Brenner, Barbara. A Snake-lover's Diary. While Mark spends a spring and summer collecting snakes, he experiences many problems in catching and caring for his reptiles. Described in great detail are the rattlesnake, hognose snake, water snake, garter snake, boa constrictor, and king snake. BR 01531.

Green, Phyllis. Eating Ice Cream with a Werewolf. A wacky babysitter and her book of magic keep Brad and his little sister guessing the entire week their parents are away on a trip. BR 05827.

Hobbs, Will. Wild Man Island. Fourteen-year-old Andy slips away from his kayaking group in Alaska to visit the wilderness site where his archaeologist father died. Stranded on an island by a storm and injured, Andy is rescued by a Newfoundland dog and his owner--who live in a cave. BR 14660.

Lauber, Patricia. Of Man and Mouse; How House Mice Became Laboratory Mice. A history of the relationship between men and mice from house pest to aid in biological and medical research. BR 02396.

Paulsen, Gary. Brian's Hunt. When sixteen-year-old Brian from "Hatchet" (RC 30535, BR 11525) returns to the wilderness two years after his plane crash he finds a wounded dog and the bodies of a Cree couple killed by a rogue bear. Tracking the animal, Brian is pursued as its prey. BR 15296.

Pullman, Philip. Clockwork, Or, All Wound Up. Long ago in Germany, a storyteller's story and an apprentice clockwork-maker's nightmare meet in a menacing, lifelike figure created by the strange Dr. Kalmenius. BRW 116.

Sandoz, Mari. The Horsecatcher. Despite the warlike traditions of his Cheyenne tribe, young Big Elk dreamed only of capturing and taming one of the beautiful horses that ran wild on the prairie. This story tells how he realized his dream and at the same time won an honored place among his people. BRA 02297.

Hall, Lynn. Tin Can Tucker. Sixteen-year-old Ann Tucker runs away from her foster home in Missouri to make a name for herself on the rodeo circuit. Despite her love of horses, she has never even mounted one, and all she knows about rodeos is what she's seen on TV. RC 21696.

Hobbs, Will. The Maze. Fourteen and orphaned, Rick Walker is unfairly sent to a detention center. To avoid a threatened beating, he escapes and discovers a remote biologist's camp in Utah's Canyonland National Park. Soon Rick is helping monitor newly released condors, learning how to hang glide, and fighting to save himself and his new friend from some dangerous locals. RC 47364.

Hovde, Jeanne. Winter of the White-Tailed Buck. A young boy hopes to help his family's financial situation by bagging a huge white-tailed deer. RCW 1524.

Kjelgaard, Jim. Wild Trek. The story of trapper Link Stevens, and his fearless snow dog, Chiri, who are stranded in the perilous Caribou Mountains and are forced to rely on their instincts for survival. RCW 790.

Peck, Robert Newton. A Day No Pigs Would Die. Explores the problems of growing up on a Shaker farm in Vermont in the 1920s. The story concerns a young boy's pig--its growth, blue ribbon, and inevitable slaughter. Surrounding this are details of farm life, Yankee jokes, and family memories. RC 37104.

Rowling, J.K. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Special edition of an approved textbook used by Harry Potter at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An A-to-Z listing of magical beasts, it briefly describes such creatures as the centaur, hippogriff, troll, unicorn, and ten breeds of dragon. RC 52451.

Tarr, Judith. His Majesty's Elephant. The arrival of Abul Abbas, an elephant, at Emperor Charlemagne's court in Germany heralds the beginning of many changes for Rowan, the emperor's young daughter. Through Kerrec, the elephant boy, Rowan discovers her magical power and uses it to save her father from a Byzantine plot. RC 46598.

Zindel, Paul. Loch: a novel. Luke Perkins, fifteen, nicknamed Loch because he claims to have seen the Loch Ness monster; his sister Zaidee; their father, Sam; and Sarah Cavenger are at Lake Alban, Vermont, to study a plesiosaur and its family trapped there. They are working for Anthony Cavenger, Sarah's father, who seeks out monsters to study them. Unfortunately, Cavenger doesn't care whether he studies them dead or alive. RC 39952.

Avi. The Devil's Race. When John begins a genealogy project at school, he learns that his ancestral namesake was an evil murderer who is not content to stay dead. BR 06500.

Dickinson, Peter. The Blue Hawk. Young Tron, a novice training for the priesthood, defies tradition and rescues the blue hawk intended for sacrifice during a royal ritual. Tron's act dooms the king to death and himself to exile in this suspenseful fantasy. BR 03545.

Mikaelsen, Ben. Touching Spirit Bear. To avoid prison after viciously attacking a classmate, fifteen-year-old Cole agrees to a Native American tradition for healing--one year alone on a remote Alaskan island. There Cole confronts a huge white Spirit Bear that changes his life. BRW 182.

Quintana, Anton. The Baboon King. Always feeling like an outsider because of his mixed Kikuyu and Masai parentage, Morengru "the hunter" unintentionally kills a Kikuyu. Banished from his village, Morengru further questions his existence while living with a troop of baboons. Some violence. BR 12792.

Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan. The Yearling. A young boy living in rural poverty in northern Florida tames an orphan fawn, whom he must shoot when it begins raiding the family cornpatch. BR 12512.

Silverberg, Robert. The Auk, the Dodo, and the Oryx; Vanished and Vanishing Creatures. The author pleads for conservation in this survey of many extinct and nearly extinct animals. The extinct are described in excerpts from accounts of people who saw them before they disappeared. BR 01127.

Yolen, Jane. Dragon's Blood: a fantasy. Jakkin Stewart steals a hatchling dragon and trains it secretly in the desert. If Heart's Blood, the young dragon, can win in the gaming pits, his young owner can buy his freedom and win the love of a mysterious girl. Jakkin can't even think of what will happen if his dragon loses. First book of the Pit Dragon trilogy. BR 10937.

Bickham, Jack M. Baker's Hawk. A secret and close friendship arises between 11-year-old Billy Baker and an old mountain man when Billy rescues a baby hawk from a raging fox. RC 16093.

London, Jack. White Fang. A wolf-dog, rescued from danger and tamed by a kind master, redeems his brute nature by defending his master's family against an escaped convict. RC 51689.

Lopez, Barry. Crow and Weasel. Two young men, Crow and Weasel, set out to travel farther north than any of their people have ever gone. They travel through varied landscapes and meet danger and beauty and gain wisdom from other animals they encounter and the Inuit people they meet. RCW 595.

Norton, Andre. The Beast Master. Hosteen Strom, homeless exile of the holocaust that reduced planet Terra to a radioactive cinder, relocates on the dangerous frontier world of Arzor to carry out a very personal vendetta. RC 17814.

Paulsen, Gary. Dogsong. The only dogsled left in fourteen-year-old Russel Susskit's village belongs to Oogruk, an older Eskimo who keeps it as a remembrance. After listening to stories from Oogruk about the traditional way of life, Russel takes the dogsled on a 1400-mile journey across the tundra and mountains to learn how to survive by the age-old methods. RC 24450.

Steinbeck, John. The Red Pony. Jody Tiflin is only ten years old when he receives the red pony as a gift. But as Jody matures, his experiences with horses, an old ranchhand, and the birth of a colt teach him about the interconnections between life and death. RC 34258.

Williams, Tad. Tailchaser's Song. Young Fritti Tailchaser, an apricot-orange cat, enjoys the company of Hushpad, an attractive female. When Hushpad suddenly disappears, Tailchaser sets out on a long journey, facing unexpected dangers in order to find her. RC 47092.

For questions about this information, contact Shiela A. Pollock (608) 224-5395

Last updated on 2/28/2008 8:56:17 AM