Books that have a review or mini-review on this blog can be clicked on to go to that post. Be sure to see my note at the bottom of the list about reading and age appropriate levels.
15
Days Without a Head by Dave Cousins
(4.0)
(UG) (family relationships, alcoholism)
24
Girls in 7 Days
by Alex Bradley
(4.3)
(UG) (friendship, dating)
47 by Walter Moses
(5.3)
(MG) (1800’s, slavery)
A is for Aarrgh! by William J. Brooke
(5.9)
(MG-) (Stone Age, humor)
A Green and Ancient Light by Frederic S. Durbin
(/) (MG+)
(grandmothers & grandsons, WWII, otherworldly creatures, mystery)
A House Called Awful End by Philip Ardagh (series)
(6.3/6.1/6.6) (MG-)
(1800’s, family, humor, adventure)
A Long Way From Chicago by Richard Peck
(5.0)
(MG) (family, 1930’s, humor)
A
Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
(4.8)
(MG) (family, dying & grief, tree spirit)
A
Pickpocket’s Tale
by Karen Schwabach
(5.1)
(MG) (early colonial America, Jews, theft)
A
Season of Gifts
by Richard Peck
(4.6) (MG) (family, 1940’s, humor)
A
Short History of the Girl Next Door by Jared Reck
(/)
(UG) (best friends, grief)
A
Whole Nother Story by Cuthbert Soup (series)
(5.6/5.9/6.3) (MG-)
(family, humor, time travel)
(3.8)
(MG+) (post-apocalyptic, family, mystery, survival, coming of age)
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko (series)
(3.5/3.8/3.7)
(MG-) (1930’s, Alcatraz, family, Autism)
Alligator
Bayou
by Donna Jo Napoli
(3.1)
(MG+) (1800’s, Sicilian immigrants, Jim Crow laws, racial prejudice)
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake (series)
(4.6/4.4)
(UG) (horror, ghosts, ghost hunters, love)
Ashfall by Mike Mullin (series)
(5.0/4.7/5.5)
(UG) (volcanic winter, survival, friendship, family relationships, coming of
age)
Ask the Dark by Henry Turner
(4.9)
(UG) (kidnapping, mystery, juvenile delinquents)
Beating
Heart by A. M. Jenkins
(4.6)
(UG) (ghosts, mystery, relationships)
Being
Henry David by Cal Armistead
(5.0)
(MG+) (amnesia, homelessness, friendship)
Beneath by Roland Smith
(4.3)
(MG) (brothers, mystery, cults, transients)
Beyond the Deepwoods by Paul Stewart (series) *
(4.9/5.4/5.1/5.4/5.7/6.3/6.4/7.2/7.3/7.7) (MG)
(orphans, action/adventure, mystery)
Blackout by
Robison Wells (series)
(5.2/5.1) (UG) (teenagers, paranormal abilities, terrorism)
Bone
Gap by Laura Ruby
(4.9)
(UG) (mystery, supernatural, abductions, family relationships)
Bonechiller by Graham McNamee
(3.8)
(UG) (family, friendship, ancient predator)
Boy Nobody / I Am the Weapon by Allen Zadoff (series)
(3.6/4.6/4.3)
(UG) (assassins, action/adventure, thrillers/suspense)
Breaking
Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin
(4.6)
(MG-) (Communism, Stalin-era Russia, family)
Breath
by Donna Jo Napoli
(4.2)
(UG) (Pied Piper of Hamlin)
Brotherhood by A.B.
Westrick
(4.7)
(MG) (Reconstruction, KKK, family)
Bruiser
by Neal Shusterman *
(5.5)
(UG) (family, friendship, child abuse, unexplained phenomenon, romance)
Bud,
Not Buddy
by Christopher Paul Curtis
(5.0)
(MG) (orphans, Great Depression, racial injustice, adventure)
Bull
Run
by Paul Fleishman
(5.3)
(UG) (Civil War)
Canned by Alex Shearer
(4.2)
(MG) (friendship, mystery, kidnapping, humor)
Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman
(5.5)
(UG) (mental illness)
(4.1)
(UG) (family secrets, ptsd, mental illness, survival, friendship)
Chicken
Boy
by Frances O’Roark Dowell
(5.1)
(MG) (friendship, family relationships)
Crash
and Burn by Michael Hassan
(6.3) (UG) (ADHD, psychosis, school shooters)
Crispin:
the Cross of Lead
by Avi (series)
(5.0/4.8/4.8)
(MG) (Middle Ages, secrets, adventure)
Dark
Water Rising
by Marion Hale
(5.9)
(MG) (1800’s, Galveston, floods, family, racial discrimination)
Deacon Locke Went to Prom by Brian Katcher
(/)
(MG+) (grandmothers, friendship, growing up)
Dead
Connection by Charlie Price
(4.7)
(MG) (clairvoyance, ghosts, murder mystery)
Dead Ends by Erin Jade Lange
(4.6)
(UG) (Down Syndrome, friendship, delinquents, fathers & sons, mystery,
abuse)
Death
by Eggplant by Susan Heyboer O’Keefe
(4.3)
(MG) (middle school, family)
Deathwatch by Ari Berk
(series)
(6.3) (UG) (family,
secrets, ghosts)
(3.6)
(MG) (World War II, students and teachers)
(4.5) (UG) (murder, family, abuse,
romance, doppelgangers)
(6.1) (MG+) (1800’s,
magic, secrets, friendship, coming of age)
Dull Boy by Sarah Cross
(5.1)
(MG+) (special abilities, friendship, good vs evil)
Eleven by Patricia
Reilly Giff
(4.1)
(MG) (orphans, family, friendship, secrets, learning disabilities, boys)
Elijah
of Buxton
by Christopher Paul Curtis
(5.4)
(MG-) (1800’s, escaped slaves)
Emil
and Karl
by Yankev Glatshteyn
(4.7)
(MG) (Jews, Nazi occupation, friendship)
Epitaph
Road
by David Patneaude
(4.9)
(UG) (dystopian future, pandemic, dystopian, male suppression)
Escape
Across the Wide Sea by Katherine Kirkpatrick
(4.5)
(MG) (religious persecution, colonial America, slavery)
(5.6/5.9/6.4) (MG)
(ghosts, friendship, alternate dimension)
Fell of Dark by Patrick Downes
(/)
(UG) (parent/child relationships, giftedness, mental illness, abuse)
Finest
Kind
by Lea Wait
(4.5)
(MG) (1800’s, Maine, family, disabilities, boys)
Flip by Martyn Bedford
(5.3) (MG+) (altered identity/
paranormal happenings)
Fox Forever by Mary E. Pearson (3rd book in Jenna Fox series)
(4.8) (MG+) (bio-engineering, ethics, action/adventure, secrets, romance)
Freak Magnet by Andrew Auseon
(5.0)
(UG) (romance, friendship, family relationships)
Freak
the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick
(5.5)
(MG) (friendship, learning disabilities, death, physical handicaps)
Following
Fake Man
by Barbara Ware Holmes
(3.7)
(MG) (family secrets, mystery, friendship)
Gentlemen
by Michael Northrop
(5.4)
(UG) (murder, friendship, teachers and students)
Going Underground by Susan Vaught
(5.2) (UG) (life-altering events,
friendship, probation)
Golden Boy by Tara Sullivan
(5.1) (MG+) (Africa, albinos, survival,
family, friendship, coming of age)
(4.5/4.5/4.6)
(UG) (witches, friendship, fathers & sons, persecution, coming of age, *)
Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel
(4.4)
(MG) (family dynamics, psychology experiments)
He
Will Go Fearless
by Lori Lawlor
(4.9)
(MG) (1800’s, westward movement, cattle drives)
Hell and High Water by Tanya Landman
(/) (MG+)
(family secrets, indentured servants, 1700’s, murder mystery)
Here
Lies Linc
by Delia Ray
(5.2)
(MG) (family, friendship, mystery, cemeteries, secrets)
(4.6)
(MG) (juvenile correctional facilities, mystery, friendship)
How
I Found the Strong by Margaret McMullan *
(4.9)
(MG+) (Civil War, slavery, family, coming of age)
I
Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells
(6.0)
(UG) (serial killers, obsessions, paranormal/supernatural)
I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore (series)
(4.4/5.3/4.8/4.9/5.7/5.3) (MG+) (aliens, secret powers, survival,
adventure)
I
Am the Messenger
by Markus
Zusak
(3.9)
(UG) (friendship, family, mystery)
I
Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga (series)
(5.2/4.9/5.4)
(UG) (serial killers, fathers & sons, family, friendship)
If
We Survive by Andrew Klavan
(5.0)
(MG+) (survival, revolutions, Central America)
In
Darkness by Nick Lake
(5.6)
(UG) (Haiti, slave rebellion, voodoo, gang violence, poverty, family)
In
the Hall of the Dragon King by Stephen Lawhead (series)
(6.6/5.5/7.3)
(MG) (knights, magic, quests, adventure)
In
the Path of Falling Objects by Andrew Smith
(4.9)
(UG) (brothers, psychopaths, survival)
Insanity by Susan Vaught
(5.3)
(MG+) (asylums, hauntings, supernatural abilities)
(/) (MG+)
(brothers, twins, ghosts, WWI, family relationships)
Invisibility
by Andrea Cremer
(4.2)
(MG+) (paranormal abilities/magic, family secrets, romance)
Iron
Thunder
by Avi
(4.3)
(MG) (Civil War, spies, Ironclad)
Jake’s
Orphan by Peggy Brooke
(5.4)
(MG) (orphans, family, 1920’s, farm life, boys)
(3.9)
(UG) (family, murder, mystery, family secrets, stereotypes, coming of age)
Kill
Switch by Chris Lynch
(4.3)
(UG) (grandfathers, secrets, dementia, action/thriller)
King of Ithaka by Tracy Barrett
(5.5) (MG+) (ancient Greece, son of Odysseus, adventure, coming of
age)
Lizzie
Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary Schmidt
(5.9)
(MG) (early 1900’s, racial discrimination, friendship)
Mark of the Thief by Jennifer Nielsen (series)
(4.6) (MG) (Roman Empire, magic, slavery, friendship)
Me,
the Missing, and the Dead by Jenny Valentine
(5.7)
(UG) (ghosts, fathers & sons, missing persons)
Milkweed
by Jerry Spinelli
(3.6)
(MG) (World War II, Jews, ghettos)
Miss
Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
(5.7)
(MG) (orphans, paranormal abilities)
Mojo by Tim Tharp
(5.3)
(UG) (mystery, missing persons)
Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne (series)
(4.0/4.0/4.0)
(UG) (post-apocalyptic, survival)
Munmun by Jesse
Andrews
(6.6)
(UG) (allegory, family relationships, social classes, money)
(5.0)
(MG+) (slavery, family, Civil War)
My
Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
(5.2)
(MG-) (nature survival, coming of age)
My
Sword-hand is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick
(4.9)
(UG) (1600’s, Eastern Europe, family, nosferatu, secrets)
Night
Road by A. M. Jenkins
(4.9)
(UG) (vampires, friendship, self-reflection)
Noggin by John Corey Whaley
(4.5)
(UG) (death, transplants, family relationships, humor)
Nothing
to Lose by Alex Flinn
(3.5)
(UG) (domestic abuse, family, murder, friendship)
Of
Sound Mind by Jean Ferris
(5.1)
(MG+) (family, deafness)
Okay
for Now by Gary D. Schmidt
(4.9)
(MG) (family relationships, abuse, friendship)
On
the Wings of Heroes by Richard Peck
(4.6)
(MG) (family, WWII)
Paper
Covers Rock by Jenny Hubbard
(5.7)
(UG) (teenage boys, boarding school, relationships, secrets, death)
Perfectly Good White Boy by Carrie Mesrobian
(4.8) (UG) (relationships, life
choices)
Period
8 by Chris Crutcher
(4.2)
(UG) (friendship, deception, murder)
Phantoms
in the Snow
by Kathleen Benner Duble
(4.7)
(MG) (WWII, family, army, coming of age)
Railsea by China Mieville
(/) (MG)
(steam-punk, Moby Dick, mystery)
Repossessed
by A. M. Jenkins
(4.8)
(UG) (demon possession, humor)
Restless by Rich Wallace
(4.4)
(UG) (ghosts, brothers)
Revolution
19
by Gregg Rosenblum (series)
(5.0/5.3)
(MG+) (dystopian, family, robots)
Revolver by Marcus
Sedgwick
(5.2)
(MG+) (early 1900’s, Arctic, gold rush, family)
Rikers High by Paul Volponi
(5.3)
(UG) (juvenile offenders, prison life)
Ripper
by Stefan Petrucha
(5.0)
(MG+) (detectives, Jack the Ripper, Victorian era, orphans, mystery)
Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry (series)
(5.0) (MG+) (zombies, brothers,
action/adventure)
(5.7)
(UG) (grave robbers, rivalry, fathers & sons)
Rump:
The True Story of Rumplestiltskin by Leisl Shurtliff *
(4.4)
(MG-) (Rumplestiltskin, friendship, orphans, identity)
Runner by Carl Deuker
(4.3)
(MG+) (family, veterans, terrorism, drug smuggling)
Runner by Robert
Newton
(4.5)
(UG) (family, poverty, coming of age, early 1900’s Australia)
(4.3)
(MG+) (poverty, bullies, students & teachers, humor)
Scrib:
A Novel
by David Ives
(5.4)
(MG+) (Wild West, humor)
Sea
Legs
by Alex Shearer
(4.8)
(MG) (brothers, pirates, humor, adventure)
Seaward
Born
by Lea Wait
(4.5)
(MG) (1800’s, slavery, Maine, friendship)
Shipbreaker by Paolo
Bacigalupi (series)
(4.4/4.6/5.2)
(UG) (adventure, loyalty, abuse, poverty, post-apocalyptic)
(5.4) (MG) (superhero sidekicks, paranormal abilities,
friendship)
Silver by Chris
Wooding
(5.2)
(MG+) (epidemics, survival, boarding schools)
Six Days by Philip Webb
(4.7) (MG) (steam-punk, mystery,
friendship, space travel)
Slam
by Nick Hornby
(4.4)
(UG) (teen pregnancy)
Smith by Leon
Garfield
(6.1) (MG) (1700’s, pickpockets, murder, mystery,
Dickens)
Stones
in Water
by Donna Jo Napoli (series)
(4.2/4.2)
(MG) (WWII, Italy, friendship)
Straw
into Gold
by Gary Schmidt
(5.9)
(MG) (Rumplestiltskin retelling, mystery)
Taken by Erin Bowman
(series)
(5.1/4.9)
(UG) (dystopian, family, love, mystery, revolution)
Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz
(4.1)
(UG) (family, terminal diseases, friendship, abuse, supernatural, mystery, *)
Tell the Story to It's End by Simon P. Clark
(3.7)
(MG+) (family secrets, ancient creatures)
The
Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
by Sherman Alexie
(4.0)
(UG) (Native Americans, family, friendship, high school)
The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group by Catherine Jinks
(4.3) (MG+) (Werewolves, humor, action/adventure)
The
Alex Crow by Andrew Smith
(6.0) (UG)
(mental illness, refugee camps, abuse, adoption, secret gov’t programs)
The Becoming of Noah Shaw by Michelle Hodkin
(/)
(UG) (Mara Dyer series, paranormal abilities, mystery, death, romance)
The Bitter Side of Sweet by Tara Sullivan
(5.1)
(MG+) (Africa, child slave labor, brothers)
The
Black Book of Secrets by F. E. Higgins
(5.9)
(MG-) (secrets, orphans, Dickens)
The
Book of Dead Days
by Marcus Sedgwick
(4.7)
(MG+) (friendship, mystery, magic)
The
Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne *
(5.8)
(UG) (friendship WWII, concentration camps)
The
Cardturner by Louis Sachar
(5.0)
(MG) (poker, friendship, fmily relationships, physical disabilities)
The
Compound by S. A. Bodeen
(4.1)
(MG+) (family, nuclear war, mental psychosis)
The
Counterfeit Family Tree of V. Crawford Wong
by L. Tam Holland
(5.2)
(UG) (family secrets, friendship, immigrants)
The
Crossroads
by Chris Grabenstein (series)
(3.7/4.0)
(MG) (ghosts, mystery, family relationships)
The
Dark Flight Down
by Marcus Sedgwick
(4.9)
(MG+) (1500’s, friendship, mystery)
The
Dark Horse
by Marcus Sedgwick
(4.3)
(UG) (family, iron age, invasion)
The Diary of Pelly D. by L. J. Adlington
(5.2)
(MG+) (space colonization, holocaust)
The
Downsiders
by Neal Shusterman *
(7.2)
(MG) (friendship, hidden society)
The Edge of Everything by Jeff Giles
(5.3)
(UG) (romance, thrillers/suspense, family relationships, caving)
The
Eleventh Plague
by Jeff Hirsch
(5.0)
(MG+) (post-pandemic, dystopian)
The
Emerald Atlas
by John Stephens (series) *
(4.9/5.2/5.9)
(MG-) (orphans, siblings, magic, mystery, adventure, time travel)
(5.1/5.0/5.6)
(MG-) (orphans, royalty, mystery, palace intrigue, adventure)
The
Fighting Ground
by Avi
(4.2)
(MG) (Revolutionary War, coming of age)
(4.2)
(MG+) (bio-engineering, ethics, action/adventure, secrets)
The
Great and Terrible Quest by Margaret Lovett *
(/)
(MG-) (Middle Ages, knights, quests, mystery, adventure)
The
Great Blue Yonder
by Alex Shearer
(5.1)
(MG) (death, ghosts, humor)
The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding
(7.1) (UG) (mystery, murder, hauntings, evil, Victorian era)
The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda (series)
(5.2/4.8/5.3) (UG) (‘vampires’, secrets, survival)
The
King of Mulberry Street by Donna Jo Napoli
(3.6)
(MG) (1800’s, Italian immigrants, New York, Ellis Island)
The
Last Book in the Universe by Rodman Philbrick
(5.0)
(MG+) (dystopian future)
The
Mailbox by Audrey Shafer
(5.0)
(MG) (orphans, death, Vietnam War)
The
Marbury Lens
by Andrew Smith (series)
(4.4/4.5)
(UG) (alternate realities, survival, friendship)
The
Maze Runner
by James Dashner series)
(5.3/5.0/5.3)
(MG+) (mystery, confinement, dystopian, survival)
The
Monster Variations by Daniel Kraus
(6.6) (UG) (family, friendship, murder)
The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
(7.0)
(relationships, monsters, obsessions, Gothic)
The
Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick
(5.6)
(MG+) (Civil War, slavery, brothers, adventure)
The
Neddiad
by Daniel Pinkwater
(5.1)
(MG-) (family, adventures, mystery, humor)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
(5.3)
(UG) (good vs evil, magic, friendship, ‘uncanny’)
The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
(5.2) (UG) (Changelings, family, friendship)
(4.3) (UG) (family, child abuse,
survival)
The
Search for Delicious by Natalie Babbitt
(5.4)
(MG-) (Middle Ages, mystery)
The
Silver Spoon of Solomon Snow by Kaye Umansky (series)
(4.0) (MG-) (adventure, friendship, orphans,
Dickens)
The Stone Child by Dan Poblocki
(5.2)
(MG) (supernatural creatures, friendship, magic)
The
Storm Before Atlanta by Karen Schwabach
(4.8)
(MG) (Civil War, interracial friendship)
The
Teacher’s Funeral
by Richard Peck
(4.7)
(MG) (brothers & sisters, humor, early 1900’s, school)
The
Thief Lord
by Cornelia Funke
(4.8)
(MG) (Italy, orphans, magic, mystery)
The
Things a Brother Knows by Dana Reinhardt
(4.0)
(UG) (brothers, Vietnam War)
The Trap by John Smelcer
(6.2) ( MG+) (family, Alaska, Athabascan
Indians, wilderness survival)
The Twelve-Fingered Boy by John Horner Jacobs
(4.1)
(MG+) (juvenile delinquents, superpowers, friendship, survival)
(5.8)
(MG) (1700’s, highwaymen, England)
The Unfortunate Son by Constance Leeds
(4.6) (MG) (middle ages,
kidnapping/slavery, family secrets)
The
Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis
(5.0)
(MG-) (family, civil rights era, humor)
The
Whipping Boy
by Sid Fleischman
(3.9)
(MG) (princes, runaways, action/adventure)
The
Young Man and the Sea by Rodman Philbrick
(4.5)
(MG) (fathers & sons, grief, alcoholism, bullying)
The Young World by Chris Weitz
(4.8) (UG) (post-pandemic, survival
)
Thin Space by Jody Casella
(4.0)
(UG) (twins, brothers, grief, mystery/secrets, supernatural)
Thin
Wood Walls
by David Patneaude
(4.3)
(MG) (family, death, WWII, Japanese interment)
Thirteen Days to Midnight by Patrick Carman *
(5.0) (MG+) (immortality, death, mystery, orphans, friendship)
This
Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel (series)
(4.9/5.0)
(UG) (Frankenstein, 1700’s, twins, romance, mystery, Gothic)
(/)
(MG+) (steampunk, Frankenstein, brothers, 1800’s)
This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab (series)
(5.4)
(MG+) (monsters, identity, family relationships)
Touched
by Cyn Balog *
(MG+)
(butterfly effect, spells)
Trapped
by Michael Northrop
(4.3)
(UG) (high school, blizzards, survival)
Trash by Andy
Mulligan
(5.1)
(MG) (friendship, poverty, mystery)
Trouble
by Gary D. Schmidt *
(5.7)
(UG) (family, secrets, racial intolerance, refugees, death)
Under
the Sun by Arthur Dorros
(5.3)
(UG) (Bosnian War, survival, family)
(5.0/5.8/5.7/6.3) (MG+)
(dystopian, family relationships, friendship, survival)
V is for Villain by Peter Moore
(4.8) (MG+) (special abilities, heroes & villains, family,
friendship, secrets)
(5.2)
(MG+) (Renaissance England, royalty, family relationships)
Vicious
by Victoria Schwab
(/)
(UG) (heroes & villians, special abilities, friendship, betrayal)
Voss by David Ives
(4.0) (MG) (humor, immigrants,
family, conspiracies)
War
Games
by Audrey Couloumbis
(4.6)
(MG) (WWII, Greece, family)
What
Came from the Stars by Gary D. Schmidt
(5.5)
(MG+) (aliens, middle school, family)
When
Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis
Holt
(4.5)
(MG) (friendship, Vietnam War, obesity, boys)
Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
(5.7) (UG) (brothers, friendships,
missing persons)
Wintering
Well
by Lea Wait
(4.9)
(MG-) (family, disabilities, 1800’s, boys)
(4.5) (MG-) (family,
orphans, 1800’s, farm life, friendship, boys)Note: Lists are arranged with Title, Author, Reading Level, Age Appropriate Level, and Descriptive Tags.
(Age appropriate level denotes the youngest readers that the book is appropriate for. That doesn't mean that older readers will not enjoy the book!)
* = books that I thought were GREAT
UG = upper grades (contain sex, drugs, and/or very graphic violence; deal with mature subject matter such as rape, prostitution, child abuse, etc. )
MG+ = junior high (may contain some profanity or sexual references; may deal with subject matter too mature for younger audiences)
MG = 4th through 6th grades (nothing inappropriate for children, but may not keep the interest of younger readers)
MG- = all ages (perfect for bedtime stories or read-alouds, or for precocious readers in the lower grades)
* = LGBTQ themes - characters, situations, or references to same-sex couples
Books included in this list are all ones that I have read myself and given a rating of at least 3 out of 5 Stars (why would I recommend anything less?) When a book is part of a series, only the first title is listed, but the reading level for all books in the series is shown. Lists will be updated periodically as I read new books.
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