1999 Spring Junior Novels

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Nancy's picks for the best junior novels of Spring 1999 and ideas for using them in the classroom. Compiled by Nancy Polette © 1999.
Last updated: Tuesday, February 19, 2002
Aiken, Joan. Dangerous Games. Delacorte, 1999 Gr 4-8
In this adventure Dido Twite encounters deadly snakes, 30 ft. crocodiles and sting monkeys as she searches the globe for a nobleman who is needed by the ailing king in London.A great read-aloud!
Clark, Clara. Willie and the Rattlesnake King. Boyds Mill Press, 1999 Gr 4-6
Willie joins a medicine show, fascinated by the starring act, a man who can handle rattlers. But Willie discovers that he has run from one trap to another.
DeFelice, Cynthia. Nowhere To Call Home. Farrar, 1999 (Gr 5-7)
Twelve-year-old Frances, a penniless orphan, decides to become a hobo rather than being sent to live with an aunt in Chicago. She meets Stewpot, who shows her the ropes but finds that being 'free' extracts a price.
Dickinson, Peter. The Kin: Po's Story. Putnam's 1999. (Gr 5-7)
200,000 years ago The Kin are following a dying river struggling to reach a new land where they will have enough food and water. Young Po sets out alone to find a way across and discovers that the marsh hold dangerous secrets that can mean life or death to the boy.
Griffith, Helen. Cougar. Greenwillow, 1999. (Gr 5-7)
It takes the ghost of a horse named Cougar and a mysterious bibyble with a mind of its own to free young Nickel from a violent past.
Propp, Vera. When the Soldiers Were Gone. Putnam, 1999
Henk has been hidden from the Nazis throughout the war. When his real parents arrive to claim him, he does not know them and clings to the family who cared for him.
Russell, Ching Yeung. Child Bride. Boyds Mills, 1999. ( Gr 5-8)
Eleven-year-old Ying goes on what she believes is a visit to her ill grandmother only to discover that a marriage has been arranged for her. She rebels against a fate she has not chosen.
Sachar, Lewis. Holes. Farrar, 1998 Gr 5-8
Stanley is sent to a detention camp for a crime he did not commit. The boys in the camp must dig a 5x5 foot hole every day. The warden says it is to build character but Stanley suspects there is another reason.