2010 Children's Choices-Advanced Readers (Grade 5-6)

With her trademark humor, Ellen Potter has created a larger-than-life character and story whose weight is immense when measured in heart.

The Ghoulunatics – The Vault-Keeper, the Old Witch, and everyone's favorite, The Crypt-Keeper are back to offer their twisted takes on "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," the "Twilight"series, and Guitar Hero! The cover-featured Stinky Dead Kid stars in two tales - - one that explains exactly how he became a Stinky Dead Kid, and another in which he battles "Guitar Demon," a popular musical toy that's become possessed by an evil entity. There's also the trenchant tale of teen love involving a girl and a vampire, "Dielite," and the riotous return of the ever-doomed Thomas Donnelly in his most bizarre tale yet!

Annie Richards knows there are a million things to look out for—bicycle accidents, food poisoning, chicken pox, smallpox, typhoid fever, runaway zoo animals, and poison oak. That's why being careful is so important, even if it does mean giving up some of her favorite things, like bike races with her best friend, Rebecca, and hot dogs on the Fourth of July. Everyone keeps telling Annie not to worry so much, that she's just fine. But they thought her brother, Jared, was just fine too, and Jared died.

It takes a new neighbor, who looks as plain as a box of toothpicks but has some surprising secrets of her own, to make Annie realize that her plans for being careful aren't working out as well as she had hoped. And with a lot of help from those around her—and a book about a pig, too—Annie just may find a way to close her umbrella of sadness and step back into the sunshine.

With winsome humor and a dash of small-town charm, Lisa Graff's third novel is a touching look at rising above grief and the healing power of community.

Gifted: Out of Sight, Out of Mind by Marilyn Kaye

Queen of Mean Amanda Beeson, 13, gets the shock of her life when she wakes up one morning to find herself in the body of one of her victims, Tracey Devon. Amanda discovers that Tracey, ignored at home and school, has the ability to become invisible. When Amanda finds herself in a special class that Tracey usually attends, it becomes clear that at Meadowbrook Middle School the definition of "gifted" has a whole other meaning. Can Amanda rescue her one-time target from obscurity and get her own life back on track? In order to do so, she will have to reveal her own startling gift and take her rightful place among Meadowbrook's very secret clique.

It's not that Charlotte hates dogs. Or that she wants all of them to disappear off the face of the planet. It's just that she doesn't see why everyone loves them so much.

So how did she get stuck taking care of a big, drooling Saint Bernard puppy? Rain or shine, hot or cold, poor Beauregard is left chained in the backyard. No one ever plays with him or checks his food and water bowls, and Charlotte can tell he's sad. So she makes sure he has water, gives him belly rubs—blech!—and feeds him every single day. But it's kind of a pain, and she knows Beauregard deserves better. There's a new girl at school who lives in a huge house—plenty of room there for a big dog.

Charlotte has an idea. Now all she needs is a plan. Maybe a lot of plans.

How do you rescue your own dog?

Troy's got to think fast—if he doesn't want to get banned from the NFL for life.

Most people think that Troy White works for the NFL Atlanta Falcons as a ball boy, but the team knows the truth. Troy is a "football genius," with the extraordinary ability to predict an opposing team's next moves. With Troy calling the winning plays, the Falcons are on their way to the playoffs. And thanks to the coaching of Seth Halloway, the Falcon's star linebacker, and the talents of best friends Nathan and Tate, Troy's own team is on its way to the junior league football state championships!

But then reporter Brent Peele starts smearing the team. Suddenly, the media storm surrounding Troy threatens not only his own NFL career, but Seth's and his mother's, too.

Basher Science: Astronomy, Out of this World! created and illustrated by Simon Basher, Written by Dan Green:

Like a Facebook for the universe, Astronomy gives every important celestial body and concept its own page, where readers can learn its behaviors, likes, and dislikes up close and personal. From the flashy stars to the shadowy and strange objects that hang out like loners at the edges of the universe, no player goes unnoticed. Every profile has a hip anime-style portrait to round out the picture, but make no mistake: while the presentation is all style, the science is rock solid. The book includes a super cute poster of the solar system in the back. The universe has never been so cool.

Readers wonder no more about the animal kingdom as they get up close and personal with all creatures of the animal kingdom. Fly high on an airborne hunt with an osprey, watch an anteater's tongue catch termites in their nest, and dive in the deep ocean with a lantern fish. with cutting-edge graphic design, Navigators: Animals is a thrill of an adventure.

Science is not created in a vacuum, and no scientist creates an invention without influences from the past and an impact on the future. 10 Inventors Who Changed the World by Clive Gifford is look at 10 discoverers, beginning with Archimedes of Greece and ending with Sergey Korolyev, each scientist's biography is linked with another based on influences, events, and geography. By uncovering these unique and often overlooked connections, science history emerges as a chain of pattern and relationships, and readers will understand how these ten inventors shaped the course of human civilization.