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If you like Lemony Snicket - Children's

The wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken - Set in the countryside of Victorian England, this novel tells of two children, their helpful friend, Simon, a tyrannical governess, and her strict sister
Whales on stilts by M.T. Anderson - Racing against the clock, shy middle-school student Lily and her best friends, Katie and Jasper, must foil the plot of her father's conniving boss to conquer the world using an army of whales
A house called Awful End by Philip Ardagh - When 11-year-old Eddie Dickens’ parents become ill, he is taken in by his great-uncle and great-aunt and embarks on adventures that involve strolling actors, orphans, and a carnival float shaped like a cow
Crispin : the cross of lead by Avi - Falsely accused of theft and murder, an orphaned peasant boy in fourteenth-century England flees his village and meets a larger-than-life juggler who holds a dangerous secret
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The house with a clock in its walls by John Bellairs - A boy goes to live with his magician uncle in a mansion that has a clock hidden in the walls which is ticking off the minutes until doomsday
Cautionary tales for children by Hilaire Belloc - Collected here and illustrated to wonderful haunting effect by Edward Gorey, these short, funny pieces offer moral instruction for all types of mischief makers
Bad magic by Pseudonymous Bosch - Thirteen-year-old Clay, a boy who no longer believes in magic, is sent to a camp for wayward kids located on a volcanic island, where eccentric campmates abound and a dangerous force threatens to erupt with bad magic
The name of this book is secret by Pseudonymous Bosch - Two eleven-year-old misfits try to solve the mystery of a dead magician and stop the evil Dr. L and Ms. Mauvais, who are searching for the secret of immortality
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Molly Moon's incredible book of hypnotism by Georgia Byng - Unlucky and unloved, Molly Moon, living in a dreary orphanage in a small English town, discovers a hidden talent for hypnotism and hypnotizes her way to stardom in New York City
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer - When a twelve-year-old evil genius tries to restore his family fortune by capturing a fairy and demanding a ransom in gold, the fairies fight back with magic, technology, and a particularly nasty troll
The witches by Roald Dahl - A young boy is placed in the custody of his eccentric witch-expert grandmother before being transformed into a mouse by an evil coven that is plotting against local kids
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School of Fear by Gitty Daneshvari - Twelve-year-olds Madeleine, Theo, and Lulu, and thirteen-year-old Garrison, are sent to a remote Massachusetts school to overcome their phobias, but soon the quartet must work together to face their fears
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Warren the 13th and the all-seeing eye by Tania del Rio - Twelve-year-old orphan Warren's joy is his family's hotel, but his evil Aunt Anaconda believes a mysterious treasure known as the All-Seeing-Eye is hidden somewhere on the grounds
The field guide by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black - When the Grace children go to stay at their Great Aunt Lucinda's worn Victorian house, they discover a field guide to fairies and other creatures and begin to have some unusual experiences
Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff - A troublesome twelve-year-old orphan, staying with an elderly artist who needs her, remembers the only other time she was happy in a foster home, with a family that truly seemed to care about her
The league of beastly dreadfuls by Holly Grant - Anastasia, nearly eleven, is snatched from her elementary school and sent to live at a former insane asylum with two great aunts she had never met
Leon and the spitting image by Allen Kurzweil - Leon, a fourth grader at The Ethical School, tries to outwit the school bully and learn to sew for fanatical teacher Miss Cronheim, with unexpected help from his final project—a doll with magical powers
The Problim children by Natalie Lloyd - Seven siblings are forced by the destruction of their swamp home to move into their grandpa's mansion, but greedy neighbors plot to steal their secrets and place them in homes far away from each other
The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry - The four Willoughby children set about to become "deserving orphans" after their neglectful parents embark on a treacherous around-the-world adventure, leaving them in the care of an odious nanny
Midnight for Charlie Bone : children of the Red King by Jenny Nimmo - Charlie Bone's life with his widowed mother and two grandmothers undergoes a dramatic change when he discovers that he can hear people in photographs talking
Alcatraz vs. the evil librarians by Brandon Sanderson - On his thirteenth birthday, foster child Alcatraz Smedry receives a bag of sand which is immediately stolen by the evil Librarians who are trying to take over the world
Liar & spy by Rebecca Stead - Moving into an apartment when his father loses his job, Georges befriends Safer, a twelve-year-old coffee-drinking loner and self-appointed spy, who recruits Georges into the world of espionage
The mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart - After passing a series of mind-bending tests, four children are selected for a secret mission that requires them to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened
Three times lucky by Sheila Turnage - Washed ashore as a baby in tiny Tupelo Landing, North Carolina, Mo LoBeau, now eleven, and her best friend Dale turn detective in a murder case
The mysterious howling by Maryrose Wood - Fifteen-year-old Miss Penelope Lumley, a recent graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, is hired as governess to three young children who have been raised by wolves and must teach them to behave