The Darkest Evening by William Durbin

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In the early 1930s, Russian recruiters visited Finnish-American communities all across the northern United States and Canada and convinced some 6,000 North American Finns to migrate to the province of Karelia, Russia. Motivated by political idealism, the spirit of adventure, and the promise of full employment and free education, the Finns willingly sold their possessions and boarded ships for Russia. This novel tells the story of one family who set out on that bold journey. Jake Maki's life is turned upside down when his dad decides to move their family to the Soviet Union. His father thinks that they will be living in a worker's paradise, but when they arrive, they find only disappointment and danger.

Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo

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On Monday, June 3rd, Rayme Clarke’s father ran off with a dental hygienist. On Wednesday, June 5th, Raymie decided that the only way she can get her father back is to win the Little Miss Central Florida Tire competition. So she starts taking baton twirling lessons from Miss Ida Nee. She wants her plan to work, but she might need a little help, possibly from her fellow pageant contestants.

Anna Was Here by Jane Kurtz

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Safety rules for moving:

  1. Wrap sharp items in newspapers or soft cloth.
  2. Throw away candles, matches, shaving cream, and anything else that can easily catch fire.
  3. Pack heavy things in small boxes.
  4. Keep your medicine and important papers with you.
  5. Always know where your cat is.
  6. Bring a sleeping bag in case you hate your new bed.
  7. Try to get your parents to turn around and go back home!

Anna Nickel is moving to Kansas, against her will and without her Safety Club (small though it may be) to back her up. She doesn't know what kind of disasters she needs to prepare for in Kansas or how she'll fit in. With Midnight H. Cat, her sister Isabella, Mom and Dad, she bravely leaves Colorado to face Kansas challenges head-on.

Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm

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"Everyone thinks kids are as sweet as Necco Wafers, but I've lived long enough to know the truth: kids are rotten.  The only difference between grown-ups and kids is that grown-ups go to jail for murder.  Kids get away with it."

Necco Wafers are a candy that have been around since 1847.  They were popular during the Great Depression because they only cost a penny – which most folks could afford.  Turtle lives during the Great Depression and when her mama gets a job as a housekeeper for a woman who doesn’t like kids, Turtle is sent to Key West Florida to live with relative she’s never met before.  Florida isn’t anything like she thought it would be and before she knows what’s happening, she finds herself coming out of the shell she’s spent her life building.

Surviving Bear Island by Paul Greci

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“You never know, son, but in case something happens and you get into a pinch, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.  It’s unlikely, but in case we find ourselves separated from each other or from our gear, at least you’ll have something.”  This is what Tom’s dad says as he gives him a survival kit.  Tom groans and complains, but shoves it into his pocket anyway.  Little does he know that it’ll be his saving grace after he and his father are in a kayak accident and Tom is stranded on Bear Island, in the remote Alaskan wilderness, alone.

Doll Bones by Holly Black

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Zach, Poppy, and Alice have been friends forever, and they’ve been playing one continuous ever-changing game just as long, an imaginative game with pirates, thieves, mermaids, and the Great Queen who reigns over them all, inspired by Poppy’s mother’s bone china doll.  But when Zach’s father finds out about the game, he forces him to quit.  When it seems like their friendship might be over, Poppy declares that she’s been having dreams about the Queen and the ghost of a girl who will not rest until the bone-china doll is buried in her empty grave.

The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi

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When Emily, her brother Navin, and their mother move into an old family home, they expect to face a lot of cleaning and repair work. They don’t expect to hear strange noises from behind the basement door, nor for a tentacle monster to kidnap their mother!  It’s up to Emily and Navin to figure out how to set things right and save their mother’s life.

The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

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When Suzy’s best friend dies unexpectedly, she is struck speechless.  There aren’t any words to make your best friend alive again.  The only thing Suzy thinks she can do is to make things better is to prove that Franny’s death didn’t happen for no reason.  To prove that there’s an actual villain in her death.  Even if it means traveling the world alone.

Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan

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When you play a harmonica, you breathe in and out, just as you would to keep your body alive and this is what makes a harmonica magical.  As you play it, you breathe into it your strength and vision and knowledge for the next person who plays this mouth organ.  In Echo, a special harmonica is passed from one hand to the next in a magical journey that takes 18 years.

A Family Apart by Joan Lowery Nixon

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Imagine what you would do if your mother told you that she knew she couldn’t give you the life you deserve and so was going to put you on a train to find a better life with another family.  What would you do?  That was something that actually happened in the 1800s.  Thousands of orphaned, abandoned or homeless children were put on the Orphan Train to be adopted by western families who were looking for children to love or cheap labor.  This book is about Frances Mary and her brothers and sisters and their quest to reunite after they’re split up on the orphan train.

Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix

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It wasn’t there.  Then it was.  Later, that was how Angela DuPre would describe the airplane—over and over, to one investigator after another—until she was told to never speak of it again.  The mysterious airplane arrived at gate 2B carrying only 36 babies, one on each seat.  13 years later, Jonah, one of the adopted babies, receives a letter in the mail with only six words on it.  You are one of the missing.

Princeless Volume 1 by Jeremy Whitley

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I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get tired of reading about princesses who are just waiting for someone to save them.  In Princeless, Adrienne’s parents have locked her up in a tower that is guarded by a dragon in the hopes that a prince will come, rescue, and marry her.  But Adrienne is having none of that.  When she finds a sword under her bed, she decides that she’s going to save herself and other princesses who don’t really need someone to take care of them.

Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin

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Do you know what a homonym is?  A word that sounds the same as other words but have different meanings – for example, chews and choose.  Rose is obsessed with homonyms.  She even gave her dog a homonym name: Rain.  Rose’s life isn’t always easy – her rules and obsessions sometimes set her apart from other kids – but coming home to Rain always makes things a little better.  When a hurricane hits Rose’s town and Rain goes missing, Rose knows that she’s the only one who can find her, even if it means going out alone.

Tesla's Attic by Neal Shusterman and Eric Elfman

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The first thing Nick sees when he opens the attic door is a toaster, which immediately flies at him and gashes his head open.  And that’s just the beginning of Nick’s weird experiences with the old junk stored up there.   Determined to settle the score, he sells everything he can in a garage sale.  It’s only later that he realizes that each item has extraordinary properties and that they were put in the attic by reclusive scientist, Nikola Tesla himself, as part of an elaborate scheme.   Nick desperately tries to hunt down all of the things he sold, but there’s someone else looking for them too.  The Accelerati!

Chomp by Carl Hiaasen

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How long do you think you could make it out in the wilderness alone?  A day?  Two?  Reality TV star Derek Badger thinks that his tv show Expedition Survival! Has prepared him for everything, but he’s about to get a reality check – Florida-style.  Lost in the Everglades, this pseudo-survivalist takes on gaters, snakes, and bats that bite.  His only hope is Wahoo and his alligator-wrangling dad Mickey.

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!