Teacher+Recs

**Mister Monday** by Garth Nix On the first day of school Arthur suffers a near-fatal asthma attack and dreams of a mysterious stranger handing him a key shaped like a clock hand. The only thing stranger? When he wakes up he still has the key. The only problem? The stranger wants it back. The seventh grader learns that the key is really A Key, thanks to the help of one of seven elusive fragments of the Will to which he has become heir apparent. When he ventures inside the house only he can see, he meets more strange characters than he could have imagined, none of whom are what they seem. And, of course, he must battle Monday, who will do anything to get the key back.

Will hopes to become a knight; instead, he winds up as a Ranger's apprentice, joining the secretive corps that uses stealth, woodcraft, and courage to protect the kingdom. His aptitude and bravery gradually earn the respect of his gruff but good-hearted master. When the kingdom is attacked by evil magic forces, Will helps track down and defeat a couple of particularly nasty beasts. This closing episode sets the stage for a good-versus-evil war that will likely be at the heart of future volumes. In this opener, though, most of the story focuses on the learning process that Will goes through as an apprentice.
 * [[image:http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_NYXW_r6Vu_Q/SU_ScI4NQcI/AAAAAAAAAJM/wVFX2wRO0h0/s200/33262182.jpg width="118" height="136" link="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_NYXW_r6Vu_Q/SU_ScI4NQcI/AAAAAAAAAJM/wVFX2wRO0h0/s1600-h/33262182.jpg"]]The Rang ** **er's Apprentice: The Ruins of Gorlan** by John Flanagan

Young George breaks the head off of a statue--landing himself into another layer of London and starting of a war between the good 'spits' and the evil 'taints.' Faced with the choice of taking the easy way out of the problem but hurting a new friend, George instead chooses 'the hard way' of fixing things and begins a terrifying, mysterious adventure that could possibly end up killing them all.
 * [[image:http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_NYXW_r6Vu_Q/SU_SD5f9ZhI/AAAAAAAAAI8/Mbe_ZxPYF6E/s200/12551198.jpg width="101" height="130" link="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_NYXW_r6Vu_Q/SU_SD5f9ZhI/AAAAAAAAAI8/Mbe_ZxPYF6E/s1600-h/12551198.jpg"]]Stoneheart** by Charlie Fletcher

In a world with no poverty, no crime, no sickness and no unemployment, and where every family is happy, 12-year-old Jonas is chosen to be the community's Receiver of Memories. Under the tutelage of the Elders and an old man known as the Giver, he discovers the disturbing truth about his utopian world and struggles against the weight of its hypocrisy. Gradually Jonas learns just how costly this ordered and pain-free society can be.
 * [[image:http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_NYXW_r6Vu_Q/SU_SDT8O3AI/AAAAAAAAAI0/-3zs8_jVYEY/s200/8007492.jpg width="116" height="134" link="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_NYXW_r6Vu_Q/SU_SDT8O3AI/AAAAAAAAAI0/-3zs8_jVYEY/s1600-h/8007492.jpg"]]The Giver** by Lois Lowry

**//Uglies//**, by Scott Westerfield (Uglies) Who cares if you can think for yourself as long as you're pretty! Right? Westerfield explores this idea in Uglies, a novel set in the future where people have become convince that the reason for fighting and war are that we look too different--and the leaders haved decided that at 16 everyone gets an extreme makover to fix that problem. The only trouble? Not eveyone wants the surgery. . . but the government isn't going to let that stop them. Tally lives in a world where everyone grows up to look perfect. But she finds out very quickly that her pretty world is really pretty Ugly.

The Drew children, Simon, Jane, and Barney, find an old map in a hidden room while summering at the Grey House in Cornwall. They know immediately that it is special. It is even more than that -- the key to finding a grail, a source of power to fight the forces of evil known as the Dark. Along with their Great-Uncle Merry, they become embroiled in a web of intrigue that surrounds an Arthurian legend. And in searching for it themselves, the Drews put their very lives in peril. (School Library Journal)
 * //Over Sea, Under Stone,//** by Susan Cooper (The Dark is Rising)

**//The Warrior Heir//**, by Cinda Williams Chima (Heir Series) An apparently ordinary 16-year-old boy turns out to have magical powers that make him a target of a covert society of wizards, enchanters, and warriors called "the Weir." Jack's small-town world in Ohio begins to unravel when he starts to unleash unintentional bursts of wizardry. When he recovers a powerful sword from an ancestor's grave, he begins to realize how different he really is. A battle with a wizard and some magic-laced conflicts at his high school keep the pages turning while the truth about Jack's destiny slowly emerges. The scene switches to Great Britain, where he learns that he must participate in a duel to the death against a mysterious opponent. (School Library Journal)


 * Above the Veil (Seventh Tower Series #4)-Garth Nix
 * Aenir (Seventh Tower Series #3)-Garth Nix
 * Book of a Thousand Days-Shannon Hale
 * Brisingr-Christopher Paolini
 * Burning Bridge (Ranger's Apprentice #2)-John Flanagan
 * Castle (Seventh Tower Series #2)-Garth Nix
 * Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Eighth Grade Bites-Heather Brewer
 * Fall (Seventh Tower Series #1)-Garth Nix
 * Fight Game-K. Wild
 * Gyspy Morph-Terry Brooks
 * Into Battle (Seventh Tower Series #5)-Garth Nix
 * Ironhand-Charlie Fletcher
 * Last Knight-Hilari Bell
 * Looking Glass Wars-Frank Bedder
 * Purple Emperor (Faerie War Chronicles #2)-Herbie Brennan
 * Rogue’s Home--Hilari Bell
 * Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger's Apprentice #1)-John Flanagan
 * Schooled-Gordon Korman
 * Seeing Redd-Frank Bedder
 * Shadow Thieves-Anna Ursu
 * Sorcerer of the North (Ranger's Apprentice #5)-John Flanagan
 * Stoneheart-Charlie Fletcher
 * Stop in the Name of Pants (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series)-Louise Rennison
 * Superior Saturday (Keys to the Kingdom Series #6)-Garth Nix
 * The Alchemyst-Michael Scott
 * The Battle for Skandia (Ranger’s Apprentice #4)John Flanagan
 * The Chronicles of Valdimir Tod: Ninth Grade Slays-Heather Brewer
 * The Icebound Land (Ranger’s Apprentice #3)-John Flanagan
 * Thief-Megan Whalen Turner
 * Uglies (Uglies Series #1)-Scott Westerfield
 * Vampire Plague: London 1850 (Book 1)-Seastian Rook
 * Vampire Plague: Mexico 1850 (Book 3)-Seastian Rook
 * Vampire Plague: Paris1850 (Book 2)-Seastian Rook
 * Violet Keystone (Seventh Tower Series #6)-Garth Nix