Bone: The Great Cow Race by Jeff Smith

Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, Smiley Bone, Gran'ma Ben and Thorn are visiting the village of Barrelhaven for the Great Cow Race. Phoney Bone is trying to get everyone to bet against Gran'ma. He has convinced Smiley Bone to dress up as a cow and compete in the race against Gran'ma. Thorn meets a young bee keeper at the fair and Fone is jealous. During the race, Fone is chased by a herd of creatures. They collide with the cow race and Gran'ma Ben manages to win again. They continue on towards Boneville, ready for another adventure.

Elephant Run by Roland Smith

This is a great book. It was hard to get started, but once I got into the book, it was hard to put down. Nick is a teenage boy living with his mother in England during World War II. When the bombings got too bad in England, his mother decided to send him to live with his father on his plantation in Burma. Nick was safe there for a while, but then the Japanese invaded and captured his father and the plantation. His father was captured and sent to a prison camp. Nick was also captured and kept locked in his room and treated as a slave in his own home. He manages to escape and after hiding, tries to find and rescue his father. His friend Mya has a brother who has also been captured. She goes with him to try to free her brother along with the help of Hilltop, a buddhist monk who helps them. The first two or three chapters were slow and I almost didn't read the rest of the book, so don't give up on it. Keep reading! You'll love it.

Peak by Ronald Smith

14-year-old Peak Marcello - yes, that's his real name; his father is a famous mountain climber - has a passion for climbing. But in New York City, where he lives with his mother, stepfather and twin sisters, there aren't any mountains to climb...but there ARE skyscrapers! (Read excerpt pg. 4)

Peak is arrested for scaling and spray-painting graffiti on the Woolworth Building in NYC. And this isn't his first incident - the police have been trying for some time to catch the mysterious climber that has been leaving a blue mountain peak tag on skyscrapers throughout the city. Now Peak is about to be sentenced to nearly 3 years in a juvenile correction center. That is, until Peak's father Josh, who Peak hasn't seen in over 7 years, suddenly bursts into the courtroom and strikes a deal with the judge. The plea bargain ensures that Peak will be long gone and out of sight while also guaranteeing positive publiciy and financial gain for Josh's Himalayan mountain expedition company. Less than 48 hours later, Peak finds himself on his way to Kathmandu in Nepal, to his father's base camp at the foot of Mt. Everest. Slowly, Peak starts to figure out why his father was so anxious to rescue him in New York. (Read excerpt pg. 74).

But, in order to be the youngest climber to summit Everest, Peak has less than 3 months to acclimatize, train, and reach the summit in his first attempt, before his 15th birthday in June. Can he make it? Or will Sun-Jo, the 14-year-old grandson of his father's head Sherpa, who just happens to have a birthday 6 days before Peak, make it ahead of him? Better watch your back, Peak!
by Kelley Gibson
(from Nancy Keane's booktalking course)