It was just a quick trip down to the shop on the corner, to buy some milk for cereal. And tea. Definitely tea. Nothing out of the ordinary would happen on a trip like that, especially with two children waiting at home to eat their cereal, and their mom gone to a conference. In Fortunately, The Milk, by Newbery Award-winning author Neil Gaiman, the father thinks it should only take a few minutes to walk out of the house, down the street, into the store and back home again, with the milk. Unless . . .

It might take a little longer if he were to be abducted by aliens who intended to remodel the planet. But escaping from them through the space-time continuum shouldn’t take too long, and as long as he still has the milk everything should end happily. Unless he falls through the space-time continuum and ends up on an 18th-century Spanish pirate ship captained by the Queen of the Pirates. However, that adventure would end quickly as well, so long as he were rescued by Professor Steg’s Floaty-Ball-Person-Carrier, and still had the milk in his pocket. Unless Professor Steg was a giant Stegosaurus from the future who could only transport him home in his tempermental time-machine. Though really, as long as he has the milk, everything should work out just fine.

Fortunately, The Milk is a fast-paced, zany story, made even more entertaining by the expressive illustrations of Skottie Young. Gaiman crafts the kind of tale that any parent who has had to come up with a creative on-the-spot defense will recognize. Kids will be in on the joke from nearly the beginning, and will delight in watching the children gain the upper hand and expose their father’s story as nothing but an elaborate excuse. Unless, of course, it isn’t. . . .

Carly Bean Bitters has a serious problem. Pale and small for her age, the 11-year-old can’t sleep at night, finding rest only during the day. Leading a lonely life, she sits up in an old chair in the attic of her aunt’s house, orphaned and friendless, waiting for the sun to rise so she can sleep. Young readers will empathize with Carly as she longs for a life beyond the attic but would settle for a friend. The moon is her only companion until she meets Lewis, a fiddling rat, who appears on her roof and asks her to join his little band.

Lewis explains that the number of rat musicians is dwindling. The owls, no longer distracted by the rats’ music, have started hunting them. Soon an owl swoops in, grabbing Carly from her rooftop and dropping her in the Whistle Root woods, and the adventure begins. When Carly meets Breeza Meezy, Queen of the rats, and visits their wondrous village, she learns the rats are in trouble and need her help. Carly finds a cryptic note warning “the Moon Child is in danger,” and begins to wonder if the Moon Child is, in fact, her. More questions than answers arise when Carly is befriended by Green, a classmate who hides out beneath the library. Together they search the stories of Whistle Root for clues.

First-time author Christopher Pennell blends the natural world seamlessly with fantasy in this lively debut novel. Young readers will cheer as Carly struggles to untangle an elaborate mystery, outwit a flesh-eating Griddlebeast and take her proper place in the woods.

The Mysterious Woods of Whistle Root successfully bounces between run-ins at school, where Carly is teased and taunted for sleeping all day, and fantastical moments when she flies high above the woods as Lewis has taught her. Rebecca Bond’s whimsical pen-and-ink drawings make the book especially engaging to read aloud to younger children and ensures a captivating experience for middle graders. When the mystery comes to a satisfying resolution, readers will want to linger a little longer in Whistle Root.

Max Starling’s parents are actors who own a successful theater company in New City, a vague approximation of Victorian London. When an offer to sail to India aboard the Flower of Kashmir arrives, the family happily accepts. But when Max arrives at the dock at the appointed time, he finds that no such ship exists . . . and that his parents have vanished.

Fortunately for Max, his grandmother, a librarian who lives in an adjoining house, is willing to take him in until his parents return. But Max, almost 13, yearns for independence. Max and his grandmother soon strike a bargain, but the compromise involves Max earning some of his own keep. When he accidentally finds and returns a runaway child to the child’s grateful mother, Max knows he’s found the ideal job. Dressing in his parents’ theatrical costumes and taking on personas borrowed from their dramatic oeuvre, Max successfully locates a lost dog, discovers why magazines are disappearing from the library and finds a valuable object that’s been missing for years. Along the way, he tackles other seemingly intractable issues faced by his frustrated painting teacher, a destitute university student and a highly inquisitive girl. But what will Max call his new occupation? It’s not really detecting, finding or even problem solving. The word Max eventually coins to describe his work is the perfect choice.

Newbery Medal winner Cynthia Voigt’s latest middle grade offering is reminiscent of the quasi-Gothic, not-quite-realistic qualities of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. Although each of Max’s odd jobs seems at first to be a different episode, the cases soon converge as elements from each are revealed to be part of a larger—and longstanding—mystery. Occasional full-page pen and ink illustrations by Iacopo Bruno break up the text and help establish the mood. And with the stage set in this first volume, look for two more books about Mister Max coming soon.

One day, a young couple named Marta and John find a boy asleep in an old chair on their front porch. His arrival is as mysterious as can be. They didn’t hear anyone come down the dirt road to their small farm, and the boy, who looks to be about 6, doesn’t speak. There’s just one clue. Tucked in his pocket is a scribbled note that reads:

“Plees taik kair of Jacob. . . . Wil be bak wen we can.”

And so they do. Marta accepts the boy’s presence immediately, while John comes slowly to his new role. “I don’t know about all this,” he admits to his wife the first day, not unlike any new father.

But as the days and weeks unfold, Marta and John discover that although he still doesn’t say a word, Jacob likes jelly beans, loves to drum on any available surface, and is happy to play with their dog, Beagle, and the family cow. Most of all, he is an amazingly eager and accomplished artist, creating whimsical and fantastical scenes, and also a landscape filled with blue trees and red paths and purple animals. Could it be a clue to where he came from?

Although the couple knows that the young boy can never be theirs, when the day comes for him to leave, Marta and John are left with an aching hole to fill. Readers of all ages will be eager to see what they choose to do next, and will wait, as they do, to see if the boy on the porch ever returns.

Sharon Creech’s lovely, lyrical story is accessible to young readers and at the same time will be treasured by adults who know that what our children give us is always far greater than what we provide in return.

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.