Separating fact from fantasy is no small order in The Riverman, Aaron Starmer’s first installment in a planned trilogy. And discerning what is real is a challenge for the reader as well as for 12-year-old Alistair Cleary, the well-meaning protagonist of this dark and multilayered novel set in a small town in the 1980s.

Odd girl-next-door Fiona Loomis has a proposal for Alistair: listen to her ramblings and write down her story. Sounds innocent enough, but Alistair soon learns that Fiona’s story is far from typical or even believable. She weaves a tale of traveling the magical, unknown world of Aquavania (via a portal in her basement). There, she creates her own reality and meets unusual characters along the way who tell her about the nefarious Riverman, who allegedly steals children’s souls.

In Fiona’s stories, time shifts; children disappear; and she struggles to live both in Aquavania and in what she calls the Solid World. But as confused and concerned as Alistair is, he finds himself strangely drawn to Fiona and begins to wonder if her stories are a cover for something dangerous or abusive happening in her family.

This tale of alternate realities may be a tad tough to follow (and a bit mature) for younger readers, but older preteens and teens will find this contemporary twisted and tumbled take on Through the Looking-Glass (with a few similarities to Tony DiTerlizzi’s WondLa trilogy) to be a compelling mystery. Alternate worlds may be the next dystopias, and Starmer is the one to pull it off.

Sharon Verbeten is a freelance writer and children’s librarian in De Pere, Wisconsin.

Lantern Sam is a rare male calico cat who lives aboard a train called the Lake Erie Shoreliner (New York to Chicago in under 20 hours!) in the 1940s. Ostensibly in the care of conductor Clarence Nockwood, Sam is an intelligent and independent cat who has the ability to share his thoughts with some humans. Clarence is one of them, but when 10-year-old Henry Shipley comes aboard, Sam finds he can “talk” to him, too.

It’s just as well, because when Henry’s new friend Ellis Strasbourg is kidnapped on the train, he’s going to need Sam’s help to rescue her. Together, Sam and Henry will have to figure out many clues and outwit the kidnappers before it’s too late.

As author of the Red Blazer Girls series, Michael D. Beil is no stranger to middle grade mysteries. His prose is readily accessible, and the danger is mild but bound to be exciting to most third- and fourth-grade students. The story unfolds in alternating chapters between the first-person voices of Henry and Sam. This format is initially confusing, but Beil does a wonderful job of establishing their separate personalities, and the swap soon becomes fluid and easy. Plus, Sam’s chapters are a countdown of his nine lives, which makes the reader wonder: What happens when he gets to his last one? That and many other mysterious questions will keep kids reading to the very end.

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

BookPage Children's Top Pick, April 2014

“Work smart / Live smarter / Play hard / Practice harder / Love, Dad” The Crossover is a novel-in-verse, with long flows of prose that spill out a tale of family, love, loss and basketball.

Josh and his twin brother Jordan live for the game and plan to play at rival colleges. Their mother is tough but fair with the boys, but she tries in vain to persuade their father to make healthier choices. An ex-player whose pro dreams faded after an injury, he lives through the boys’ achievements while wolfing down Krispy Kremes. One crisis leads to another, and soon the family is mourning an irreplaceable loss.

The Crossover will appeal to basketball fans, and it will likely grab reluctant readers with its quick wordplay, deft rhymes and kinetic, poetic take on the game. “The bass booms. / The crowd looms. / There’s music and mocking, / teasing nonstop, but / when the play begins / all the talk ceases.” Author Kwame Alexander has made a gift to teachers with this book: References to classical and jazz music (Josh’s dad nicknamed him “Filthy McNasty” after a Horace Silver song), probability (Jordan places bets on nearly everything) and the geometry of the game open up plenty of study topics without ever losing a step. Jordan’s fledgling romance and the strain it puts on the brothers’ relationship will draw sympathy from anyone who has ever felt deserted by a friend.

The title refers to a move made on the court, but The Crossover is destined to reach—and touch—readers who never gave basketball or poetry a second thought until now. It’s tough, muscular writing about a tender, unguarded heart.

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

Lenny and the Mikes are back! After solving a baseball-related crime in Strike Three, You’re Dead, Lenny Norbeck and his friends Mike and Other Mike find themselves once again knee-deep in mystery. This time around, however, their friendship may suffer from the solving.

Lenny was never very good at baseball, and Mike had to give up a career as a pitcher when he hurt his arm, but both of them still love the game. Other Mike is indifferent, but he tries to keep up for the sake of his friends. Lenny is thrilled when Mike earns a spot as a catcher on the Schwenkfelder Middle School team, yet he finds himself a little jealous, too. When the starting catcher and school bully, Davis Gannett, is thrown off the team for stealing a cell phone, Mike gets the chance to have his prime position.

Everything is perfect—especially after Lenny gets to call the games from the announcer’s booth—until Other Mike makes friends with Davis. Other Mike insists that Davis is innocent of the crime and convinces Lenny to take the case. But Lenny is troubled. Did Mike frame Davis? Should he confront Mike about it? What will that do to their friendship? And on top of all that, star pitcher Hunter Ashwell suddenly can’t throw a strike. Has someone stolen the catcher’s signs? Is it all tied together?

Author Josh Berk has come through for fans of Lenny and the Mikes with another hilarious look at life in middle school. Berk’s first-person prose keeps readers turning pages to find out what Lenny will do next. It’s not necessary to have read the first book to enjoy this one, but you will want to as soon as you have finished Say It Ain’t So.

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

Midnight Gulch, Tennessee, used to be a magical town where people caught stars in jars, called up thunderstorms with songs and even turned invisible at will. But ever since a pair of musical brothers dueled and then went their separate ways, a curse has lingered over the townsfolk, leaving them with only a tiny snicker of their previous power.

When the Pickle family arrives back in town after many years of wandering, Felicity Juniper Pickle expects their visit to be short and lonely, just like all their other road stops. But soon Felicity—who can see words flicker and zoom and dance through the air—makes an especially “spindiddly” friend, learns about her family’s history in Midnight Gulch and decides she wants to make such a “splendiferous” place her permanent home. Felicity aims to break the curse and end the town’s sadness, but first she has to overcome her fear of sharing her words in public.

Debut author Natalie Lloyd populates Midnight Gulch with vibrant people and places, including a woman who carries her family’s burdens in a traveling bag, a mysterious “Beedle” who delivers gifts and good cheer, and an ice cream factory whose signature flavor calls up both the sweetest and most bitter of memories. A wheelchair-bound boy is refreshingly characterized by his interests rather than his disability, and second chances abound for many who thought themselves long lost.

Reminiscent of Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo but with elements of magical realism, A Snicker of Magic is a celebration of new beginnings, old stories and the power of the words that surround us all.

Jill Ratzan reviews for School Library Journal and works as a school librarian at a small independent school in New Jersey.

BookPage Top Pick in Children's Books, March 2014

When Lucy’s family moves to an old house on a New Hampshire lake, she must adjust to new surroundings and new friends—all without her father, a professional photographer, who is gone on yet another extended business trip. While she admires her father’s talents, the tween is also eager to show him that she, too, has an eye for photography and capturing stories through the camera lens. She gets her chance when she learns her father is judging a photo contest and secretly decides to enter.

She quickly makes friends with Nate, the boy next door, and his family, including his charming Grandma Lilah. They ask her to join their “loon patrol” trips to monitor the loons on the lake. Eager to document the lake, the loons and the mountains, Lucy brings her camera—but photographs, full of dimension and truth, don’t lie. One image Lucy takes—a poignant but piercing picture of Grandma Lilah—is all too real and painful, divulging a story and a future no one wants to admit.

In Half a Chance, Newbery Honor winner Cynthia Lord (Rules) creatively weaves a touching story and tackles important issues for this age group, including isolation and the complexities of friendship. It also introduces Alzheimer’s disease in an understated and uniquely understandable way. During an unforgettable summer in New Hampshire, set against the backdrop of the photography contest, Lucy learns about the roots of family, the ties of loyalty, the power of storytelling and what it means to be a true friend.

Sharon Verbeten is a freelance writer and children’s librarian in De Pere, Wisconsin.

It was only supposed to be a haunted house. When Cole skipped trick-or-treating on Halloween night to go with Dalton and Jenna to the new haunted house in town, they didn’t know what to expect. What happened, however, was beyond any of their wildest imaginations.

In Sky Raiders, the first book in the new Five Kingdoms series by Brandon Mull, Dalton and Jenna are kidnapped from the basement of the haunted house and taken through a mysterious tunnel. Cole pursues them and finds himself in a place like nowhere else on Earth.

In fact, Cole and his friends are no longer on Earth—they are in the Outskirts, a collection of five kingdoms that exists between reality and imagination. After a failed escape/rescue, Cole and his friends are separated. Dalton and Jenna are sent to the High King, while Cole is sold to the Sky Raiders, where new slaves have a life expectancy of two weeks. While working for the Sky Raiders, Cole meets Mira, an unusual girl with a big secret, and helps her escape. But this is only the beginning of the dangers they will face.

Like Mull’s Fablehaven and Beyonders series, Five Kingdoms: Sky Raiders is fast-paced and exciting from the first page, drawing in readers with multifaceted, strong characters and keeping them enthralled with an intricate and fascinating story. Sky Raiders will be enjoyed by Mull’s many fans, or anyone looking for imaginative worlds and nonstop action.

Casey Snowden lives for baseball, almost literally—his dad and granddad run a school for umpires, where Casey and his best friend Zeke spend all their time. It helps Casey forget his absent mother, who keeps calling to re-establish visitation, and provides inspiration for his future career as an award-winning sportswriter.

Author Audrey Vernick (Water Balloon) brings joy and good humor to a story with some tough realities at its core. The novel culminates in a day when the town comes out to heckle the students while they call a game, to give them a taste of what their jobs will entail. By then, Casey’s faith in his favorite player, his own objectivity and his assessment of his mother have all been challenged, yet he’s resilient. The economic downturn has slowed attendance at the family’s school, but when his grandfather asks if Casey wants to stay, he doesn’t miss a beat: “That’s like asking if I think my blood will always be part of my body.”

A subplot involving Zeke’s reality TV obsession is funny and dovetails with the main storyline in a surprising way. The story Casey decides to write for his school paper leads him to realize he’s not as objective as he’d previously thought, but he takes his lumps with humility. The umpire’s need to confidently make a call in the heat of the moment is something we could all stand to work on.

Screaming at the Ump will be a hit with baseball fans, but this non-fan found it smart, funny, compassionate and a wise look at ethics and integrity in sports and daily life.

Mr. and Mrs. Bunny are back, and so are Madeline and her ex-hippie parents, Flo and Mildred, in this sequel to Mr. and Mrs. Bunny―Detectives Extraordinare! Imagine if Tina Fey wrote a middle grade novel, and you’ll have a sense of the nonstop quips packed into these pages. (For example: “Mrs. Vandermeer’s soccer-mom friends . . . knew that if they didn’t drive their children to some form of entertainment or find some way to keep them occupied every second from school closing until bedtime, the children . . . would resort to staring at the walls until their heads exploded. Suburban homes were very neat, and no one wanted to be picking brain bits off the walls.”)

You don’t need to have read the first book to roll with this one’s many punches. Young Madeline is starting to think about a college fund, but her parents have saved exactly $6.27 when they learn that they’ve inherited a candy shop in England. Meanwhile. Mrs. Bunny wants to be the queen of England. All of this makes sense in Polly Horvath’s rollicking world, and everyone ends up aboard a cruise ship.

Wild adventures ensue, including a stop in the British Museum. Near the end, before Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles appear, there’s a pivotal scene in a bookshop in which a certain popular author named Oldwhatshername shows up, signing her book about “a bunch of wizards” and a “British boarding school.”

The bookstore owner observes: “She looks so very elegant and svelte. Most writers look like they spend their days eating potato chips and sticking their fingers in light sockets.”

National Book Award-winning novelist Polly Horvath puts laughs and excitement on every page. Her latest is a page-turner, but be sure to take time to savor every bit of her wacky, yet sophisticated humor.

Twelve-year-old Jewel has never liked her birthday. Celebrating the day she was born is just another reminder to her family of the brother she never met, 5-year-old John, nicknamed Bird by her grandfather, who tried to fly off a cliff and fell to his death while her mother was in labor with Jewel. It’s more than loss and grief that surrounds Bird’s death; it’s superstition and blame that Jewel has never fully understood. Her grandfather hasn’t spoken since the day Bird died, and her father is sure the nickname “Bird” attracted a Duppy, a Jamaican spirit, that convinced him to jump.

Sick of living in the shadow of a ghost and never living up to her parents’ expectations, Jewel is ecstatic when she meets a new kid in the neighborhood who shares her love of science and climbing trees, who listens to her problems and worries and seems to understand. But when she brings him home, her parents are unnerved, and her grandfather is livid—because the boy's name just happens to be John.

Bird is a heartbreaking story of a girl trying everything she can to fill the hole her brother left in her family. While the majority of the book shows her parents as incredibly sad, too wrapped up in their own grief to notice the love and needs of the child they still have left, the most powerful sections describe their fleeting happiness. Each smile from her mother terrifies Jewel, because she never knows when the next one will come or exactly how to bring it about. Every declaration of pride from her father is hard-won and treasured.

Author Crystal Chan also paints a vivid picture of what it means to grow up in a mixed-race family. Jewel takes pride in her father’s Jamaican garden, but she’s frustrated when her neighbor expects her to be able to speak Spanish, and even more frustrated when strangers ask what she is instead of who.

Bird is a fast read but will stay with you. You’ll remember Jewel’s spirit, what John teaches her about space and the message that there are plenty of ways to show you love someone without actually saying those three words.

Molly Horan has her MFA in writing for children and young adults from The New School.

BookPage Top Pick in Children's Books, February 2014

On the heels of solving her first mystery in the Newbery Honor book Three Times Lucky, Mo LoBeau faces more intrigue in her tiny North Carolina town of Tupelo Landing. Just when her adoptive kin buy the old Tupelo Inn, now abandoned and rumored to be haunted, her sixth-grade teacher assigns an oral history report to coincide with the community’s 250th anniversary. Extra credit goes to the student who can interview the town’s oldest member, so Mo decides to interview the ghost of the Tupelo Inn because “[t]here ain’t nobody older than dead.”

Helping Mo form the Desperado Detective Agency’s new Paranormal Division is her steadfast partner and classmate, Dale. As the sleuthing duo employs various methods of communicating with Tupelo’s mystifying resident, they discover that the ghost is a girl who may have been murdered, and that some of Tupelo’s finest—and not-so-finest—may know forgotten clues. As if solving another murder mystery weren’t enough to keep Mo busy, the town’s crotchety moonshiner complicates matters throughout.

As in Sheila Turnage’s debut novel, relationships are key in this Southern story: Mo and Dale’s sibling-like camaraderie; the budding romance of Mo’s adoptive parents, Miss Lana and the Colonel (now that the Colonel’s amnesia has cleared); and the ghost girl’s attraction to newcomer Harm, who eerily resembles his long-lost moonshining grandfather. Mo’s continuing letters to her unknown “Upstream Mother” help her sort out clues in the case—and in life. Small-town charm, clever dialogue and Mo’s unyielding wit are excellent reminders of why the first book was so successful. With The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing, readers will fall in love with Mo and her endearing friends and family all over again.

The most exciting part of Carson Fender’s day was supposed to be his role in the fourth-biggest prank in Erik Hill Middle School history (it involved fainting goats). That all changed when a mysterious man pressed a mysterious package into Carson’s hands and ran away, only to be abducted by two men with painted white faces. In Codename Zero, by Chris Rylander, Carson learns quickly that crazy, frightening and awesome things can happen anywhere. Even in North Dakota.

Carson’s first task is to figure out where to deliver the package. He knows that it’s meant for someone at school, but the package makes things hard when it starts shouting warnings about “fail-safe measures” and “self-destruction.” Loudly. Every 15 minutes. From there, things get even stranger. Carson is thrust into the middle of a secret organization and must live up to his new codename: Zero. With the help of his friends, including conspiracy theorist Dillon and his sister Danielle, Carson must keep exchange student Olek safe from the strange men.

Codename Zero is a creative and exciting twist on the traditional spy novel. Readers will find themselves cheering for Carson as he learns not just how to be Zero, but how to be himself. Filled with great characters and an outstanding, original plot, Codename Zero will jump to the top of every aspiring spy’s reading list!

When your mom is the president of the United States, you’d think your life would be perfect. But, as eighth grader Audrey Rhodes is discovering, living at “1600” (as she calls her new home) isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Having friends over becomes an issue of national security, a Secret Service agent follows her everywhere and class trips are out of the question.

Sulking around the White House one night, Audrey discovers a hidden compartment containing a diary written by a previous First Daughter, Alice Roosevelt. Alice’s desire to “eat up the world” and claim an independent identity for herself—including bringing her pet snake to state functions, dancing on the roof and sneaking a boy past White House guards—inspire Audrey to try similar antics, with results that don’t always end up as planned. Alice is often lucky in matters of the heart, whereas Audrey’s attempts to be more than friends with her attractive classmate Quint aren’t going nearly so well.

Parents who read Ellen Emerson White’s President’s Daughter books in the 1980s will appreciate the updated take on this wish-fulfilling premise. When Audrey Met Alice is a terrific work of blended realistic and historical fiction. An author’s note and bibliography provide the historical context, and an accompanying website includes supplemental resources, most notably a version of Alice’s fictionalized diary entries annotated with quotations from primary sources. The combination of humor, history, light romance and social consciousness make Rebecca Behrens’ debut novel a winner.