Adventure

Avi: True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle - Charlotte crosses the Atlantic in 1832 on a ship with a cruel captain and a mutinous crew.

Campbell: The Place of Lions - After a plane crash in the Serengeti, Chris's trek in search for help is shadowed by that of an aging lion.

Farmer: A Girl Named Disaster - While journeying to Zimbabwe, 11-year-old Nhamo struggles to escape drowning and starvation and in so doing comes close to the luminous world of the African spirits.

Hobbs: Jason's Gold - When news of the discovery of gold in Canada's Yukon in 1897 reaches 15-year-old Jason, he embarks on a 5,000 mile journey to strike it rich.

Holm: Boston Jane : an Adventure - Schooled in lessons of etiquette for young ladies of 1854, Miss Jane Peck of Philadelphia finds little use for manners during her long sea voyage to the Pacific Northwest and while living among the American traders and Chinook Indians of Washington Territory.

Horowitz: Stormbreaker - After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, 14-year-old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his uncle's dangerous work for Britain's intelligence agency, MI 6.

Ibbotson: Journey to the River Sea - Sent with her governess to live with the dreadful Carter family in exotic Brazil in 1910, Maia endures many hardships before fulfilling her dream of exploring the Amazon River.

London: The Call of the Wild - During the gold rush, a kidnapped dog becomes the leader of a wolf pack.

Naylor: The Fear Place - Doug learns to face his fears while camping in the Rockies with his older brother.

O'Dell: Black Star, Bright Dawn - Bright Dawn runs the Iditarod alone when her father is injured.

Voight: Homecoming - Abandoned by their mother, four children begin a search for a home and an identity.

White: Deathwatch - A young man nearly loses his life while working as a guide on a desert hunting trip.

Contemporary/Realistic

Anderson: Prom - Eighteen-year-old Ashley wants nothing to do with senior prom, but when disaster strikes and her desperate friend, Nat, needs her help to get it back on track, Ashley's involvement transforms her life.

Bauer: Hope Was Here - Ever since her mother left, Hope has, with her comfort-food-cooking aunt Addie, been serving up the best in diner food from Pensacola, Florida to NYC. Moving has been tough, so it comes as a surprise to 16-year-old Hope, that rural Wisconsin, where she and her aunt are now settled, offers more excitement, friendship, and even romance (for both Hope and Addie) that the big city.(Booklist)

Bauer: Rules of the Road - Here is a teenager protagonist who is smart, moral, funny, confident (mostly) and open-minded about grownups. The fact that she spends most of her time selling shoes at Gladstone's shoe store (and loving it) doesn't help in terms of a social life, and her main problem is her alcoholic father. (Booklist)

Bertrand: Trino's Choice - Lacking adult supervision, seventh grader Trino must decide whether to join a violent street gang or to allow new people in his life to help him choose a better path. (first in a series)

Bloor: Tangerine - Twelve-year-old Paul who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight.

Brashares: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. - Four best girlfriends experience one glorious, painful, life-changing summer apart in Brashares' irreverently funny, realistic novel in which a pair of thrift-shop jeans serves to help each girl discover her strengths and weaknesses. Readers might enjoy the sequels, The Second Summer of the Sisterhood and Girls in Pants.

Byars: Keeper of Doves - Byars organizes this novel in 26 brief chapters, each beginning with a letter of the alphabet. Amen McBee, born in 1891 and the fifth daughter of a fragile mother and a father who ardently wishes for a son, searches for her place in the family and discovers a talent of her own. (Booklist Editors' Choice)

Choldonko: Al Capone Does My Shirts - In this appealing novel set in 1935, 12-year-old Moose Flanagan and his family move from Santa Monica to Alcatraz Island where his father gets a job as an electrician at the prison and his mother hopes to send his autistic older sister to a special school in San Francisco. Family dilemmas are at the center of the story, but history and setting--including plenty of references to the prison's most infamous inmate, mob boss Al Capone--play an important part, too. (from School Library Journal 2005 Newbery Honor Book)

Coman: Many Stones - After her sister Laura is murdered in South Africa, Berry and her estranged father travel there to participate in the dedication of a memorial in her name.

Coulombis: Say Yes - In the first chapter, the narrator, 12-year-old Casey, describes her morning exchange with her stepmother, Sylvia; by the second chapter Sylvia is gone and Casey is completely alone, fending for herself in her NYC apartment. This is a modern day survival story with no clear lines between heroes and villains, where morals are tested by fear and desperation. (Publishers Weekly)

Coulombis: Getting Near to Baby - This Newbery Honor book of 2000 tells the story of loss, family love, and new beginnings with a dollop of humor. While their mother is trying to cope with the death of their baby sister, 13-year-old Willa Jo and eight-year-old Little Sister are spending a few weeks with Aunt Patty and Uncle Hob.(School Library Journal)

Creech: Replay - Follow the story of quiet Leo, sandwiched in his noisy family between two outgoing siblings as he tries to untangle a family mystery involving his father's journal as a teenager and an unknown girl in a family photograph!

Creech: The Wanderer - Thirteen year old Sophie, who is passionate about sailing, talks her way onto her uncle's sailboat as he, his two brothers, and a couple of nephews prepare to sail across the Atlantic. Although she is brave and resourceful, Sophie is haunted by fears.

Creech: Ruby Holler - Having suffered through a string of appalling foster homes, 13-year-old orphans and twins, Dallas and Florida, have pretty much given up on ever finding a happy home, until an eccentric older couple enters their lives. (from amazon.com)

Crutcher: Ironman - What does it take to compete in a swimming-biking-running triathlon? Is it heart as well as body?

Danziger/Martin: P.S. Longer Letter Later - Twelve-year-old best friends Elizabeth and Tara-Starr continue their friendship through letter-writing after Tara-Starr's family moves to another state.

Deans: Racing the Past. - Ricky stops taking the school bus in his small town in Maine, first to evade the bullies (who call his family "white trash") and then gradually to improve his running speed and beat the bus home. Sports fans will appreciate the realism of Ricky's grueling training, and the story is just as honest about family struggles.

DiCamillo: Because of Winn-Dixie - Because of Winn Dixie, a big, ugly happy dog, 10-year-old Opal learns 10 things about her long-gone mother from her preacher father. Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal makes new friends among the somewhat unusual residents of her new hometown. Because of Winn Dixie, Opal begins to find her place in the world and to let go some of her sadness. Is the book better than the movie?

Dowell: Chicken Boy - Seventh-grader Tobin, his family falling apart, finds support in an unlikely friendship.

Ferris: Of Sound Mind. - Universal issues of family relationships, coming-of age, and death are packed tightly in this thought-provoking, richly cast novel about teenage Theo, who is the only hearing member in his family of four.

Frank: Just Ask Iris - When seventh grader Iris arrives at her new home in a run-down New York City apartment building, she is determined to earn money and spend as much time outside the stuffy building as possible. But, as she begins her errand running business, she meets her neighbors and helps them solve problems.

Fugua: The Reappearance of Sam Webber - When his father disappears without a trace, 11-year-old Sam moves into a new house and school, where he becomes friends with the janitor and learns about racism, loss, and forgiveness.

Giff: Pictures of Hollis Woods - A troublesome 12-year-old orphan, staying with an elderly artist who needs her, remembers the only other time she was happy in a foster home, with a family that truly seemed to care about her.

Giff: Pictures of Hollis Wood - Having run away from a family that offered her a home, troubled 12-year-old orphan Hollis Wood is not about to let Social Services separate her from the elderly artist she has been living with.

Gutman: The Million Dollar Shot - Eleven-year-old Eddie enters a poetry contest hoping to get a chance to win a million dollars by sinking a foul shot at the NBA finals games.

Gutman: The Homework Machine - Brenton invents a homework machine that seems too good to be true.

Hamilton: Blush - Bluish is unlike any 10-year-old Dreenie has ever seen. At school she sits in a wheelchair, her skin is so pale, it is almost blue. Dreenie, herself new to the NYC school, is fascinated by her but also cautious. Together with Tuli, a biracial girl who pretends to be Spanish, the three carefully forge a bond of friendship.

Henkes: Olive's Ocean - On a summer visit to her grandmother's cottage by the ocean, 12-year-old Martha gains perspective on the death of a classmate, on her relationship with her grandmother, on her feelings for an olderboy, and on her plans to be a writer.

Hiassen: Hoot - This satire features middle schoolers - the new kid, Roy, joining forces with tough Beatrice and the elusive Mullet Fingers to defeat a bully, thwart an avaricious corporation, Mother Paula's All-American Pancake House, and save a coolly of burrowing owls. (ALA) Newbery Honor

Hiassen: Flush - Noah and his sister try to stop the sabotage of Florida's natural resources. This author of Hoot once again has an entertaining story with a serious message about conservation and greed.

Holt: My Louisiana Sky - Tiger Ann struggles with her feelings about her stern but loving grandmother, her mentally slow parents, and her good friend and neighbor, Jesse.

Holt: When Zachary Beaver Came to Town - Zachary Beaver, fattest boy in the world, is abandoned in a small Texas town in 1971. This town was too small and too boring for 13-year-old Toby Wilson's mother, who left to become a country singer. Through knowing Zachary, Toby comes to realize others are worse off than he.

Holt: Part of Me - Set in Louisiana bayou country, this unusual collection of stories spans four generations of one family and uses reading as the thread that strings them together. The first three tales, which begin in 1939, concern Rose, who must go to work at 14 and passes herself off as 17 to drive the library bookmobile. (Booklist)

Howe: Adventures of the Blue Avenger - Sixteen-year-old David decides to change his name to Blue Avenger, in an attempt to act and think more heroically.

Ingold: Mountain Solo - Back at her childhood home in Missoula, Montana, after a disastrous concert in Germany, a teenage violin prodigy contemplates giving up life with her mother in New York City and her music as she, her father, stepmother, and stepsister hike to a pioneer homesite where another violinist once faced difficult decisions of his own.

Kadohata: Kira-Kira - Katie and her older sister Lynn have trouble adjusting when their parents move the family from Iowa to a small town in rural Georgia, where they are among only 31 Japanese-Americans. Then Lynn becomes deathly ill, and Katie is often left to care for her, a difficult and emotionally devastating job. 2005 Newbery Winner

Kerr: Gentlehands

Buddy's world is turned upside down, first when he falls in love with rich Skye Pennington and then, catastrophically, when he discovers that his refined and cultured grandfather is a notorious Nazi war criminal.

Key: Alabama Moon - This excellent novel of survival and adventure begins with the death of young Moon's father, an antigovernment radical who has been living off the land in rural Alabama with Moon for years. Moon has never known any truth but his dad's, and so he tries to continue his father's lifestyle. A terrific choice for reluctant readers and also for fans of Gary Paulsen's Brian novels. (Booklist Starred Review)

Kimmel: Visiting Miss Caples - When your best friend has always provided the thrills and you've eagerly gone along for the ride, where do you draw the line between exciting and dangerous? Jenna has been friends with Liv forever, but when the popular and beautiful Liv shows a mean side in a vicious campaign against a classmate, Jenna must decide if she will still go along.

Kinsella: Shoeless Joe - The power of baseball, dreams, and Joe Jackson combine to create a place where those dreams really do come true.

Konigsburg: The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place - Twelve year old Margaret Rose Kane is incorrigible. Not only does she refuse to bend to the will of her manipulative cabin mates at Camp Talequa, she stands up to and inadvertently insults the camp director and Queen-in-residence.

Korman: No More Dead Dogs - For his detention, an eighth grade football hero is sentenced to attend rehearsals of the school play, where, in spite of himself, he gets carried away.

Koss: The Cheat - Cheating on an eighth grade geography midterm was easy for Sarah and her friends. But the consequences when they are caught get greater and greater

Koss: Poison Ivy - What better way to explain government in action than to stage a mock trial, in this case, a trial in which one unpopular girl, Ivy (aka Poison Ivy), seeks to bring three bullies to justice? The message is clear: beauty, popularity, and fear are the trinity by which girls rule, and although most teenagers aren't cruel, many are indifferent to the suffering of their peers and are thankful they aren't the ones in the spotlight .(Booklist)

Lord: Rules - Twelve-year-old Catherine has conflicting feelings about her younger brother, David, who is autistic. While she loves him, she is also embarrassed by his behavior and feels neglected by their parents. In an effort to keep life on an even keel, Catherine creates rules for him ((Booklist Editors Choice)

Lupica: Heat - Michael Arroyo is a 12-year-old Cuban American who lives in the shadow of Yankee Stadium and has big baseball dreams himself.

Lynch: Gold Dust - Who can resist a story about Boston, Fenway Park, and Red Sox legends? Two seventh graders from very different backgrounds form a friendship in the difficult world of Boston in 1975 when racism is all around them.

Martin: A Corner of the Universe - Hattie's small town world turns upside down the summer she turns twelve and her Uncle Adam, whom she never knew existed, moves back home after his special school closes.

Mikaelsen: Petey - Petey, who has cerebral palsy, is misdiagnosed as an idiot and institutionalized. Sixty years later, still in the institution, he befriends a boy and shares with him the joy of life.

Murdock: Dairy Queen - Girl joins football team!!!

Myers: Hoops - All eyes are on Lonnie Jackson as he practices for the city-wide basketball Tournament of Champions. Does he have what it takes to be a pro? Will Lonnie or his coach, a former pro player, give into pressure when some heavy bettors want Cal to stay on the bench for the big game?

Naylor: Shiloh Season - When mean and angry Judd, who has never known kindness, takes to drinking and mistreats his dogs, Marty discovers how deep a hurt can go and how long it takes to heal. (Sequel to Newbery Award winner Shiloh.)

Nelson: Ruby Electric - At 12, Ruby Miller's life is on a downward spiral. Her dad has stood her up three times; she unwittingly let the Salvation Army take her little brother Pete's beloved puppet; and she is doing community service with her two arch enemies after being arrested holding a spray paint can. Ruby's voice is electric, and she is an unforgettable character with courage, a cause, and imagination. American Library Association Notable Books (Booklist)

Nuzum: A Small White Scar - Fifteen-year-old Will strikes out across the Colorado plains in an attempt to leave behind his job on the family ranch; looking after his twin brother, who has Downs syndrome. This coming-of-age story offers adventure as well a solid emotional and family dynamics. (Booklist - Editor's Choice List - Youth Fiction)

O'Neal: The Language of Goldfish - O'Neal pulls readers into the mind of 13-year-old Carrie Stokes, a sensitive artist and talented mathematician, who is suffering a mental breakdown

Parkinson: Something Invisible - This tender, quirky Irish novel focuses on Jake, who is unsettled by the changes in his household, but who gains sudden perspective from a tragedy in his friend's family. (Center for Children's Books

Paterson: The Same Stuff as Stars - Paterson explores the theme of what defines a family in this contemporary novel set in rural Vermont. Eleven-year-old Angel Morgan, despite her youth, is the head of her family. With a father in jail for robbery and murder, and Verna, her mother, too preoccupied to care for anyone else including Angel's seven-year-old brother, Angel's intelligence and abiding trust help her rise above her circumstances. (Publishers' Weekly) Booklist Editors' Choice

Paulsen: Brian's Hunt - Once again, Brian, of Hatchet, now 16, returns to the remote woods where he encounters a mysteriously injured dog and an unbelievable horror that awaits him on an island.

Paulsen: The Schernoff Discoveries - A great story of friendship as Paulsen tells the misadventures of Harold Schernoff, science whiz and social nerd.

Paulsen: The Amazing Life of Birds: The Twenty- Day Puberty Journal of Duane Homer Leech - Twelve-year-old Duane confides to readers, I should have seen it coming, but no one ever does. It's called puberty. With laugh-out-loud lines and self-effacing humor, Duane describes 20 days during which he has disturbing dreams, sees ELBOWS everywhere (a euphemism for part of a woman's body), gets giant zits (recognized even by his parents), and notices his voice is changing (along with other body parts). ( School Library Journal)

Perkins: Criss Cross - What happens when a decision sends a person down one path in life instead of another? Find out what happens to when a group of childhood friends, now age 14, make some important life decisions.

Ritter: The Boy Who Saved Baseball - The fate of his beloved hometown playing field depends upon the outcome of one game and twelve-year-old Tom hopes that uncovering some secrets will lead his team to victory.

Roberts: Buddy Is a Stupid Name for a Girl - When her father mysteriously disappears, motherless, 11-year-old Buddy must move in with relatives she doesn't know, finding herself in a family with secrets in their past.

Sachar: Holes - Stanley Yelnats is heir to his family's curse of bad luck. He is convicted of a crime he didn't commit. He serves his sentence at Camp Green Lake, a dry flat wasteland where the warden assigns each inmate the task of digging one deep hole every day. Hole by hole, Stanley and his friend, Zero, dig their destiny. Is the book better than the movie?

Sachar: Small Steps - This sequel to Holes focuses on Armpit two years after his release from Camp Green Lake. Like Holes this is a story of redemption and the triumph of the human spirit!

Shawn: Black-eyed Suzie - Twelve-year-old Suzie has completely lost touch with reality. She is unable to eat, talk, sleep, or walk and sits in a cramped fetal position and cries. Her mother is infuriated by this "stage" she is in; her father is concerned but distant. It is only when Suzie's uncle forces the family to acknowledge that something is wrong and she is hospitalized that the child can begin to heal. (School Library Journal)

Shusterman: The Schwa Was Here - Eighth-grader "Antsy" Bonano recounts how his accidental relationship with three quirky characters winds up being mutually beneficial. The catalyst in this social collision is Calvin Schwa, a classmate who has an almost supernatural knack for going completely unnoticed. Antsy is then flanked by two peers-one who cannot see and one who cannot be seen-and, together, they overcome their collective liabilities through friendship, improving their own lives and the lives of those around them. ( School Library Journal Starred Review)

Singer: Feather Boy - Follow the character-defining sequence of events in the life of a 12-year-old boy. He is often the butt of classroom jokes and pranks. He secretly wants to be somebody. To have a voice. To have friends. His participation in the Elders Project changes his life forever.

Slote: Hang Tough, Paul Mather - A baseball pitcher with an incurable blood disease is determined to get in as much time on the mound as possible.

Snyder: Cat Running - A solitary girl joins forces with a boy who is an outcast. They race for help against weather and prejudice in a time when his little sister is stricken with pneumonia.

Sonnenblick: Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie - Eighth grader Steven Alper's world is torn apart when his five year old brother is diagnosed with leukemia.

Spinelli: Loser - Donald Zinkoff is one of the greatest kids you could ever meet. He laughs easily, he likes people, he loves school, he tries to rescue lost girls in blizzards, and he talks to old ladies. The only problem is he's a loser.

Spinelli: Eggs - Spinelli pairs up two kids who have been through more than their years would indicate: 9 -year-old David, whose mother was killed in an accident and 13-year-old Primrose, who has never met her father.

Strasser: Don't Get Caught Driving the School Bus - Seventh graders Kyle, Wilson, and Dusty manage to break every one of the principal's rules and never get caught. That is, until ex-prison guard Sarge is hired to be their new bus driver.

Tolan; Surviving the Applewhites - Pierced and spike-haired 13-year-old Jake, has been expelled from every other school until he arrives at Wit's End, N.C. where the school is run by the outrageous Applewhite family.

Weeks: So B. It - After spending her life with her mentally retarded mother and agoraphobic neighbor, 12-year-old Heidi sets out from Reno, Nevada, to New York to find out who she is.

Werlin: The Rules of Survival - This National Book Award finalist is the story of a boy and his two sisters living at the mercy of their abusive mother. Told in letters from the boy to his younger sister, it's a tale of triumph as much as sorrow. (Instructor Magazine)

Weston: Act I, Act II, Act Normal - A middle school boy deals with being bullied over having the lead as Rumpelstiltskin in the school play, the death of his family pet, his loyalty to his best friend and middle school girls !!

White: Belle Prater's Boy - A boy in a Virginia town lives with his grandparents after his mother disappears.

White: Way Down Deep - On the first day of summer in 1944, a red-haired toddler appears on the courtroom steps in Way Down Deep, West Virginia. Nobody knows who she is or how she got there. (from the author of Belle Prater's Boy)

Winrip: Adam Canfield of the Slash - While serving as co-editors of their school newspaper, middle-schoolers Adam and Jennifer uncover fraud and corruption in their school and in the city's government.

Woodson: Miracle's Boys - This is the story of three brothers raising themselves after they lost their father in a drowning accident and their mother to diabetes. Each boy deals with grief differently, while struggling against pretty large odds.

Yolen/Coville: Armageddon Summer - Fourteen-year-old Marina and 16-year-old Jed accompany their parents' religious cult, the Believers, to await the end of the world atop a remote mountain, where they try to decide what they themselves believe.

Zindel: Pigman - Two lonely high schoolers form a strange and ultimately joyful relationship with a lonely old man.

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Fantasy/Science Fiction

Adams: Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect, from the planet Betelgeuse, hitchhike from one adventure to another throughout the universe

Adlington: The Diary of Pelly D - Inspired by wartime journals, this disturbing futuristic story begins when 14-year-old Toni V, part of a postwar Demolition Crew, discovers a diary while drilling up the ruins of City Five. Keeping the diary is again Rules and Regulations, but once Toni V secretly starts reading it, he is caught up in the life of Pelly D, a teenage girl from the past who had it all.

Alexander: The Book of Three Set in the mythical land of Prydian, this book draws together the elements of the hero's journey from boy to courageous young man. Taran grumbles with frustration at home; he yearns to go into battle like his hero, Prince Gwydion. Before the story is over, he has met his hero and fought the evil leader who threatens the peace of Prydian.

Almond: Skellig - Unhappy about his baby sister's illness and the chaos of moving into a dilapidated old house, Michael retreats to the garage and finds a mysterious stranger who is something like a bird and something like an angel.

Anderson: The Game of Sunken Places - When Brian and Gregory accept an invitation from strange Uncle Max (who rather resembles Count Olaf from Lemony Snicket series) they hardly anticipate how bizarre it will be! (summary from Eight Cousins Newsletter)

Anderson: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: The Pox Party - Born a slave in the eighteenth century, Octavian Nothing changes from complacent pet to defiant resistor as he realizes that he's merely an object of scientific experimentation to his owners. (Center for Children's Books) This masterful, archaic narrative, which shifts from diary to letter to journalism, echoes today's vital questions about racism, power, freedom and moral choice. (Top of the List, Booklist - Youth Fiction)

Avi: Perloo the Bold - Rabbit-like creatures called Montmers are enemies of the coyote-like Felbarts. Among theMontmers is mild-mannered Perloo, whose fate is to bring peace to the two tribes.

Avi: The Book without Words: A Fable of Medieval Magic - At the dawning of the Middle Ages, Thorston, an old alchemist works feverishly to create gold and to make a potion that will enable him to live forever.

Barron: Lost Years of Merlin - This is the first of a series about Merlin's youth, told in the voice of the wizard himself. If you loved Harry Potter, you'll love this. Other books in the series are: Seven Songs of Merlin and Fires of Merlin.

Bellairs: The Face in the Frost - The Face in the Frost is a fantasy classic, defying categorization with its richly imaginative story of two separate kingdoms of wizards, stymied by a power that is beyond their control. A tall, skinny misfit of a wizard named Prospero lives in the Southern Kingdom, a patchwork of feuding duchies and small manors, all loosely loyal to one figurehead king. Both he and an improbable adventurer named Roger Bacon look in mirrors to see different times and places, which greatly affects their personalities and mannerisms and leads them into a myriad of situations that are sometimes frightening and often hilarious.

Blacker: The Angel Factory - With the help of a friend, Thomas Wisdom opens a secret file on his father's computer, learning that his too-perfect family is part of an other-worldly organization whose mission is to save humanity from itself.

Codell: Diary of a Fairy Godmother - Hunky Dory is the top student in her charm school, but her inner conflict about the purpose of witchcraft bothers her. Characters from well-known fairy tales come in and out of this story.

Colfer: Artemis Fowl (Book 1)

Arctic Incident (Artemis Fowl Book 2)

The Eternity Code (Book 3) - Three adventures of 12-year-old Artemis Fowl who is a boy-genius and a member of a legendary crime family down on its luck. The adventures in each book combine folklore, fantasy, and high-tech.

Cooper: King of the Shadows - The young hero, Nat, has been chosen to participate in a national company of American boy actors doing Shakespeare at the newly created Globe Theater in London. A few dizzy spells and his body is isolated with bubonic plague, but his mind is experiencing the Globe in 1599 as he rehearses and performs his role for the Queen.

Cooper: Victory - How does a present day 12-year-old girl become connected to an 11-year-old English boy living in the early 1800s?

DiCamillo: The Tale of Desperaux : Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread - The adventures of Desperaux Tilling, a small mouse of unusual talents, the princess that he loves, the servant girl who longs to be a princess, and a devious rat determined to bring them all to ruin.

Dickinson: Eva - A young girl awakens after an accident to discover that her brain has been transplanted into the body of a chimpanzee.

DuPrau: The City of Ember - 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.

Farmer: The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm - In 2194 three children of a general in Zimbabwe are captured and put to work in a plastic mine.

Farmer: The House of the Scorpion - In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patron, the 142-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States.

Funke: The Thief Lord - Two brothers, having run away from the aunt who plans to adopt the younger one, are sought by a detective hired by their aunt, but they have found shelter with - and protection from - Venice's"Thief Lord."

Funke: Inkheart - Characters literally leap off the page in this fantasy. Meggie, 12, has had her father to herself since her mother went away when she was young. Her father, Mo, taught her to read when she was five and the two share a love of books. Things change after a visit from a scarred man who calls himself Dustfinger and who refers to Mo as Silvertongue.

Haddix: Among the Hidden - In the future where the Population Police enforce the law limiting a family to only two children, Luke has lived all his 12 years in isolation and fear on his family's farm, until another "third" convinces him that the government is wrong.

Hardinge: Fly by Night - A twelve-year-old outcast, her belligerent goose, and a smooth talking rogue with whom she has been traveling find themselves in the middle of a factional war in a world where the written word is treason. (Center for Children's Books)

Hoeye: Time Stops for No Mouse : a Hermux Tantamoq Adventure - When Linka Perflinger, a jaunty mouse, brings a watch into his shop to be repaired and then disappears, Hermux Tantamoq is caught up in a world of dangerous search for eternal youth as he tries to find out what happened to her.

Ibbotson: The Secret of Platform 13 - Odge Gribble, a young hag, joins an old wizard, a gentle fey, and a giant ogre on a journey from their magical island kingdom to London through a tunnel which opens every nine years for nine days, to try and rescue the young prince who had been stolen as an infant nine years

Ibbotson: Island of the Aunts - Three aging aunts who need help for their magical animals resort to an unusual plan which involves kidnapping!

Ibbotson: The Star of Kazan - A mix of villains, crumbling aristocratic families, stolen jewels, and a cast of lovable adventures, help a 12-year-old search for her true family.( Booklist Editors' Choice)

LeGuin: The Wizard of Earthsea - A Wizard of Earthsea readers will witness Sparrowhawk's moving rite of passage--when he discovers his true name and becomes a young man. Great challenges await Sparrowhawk, including an almost deadly battle with a sinister creature, a monster that may be his own shadow.

Levine: Ella Enchanted - Based on the Cinderella tale, Ella struggles against a curse that forces her to obey any order given to her.

Levine: Fairest - In a sophisticated, richly drawn world of fairy tale music and magic, Asa, an inn-keeper's daughter with a beautiful voice, is blackmailed by a treacherous queen. Family secrets and Asa's artistic growth add to the dramatic politics and thrilling romance. (Booklist - Editor's Choice List - Youth Fiction)

Lowry: Gossamer - Readers first meet the dream-givers as they creep around a dark house in the middle of the night where an old woman and a dog named ?

McGraw: The Moorchild - Feeling that she is neither fully human nor "Folk," a changeling learns her true identity and attempts to find the human child whose place she had been given.

Montgomery: Voyage of the Arctic Tern - A thrilling tale of voyages, treachery, honor, secrecy, and royal courts. Bruno, a promising young man who betrayed his village, is condemned to live on and on and on until he completes three acts of penance: save a life, rescue someone betrayed, and give away some great wealth to help the local people.

Napoli: Bound - In a novel based on Chinese Cinderella tales, 14-year-old stepchild Xing-Xing endures a life of neglect and servitude, as her stepmother cruelly mutilates her own child's feet so that she alone might marry well.

Nimmo: Midnight for Charlie Bone - 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.

Oppel: Airborn - Matt, a young cabin boy aboard an airship, and Kate, a wealthy young girl traveling with her chaperone, team up to search for the existence of mysterious winged creatures reportedly living hundreds of feet above the Earth's surface.

Paolini: Eragon - In Aagaesia, a 15-year-old boy of unknown lineage called Eragon finds a mysterious stone that weaves his life into an intricate tapestry of destiny, magic, and power, peopled with dragons, elves, and monsters.

Pratchett: Wintersmith - In her third witty and magical adventure, young witch Tiffany Aching is courted by the Wintersmith, the spirit of Winter, and she needs the help of the Wee Free Men to right the misunderstanding. (Blue Ribbon, Center for Children's Books)

Pullman: Golden Compass - Lyra attempts to prevent experiments performed on her best friend and other children in the Arctic.

Sleator: Spirit House - Julie seems to be negatively affected by a pact between a visiting Thai student and a spirit residing in the spirit house built in the back yard by Julie's younger brother.

Stroud: Ptolemy's Gate - This third book in the Bartimaeus trilogy sees the three main characters converging again as insurgent demons threaten to overpower the human world. (Center for Children's Books)

Tolkien: Lord of the Rings - Fantasy trilogy set in the imaginary world of the Third Age of Middleearth.

Verne: Journey to the Center of the Earth - An expedition into a crater in Iceland leads to the center of the earth.

Wrede: Dealing with Dragons - Bored with traditional palace life, a princess goes off to live with a group of dragons and soon becomes involved with fighting against some disreputable wizards who want to steal away the dragons' kingdom.

Historical Fiction

Avi: Crispin : The Cross of Lead - Falsely accused of theft and murder, an orphaned peasant boy in fourteenth-century England flees his village and meets a larger-than-life juggler who holds a dangerous secret.

Avi: Crispin: At the Edge of the World - Sequel to the Newbery Award winner, Crispin: The Cross of Lead. Yet another adventure in the Middle Ages.

Avi: True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle - This suspenseful story set on the high seas features an unusual heroine - a 13-year-old girl sailing to America in the mid-nineteenth century with a cutthroat captain and a mutinous crew.

Beatty: Charley Skedaddle - During the Civil War, a 12-year-old Bowery Boy from New York City joins the Union Army as a drummer, deserts during a battle in Virginia, and encounters a hostile old mountain woman.

Blackwood: Shakespeare Stealer or Shakespeare Scribe or Shakespeare's Spy - These three books tell of amazing adventures in Elizabethan England of the narrator, a 14-year-old orphan who ends up in a colorful troupe of players at Shakespeare's Globe Theater.

Branford: Fire, Bed, and Bone - In 1381 England, a hunting dog recounts what happens to his beloved master Rufus and his family when they are arrested on suspicion of being part of the peasants' rebellion led by Wat Tyler and the preacher John Ball.

Crossley-Holland: The Seeing Stone - In language both precise and beautiful, Crossley-Holland takes readers back to medieval England in this lush, intricately layered story of 13-year-old Arthur, whose magical obsidian allows him to slip back to the time of the legendary Arthur. .

Cushman: The Midwife's Apprentice - In medieval England, young Alyce rises from homelessness and nothingness to find a new reason for living - apprenticed to the cantankerous midwife, Jane Sharp.

Cushman: The Ballad of Lucy Whipple - Lucy's widowed mother takes the family away from the comfort of Massachusetts and moves them to a rough mining camp of the California Gold Rush.

Cushman: Rodzina - A 12-year-old Polish American girl is boarded onto an orphan train in Chicago with fears about traveling to the West and a life of unpaid slavery.

DeFelice: Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker - Twelve-year-old Lucas becomes a doctor's apprentice in 1849 after his family dies of consumption.

Duble: The Sacrifice - What was it like to be accused during the Salem witch hunts of 1692. History is brought close through the eyes of Abigail who is accused of working with the devil, imprisoned, and tried along with her older sister.

English: Francie - Waiting for the day when her Pullman porter father will send for the family, thirteen-year-old Francie bides her time in her small-minded Alabama town. This is a great story of the past filled with courageous characters pursuing a dream.

Fletcher: Shadow Spinner - A young girl rescues the famous storyteller, Shahrazad, from the Sultan's wrath.

Giff: Willow Run - Introduced as Lily's friend in the Newbery Honor Book Lily's Crossing (1997), Margaret "Meggie" Dillon now experiences World War II on her own. Meggie's father has moved the family in order to take a job building planes. Meggie desperately misses her home in Rockaway, and German-born Grandpa, who was left behind.

Hale: The Truth about Sparrows - Sadie's father is a terrific mechanic and a creative carpenter who can do just about anything except make a living in Dust Bowl Missouri.. The loss of this relationship and a crisis involving the newborn sister Sadie helps deliver cause her to reevaluate what is important.

Hesse: Stowaway - Follow the life of 11-year-old Nicholas Young who is on the run from his demanding father and the cruel butcher who employed him, as Nick finds adventure beyond his wildest imaginings when he stows away on the ship of the legendary Captain James Cook.

LaFaye: Worth - As 11-year-old Nathaniel rushes to bring in hay ahead of an approaching thunderstorm, his leg is crushed beneath a wagon when the team of horses, spooked by lightning, lurches out of control. His father brings one more conflict to their late-19th-century Nebraska homestead in the person of John Worth, a boy taken off the orphan train to help.

Lasky: Beyond the Burning Time - Mary Chase tells the story of what is happening in Salem Village in 1691 as accusations of witchcraft change everything she knows.

Lasky: Night Journey - A young girl ignores her parents' wishes and persuades her great-grandmother to relate the story of her escape from Czarist Russia.

Lawrence: Lord of the Nutcracker Men - An English boy during World War I comes to believe that the battles he enacts with his toy soldiers control the war his father is fighting on the front.

Levine: Dave at Night - By day, Dave is a downtrodden orphan at the Hebrew Home for Boys. At night he mingles with the movers and shakers of the Harlem Renaissance in New York of 1920.

Lisle: The Art of Keeping Cool - In 1942, while staying in their grandparents' Rhode Island home, 13-year-old Robert and his cousin Elliott become involved with a German artist who is suspected of being a spy.

Naidoo: No Turning Back - "A powerful novel about the plight of a 12-year-old black boy who becomes a street child in the suburbs of Johannesburg."

Napoli: Stones in Water - Roberto's life changes forever when German soldiers raid the theater where he's watching a movie. Rounded up and packed off to a brutal work camp, he and his friend vow to stay together in the face of this horror.

O'Dell: Sarah Bishop - Fifteen-year-old Sarah is left an orphan during the Revolutionary War and flees to the woods when the British accuse her of committing a crime.

Paterson: Of Nightingales That Weep - This is a colorful, emotional tale of Takiko, a samurai's daughter in feudal Japan. Since it is wartime, she has to move from place to place to escape the enemy. On her way, she meets a handsome young enemy warrior and they fall in love. Will she choose loyalty to her dead father's cause or forbidden romance?

Paterson: Jip; His Story - Orphaned Jip, believing himself to be a gypsy, grows up on a poor farm in Vermont in rural Vermont in 1855. An unusual friendship develops with an aged lunatic who is brought to the farm. Together they struggle to improve their lives through tests of loyalty and courage.

Rees: Witch Child - In 1659, 14-year-old Mary Newbury keeps a journal of her voyage from England to the New World and her experiences living as a witch in a community of Puritans in Salem, Massachusetts.

Rostkowski: After the Dancing Days - A forbidden friendship with a badly disfigured soldier in the aftermath of World War I forces 13-year-old Annie to redefine the word "hero" and to question conventional ideas of patriotism.

Salisbury: Under the Blood Red Sun - A Japanese family in Hawaii encounter prejudice after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Schmidt: Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy - When Turner Buckminster arrives in Phippsburg, ME, it takes him only a few hours to start hating his new home. Friendless and feeling the burden of being the new preacher's son, the 13-year-old is miserable until he meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, the first African American he has ever met and a resident of Malaga Island, an impoverished community settled by freed or possibly escaped slaves. Newbery Honor.

Spinelli: Milkweed - Newbery Medal-winning author Jerry Spinelli (Maniac McGee, Stargirl) paints a vivid picture of the streets of the Nazi-occupied Warsaw during World War II, as seen through the eyes of a curious, kind, heartbreakingly naïve orphan with many names. His name is Stopthief when people shout "Stop! Thief!" as he flees with stolen bread.

Sturtevant: At the Sign of the Star - In seventeenth century London, 12-year-old Meg dreams of inheriting her father's bookshop until his remarriage has her struggling to adjust to changes in her life and future. Fans of this book might also enjoy A True and Faithful Narrative.

Uchida: Journey to Topaz - A Japanese-American family are detained in a detention camp during World War II.

Updale: Montmorency : Thief, Liar, Gentleman? - In Victorian London, after his life is saved by a young physician, a thief utilizes the knowledge he gains in prison and from the scientific lectures he attends as the physician's case study exhibit to create a new, highly successful, double life for himself.

Westall: Kingdom by the Sea - A 12-year-old boy flees his London home during World War II and wanders the English countryside with a dog he has found.

Whelan: Angel on the Square - In 1913 Russia, 12-year-old Katya eagerly anticipates leaving her St. Petersburg home, though not her older cousin Misha, to join her mother, a lady in waiting in the household of Tsar Nicholas II, but the ensuing years bring world war, revolution, and undreamed of changes to her life.

Wilson: Black Storm Comin' - This rip-roaring Wild West adventure begins, "On the morning of September 16, 1860, my pa shot me." That is only the first of many misadventures on an ill-faced wagon trip from Missouri to Sacramento.

Multicultural

Joseph: Color of My Words - When life gets difficult for Ana Rosa, a 12-year-old would-be writer living in a small village in the Dominican Republic, she can depend on her older brother to make her feel better--until the life-changing events on her 13th birthday.

Klass: Danger Zone - When he joins a predominantly black "Teen Dream Team" that will be representing the United States in an international basketball tournament in Rome, Jimmy Doyle makes some unexpected discoveries about prejudice, racism, and politics.

Lee: Necessary Roughness - Sixteen-year-old Korean American Chan moves from Los Angeles to a small town in Minnesota, where he must cope not only with racism on the football team but also with the tensions in his relationship with his strict father.

Myers: Monster - While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, 16-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script as he tries to come to terms with the course his life has taken.

Naidoo: No Turning Back - After running away from an abusive home, 12-year-old Sipho tries to survive in Johannesburg.

Namioka: Ties that Bind, Ties that Break - Ailin's life takes a different turn when she defies the traditions of upper class Chinese society by refusing to have her feet bound.

Osa: Cuba 15 - As Violet unwillingly prepares for her quinceanera, the traditional Latina fifteenth-birthday celebration, she undertakes a journey of self-discovery that leads her to appreciate and understand her Cuban heritage for the first time in her life. (American Library Association Notable Books)

Osborne: Adaline Falling Star - Feeling abandoned by her deceased Arapaho mother and her explorer father, Adaline Falling Star runs away from the prejudiced cousins with whom she is staying and comes close to death in the wilderness, with only a mongrel dog for company.

Paulsen: The Crossing - Manny, an orphan trying to survive in a Mexican border town, attempts to cross over into the United States with the help of an alcoholic Vietnam veteran he befriends.

Staples: Dangerous Skies - Two children, one white, one African-American, are implicated in a murder.

Whelan: Homeless Bird - When 13-year-old Koly enters into an ill-fated arranged marriage, she must either suffer a destiny dictated by India's tradition or find the courage to oppose it.

Lynch: Gold Dust - In 1975, 12-year-old Richard befriends Napoleon, a Caribbean newcomer to his Catholic school, hoping that Napoleon will learn to love baseball and the Red Sox, and will win acceptance in the racially polarized Boston school.

Mysteries

Abrahams: Down the Rabbit Hole :an Echo Falls Mystery - Like her idol Sherlock Holmes, eighth grader Ingrid Levin-Hill uses her intellect to solve a murder case in her home town of Echo Falls.

Abrahams: Behind the Curtain - The second entry in the Echo Falls Mystery series starts with the questions - Why is Ingrid's football mad older brother suddenly so much stronger and why has her father become so tense lately?

Aiken: The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - Humorous story of the adventures of three children trying to survive among wicked adults and wolves in the English country side.

Allison: Gilda Joyce: Psychic Investigator - What happens when the distant relative you are visiting sees the ghost of an aunt who supposedly committed suicide?

Avi: The Man Who Was Poe - A terrifying tale of mystery, murder, and suspense, featuring a young boy searching for his missing family and the tale of the author who follows the boy, viewing the boy's troubles as the plot for his new story.

Avi: Wolf Rider - After receiving an apparent crank call from a man claiming to have committed murder, fifteen-year old Andy finds his close relationship with his father crumbling as he struggles to make everyone believe him.

Avi: Something Upstairs - When the present day family moves into a 1789 house, Kenny meets the ghost of Caleb, a sixteen-year-old slave who denies that he killed himself in the attic years ago.

Balliett: Chasing Vermeer - Outsiders Petra and Calder become friends as they try to find out what happened to a missing Vermeer painting. This story mixes mysteries, puzzles, possibilities, coincidences, and art. Readers of From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and The Westing Game will love this unique book. (Booklist Editors' Choice )

Bellairs: The Figure in the Shadow - Chubby Lewis, the timid hero of The House with the Clock in Its Walls, finds a magic charm that can cause astonishing events to occur

Boyce: Framed - Dylan Hughes is the only boy living in Manod, an uneventful Welsh town of drizzling grayness that he thinks is full of Hidden Beauty. His best buddies are two agoraphobic chickens named Michelangelo and Donatello after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. His family runs the Snowdonia Oasis Auto Marvel garage. Flooding in London causes the National Gallery to evacuate its paintings to the safety of Manod's mine. (An actual evacuation to the Manod slate quarry occurred during World War II.) Lester, the art expert in charge, takes a shine to Dylan as an art connoisseur on hearing the chickens' names.

Bruchac: Skeleton Man - After her parents disappear and she is turned over to the care of a strange "great uncle," Molly must rely on her dreams about an old Mohawk story for her safety and maybe even for her life.

Byars: The Dark Stairs - Herculeah Jones didn't get her name because she was "dainty and shy." She's bossy and overly curious and, with her father as a police officer and her mother as a private investigator, there's plenty to attract her attention. With her equally snoopy sidekick, Meat, they have quite a story to tell.

Cassedy: Behind the Attic Wall - Maggie, an orphan, who is difficult to love, is sent to live with her equally unlovable aunt and uncle. She manages to alienate not only her relatives, but everyone at school too. Mysterious noises come from the walls of the old gloomy house and Maggie discovers the source- two dolls who can think and speak.

Christie: And Then There Were None - Guests on an island disappear one by one until those remaining realize the killer is among them.

Christie: Murder in the Vicarage - Leave it to elderly detective, Miss Marple, to find out who killed Colonel Protheroe, the most disliked citizen of the village.

Cooney: Driver's Ed - A group of driver's ed students steal some highway signs as a class prank, with some tragic results.

Cooney: Code Orange - As dedicated as Mitty is to avoiding study as he is to getting close to his classmate Olivia, he is not aware of the danger everyone is in due to his exposure to a century-old sample of smallpox scabs.

DeFelice: The Ghost and Mrs. Hobbs - 11-year-old Allie's investigation into a fire that happened seventeen years earlier causes a ghost to enter into her life.

Dowell: Dovey Coe - When accused of murder in her North Carolina mountain town in 1928, Dovey Coe, a stronged-willed twelve-year-old girl, comes to a new understanding of others, including her deaf brother.

Duncan: Killing Mr. Griffin - A trick on an English teacher inadvertently results in death.

Ehrlich: Joyride - Having all her life unquestioningly abided by her mother's decisions to move frequently and remain aloof to outsiders, fourteen-year-old Nina begins to wonder about the reasons for their way of life

Eige: Dangling - 11-year-old Ben's unusual new friend disappears when he walks into a river and never resurfaces. Did he drown, run away and what was he hiding? Ben is determined to find the answers.

Ellis: The Mysterious Benedict Society - Reynie Muldoon responds to an advertisement recruiting "gifted children looking for special opportunities," he finds himself in a world of mystery and adventure. The 11-year-old orphan is one of four children to complete a series of challenging and creative tasks, and he, Kate, Constance, and Sticky become the Mysterious Benedict Society.

Hahn: Wait Till Helen Comes - Two children dislike their stepsister but try to save her when she seems ready to follow a ghost child to her doom.

Hahn: Time for Andrew: A Ghost Story - Drew discovers there is something odd about the house his great-aunt lives in. By removing a bag of marbles from beneath the attic floorboard, he and his aunt open a door to the past in which Drew and a distant relative, Andrew Tyler, change places, causing Drew to travel back to 1910.

Holm: Penny from Heaven - Penny Falucci, 11, lives with her widowed mother and maternal grandparents, but her father's large, Italian family is tremendously important to her, too. It frustrates her that no one talks about his death, but as the summer of 1953 progresses, several events occur. First, her mother begins dating the milkman, and, when Penny's arm goes through the wringer on the washing machine, things come to a head. Finally, the secrets behind her father's death come out. (School Library Journal)

Kehret: Danger at the Fair - When Ellen receives a spirit message during a séance at the county fair warning that her younger brother is in danger, she dismisses it until he disappears. Can she find him before it's too late?

Konigsburg: Silent to the Bone - Did the British nanny do it? She says it was 13-year-old Branwell who dropped baby sister Nikki and he's the prime suspect. Why has he been struck dumb? What does he know? Is his silence a weapon?

Orenstein: The Secret Twin - The story is told in two voices. One belongs to Noah, the prissy 13-year-old who has lived with his grandmother Mademoiselle since his parents were killed in a car crash. The other belongs to Grace, a determined health-care worker who has come to stay with Noah after Mademoiselle's facelift. Throughout, readers are kept off balance with questions both concrete and abstract: What's really wrong with Mademoiselle? Who is shooting people in the neighborhood? Can Grace help Noah survive? Will he let her? (Booklist Starred Review)

Plum-Ucci: The Body of Christopher Creed - Torey Adams, a high school junior with a seemingly perfect life, struggles with doubts and questions surrounding the mysterious disappearance of the class outcast.

Raskin: The Westing Game - Heirs of an eccentric millionaire must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritances.

Schlitz: A Drowned Maiden's Hair - The classic orphan story takes an original turn in this story of Maud, a nineteenth-century orphan adopted by spiritualist sisters who plan to use her to defraud a wealthy client. (Center for Children's Books)

Snyder: The Witches of Worm - Jessica brings an unattractive skinny cat that looks like a worm home with her, but now he seems to be making her do wicked things, and she believes that he may be a witch's cat.

Soto: Crazy Weekend - Seventh graders Hector and Mando's visit to Uncle Julio turns unexpectedly exciting when their photograph of a robbery is published in the newspaper and they are pursued by bumbling thugs.

Vande Velde: Never Trust a Dead Man - Wrongly convicted of murder and punished by being sealed in the tomb with the dead man, 17-year old Selwyn enlists the help of a witch and the resurrected victim to find the true killer.

Van Draanen: Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief - Thirteen-year-old Sammy's penchant for speaking her mind gets her in trouble when she involves herself in the investigation of a robbery at the "seedy" hotel across the street from the seniors'building where she is living with her grandmother.

Velde: Never Trust a Dead Man - When a teen is accused of murder, he teams up with the unlikable victim's ghost to find the true killer.

Werlin: Black Mirror - Convinced her brother's death was murder rather than suicide, a lonely 16-year-old girl trying to cope with her guilt and grief begins her own investigations.

Werlin: The Killer's Cousin - After being acquitted of murder, 17-year-old David goes to stay with relatives in Cambridge,Massachusetts, where he finds himself forced to face his past as he learns more about his strangeyoung cousin Lily.

Westall: Yaxley's Cat - After Yaxley disappears, villagers fear his cat will uncover their secret.

Windsor: The Christmas Killer - Rose dreams where the bodies of recently killed girls can be found.

Non-Fiction/Biography

Adler: B. Franklin, Printer - A biography of Benjamin Franklin emphasizes his many talents as a printer, writer, scientist,inventor, and statesman.

Bordon: The Journey that Saved Curious George: the True Story Wartime Escape of Margret and H.A. Rey - The amazing story of Margret and H.A. Rey, who fled German troops during WWII and entered France with their first Curious George manuscript, unfolds in scrapbook style with photographs, documents, and original illustrations.

Cox: Houdini : Master of Illusion - The life of Harry Houdini is chronicled, with information on his childhood, his career as a magician, the outrageous feats he attempted, and the secrets behind some of his most daring escapes.

Dahl: Boy: Tales of Childhood - Ronald Dahl recounts his days as a child growing up in England. From his years as a prankster at boarding school to his envious position as a chocolate tester for Cadbury's, Roald Dahl's boyhood was as full of excitement and the unexpected as are his world-famous, best-selling books. Packed with anecdotes- some funny, some painful, all interesting- this is a book that's sure to please.

Dash: The Longitude Prize - The story of John Harrison, inventor of watches and clocks, who spent forty years working on a time machine which could be used to accurately determine longitude at sea.

Filipovic: Zlata's Diary : a Child's Life in Sarajevo - Zlata wrote her diary over a two-year period from 1991-1993 during the Bosnian conflict.

Fleischman: Phineas Gage : a Gruesome but True Story about Brain Science - This is the true story of Phineas Gage, whose brain had been pierced by an iron rod in 1848, and who survived and became a case study in how the brain functions.

Giblin: Good Brother, Bad Brother : the Story of Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth - Uses first-hand accounts of family members, friends, and colleagues to describe the similarities and differences between brothers Edwin Booth, the actor, and John Wilkes Booth, President Lincoln's assassin.

Krull: Leonardo da Vinci - Scrupulously researched and juicily anecdotal, Kathleen Krull's portrait of Leonardo will not only change children's ideas of who Leonardo da Vinci was, but also what it means to be a scientist.

Levine: Hana's Suitcase : a True Story - A biography of a Czech girl who died in the Holocaust, told in alternating chapters with an account of how the curator of a Japanese Holocaust center learned about her life after Hana's suitcase was sent to her.

Lutes: Houdini: The Handcuff King - A great picture of an amazing showman.

Murphy: An American Plague : the True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 - No one noticed-- "All was not right"-- Church bells tolling-- Confusion, distress, and utter desolation-- "It was our duty"-- The prince of bleeders-- "By twelve only"-- "This unmerciful enemy"-- "A delicate situation"-- Improvements and the public gratitude-- "A modern-day time bomb."

Myers: Bad Boy: A Memoir - Myers describes his turbulent adolescence in Harlem in the 1940s and 1950s and the influences that led him to become a writer.

Myers: The Greatest : Muhammad Ali - A biography of Muhammad Ali, whose style changed the sport of boxing and whose attitude shook the world as he became a symbol of the antiwar movement during the Vietnamese conflict and a defender of civil rights.

Paulsen: Guts - Paulsen tells the real stories behind the Brian books, the stories of adventure that inspired him to write Hatchet, Brian's Return and The River

Philbrick: Revenge of the Whale - This is the story of the Nantucket whaleship Essex, which sank in the Pacific in November 1820, after being deliberately rammed twice by an apparently enraged sperm whale. Three months later, five emaciated men were rescued from two small boats filled with the bones of their unlucky companions. The story of the Essex crew is a compelling saga of desperation and survival that will appeal to young people (From School Library Journal)

Slavin: Transformed: How Everyday Things Are Made - A browser's delight showing how 60 everyday objects are made.

Treaster: Hurricane Force: In the Path of America's Deadliest Storm - Photo-essay and in-depth overview of Hurricane Katrina.

Turner: Gorilla Doctors: Saving Endangered Apes - Teams of veterinarians take to the mountains of Rwanda to safeguard the health of wild gorillas.

Warren: Escape from Saigon: How a Vietnam War Orphan Became an American Boy - This gripping, true-life child-of-war account relays the story of a mixed-race orphan's evacuation from Vietnam on a plane under fire, his international adoption, his success in America, and his pride in his roots. (Booklist Editors' Choice)