Gordie loves being in third grade with his best friend, Lamont. Then, two things happen: his teacher tells the class they'll be putting on a talent show, and a new kid named Red joins the class. Suddenly, Gordie is lost. He doesn't have a talent, and Lamont seems to want to be Red's best friend instead of Gordie's friend. Can Gordie wow the class with a talent and win back his best friend?

Similar books: Third Grade Stinks! by McKenna Third Grade Ghouls by McKenna Third Grade Wedding Bells? by McKenna

Reviewed by: emc

Date read: 12/31/2009

ISBN-10: 0823416968

ISBN-13: 9780823416967

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Mitchell is not thrilled to be in the police station, and he's definitely not thrilled that he'll spend every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon there, chatting online with a nursing home resident. After all, while he feels sorry that his elderly neighbor was injured as a result of a prank, it wasn't his fault. He's only being punished because Trotter, the one truly at fault, ran away, leaving Mitchell to deal with the consequences. So he's at the police station, forced to make conversation with a stranger. He braces himself for lectures about the 'good old days.' Wootie, the nursing home resident he meets online, however, is outspoken and easy to like. Mitchell finds himself confiding in her, and he slowly comes to terms with what really happened that day. This is a brief, enjoyable tale of facing up to the truth of one's problems and learning to solve them.

Reviewed by: emc

Date read: 1/25/2010

ISBN-10: 0807559598

ISBN-13: 9780807559598

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Ashley moved into a new house with her mother and then her neighbor said the garden was haunted. And it was!

Reviewed by: St. Charles Reader

Date read: 11/12/2009

ISBN-10: 0899198481

ISBN-13: 9780899198484

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Some china dolls that are over 100 years old now have to live with a new family of plastic dolls. They search to find their aunt who has disappeared. Also read The Meanest Doll in the World and The Runaway Dolls.

Reviewed by: St. Charles Reader

Date read: 11/20/2009

ISBN-10: 0786803614

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Amy and her sister unravel the mystery surrounding a family secret, involving murders that took place years ago, with clues from a dollhouse they find in the attic of their family home. The dollhouse mysteriously fills with a ghostly light in the middle of the night, and the dolls move from where they had been placed.

Awards won: Rebecca Caudill Award

Reviewed by: sc

Date read: 4/29/2009

ISBN-10: 0823404978

ISBN-13: 9780823404971

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Commenter: Grace, grade 5