Betrayal at Cross Creek  •  Kathleen Ernst MYSTERY •  2004 •  PAPER  • 163 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) In this novel for middle readers, Elspeth and her Scottish family are living in North Carolina on the eve of the Revolutionary War. When her grandfather and cousins leave to fight on the British side of the war, she is left with her own challenge: to find out who is betraying her Loyalist family. (USE365, $6.95)
The Race to Save the Lord God Bird  •  Phillip Hoose NATURAL HISTORY •  2004 •  HARD COVER  • 208 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) An engaging and well-researched history of the ivory-billed woodpecker, and the struggles surrounding its survival. It's a suspenseful and entertaining book about modern conservation and environmental issues for middle-school readers, featuring John James Audubon and others. The bird, only recently rediscovered, once ranged across the southeastern United States. With black-and-white photographs throughout. (BRD30, $21.00)
Stories from Where We Live, The South Atlantic Coast  •  Sara St. Antoine  •  Trudy Nicholson  •  Paul Mirocha LITERATURE •  2006 •  PAPER  • 231 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) An anthology of short stories, poems, essays, and historical accounts about the ecoregion spanning the thousand miles from Baltimore to Miami. A charming guide to the people, places, animals and ecology of the region, complete with black-and-white line drawings and maps. Ages 9-12. (USS378, $10.95)
Teach's Light, A tale of Blackbeard the Pirate  •  Nell Wise Wechter  •  Bruce Tucker LITERATURE •  1999 •  PAPER  • 146 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) As legend has it, Teach's light (an unidentified luminous phenomenon) marks the place in the Outer Banks where Blackbeard buried his treasure. When the two teenaged protagonists of this science-fiction novel go chasing Teach's light, they end up being whisked through time to 17th-century England, where they're invisible onlookers as Blackbeard lives his piratical life. Ages 9 to 12. (OCE72, $10.95)
The Wright Brothers, How They Invented the Airplane  •  Russell Freedman BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1994 •  PAPER  • 129 PAGES • YOUNG ADULTS A young-adult biography of Wilbur and Orville, strong on the engineering details of the "first flight" and on the close bond between the brothers. (USS237, $14.95)