“There are things that happen. Little things that make a difference.” For sixth grader Ella, who lives outside Las Vegas, the little things are everything. Her best girlfriend Millie has abandoned the long-standing threesome of Ella, Zachary (known as Z) and Millie, and now Ella’s life is off balance. Someone has to watch out for Z, whose imaginary life is becoming odder and odder, and that someone is Ella. She and Z spend all their time together—at school, at the library or around the neighborhood—and they are often lost in an elaborate fantasy life filled with knights and ladies.

Ella, the only black student in her school, is the object of teasing and taunting. Her skin tone is uneven, which earns her the cruel nickname “Camo Face.” Her unruly hair invites the boys to throw paper and other detritus at her. The fact that she spends all her time with Z only adds to her exclusion. When handsome, socially savvy black student Bailey arrives at the school, things instantly change for everyone, especially Ella. Her new friendship with Bailey is threatening to Z, and Ella feels forced to choose between her old friend and having a larger social life.

What really struck me about Camo Girl was how real this junior high school world felt. Every character, especially narrator Ella, is intensely self-aware. She notices Millie’s hair, how much Z is eating, the exact location of the mean boys, how to extricate items from her hair without being noticed and how to order the right beverage at the soda shop. She thinks long and hard about why Bailey leaves a basketball in her driveway and is always aware of Z, whether he is at school, the library or at Wal-Mart. The three main characters are all looking for the same thing—a father. And this search leads each to see the world through that gaping hole.

Writer Kekla Magoon, who debuted in 2009 with the award-winning civil rights story The Rock and The River, crafts her second novel so perfectly that the reader clings to Ella’s point of view—and, like Ella, is surprised when all the pieces fall into place.

Known for historical and realistic fiction, Newbery Honor author Gennifer Choldenko turns to fantasy in No Passengers Beyond This Point, a wonderfully imaginative adventure story. The novel features 14-year-old India, a typically insecure teenager who values her reputation over her single mother’s insight; six-year-old Mouse, “like Einstein on a sugar high,” who has an imaginary friend and constantly torments her older sister; and 12-year-old Finn, the traditional middle-child peacekeeper who incessantly worries about those around him. All still grieve the loss of their father, who died just before Mouse was born. Now they’re faced with losing their mother, too, when she announces that their house is being foreclosed on by the bank and the children must leave.

While their mother remains in California to finish out the school year, the three siblings fly to Fort Baker, near Denver, to live with their Uncle Red. Their flight takes an unusual detour, however, landing just outside Falling Bird. Picked up by Chuck, a child himself, disguised in a fake mustache and sideburns and driving a pink taxi with white feathers stuck to it, the trio immediately suspects something strange is afoot. Their apprehension gives way to delight when they arrive to a personalized welcome to the city and they are each given a dream house, complete with a mother or father who knows and meets all of their wishes. When India, Finn and Mouse realize that this city of dreams is just an illusion, it may be too late to travel back to the airport and find home.

No Passengers Beyond This Point is reminiscent of such classics as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. As the children race a clock counting down time and never know who to trust, they begin to understand their mother and her hard decisions, to act instead of worry and to work together as a family. When readers reach the surprise ending, they’ll immediately want to reread this fascinating story to look for clues missed along the way.

One day, 12-year-old Daralynn Oakland is grounded for going fishing in Doc Lake without telling her mother. Daralynn can’t help but spend the afternoon pouting, especially since being grounded means she will miss going on an airplane ride with her daddy, a pilot, her older brother, Wayne Junior, and little sister, Lilac Rose.

But as it turns out, being grounded keeps Daralynn alive: three members of her family are killed when the plane crashes. Now Daralynn and her mother, Hattie, must face the future alone in their small town of Digginsville, Missouri, population 402.

The tragedy changes life for mother and daughter in so many ways that Daralynn begins to think of her life as divided into two parts: B.C. (Before the Crash) and A.D. (After the Deaths). Before, she had been part of a family of five, and shared a bedroom with her sister. Now there are just the two of them, and she has her own room. To make things worse, her mother doesn’t “do” sad well and won’t talk about the past. So Daralynn takes to writing to her father and siblings, afraid that if she doesn’t keep them in her heart she might forget them.

Some practical things change too. Daralynn gets so many dolls after the accident (237 to be exact) that people start calling her Dolly. She doesn’t particularly like the dolls, but her grandmother, Mamaw, sure does. And Daralynn’s mom, Hattie, does such a fine job fixing Lilac Rose’s hair in her coffin that she gets hired by the local funeral parlor to do dead people’s hair ($45 a corpse).

Their income from the funeral parlor is soon put at risk when the handsome and dashing Mr. Clem Monroe arrives in town. He takes to courting Daralynn’s Aunt Josie (owner of The Summer Sunset Retirement Home for Distinguished Gentlemen). He also opens a new crematorium—directly competing with the Danielson Family Funeral Home where Hattie works.

But is Clem’s business on the up and up? Is he just after Aunt Josie’s heart, or is he really trying to steal her money?

As Daralynn tries to solve the puzzles that unfold—and possibly save her aunt from making a dreadful mistake—she also faces the mysteries of grieving. While her subject matter is serious, author Kate Klise brings humor and warmth to this heartfelt story of healing and hope.

Look, if you’re some kind of fraidy-cat, you don’t need to read this book. Really. If you’re scared to take on anything new, just forget about this one. Try something else, like that book about the boy and the puppy. What’s the title? It’s Heart of a Samurai, by Margi Preus, but seriously, you wouldn’t like it. I mean, why would you want to read about a kid thrust into a situation that would scare the pants off of most people, when you won’t even try peas?

I’ll tell you what, I’ll tell you a little bit about the book, and you’ll see that only someone really brave would want to read it—stop me if it gets too scary. Heart of a Samurai is about a Japanese kid named Manjiro; he’s 14 years old, and he lives in a fishing village, which means that when he grows up, he’ll be a fisherman too. In fact, fishing is what he’s doing when the book opens, but unfortunately for Manjiro and his companions, they’re not doing it very well. They get caught in a storm and are swept ashore on a deserted island, and as the months go by, they are slowly starving to death.

Ok, I can stop now, if you want. Starving is pretty scary. Well . . . if you insist.

Where was I? Oh, yes, starving to death. That’s when the John Howland appears on the horizon; it’s a whaling boat out of Massachusetts, and Manjiro and his friends are terrified when they are rescued. You see, it’s the year 1841, and Japan is a closed society, which has no contact with the West. Manjiro has grown up hearing all sorts of horror stories about what’s out there, far from Japan. Even worse, being taken aboard the American ship means the men will face exile, for once you’re away from Japan, you can never return. Manjiro’s group will have little to do with their rescuers, but he’s a curious boy, and before long he learns a few words of English, and finds himself working alongside the whalers. When they finally put ashore at the Sandwich Islands—what we know today as Hawaii—Manjiro (or John Mung, as he is known to the sailors) is faced with a choice: Try to get back to his native land, or accompany the vessel and its kindly captain to the place known as America.

Oh and there’s one thing I didn’t tell you—even though this is a novel, the story is based on something that really happened!

What would you do? Would you be brave enough to go? Well, no matter; you probably don’t want to read this anyway, right? Way too scary. Just in case, you can pick it up at any bookstore or library—if you have the courage.

Rex Zero has faced the end of the world before, but never like this. His family is moving (again), which only makes living during the Cold War all the more difficult. This time, however, Rex is determined to fight the move. Now a seventh grader, he has finally found a tight group of friends, and he is not about to let them go so easily. Nothing will stop him this time—or will it?

Hoping against hope, Rex builds a nuclear pile of lies as he refuses to give in to change. He doesn’t want to go to his new district school when his friends are going to Hopewell, and so why should he? He saves up money so he can secretly take the public bus to Hopewell, and he stays under the radar at home, which is easy when everyone in his family is acting crazy. Rex’s mom starts smoking and being super moody, Rex’s sister Annie Oakley appears to be keeping some serious secrets of her own and Dad disappears on business and cannot help ease the tension. Rex feels the tug of guilt, but no one is around to stop him.

Despite all of Rex’s cunning, his lies explode in his face. After he gets in a fight with Spew, the school bully, Rex’s devious plot is exposed and he finds himself transferred to his district school. He no longer gets to sit in class with his buds and cute Polly, and the transfer doesn’t keep Spew off his back. Rex finds that his initial lies have much greater consequences than he thought possible, and he is soon biking for his life through the neighborhood streets of Ottawa.

Tim Wynne-Jones’ final installment in the Rex Zero trilogy caps off Rex’s adventures with a bang. Rex Zero: The Great Pretender deals with some heavy issues, as do the previous installments, but the humor of Wynne-Jones’ writing makes the tough stuff easier to deal with. Although it isn’t necessary to read the first two Rex Zero adventures to understand the final book, tweens will want to read them all after enjoying the adventure and heart of Rex’s escapades in 1963 Canada.

A story where family and friends take a front seat to the impending doom of the rest of the world, Rex Zero: The Great Pretender is a boyhood tale that will capture the hearts and imaginations of young readers and parents alike.
 

While most kids would welcome the chance to brag about a father who’s at the president’s beck and call, ready to take on global threats at a moment’s notice, 14-year-old Billy Harriman simply wishes his dad could spend more time with him at their Manhattan high rise, kicking back and watching a Knicks game. Unfortunately, he won’t have that opportunity. At the start of the quick-paced Hero, the latest book for young readers by sportswriter and author Mike Lupica, Billy’s father dies in a mysterious airplane crash.

Still coping with his father’s loss, the eighth grader must also contend with taunting from Spence, basketball rival and school bully. But soon, Billy begins to notice that he’s gaining superhuman strengths and talents, such as the ability to travel long distances in seconds and an enhanced sixth sense. Hoping to make sense of his father’s death, he travels to Long Island, where he meets Mr. Herbert, a strange old man who claims to have known his father and his true identity. Shocked to discover that his father was a real superhero and that he may become one too, Billy has no time to spare as “the Bads” begin following him and threatening his friends and family.

Every superhero needs a female to rescue, and Billy is no exception. While his best friend, Kate, is gifted in intelligence and reasoning, Billy suddenly finds his new powers especially handy when she’s threatened by the Bads. She also helps him figure out whom to trust now that his world is filled with constant peril.

Lupica includes plenty of sports references in this exciting tale, as well as numerous nods to Superman, Spiderman, Star Wars and other superheroes and pop culture fighters. Billy’s desire to live up to his new persona and unanswered questions about his father’s background beg for a sequel to this story for any boy who’s ever wished to be a hero—and who hasn’t?

Mary Downing Hahn channels Edgar Allen Poe-meets-Oliver Twist in her latest hair-raising thriller, The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall. When 12-year-old orphan Florence arrives at her amiable great-uncle’s estate far from the bleak London orphanage where she has grown up, she is thrown headfirst into a murderous plot by her vengeful cousin, Sophia—who should be resting peacefully in her grave after her accidental death almost a year ago.

Though mourned by her great-aunt Eugenie, Sophia still terrorizes her younger brother James from beyond the grave, even causing him to be confined to bed after a “sickness.” Even as sick as he is, James is grateful to be alive—which he won’t be for much longer if Sophia gets her way. If her wicked plan succeeds, Crutchfield Hall will never be safe for any of its residents again.

During her 30-year writing career, Hahn has become a favorite among young readers thirsting for a touch of unreality and horror. Her stories are noted for being spooky but never to the extreme, can’t-go-to-sleep-at-night level.

In The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall she maintains a chilling level of suspense while exploring the bonds between siblings, family and friends. Taking her cues from classic stories by Poe and the Brönte sisters, Hahn gives readers an atmospheric and age-appropriate ghost story that's sure to set the stage for Halloween.

When I teach my second graders about Grimm’s fairytales, they are often shocked by the graphic details in the stories they know only through the Disney movies they have watched since toddlerhood. It’s interesting to watch their faces when Cinderella’s stepsisters lop off their toes and heels or when Snow White’s stepmother dances to her death in red-hot iron shoes. Now that I have read Adam Gidwitz’s take on Hansel and Gretel, I know exactly what my students really feel: sheer terror.

Like any good storyteller, Gidwitz lures his readers into his tale. His light touch, humorous use of direct address ("if such things bother you, we should probably stop right now") and tongue-in-cheek warnings make the reader want to take up his challenge and turn the page, no matter what.

Gidwitz weaves a number of original tales into one satisfying, daring story of a brother and sister making their way in a world where adults, particularly parents, are unreliable, untrustworthy and in desperate need of forgiveness. The children learn to rely on each other as they make their way through many trials and eventually back home.

I found one chapter, “A Smile as Red as Blood,” downright disturbing. It involves a young man who invites Gretel, despite the warnings of the author and every character in the story, to his home in the woods where he has lured many young women before. Cannibalism in fairy tales is nothing new, but these graphic descriptions, no matter how the narrator assures the reader of the eventual outcome, is more than a little surprising.

Readers looking for a truly terrifying story, one that might give the most hardened middle schooler delicious nightmares, need look no further. And, if they make their way to the end of this somewhat familiar tale, they might find “the brightest beauty and the most luminous wisdom” that awaits them in the land of Grimm.

Few children can imagine walking eight hours a day or digging by hand deep into the mud, just to find water for their family. But the backbreaking work under the hot African sun is just a typical day for 11-year-old Nya, growing up in Sudan circa 2008. She rarely complains; it would do no good.

Salva, also 11, is from a prominent, upper-class Sudanese family. As the Second Sudanese Civil War erupts in the mid-1980s, Salva is forced to run as bombs hit his village. Fleeing quickly and leaving his family behind, he joins up with bands of strangers—all headed out of their war-torn homeland to Ethiopia.

Difficult as it may be, both Nya and Salva come to accept their own long walks to water—each peppered with challenges and each tied to family and survival. Nya’s sister becomes very ill; Salva loses several loved ones. But Newbery Award winner Linda Sue Park’s brilliant dual narrative provides a soulful insight into both journeys.

Both Salva and Nya are urged on by their individual reserves of hope—for a better tomorrow, a better future—but neither really knows what lies beyond. The book’s denouement, however, intertwines their stories in a soul-satisfying and optimistic way.

A Long Walk to Water is based on Salva Dut’s true story of perseverance amid adversity. But beyond that, it’s a touching narrative about strife and survival on a scale most American readers will never see.

In Forge, the highly anticipated sequel to National Book Award finalist Chains, runaway slave Curzon finds himself alone. Rescued from a New York prison by fellow slave Isabel at the conclusion of the first novel, Curzon is left on his own when Isabel sneaks away to locate her younger sister in South Carolina. His solitary situation doesn’t last long, however.

Curzon unexpectedly saves the life of Ebenezer Woodruff, a young rebel soldier in the Sixteenth Massachusetts Regiment and nephew of the regiment’s commanding sergeant. He enlists in the Patriot army and marches with his comrades to Valley Forge as the end of 1777 approaches.

With meticulous detail and gripping insight, enhanced by chapter headings with quotes from primary source documents, Laurie Halse Anderson presents the brutal conditions—tattered clothes, starvation, frost bite, disease and leaky huts built by hand with pure sweat and few tools—that tested soldiers’ spirits during the Revolutionary War. In addition to these atrocities, Curzon must contend with constant racism. He remains tentatively protected as long as Eben’s uncle is in charge, but the sergeant’s demise brings new dilemmas to the African-American soldier’s already tenuous situation. As in Chains, the ideal of freedom is frequently questioned: Curzon prepares to fight for freedom—but for whose freedom?

An escalating series of twists and turns forces Curzon down more paths that may affect his freedom. As a result, Forge not only represents the encampment, but also the notion of building relationships, a brotherhood, a nation and, most importantly, freedom for all.

Fans of historical fiction will delight in the lengthy appendix, which provides more information about the author’s research, true events at Valley Forge, African-American soldiers and the real-life historical figures who make an appearance in the story, such as George Washington, Nathanael Greene and Benedict Arnold. But it’s the thrilling conclusion that will leave readers eager for the next portion of Curzon and Isabel’s story in the final Seeds of America novel.

Lulu is a girl with a mind of her own.

An only child with indulgent parents, she proclaims that she wants a pet brontosaurus for her birthday—and she expects to get one.

"At first Lulu's mom and her dad just thought she was making a little joke. And then they saw—oh, horrors!—that she was serious."

When two weeks of temper tantrums and screeching fail to produce a brontosaurus, Lulu packs a bag and sets out, determined to find a dinosaur on her own.

In Lulu and the Brontosaurus, a new chapter book for early readers, veteran writer Judith Viorst introduces a character as prickly and unique as Alexander (of Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day fame). Lane Smith's highly stylized illustrations depict Lulu as a beady-eyed brat with an oversized head, annoying but extremely plucky as she trudges through a fanciful forest in search of the elusive brontosaurus.

When she finally encounters a dinosaur, it appears that Lulu has met her match. Just who will be the pet for whom? And could it be that headstrong Lulu will actually learn to say “please”? This test of wills between a tiny girl and a huge beast proceeds to a surprising conclusion, and the story takes a final interesting turn with not one but two alternate endings.

Throughout the book, Viorst interjects bold and often hilarious first-person comments about her storytelling choices as a writer ("if you don’t want to read this book, you can close it up right now—you won’t hurt my feelings," she says at the beginning). It's one of many creative touches that make Lulu and the Brontosaurus a fresh and original choice for young readers.

“Time to visit kinfolk,” Aunt Tilley would say to 12-year-old Delana, reaching for the basket behind the sofa. Delana’s African-American family resided in that basket—photographs of aunts and uncles and cousins were brought out to have their stories told and bits of family history absorbed by Delana. But when Aunt Tilley dies and Delana begins to look further into the stories behind these tintypes, “card visits” and portraits, she realizes that Aunt Tilley’s stories weren’t always accurate—things don’t match up. Aunt Tilley had been so protective that Delana had lived a cautious “locked-up life,” always told what to do and how to be, and never learning the true story of the mother and father she has never known.

When Tilley dies, into Delana’s life comes her mother’s close friend, Ambertine, who urges Delana to get some “freedom wings,” to dream a world better than the one she has. While Tilley taught Delana to beware of life, Ambertine encourages her to see the world anew and decide what she wants out of life. Delana studies her pictures, “searching their faces for clues to me,” gradually “bringing some order to the kinfolk” and finding family in the pictures she has had all along, with new ones offered by Albertine and Grandpa.

Tonya Bolden, best known for her award-winning works of nonfiction for children and teens, sets this beautiful, quiet, “shimmershining” novel in 1905 Charleston, West Virginia, a step into the 20th century, yet not so far from slavery days. Much of the novel has to do with the legacy of slavery and Grandpa’s determination to make a place in the world for his family. Delana’s earnest first-person point of view rings true to the spirit and passions of a girl about to turn 13, and Bolden’s photographs from her personal collection help readers to be partners in Delana’s search for family.

Readers who find themselves entranced by Bolden’s photographs might also try Walter Dean Myers’ Here in Harlem and Lois Lowry’s The Silent Boy, both wonderfully wrought volumes that tell stories in words and photographs.