Modern Classics for Children

CCBC Choices - 1990
As the lone "young lady" on a transatlantic voyage in 1832, Charlotte learns that the captain is murderous and the crew rebellious. …More

A young man receives two presents that will change his life: a plastic miniature Indian that magically comes to life inside a mysterious old cupboard. …More

 Boston's chilling tales of Green Knowe, a haunted manor deep in an overgrown garden in the English countryside, have been entertaining readers for half a century. Illustrations. …More

 Nate, a 12-year-old boy living in New Hampshire, takes over the care of an enormous egg laid by one of the family's hens, and the last thing he expects to hatch from it is a triceratops! Illustrations. …More

A young mouse named Ralph looked out Of his mousehole in Room 215 of the Mountain View Inn. The new tenant of the room, a boy, was playing with a little motorcycle just the right size for a mouse. Ralph could hardly wait till the boy left the room. Hurriedly he scrambled up the telephone cord to the bedside table, where the motorcycle was parked. With growing excitement, Ralph mounted the handsome machine and grasped its handgrips. Suddenly the telephone rang, and the motorcycle with its rider rolled off the table into the metal wastebasket. Ralph was sure he was doomed to be thrown out with the trash. Instead, the mouse found an unexpected career as a motorcyclist opening up to him.

 Set in the Appalachian hills, this story tells of 14-year-old Mary Call's efforts to keep her family together and independent after their sharecropper father dies. …More

On his 11th birthday, Will Stanton learns that he is the last born of the Old Ones. At once, he is plunged into a quest for the six magical Signs that will one day aid in the final battle between the Dark and Light. …More

 Celebrate Twenty Years of Magic!
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 "Simple, lively prose, an element of suspense, and a repeated refrain--'There are no bears on Hemlock Mountain'--are combined successfully in a story of an eight-year-old boy who fears to travel over a mountain".--Horn Book. …More

 Since "Half Magic" first hit bookshelves in 1954, Edward Eager's tales of magic have become beloved classics. Now four cherished stories by Edward Eager about vacationing cousins who stumble into magical doings and whimsical adventures are available in updated hardcover and paperback formats. The original lively illustrations by N. M. Bodecker have been retained, but eye-catching new cover art by Kate Greenaway Medalist Quentin Blake gives these classics a fresh, contemporary look for a whole new generation.
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Originally published in 1967, the first of eight best-selling Great Brain titles introduces us to J. D., an eight-year-old boy living in Utah in 1896, and his older brother Tom, aka The Great Brain, a silver-tongued con artist with a genius for making a profit. Whether he's charging admission to see Papa's new water closet, the first in town; getting rid of the mean new schoolmaster; or teaching a boy with a peg leg that he is not useless, Tom's great brain turns every situation to his advantage. …More

 "Ned believes that, with a forbidden gun, he has shot out the eye of a wild cat, and his guilt poisons his life. An outstanding growing-up story for all ages about the painful secrets and the struggle to be good . . . This riveting story is spun with an eloquent simplicity that belies the skill of its telling . . . Adults and children alike will come effortlessly under the spell of this peerless storyteller . . ".--Booklist, starred review. Newbery Honor book; ALA Notable Children's Book; ALA Best Book for Young Adults; Booklist Editors' Choice; New York Times Book Review Oustanding Children's Book of the Year. …More

 Little Willie hopes to pay the back taxes on his grandfather's farm with the purse from a dog sled race he enters. …More

A young boy relates his adventures during the year he spends living alone in the Catskill Mountains including his struggle for survival, his dependence on nature, his animal friends, and his ultimate realization that he needs human companionship. …More

 Molly and Michael dislike their spooky new stepsister Heather but realize that they must try to save her when she seems ready to follow a ghost child to her doom. …More

 A Newbery Honor Book. "Two black eighth-grade boys in New York--one a neurotic, obese, musical prodigy, the other a homeless, tough-minded child of the streets--are the protagonists in an extraordinary story of heroism and survival and the interdependence of human beings".--ALA Notable Children's Books Committee.Ages 8-12. …More

 "A rollicking story of Pippi who lives without any grownups in a little house at the edge of the village. The matter-of-fact way in which her absurd adventures are related is one of the chief charms of this story."--"The Horn Book." …More

 Ten-year-old Bandit Wong emigrates to America in 1947 from China and assimilates into the Chinese-American Shirley Temple Wong. Illustrations. …More

 The pushcarts have declared war! New York City's streets are clogged with huge, rude trucks that park where they want, hold up traffic, and bulldoze into anything that is in their way, and the pushcart peddlers are determined to get rid of them. But the trucks are just as determined to get rid of the pushcarts, and chaos results in the city.
The pushcarts have come up with a brilliant strategy that will surely let the hot air out of their enemies. The secret weapon--a peashooter armed with a pin; the target--the vulnerable truck tires. Once the source of the flat tires is discovered, the children of the city joyfully join in with their own pin peashooters. The pushcarts have won one battle, but can they win the war against a corrupt mayor who taxes the pins and prohibits the sale of dried peas?

Billy, Old Dan and Little Ann -- a Boy and His Two Dogs...
A loving threesome, they ranged the dark hills and river bottoms of Cherokee country. Old Dan had the brawn, Little Ann had the brains -- and Billy had the will to train them to be the finest hunting team in the valley. Glory and victory were coming to them, but sadness waited too. And close by was the strange and wonderful power that's only found...
An exciting tale of love and adventure you'll never forget.

 "Because of a bet, Billy is in the uncomfortable position of having to eat fifteen worms in fifteen days. A hilarious story that will revolt and delight bumptious, unreachable intermediate-grade boys and any other less particular mortals that read or listen to it.... Colorful, original writing in a much-needed comic vein."--"Booklist. …More

 The comic, sometimes tragic side of life in the city is brought into vivid relief as Chester Cricket and his friends struggle to bring success to their human friends' nearly bankrupt newsstand. …More

 The classic tale of the boy who loved chocolate is back in this new edition. "Embedded in this tale are lessons in courage, caring, moderation, and prejudice."--"School Library Journal." …More

 The first time Melanie Ross meets April Hall, she's not sure they'll have anything in common. But she soon discovers that they both love anything to do with ancient Egypt. When they stumble upon a deserted storage yard behind the A-Z Antiques and Curio Shop, Melanie and April decide it's the perfect spot for Egypt Game. Before long there are six Egyptians instead of two. After school and on weekends they all meet to wear costumes, hold ceremonies, and work on their secret code. Everyone thinks it's just a game, until strange things begin happening to the players. Has the Egypt Game gone too far?

 Castaway on an uninhabited island, Abel, a very civilized mouse, finds his resourcefulness and endurance tested to the limit as he struggles to survive and return to his home. …More

 Meet the All-of-a-Kind Family -- Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte, and Gertie -- who live with their parents in New York City at the turn of the century.
Together they share adventures that find them searching for hidden buttons while dusting Mama's front parlor and visiting with the peddlers in Papa's shop on rainy days. The girls enjoy doing everything together, especially when it involves holidays and surprises.
But no one could have prepared them for the biggest surprise of all! …More

 In the early twentieth century a young Chinese boy joins his father in San Francisco and helps him realize his dream of making a flying machine. …More

 Hannah is tired of hearing about the Nazis during the Holocaust, but when she opens the door for Elijah at the Passover Seder, she is transported in time to 1940s Poland, where she is captured and put in a death camp. A girl named Rivka befriends her, teaching her how to fight the dehumanization of the camp and hold onto her identity. …More