Reynie, Sticky, Constance and Kate are locked in, in fact they’re prisoners, but this time their captor is none other than Mr. Benedict himself, as well as Rhonda and Number Two. In order to keep the kids safe from Evil Ledroptha Curtain, the grownups have the kids stashed in a safe house. Ledroptha wants his evil Whisperer machine back and the grownups are sure that he would kidnap the kids in a second and hold them for ransom. The kids are safe…but bored out of their genius little minds!

Constance is extra cranky, especially after a stranger shows up claiming to be her father and challenging Mr. Benedict’s adoption of her.  In an emotional meltdown, Constance runs away - an act that sends the grown-ups and the Society outside the safe house in hopes of finding her…just what Ledroptha and his minions The Ten Men want. The kids are now vulnerable and fall into a carefully constructed trap. But Ledroptha isn’t the only brain capable of setting and springing a trap. These kids are smart and motivated by something powerful - the desire to save the family they’ve built for themselves in The Mysterious Benedict Society. A terrific addition to The Society’s adventures. Author: Trenton Lee Stewart

• Look Inside The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma
• The Mysterious Benedict Society Official Website
• Could you be in the Society? Try some of these Games for the Gifted and Logic Challenges

If you haven’t read the first two, don’t miss The Mysterious Benedict Society and The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey, each one is excellent, action packed fun.

Cass and Max-Ernest from The Name of This Book is Secret are back in another sense-filled adventure as members of the secret Terces Society. Cass and Max-Ernest have been inducted into the Society as agents keeping the world safe from the evil Midnight Sun, people who will stop at nothing (even murder!) to carry out their plans to live forever. Their previous adventures involved the senses of smell and sound. This time around, it’s taste, and what tastes better than chocolate? Nothing!

Cass’s mom is obsessed with the blind chef Señor Hugo and is invited to one of his exclusive dinner parties. Cass and Max-Ernest come along and are suprised to learn that at these parties the guests dine in complete darkness so that they can focus on their sense of taste. Partway through dinner Cass gets a feeling something isn’t right and when she shines a contraband light, she and Max-Ernest realize that all of the tables in the restaurant are empty and Cass’s mom is nowhere to be found. Señor Hugo has kidnapped Cass’s mom and is demanding the legendary Tuning Fork for her safe return. Somehow, he knows about Cass and Max-Ernest and The Terces Society. What is the Tuning Fork and what does the chef want to do with it? You can bet that The Midnight Sun and the creepy Dr. L and Ms. Mauvais are in on it too. Author: Pseudonymous Bosch

• Look Inside This Book Is Not Good For You
• Listen to an Excerpt of This Book Is Not Good For You
• This Book Is Not Good For You on CD
• Official Secret Series Website

Chocolate plays an important part in this Cass and Max-Ernest adventure. Chocolate is loved the world -over, now you can find out the secrets behind its power:

• Exploratorium: The Sweet Lure of Chocolate
• The Field Museum Chicago: All About Chocolate
• Hershey Video Tour: How Chocolate is Made
• Neuroscience for Kids: Discovering the Sweet Mysteries of Chocolate
• The Cocoa Tree The story of chocolate from Aztecs to rainforest ecology to modern manufacturing.

Here are the first two in the Secret Series with Cass and Max-Ernest: The Name of This Book is Secret and If you’re Reading This It’s Too Late. If you like these, you might also like the rest, each are about kids having incredible adventures, but without wands or dragons or spells. These kids fly airplanes, shrink, hypnotize people, solve puzzles and more.

Bobby and Holly have been friends since forever. They know boys and girls aren’t usually best friends and they know their friends at school wouldn’t understand, so they have a strategy they call “The Parting Place”.  They walk to school together everyday, but when they get to “The Parting Place” about a block from their school, Bobby speeds up and Holly slows down…just so they won’t be seen together. It works.

But then the week before fourth grade starts, Bobby starts to notice some weird things about Holly. She starts caring about her hair and misses a traditional rock hunting afternoon with Bobby because she’s going shopping with Jillian. On the first day of school their friendship hits a definite bump in the road:

“Hey Bobby, wait up!” Holly was running to catch up to him.

Bobby stared at her in disbelief. “Why are you wearing that? It’s not Halloween.”

Holly smoothed the sleeve of her light blue dress. The big white bow around the waist reminded him of toilet paper. “It’s new,” She said proudly, “Do you like it?”

Bobby shook his head. “Nope.”

Oh, man. NOT smooth. And it’s downhill from there!  When Bobby and Holly are both nominated to run against each other in their class election for Student Council Representative an all out boys vs girls war begins. What’s the best strategy when your arch rival knows your weaknesses and all your secrets? Game on! Author: Lisa Yee

• Read Chapter 11 Bobby vs. Girls
• Official Website Bobby vs. Girls (Don’t miss the Fish Tricks videos!)
• Read an Interview with the author Lisa Yee

Bobby isn’t the only boy mystified by girls. Alvin Ho is allergic to them! Holly isn’t the only girl mystified by boys. Sheila Tubman never has understood Peter Hatcher. Here are some more funny books that showcase the battle between boys and girls:

Twelve  year-old Ryan isn’t really into the great outdoors. He’d rather play video games. Ryan’s older brother Tanner would love to change that. Tanner convinces Ryan to go on a river trip to camp, fish and kayak, just the two of them. What could go wrong?

When their inflatable kayak hits a log in a rapid chute of the river, both boys are pitched into the frigid river. It is Tanner, the experienced one, the one who actually knows how to survive in the woods, who hits his head and is knocked unconscious.

Ryan manages to drag Tanner to shore but this accomplishment is only the beginning. With no cell phone service, little food and plunging temperatures Ryan knows that he is in a do or die situation - for himself, but especially for his brother.

This is a really tense, nail-biting adventure. Ryan has to break down his situation into a series of smaller problems so that he can solve them each one at time. Otherwise he would be totally overwhelmed. He tries things that don’t work. He gets discouraged, even panics…but then manages to calm himself down again and think. Reading Ryan’s thoughts as he puzzles out each step he has to take to rescue himself and his brother makes this a gripping, realistic story.  Author: P.J. Petersen

• Look Inside Wild River
• GORP Ready to Raft: Gear

I you like Wild River here are some more “kid against nature” survival adventures.

Bran Hambric doesn’t know a thing about himself. He was found at age 6 locked in a bank vault in the town of Dunce. He has no memory of anything before being discovered in the vault. He’s being raised by the Wilomas family, only because Mr. Wilomas worked at the bank and is forced to obey the “Finders Keepers Law.” If you find it, you have to keep it, even if “it” is a kid.

In Dunce, magic is outlawed. When Bran is confronted by a gangly creature that actually knows his name, he knows something is up - something about his past. Something that has to do with magic. Clues lead Bran to a magical library, a mysterious girl, a bank employee that is much more than she seems and a gnome. Yeah, a gnome: short guy, long beard, tall red hat shaped like a cone. Together the new friends set out to uncover Bran’s past and confront the Farfield curse.

An orphan kid living in a house where the family treats him badly. The kid finds out he’s magic.  A bad guy wants the kid dead. Oh, and there’s a curse involving the kid. Sound familiar? I know it does. There are an awful lot of Harry Potter similarities…but even so, Bran Hambric is a fun story anyway. I would call it fan fiction. Fan fiction is fiction created by the admirer of a certain story or that story’s characters. Kaleb didn’t plagiarize, he just took some ideas and built his own story around them. There are enough original ideas to keep the story interesting. AND, he’s a teenage author - not too shabby. He says that there are more Bran Hambric stories coming. It will be fun to see where he goes with Bran’s story and how his writing matures. Author: Kaleb Nation

• Official Website Bran Hambric
• Bran Hambric The Farfield Curse on CD

More boys coming into their magical powers: