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Jack Gantos
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 5.7 - AR Pts: 12
Lexile measure
920L
Description
In the historic town of Norvelt, Pennsylvania, twelve-year-old Jack Gantos spends the summer of 1962 grounded for various offenses until he is assigned to help an elderly neighbor with a most unusual chore involving the newly dead, molten wax, twisted promises, Girl Scout cookies, underage driving, lessons from history, typewriting, and countless bloody noses.
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 6.1 - AR Pts: 5
Formats
Description
The Newbery Award—winning author of Dead End in Norvelt shares advice for how to be the best brilliant writer in this funny and practical creative writing guide perfect for all kids who dream of seeing their name on the spine of a book.
With the signature wit and humor that have garnered him legions of fans, Jack Gantos instructs young writers on using their "writing radar" to unearth story ideas from their everyday lives. Incorporating his own...
Author
Series
Joey Pigza books volume 1
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 4.9 - AR Pts: 5
Formats
Description
Joey, who lives with his eccentric grandmother, is mystified by his uncontrollable manic behavior until it is found he has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). "They say I'm wired bad, or wired sad, but there's no doubt about it -- I'm wired." Joey Pigza's got heart, he's got a mom who loves him, and he's got "dud meds," which is what he calls the Ritalin pills that are supposed to even out his wild mood swings. Sometimes Joey makes bad...
Author
Series
Joey Pigza books volume 2
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 4.9 - AR Pts: 7
Formats
Description
Joey, who is still taking medication to keep him from getting too wired, goes to spend the summer with the hard-drinking father he has never known and tries to help the baseball team he coaches win the championship.
Author
Series
Norvelt books volume 2
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 6 - AR Pts: 10
Lexile measure
930L
Formats
Description
After an explosion, a new crime by an old murderer, and the sad passing of the founder of Norvelt, Pennsylvania, twelve-year-old Jack accompanies his slightly mental elderly mentor, Miss Volker, on a cross-country run as she pursues the oddest of outlaws.
Author
Description
It's here: Volume One of the official Guys Read Library. Jon Scieszka's Guys Read initiative was founded on a simple premise: that young guys enjoy reading most when they have reading they can enjoy. And out of this comes a series that aims to give them just that. Ten books, arranged by theme, featuring the best of the best where writing for kids is concerned. Each book is a collection of original short stories, but these aren't your typical anthologies—each
...Author
Series
Joey Pigza books volume 3
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 5.1 - AR Pts: 8
Formats
Description
Joey tries to keep his life from degenerating into total chaos when his mother sends him to be home-schooled with a hostile blind girl, his divorced parents cannot stop fighting, and his grandmother is dying of emphysema.
Author
Series
Jack Henry books volume 4
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 5.1 - AR Pts: 6
Formats
Description
Moving with his unbearable sister to Miami, Florida, Jack tries to break some of his bad habits but finds himself irresistibly drawn to things disgusting, gross, and weird.
Author
Series
Jack Henry books volume 5
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 4.9 - AR Pts: 6
Lexile measure
730L
Formats
Description
When his father rejoins the Navy and moves the family to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, ten-year-old Jack becomes confused by a crush on his teacher, contradictory advice from his parents, and a very strange neighbor.
12) Hole in my life
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 5.7 - AR Pts: 7
Formats
Description
The author relates how, as a young adult, he became a drug user and smuggler, was arrested, did time in prison, and eventually got out and went to college, all the while hoping to become a writer.
Author
Series
Jack Henry books volume 3
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 4.8 - AR Pts: 6
Formats
Description
According to his new motto- A WRITER'S JOB IS TO TURN HIS WORST EXPERIENCES INTO MONEY- Jack Gantos's alter ego Jack Henry is going to be filty rich even before he gets out of junior high, for his life is filled with the worst experiences imaginable. For instance, in the course of the few months covered in this closing cycle of interlinked stories, Jack is humiliated by a gorgeous synchronized swimmer, gets a tattoo the size of an ant on his big toe,...
Author
Series
Joey Pigza books volume 4
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 5.3 - AR Pts: 8
Formats
Description
Joey's father returns, calling himself Charles Heinz and apologizing for his past bad behavior, and he swears that once Joey and his mother change their names and help him fix up the old diner he has bought, their lives will change for the better.
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 6.5 - AR Pts: 7
Formats
Description
A young woman named Ivy, who made a shocking discovery in her small western Pennsylvania town when she was seven years old and learned a surprising secret nine years later, questions whether she has inherited the Rumbaugh curse of having excessive lover for one's mother.
Author
Series
Jack Henry books volume 2
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 4.3 - AR Pts: 8
Lexile measure
580L
Formats
Description
When his father moves the family to Barbados, thirteen-year-old Jack learns that life is not always idyllic on an island paradise.
Author
Series
Joey Pigza books volume 5
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 5.4 - AR Pts: 6
Formats
Description
"Everything goes topsy-turvy for Joey as he becomes the man of the house, looking after his new baby brother, taking care of his troubled mother, and seeking out his missing father"--
18) Desire Lines
Author
Description
When sixteen-year-old Walker gets caught up in a witch-hunt against homosexuals, he is left to stand by and watch as a tragedy unfolds.
Author
Series
Description
Rotten Ralph's owner, Sarah, is fed up with her red rascal's behavior. Ralph is tired of Sarah trying to change him. He misses his cat family, which never made him alter a thing about himself. But in this gag- and guffaw-filled adventure for newly independent readers, the world's favorite rotten red cat gets tripped up when he runs away for a journey down memory lane.
Author
Series
Description
Jack isn't like the Pagoda brothers. He knows the difference between fun and stupid. Launching yourself across the backyard in a makeshift Roman catapult? Fun. Smoking an entire pack of cigarettes as fast as possible? Stupid. But when it comes to emergency self-surgery…Jack still has something to learn. A short story from the acclaimed collection Guys Read: Funny Business, edited by Jon Scieszka.
