Lakeshore's Middle Grade March Madness 2024: Home

Stone-in-the-Glen, once a lovely town, has fallen on hard times. Fires, floods, and other calamities have caused the people to lose their library, their school, their park, and even their neighborliness. The people have put their faith in the Mayor, a dazzling fellow who promises he alone can help. After all, he is a famous dragon slayer. (At least, no one has seen a dragon in his presence.) Only the clever children of the Orphan House and the kindly Ogress at the edge of town can see how dire the town's problems are.

Then one day a child goes missing from the Orphan House. At the Mayor's suggestion, all eyes turn to the Ogress. The orphans know this can't be: the Ogress, along with a flock of excellent crows, secretly delivers gifts to the people of Stone-in-the-Glen.

But how can the orphans tell the story of the Ogress's goodness to people who refuse to listen? An how can they make their deluded neighbors see the real villain in their midst?

Fifth-grader Claire can do a perfect triple handspring. She cand o a giant pirouette on the uneven bars. What she can't do is read.

With a lot of effort, she hides her secret until an alert vice principal suggests she get evaluated for a learning disability. Not Claire has to convince her mother--who's afraid her daughter will be labeled "stupid"--to let her get tested. And that turns out to be even harder than reading.

Written in verse.

Zachary Ying had never had many opportunities to learn about his Chinese heritage. His single mom was busy enough making sure they got by, and his schools never taught anything except Western history and myths. So Zack is woefully unprepared when he discovers he was born to host the spirit of the First Emperor of China for a vital mission: to seal the leaking portal to the Chinese underworld before the upcoming Ghost Month blows it wide open.

The mission takes an immediate wrong turn when the First Emperor botches his attempt to possess Zack's body and binds to Zack's AR gaming headset instead, leading to a battle where Zack's mom's soul gets taken by demons. Now, with one of history's most infamous tyrants yapping in his headset, Zack must journey across China to heist magical artifacts and defeat figures from history and myth, all while learning to wield the emperor's incredible water dragon powers.

And if Zack can't finish the mission in time, the spirits of the underworld will flood into the mortal realm, and he just might lose his mom forever.

Ellen Katz isn't like the other kids in her class. She knows most thirteen-year olds don't need to plan out every detail of their lives, or retreat into the quiet when life gets over-whelming, or list everything and everyone in neat categories in a journal. She's always felt accepted by her best-and-only friend, Laurel, who treats the facts that Ellen is autistic like it's no big deal. Only, Laurel has started drifting away, which is a very big deal.

Ellen decides that their class trip to Barcelona is the perfect time to fix things with Laurel--but nothing goes according to plan. Suddenly, Ellen has to navigate a high-stakes scavenger hunt in a new city, a crush on a cute girl staying at their hotel, and discoveries about her own identity. It's up to Ellen to map out a new path to happiness.

Johannes is a free dog, a fast dog--such a fast dog! He lives in an urban park by the sea, and every day, he runs through the park, seeing all, missing nothing, and reporting what he sees to the park's three ancient Bison, the Keepers of the Equilibrium. But the Equilibrium has been disrupted. Mysterious rectangles are hypnotizing Johannes, the humans are erecting a mysterious new building, and an entirely new kind of animal has arrived in the park--and there are hundreds of them. Johannes must run faster, see better, and ultimately do more than run and see-- he must liberate those he loves.

Onyeka has a lot of hair- the kind that makes strangers stop in the street and her peers whisper behind her back. At least she has Cheyenne, her best friend, who couldn't care less what other people think. Still, Onyeka has always felt insecure about her vibrant curls . . . until the day Cheyenne almost drowns and Onyeka's hair takes on a life of its own, inexplicably pulling Cheyenne from the water.

At home, Onyeka's mother tells her the shocking truth: Onyeka's psychokinetic powers make her a Solari, one of a secret group of people with super-powers unique to Nigeria. Her mother quickly whisks her off to the Academy of the Sun, a school in Nigeria where Solari are trained. But Onyeka and her new friends at the academy soon have to put their powers to the test as they find themselves caught up in an epic battle . . . one that puts the future of all Solari at risk.

Otto and Sheed Alston are the local sleuths in their zany Virginia town, masters of unraveling mischief using their unmatched powers of deduction. As summer winds down and the first day of school looms, the boys are craving just a little more time for fun, even as they bicker over what kind of fun they want to have. That is, until a mysterious man named Mr. Flux appears with a camera that literally freezes time.

Now, with the help of some very strange people and even stranger creatures, Otto and Sheed will have to put aside their differences to save their town--and each other. The Legendary Alston Boys have always lived in the moment, but if they don't do something fast, they may be living this moment forever.

Hazel Rothbury is traveling all alone from her home in England aboard the celebrated ship Titanic. Following the untimely death of her father, Hazel's mother is sending her to the United States to work in a factory so that she might send money back home to help her family make ends meet.

But Hazel harbors a secret dream: She wants to be a journalist, and she just knows that if she can write and sell a story about the Tanic's maiden voyage, she could earn enough money to support her family and not have to go to a sweatshop. When Hazel discovers that her mother didn't send her with enough money for a ticket, she decides she must stow away on board the storied ship.

With the help of a porter named Charlie and a sweet first-class passenger named Sylvia, Hazel explores the opulent ship in secret, but a haunting mystery quickly finds her. The danger only intensifies when calamity strikes, and readers will be caught up in the terror and suspense alongside Hazel as she fights to save her friends and herself.

Eleven-year-old Ella Durand is the first Conjuror to attend the Arcanum Training Institute, a magic school in the clouds where Marvellers from around the world practice their cultural arts, like brewing Indian spice elixirs and bartering with pesky Irish pixies.

Despite her excitement, Ella discovers that being the first isn't easy--some Marvellers mistrust her magic, which they deem "bad" and "unnatural". But eventually, she finds friends in the elixirs teacher Masterji Thakur, and fellow misfits Brigit, a girl who hates magic, and Jason, a boy with a fondness for magical creatures.

When a dangerous criminal known as the Ace of Anarchy escapes prison, supposedly with a Conjuror's aid, tensions grow in the Marvellian world and Ella becomes the target of suspicion. Worse, Masterji Thakur mysteriously disappears while away on a research trip. With the help of her friends and her own growing powers, Ella must find a way to clear her family's name and track down her mentor before it's too late.

Once upon a time there was a peasant named Tim.

Yes, you heard that right. This is the story of a boy who wanted more out of life than to grow up to be a peasant like his parents. (And all his other ancestors as well.) Even if that means making a treacherous journey filled with dangerous beats, angry ogres, and very devious humans.

Until now, the only path to success in the Kingdom of Wyld was to be born a prince.

But there's never been a hero like Tim before.

Twelve-year old Emmie is working to raise money for a tricked-out wheelchair to get serious about WCMX, when a mishap on a poorly designed ramp at school throws her plans into a tailspin. Instead of replacing the ramp, her school provides her with a kind but unwelcome aide and, seeing a golden media opportunity, launches a public fundraiser for her new wheels. Emmie loves her close-knit rural town, but she can't shake the feeling that her goals--and her choices--suddenly aren't hers anymore. With the help of her best friends, Emmie makes a plan to lift her dreams off the ground--and show her community what she wants, what she has to give, and how ready she is to do it on her own terms.

Twelve-year-old Eddie Gordon Holloway has concocted the most genius plan ever to avoid his least favorite chore . . . the dreaded L-A-U-N-D-R-Y. If he wears every item of clothing in his wardrobe, summer will be halfway over before he has to do laundry!

But on the day of the highly anticipated Beach Bash, Eddie ends up grounded until he can get his clothes clean. While left home alone to do his laundry, the power goes out mid-cycle. With his first load of laundry soaking wet and the rest still filthy, Eddie sets out to explore the seemingly empty neighborhood in just his swim trunks and flip-flops.

As he meets up with other neighborhood kids to find out what happened, they realize that their families aren't coming back anytime soon. And as night falls, the crew realizes they aren't just the only people left in the neighborhood--they might be the only people left . . . anywhere.

We do this my way. No one gets hurt. And if I call it off, it's off. Got it?

My name's Darius James--but everyone calls me DJ. At my old school, I was the go-to guy for all kinds of tricky problems that needed creative solutions. But at my new school, Ella Fitzgerald Middle, I'm just trying to blend in.

Well, I was, anyway, until my best friend, Conor, got himself transferred to the Fitz too. Now Connor owes one hundred thousand arcade tickets to the biggest bully around-- and he only has two weeks to make it happen.

Impossible? Not with my head in the game.

As every good spy knows observations and conclusions can help solve a case.

OBSERVATION: Monday through Thursday, Chester Keene goes bowling after school. Alone. Fridays he plays laser tag. Also alone.
CONCLUSION: Chester is not an expert at making friends.

OBSERVATION: Chester gets secret messages from his dad. They've never met.
CONCLUSION: Chester's dad must be a government agent.

OBSERVATION: A classmate, Skye, gets a cryptic message that matches Chester's!
CONCLUSION: Chester and Skye must work together on a puzzle-solving mission.
CONCLUSION: Dad has finally made contact, and this is Chester's chance to help him.

As Chester and Skye get closer to their final clue, they find themselves in serious danger.

Ophelia Harrison used to live in a small house in the Georgia countryside. But that was before the night in November 1922, and the cruel act that took her home and her father from her. Which was the same night that Ophie learned she can see ghosts.

Now Ophie and her mother are livng in Pittsburgh with relatives they barely know. In the hopes of earning enough money to get their own place, Mama has gotten Ophie a job as a maid in the same old manor house where she works. Daffodil Manor, like the wealthy Caruthers family who owns it, is haunted by memories and prejudices of the past--and, as Ophie discovers, ghosts as well. Ghosts who have their own loves and hatreds and desires, ghosts who have wronged others and ghosts who have themselves been wronged. And as Ophie forms a friendship with one spirit whose life ended suddenly and unjustly, she wonders if she might be able to help--even as she comes to realize that Daffodil Manor may hold more secrets that she bargained for.

Curses aren't real. At least, that's what twelve-year-old part-Hawaiian Anna Leilani Kama'echu thinks when she listens to her grandma's folktales about scared flowers and family guardians. Anna's friends back home in Colorado don't believe in legends, and sports--real, tangible things that stand in total contrast to Anna's family's embarrassing stories.

So when Anna goes back to Hawai'i to visit her tutu, she has no interest in becoming the heir to her family's history; she's set on having a touristy, fun vacation. But when Anna accidently insults Pele the fire goddess by destroying her lehua blossom, a giant hawk swoops in and kidnaps her best friend, and she quickly learns just how real these mo'olelo are. In order to save her friends and family, Anna must now battle mythical creatures,, team up with demigods and talking bats, and evade the traps Pele hurls her way.

For if Anna hopes to undo the curse, she will have to dig deep into her Hawaiian roots and learn to embrace all of who she is.