Crossing Jordan

Author	Sid Fleischman
ISBN	0440415861

After a narrow escape from the nasty O. O. Mary's clutches, Annyrose ventures forth to find her long-lost brother Lank in gold-digging territory. But the journey is rough, bandits and fiends waiting for the traveler at every bend. Soon Annyrose runs into Joaquin Murieta, legendary bandit of the Gold...

Author	S. Terrell French
ISBN	0810983540

"Sibley Carter is a moron and a worldclass jerk." When Julian Carter-Li intercepts an angry e-mail message meant for his greedy, high-powered uncle, it sets him on the course to stop an environmental crime!

His uncle’s company plans to cut down some of the oldest remaining California redwood...

Author	Truus Matti
ISBN	9025857167

Racing along New York City streets one March 1945 day, Linus Muller stops to catch his breath when his attention is suddenly arrested by a familiar face on a poster. Noting the address on the poster, Linus changes course and sets off for it instead.

Flashback to September 1943: Linus is 12 years...

Author	Vivek Shraya
ISBN	0986551201

God Loves Hair is a collection of 20 short stories following a tender, intellectual, and curious child as he navigates complex realms of sexuality, gender, racial politics, religion, and belonging.

Told with the poignant insight and honesty that only the voice of a young mind can convey,...

Author	Sheba Karim
ISBN	0374370117

If Nina Khan were to rate herself on the unofficial Pakistani prestige point system – the one she's sure all the aunties and uncles use to determine the most attractive marriage prospects for their children – her scoring might go something like this:

+2 points for getting excellent grades...

Author	Michele Maria Surat
ISBN	0590422715

Ut comes to the United States from Vietnam along with her father and siblings. Ut misses her mother who has had to stay behind in Vietnam because there is not enough money to bring everyone to America. Ut must deal with the cruel children in her school who make fun of her wardrobe and the way she speaks. One...

Author	Kathryn Lasky
ISBN	0152012591

Harper Jessup is an avid reader, and when her parents become “migrants for God” she must keep her books secret. As Harper grows older and realizes how valuable reading is to her, she comes to understand that her parents’ radical efforts in favor of educational censorship are related to a quest...

Author	Nancy Etchemendy
ISBN	0439313317

This fascinating, approachable, and critically-acclaimed sci-fi/fantasy story is blessed with an intelligent and likeable character. The Power of Un was the winnter of the 2000 Bram Stoker Award.

Until a week ago, Gib Finney was just a regular guy, shooting spitballs and messing up his...

Author	Ann M. Martin
ISBN	0590418386

Slam books are of course the 80s/90s version of the burn book made famous in Tina Fey's "Mean Girls". A book put together my adolescent teenage girls with a lot of hormones and aggression and a need to bitch about their peers. I read this book in grade eight and still remember it 13 years later because I skipped...

Author	Carol Gorman
ISBN	1561454125

Twelve-year-old Charlie Nebraska wants two things he can't get: to make the local baseball team and to have life to return to the way it was before his father died two years earlier in the Korean War.
When Charlie meets Luther Peale, a stranger who quietly and mysteriously arrives in Charlie's small...

Author	Hope Anita Smith
ISBN	0805072020

So many unanswered questions weigh down thirteen-year-old C.J. as he struggles to understand why his father walked out. His father is back now, though C.J. is not as quick to forgive as the other members of his family. He still feels the weight of responsibility that fell on his shoulders when Daddy was...

Author

Andrea Cheng

Sometime around 1815, an enslaved young man named Dave was brought to Edgefield, South Carolina, the center of a pottery-producing area known for the alkaline glazes used on the stoneware. Dave was taught how to turn pots and jars on a pottery wheel by one of his first owners. As Dave's talent flourished,...

Author	Shelia P. Moses
ISBN	1416907165

The day Uncle Goodwin "Buddy" Bush came from Harlem all the way back home to Rehobeth Road in Rich Square, North Carolina, is the day twelve-year-old Pattie Mae Sheals' life changes forever. Pattie Mae adores and admires Uncle Buddy -- he's tall and handsome and he doesn't believe in the country stuff...

Author	Audrey Couloumbis
ISBN	0142501867

When twelve-year-old Casey came home to an empty apartment, she didn't think much of it. But when she wakes up the next morning, and her stepmother, Sylvia, still hasn't come home, she knows that something is wrong. What has happened to Sylvia, and will she ever come back? Casey doesn't know who she'll...

Author

Mary Amato

If there’s one thing I’m good at it’s making people laugh because when I’m standing up I’m what you call a stand-up comedian, and when I’m sitting down, I’m just plain funny. 
 
Trevor is just plain funny, and he’s lucky he is. Because this year he needs a sense of humor. Moving...

Author

Wayne Grover

Yes, I know this is not a new book. But, it is such a good one and so often overlooked, that I wanted to mention it here. It is not your typical classroom read aloud-it is a little slow and dry at parts and the teacher should really pair it with other materials to build background knowledge on Saudi Arabia. However,...

Author	Pegi Deitz Shea
ISBN	0618247483

For the Hmong people living in overcrowded refugee camps in Thailand, America is a dream: the land of peace and plenty. In 1995, ten years after their arrival at the camp, thirteen-year-old Mai Yang and her grandmother are about to experience that dream. In America, they will be reunited with their only...

Author	David Yoo
ISBN	0385731922

Nick Park loves girls.

Drumstick legs, cherry-colored lips, dumpling cheeks . . . everything about them he wants to eat up. But he’s dateless and has been since he discovered girls in the third grade, and he’s convinced himself that this is solely based on the fact that he’s the only Korean...

Author	Naomi Shihab Nye
ISBN	0689817061

A beautiful picture book about family and love across distance.

Mona’s grandmother, her Sitti, lives in a small Palestinian village on the other side of the earth. Once, Mona went to visit her.

The couldn’t speak each other’s language, so they made up their own. They learned...

Author	David J. Smith
ISBN	1554533449

America, with all its diversity, is not easily defined. David J. Smith's If America Were a Village takes a snapshot - past, present and future - to help define America for children. Using the same successful metaphor of the international bestseller If the World Were a Village, the book shrinks down America...

Author	Pamela S. Turner
ISBN	0547716389

Ride alongside the author Pamela S. Turner and her scientific team and meet a cast of dolphin characters large enough (and charismatic enough) to rival a Shakespearean play—Puck, Piccolo, Flute, and Dodger among them. You will fall in love with this crew, both human and finned, as they seek to answer...

Author	Terry Kay
ISBN	0820311286

First published in 1976, The Year the Lights Came On was Terry Kay's debut novel. Revolving around the electrification of rural northeast Georgia shortly after the end of World War II, the novel has become a classic coming-of-age story. Kay, now an acclaimed writer with an international following,...

Author	Christine Fletcher
ISBN	1599900955

When Tallulah Addy sets out on an impulsive cross-country trip to rescue her best friend, she doesn't anticipate getting stranded in rural Tennessee without a dime. Nor does she guess that rescuing a dog will land her a job in the local veterinarian's office. But there, under the wary eye of ornery Dr....