Gaff by E. Shan Correa

13-year old Paul lives in a small farm in Hawaii.  Ever since his father was hurt in an accident and could no longer work at the lumberyard, the family has been raising roosters to make a living.  The roosters are used in the illegal cockfighting trade and although Paul knows this, he tries not to think about it.  But when he is forced to watch an actual cockfight he is sickened!  How can anyone watch animals fight to the death and consider it a sport?  Paul then makes a decision that will change his life - he has to figure out a way to help his family get out of the cockfighting business.  Will he succeed?

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger

Dwight is a little strange.  He is a clueless 6th grader who is constantly talking about robots and spiders and other odd things.  But one day he comes to school with a origami Yoda finger puppet and starts giving everyone advice.  The advice, in the form of Yoda questions, is surprisingly good.  Now his classmates, especially Tommy are wondering, "Is Origami Yoda real?" or "Is clueless Dwight really not clueless at all?".

Floors by Patrick Carman

The Whippet Hotel is a fantastic wonderland!  Each floor is a maze and a puzzle that everyone wants to uncover - from the delicious Cake Room stocked full of desserts and treats to the Flying Farm Room spinning with wonderful animal holograms.  But, when the hotel's owner disappears and mysterious boxes and clues appear, it is up to Leo and his father to solve the puzzle and perhaps save the day.

Crunch by Leslie Connor

The five Marissa children are in trouble!  Their parents are stranded up north due to a severe fuel shortage - the pumps are dry and the only vehicles operating are ones powered by foot power, namely bicycles.  14-year old Dewey must now help to take care of his younger siblings and run the family bicycle shop which is now booming.  The kids are managing until disaster strikes and a thief hits the bicycle shop and steals all of the inventory!  How is Dewey going to manage when the nearest supply shop is miles away? 

You Will Call Me Drog by Sue Cowing

11-yr old Parker considers himself to be an ordinary kid.  That is until he finds an ugly green puppet and puts it on his hand.  When the puppet starts to talk and Parker cannot take it off, Parker realizes his life will never be the same.  The puppet's name is Drog and he has nothing but insults for everyone.  He is sarcastic and rude.  Soon, everyone starts thinking that Parker is crazy.  Will Parker ever get rid of Drog?

Wolf Storm by Dee Garretson

Three young actors are filming a movie in an old ski resort in the Carpathian Mountains when they are trapped in their base camp in a raging storm.  Separated from the adults and stranded by the snow from the avalanche, they soon find themselves surrounded by a pack of wild wolves!  Will they survive?

Eggs Over Evie by Alison Jackson

Evie is bummed out!  Her father moved out, taking the family dog with him, her parents divorced and now her Dad has remarried and is expecting a twin babies with his new wife.  Trying to impress her father who is a famous chef, author and cooking show host, Evie takes a summer cooking class.  As she learns to cook, she makes friends with her cooking partner, helps her elderly neighbor and learns how to deal with the changes life brings on.

Ghost Dog Secrets by Peg Kehret

When Randy spots a German Shepherd chained to a tree in a storm, he knows something is wrong.  The dog has no food or water and barely any room to move around.  Vowing to help, Randy starts to check on the dog and sneak him food.  But, as soon as this happens, a ghost collie appears!  Whenever the dog is in trouble, the collie appears to Randy and tries to get him to help.  One day Randy realizes the dog has not only been starved but abused and injured as well.  With the ghost collie guiding the way,  he steals the dog and hides him in his tree-house.  But, when Randy's best friend and pesky little sister finds out, the secret comes out and the dog's owner tracks him down.  Will Randy be able to save his new friend?

Grounded by Kate Klise

Daralynn is facing lots of changes.  Her father, brother and sister are killed in a plane crash and her mother has just taken a new job working as a hair stylist in a funeral home.  Daralynn is stuck at home with her senile grandmother eating tv dinners while mom works on the hair or corpses! But when con man Clem Monroe appears and starts charming everyone into giving him their money, Daralynn must find a way to outsmart the con man and not only save the town their money but her aunt her heart.  Will she succeed?

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai

Written in the form of a poem, ten year old Ha and her family must flee their homes when their country erupts in war.  With her father reported missing in action, Ha, her mother and brothers escape Vietnam by boat and arrive in the United States.  Will they be able to adjust and face up to their mean and bullying classmates?

11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass

Amanda is stuck in time!  Every day is her horrible eleventh birthday.  Amanda and Leo are best friends who have the same birthday.  But a disagreement on their tenth birthday leads to a year apart.  Now, as they celebrate their eleventh birthday, they find they are caught up in a time loop, forever stuck on that horrible day.  Will they ever figure out a way out?

Liels & Po by Lauren Oliver

When Liesl's father dies, she is locked in the attic by her cruel stepmother for thirteen months!  One night a ghost child named Po and her pet appears.  They bring Liesl a message from her dead father.  He wants her to bury his ashes next to Liesl's mother.  However, a mix-up occurs and Liesl's father's ashes are switched with that of a magical potion.  With the help of Po, Liesl escapes and is soon on the track to find her father's ashes and switch the magic potion back.  But, with an evil sorcerer on the loose, will she make it?

A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

When rebels take over his village in the African Sudan and gunfire erupts outside of his one room school, 11 year old Salva flees for his life.  Not knowing if his family is dead or alive, he joins a refugee band and heads to a camp in the neighboring country of Ethiopia.  Dodging the bullets and rebels who force children to become soldiers, Salva's dangerous journey is just beginning.  When he finally makes it to Ethiopia and later Kenya, he is one of the few selected to join a family in America.  Read about the true life story of Salva and his journey across Africa in A Long Walk to Water. 

Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson

It is the first day of school and 6th grader Rafe Khatchadorian has problems.  Being the new kid in school, he has no friends except for his imaginary best bud Leonardo the Silent.  Zoning out during the school's mandatory Code of Conduct, he is now determined to break all of the school rules.  Detailing his plan in Operation R.A.F.E, he is soon at the top of the school's most wanted.  When he is caught damaging school property, he is expelled!  What is Rafe going to do?

Walls Within Walls by Maureen Sherry

The Smithfield kids are upset!  Their father invented a brand new video game and became a multi-millionaire.  The family must now leave their home, school and friends in Brooklyn and move to the ultra rich Manhattan Fifth Avenue apartment.  New school, new house and new friends.  But, the kids soon find out that their new apartment is actually a puzzle!  The previous owner, a super rich man named Mr. Post, turned the entire apartment into a giant puzzle with a mysterious overdue library book and hidden panels.  Soon, the kids are racing throughout the city to uncover the clues uncovered in their apartment.  Will the kids be able to solve the puzzle and uncover the secret of the long lost Post family treasure?

Boy at the End of the World by Greg Van Eekhout

When Fisher awakes, he finds that the world has ended and he is the sole survivor.  Thousands of years before, the Earth was dying.  In order to save the human species, the world's top scientists created a Life Ark.  The ark held humans and other animals asleep in a special pod.  But when Fisher wakes up, the Ark is in ruins and the only thing left is a slightly damaged robot named Click.  So Fisher and Click set out to search for other Arks and possibly other humans.  As they begin their journey, they find a dangerous world of piranah-crocs, giant prairie dogs and flesh eating plants.  Will Fisher and Click make it or will they be forever stuck?

The Shadows by Jacqueline West

Old Ms. McMartin is dead and her crumbling mansion is empty.  When 11-yr old Olive moves in with her parents, she discovers a secret in the paintings hanging on the walls.  When she finds a pair of old glasses, she soon finds out that she can travel inside the paintings and talk to the people living in the paintings!  When she meets a boy and a talking cat, she learns that a dark and mysterious power is at work and if she does not solve the clues, then the people in the paintings will be lost forever.  Will Olive succeed?

You'll Like It Here (Everybody Does) by Ruth White

Meggie and her family are your typical southern family, moving around and trying to find a good place to live.  Except for one thing, they are aliens from the planet Chroma.  When their home planet blew up from too much pollution, the Blue family flew to Earth in their invisible spaceship and settled in North Carolina.  Although they look like most humans, they sometimes speak in a different language and grow blue hair.  Soon, the people of North Carolina grow suspicious and the Blue family must quickly move.  But, in their haste to leave, they mistakenly fly to an alternative Earth.  This Earth is completely different.  What will Meggie and her family do?

The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman by Ben Winters

Is Ms. Finkleman just the quiet and boring old music teacher or is she hiding a secret past?  That is the question 7th grader Bethesda Fielding asks and is soon tracking down clues to find the answer.  When Bethesda sees a hidden tattoo she discovers that Ms. Finkleman was once a rock and roll star!  When the secret comes out the school goes rock and roll crazy.  With the school determined to win the annual state music contest, Ms. Finkleman is put in charge.  But, is the secret true?  Is Ms. Finkleman a former rock star or is it a HUGE mistake?  If it is a mistake, how is the school going to win the music contest?

Bobby vs. Girls (Accidentally). by Lisa Yee

Bobby and Holly are in the fourth grade and are best friends.  They have been friends forever but have learned to keep their friendship a secret because other kids think its weird for boys and girls to be friends.  But when Holly decides to go clothes shopping with a girlfriend instead of rock hunting with Bobby things start to change.  Bobby starts to wonder if Holly is becoming a "girl".  When Holly and Bobby both decide to run for student council things start to get ugly and it is soon a war between the girls and the boys!  Who will win the election?  Will Bobby and Holly ever get back to being friends?  

My Life as a Book by Jamet Tashjian

Derek is having a really bad summer! First his best friend goes away on vacation then his parents sign him up for Learning Camp. What happened to his summer of making fruit grenades and playing with Pedro the summer boarding monkey? Now, he has to read a book from the dreaded summer reading list, which he hates, and practice his endless math problems. Why can't the teachers let him read the latest issue of Garfield or Calvin and Hobbs? How is Derek going to survive the summer?

Storm Runners by Roland Smith

Chase and his father are storm runners – they crisscross the country following natural disasters. Just as a monster hurricane is about to hit, the father and son team arrive at the winter headquarters of a small family circus. Returning from school, Chase's bus is swept into a raging river. With the bus driver dead, its up to Chase and his two school mates to make it back home safely. Will they be able to do it?

The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch

Cass and Max-Ernest (not their real names) are two strange kids.  Cass always expects disaster and is prepared.  With her trustworthy backpack, she is prepared for everything. Max-Ernest, on the other hand, has a strange sense of humor:  he always tells jokes that no one finds funny.  But, the kids team up when they find a message hidden in an old antique shop from a dead magician.  Determined to unlock the secret of the message, Cass and Max-Ernest break into the dead magician's house.  Here they find a secret room and in it... the magician's journal!  But they soon find out that others are looking for the journal too and they will stop at nothing to get it.  What will Cass and Max-Ernest do?

The Familiars by Adam Epstein

A streetwise alley cat is adopted by Jack, a young magician in training as his "familiar".  But when Jack and his magician friends are kidnapped by an evil queen, it is up to the cat and the magician's other familiars to save the day.

Cracker! The Best Dog in Vietnam by Cynthia Kadohata

Cracker is Willie's beloved German shepherd.  But, when Willie is forced to give him up, he sends her to a military canine unit to help soldiers sniff out booby traps in Vietnam.  Soon, Cracker and her new soldier handler Rick bond and are sent to the front lines of the war.  The close bond between Cracker and Rick make them a very successful team and they are given even more dangerous missions.  On their final mission to rescue some American prisoners of war, they are ambushed in an attack and separated!  An injured Rick is sent back to the United States without his buddy Cracker.  Will Cracker survive in the brutal jungle?  Will she ever make it back to Rick?

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Lin Grace

A talking goldfish!!??  A poor, young girl spends her family's only money on a talking goldfish in hopes that the goldfish will help her to change her family fortune.  Following the goldfish's advice, the girl begins a journey that takes her far away.  On her journety, she saves a dragon and makes many friends.  Will her friends be able to help her fulfill her quest to change her family's fortune?

Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet by Graham Salisbury

Calvin Coconut is a typically wild and zany 4th grader living in Kailua, Oahu. As he starts out the new school year, he is always getting into trouble, from losing his pet centipede to getting into a food fight with his class. Things don't get any better when Calvin finds out he has to give up his bedroom to a family friend from Texas. Come along and join the fun and we go with Cal on his crazy 4th grade year.

All the Lovely Bad Ones by Mary Downing Hahn

Travis and his sister Corey are spending the summer at their Grandmother's hotel in Vermont. After hearing a ghost story about the hotel, the bored siblings decide to create their own fun by scaring the hotel's guests with their own version of a ghost. However, their pranks soon reawaken some real ghosts, namely the evil and abusive Ada Jaggs and the spirits of the children she tormented. In order to banish Ada permanently and help the children rest in peace, Travis and Corey must find the location of Ada's body. Will they be able to do it time?

How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor

Georgina's life changed the day her father left and the family was evicted from their apartment. Now, living in their car, life is hard. Although her mother works two jobs it's not enough and Georgina is desperate to help out. So, she decides to steal a dog for the reward money. But, when the dog's owner is unable to afford a reward, Georgina has a change of heart. How can Georgina make amends?

Swindle by Gordon Korman

Griffin Bing is on a mission. After being conned out a valuable baseball card by a sneaky collector named Swindle, he is determined to get it back with the help of his gang of misfit friends. Although faced with obstacles, like a ferocious watchdog and the gang's inability to drive a car, Griffin is manages to outsmart Swindle. But, will it be enough to get back his card?