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Acampora, Paul. I Kill the Mockingbird. Roaring Brook, 2014. When best friends Lucy, Elena, and Michael receive their summer reading list, they are excited to see the book To Kill a Mockingbird included … but not everyone in their class shares the same enthusiasm. So the three friends hatch a plot to get the entire town talking about the well-known Harper Lee classic.
Alexander, Kwame. The Crossover. Houghton Mifflin, 2014. Twins, Josh and Jordan, both of whom love basketball, begin to grow apart in adolescence at the same time as their father, a former basketball star, begins to experience health issues. Written in verse. Newbery Award 2015
Aronson, Marc. Trapped: How the World Rescued 33 Miners From 2,000 Feet Below the Chilean Desert. Atheneum, 2011. The true story of thirty-three miners trapped in a copper-gold mine in San Jose, Chile, and how experts from around the world, from drillers, to astronauts, to submarine specialists, came together to make their remarkable rescue possible.
Asimov, Isaac. The Stars, Like Dust. First published 1951. At the death of his father, Biron Farrill becomes involved in the plot to rebel against the Tyranni who have conquered many worlds. Series
Auxier, Jonathan. The Night Gardener. Amulet Books, 2014. Irish orphans Molly, fourteen, and Kip, ten, travel to England to work as servants in a crumbling manor house where nothing is quite what it seems to be, and soon the siblings are confronted by a mysterious stranger and secrets of the cursed house.
Barrett, Tracy. The Stepsister’s Tale. Harlequin Teen, 2014. Jane and her sister struggle to live with their slightly deranged mother in a decaying mansion when their mother surprises them both by marrying again and bringing home not only a new husband but also a spoiled, exasperating stepsister.
Bascomb, Neal. The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World’s Most Notorious Nazi. Arthur Levine, 2013. Recounts how, sixteen years after the end of World War II, a team of undercover Israeli agents captured the Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann, in a remote area of Argentina and brought him to trial in Israel for crimes committed during the Holocaust.
Bauer, Joan. Almost Home. Viking, 2012. When twelve-year-old Sugar's grandfather dies and her gambling father takes off, yet again, Sugar and her mother lose their home in Missouri. They head to Chicago for a fresh start, only to discover that fresh starts are not so easy to come by for the homeless.
Benway, Robin. Also Known As. Walker Books, 2013. As the active-duty daughter of international spies, sixteen-year-old safecracker Maggie Silver never attended high school. So when she and her parents are sent to New York for her first solo assignment, Maggie is introduced to cliques, school lunches, and maybe even a boyfriend. Series
Black, Holly. Doll Bones. McElderry Books, 2013. Three middle school friends, who have long enjoyed acting out imaginary adventures with dolls and action figures, embark on a real-life quest to bury a doll made from the ashes of a dead girl, but nothing goes according to plan. As their adventure turns into an epic journey, creepy things begin to happen.
Bondoux, Anne-Laure. A Time of Miracles. Translated from the French by Y. Maudet. Delacorte, 2010. In the early 1990s, a boy with a mysterious past and the woman who cares for him endure a five-year journey across the war-torn Caucasus and Europe, weathering hardships and welcoming unforgettable encounters with other refugees searching for a better life. Batchelder Award Winner 2011
Bow, Erin. Sorrow’s Knot. Arthur A. Levine Books, 2013. Otter is a girl of the Shadowed People, and she is born to be a binder, a woman whose power it is to tie the knots that bind the dead - the only thing that keeps the living safe; but something is terribly wrong in their tribe. Can Otter find a way to save her people?
Britt, Fanny. Jane, the Fox & Me. Translated from the French by Christine Morelli and Susan Ouriou. Groundwood Books, 2013. Hélène seeks solace in the pages of Jane Eyre while the girls who were once her friends ostracize her; but when she is humiliated on a class trip in front of her entire grade, she needs more than a fictional character to allow her to see herself as a person deserving of laughter and friendship.
Brown, Don. Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina & New Orleans. Houghton Mifflin, 2015. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina's monstrous winds and surging water overwhelmed the protective levees around low-lying New Orleans, Louisiana. The tale of this historic storm and the drowning of an American city is one of selflessness, heroism, and courage -- and also of incompetence, racism, and criminality. Graphic novel.
Bullard, Lisa. Turn Left at the Cow. Houghton Mifflin, 2013. Travis runs away from his home in California to his grandmother’s home in rural Minnesota to find out about his father whom he never knew, and finds himself enmeshed in a mystery about his father, as well as trying to deal with the kids next door.
Carriger, Gail. Etiquette & Espionage. Little, Brown, 2013. In an alternate England of 1851, spirited fourteen-year-old Sophronia is enrolled in a finishing school where she is surprised to learn that lessons include not only the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but also diversion, deceit, and espionage. Series
Catmull, Katherine. Summer and Bird. Dutton, 2012. In the world of Down, young sisters Summer and Bird are separated and go in very different directions as they seek their missing parents, try to vanquish the evil Puppeteer, lead the talking birds back to their Green Home, and discover the identity of the true bird queen.
Choldenko, Gennifer. No Passengers Beyond This Point. Dial Books, 2011. With their house in foreclosure, sisters India and Mouse and their brother Finn are sent to stay with an uncle in Colorado until their mother can join them. However, when the plane lands, the children are welcomed by cheering crowds to a strange place where each of them has a perfect house and a clock that is ticking down the time.
Constable, Cathryn. The Wolf Princess. Scholastic, 2013. Sophie Smith is an orphan stuck in a boarding school in London, but at night she dreams of Russia and wolves – then, on a class trip to Saint Petersburg, she finds herself and her two friends deliberately separated from the group and whisked off into the silver forest of her dreams, where a mystery awaits.
Crossan, Sarah. The Weight of Water. Bloomsbury, 2013. Told in verse, this story is about twelve-year-old Kasienka who immigrates to England from Poland with her mother in search of Kasienka’s father. Sadly, everyone is not friendly except for one neighbor and a cute boy she meets at the swimming pool, which is her only refuge from bullies and an unfamiliar society.
Dashner, James. The Eye of Minds. Delacorte, 2013. Kaine, a cyberterrorist, has been holding players hostage in the VirtNet, a total mind/body virtual reality immersion. Michael and his friends, skilled gamers, are hired to go off the grid to track him down. Series
Davies, Stephen. Outlaw: A Novel. Clarion, 2011. The children of Britain's ambassador to Burkina Faso, fifteen-year-old Jake, who loves technology and adventure, and thirteen-year-old Kas, a budding social activist, are abducted and spend time in the Sahara desert with Yakuuba Sor, who some call a terrorist but others consider a modern-day Robin Hood.
Deuker, Carl. Swagger. Houghton Mifflin, 2013. Jonas’ future looks bright with a college basketball scholarship within reach, but a team member is dead and Jonas knows who is responsible. Should he keep his head down or confront the killer and put his future in jeopardy?
Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir. The Hound of the Baskervilles. First published 1902. Sherlock Holmes is asked to investigate the tale of a mysterious death and a hound that haunts the lonely moors around the Baskervilles' ancestral home.
Elliott, Kate. Court of Fives. Little, Brown, 2015. When a scheming lord tears Jess's family apart, she must rely on her unlikely friendship with Kal, a high-ranking Patron boy, and her skill at Fives, an intricate, multi-level athletic competition that offers a chance for glory, to protect her Commoner mother and mixed-race sisters and save her father's reputation. Series
Eulberg, Elizabeth. Take a Bow. Scholastic, 2012. The Senior Showcase recital at a performing arts high school in New York is approaching: Sophie is grateful for the support of her friends and boyfriend; Emme and Ethan wonder whether they could be more than friends and band-mates; and Carter does not know how to admit that he would rather be a painter than a performer.
Falkner, Brian. The Assault. Random House, 2012. In the year 2030, six teens have been modified to look like the aliens who are battling for control of Earth. Their mission: to go behind enemy lines to uncover and destroy a shocking, secret alien project. Series
Fantaskey, Beth. Buzz Kill. Houghton Mifflin, 2014. Seventeen-year-old Millie joins forces with her classmate, gorgeous but mysterious Chase Colton, to try to uncover who murdered head football coach "Hollerin' Hank" Killdare . . . and why.
Fforde, Jasper. The Last Dragonslayer. Harcourt, 2012. Jennifer Strange runs an agency for underemployed magicians in a world where magic is fading away, but when visions of the death of the world's last dragon begin, all signs point to Jennifer--and Big Magic. Series
Fleming, Candace. The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, & the Fall of Imperial Russia. Schwartz & Wade, 2014. This book recounts the true story of the Romanovs, as both an intimate portrait of Russia's last royal family and as a compelling account of the family’s and Czarist Russia’s fall. Contains many photos and first person accounts.
Freedman, Russell. Becoming Ben Franklin: How a Candle-Maker’s Son Helped Light the Flame of Liberty. Holiday House, 2013. This introduction to the life of young Benjamin Franklin describes how, as a rebellious teen in 1732, he ran away from his family and a Boston apprenticeship to Philadelphia, and how throughout subsequent decades he rose to become a distinguished statesman, renowned author, and world-famous scientist.
Frost, Mark. The Paladin Prophecy. Random House, 2012. Will West is careful to live life under the radar, but now he finds himself in the middle of a millennia-old struggle between titanic forces, as he is recruited by an exclusive prep school and followed by sinister agents. Series
Gansworth, Eric L. If I Ever Get Out of Here. Arthur A. Levine, 2013. Seventh-grader Lewis "Shoe" Blake from the Tuscarora Reservation has a new friend, George Haddonfield from the local Air Force base, but in 1975 upstate New York there is tension between Native Americans and Whites, and in spite of their friendship,
Lewis hides many facts about his life. Native American Youth Literature Award 2014
Gewirtz, Adina. Zebra Forest. Candlewick, 2013. Eleven-year-old Annie and her younger brother are being raised by their Gran and are surrounded by family secrets, but everything changes when an escaped criminal shows up at their house and takes them all hostage. There is an interesting thematic connection to the classic Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, which the children read throughout the story.
Gier, Kerstin. Ruby Red. Translated from the German by Anthea Bell. Holt, 2011. Sixteen-year-old Gwyneth Shepherd unexpectedly travels through time to the eighteenth century where she discovers a mystery about her real birth date and finds to her dismay that she must work with Gideon -- another time traveler who hates her! Series
Gleason, Colleen. The Clockwork Scarab. Chronicle Books, 2013. In 1889 London, Evaline Stoker, sister of vampire hunter Bram Stoker, and Mina Holmes, niece of Sherlock Holmes, are summoned to investigate the disappearance of young society women using only an Egyptian scarab as a clue. Murder, time travel, and rivalries abound. Series
Gonzalez, Christina Diaz. Moving Target. Scholastic, 2015. An attempt on thirteenyear-old Cassie Arroyo’s life results in her father’s hospitalization, but not before he warns her that she is the target of a secret organization known as the Hastati, protectors of the mystical Spear of Destiny.
Grimes, Nikki. Planet Middle School. Bloomsbury, 2011. A series of poems describes all the baffling changes at home and at school in twelve-year-old Joylin's transition from tomboy basketball player to not-quite-girly girl.
Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Game Changer. Simon & Schuster, 2012. While playing in the championship softball game, star pitcher KT Sutton blacks out and awakes to a changed world where the roles of academics and sports at her middle school have flipped, making talented athletes, such as KT, outcasts and brainy nerds popular.
Hale, Nathan. One Dead Spy: The Life, Times, and Last Words of Nathan Hale, America’s Most Famous Spy. Amulet Books, 2012. After being swallowed by a giant history book moments before his own execution, Nathan Hale is given the chance to tell his own story as well as many other stories from American History.
Halpern, Jake. Nightfall. Putnam’s, 2015. On a distant island where day and night exist on fourteen-year cycles, and the islanders migrate south each sunset, three children get left behind and must find a way off the island before the Night finds them.
Harrington, Kim. The Dead and Buried. Point, 2012. High School senior Jade is horrified to learn her father and stepmother have bought the house of a girl who was mysteriously killed just the year before they moved to town. She is even more horrified to realize the house is being haunted by the dead girl’s very meanspirited ghost.
Hartman, Rachel. Seraphina. Random House, 2012. Seraphina is half dragon and half human and, if people knew, would be considered an abomination. She lives a life in the shadows until her musical talent, a mysterious death, and her attraction to a handsome prince bring her life to a crisis. Morris Award for Best YA Debut Novel
Hoose, Phillip M. The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015. Deeply ashamed of Denmark’s failure to resist the Nazi regime, fifteen-year-old Knud Pedersen resolved with his brother and a handful of schoolmates to take action against the Nazis themselves.
Kelly, Erin Entrada. Blackbird Fly. Greenwillow, 2015. Bullied at school, eighthgrader Apple, a Filipino American who loves the music of the Beatles, decides to change her life by learning how to play the guitar.
Kibuishi, Kazu, ed. Explorer: Mystery Boxes. Amulet Books, 2012. Seven popular authors contribute wildly different graphic stories revolving around the mysterious contents of a box.
Kincaid, S.J. Insignia. Katherine Tegen, 2012. Tom, a fourteen-year-old genius at virtual reality games, is recruited by the United States Military to begin training at the Pentagon Spire as a Combatant in World War III, controlling the mechanized drones that do the actual fighting off-planet. Series
LaFleur, Suzanne M. Listening for Lucca. Wendy Lamb, 2013. When her younger brother, Lucca, stopped talking, Siena’s family moved to Maine in hopes of a fresh start. Their home on the beach, however, has ghostly secrets of its own that connect Siena with a boy and girl who lived there during World War II.
Landy, Derek. Skulduggery Pleasant. HarperCollins, 2007. When twelve-year-old Stephanie inherits her weird uncle's estate, she must join forces with Skulduggery Pleasant, a skeleton mage, to save the world from the Faceless Ones. Series
Leavitt, Lindsey. Going Vintage. Bloomsbury, 2013. When sixteen-year-old Mallory learns that her boyfriend, Jeremy, is cheating on her with his cyber "wife," she rebels against technology and starts following her grandmother's list of goals from 1962, with help from her younger sister, Ginnie.
Maguire, Gregory. Egg & Spoon. Candlewick, 2014. Impoverished Russian peasant Elena Rudina and the aristocratic Ekaterina meet and set in motion an escapade that includes mistaken identity, a monk locked in a tower, a prince traveling incognito, and the witch Baba Yaga.
McMann, Lisa. The Unwanteds. Aladdin, 2011. In a society that purges thirteenyear-olds who are creative, identical twins Aaron and Alex are separated -- one to attend University while the other, supposedly Eliminated, finds himself in a wondrous place where youths hone their abilities and learn magic. Series
McNeal, Tom. Far Far Away. Alfred A. Knopf, 2013. When Jeremy Johnson Johnson's strange ability to speak to the ghost of Jacob Grimm draws the interest of his classmate, Ginger Boultinghouse, the two find themselves at the center of a series of disappearances in their hometown. National Book Award Finalist 2013
Meloy, Maile. The Apothecary. Putnam’s, 2011. During the early days of the Red Scare, Janie and her family must leave their home in Los Angeles and move to London. There, she encounters a fascinating boy named Benjamin Burrows who wants to become a spy. When Benjamin discovers his father has some secrets of his own, Janie and Benjamin begin a race against the Russians to prevent a global disaster. Series
Meyer, Marissa. Cinder. Feiwel and Friends, 2012. Cinder, a gifted mechanic and a cyborg with a mysterious past, is blamed by her stepmother for her stepsister's illness while a deadly plague decimates the population of New Beijing. When Cinder's life gets intertwined with Prince Kai's, she finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle. Series
Monaghan, Annabel. A Girl Named Digit. Houghton Mifflin, 2012. After identifying a terrorist plot by cracking their codes, Digit, a brilliant girl from Santa Monica, California, gets involved with the young FBI agent who is trying to ensure her safety. Series
Mone, Gregory. The Boys in the Boat: The True Story of an American Team’s Epic Journey to Win Gold at the 1936 Olympics. Viking, 2015. Adapted for young readers from Daniel Brown’s book, this is the remarkable story of the University of Washington's 1936 eight-oar crew and their epic quest for an Olympic gold medal. The sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the boys defeat elite rivals first from eastern and British universities before challenging the German crew rowing for Adolf Hitler in the Olympic Games in Berlin, 1936.
Mull, Brandon. A World Without Heroes. Aladdin, 2011. Fourteen-year-old Jason Walker is transported to a strange world called Lyrian, where he joins Rachel and a few rebels to piece together the Word that can destroy the malicious wizard emperor. Series
Murdock, Catherine Gilbert. Dairy Queen. Houghton Mifflin, 2006. After spending her summer running the family farm and training the quarterback for her school's rival football team, sixteen-year-old D.J. decides to go out for the sport herself, not anticipating the reactions of those around her.
Nelson, Marilyn. How I Discovered Poetry. Dial Books, 2014. Looking back on her childhood in the 1950s, the author tells the story of her development as an artist and young woman through fifty eye-opening poems that also offer a larger view of the world around her: racial tensions, the Cold War era, and the first stirrings of the feminist movement.
Nix, Garth. Sabriel. Eos, first published 1995. Sabriel, daughter of the necromancer Abhorsen, must journey into the mysterious and magical Old Kingdom to rescue her father from the Land of the Dead. Series
Oliver, Mary. Dog Songs: Thirty-five Dog Songs and One Essay. Penguin, 2013. A collection of poems and one essay about dogs and their relationships with their owners.
Oppel, Kenneth. The Nest. Simon & Schuster, 2015. Steve is an anxious boy who is visited in his dreams by wasps who say they want to save his sickly baby brother but can only do it with his help. But do they really, is he actually dreaming and can he really help?
Ottaviani, Jim. Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas. First Second, 2013. In graphic novel format, this nonfiction book explores the lives and work of scientists Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas, who lived with and studied chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans, respectively, in their natural habitats, creating between them a body of work that has greatly improved our understanding of primates, including humans.
Patchin, Justin W. and Sameer Hinduja. Words Wound: Delete Cyberbullying and Make Kindness Go Viral. Free Spirit Publishing, 2014. Two expert researchers on bullying prevention speak directly to teens about how they can end cyberbullying. The book provides numerous peer anecdotes and strategies teens can use to help create kinder schools and communities.
Peterfreund, Diana. For Darkness Shows the Stars. Balzer + Bray, 2013. In the dystopian future, a genetic experiment has devastated humanity and a new class system has emerged under the absolute control of the Luddites. Elliot is a dutiful Luddite but longs for her first love Cai, even knowing her love for him betrays everything she has been raised to believe is right.
Pratchett, Terry. Dodger. HarperCollins, 2012. In an alternative version of Victorian London, seventeen-year-old Dodger, a cunning and cheeky street urchin, unexpectedly rises in life when he saves a mysterious girl, meets Charles Dickens, and unintentionally puts a stop to the murders of Sweeny Todd. Printz Honor Award 2013
Preus, Margi. West of the Moon. Amulet Books, 2014. Norwegian folktale and myth are woven into the story of Astri, a young girl whose evil aunt sells her to a goat herder. Astri plots to make a daring escape, rescue her younger sister and embark on a quest to find their father.
Priest, Cherie. I Am Princess X. Arthur A. Levine Books, 2015. Years after writing stories about a superheroine character she created with a best friend who died in a tragic car accident, sixteen-year-old May is shocked to see stickers, patches, and graffiti images of the superheroine appearing around Seattle.
Raffin, Michele. The Birds of Pandemonium: Life Among the Exotic and the Endangered. Algonquin, 2014. Pandemonium, the home and bird sanctuary that Raffin shares with some of the world's most remarkable birds, is a conservation organization dedicated to saving and breeding birds at the edge of extinction, with the goal of eventually releasing them into the wild. Their stories teach us volumes about the interrelationships of humans and animals.
Rice, Condoleezza. Condoleezza Rice: A Memoir of My Extraordinary, Ordinary Family and Me. Delacorte, 2011. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice shares stories of growing up in a black middle class family during the racially turbulent 1950s and 1960s.
Riggs, Ransom. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Quirk Books, 2011. Sixteen-year-old Jacob, having traveled to a remote island after a family tragedy, discovers an abandoned orphanage, and, after some investigating, he learns the children who lived there may have been dangerous and quarantined but may also still be alive. Haunting vintage photographs are dispersed throughout the book, giving the story a hint of creepiness. Series
Ritter, William. Jackaby. Algonquin, 2014. Abigail Rook has a gift for noticing ordinary but important details, making her perfect for the position of assistant to R. F. Jackaby, investigator of the unexplained. Abigail finds herself in the midst of a thrilling case: a serial killer is on the loose. The police are convinced it's an ordinary villain, but Jackaby is certain the foul deeds are the work of the kind of creature whose very existence the local authorities seem adamant to deny. Series
Romero, Jordan. No Summit Out of Sight: the True Story of the Youngest Person to Climb the Seven Summits. Simon & Schuster, 2014. The true story of Jordan Romero, who at the age of thirteen became the youngest person ever to reach the summit of Mount Everest. At age fifteen, he reached the summits of the world's seven highest mountains.
Ruiz Zafón, Carlos. The Prince of Mist. Little, Brown, 2010. In 1943, in a seaside town where their family has gone to be safe from war, thirteen-year-old Max Carver and his fifteen-year-old sister Alicia, along with new friend Roland, face off against an evil magician who is striving to complete a bargain made before he died.
Rusch, Elizabeth. The Mighty Mars Rovers: The Incredible Adventures of Spirit and Opportunity. Houghton Mifflin, 2012. The story of the two robot vehicles, Spirit and Opportunity, that were sent to explore Mars, lasting far past their projected lives of three months and sending back invaluable images of the environmentally hostile planet.
Sands, Kevin. The Blackthorn Key. Aladdin, 2015. In 1665 London, fourteen-yearold Christopher Rowe, apprentice to an apothecary, and his best friend Tom try to uncover the truth behind a mysterious cult, following a trail of puzzles, codes, pranks, and danger toward an unearthly secret with the power to tear the world apart.
Schmatz, Pat. Bluefish. Candlewick, 2011. Longing for the country and his missing dog Roscoe, Travis tries to survive in a new school while living with his alcoholic grandfather and burdened by a painful secret. Hope comes in the form of a teacher and a new friend named Velveeta.
Schmidt, Gary D. Okay for Now. Clarion, 2011. Fourteen-year-old Doug has just moved to a new town. A new town means another chance to start over. Will everyone assume he is like his thug of an older brother? Will everyone assume he is like his corrupt, abusive father? All Doug wants is to be treated fairly and, thanks to a couple of new friends, Doug may just find out what it is like to be “okay for now.”
Scott, Traer. Nocturne: Creatures of the Night. Princeton Architectural, 2014. Provides amazing photographs and an introduction to nocturnal animals, offering information on the habits and habitations of each animal, including sugar gliders, tarantulas, cougars, raccoons, beavers, hedgehogs, and more.
Sedgwick, Marcus. She Is Not Invisible. Roaring Brook, 2014. When her father disappears, a blind London teenager kidnaps her younger brother -- her eyes to the world -- and embarks on a quest to find her father and solve the mystery of his disappearance.
Sepetys, Ruta. Between Shades of Gray. Philomel, 2011. On a calm, beautiful night in 1941 Lithuania, fifteen-year-old Lina’s life is torn apart as she and her family are forced from their home and sent to work in labor camps along the harsh Arctic Circle as part of Stalin’s forced relocation program.
Sheinkin, Steve. The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights. Roaring Brook, 2014. Presents an account of the 1944 Civil Rights protest involving hundreds of African-American Navy servicemen who were unjustly charged with mutiny for refusing to work in unsafe conditions after the deadly Port Chicago explosion, which killed 320 servicemen.
Stead, Rebecca. Goodbye, Stranger. Wendy Lamb, 2015. As Bridge makes her way through seventh grade on Manhattan's Upper West Side with her best friends, curvaceous Em, crusader Tab, and a curious new friend - or more than friend - Sherm, she finds the answer she has been seeking since she barely survived an accident at age eight: "What is my purpose?"
Stevenson, Robert Louis. Treasure Island. First published 1883. A classic pirate story reproduced in movies and TV shows more than any other, Treasure Island tells the tale of the quest for treasure by Jim Hawkins and pirate Long John Silver. The book also introduced the now infamous pirate song "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest--Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"
Strohmeyer, Sarah. Smart Girls Get What They Want. Balzer + Bray, 2012. Who says smart girls can’t have fun? Three brainiac high school best friends decide to branch out - with mixed results.
Stroud, Jonathan. The Screaming Staircase. Disney-Hyperion, 2013. All across London, ghosts, ghouls, and other otherworldly apparitions are appearing with malevolent intent. Only children can see and deal with them, so three capable young operatives form a Psychic Detection Agency to battle this frightening epidemic. Series
Supplee, Suzanne. Somebody Everybody Listens To. Dutton, 2010. When Retta Lee Jones graduates from high school and leaves her small town in search of a big break in Nashville, she encounters warmth and kindness along with cruelty and violence.
Thompson, Holly. Orchards. Ember, 2011. Sent to Japan for the summer after an eighth-grade classmate's suicide, half-Japanese, half-Jewish Kana Goldberg tries to fit in with relatives she barely knows and reflects on the guilt she feels over the tragedy back home.
Thomson, Jamie. Dark Lord, the Early Years. Walker, 2012. Evil Dark Lord tries to recover his dignity, his power, and his lands when an arch-foe transports him to a small town and into the body of a thirteen-year-old boy. Series
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit, or, There and Back Again. First published 1937. Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole until the day the wandering wizard Gandalf chooses him to take part in an adventure from which he may never return. Series
Wagenen, Maya Van. Popular: A Memoir: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek. Dutton, 2014. Stuck at the bottom of the social ladder at "pretty much the lowest level of people at school who aren't paid to be here," Maya Van Wagenen decided to begin a unique social experiment: spend her eighth grade year following a 1950s popularity guide written by a former teen model. She documents her experience in this memoir.
Walker, Sally M. Their Skeletons Speak: Kennewick Man and the Paleoamerican World. Carolrhoda Books, 2012. This book explores the discovery and controversy surrounding the identification of the Kennewick Man, a nine thousand year old skeleton whose remains were found in a riverbed in Washington State in 1996.
Watson, Jude. Loot: How to Steal a Fortune. Scholastic, 2014. When Alfie McQuinn, the notorious jewel thief, is killed on a job, his last words to his son, March, are to "find jewels" and this instruction leads the boy to Jules, the twin sister he never knew he had - and the perfect partner to carry on the family business.
Wright, Barbara. Crow. Random House, 2012. Moses Thomas’s summer vacation in 1898 North Carolina does not go as planned, and while he deals with family problems and fickle friends, he feels the mounting tension between the African American and white communities.
Zettel, Sarah. Palace of Spies: Being a True, Accurate, and Complete Account of the Scandalous and Wholly Remarkable Adventures of Margaret Preston Fitzroy, Counterfeit Lady, Accused Thief, and Confidential Agent at the Court of His Majesty, King George I. Harcourt, 2013. In 1716 London, an orphaned sixteen-year-old girl from a good family impersonates a lady-in-waiting only to discover that the real girl was murdered, the court harbors a nest of spies, and the handsome young artist who is helping her solve the mystery might be a spy himself. Series
Zinn, Bridget. Poison. Hyperion, 2013. Kyra is a potions master, so when she tries to save the kingdom by killing her best friend, the princess, she becomes a fugitive pursued by the king’s army and her ex-boyfriend Hal.