horowitz, Margaret Peterson Haddix, James Patterson and more!

(Middle grades: 3-6)

Check out the Guys Read website for more information about this book and other reading ideas with boys in mind. (but girls will like them too!)

A typical "unlikely hero" story -  but with some fun twists -  The Call is fantasy riddled with pop culture references which added a nice layer of humor to the story. 

Mack is sooooo "medium". He's afraid of almost everything, though he does know how to stand up to bullies. So how could he possibly be one of the "Magnificent 12" - destined to save the world?

I found myself smiling and chuckling a lot, and I think kids would have a blast with this story (my fourth grade son loved it!). It's adventurous and funny - a read that will keep kids coming back for more. 

When you are a member of the Beaumont family, you're 13th birthday is extra special. Not only are you now officially a teenager, but you unlock your special magical gift - your "savvy".

Mibs is hoping for something amazing, something to help her stand out from the crowd. But when her father is injured and hospitalized, her wish changes. She just wants her new savvy to be something that can save his life. 

My students insisted I use this book as my Book of the Week. This is a great novel about growing up, making new friends, and accepting the unique parts of yourself. 

Visit the author's website at http://www.ingridlaw.com/

I had two books to recommend this week, in anticipation of Halloween. In honor of All Hallows Read, I offered this one up to my older, more mature elementary students.

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There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.”

So begins the creepy tale of Nobody Owens, an infant who escapes the murder of his family and is raised by an unlikely assortment of ghosts and supernatural beings in the local graveyard. This book is not for the faint of heart. Bod, as he is called by his friends, faces dangers and adventures in his graveyard home. If he leaves, however, he’ll be at the mercy the man who assassinated his family, since we learn that Bod was the real target. We follow his childhood and adolescence through a series of chapters that are short stories in style. Each story is fascinating, and Gaiman’s writing style is intense and captivating.

I read this book after several of my strong readers recommended it to me. They commented that it was “scary, but everything turns out okay”.

Recommended for:
5th to 8th graders who enjoy creepy tales, though older students and adults would also enjoy this book (I certainly loved it, as it was very well written!)

Cautions:
The events in his life (especially at the beginning) are frightening at times, and may scare younger or more sensitive readers. In spite of that, the book is not overly graphic in its depiction of those events.

Check out more information at Neil Gaiman's websitehttp://www.neilgaiman.com/works/Books/The+Graveyard+Book/

What would happen if you could read yourself INTO a book just by reading aloud? It sounds like every passionate reader's fondest dream... but not if you can't find your way back out again! Especially when you can't control which of your listeners actually joins the story, or what part of the story jumps back into your world in return.

Wow. What a simple, elegant concept. This book is beautiful. The language is beautiful, the characters are fascinating, and I was pulled along through every part of the novel. I've read other books by Cornelia Funke, and they are great, but this is by far my favorite. Students love it to, as evidenced by the fact that one of my students insisted this be the "Book of the Week" for this week! 

It breaks my heart to think that there are middle grade students out there who may not have read this book! Yes, it's a movie. But do yourself a huge favor and read the book! 

While you are at it (or once you are a huge fan of Funke's work) visit her website for more about her and the worlds she has created!