All criminals be aware: The streets are no longer safe for your nefarious activities, thanks to the kids of the New Cut Gang! Thunderbolt, Benny, Bridie and Sharkey Bob are just some of the kids who make up the New Cut Gang in Philip Pullman’s new novel, Two Crafty Criminals!. Although most of the adults in town would probably not agree, the New Cut Gang see themselves as perfect citizens whose calling in life is to rid the streets of the criminal element, even if they have to break the rules to do it. In this novel, the Gang has to solve two mysteries: Thunderbolt’s Waxwork and The Gas-Fitter’s Ball.

The New Cut Gang first has to solve the mystery of where thousands of counterfeit coins are coming from—coins that are making stores very angry. Thunderbolt is very excited to catch the counterfeiter, until his father is arrested for the crime. It is then up to the New Cut Gang to both catch the real counterfeiter and save Thunderbolt’s dad! In the next story, valuable silver is stolen. With very few clues, only the New Cut Gang can solve the mystery and win a bet by getting the incredibly shy Dick Smith to propose to the beautiful Daisy Miller. After Dick is thrown in jail for the robbery, the New Cut Gang—along with a romantic Strong-Man named Orlando—must free Dick, solve the mystery and get Dick to the Gas-Fitter’s Ball in time to meet Daisy.

Two Crafty Criminals! is very different than Pullman’s His Dark Materials series. Reminiscent of T.D. Fitzgerald’s The Great Brain and Donald Sobol’s Encyclopedia Brown, these children don’t solve mysteries to help other people, but for their own personal (and financial) gain. Full of humor, mystery, bravery and deceit, the New Cut Gang will be the group that every reader will want to join!

How do you make the most of an unthinkable situation? Well, tweenage Stella—named after her long-gone father’s favorite song, “Stella by Starlight”—has always been able to make the best of things. But that ability is about to be tested in ways she never imagined.

With a misguided absentee mother, Stella has gone to live with her great-aunt Louise in Cape Cod. And with Louise’s blueberry pies, spacious garden and Linger Longer rental cottages, Stella might never want to leave—except for Louise’s foster child, Angel. With a tough, unflinching attitude, Angel (who has a penchant for Dum-Dums suckers and junk food) is not friend material.

The two are like oil and water until the unthinkable happens—to avoid a spoiler, we won’t say just what—forcing the two to team up to survive. Stella relies on her wits and her favorite Hints from Heloise (whom she idolizes) to hold down the fort in Louise’s unexpected absence, while Angel remains abrasive and unhelpful as ever.

As the summer goes on, their tug of war continues and their burdens grow—both physically and mentally. Soon, however, the two develop first a tacit understanding and then a deepening friendship. Their forced collaboration becomes true cooperation, as they discover that two can be much stronger than one.

What is the true meaning of family? And how can unexpected circumstances change the dynamics of a relationship? Those questions are at the core of this moving coming-of-age novel by Sara Pennypacker, best known for her Clementine chapter books. While two different young girls tackle the most challenging of circumstances, they learn their own strengths (and share them) and weaknesses (and aren’t afraid to show them).

Pennypacker has a fine insight into the minds and emotions of preteens and is able to create a realistic picture of what it’s like to stand up for oneself, while being brave enough to let others in.

Bones has everything she needs to be happy. It’s 1949 and 10-year-old Bones lives on the edge of a Florida swamp with her father Nolay, her mama Honey Girl and an assortment of animals, including her pig, Pearl. Nicknamed “Precious Bones” by her Grandma Spot, she spends her days helping around the house, in school or with her best friend, Little Man. Her world is turned upside down, however, when a Yankee real estate agent goes missing and is eventually found dead. Nolay, who ran the man off his land only a day earlier, becomes the number-one suspect in the murder, and even Bones thinks he might be guilty.

Bones and Little Man decide that the only way to save her father from going to jail is to solve the mystery of who really killed the Yankee, before the bumbling Sheriff LeRoy makes things worse. Bones sets out to find the truth, looking for clues, talking to her friend Mr. Speed, who sits outside of the General Store all day, and trying to avoid the terrifying Soap Sally, who kidnaps children and turns them into soap, and who may or may not be real.

Written by first-time author Mika Ashley-Hollinger, who grew up in Florida, Precious Bones is a novel filled with adventure and mystery, as well as fascinating glimpses of its distinctive setting. Precious Bones allows readers to see deep into a lifestyle that most people have never experienced, and meet wonderful (and not-so-wonderful) characters completely unique to this story. Readers who step into Bones’ swamp will find it very hard to leave.

Twelve-year-old Mary O’Hara does not expect to meet the strange, old-fashioned woman walking home from school one day. The woman looks young and talks old. She reminds Mary of her granny, Emer, who is in the hospital. Mary is even more surprised at her mother’s reaction upon hearing the woman’s name: Tansey.

As it turns out, Tansey bears more than a faint family resemblance. In fact, she is the ghost of Mary’s great-grandmother. Tansey was struck down suddenly by flu when her own daughter was a little girl. She never lived to see Emer grow up; she never met her granddaughter or great-granddaughter. Until now, that is.

Booker Prize-winning author Roddy Doyle, who writes for both adults and young readers, has crafted a warm, magical portrait of four generations of Dublin women—all of whom take Tansey’s ghost in stride. “Did you live in the pig shed after you died?” Mary’s mother wants to know.

“I did not, faith,” says Tansey. “Sure, why would I want to live in the pig shed? Even if I am dead and I can’t smell anything.”

But while Doyle’s touch is light, as his heartfelt story unfolds it is clear that Tansey, bound by a fierce maternal love, has one last, important task to accomplish. And if this task requires busting a grandmother out of the hospital on a midnight road trip with a ghost, well, sometimes that’s just the way life is. A Greyhound of a Girl is the perfect Mother’s Day gift for women—and girls—of any age.

In the town of Tupelo Landing (pop. 148) on the eastern shore of North Carolina, most residents have small wallets but big hearts—and even bigger mysteries. Perhaps the biggest heart and mystery belong to rising sixth grader Moses “Mo” LoBeau, who, as a baby, was sent downriver by her birth mother during a hurricane. Rescued and raised by the Colonel, after he crashed his car and lost all memory of his previous life, and his wife, Miss Lana, Mo has spent her young life trying to find out the identity of her “Upstream Mother.”

But when stingy Mr. Jesse turns up murdered, outsider Detective Joe Starr arrives in town and the Colonel goes missing, Mo has more important problems to worry about. In between serving up daily specials at Miss Lana’s café, she enlists her friend, Dale, to help her solve Mr. Jesse’s murder. And when Starr’s investigation leads to Dale as a prime suspect, Miss Lana is kidnapped and a rumor surfaces involving the Colonel and a missing suitcase full of money, Mo’s detective skills become a matter of life or death.

Readers will find many things to love about this charming debut novel, in which both the perils and rewards of small-town life shine through. Mo’s “soldier” relationship with the befuddled Colonel is both playful and endearing. She may never find her birth mother, but she realizes that she has all the family she’ll ever need. With quirky, lovable characters, spot-on dialogue and twists upon twists, this mystery takes on the best elements of Southern storytelling. Children will be at least three times lucky to read it.

RELATED IN BOOKPAGE
Read a Q&A with Turnage for Three Times Lucky.

Be careful who you get close to—you never know how long they’ll be around. That seems to be the new mantra for Carley Connors.

Placed in foster care after a domestic abuse incident, the 12-year-old goes to live with the Murphys in Connecticut—in a picture-perfect home complete with three active boys and two caring, attentive foster parents. But while the scenario might seem ideal, the Murphys aren’t anything like what Carley is used to. Their happy suburban existence is a far cry from her life with her single mother in Las Vegas. And Carley just doesn’t seem to fit in—nor, at first, does she want to.

Bright, perceptive Carley remains guarded, both at school and at home—trying to fly under the radar to avoid too much scrutiny or criticism. But the warmth of foster mother Julie Murphy chips away at that wall, and by the time her stint in foster care is over, Carley is torn. Her future with her biological mother isn’t exactly clear, but meeting the Murphys has given Carley a better sense of who she is and what a caring family is all about, no matter where she finds it.

In One for the Murphys, Lynda Mullaly Hunt convincingly portrays the personality of a questioning tween as she interacts with those around her. This is a life-affirming middle grade novel—perfect for those struggling with similar issues of fitting in or standing out.

Answer: A heartwarming story about a 12-year-old girl whose biggest wish is to appear on the “Jeopardy!” game show.

Question: What is Olivia Bean, Trivia Queen by Donna Gephart?

She may not always fit in at her Pennsylvania school, her five-year-old brother is obsessed with gross trivia, her next-door neighbor and classmate, Tucker, annoys her to no end, and her mother’s boyfriend, Neil, moved in when her gambling-addict father fled to California with her former BFF, Nikki, and Nikki’s mom. But Olivia can always count on outscoring most of the “Jeopardy!” contestants from the comfort of her living room every weeknight.

A prized chance to be on the program’s Kids Week not only means realizing her dream but a chance to see her father and Nikki. But just when tryouts occur and Olivia needs an adult’s permission to register, her mother loses her job and takes to her bed, and her father can’t spare time away from the card tables. And just when she’s ready to give up because of her father’s broken promises and her Teflon-coated brain in which geography doesn’t stick, Olivia learns to rely on the family and friends who do support her—from Neil becoming one of her biggest fans to Tucker’s extra geography tutoring—and focus on the parts of herself she can control.

As the plucky and resilient girl tries to figure out the answers to both “Jeopardy!” questions and the problems in her life, her constant, quick-thinking mind full of trivia keeps the story light. Her gifts for memorizing facts and feeling empathy prove that her desire to win is nothing like her father’s ruthless addiction. Fans of the game show will revel in the tryout and on-air details, concluding “Jeopardy!” facts, and even an appearance from Alex Trebek himself.

Olivia’s moment in the spotlight is anything but trivial.

Angela Leeper is director of the Curriculum Materials Center at the University of Richmond.

When she was in fourth grade, Natalie Babbitt, the renowned author of the classic Tuck Everlasting, decided that she wanted to be a children’s book illustrator. Even now, nearing 80, she still loves to illustrate, which is obvious from the luminous cover she created for her appealing new middle grade novel, The Moon Over High Street.

The novel takes place in the early 1960s in a small town in Ohio, the state where Babbitt was born and raised. Our hero is 12-year-old Joe Casimir, who, overnight, is suddenly presented with a chance to live the American dream. Orphaned as an infant, Joe lives with his grandmother most of the time. But when she has to enter rehab after breaking her hip, he travels by bus to stay with his Aunt Myra in Midville. By chance, he comes to the attention of an aging millionaire and Midville’s most prominent citizen: Mr. Boulderwall, inventor of the swervit (which, in case you don’t know, is essential to all engines).

Boulderwall offers to adopt the boy, provide a first-class education and make him the heir to his company. Joe is faced with a major decision about the direction he wants his life to take. Can he envision a future in an office job, or is the lure of the moon overhead and a life of discovery where his heart lies?

We don’t have to be 12 and faced with Joe’s incredible opportunity to realize that life often presents hard choices. Babbitt’s novel is not only accessible to young readers, it carries a sense of poignancy for those of us who sometimes still wonder what we’ll be when we grow up. As Babbitt notes in her epilogue, “stories don’t just stop” and the future “changes all the time.” But hopefully, like Joe, we will make decisions that come from our hearts and feel, as Joe says, “really, really good.”

Deborah Hopkinson is the author of many acclaimed books for young readers, including the recent releases Titanic: Voices From the Disaster and A Boy Called Dickens.