Middle School and YA

Fiction
Confessions of a So-Called Middle Child - Maria T. Lennon
Charlie C. Cooper, reformed bully, gifted hacker, and middle child wants to make "cool" friends at her new school in Los Angeles, but her psychologist tasks her with becoming friends with the school's "biggest loser".

The Lord of Opium - Nancy Farmer
Sequel to The House of the Scorpion. In 2137, fourteen-year-old Matt is stunned to learn that, as the clone of El Patrón, he is expected to take over as leader of the corrupt drug empire of Opium, where there is also a hidden cure for the ecological devastation faced by the rest of the world.

Insignia - S.J. Kincaid
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.

Vortex - S.J. Kincaid
Sequel to Insignia. While serving as a superhuman government weapon during World War III, teenager Tom Raine's loyalties are tested by corruption and nefarious enemies.

The War Within These Walls - Aline Sax
Misha and his family do their best to survive in the appalling conditions of the Warsaw ghetto during World War II, and ultimately make a final, desperate stand against the Nazis.

Rose Under Fire - Elizabeth Wein
Companion book to Code Name Verity. When young American pilot Rose Justice is captured by Nazis and sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious women's concentration camp, she finds hope in the impossible through the loyalty, bravery, and friendship of her fellow prisoners.

Nonfiction
The Boy on the Wooden Box: How the Impossible Became Possible...on Schindler's List
- Leon Leyson
The biography of Leon Leyson, the only memoir published by a former Schindler's List child.

"The President Has Been Shot!" The Assassination of John F. Kennedy - James L. Swanson
Recounts the 35th president's assassination and details key events while sharing informative back matter and archival photographs.

Picture Books

Click, Clack, Boo! A Tricky Treat - Doreen Cronin
Farmer Brown does not like Halloween, but the animals hold a Halloween party in his barn.

Strega Nona Does It Again - Tomie dePaola
Strega Nona has the perfect remedy for a houseguest who overstays her welcome.

Tea Party Rules - Ame Dyckman
"A bossy little girl makes a bear cub follow all the rules at her tea party before he is allowed to eat any of the cookies."-- Provided by publisher

Henry's Map - David Elliot
Henry, a very organized pig, frowns at the untidy farm where he lives, but after making a map to show where everything belongs, he and the other farm animals discover a big problem.

Good Night, Sleep Tight - Mem Fox
In this book with rhyming text, Bonnie and Ben's favorite babysitter tells them nursery rhymes before putting them to bed.

Little Red Hot - Eric Kimmel
A hot pepper pie exposes the big bad wolf in this southwestern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.

Ah Ha! - Jeff Mack
With simple repeated text the story follows the ups and downs of a frog's day.


The Gingerbread Man Loose on the Fire Truck - Laura Murray
When the Gingerbread Man joins the children who made him on a school field trip to a fire station, he escapes being eaten by Spot the Dalmatian and rides along to a fire.

Picture Books

Marc Brown's Playtime Rhymes - Marc Brown
A lively collection of the artist's 20 favorite read-and-play-along finger rhymes complements such entries as "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider" and "I'm a Little Teapot" with pictorial instructions for correlating finger movements.



One Gorilla: A Counting Book - Anthony Browne
Learn to count with a variety of primates--gorillas, gibbons, mandrills, and others.

Empty Fridge - Gaetan Doremus
No one in Andrew's building remembered to buy anything for dinner. By working together and pooling their resources, the community is able to solve the problem.

Little Naomi, Little Chick - Avirama Golan
Little Naomi has a fun and busy day at preschool and with her family, while Little Chick has a busy, fun day on the farm.

You're Wearing That to School? - Lynn Plourde
A cautious mouse named Tiny gives advice to his best friend, an exuberant hippopotamus named Penelope, on such things as what to wear and what to take for show-and-tell on the first day of school.

The Blessing Cup - Patricia Polacco
A single china cup from a tea set left behind when Jews were forced to leave Russia helps hold a family together through generations of living in America, reminding them of the most important things in life.

Baby Bear Counts One - Ashley Wolffe
Before curling up with his mother in their cozy den, Baby Bear counts other animals preparing for winter.

Elementary Fiction

The Surprise Attack of Jabba the Puppett: An Origami Yoda Book - Tom Angleberger
Dark times have fallen on McQuarrie Middle School. Dwight is back--and not a moment too soon--as Kellen, Sara, and the gang face a new Menace: the FunTime Educational Program. FunTime is supposed to raise students' standardized test scores. Instead, it's driving everyone crazy. The students turn to Origami Yoda for help.

The Year of the Baby - Andrea Cheng
Fifth-grader Anna is concerned that her baby sister Kaylee, adopted from China three months ago, is not thriving so she and her best friends, Laura and Camille, create a science project that may save the day.

The Year of Billy Miller - Kevin Henkes
Seven-year-old Billy Miller starts second grade with a bump on his head and a lot of worries, but by the end of the year he has developed good relationships with his teacher, his little sister, and his parents and learned many important lessons.

Bowling Alley Bandit - Laurie Keller
Arnie the talking doughnut is delighted to be Mr. Bing's new pet "doughnut-dog," so when Mr. Bing starts rolling gutter balls during a big bowling tournament, Arnie suspects foul play and sets out to solve the mystery.

Anna Was Here - Jane Kurtz
Three generations of the Nickel family reunite when fourth-grader Anna, her Mom and Dad, and four-year-old sister Isabella relocate to Oakwood, Kansas.

Listening for Lucca - Suzanne LaFleur
Thirteen-year-old Siena's visions of the past intensify when her family moves to the Maine coast hoping her little brother will begin speaking, and she connects with residents of the house from many years earlier who faced a similar problem.

The Screaming Staircase - Jonathan Stroud
Follows three young operatives of a Psychic Detection Agency as they battle an epidemic of ghosts in London.

 

Picture Books

Journey - Aaron Becker
Using a red marker, a young girl draws a door on her bedroom wall and through it enters another world where she experiences many adventures, including being captured by an evil emperor.

The Day the Crayons Quit - Drew Daywalt
When Duncan arrives at school one morning, he finds a stack of letters, one from each of his crayons, complaining about how he uses them.

Ol' Clip-Clop - Patricia C. McKissack
One October night in 1745, John Leep, a mean and stingy lawyer, sets out to evict a widow from one of his rental houses and is followed by a ghostly rider.

The Apple Orchard Riddle - Margaret McNamara
When students in Mr. Tiffin's class are invited to solve a riddle during a field trip to an apple orchard, it is Tara's daydreams that may lead to the answer.

Daisy Gets Lost - Chris Raschka
A young dog experiences the fear of being lost and the joys of being found when she becomes separated from her owner.




Biographies

When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop - Laban Carrick Hill
Before there was hip hop, there was DJ Kool Herc. On a hot day at the end of summer in 1973 Cindy Campbell threw a back-to-school party at a park in the South Bronx. Her brother, Clive Campbell, spun the records. He had a new way of playing the music to make the breaks the musical interludes between verses longer for dancing. He called himself DJ Kool Herc and this is When the Beat Was Born. From his childhood in Jamaica to his youth in the Bronx, Laban Carrick Hill's book tells how Kool Herc came to be a DJ, how kids in gangs stopped fighting in order to breakdance, and how the music he invented went on to define a culture and transform the world.

Daredevil: The Daring Life of Betty Skelton - Meghan McCarthy
Recounts the life and career of the pilot, race car driver, and astronaut, Betty Skelton.

Elementary & Middle Grade Fiction

Al Capone Does My Homework - Gennifer Choldenko
"Moose Flanagan, who lives on Alcatraz along with his family and the families of the other prison guards, faces new challenges when his father is promoted to Associate Warden."-- Provided by publisher

Alone Yet Not Alone - Tracy Leniinger Craven
In 1755, in the Blue Mountains of Pennsylvania, sisters Barbara and Regina Leininger are carried away from their family by Allegheny warriors, but hold onto their faith in God and belief that they will one day be reunited.

Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures - Kate DiCamillo
Rescuing a squirrel after an accident involving a vacuum cleaner, comic-reading cynic Flora Belle Buckman is astonished when the squirrel, Ulysses, demonstrates astonishing powers of strength and flight after being revived.

Fortunately, The Milk - Neil Gaiman
While picking up milk for his children's cereal, a father is abducted by aliens and finds himself on a wild adventure through time and space.

What Came From the Stars - Gary D. Schmidt
In a desperate attempt for survival, a peaceful civilization on a faraway planet besieged by a dark lord sends its most precious gift across the cosmos into the lunchbox of Tommy Pepper, sixth grader, of Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Nonfiction

Why is Milk White?: & 200 Other Curious Chemistry Questions - Alexa Coelho and Simon Quellen
Includes answers to perplexing chemistry questions, and includes 12 experiments to try at home.

Animals Upside Down: A Pull, Pop, Lift & Learn Book! - Jen Jenkins & Robin Page
Turn wheels, pull tabs, lift flaps, and open doors to reveal twenty-six different animals and discover the many remarkable ways that going bottoms-up helps them to survive.

Zombie Makers: True Stories of Nature's Undead - Rebecca L. Johnson
Examines real-life accounts of zombies in nature, including a fly-enslaving fungus, a suicide worm, and a cockroach-taming wasp, and related topics.

Gandhi: A March to the Sea - Alice B. McGinty
Recreates Mohandas Gandhi's 24-day March to the Sea, from March 12 to April 5, 1930, which became a pivotal moment in India's quest to become an independent country no longer ruled by Great Britain.

New YA Titles

Earth Girl - Janet Edwards
Abandoned on Earth because of her inability to survive on other planets, Jarra crafts a fake background for herself to join a class of norms who are excavating the dangerous ruins of the old cities.

Pinned - Sharon G. Flake
Adonis is smart, intellectually gifted and born without legs; Autumn is strong, a great wrestler, and barely able to read in ninth grade--but Autumn is attracted to Adonis and determined to make him a part of her life whatever he or her best friend thinks.

A Bag of Marbles - based on the memoir of Jospeh Joffo, adapted by Kris
In 1941, ten-year-old Joseph Joffo and his older brother, Maurice, must hide their Jewish heritage and undertake a long and dangerous journey from Nazi-occupied Paris to reach their other brothers in the free zone.

War Brothers: The Graphic Novel - Sharon E. McKay and Daniel Lafrance
Jacob is a 14-year-old Ugandan who is sent away to a boys' school. Once there, he 
assures his friend Tony that they need not be afraid -- they will be safe. But not long after, in the shadow of the night, the boys are abducted. Marched into the jungle, they are brought to an encampment of the feared rebel soldiers. They are told they must kill or be killed, and their world turns into a terrifying struggle to endure and survive.

Colin Fischer - Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz
"A boy with autism teams up with the high school bully to get to the bottom of a cafeteria crime."--Provided by publisher

The Dream Thieves - Maggie Stiefvater
Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater are awake, magic is swirling around Blue and The Raven boys and Ronan Lynch's ability to pull objects from his dreams is almost out of control but worst of all, the mysterious Gray Man is stalking the Lynch family, looking for something called the Greywaren.