Peter and the Starcatchers

Peter and the Starcatchers is by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. It is Peter Pan. . .before Peter Pan. It's how he became who he was in the movies. The main character, of course, is Peter. It starts out when he and his friends from the orphanage are getting on a boat. On the boat, Peter meets a mysterious girl, Molly Aster. She finally tells him that she is part of a group of people called the Starcatchers. Their job is to collect stuff that falls out of the sky, called starstuff. After they collect it, they send it back up so it doesn't get into the hands of the Others, who want to use the starstuff's power to make them the most powerful beings on the planet, possibly destroy the planet. They send it back up by. . .you have to read that. There are three books in the series: Peter and the Starcatchers, Peter and the Shadow Thieves, and Peter and the Secret of Rundoon. As I said, this is before the Peter Pan movies, before Peter could fly, live forever, etc. What did happen before Peter Pan. . .?

The Mysterious Benedict Society

The Mysterious Benedict Society is by Trenton Lee Stewart. It's about four extraordinary children: Reynie Muldoon, Kate Wetherall, George "Sticky" Washington, and Constance Contraire. They have one thing in common: they all take a test and all pass it. It is made by Mr. Benedict. He made the test mind-bending and tricky. Only those four children passed. The reason for Mr. Benedict's test is because he needs undercover agents. A couple years before, Number Two (a code name) and Rhonda took the test and also passed, but there weren't enough children to make a team. So they serve as Mr. Benedict's assistants. I'm not going to spoil it for you, but here's a hint: it has to be children that go undercover. They each have their own gifts: Reynie is just a natural leader, and he can figure out puzzles by it just coming to him; Kate has a red bucket she always carries around with helpful supplies, and she used to live in the circus, so she is flexible; Sticky gets his nickname because anything he hears, it sticks in his head, making him unusually smart; Constance is very stubborn, but it just might save them in the end. . .Right now, there are two books out: The Mysterious Benedict Society and The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey. Coming soon is the third book, The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

This series is very strongly recommended. This series is written by Rick Riordan. There are five books: The Lightning Thief, Sea of Monsters, Titan's Curse, Battle of the Labyrinth, and The Last Olympian. This series is about a boy named Percy Jackson with dyslexia and ADHD. His life is normal (putting aside the dyslexia and ADHD) until he finds out he's a son of one of the Greek gods, Poseidon (the sea god, to be exact). He goes to a camp for kids with a godly parent called Camp Half-Blood. That's what you're called if one of your parents is a Greek god, a half-blood or demigod. Percy befriends Annabeth Chase and Grover Underwood. Annabeth is a daughter of Athena and Grover is a satyr. The camp is runned by Dionysus (Mr. D) the wine god and Chiron, a centaur, is the activities director. In the Lighning Thief, Zeus's lighning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is his number one suspect. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover are sent off on a quest to find the bolt and clear Percy's name. But none of that happens without challenges. . .I was so sad when the series ended. My favorite is the Last Olympian, but you can't read it without reading the other four. You learn a lot about the Greek gods, but it's not all boring and everything. It makes Greek myths interesting. Read it, I love it, and I guarantee you will, too.

The 39 Clues

The 39 Clues. It will be a ten-part series by various authors. There are five books out so far: Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan (one of my favorite authors), One False Note by Gordan Korman, The Sword Thief by Peter Lerangis, Beyond the Grave by Jude Watson, and The Black Circle by Patrick Carman. Coming this November is In Too Deep by Jude Watson. Anyway, this series is about a brother and sister, Amy and Dan Cahill. When their grandmother Grace dies, she uses her alternate will: a game of 39 Clues that could make you the most powerful person on the planet. Forty people were invited to the reading of her will. The choice was theirs, either take the first clue and begin the game (no turning back!) or take a million dollars and leave. Of course, Amy and Dan say yes. The Clues are scattered around the world. The Cahills bring along their au pair their aunt Beatrice gave them, Nellie Gomez, and she travels with them. The competition is ruthless. I love this series, and the best part is that the books come out about every quarter of a year. This is a type of book everyone would like to read!

Harry Potter

Here's a series everyone knows: the Harry Potter series. This series is by J. K. Rowling and has seven books: Sorcerer's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, Order of the Pheonix, Half-Blood Prince, and Deathly Hallows. This series is about an eleven-year-old boy (in the first book) that discovers he has magical powers and is a wizard. He goes to Hogwarts of Witchcraft and Wizardry and befriends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. In the normal world, Harry is just your average boy. In the wizard world, he is a hero and very famous. Other characters: Albus Dumbledore, Neville Longbottom, Fred George and Ginny Weasley, Severus Snape, and of course Lord Voldemort. This is one of my favorite series, even though I say that about everything. These books keep you busy. My personal favorite was Goblet of Fire, but that's just me. Enjoy!