Welcome to Dog Beach Lisa Greenwald Twelve-year-old Remy loves the traditions of Seagate, the island where her family spends every summer vacation, but after her grandmother and a special dog die, everything changes.
The Quest Begins Book 1 in the Seekers Series Erin Hunter One black bear, one polar bear, and one grizzly bear travel on a perilous quest to the Northern Lights, escorting a shape-shifting grizzly cub whose destiny will affect them all.
Bailey's Story W. Bruce Cameron Every dog has work to do. Every dog has a purpose.When Bailey meets eight-year-old Ethan, he quickly figures out his purpose: to play with the boy, to explore the Farm during summers with the boy, and to tidy the boy's dishes by licking them clean (only when Mom isn't watching). But Bailey soon learns that life isn't always so simple--that sometimes bad things happen--and that there can be no greater purpose than to protect the boy he loves.
I, Freddy Dietlof Reiche Freddy, a remarkably intelligent golden hamster, learns how to read and how to write on a computer and escapes captivity to become an independent and civilized creature.
Fantasy & Science Fiction
The Fourteenth Goldfish Jennifer L. Holm Ellie's scientist grandfather has discovered a way to reverse aging and consequently has turned into a teenager, which makes for complicated relationships when her grandfather moves in with Ellie and her mother, Grandpa's daughter.
Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy Karen Foxlee Ophelia, a timid eleven-year-old girl grieving her mother, suspends her disbelief in things non-scientific when a boy locked in the museum where her father is working asks her to help him complete an age-old mission.
Gregor the Overlander Suzanne Collins When eleven-year-old Gregor and his two-year-old sister are pulled into a strange underground world, they trigger an epic battle involving men, bats, rats, cockroaches, and spiders while on a quest foretold by ancient prophecy.
The Emerald Atlas John Stephens Kate, Michael, and Emma have passed from one orphanage to another in the ten years since their parents disappeared, but now they learn they have special powers, a prophesied quest to find a magical book, and a fearsome enemy.
The City of Ember Jeanne DuPrau In the year 241, twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a messenger, to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse Unknown Regions.
Tuesdays at the Castle Jessica Day George Eleven-year-old Princess Celie lives at Castle Glower, which adds rooms, stairways, or secret passageways most every Tuesday. When the king and queen are ambushed while traveling, it is up to Celie, the Castle's favorite, to protect their home.
A Tale Dark and Grimm Adam Gidwitz This book follows Hansel and Gretel as they walk out of their own story and into eight more tales, encountering wicked creatures such as witches, as well as kindly strangers and other helpful folk.
Midnight for Charlie Bone Jenny Nimmo Charlie Bone's life with his widowed mother and two grandmothers undergoes a dramatic change when he discovers that he can hear people in photographs talking.
Humor
The Terrible Two Mac Barnett and Jory John When master prankster Miles Murphy moves to sleepy Yawnee Valley, he challenges the local mystery prankster in an epic battle of tricks. Soon the two join forces to pull off the biggest prank ever seen.
Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Not Reading Tommy Greenwald Middle schooler Charlie Joe is proud of his success at avoiding reading, but eventually his schemes go too far.
The Strange Case of Origami Yoda Tom Angleberger Sixth-grader Tommy and his friends describe their interactions with a paper finger puppet of Yoda, worn by their weird classmate Dwight, as they try to figure out whether the puppet can really predict the future.
Mission Unstoppable Book 1 in The Genius Files Dan Gutman On a cross-country vacation with their parents, twins Coke and Pepsi, soon to be thirteen years old, fend off strange assassins as they try to come to terms with their being part of a top-secret government organization known as The Genius Files.
Study Hall of Justice Derek Fridolfs Using comics, journal entries, and doodles, this illustrated novel follows young Bruce Wayne and his friends Clark (Superman) and Diana (Wonder Woman) as they start a Junior Detective Agency to investigate Ducard Academy.
Friends & Family Stories
Fish in a Tree Lynda Mullaly Hunt Ally's greatest fear is that everyone will find out she is dyslexic and doesn't know how to read. Mr. Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the troublemaker, and with his help, Ally learns she has nothing to be ashamed of.
A Handful of Stars Cynthia Lord Twelve-year-old Lily befriends Salma, a Hispanic girl whose family is in Maine for blueberry picking season, but as a local pageant approaches, the girls are confronted with the hard truths of prejudice and migrant life.
11 Birthdays Wendy Mass After having a falling out on their tenth birthday and not speaking to each other for the last year, Amanda and Leo prepare to celebrate their eleventh birthday separately, but peculiar things begin to happen.
The Thing About Leftovers C. C. Payne Fizzy is a good Southern girl who just wants to be perfect. And win the Southern Living cook-off. The being perfect part is hard though, since her parents’ divorced and everything in her life has changed.
Prairie Evers Ellen Airgood Ten-year-old Prairie is happy being home-schooled and raising her flock of chickens, so transferring to regular school is a big change, but fortunately she meets a wonderful friend.
The Penderwicks Jeanne Birdsall While vacationing with their widowed father in the Berkshire Mountains, four lovable sisters, ages four through twelve, share adventures with a local boy, much to the dismay of his snobbish mother.
The Center of Everything Linda Urban Months after her grandmother's death, twelve-year-old Ruby Pepperdine composes a winning essay honoring her New Hampshire town's namesake, Capt. Cornelius Bunning, the inventor of the donut hole.
Sports
Hothead Cal Ripken, Jr. Connor, All-Star third baseman on his Babe Ruth League team, has a terrible temper and problems at home, but the school paper threatens to publish a story about his tantrums, Connor must make a change.
Football Genius Tim Green Troy, a sixth-grader with an unusual gift for predicting football plays before they occur, attempts to use his ability to help his favorite team, the Atlanta Falcons, but he must first prove himself to the coach and players.
Inside College Football series This series highlights some of college football’s most popular teams. Readers will learn about each team’s history, popular players, and most intense rivalries.
The Contract Derek Jeter Derek Jeter dreams of one day playing for the New York Yankees, but right now, he needs to beat Gary Parnell on the next math test and lead his Little League team to victory.
Mysteries
Masterminds Gordon Korman In the too-perfect setting of Serenity, New Mexico, Eli Frieden and twenty-nine other kids discover they were cloned from the DNA of some of the greatest criminal masterminds in history for a sociological experiment.
Masterpiece Elise Broach After Marvin, a beetle, makes a miniature drawing as an eleventh birthday gift for James, a human with whom he shares a house, the two new friends work together to help recover a Dürer drawing stolen from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Floors Patrick Carman Ten-year-old Leo's future and the fate of the extraordinary Whippet Hotel, where his father is the maintenance man, are at stake when a series of cryptic boxes leads Leo to hidden floors, strange puzzles, and unexpected alliances.
Chasing Vermeer Blue Balliett When seemingly unrelated and strange events start to happen and a precious Vermeer painting disappears, eleven-year-olds Petra and Calder combine their talents to solve an international art scandal.
Historical Fiction
The (Mostly) True Adventures of Homer P. Figg Rodman Philbrick Homer P. Figg escapes from his ruthless guardian's home in Pine Swamp, Maine, and sets out to find his beloved older brother, Harold, who has been illegally sold into the Union Army.
Dear Hank Williams Kimberly Willis Holt In 1948 Louisiana, 11-year-old Tate writes letters to her favorite country singer, sharing her dreams of becoming a singer and revealing that her mother is in prison.
The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 Christopher Paul Curtis The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they visit Grandma Sands in Alabama in the summer of 1963.
Al Capone Does My Shirts Gennifer Choldenko A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards' families were housed there, and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister.