The Art of Keeping Cool
by Janet Taylor Lisle

In this novel set during World War II, 13-year-old cousins Robert and Elliot uncover a long-held family secret while living with their dictatorial grandfather in a small Rhode Island town. To further complicate matters, the artistic Elliot (whose talents are belittled by his grandfather) befriends the town's only German resident--an eccentric painter who fled from Germany when his artwork was banned by the government.

Crossing Jordan
by Adrian Fogelin

Twelve-year-old Cassie narrates the dramatic events that unfold when Jemmie, an African-American girl, and her family move in next door. Despite their parents' deeply held prejudice against each other's family, the girls find they share more similarities than differences. Mutual interests in reading and running draw them together, and their wariness of each other disappears. But when their parents find out about the burgeoning friendship, each girl is forbidden to see the other. A family crisis and celebration provide opportunities for the families to reach an understanding.

Francie
by Karen English

When the substitute for Mr. "Fab" Fabiano never shows up and his sixth-grade students are on their own, they set out to prove that they can run the class by themselves. With a little ingenuity and some careful planning, they might just succeed. But when a fight breaks out between Bastian Fauvell and Rachel White over a classmate, Tommy Feathers, who died six months earlier, everything begins to fall apart. Can Rachel deal with the anxieties that plunged her into silence the day Tommy died? Inventive and uniquely constructed, "Flying Solo" follows Mr. Fab's students hour by hour as they tackle the challenges of an unusual school day.

The Graduation of Jake Moon
by Barbara Park

Jake Moon counts on his grandfather Skelly to help him get through rough times. But when Skelly's memory begins to deteriorate and he's diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, Jake realizes that their roles are now reversed. Jakes faces an emotional roller coaster: his embarrassment when some of his friends see his grandfather sitting in the dumpster behind school, the frustration of telling him the same things over and over, the pain when his grandfather doesn't recognize him, the hurt when his grandfather starts yelling at him for nothing, the resentment for what the Alzheimer's has done to his life. How could one person you could always count on be fading away right before your eyes? Itıs both confusing and terrifying.

Gracie's Girl
by Ellen Wittlinger

Sixth grade is about to begin, and Bess Cunningham is gearing up to be cool. With a bunch of wild new outfits and an important job in the school play, Bess is convinced she'll get a lot of attention--at least more than she gets from her overbooked parents. With a lawyer dad and a teacher mom, both of whom are passionate about volunteering for a soup kitchen, Bess sometimes feels like she would have to eat out of a dumpster before they'd notice her. But when she meets an elderly woman named Gracie who actually does eat other people's discarded food, she begins to realize there are real human faces on the scruffy people her parents serve at the soup kitchen. Soon she and her best friend, Ethan, are deeply entrenched in Gracie's life, and in helping establish a shelter for homeless women. Bess is amazed to discover that even without her crazy wardrobe, she has managed to make new friends and make a difference.

Here Comes Heavenly
by Todd Strasser

The Rand kids aren't overjoyed with new nanny Heavenly Lightbody, who mysteriously appears one morning. She is pierced, tattooed, and purple-haired, and she also insists the spoiled kids clean up after themselves and do their homework. Inexplicably, the young Rands find themselves complying with her demands. However, Heavenly also provides needed attention and caring and so wins over her resistant charges. The horrified parents return from their business travels long enough to fire her, but Heavenly's magic affects adults as well, ensuring open-ended employment.

Holes
by Louis Sachar

Following a miscarriage of justice, the ever-unlucky Stanley Yelnats is sentenced to imprisonment at a boys' juvenile detention center known as Camp Green Lake. There's just one thing about Camp Green Lake--there's no lake, just a dried-up lake bed. Every day, each boy must dig a hole in the dried-up lake bed: a hole five feet deep and five feet across. The sadistic warden claims that digging the holes helps the boys build character but Stanley soon discovers the real reason for all the digging--the warden and his cohorts are using the prisoners to search for a long-lost buried treasure.

Homeless Bird
by Gloria Whelan

In this novel set in contemporary India, 13-year-old Koly takes part in an arranged marriage. However, her new husband is sickly and quickly dies, leaving Koly a widow with no place in society after she is deprived of her inheritance and abandoned by her mother-in-law. Now on her own for the first time in her life, Koly must decide how to proceed With a seemingly hopeless future, this courageous and spirited young woman sets out to forge her own destiny. Through perseverance, resourcefulness, and sheer luck, she manages not only to find a niche for herself, but even to find happiness again.

Hope Was Here
by Joan Bauer

When 16-year-old Hope Yancey and her Aunt Addie move to Wisconsin, they get caught up in local politics and small town life. Both employed at the Welcome Stairways Diner (Hope as a waitress, Addie as the cook), they agree to help the diner's owner, G. T. Stoop, mount a campaign for mayor. G. T.'s campaign is hampered by the fact that he is suffering from leukemia and that he's running against a firmly entrenched, yet corrupt, incumbent. As Hope and Addie settle into life in Wisconsin, they both find love, and a home, at last.

I'm Not Who You Think I Am
by Peg Kehret

Ginger Shaw first sees the odd woman following her during a party. Then the strange phone calls start and the woman confronts Ginger. She claims to hold the key to a secret from the past. But when the confrontations turn violent and the woman's idle threats turn deadly, Ginger is forced into a crisis of loyalty and honor-a crisis from which her family might not recover.

Jason's Gold
by Will Hobbs

"Gold!" Jason shouted at the top of his lungs. "Read all about it! Gold discovered in Alaska!" Within hours of hearing the thrilling news, fifteen-year-old Jason Hawthorn jumps a train for Seattle, stow away on a ship bound for the goldfields, and joins thousands of fellow prospectors attempting the difficult journey to the Klondike. The Dead Horse Trail, the infamous Chilkott Pass, and a five-hundred-mile trip by canoe down the Yukon River lie ahead. With help from a young writer named Jack London, Jason and his dog face moose, bears, and the terrors of a subarctic winter in this bone-chilling survival story.

Midnight Magic
by Avi

Princess Terasina claims to have seen the ghost of her dead brother walking in the halls of the castle where she lives. Mangus, an old magician, and Fabrizio, his 12-year-old servant, are called upon to help solve the mystery of the ghostly apparition. As they become more and more involved in the search, they are faced with death threats, conspiracies, secret passageways, and false identities everywhere they turn. What other dark secret does the castle hold?

My Louisiana Sky
by Kimberly Willis Holt

Tiger Ann Parker is smart in school and good at baseball, but she's forever teased about her family by the girls in class. Tiger Ann knows her folks are different from others in their small town of Saitter, Louisiana. They are mentally slow, and Tiger Ann keeps her pain and embarrassment hidden as long as her strong and smart Granny runs the household. Then Granny dies suddenly and Aunt Dorie Kay arrives, offering Tiger Ann a way out. Now Tiger Ann must make the most important decision of her life.

Williwaw!
by Tom Bodett

Here is an exciting middle-grade adventure novel set in rural Alaska. Ivan and September Crane, ages 12 and 13, are left alone for a couple of weeks while their fisherman Dad is away at sea. In typical adolescent fashion, they quickly proceed to ignore his only two instructions--donıt run down the batteries on the portable short-wave radio, their only means of communication, and don't cross the bay to town. Through a series of bad decisions they find themselves crossing Bag Bay in their skiff when they are suddenly overtaken by a sudden and fierce autumn storm known as a williwaw. Ivan and September must use every ounce of strength, courage, and ingenuity they posses to keep themselves afloat until help comes.

Zach's Lie
by Roland Smith

Zach and his family enter the witness protection program when his father, a drug dealer, cooperates with the DEA. Although they've been given new identities and moved to a new town, Zach fears that he and his family will be found by the powerful drug cartel for whom his father used to transport drugs.