The Search For WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi

The Search For WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi is about a young girl named Eva Nine, who has lived underground with a robot for all 12 years of her life. Eva has been wanting to go the "outside world" for her whole life so she can see if there were any other humans that live on the planet. Then one day when she is at home with Murthur (her mother robot), some crazy hunter/assassin comes and lights the Sanctuary (her underground home) on fire. Then Eva is forced to go into the outside world, which is nothing like she expected it. The world was over grown, the birds and plants both looked strange, and there wasn't a single human in site.

The reason why she is searching for "WondLa" is because, back in the Sanctuary Eva had this "secret room" that she kept stuff in. Most of the stuff was little toys Murthur had given her, but one of them was a little scrap of paper showing a man, a girl, and a robot. They were all smiling and holding hands with each other, at the top of the paper the words were faded so all you could see was WondLa.

I fell in love with this book the second I started reading it. 

I hope you like it that much, too.

Middleworld by J&P Voelkel

Middleworld by J&P Voelkel is a wonderful book. It is about a young boy named Max who lives in Boston (woo hoo!) and is a all-American style kid. Over summer break when his parents are (supposed) to go to Italy with him they completly blow that idea off and go on a trip to (fictional) San Xavier. His parents are crazy archilogists, who go on a lot of trips to "digging" sites. Soon he finds out that his parents got lost, almost as suddenly as that sunk in to Max, his housekeeper, Zia, buys him tickets to San Xavier. Soon after he boards a plane to find his parents in San Xavier. When he gets there he meets a mysterious girl with two companion monkeys. She calls herself Lola and Max' life takes a turn that enhances each emotion differently, for the better.

I think people in 5th grade will like this book because it makes many references to Mayan culture (I read it at the end of 4th grade). For younger children this book might too confusing because there are so many different (not to mention, foreign) names that you have to keep track of. Older people might think that it is a bit young because of the plot line. Then again, if you are interested in Mayan culture you'll love this book!