By Emily Crofford
Grade(s): 4+
In 1841, having been shipwrecked and picked up by an American whaling ship outside Japanese territorial waters, fifteen-year-old Manjiro decides to go live in America and work towards opening trade between his country and the West.

By Christopher Paul Curtis
Grade(s): 4+

Ten-year-old Bud, a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his father—the renowned bandleader, H.E. Calloway of Grand Rapids.

By Carl Hiaasen
Grade(s): 5+

When the difficult star of the reality television show "Expedition Survival" disappears while filming an episode in the Florida Everglades using animals from the wildlife refuge run by Wahoo Crane's family, Wahoo and classmate Tuna Gordon set out to find him while avoiding Tuna's gun-happy father.

By Sally Warner
Series Ellray Jakes
Grade(s): 3+

Eight-year-old EllRay's father has promised a family trip to Disneyland if EllRay can stay out of trouble for a week, but not defending himself against Jared, the class bully, proves to be a real challenge.

By Tiki Barber
Grade(s): 4+

Co-captains Tiki and Ronde Barber lead their junior high teammates to the Virginia state football championship.

By Ted Arnold
Grade(s): 1+

During a visit to a space museum, Fly Guy and Buzz learn all about planets, space crafts, and space suits.

By Susan Cooper
Grade(s): 5+

At the end of a winter-long journey into manhood, Little Hawk returns to find his village decimated by a white man's plague and soon, despite a fresh start, Little Hawk dies violently but his spirit remains trapped, seeing how his world changes.

By Susan Goodman
Grade(s): 3+

A non-fiction travel guide to space tourism that includes information about accommodations, attractions, and more

By Lauren Tarshis
Grade(s): 3+

A massive earthquake and devastating tsunami hit Japan while Ben is visiting his late father's hometown, pulling Ben's family apart and leaving him stranded in a strange country during an epic disaster

By James Patterson
Series Middle School
Grade(s): 3+

When Rafe Kane enters middle school, he teams up with his best friend, "Leo the Silent," to create a game to make school more fun by trying to break every rule in the school's code of conduct.

Grade(s): 5+
Featuring gorgeous photographs that illustrate and educate, this visual encyclopedia is jam-packed with thousands and thousands of images that bring more than one million things to light.

By Ellen Potter
Grade(s): 3+

Everyday, nine-year-old Otis Dooda confronts a series of zany changes when his father's new job prompts the family's move to a New York City apartment, where Otis is cursed by a guy in a potted plant in their apartment building lobby and has to team up with a new friend and a gassy miniature horse to break the curse.

By Fred Bowen
Grade(s): 4+

As a school assignment, eighth-grader Matt Monroe keeps a journal about his team's football season.

By David Lubar
Grade(s): 5+

A collection of offbeat and fantastical tales finds a family Thanksgiving meal interrupted by vengeful turkeys, a princess meeting a pea-brained suitor, and a battle between two weenies erupting in

By Mike Lupica
Grade(s): 4+

When fourteen-year-old baseball player Hutch feels threatened by the arrival of a new teammate named Darryl, he tries to work through his insecurities about both Darryl and his remote and silent father, who was once a great ballplayer too.

By John H. Ritter
Grade(s): 4+

The fate of a small California town rests on the outcome of one baseball game, and Tom Gallagher hopes to lead his team to victory with the secrets of the now disgraced player, Dante Del Gato.

By Matthew Cody
Grade(s): 5+

Eleven-year-old orphan Tommy Learner's world in 1900 New York City collides with that of twelve-year-old, modern-day Jezebel Lemon in the basement of her apartment building, where together they must use the portals between worlds to thwart the Dead Gentleman, a legendary villain whose last unconquered world is the planet Earth.

By Jacqueline Davies
Series The Lemonade War
Grade(s): 3+

Fiction - When money disappears from fourth-grader Evan's pocket and everyone thinks that his annoying classmate Scott stole it, Evan's younger sister stages a trial involving the entire class, trying to prove what happened.

By Tom Angelberger
Grade(s): 4+

Sixth-grader Tommy and his friends describe their interactions with a paper finger puppet of Yoda, worn by their weird classmate Dwight, as they try to figure out whether or not the puppet can really predict the future.

By Roald Dahl
Grade(s): 3+

- A young boy and his Norwegian grandmother, who is an expert on witches, together foil a witches' plot to destroy the world's children by turning them into mice