The setting: The Brightman ranch, 60 acres of beauty in rural New Mexico. The joyful sounds of children playing, horses running, a dog barking.

The reality: A perilous war rages around them, threatening not only their existence, but their friends, neighbors and, ultimately, their beliefs.

Sky Brightman just wants to be a normal preteen. But nothing is normal in Sky’s world, and it hasn’t been for years, with terrorist strikes and widespread rationing. And even though Sky’s family is protected—living far off the grid that has long since collapsed—her world will soon become the epicenter of the melee.

An attack sends the Brightman family rushing to the grocery store for supplies. There they witness a hurtful and potentially dangerous confrontation, aimed at a family of foreign descent.

Then, mysterious arrests begin to occur—including the father of Sky’s close friend, Kareem. When Kareem himself is targeted, Sky is forced to look outside the narrow constraints of her sheltered world.

Sky takes on the forces of injustice and hatred herself, but ultimately her entire family teams up—exemplifying how resolve and the strong, sure voice of a young girl can have a big impact.

Diane Stanley’s thought-provoking novel is a timely take on the post-9/11 world, which is often rife with fear, ethnic/racial controversies and mistrust. The book is especially moving when readers witness the ever-protective and quick-witted Sky defending her friend amid dangerous circumstances.

Though Saving Sky addresses serious topics, Sky’s personality injects humor and hope into the story—making this book an insightful and conversation-opening read for preteens.

Because he has a secret he wants to keep, Johannes von Brock needs a certain kind of traveling companion—and he thinks he’s found someone perfect for the job. Ten-year-old Ansel is a smart boy, but he’s mute, and has been since his mother died suddenly when he was seven.

When Brock comes through their medieval village, Ansel’s father virtually gives him to the man, and so the lad finds himself serving an ersatz knight on an impossible quest: dragon hunting.

Award-winning British author Philip Reeve takes an old story and turns it on its ear in No Such Thing as Dragons, a beautifully written adventure story with surprising touches of humor and insight. At the heart of this compelling tale is a youngster forced by circumstances to be more than he dreams he can be.

Brock and his silent charge are headed for the village of Knochen, where, so they say, a dragon ravages the countryside. Though Brock has been hired to slay the beast, Ansel learns from his cheerfully honest boss that dragons aren’t real, and that Brock is basically a con artist. When they arrive at Knochen, they are met by an old acquaintance of Brock’s, a friar of dubious morality named Father Flegel. He informs them that the villagers have taken a young girl named Else up to a high pasture and left her there as a sacrifice to the monster. As Ansel hears the tales of the villagers, he begins to wonder if there may be something to the stories after all, and as he, Brock and a reluctant Flegel climb the mountain in search of the little girl, signs point to just one conclusion: Brock may be wrong!

No Such Thing As Dragons is a thoughtful and rewarding story that will tempt young readers—especially boys—to quit those video games for a while and get drawn into the infinitely more vivid worlds of their own imagination.

In The Year Money Grew on Trees, first-time children’s author Aaron R. Hawkins, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, mines his own childhood memories of working in his family’s apple orchard. The result is as warm and delicious as a slice of apple pie.

It’s only February, but Jackson Jones, who lives on a dirt road in New Mexico, is already thinking about a summer job. His father wants him to work in the local junkyard. His neighbor, Mrs. Nelson, offers an alternative: If he can prove that he is a true heir to her late husband’s 300 apple trees, she will give the orchard to him. There’s only one catch—first he has to make $8,000 from this year’s crop and pay it to Mrs. Nelson.

Without revealing the precise details of the deal to anyone, even his parents, Jackson recruits a motley crew of cousins and siblings to tackle the challenge of bringing the orchard back to life. The kids supply the hard work, day in and day out. Advice (such as it is) must come from the one book on apple growing Jackson manages to track down in the school library, along with tips from adults in the community. Little by little, Jackson and his crew find out what they need to know, from pruning to fertilizing, thinning, irrigating and picking. The text is enhanced by the author’s delightful drawings—maps of the orchard, sketches of a tree before and after pruning, and diagrams of such essentials as the irrigation system. Teachers will be pleased to see how Jackson uses math to figure out his anticipated profits and expenses in the quest to become the orchard’s new owner.

The Year Money Grew on Trees yields a harvest of riches, not only as a wonderful story of one boy’s resourcefulness but as a humorous and insightful portrait of a community. Take a bite!

Guilt is a heavy burden to bear for adults, and it’s doubly so for a child; children don’t have the wisdom that comes with years to discern when events are due merely to chance, and when they are truly due to an individual’s actions; or maybe kids just don’t know how to rationalize themselves out of it. Fadi Sahid certainly doesn’t. The protagonist of N. H. Senzai’s debut novel, Shooting Kabul, is carrying a huge weight on his small shoulders—the loss of his sister Miriam. Born in Wisconsin to Afghani parents, he moved back to his father’s native land while barely in grade school, and now—a middle schooler—he’s escaped with his family from the Taliban-controlled country. In the confusion of the escape, his 6-year old sister Miriam is lost, and Fadi feels like it’s his fault. Now he’s living in San Francisco, coping with adjusting to a new school and new friends, but his heart is half a world away.

While Fadi can’t imagine things could get any worse, they do—a lot worse—for you see, it’s the fall of 2001, and not long after he starts school, the September 11 attack makes his life almost unbearable, with name-calling, threats and physical violence. He perseveres, however, because he has a goal. Fadi’s one passion is photography, and he joins Ms. Bethune’s Photography Club when he hears about a city-wide student photography contest; the prize is a trip to India, and Fadi thinks that from there, he should be able to make it back to Afghanistan to find his sister!

With a little help from his big sister Noor, and his friend (and potential girlfriend) Anh, Fadi will try his utmost to win the contest, bring his mother Zafoona some peace, and try to stop one bully who has it in for him. N. H. Senzai has written a compelling novel for young readers, one that puts them in the shoes of a culture that’s been largely misunderstood because of recent events. And it has an ending that you won’t see coming; what more could you ask for?

It’s a good day for new readers when Grace Lin decides to write a book especially for them. And in Ling & Ting we have a story with details that new readers will love—twins, chapters, sunny illustrations and funny, realistic situations.

Twins Ling and Ting look exactly alike until a wiggling Ting causes a sneeze that makes the barber slip with his scissors. Now, people can certainly tell them apart. Six related stories introduce these two sisters, who have their own distinct personalities. When Ling does a card trick, Ting forgets the card she is supposed to remember. Ting’s dumplings are fat and lumpy, while Ling’s are smooth. Ting is adventurous with her chopsticks while Ling wisely uses a fork. Ting checks out the wrong library book for her sister. Each story is a slice of sisterly life filled with two little girls who enjoy each other, no matter what they look like.

There are so many things to like about this sweet offering for beginning readers. The story is constructed carefully so that new readers will have success. Many of the words are sight words and the other words are easily sounded out. Lin has the girls repeat parts of the stories, giving the new reader a way to remember the story while practicing reading new words. The stories are simple and familiar, but not boring. Lin’s whimsical illustrations show two sisters who enjoy each other and are just the kind of friends a first or second grade girl would like to have—kind and adventuresome, with a good sense of humor.

Writing for new readers is much more challenging than it looks, and Grace Lin successfully meets the challenges with a book that’s both readable and fun. Ling and Ting are sure to attract many fans, and we can only hope that the author has more adventures in store for these likable twins!

Here’s something new in the world of children’s literature—a documentary novel, in which the narrator’s fictional story set in 1962 is interwoven with photographs, newspaper headlines, song lyrics and ads. The narrative, however, is not stuck in one particular era; it extends back in time through Uncle Otts’ stories of World War I, and forward through the author’s expository pieces on such topics as John F. Kennedy and the later Civil Rights movement. It’s an effective way to demonstrate how our lives are wrapped up in our times, affected by the past and shaping the future.

Franny Chapman is 11 years old and in fifth grade, trying to balance her home life, school life and all of the bad news about the state of the world. TV reports about Vietnam and the Cuban Missile Crisis and duck-and-cover-drills at school make her confused and fearful. She composes a letter to Khrushchev, keeps up with her school work and helps around the house, but she’s convinced she’s “a goner, a kid who stays up half the night trying to figure out the horror of the world and trying to survive it.”

She has to survive fifth grade, too—a new awareness of boys, a first boy-girl party, a friend who becomes not so friendly and an older sister who doesn’t seem to have time for her anymore.

Franny rings true, her voice pitch-perfect, as an intelligent and earnest young girl just trying to get along. She does survive and even becomes a hero, loses a friend and regains her, and finds a sense of herself in the larger scheme of things. By the end of this innovative and finely wrought novel, Franny sees the sense of her older sister’s advice: “There are always scary things happening in the world. There are always wonderful things happening. And it’s up to you to decide how you’re going to approach the world . . . how you’re going to live in it, and what you’re going to do.”

Countdown is a sure contender for this year’s Newbery Medal.

Ten-year-old Ellie Stewart knows she’s in for a hard time when she’s forced to spend the summer of 1954 with her taciturn Grandma Acklebee, whom she’s never known, in her home on the prairie of Western Canada while her struggling single father travels the countryside selling Marvelous Cookware. Ellie tries to please her grandmother, but the hardened woman blames the lonely girl for every fault, including the death of Ellie’s mother, who died the day Ellie was born.

Gradually, the girl manages to find relief from the monotony of farm life and her grandmother’s harsh judgments. New acquaintance Marcy and her know-it-all antics show Ellie how friends are not supposed to act and, in contrast, prove Ellie’s levelheadedness and respect to her grandmother. Uncle Roger, burned after saving his cows from a barn fire, brings fun to the household and helps Ellie see how Grandma has closed herself off from any emotions. Ellie’s greatest enjoyment, however, comes from Sammy, an injured magpie, which she nurses back to health.

Reminiscent of Sarah, Plain and Tall, this heartfelt story chronicles a prairie family adjusting to grief and change. As she explores the familial relationships, author Valerie Sherrard also provides fascinating descriptions of life in rural Canada.

The return of Ellie’s father leads to a bittersweet transition. Although her prayers are finally answered, the girl’s goodbyes to her uncle and grandmother are harder than expected. In the process of learning to see and appreciate one another, this new family has also found love.

Open up My Life as a Book, and you’ll immediately be drawn in, whether you’re 9 or 90. Young Derek Fallon, the narrator, has a breezy style and lots of things going on in his life. The good news: It’s summer. The bad news: Derek hates to read, and he’s got a summer reading list. He’s been labeled a “reluctant reader,” and that’s an understatement. He likes to draw, however, and he enjoys making stick-figure drawings to illustrate vocabulary words. These fun drawings appear throughout the book, created by author Janet Tashjian’s 14-year-old son, Jake.

At the heart of Derek’s summer is a mystery: He encounters an old newspaper clipping about a teenage girl who drowned on Martha’s Vineyard while she was babysitting Derek. Derek was just a toddler and remembers nothing, and he naturally wants to know more. His mother doesn’t want to discuss it, so Derek becomes a detective, leading to a series of discoveries and adventures.

By the end of the summer, Derek has barely read one of his three assigned books, but he has learned many lessons. As he explains to his teacher, he learns that “we all mess up sometimes and struggle with things that are difficult. That even if reading is hard, everyone needs stories. I didn’t want to read the books on the list, but I wound up surrounded by stories anyway.”

My Life as a Book is a fabulous, fast-paced choice for reluctant and avid readers alike.

The heroine of Princess Says Goodnight is an average young lady in an average family, with a mom, dad, older brother and sis, a cat and a dog, all of whom relax in their family room one evening and slump on their green plaid couch.

But ah, the transformative powers of imagination! As the tired and yawning parents escort their youngest to bed, she radiates energy in her pink tutu and socks, ready to dance the night away. She curtsies in the mirror, sees a gold crown atop her red locks and imagines herself “At the palace in the nighttime,” leaving the ball.

Naomi Howland’s simple, rhyming text transforms the little girl’s nightly ritual into something grand: “Will she hold a candelabra / while climbing up the stairs / and have a frothy glass of milk / with chocolate cream eclairs?”

This is every little girl’s dream come true, and David Small’s always delightful illustrations show the princess’ now-majestic bedroom, containing a four-poster gold bed with a purple canopy and bedspread. This princess’ entire family is also transformed; they are suddenly decked in royal attire. Look closely, and notice how the brother’s red-checkered pajamas transform so nicely into a jester’s outfit as he takes his sister’s lovely slippers away on a tray.

The house is, of course, completely changed into a fairy-tale castle, as the princess gazes out of one of its turreted towers. Who wouldn’t love a bathtub in the shape of a giant golden swan, with different towels for each toe?

The royal treatment continues, with a lullaby and story, but at the end of the evening, our princess is in need of one thing only: a kiss from her very own mom and dad, back in her own bed. Nothing is more comforting than that, after all.

Princess Says Goodnight is a sweet read for young princesses everywhere waiting to be tucked in.

Why do people write? To express themselves? To reach others? To inspire? Whatever the reasons, five fourth graders in Miss Cash’s class are about to get the lessons of their lives—courtesy of visiting author Ms. Mirabel.

Ms. Mirabel brings with her not only a melodious name and ebullient spirit, but what she calls “magical words.” And BFFs Lucy, Henry, Evie, Russell and May are spellbound—both by having such an interesting visitor and by learning how to tell their own stories, word after word after word.

“I, myself, write to change my life, to make it come out the way I want it to,” Ms. Mirabel tells the kids. But she encourages them to find their own words and their own reasons for putting pen to paper. Words have power, but it’s up to the writer to find the right ones for them.

One of the kids faces family relationship issues. Another deals with a serious family illness. All of them, however, share their stories underneath the lilac bush at Henry’s house after school. And that’s where the magical words fill their notebooks with the poems and prose that reflect their own lives.

In Word After Word After Word, Newbery Medal winner Patricia MacLachlan weaves a gentle, funny story about five friends, their camaraderie and the words that ultimately stir each of them. Ms. Mirabel’s encouragement is a timeless—and well-stated—lesson in creative writing.

Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer, John Grisham’s first book for middle-grade readers—and book one in a planned series—will no doubt have wide appeal. Precocious tween bookworms will admire Theodore Boone, a 13-year-old wannabe lawyer, and reluctant readers will keep flipping the pages due to an action-packed plot.

The only child of two busy attorneys, Theo’s passion in life is the law. He hangs out at the courthouse in his small city, and he knows every lawyer, judge, court clerk and cop in town. In a closet-sized office, he gives legal advice to classmates when their parents are filing for divorce or their pets are charged with violating the leash law. When a big murder case goes to trial, Theo organizes a field trip for his government class to observe the first day’s proceedings.

In Emily’s Fortune, Newbery Award-winning author Phyllis Reynolds Naylor has penned a fast-paced Western adventure perfect for summer afternoons. The story is a delightful departure for this versatile writer, and a wonderful comic romp for young readers.

The heroine, Emily Wiggins, is a shy eight-year-old. She lives with her mother, who works for the wealthy Miss Luella Nash (also known as Loony Lu). Emily is quiet and well-behaved, and it’s a good thing. Miss Nash is of the firm belief that children should be seen (rarely) and not heard (at all).

One day, a terrible carriage accident leaves Emily alone in the world—except for her turtle, Rufus, and some well-meaning neighbors. At this momentous crossroad, Emily sets her hopes on going to live with kind Aunt Hilda in Redbud, a long stagecoach ride away. But all is not resolved so easily. Miss Catchum, of the infamous Catchum Child-Catching Services, informs Emily that she must live with mean and nasty Uncle Victor.

“Now what in a devil’s doughnut should Emily do?” Run away on the next stagecoach, of course. And that’s exactly what Emily does, launching a series of adventures that test her gumption, her new friendship with a (stray) boy named Jackson and even the steely nerves of Rufus the turtle. Readers will find themselves on the edge of their seats asking, “What in pickin’ poppies could possibly happen next?”

With its colorful old-West expressions, delightful illustrations by Ross Collins and inventive use of fonts aimed at grabbing even the most reluctant reader’s attention, Emily’s Fortune is just the book to launch a summer of reading adventures. 

“Put on your veil, grab your hive tool, and light up your smoker we’re going into a beehive,” begins The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe. 

With its clear, readable text, amazing photographs and attractive design, the latest title in the “Scientists in the Field” series not only takes readers inside a beehive, but provides a fascinating look at how scientists and beekeepers are working together to research an alarming drop in honey bees.

Readers of The Hive Detectives will feel like investigators themselves. The first chapter provides an engaging introduction to beekeeping by following the activities of Mary Duane, who keeps bees in her backyard as a hobby. Readers see Mary preparing a smoker and using hive tools to check the health of her bees.

Thanks to this background, it’s easy for readers to appreciate the plight of Dave Hackenberg, a commercial beekeeper, who in November 2006 discovered that 400 of his hives were mysteriously decimated. Author Loree Griffin Burns, who has a Ph.D. in Biology and writes about science for children, follows Hackenberg’s quest to bring the honey bee catastrophe to the attention of policymakers and scientists. A center spread provides short bios of four of the researchers who ultimately collaborated on investigations to discover what might be causing colony collapse disorder (CCD) throughout the country.

The Hive Detectives not only tells a compelling story, it is a visual feast, with high quality photographs, an exceptionally appealing design that draws the reader into the topic and a clear, concise glossary. Just as the scientists are profiled in a scrapbook format, the same layout is used to provide information on the parts of the insect and “bios” of the bees that comprise a hive: drones, workers and queen.

Scientists are still looking for the causes of CCD, but it’s clear that chemicals and pesticides play a crucial role. Books like The Hive Detectives are integral to helping young readers—and their parents—gain a better understanding not only of how scientists work to solve real-life problems, but how all of us can be part of solutions by the choices we make.

And that’s definitely a sweet discovery.

Deborah Hopkinson’s newest book (also about bees) is entitled The Humblebee Hunter: Inspired by the Life and Experiments of Charles Darwin and his Children.