Hound Dog True by Linda Urban

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Custodial Wisdom: Never use a metal ladder in an electrical storm.  Bring an extra garbage can to the cafeteria on Turkey Drummettes day.  Fix things before they get too big for fixing.  Mattie Breen has always been the new girl.  She doesn’t know if she can bring herself to make new friends this year, so she convinces her Uncle Potluck to take her on as a custodial apprentice.  That way, she can work with him at lunch and recess instead of having to be with all of the other fifth-graders.  What she doesn’t plan on is Quincy Sweet popping up all of the time and Uncle Potluck’s bad luck.

Catherine Called Birdy by Karen Cushman

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Catherine is a pretty typical girl.  Her mother and father are always getting on about her for doing her chores.  Her older brother keeps giving her advice she doesn’t want.  And she writes down the more exciting parts of her life in a diary.  Did I mention that she lives in the year 1290 in England? Her chores include hemming sheets, spinning wool, and making soap.  Her brother is a monk and her dad is trying to marry her off to the richest suitor he can find.  Lucky for us readers, Catherine, called Birdy, is full of tricks to keep from having to spend the rest of her life with an ugly old man.

The Graham Cracker Plot by Shelley Tougas

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Dear Judge Henry, my dad’s in prison for something he didn’t do, thanks to a judge like you.  Me and my sometimes friend Graham thought we could bust him out and escape to Canada where we would live in a cabin, learn to hunt, and make our own flour.  It was a fail-safe plan.  Well, a lot went wrong.  In fact, everything that could go wrong, went horribly, horribly wrong.  There was a thunderstorm, a stolen mini-pony, a falling refrigerator, a stinky dog named Fred, and a pair of very heavy wire cutters.  You told me to write a letter thinking about what I’ve done, but it wasn’t my fault.  It was Grahams!  Why do you think we called it the Graham Cracker Plot!

Popular by Maya Van Wagenen

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Where would you turn if you decided you wanted to become popular?  To teen movies?  To popular friends?  To a 1950s guide to teenage popularity?  No? That’s what Maya did.  She picked up Betty Cornell’s Teenage Popularity Guide and decided to give Betty’s advice a whirl for a year and see if it would take her from the bottom of the social ladder all the way to the top.

The Living by Matt de la Pena

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Shy's summer job involves being on a cruise ship for four different eight day voyages. Trust me, it sounds much more glamorous than it really is. Shy hands out towels and water bottles to rich cruise passengers. He's making good money and the work is not too hard, but one night everything changes. He tries to prevent a passenger from jumping over the side of the ship, but fails. That night starts to haunt his dreams and life on the ship doesn't improve much, especially since he knows that someone is following him.

Goodbye, Rebel Blue by Shelly Coriell

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  1. Jump into a taxi and scream “Follow that car!”
  2. Go for a job interview at the Pork Shop and answer all the questions in Pig Latin.
  3. Vacuum a magic carpet
  4. Shoot a flaming arrow
  5. Buy a hundred Polly Pockets and send them to needy children in Africa

It’s a bucket list.  The bucket list that Rebel Blue is forced to write while in detention with Kennedy Green.  Perky, preppy, selfless cheerleader Kennedy Green.  Who dies the day after being in detention with Rebel.  In a strange twist of fate, Rebel ends up with Kennedy’s bucket list, which is full of good deeds and self-sacrifice.  Rebel decides that she should complete Kennedy’s list as best she can, even if it means doing things she never imagined herself doing, like joining a club at school, running, and falling in love.

Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

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Have you heard of the boy in the bubble?  The boy who was allergic to everything, so allergic that he couldn’t even live outside; he had to live in a bubble where his air was filtered and he couldn’t touch anyone or anything.  Rachel has SCID - severe combined immunodeficiency - which renders her defenseless against germs. As such, she's lived in her home her entire life, breathing filtered air, seeing only her mother and her nurse, and watching the world go by through her window. Her life starts to change, however, when a new family moves in next door. As Rachel watches them out her window, she becomes increasingly curious about Olly. He notices her watching and they start up an online friendship.  Even though Rachel knows Olly’s secrets from spying on his family, she isn’t sure if she wants to tell him her secret.  

Confessions of a Murder Suspect by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

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When Malcolm and Maud Angel are murdered, the only suspects are their children, Tandy Angel and her brothers.  Tandy is a whip-smart prodigy and she’s got secrets, some of which even she doesn’t understand.  But she couldn’t have killed her own parents could she?  You tell me.  Does this girl look like a murderer to you?

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

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[Read "The Bill of Life" excerpt from book]

Connor, Lev and Risa are all scheduled to be unwound.  Connor’s parents are sick of the trouble he creates.  Risa is an orphan and is being unwound to cut back on costs, and Lev’s parents have planned to have him unwound since his birth as part of their religion.  These three teens band together, on the run.  If they can make it until their 18th birthdays, they’re safe.  If only.

To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

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Alright boys, I’m going to tell you a secret.  Every girl would LOVE to get a love letter.  She might not admit it, but it’s true.  I have mine, from old boyfriends hidden away.  Lara Jean keeps her love letters in an old hatbox that belonged to her mother.  Only Lara Jean’s letters aren’t love letters in the strictest sense of the word.  They’re letters she’s written to boys she’s loved.  They’re therapeutic, a way for her to get one with her life.  Only now, they’re missing, having been accidentally mailed to each boy and Lara’s love life quickly goes from imaginary to out of control.

For the Win by Cory Doctorow

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Any gamers out there?  This one’s for you.  Wei-Dong lives in L.A. and lives for playing MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role playing games) like World of Warcraft or SkyRim.  He’s picked up a bunch of friends from China to go on raids with him, but what Wei-Dong doesn’t know is that his friends are actually “gold farmers,” playing the game as a job, amassing game wealth that can be sold to Western players at a mark-up.  When he finds out how his friends are being exploited, he knows he has to push back.  He teams up with his friends and start planning a rebellion, one the likes of which no one has seen before.  What starts as an in game revolution turns into a real life protest that can have deadly consequences for all involved.


Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

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There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve.  Either you are his true love, or you killed him.  For Blue Sargent, that could be one in the same.  As long as Blue can remember, she has been warned that she will cause her true love to die.  But the boy she sees on the Corpse Road on St. Mark’s Eve isn’t anyone she knows.  How can she be both his true love and his murderer?

The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis

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The Watsons aren't your typical family from Michigan.  They wear six, even seven, sweaters each day in winter to ward off the cold.  They fight about their hair.  They even have a record player in their car (which they call the Brown Bomber).  But they stick together through thick and thin, especially when they move to Alabama - a black family in the middle of the segregated South during the Civil Rights movement.  

Thee Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage

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There's something fishy in Tupelo Landing (and it ain't the swamp!).  When Mr. Jesse turns up murdered, Mo LaBeau and her trusty sidekick, Dale Ernhardt Johnson III, are on the case (along with a real detective, not that Mo will let that slow her down.).  The investigation is going along swimmingly until Mo's beloved guardians, Miss Lana, and the Colonel, are kidnapped.  Lucky for Mo, Tupelo Landing has her back!

Night of the Twisters by Ivy Ruckman

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"Just before the tornado hit our house, the wind kind of died down and a small amount of hail fell.  The bathroom drains started making a sucking sound just before the tornado hit our house.  It sounded as if the furniture was being moved about above us and then the windows started breaking.  There was a big sucking vacuum feeling in my ears and then the roof and everything above us was gone."

This is from a letter to Ivy Ruckman, the author of Night of the Twisters, from her cousin Florence.  Florence lived through the real night of the Twisters - June 3,  1980 - when seven deadly tornadoes touched down in Grand Island, Nebraska.  This is the story of what happened that night.

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

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[Pretend to find letter in book.  Read letter.]

Things in Miranda's life has been a little topsy turvy lately.  Her best friend Sal gets punched in the face by another kid for no reason.  A crazy man shows up on the corner of her block.  And the apartment key Miranda's mom hid has been stolen.  Then this note shows up.  What does it mean?  Who is M? Why does this guy need a letter? And most importantly, what is Miranda going to do about it?

Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

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Imagine you've been willed thirteen little blue envelopes from your dead aunt.  The first one has specific instructions.  And one thousand dollars cash.  Go to London.  Don't take any money.  Don't take any electronics.  Just bring a backpack and these thirteen little blue envelopes.  I'll handle the rest.  What would you do?

Final Four by Paul Volponi

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Trojans vs. Spartans.  Only one team advances.  The last time the Spartans and Trojans met for stakes this high was in the Trojan War.  One and Done Malcolm McBride wants to prove himself worthy and get into the NBA stat.  Things are not so simple for Roko.  Roko was born in Croatia and emigrated to the United States to escape war.  He just wants to famous enough to tell the world his story.  Only one team will leave the Superdome victorious.  Trojans or Spartans?