Show Me Missouri

This week, I'm sharing some great children's chapter books set in Missouri . . . .

Grounded by Kate Klise
After her father, brother, and sister are killed in a plane crash, twelve-year-old Daralynn's life in tiny Digginsville, Missouri, proceeds as her mother turns angry and embittered, her grandmother becomes senile, and her flamboyant aunt continues to run the Summer Sunset Retirement Home for Distinguished Gentlemen, while being courted by the owner of the town's new crematorium.

A Friendship for Today by Patricia McKissack
In 1954, when desegregation comes to Kirkland, Missouri, ten-year-old Rosemary faces many changes and challenges at school and at home as her parents separate.

The Boneshaker by Kate Milford
When Jake Limberleg brings his traveling medicine show to a small Missouri town in 1913, thirteen-year-old Natalie senses that something is wrong and, after investigating, learns that her love of automata and other machines make her the only one who can set things right.


More Missouri Fiction --
The Actual & Truthful Adventures of Becky Thatcher by Jessica Lawson
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Crows & Cards: A Novel by Joseph Helgerson
Homesick by Kate Klise
I Tell a Lie Every So Often by Bruce Clements
Keeping Secrets by Joan Lowery Nixon
Little House on Rocky Ridge by Robert MacBride
The Man Who Loved Clowns by June Rae Wood
The Song of the Molimo by Jane Cutler
Tackling Tires by Joe Lawson
The Year We Sailed the Sun by Theresa Nelson

Check these books out on display at the Arnold Branch through September 15, 2017.

Regarding the Fountain by Kate Klise

The middle school in Dry Creek needs a new drinking fountain.  The esteemed fountain designer Florence Waters agrees to build them a new drinking fountain, but only if the children give their input.  So begins a year of letters between Flo, the fifth grade students of Dry Creek, their teacher, their principal and others.

This was a wonderfully fun story to read.  Every child will wish they were part of the fifth grade class who gets to become great friends with Flo.  The best part, this is the first book in a series.

Boo! Tales to Haunt You

Halloween is quickly approaching, which means that one of the most popular requests at the moment is "scary" books.  Ghosts are always a popular answer to those requests.  So here are some of my favorite ghost stories for children . . .

Dying to Meet You by Kate Klise
In this story told mostly through letters, children's book author, I. B. Grumply, gets more than he bargained for when he rents a quiet place to write for the summer.

Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver
A mix-up involving the greatest magic in the world has tremendous consequences for Liesl, an orphan who has been locked in an attic, Will, an alchemist's runaway apprentice, and Po, a ghost, as they are pursued by friend and foe while making an important journey.

The Beasts of Clawstone Castle by Eva Ibbotson
While spending the summer with elderly relatives at Clawstone Castle in northern England, Madlyn and her brother Rollo, with the help of several ghosts, attempt to save the rare cattle that live on the castle grounds.

The Seer of Shadows by Avi
In New York City in 1872, fourteen-year-old Horace, a photographer's apprentice, becomes entangled in a plot to create fraudulent spirit photographs, but when Horace accidentally frees the real ghost of a dead girl bent on revenge, his life takes a frightening turn.

The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier
Irish orphans Molly, fourteen, and Kip, ten, travel to England to work as servants in a crumbling manor house where nothing is quite what it seems to be, and soon the siblings are confronted by a mysterious stranger and secrets of the cursed house.


More Ghost Books ---
Constable & Toop by Gareth P. Jones
Doll Bones by Holly Black
The Ghost Behind the Wall by  Melvin Burgess
The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall by Mary Downing Hahn
Ghosthunters and the Incredibly Revolting Ghost by Cornelia Funke
The Hunt for the Seventh by Christine Morton Shaw
Knee-Knock Rise by Natalie Babbitt
Paranorman: A Novel by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
Please the Ghost by Sharon Creech
Stealaway by K.M. Peyton
Sweet Miss Honeywell's Revenge: A Ghost Story by Kathryn Reiss
The Time of the Ghost by Diana Wynne Jones
The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House by Mary Chase


Check out these and other ghosts stories at the Arnold Branch!

Haunting Reads for Kids

There's nothing quite like a slightly scary ghost story on a rainy evening.  So with all the rain in the forecast, here are some great ghost stories for kids . . . .

Dying to Meet You by Kate Klise
In this story told mostly through letters, children's book author, I. B. Grumply, gets more than he bargained for when he rents a quiet place to write for the summer.

Spellbinder by Helen Stringer
Twelve-year-old Belladonna Johnson, who lives with the ghosts of her parents in the north of England, teams up with an always-in-trouble classmate to investigate why all of the ghosts in the world have suddenly disappeared.

Ghost Knight by Cornelia Funke
Eleven-year-old Jon Whitcroft and new friend Ella summon the ghost of Sir William Longspee, who may be able to protect Jon from a group of ghosts that threatens him harm from the day he arrives at Salisbury Cathedral's boarding school. Includes historical notes.

The Empty Mirror by James Lincoln Collier
Thirteen-year-old Nick, whose parents died in the 1918 flu epidemic, must find out why his mirror-image is causing mischief around their New England town and making sure Nick gets the blame.

The Phantom Isles by Steven Alter
Three friends and the librarian in a Massachusetts town must help each other to free the ghosts that have been imprisoned in books by a professor on a fantastical island many years ago.