Abigail (don’t call her “Abby”) is so excited about starting sixth grade, she has to make lists just to calm herself down. She’s ready to rule the school with best friends Alli and Cami and their wicked pom pom choreography when disaster strikes three times over: Abigail ends up in a different homeroom than her friends; she doesn’t make the pom squad; and her homeroom teacher pairs her with wildly unpopular Gabby Marco for a year-long letter writing assignment. Always, Abigail is a story of friendship found in unexpected places, and the cost of kindness versus popularity.

Author Nancy Cavanaugh (This Journal Belongs to Ratchet) tells much of the story through lists, which capture Abigail's essential goodness along with the ways she fails Gabby as a friend. As she realizes her elite clique of friends aren’t such nice people, she lists “Something I Was Starting To Be Thankful For: That AlliCam weren’t in my homeroom.” When she finally overcomes her fear of unpopularity by proxy and sticks up for Gabby, it’s a personal victory and a blow to the bullying impulse.

The story is never preachy. Readers who empathize with Abigail’s desire to do the right thing while holding onto her privileged status can see for themselves the consequences of failing. For kids on the cusp of young adulthood and ready to advance as quickly as possible, Always, Abigail makes a compelling case for being kind and enjoying a little more of childhood while it lasts.

Heather Seggel reads too much and writes all about it in Northern California.

Kimberley Griffiths Little’s new book brings all the eeriness of the Louisiana bayou into an engaging story about a girl, her family and the secrets of the past.

Preteen Larissa Renaud didn’t exactly want to travel through time, but she does want to find out who the strange caller is on the disconnected phone in her family’s antique store. The caller can’t tell Larissa more than that she needs to “follow the fireflies.” When Larissa does, she finds herself observing a scene from the 1800s and learning more about her family history than her mother ever told her. As she starts to put all the pieces of the past together, the pieces of the present start to fall apart.

Full of adventure, The Time of the Fireflies takes Larissa on a wild ride with just enough—but not too much—scariness for a younger reader. Little’s prose is accessible and lyrical, making her new book an enjoyable read.

Jennifer Bruer Kitchel is the librarian for a Pre-K through eighth level Catholic school.

This article was originally published in the August 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

In 12-year-old Mysti Murphy’s imagination, she wears a beret and rides a bicycle by the Eiffel Tower. In the real world, she’s counting cans of dog food and rolls of toilet paper to help her family “hold on” until her dad comes home from the hospital. Mysti also keeps a secret: Her mother never leaves the house. To make matters worse, Mysti’s best friend, Anibal, has abandoned her to join the hipster crowd.

Anyone who attended junior high will find familiarity in author Karen Harrington’s depictions of bouncing cheerleaders and kids who are your best friend one day and consider you chopped liver the next. All the young characters struggle with self-determination and are stuck navigating day-to-day obstacles largely by themselves. Like Mysti, they aren’t getting much help from the adults in their lives.

Much of Courage for Beginners rings true. Mysti’s mother, crippled by agoraphobia, can’t shelter her daughter from the changes and challenges that life will invariably throw her way. Mysti learns that courage can begin by taking just a few steps outside her own door.

Billie B. Little is the Founding Director of Discovery Center at Murfree Spring, a hands-on museum in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

This article was originally published in the August 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

When antimatter combines with matter, it creates an explosion of energy. That’s an accurate formula for what Jon Scieszka has created with this excellent first book in his new middle grade series.

Incorporating Isaac Asimov’s Three Rules of Robotics, Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity and a bevy of scientific principles, Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor presents science in a subtle but hilarious way. Kid genius Frank Einstein toils away with piles of junk, hoping to create artificial intelligence robots. Not long after, Frank, his sidekick Watson and the goofball robots Klink and Klank are working together to create an antimatter motor for the science fair. But what’s a good tween read without a villain? Soon their mission is foiled by nefarious classmate T. Edison.

Brian Biggs’ cartoon-tastic two-color illustrations add the perfect punch to the “diary” look so many young readers have come to embrace. Scieszka clearly knows his audience and plays right into their hands, as this series promises entertainment but supports it with real science. There are plenty of explosions and experiments to inspire reluctant readers to don the lab coats and start inventing!

This article was originally published in the August 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Also in BookPage: Scieszka and Biggs choose their favorite scenes from Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor.

According to author Jessica Lawson, Tom Sawyer was a tattletale and Becky Thatcher was the real rascal getting into all sorts of trouble in St. Petersburg, Missouri. That’s the inventive premise of this gem of a chapter book that stirs up all of the ingredients of the American classic to create a thoughtful, energetic new debut novel.

Lawson’s Becky is a tomboy who’s new to town. Her family is mourning the loss of Becky’s beloved older brother Jon―so much so that Becky’s mother has completely withdrawn. Meanwhile, Becky’s father, Judge Thatcher, is alarmed about a pair of outlaws on the loose.

A writer named Sam Clemens happens to be stuck in town due to a grounded steamboat. Becky befriends this “story man,” who carefully takes notes on Becky’s exploits and ideas (rafting down the river, the nickname Huckleberry, going to your own funeral and more).

Becky falls into a mess of trouble when she takes on a bet to try to steal something from inside the home of the Widow Douglas, reported to be a witch. There’s no end of excitement as Becky finds a new best friend, gets involved with grave robbers, uncovers stolen treasure and gets trapped in a cave with the outlaws.

Lawson borrows many elements from the original Tom Sawyer tale, but wisely, Becky is the star of this show, while Tom is an important but peripheral character who is “too scared to have his own adventures.”

Don’t worry, the story man assures Becky. “The name of Tom Sawyer might have some adventures in it yet.”

Young readers will race through this adventure, while teachers and adults will delight in its gold mine of creative parallels.

When Jade gets caught making up school reports about her summer vacations, her parents send her to have a real summer adventure in Wyoming with her aunt. From stargazing on the roof to meeting a boy who claims to be related to Butch Cassidy, Jade’s world starts rapidly expanding. Skies Like These isn’t all sunny weather, but even the storms make for great slumber parties.

Jade has a lot of eccentricity to cope with, and the story feels a bit overstuffed at times—with a kennel full of dogs, a planned art heist, cowboy poetry contest, wild neighbors and Aunt Elise expanding her rooftop parties to include astronomy classes—but it’s sweet to see Jade making new friends both young and old and finding her own way.

This story would be ideal for a youngster traveling for the first time, as it’s ultimately about finding contentment wherever you are and making the best of what you find there. Aunt Elise moved to Wyoming to find a sense of peace but left family ties behind; her time with Jade lets her renew that connection. Skies Like These is a jumble, but a warm and friendly one.

This article was originally published in the July 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Sam Angus, author of the World War I historical novel Soldier Dog, takes readers to World War II-era Great Britain in her new novel. Like other children, Wolfie and his older sister Dodie have been sent by their caretaker to the countryside to protect them from London bombing raids. Their beloved Pa has returned safely from the war, but their joy is short-lived, as Pa is being held and tried for cowardice.

While Pa tries desperately to prove his innocence, the shadow of suspicion follows the children to the countryside. They are turned out of their first home, but not before Wolfie finds an abandoned foal he fights to keep alive. Hero becomes the light of the young boy’s life, and when Hero and other ponies mysteriously disappear, Wolfie is determined to find his horse again.

Angus intertwines Wofie and Dodie’s story with actual events from World War II, as well as facts about the Exmoor pony, one of Britain’s native breeds that was often used as pit ponies in mines. Fans of War Horse will enjoy this heartfelt coming-of-age story.

This article was originally published in the July 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

What happens when a group of middle school geniuses trains for months to win a special contest at a Disney World-style Florida theme park called Incredo Land? That’s the premise of Bringing Down the Mouse, a page-turning caper whose hero is sixth-grader Charlie Lewis, known as “Numbers,” the nerdy son of an MIT professor dad and a mom with two Ph.D.s.

Charlie’s life is usually uneventful, until one day when two seventh-graders invite him to join the Carnival Killers, a group led by college student Miranda. Sworn to secrecy, they covertly hone their skills at mastering several seemingly impossible games in the hopes of earning a chance at spinning Incredo Land’s Wheel of Wonder and winning eight lifetime passes to the park. As one of the seventh-graders explains, “It’s not a trick. It’s math, chemistry, and a little physics.” Charlie is eager to use his knowledge to calculate exactly where the wheel will land until he realizes that Miranda isn’t who she says she is at all.

Author Ben Mezrich is best known for his adult nonfiction, the true stories of young geniuses toeing the ethical line for the sake of a big payoff—such as in Bringing Down the House (about MIT students playing blackjack in Vegas) and The Accidental Billionaires. With Bringing Down the Mouse, Mezrich has brought this theme to middle school fiction, and the result is a clever, breathtaking escapade with a likable cast.

This article was originally published in the July 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

BookPage Children's Top Pick, July 2014

S.E. Grove’s debut novel is set in 1890s Boston, a place that anyone who has read history or historical fiction set in that era will recognize—or will they? This world shares geography with our own, but thanks to the Great Disruption, which happened almost a century earlier, the Earth’s regions became unmoored from time. Although New Occident (where Boston is located) lies firmly in the 19th century, other countries are in the Dark Ages, prehistory or even the future.

This fluidity of time means that cartologers, like Sophia’s uncle Shadrack, must make maps that depict not only place but also time. Like Sophia’s long-absent parents, Shadrack is an explorer. Just when he is beginning to show Sophia the mysteries of maps and mapmaking, he is kidnapped, leaving Sophia with a cryptic message—and an even more mysterious glass map. Now, Sophia and her new friend, Theo, must travel south to the Baldlands, where they find themselves threatened by shifting time boundaries and constantly pursued by others who want the map.

The Glass Sentence is the first book in the Mapmakers Trilogy, and it’s a great start. The narrative, which alternates between Sophia’s and Shadrack’s perspectives, is action-packed; the world that Grove has created is rich and interesting; and the characters are complex and endearing. It’s hard to say which part is more compelling—Sophia’s world travels or her internal journey, as she figures out who she can trust and how to trust herself.

This article was originally published in the July 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Author James Howe, known for Bunnicula and countless other children’s books, tackles the angst of teen life in his Misfits series. Also Known as Elvis, the fourth and final installment, gives voice to 13-year-old Skeezie Tookis, the odd one out who has to work and babysit his cantankerous sisters all summer while his four best friends relax on vacation.

We meet Skeezie, always in his dad’s leather jacket, at the Candy Kitchen with his best buds. The "gang of five" survived seventh grade, but Skeezie wonders if he’ll make it through this summer. He became the man in the family when his deadbeat dad left, and now his mom needs him to step up and earn some cash. Luckily, he nabs a job at a favorite hangout.

A job won’t fix everything. His home life is rocky. When Becca, one of the popular girls, likes him, friend Addie texts him to be careful. His father shows up at the soda shop wearing a tie and paying the kids’ tabs, and Skeezie doesn’t know what to think. His discomfort intensifies when his dad makes him an offer he can’t refuse.

The story—told from the dual vantage points of teen Skeezie as he confronts life-altering choices, and adult, happily married Skeezie as he looks back—is reassuring. We know he’ll turn out OK.

The informal language, relatable experiences and insightful narrative will hit home with young readers, as will the camaraderie of friends whose quirky personalities are the backbone of the story.

Billie B. Little is the Founding Director of Discovery Center at Murfree Spring, a hands-on museum in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

From the title of Jonathan Auxier’s fascinating, original (and more than a little creepy) version of a Victorian ghost story, one might suppose that The Night Gardener is, like The Secret Garden, a sweet, perhaps a bit sentimental, coming-of-age story. And while the novel does share some elements with the classic tale, including orphans (Molly and her little brother Kip); a creepy mansion; spoiled children (Penny and Alistair Windsor); and somewhat magical growing things, The Night Gardener is decidedly darker—in the most delicious and delightful way.

When Irish orphans Molly and Kip arrive to work at the Windsor estate, they find a family out of sorts, a father in financial trouble, curious muddy footprints and, of course, a mysterious room at the heart of the house. As Molly and Kip seek to free the Windsors and themselves from the malevolent presence that stalks the family, they find unexpected sources of courage and allies, including an old storyteller.

This is exactly the sort of scary, spooky story kids love.

Deborah Hopkinson lives near Portland, Oregon. Her most recent book for young readers is The Great Trouble.

This article was originally published in the June 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

It is true that Lisa Graff’s latest book, Absolutely Almost, brings to mind someone else’s work, but not because Graff is in any way imitative—she’s far too brilliant to sound like someone else. Lately the patrons of my school library have been asking, “Do you have any books like Wonder by R.J. Palacio?” and now I have the perfect offering. Like Wonder, Absolutely Almost is the story of a boy struggling to fit in. Unlike Auggie, however, Graff’s protagonist Albie doesn’t have any noticeable problems; he just cannot succeed at school. Reading is hard. Math is impossible. So much so, in fact, that he can no longer attend private school. His busy parents are not happy. Albie, who now has to adjust to fifth grade in public school, is definitely not happy. A reader might hope for a magic answer: Does Albie have a learning disorder? Will the new nanny fix everything? Something will make it all better, right? Maybe. At the end of Wonder, Auggie was still Auggie—a kid with problems, both ordinary and extraordinary. Albie is also just a kid trying to find his way.

Graff has an uncanny ability to sound exactly like a 10-year-old boy, which allows the reader to feel the “almost” that Albie confronts every day. Graff almost won the National Book Award for A Tangle of Knots; here’s hoping she gets a big award soon. Like Albie, she deserves it.

Jennifer Bruer Kitchel is the librarian for a Pre-K through eighth level Catholic school.

This article was originally published in the June 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

BookPage Children's Top Pick, June 2014

Following Countdown, Deborah Wiles’ tale about the Cuban Missile Crisis and the first book in her Sixties Trilogy, Revolution spotlights the Freedom Summer of 1964. During this volatile time, black and white volunteers from four major civil rights organizations joined efforts to register as many African-American voters as possible in Mississippi, at the time one of the country’s most racist and dangerous states. These “invaders” have been strategizing for months, but for 12-year-old Sunny Fairchild, it all begins the night she and her new stepbrother sneak into their Greenwood, Mississippi, whites-only swimming pool. They’re not expecting company, especially not Raymond, the “colored boy” with high-tops.

At first Sunny doesn’t understand the uproar when she hears about integration, civil rights and voting registration. Don’t blacks have their own churches, restaurants and schools? She witnesses white students and black citizens being berated and jailed for even attempting to register to vote. When the hatred turns violent and affects her own family, Sunny realizes that doing what’s right often means taking risks.

Readers get the true flavor of this tumultuous and groundbreaking summer as Sunny catches the latest Hayley Mills movie and her parents listen to Walter Cronkite report on the escalating war in Vietnam. But what sets this book apart from other historical fiction is the wealth of photographs, quotes, profiles and song lyrics on topics that range from President Johnson and the three murdered Freedom Riders to Willie Mays and Cassius Clay, better known as Muhammad Ali. For today’s children, these events will be just as much of an awakening to equality as they are to Sunny.

This article was originally published in the June 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read a Q&A with Deborah Wiles about Revolution.