Almost Home

By Joan Bauer

Sixth-grader Sugar and her mother Reba lose their house and move to Chicago for a fresh shart, but end up homeless in a big city. Sugar can't control some of the bad things in life, but she can seek out the good things through her rescue dog, a foster family, a supportive teacher and a love of poetry.

Close to Famous

By Joan Bauer

Twelve-year-old Foster McFee and her mother escape from her mother's abusive boyfriend and end up in the town of Culpepper, West Virginia, where they use their strengths and challenge themselves to build a new life.

The Lost Children

By Carolyn Cohagan

When twelve-year-old Josephine falls through a wormhole in her garden shed into another time and place, she realizes the troubles she has at home are minor compared to what she has to tackle now in the world where she has landed.

Diamond in the Desert

By Kathryn Fitzmaurice

After the Pearl Harbor bombing, 13-year-old Tetsu and his family are sent to the Gila River Relocation Center in Arizona. When he and other evacuees form a baseball team and play, Tetsu is able to mentally escape and feel as if life is almost normal.

Small as an Elephant

By Jennifer Richard Jacobson

Abandoned by his mother in an Acadia National Park campground, eleven-year-old Jack tries to make his way back to Boston before anyone figures out what is going on, with only a small toy elephant for company.

Lions of Little Rock

By Kristen Levine

In 1958 Little Rock, Arkansas, painfully shy twelve-year-old Marlee sees her city and family divided over school integration, but her friendship with Liz, a new student, helps her find her voice and fight against racism.

The Raft

By S.A. Bodeen

Robie's last-minute flight to the Midway Atoll turns into a nightmare when the plane crashes in shark-infested waters. Fighting for her life, the co-pilot pulls her onto the raft; that's when the real terror begins

The Selection

By Keira Cass

America Singer is chosen to compete in the Selection, a contest to see which girl can win the heart of a prince, but she really wants a chance for a future with her secret love, Aspen, who is a caste below her. First in series.

Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25

By Richard Paul Evans

14-year-old Michael discovers he has special electrical powers and, with the help of his best friends, becomes aware that there are other teens with similar powers, but someone is hunting them. First in series.

Better Nate Than Ever

By Tim Federle

An eighth-grader who dreams of performing in a Broadway musical concocts a plan to run away to New York and audition for the role of Elliot in the musical version of "E.T."

The Sweet Revenge of Celia Door

By Karen Finneyfrock

14-year-old Celia, hurt by her parents' separation, the loss of a friend, and a classmate's cruelty, finds solace only in her poetry until newcomer Drake befriends her.

Unstoppable

By Tim Green

Harrison dreams of playing in the NFL, and is happy in a home with a foster father who is a football coach. He becomes the star running back but after suffering an injury, a cancer diagnosis threatens his future.

The Night She Disappeared

By April Henry

Told from various viewpoints, Gabie and Drew set out to prove that their missing co-worker Kayla is not dead, and to find her before she is, while the police search for her body and the man who abducted her.

Elemental

By Antony John

In a dystopian United States, the colonists of Roanoke Island must find safety at the mysterious Fort Sumter, but as they get further from their home, their elemental powers begin to fade. First in a series.

See You at Harry's

By Jo Knowles

Twelve-year-old Fern feels invisible in her family and when tragedy strikes, the fragile bond holding the family together is stretched almost to the breaking point.

I Pledge Allegiance

By Chris Lynch

Four best friends serving in the Vietnam War make a pledge to one another that they will do all they can to return home safely together. First in a series.

Discovering Wes Moore

By Wes Moore

The author compares his own successful life with that of another man of the same name and from the same neighborhood who was drawn into a life of drugs and crime and ended up serving life in prison. 

Boy 21

By Matthew Quick

Finley, an unnaturally quiet boy who is the only white player on his high school basketball team, lives in a dismal town ruled by the Irish mob. When his coach asks him to mentor a troubled African American student who has transferred from California, he finds they have a lot in common in spite of apparent differences.

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

By Jennifer E. Smith

Hadley and Oliver fall in love on the flight from New York to London, but after a cinematic kiss they lose track of each other at the airport until fate brings them back together on a very momentous day.

Blizzard of Glass

By Sally Walker

Recounts story from World War I in which two towns were leveled and almost 2,000 killed following the collision of two warships in Halifax Harbor and a blizzard that dumped over a foot of snow in the area.

Notes From an Accidental Band Geek

By Erin Dionne

French horn player Elsie resents having to join her high school's marching band, but finds a sense of belonging that relieves the pressure she feels to be as good as her father, a professional musician.

Dead End in Norvelt

Dead End in Norvelt

12-year-old Jack spends the summer grounded for various offenses until he is assigned to help an elderly neighbor with a most unusual chore involving the newly dead, molten wax, twisted promises, Girl Scout cookies, underage driving, lessons from history, typewriting, and countless bloody noses. Very funny!

The Apothecary

By Maile Meloy

Follows the son of a London apothecary whose life is unexpectedly transformed when his father is kidnapped. He and a fourteen-year-old American classmate gets swept up in a race to save his father and simultanously save the world from nuclear war in 1952.

Shadow on the Mountain

By Margi Preus

In Nazi-occupied Norway, fourteen-year-old Espen joins the resistance movement, graduating from deliverer of illegal newspapers to courier and spy.

Fenway Fever

By John Ritter

Twelve-year-old Alfredo "Stats" Pagano and Boston Red Sox pitcher Billee Orbitt work together to break a potential curse at Fenway Park.

Endangered

By Eliot Schrefer

Sophie rescues an abused baby bonobo and becomes more involved in her mother's sanctuary in the Congo. When war breaks out, it is up to Sophie to rescue the apes and to somehow survive.