It may not be the biggest or most dazzling spectacle on Earth, but Sir Sidney’s Circus in The Show Must Go On! is certainly the most charmingly entertaining circus that you’ll ever see (or read about).

When kindly owner and circus master Sir Sidney decides to go into semi-retirement, he believes he has found a suitable replacement in Barnabas Brambles. After all, Brambles holds a degree in lion taming from the University of Piccadilly Circus. Although the circus performers—Leo the lion, Elsa the elephant and the Famous Flying Banana Brothers—are a bit skeptical of the regime change, they trust that Sir Sidney would never put them in harm’s way. Still, Bert and Gert, the circus’ special mouse helpers, smell trouble right away. As Gert puts it, “Never trust a lion tamer in a poorly tailored suit.”

True to form, sisters Kate Klise (author) and M. Sarah Klise (illustrator) use clever jokes, wordplay and adorable illustrations to guide their readers through Brambles’ epic bumbles as circus master. Sir Sidney gives him only a few rules to follow during his trial period: Perform only one show in each city, charge $1 per person, do not charge admission for children and give out free popcorn and lemonade. Brambles, however, immediately restructures the business to make more profits—with disastrous results. Performers are injured and sickened, and the circus train ends up in bizarre places like atop the St. Louis Arch and the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s up to Sir Sidney, of course, to save the day.

As in their award-winning 43 Old Cemetery Road series, forgiveness and empathy are major themes in this sweet story, the first book in the Klise sisters' new Three-Ring Rascals series. Great for classroom reading and reluctant readers, it has the perfect blend of humor and gravitas for the younger end of the middle grade audience.

Sada Stipe is a freelance writer in Nashville, Tennessee.

In different parts of the world, four children are taking part in an ancient ritual. Rich, poor, high-born, peasant, every child in the world receives the nectar on his or her birthday with both trepidation and excitement. What happens next could change their lives drastically and irrevocably. In Spirit Animals: Wild Born, the first book in a new series by Brandon Mull, these children wait, as all children do, to see if they will be bonded with a spirit animal—an animal of any species who bonds itself to the child, bringing great power and strength to both.

Conor, Abeke, Meilin and Rollan drink the nectar, and each summons an animal. However, these are no ordinary animals. Instead, each child has summoned one of the Four Fallen, four Great Beasts who had given their lives to defeat the Devourer. With the Devourer rising again, gaining power and attempting to conquer Erdas, the Fallen have reappeared and bonded with four children. With the assistance of the Greencloaks—men and women with spirit animals who dedicate their lives to protecting Erdas—the four children and the Four Fallen must band together to defeat the dark force that is quickly rising.

The Spirit Animals books will follow much of the same format as the popular 39 Cluesseries. Each book will be written by a different author (Maggie Stiefvater will write the second installment), and there is an interactive online game where readers can discover their own spirit animal and join in the adventure. Wild Born is fast-paced with plenty of action, and also offers a number of fully realized characters who must discover who they are and what they want. There are no perfect or predictable characters in this series, and the twists and turns will leave readers guessing right up until the end.

Writing is best accomplished by paying attention, says Kate DiCamillo, author of such gems as Because of Winn-Dixie. Her new book, Flora & Ulysses, features 10-year-old Flora Belle Buckman, a self-proclaimed cynic who goes by the mantra, “Do not hope; instead, observe.”

Flora’s parents have divorced, and her chain-smoking mother is too busy writing romance novels to have time for her daughter. Her mother has also decided that Flora spends too much time reading comic books, which she considers lowly. Flora doesn’t care, because her favorite book in the world is The Illuminated Adventures of the Amazing Incandesto, a comic she and her father have always enjoyed together.

Flora is not feeling particularly hopeful, however, until one day, she observes several incredible things. Outside her window, a neighbor is running around the yard with an out-of-control vacuum, and she vacuums up a squirrel. After Flora races outside and administers CPR, the squirrel springs to life with odd new superpowers—it can fly and even write poetry. Flora names him Ulysses, after the vacuum that nearly mowed him down (a Ulysses 2000X).

Lots of things happen quickly in this fast-paced, funny tale. Flora makes a new friend, an 11-year-old brainiac named William Spivey, who joins her in protecting Ulysses. And protect him they must, because Flora’s mother wants the little squirrel dead and buried.

Flora’s guidebooks in the ensuing adventures are her beloved comics, especially one called Terrible Things Can Happen to You! Many of the illustrations in this comical romp are action-packed comic-book sequences superbly drawn by K.G. Campbell.

Like all of DiCamillo’s books, Flora & Ulysses is filled with adventure, but also plenty of humor and soul. By the end, even cynical Flora has softened up. DiCamillo has seamlessly blended comic-book elements and a zany cast of characters into a thoroughly original, heartwarming tale.

Imagine, if you will, a perfect city, filled with perfect, almost glowing people, who lead perfect, happy lives. Now imagine that the magic they need to maintain that perfection is unavailable within their walls.

In The Real Boy, by Anne Ursu, Oscar is a shop boy who toils in the cellar preparing herbs for Caleb, a magician who provides magic to the residents of Asteri. The Barrow, where Oscar and Caleb live, is the center of a powerfully magical area. But now, the Barrow is being threatened by something sinister, and children in Asteri are falling ill.

Oscar doesn’t quite fit in this world, and he spends as much time as possible away from other people and their worries. That all changes, though, when Caleb departs for the mainland, leaving Oscar to run the shop. With the help of Callie, the healer’s apprentice, Oscar begins to discover why the children of Asteri are getting sick. And that discovery may teach Oscar more about himself than he anticipates.

In the overflowing category of books about magic and wizards, The Real Boy stands apart. Filled with rich characters, a fascinating backstory and an exciting conclusion, Ursu’s latest is a worthy successor to her immensely popular novel Breadcrumbs.

It‘s impossible to read The Real Boy and not be captivated by the magical spell of Oscar, Callie and the very special world of the Barrow.

On the first day of school, Billy Miller worries that he’s not smart enough for second grade. That’s the first of many trying moments for Billy, all portrayed in the four episodic sections of this charming chapter book. Billy fears that his teacher doesn’t like him, tries to stay up all night for the first time, discovers the value of little sisters and aims to write the perfect poem for his mother. Author Kevin Henkes handles every situation with sensitivity and gentle realism.

Pressured by classmates to switch from calling his father “Papa” to “Dad,” Billy finds himself in a difficult stage of childhood. He’s no longer a cute toddler like his younger sister, nor is he old enough to stay home alone. His year becomes, then, a time for growing up.

Despite his many worries, Billy also finds joy and comfort as he begins to discover his talents, forge deeper bonds with his family and rely on a quiet resilience.

Although The Year of Billy Miller has no underwear jokes, bodily fluids or crime-fighting superheroes, it is solidly a book for boys. Henkes brilliantly captures Billy’s view of the world from a male perspective. With so few books that tackle boys’ true emotions, this rare novel stands out for both its subject matter and its exquisite storytelling. While girls may relate to Ramona, now boys can claim Billy Miller.

Promi is a good thief, maybe one of the best. Armed with only a knife (which he usually steals), he squeaks by, stealing pies, cakes and other sweets to survive. But then he makes a big mistake. In Atlantis Rising, the new book by best-selling author T.A. Barron, Promi makes an enemy of Deputy High Priest Grukkar, and then steals a smackberry pie right out from under the Divine Monk. While enjoying the stolen pie, Promi is caught by Grukkar and thrown into the deepest, darkest dungeon in Ellegandia. It is here, however, that his true adventure begins.

In the dungeon, Promi meets a dying man, a beaten prisoner and a woman with a strange companion. He escapes from the dungeon through mysterious means and awakes as a Listener. The last of his kind, Promi now can influence the world around him, but only at great personal cost.

Atlantis Rising explores a rare mythology—it’s not about the sinking of Atlantis, but instead about the origins of the island. Barron, author of many acclaimed fantasies, creates a story that is thrilling from the opening pages, weaving together magic, prophecy, mythology, selfishness and sacrifice. Readers will be fascinated with the world of Ellegandia, and will want to know more—not only about the mythical island it becomes, but also about those who inhabited this magical place before it sank.

Readers have come to expect the unexpected from David Almond, the acclaimed winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Award. His latest book—the story of a boy whose uncle turns their home into a fish factory—is no exception.

Stanley Potts is happy enough to live with his Uncle Ernie and Aunt Annie after his parents die, that is, until Uncle Ernie begins making more and more machines for his fish canning operation. There are “machines for chopping the heads off, cutting the tails off, getting the guts out; machines for cleaning them and boiling them.” (Not to mention machines for squashing them into cans.) The machines not only take over their house, but their lives. Forget school. Stan must be up at 6 a.m. each day to start work.

Even then, things aren’t so bad until the day Uncle Ernie’s fish obsession crosses the line, and he takes from Stan something bright and precious and scaly (to say more would spoil the suspense). Stan has no choice: he runs away, determined to join the circus, or in this case, the local fair. He signs on to help Mr. Wilfred Dostoyevsky, who runs the Hook-a-duck game with his daughter, Natasha.

Stan’s new life is full of adventure, peril and, as he soon comes to find out, teeth. For Stanley Potts is destined to discover his true destiny: swimming with deadly piranhas.

Will Stanley survive? Will Uncle Ernie see the error of his ways?

To learn the answer, we may just have to consult the fair’s fortune teller, Gypsy Rose. With its quirky humor, fantastical plot and delightful illustrations by Oliver Jeffers, The Boy Who Swam with Piranhas is a perfect book for end-of-summer reading—and a reminder that maybe going to school won’t be as bad as canning fish or swimming with piranhas.

Deborah Hopkinson has written many acclaimed books for children, including The Great Trouble, a novel about London's deadly cholera epidemic, to be published in September.

In his latest middle grade novel, Icefall author Matthew J. Kirby brings readers a fast-paced fantasy set in colonial America on the brink of the French and Indian War.

When Billy Bartram’s botanist father asks Billy to join him on his next expedition to the western wilderness of the New World, he is thrilled. Billy idolizes his father and wants nothing more than to use his artistic talents to make his own contributions to the world of science. Little does he know, however, that this is not a plant-finding mission—it’s actually the maiden voyage of the most technologically advanced vehicle on Earth, the de Terzi aeroship. A “vessel of philosophy,” the flying ship was built by the American Philosophical Society, whose members include Benjamin Franklin and Billy’s father. And Billy soon finds out that they’re not just taking the aeroship out for a joyride, they are also evading French spies, attempting to form an alliance with Native Americans and searching for the lost kingdom of the Welsh prince Madoc.

As the group endures battle after battle—facing a traitor among their ranks, a ferocious bear-wolf and the French army—Billy wrestles with his own internal struggle. He comes to realize that his father is as fallible as any other man. He must learn to accept his father’s faults, even if doing so compromises his own newly formed beliefs, or reject him and lose him forever.

This riveting adventure brings to life a remarkably realistic mythical America, and young readers will quickly become invested in the characters, many of whom are based on actual historical figures. The helpful author’s note at the end of the book also provides a great starting point for generating interesting classroom discussions and research projects. Fascinating and fun for kids and adults alike, The Lost Kingdom offers an inventive look at a unique time and place.

It’s only natural that 12-year-old Sarah Nelson would look for signs that she’s going crazy. Sarah’s mother tried to drown her and her twin brother when they were 2 (only Sarah survived) and now lives in a mental institution; her academic father drowns his sorrows every night with a bottle of booze. Now that summer has arrived in Texas, she has the added worries of completing the upcoming family tree project in seventh grade and trying to find a boy to French kiss so she can keep up with her girl pals.

Summer also brings a teacher’s challenge: Write letters to a favorite book character. Sarah selects Atticus from To Kill a Mockingbird, and her correspondence becomes a way to help make sense of the world around her. Realistic but without more intensity than middle grade readers can handle, Sarah’s pitch-perfect narration captures her frustration in trying to communicate with her distant father (“He is hard, frozen ice cream and I am a weak spoon.”) and the realization that she not only wants, but also needs to meet her mother.

But life isn’t all hard ice cream. Sometimes it’s as sweet and warm as apple pie, just like the ones Sarah’s elderly neighbor shares with her. In the midst of this summer of great changes (physical and emotional alike), Sarah discovers her first taste of love with her babysitter’s younger brother, who shares her fondness for delectable vocabulary and can keep her darkest secrets.

Like Atticus, this determined girl faces her challenges with bravery. Have some tissues ready as you come to the bittersweet but never saccharine ending of Karen Harrington’s first novel for young readers. This is a story with sure signs of brilliance.

As Bluffton unfolds, Henry Harrison is facing the prospect of a boring summer in sleepy, ordinary Muskegon, Michigan. When a troupe of vaudeville performers arrives, he’s enthralled, especially when one of the actors, a kid his own age named Buster Keaton, turns out to be as much of a baseball nut as he is—maybe even more so.

The year is 1908 and 13-year-old Buster, known as “the human mop” for his ability to take a fall, is already an old hand at performing. Buster is more interested in having a lazy, normal summer filled with baseball, away from the pressures of the stage. And, since baseball is what the boys have in common, everyone gets along. “Baseball does that,” comments Henry. But underneath summer pastimes, the two boys face larger issues of what their futures will hold. Summers, and the innocence of childhood, don’t last forever.

Matt Phelan, who won the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction for his first graphic novel, The Storm in the Barn, effectively evokes the transient magic of summer in this poignant, beautifully illustrated story of two boys from very different worlds.

Inspired by the Actors’ Colony at Bluffton, which was founded by Buster’s father, Joe Keaton, and existed from 1908-1938, Bluffton introduces young readers to one of the icons in film history. Phelan is clearly a fan, and his enthusiasm and respect for Buster Keaton are evident throughout. Recommending Keaton films to young readers, Phelan says in his author’s note that Buster Keaton was “a true genius,” whose “hilarious, breathtaking, innovative” films will change the way viewers think about the age of silent movies. (Phelan is not alone: In 2007, The General was named by the American Film Institute as number 18 on a list of the top 100 American films ever made.)

By showing us Buster Keaton as a boy trying to balance a public self with private dreams, Phelan’s book is a wonderful gift for readers of all ages.

Gather ’round, readers, and welcome to Sugar Man Swamp in the Texas bayou, home of an intriguing menagerie that includes raccoons, rattlesnakes, wild hogs (the Farrow Gang), alligators, possums, an elusive ivory-billed woodpecker and much more. King of this ecosystem is Sugar Man, a cousin of Bigfoot who stays hidden and sleeping, only emerging during a crisis.

And indeed, a crisis is afoot, as owner Sonny Boy Beaucoup plans to turn 2,000 acres of the swamp into the Gator World Wrestling Arena and Theme Park, presided over by champion gator wrestler Jaeger Stitch.

The swamp needs rescuing, and the heroes are an unlikely trio. There’s a pair of raccoons named Bingo and J’miah who serve as Swamp Scouts, watching over the area and warning Sugar Man when necessary. Then there’s 12-year-old Chap Brayburn, who has lived here all his life. His mother runs the Paradise Pies Cafe, known for heavenly fried sugar pies made from the swamp’s canebrake sugar. Chap’s grandfather, who knew the swamp inside and out, has just passed away, leaving Chap to try to fill his shoes as human guardian of this special place.

Newbery Honor-winning author Kathi Appelt weaves these characters together in a lovely symphony, giving both animal and human viewpoints in numerous chapters, many of which are quite short. The book is a breezy read, full of excitement, and Appelt’s folksy, tall-tale style makes the novel a great choice for a read-aloud.

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp is a tour de force filled with thoughtful, admirable characters like Chap and his grandfather, and rollicking goofballs like the raccoon Swamp Scouts, who help save the day despite their tendency to get themselves in trouble. Underneath all the hijinks are real lessons to be learned about how different species live together and interact, about the importance of conservation and about the impact of development on a fragile ecosystem.

Readers will feel as though they’ve had a VIP tour of Sugar Man Swamp—the only thing missing is a taste of that famous fried sugar pie!

Prisoner 88, Leah Pileggi’s engaging debut novel, was inspired by a tour of the Old Idaho Penitentiary in Boise, Idaho. As Pileggi took in the sights of the “Old Pen,” the docent happened to mention that the youngest prisoner incarcerated there was 10-year-old James Oscar Baker, convicted of manslaughter in the 1880s. The idea for Prisoner 88 was born.

This evocative, heartfelt story, sure to appeal to boys, is narrated by Prisoner 88 himself. Jake Oliver Evans is a boy who hasn’t had much joy—or much of anything—in his first 10 years. Sentenced to five years in prison for shooting and killing a man who threatened his father, Jake tries to look on the bright side of things. Being confined to the Old Idaho Penitentiary offers benefits he’s never had during his old life with Pa: more food than he’s ever seen at one time (and every day at that), a chance to work with hogs and the opportunity to learn to read (though, especially at first, Jake’s not so sure he cares much about his letters).

Through Jake’s eyes, young readers will get a glimpse of life in Idaho Territory in 1885. Jake’s fellow prisoners are a diverse lot, including a Chinese American and a Mormon arrested for polygamy. But Jake manages to survive, and even win the hearts of the tough men around him through his cheerful acceptance of his lot and his willingness to work.

One of the values of historical fiction is the insight it provides us into the lives of people in other times and places. Thanks to Pileggi’s skillful storytelling, young readers will be rooting for Jake to find a future—and family—of his own.

“Not all kids are best friends with their grandmothers. But I am,” narrator Robbie tells readers in the opening pages of The Truth of Me. Robbie’s parents are touring the world with their string quartet, so Robbie—along with his other best friend, his dog Ellie—are staying with Robbie’s grandmother Maddy for the summer.

Maddy isn’t like most grandmothers. She hates cooking (on a previous visit, she served Robbie doughnuts for dinner), preferring to spend time in the woods with her wild animal companions. Robbie’s mother questions Maddy’s unusual priorities, but Robbie loves Maddy the way she is. Her friend Henry, the local doctor, does too. During one of their frequent evenings together, Henry tells Robbie that everyone has their own small truths . . . and challenges Robbie to find one of his own by summer’s end. Does Robbie’s truth have to do with his suspicion that his mother loves her violin more than she loves him? Does it have to do with Maddy’s special relationships with the creatures of the forest? Or is some other truth out there waiting to be discovered—a story that belongs to Robbie alone?

Author Patricia MacLachlan, best known for the Newbery Medal-winning Sarah, Plain and Tall, once again demonstrates that simple language can be used to convey powerful ideas. Themes of friendship, family and the past’s relationship with the present blend with a touch of humor, and elements of both realistic fiction and magical realism combine so seamlessly that the exact transition between them is hard to detect. For example, is Maddy just a good dog trainer, or is some special gift at work when Ellie learns to coexist peacefully with the squirrels she used to chase? Did Maddy really once sit on a log and share cornbread with a bear? And since Robbie’s age is never explicitly stated, readers across the elementary school years can identify with him as he navigates a summer full of camping, music, animals and most of all, simple truths.