Skellig by David Almond

While Michael's parents are preoccupied with their new fixer-upper house and a new baby who is in danger of dying, Michael discovers the dilapidated garage is inhabited by a creature called Skellig.  Michael and a new friend try to understand exactly what Skellig is. 

Kit's Wilderness by David Almond

Almond returns to themes and situations he used in Skellig, but the plot is quite different and the overall feel is much darker. In his new town Kit meets John Askew who plays a game called Death in abandoned coal mines.  This morbid character could hardly seem more different than Kit, yet John Askew insists they are one and the same. A dark book, but Almond's main theme is always hope.   

Feed by M.T. Anderson

Anderson takes us into the future, when the Internet is connected directly into people’s brains, allowing advertisements and chat sessions to ceaselessly pop-up into their consciousnesses.  Forget tattoos and piercings; skin lesions are the new body art.  The narrator, Titus, buys into this world whole-heartedly, until his friendship with Violet, who is a little counterculture, allows him the tiniest insight into consumer culture at its scariest. Depressing and hilarious at the same time. 

Thirsty by M.T. Anderson

Chris is going through a lot: he doesn’t have much in common with his best friends anymore, he has a crush on Rebecca, he’s not sure who he can trust, and he’s thinks he might be becoming a vampire.  The author creates a believable world in which vampire activity is part of ordinary suburban life.  Exciting plot and funny, low-key voice. 

 Crispin: Cross of Lead by Avi

A peasant boy in medieval times is orphaned and has to learn to survive on his own.  A questionable character named Bear enslaves or befriends him (depending on how you look at it) and ultimately helps liberate him from his station in life.  Avi really knows how to bring the reader back to a different point in history and make the story believable and fascinating.  

True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi

In 1832 a thirteen year-old British high society girl ends up the sole passenger aboard a ship headed for the U.S. The ship's crew is unsavory and potentially violent. By the time the ship reaches its destination, it is Charlotte, of all people, who has been branded a criminal.  She's a tough cookie and takes on a rough adult world.

January 1905 by Katharine Boling

Chapters alternate between twin sisters; one works in a mill with the rest of her family, the other is disabled and stays home to do housework.  Each girl resents the other for what she sees as the other’s easy life.  We get to see their narrow points of view gradually broaden. 

24 Girls in 7 Days by Alex Bradley

Jack Grammar wants to go to prom but he’s a geek and a loner (in his opinion) and it’s just not going to happen.  But when his two friends post a personal ad on the on-line school newspaper a week before prom, there are suddenly twenty-four girls who want to go with him.  Reluctantly, Jack commits to interviewing/dating each one before making his choice. 

For Freedom: The Story of a French Spy by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Suzanne and Yvette, both 13, are at the beach when suddenly everything explodes around them and life changes forever.  It’s May 29, 1940 and the Germans have bombed Cherbourg, France.  During Nazi occupation Suzanne becomes both a highly visible opera singer and a highly covert Resistance fighter.  The fact that this is based on a true story makes it all the more fascinating.

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

Alcatraz was the country’s highest security prison from 1934 to 1963, home to Al Capone and other infamous gangsters.  The small, rocky island was also home to prison employees and their families.  In this light-hearted novel set in 1935, Moose Flanagan has moved there with his family.  His dad has a job at the prison and his sister Natalie needs help from a special school in nearby San Francisco for her unusual condition (what we would now call autism).  Moose is constantly getting caught between a rock and a hard place when all he wants to do is stay out of trouble and play baseball.

Heroes by Robert Cormier

Eighteen-year old Francis returns to his hometown after being disfigured beyond recognition in World War II.  He's considered a war hero but he doesn't feel like one.  In fact, he's plotting to murder someone who used to be his hero.  This is a very painful but not depressing book.  

The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman

A girl in the 14^th century does not have a family, a place to sleep, food, or even a name.  A less-than-likable midwife agrees to take her in, in exchange for work.  This is a story of someone who makes a place for herself in the world despite harsh circumstances. 

Mary Ann Alice by Brian Doyle

The damming of the Gatineau River promises jobs and modernity to a small Canadian town in the 1920's. It also threatens to sink much of the surrounding land. Mary Ann Alice McCrank is our witty protagonist who loves poetry and geology.  She tells us of an eccentric cast of townspeople (including her teacher, Patchy Drizzle) and the dramatic ways the dam changes their lives. 

Spud Sweetgrass by Brian Doyle

Canadian teenager Spud sells fries from a wagon owned by the overly motivational Mr. Fryday. One day Spud is swimming in the river and realizes it’s slick with grease—grease that smells suspiciously like fries. Spud and his two best friends set out to uncover who is illegally dumping grease. While the story contains a light mystery, it’s really a hilarious character study.  If you find Doyle as funny as I do, try Easy Avenue and Spud in Winter.

Hatching Magic by Ann Downer

Rival magicians travel from medieval times to modern-day Boston in search of a small, pregnant dragon.  Meanwhile, a girl in Boston finds a mysterious card that has something to do with the dragons and magic she is fascinated with.  Harry Potter fans will like this one.

 The House of the Scorpion  by Nancy Farmer

Set in the future, Matteo grows up hidden in a house in the middle of an enormous field.  Though he is cared for by a kind woman, Matteo is lonely, and, one day, escapes to the plantation headquarters. He learns he lives in a country between Mexico and the U.S. that does nothing but produce drugs, and, even stranger, he is the clone of the country's 140-year-old leader. Never sure of people's intentions, Matteo has to sort out who is truly looking out for him.  Those who like The Giver will like this one.

A House of Tailors by Patricia Reilly Giff

Dina is a thirteen-year-old German girl, unenthusiastic about the sewing she’s expected to do for the family business, and almost oblivious to the political situation around her (it’s 1870, at the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War).  When she is seen with her French friend, a soldier begins to hunt her down, thinking she is a spy.  Dina is suddenly sent to Brooklyn, New York to live with her uncle and help in his sewing business.  As if it were not enough to be separated from your family, be thrown into a new culture where you don’t speak the language and get stuck doing even more tedious work than that which you were trying to escape, there’s even an outbreak of smallpox!  Realistic description of culture shock. 

Sweetblood: A Vampire Novel by Pete Hautman

Lucy is a modern-day diabetic who has a theory that vampires were really diabetics, since some of the untreated symptoms of diabetes are consistent with vampire behavior from folklore.  She doesn’t think vampires were supernatural monsters; they were simply diseased and misunderstood, as she is.  She struggles to get her diabetes under control, resists help from those who care about her, and gets involved with freaky, predatory types through a vampire chat room.  Lucy is a sarcastic, angst-ridden, and very likeable narrator. 

The Minister’s Daughter by Julie Hearn

Set in the 1600’s as the witch-hunts were going full-force.  Nell is an apprentice to the village healer.  Grace and Patience are the teenaged daughters of the new, Puritan minister in town.  Although all seem to know that Grace is pregnant (and unmarried), her “affliction” is attributed to devil possession.  The villagers blame the healer and Nell for the presence of the Devil.  Chapters alternate between Nell and Patience’s points of view.  A story about the true nature of evil and the trickiness of morality, especially for those who claim to have lots of it.  

Hoot by Carl Hiassen

The new boy in school gets beat up regularly by a bully, befriends two secretive kids, and tries to prevent a pancake chain restaurant from destroying owl habitat.  The plot is engaging enough but it's really the protagonist's low-key sense of humor and ability to keep things in perspective that makes it worth reading. 

At the Sign of the Sugared Plum by Mary Hooper

Hannah moves to London in 1665 to help her sister Sarah in her sweetshop, and also to seek adventure, glamour, and romance.  She arrives instead to a very different London, one that is being decimated by the Plague (which eventually killed one third of the population).   All the filth and death is contrasted with descriptions of the elaborate candies Hannah and Sarah make for wealthy Londoners and a budding romance with the apothecary’s apprentice.  Hannah and Sarah’s story continues in Petal to Ashes in which the girls survive London’s double-whammy: the Great Fire of 1666. 

The Canning Season by Polly Horvath

Rachet lives in a basement apartment Florida with her self-centered mother, Henriette. Suddenly, Henriette announces Rachet will leave that evening for Maine to stay the summer with distant relatives. Penpen and Tilly turn out to be ancient, eccentric sisters who live in the boonies. They don’t always remember to serve meals, they can hardly drive, Tilly is an alcoholic and both are dying, but it turns out to be a much better situation for Rachet than life with Henriette. Horvath always turns tragedy into comedy.

Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath

Primrose is eleven when her parents are declared lost at sea.  She's the only one in her small town in British Columbia who believes her parents could have survived. She escapes the craziness of her world in, of all places, the kitchen of a restaurant where every last dish is served atop a waffle. 

How it Happened on Peach Hill by Marthe Jocelyn

It’s the 1920’s and fifteen-year-old Annie and her mother have just moved to another town.   Mom earns a living by “communicating with the spirits,” and assigns Annie the job of acting like an “idiot” so she can glean information from unsuspecting townspeople.  Though she can play the part with gusto, Annie doesn’t really want to stand around drooling.  She wants to go to school for once in her life, and maybe even attract the attention of a boy.  Annie cleverly cures herself of her affliction, causing lots of mother-tension as mom tries to maintain her scam. 

The Thought of High Windows by Lynne Kositsky

After her father is captured by Nazis, Esther escapes Germany on her own.  She settles in an orphanage in the south of France, but it is hardly a respite.  She is treated badly by the other Jewish kids because she is considered “old Jewish.”  An unsentimental look at the harsh realities of the times. 

Absolutely, Positively Not by David LaRochelle

Sixteen-year old Steven has one thing, and one thing only, to hide and that is the fact that he goes country dancing with his mom every week.  Nothing else.  For example, Steven is absolutely, positively not gay.  He tries to prove this point to himself by acting the part of a stereotypical heterosexual male: socializing with jocks, looking at Victoria’s Secret catalogs, going on dates with “desirable” girls, ice fishing with his macho dad, all with disappointing results.  This is a sweet and funny story about a very likeable character learning self-acceptance.

The Flame Tree by Richard Lewis

Isaac lives in Indonesia with his parents, who are Christian missionary doctors.  He doesn’t hide away in the missionary community; he knows the locals well and is aware of the friction between Christians and Muslims in the city.  When violence erupts, Isaac begins to see how similar Christians and Muslims are in their fervor to evangelize and how otherwise gentle, reasonable people can become hostile when ideology takes over.  The author is a grown-up missionary kid who has spent most of his life in Indonesia. 

 Silent Boy by Lois Lowry

Katy, a doctor's daughter who wants to become a doctor herself, befriends a boy who is "touched" (probably autistic). Because of her compassion, Katy alone understands Joseph's good intentions in a tragedy. Though the protagonist is eight years old through most of the story, the subject matter is clearly for older kids. The author wrote this novel based on historical photos that are placed at the beginning of each chapter.  

The Earth, My Butt, and other Big, Round Things by Carolyn Mackler

Usually you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but you should pick up this book for its spunky, funny title, because it’s so characteristic of the contents.   Virginia’s parents work all the time, her best friend has moved to the West Coast, and her beloved older brother is off at college; she’s lonely and passes the time watching TV and eating.  The story is about coming to terms with body image, family issues, and romantic relationships . . . nothing revolutionary, but it’s told in such an engaging way.

Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay

A girl named Saffron learns by accident that she was adopted into her artist family.  Then her grandfather dies, leaving her in his will "her angel in the garden.”  Nobody is sure what this means, and so Saffy is on a mission to find out.

Shackleton’s Stowaway by Victoria McKennan

We meet Perce Blackborrow as his frostbitten toes are being amputated. He’s been at sea for two years, starting out as a stowaway on a ship that has since been crushed by ice and sunk. He, along with the rest of the crew, survive for a time on melting ice floes near Antarctica, and eventually they row across the violent ocean in three tiny lifeboats in search of solid ground. This is a fictional account of true events in which in an exploration went wrong in nearly every way but was held together by the strong-willed captain and crew.  Good to read along with the non-fictional account which has lots of photos: Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary, True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance by Jennifer Armstrong.

The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty

Set in Australia, we follow the correspondence of three girls from a private high school to their assigned pen pals from a public high school. The book is entirely made up of e-mails, letters, diary entries, memos, etc. as the girls befriend their initially hostile male pen pals. There are sinister and serious elements here, but generally it’s wacky, funny, and surprising.

Breath by Donna Jo Napoli

In medieval times, well before people had any scientific understanding of disease, illness was viewed with extreme suspicion and superstition. Our protagonist during this period is a sickly boy named Salz; he has what we’d now call cystic fibrosis. He lives on a farm with his uncompassionate father and brothers, and his caring grandmother. After a wet spring, the livestock start to go mad, and then the townspeople start losing it.  Accusations fly and Salz is caught in the middle.  Fascinating fictional account of real times and real diseases.

Run, Boy, Run by Uri Orlev

Just before 7-year-old Srulik is separated from his family in Poland during WWII, his father tells him to learn Christian ways in order to pass but to never forget that he is Jewish.  During the next four years of the war the boy is almost constantly on the move, sometimes living in the forest, sometimes working on farms.  This is a true story of extraordinary kindness and cruelty.  

Malka by Mirjam Pressler

It’s hard to imagine a Jewish mother abandoning her 6-year-old daughter in Nazi-occupied Poland, but at least this much of the story is based on a real life.  During an escape attempt with her mother and sister, Malka’s feet are badly injured, and her mother leaves the little girl in the care of a farmer.  As soon as Malka is functioning again, her caregiver puts her out on the street, practically into the arms of the Gestapo.  She survives the unusually harsh winter with a profound loss of innocence and trust.  A true tragedy.  

Ghost Girl: A Blue Ridge Mountain Story by Delia Ray

It’s 1929 and President Hoover is having a schoolhouse built in rural Virginia, where none of the kids have ever attended school.  Eleven-year-old April is bursting to go to school; her depressed mother begrudgingly allows her to attend, though she wants her home to do chores.  Teacher Miss Vest introduces April to letters, marshmallows, modern medical care, and eventually even the White House.  It’s not all one big happy story toward modernization and independence, though.  April suffers some real losses, but emerges capable and grown-up.   

Pirates!  The True and Remarkable Adventures of Minerva Sharpe and Nancy Kington, Female Pirates by Celia Rees

“You see pirates, and you think one thing,” one character in this book says.  “You got to learn to see differently.”  Pirates! certainly helps us do just that.  Nancy, the narrator of this 18^th century story, is the daughter of a rich plantation owner in Jamaica, about to be forced into marriage with an evil man.  Nancy and her friend Minerva, a slave, escape their oppressive lives by joining a male crew aspiring to become pirates.  Be patient with the first part of this book, which gives the background on how the girls came to be pirates.  The second part is where the pirate action picks up. 

Vampire High by Douglas Rees

When Cody flunks out of school, his parents enroll him in the prestigious Vlad Dracul Magnet School, where it turns out nearly everyone is a vampire.  The few non-vampire students are given a deal: you just have to show up, no work required.  Though at first Cody can hardly believe his good fortune, he soon decides he has higher expectations for himself.  Trouble is, the vampire principal is doing all he can to discourage him.  Very, very funny.

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

Daisy is consumed with her own problems when she is sent to the English countryside to spend time with an aunt and cousins she’s never met. When World War III suddenly erupts, her aunt goes missing, and Daisy and the kids have to survive on their own as the country is occupied by the enemy. A story of real pain, love, and healing.  This is one of my all-time favorites, partly because Daisy’s first-person voice is so real. 

Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy

German soldiers packed the ghetto of Lodz, Poland full of 270,000 people, about the current population of Saint Paul.  By 1945 about 800 had survived.  Twelve of those were children.  The story is told from a child’s perspective; the language is simple and poetic; the picture it draws of life in the ghetto is vivid.  The despair and determination of the characters is palpable.  Based on the author’s interviews with Sylvia Perlmutter who was ten when she was liberated from the ghetto at the war’s end. 

Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli

It’s 1939 in Warsaw; we meet a boy who has nothing, no name, age, family, or memories.  He survives by living in abandoned buildings, stealing food, and taking in the increasingly bleak world as if it is a game.  He befriends a 7-year-old Jewish girl and ends up living with her family in the ghetto.  He continues to steal food for his adopted family by squeezing through a hole in the wall each night into non-ghetto-ized Warsaw, known as “Heaven.”  Told in an unusually playful, innocent manner, given the subject matter.

Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson

Through eleven-year-old Lonnie’s poetry we get a full picture of his life as a foster child, learn about his parents deaths and about his younger sister in a different foster family.  A short but very full book.  

The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp by Rick Yancey

Fifteen-year-old Alfred Kropp doesn’t expect to have extraordinary adventures.  He is ordinary in every way, except that he is huge and his classmates call him “Frankenstein.”  But then his mom dies, and, his dad being out of the picture, Alfred moves in with Uncle Farrell, a security guard.  Uncle Farrell demands Alfred’s help in a shady business deal.  Suddenly, Alfred is plunged on a wild ride in which modern-day knights and evil forces fight for possession of Excalibur, King Arthur’s famous sword.  Alfred’s extraordinary traits begin to show up.

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

Fifteen-year-old Liz has died in a bicycle accident.  She just doesn’t realize it right away.  She travels dream-like to Elsewhere where people age backwards.  Liz is chagrined since in Elsewhere she’ll never turn sixteen and get her driver’s license.  Grandmother Betty and other colorful characters guide the disgruntled Liz through this pleasant but strange world and help her prepare to become a child and then a baby again before she can return to Earth.