1. After his family hires migrant Mexican workers to help save their Vermont farm from foreclosure, eleven-year-old Tyler befriends the oldest daughter. When he discovers they may not be in the country legally, he realizes that real friendship knows no borders. Return To Sender

2. An old hound that has been chained up at his hateful owner's run-down shack, and two kittens born underneath the house, endure many troubles before they finally end up reunited and free. The Underneath

3. Iron thunder : the battle between the Monitor & the Merrimac : a Civil War novel Thirteen-year-old Tom Carroll takes his place as head of the family after his father dies fighting for the Union; but his job at the local ironworks, where he helps build an iron ship for the Union army, and his loyalty come into question when he is approached by Confederate spies to sell secrets about the ship to the South.

4. The Boy Who Dared In October 1942, seventeen-year-old Helmuth Hübener, imprisoned for distributing anti-Nazi leaflets, recalls his past life and how he came to dedicate himself to bring the truth about Hitler and the war to the German people.

5. Island of the Unknowns : A Mystery When people start vanishing from a godforsaken trailer park next to the Folsom Energy Plant, two eleven-year-olds investigate using mathematical clues that were hastily planted by their friend Mrs. Clarke before she disappeared.

6. Gym Candy Mick Johnson works hard for a placement on the varsity team during his freshman year, and decides to use steroids in order to hold onto his edge, despite the consequences to his health and social life.

7. Forged By Fire Teenage Gerald, who has spent years protecting his fragile half-sister from their abusive father, faces the prospect of one final confrontation before the problem can be solved.

8. Under a war-torn sky After his plane is shot down by Hitler's Luftwaffe, nineteen-year- old Henry Forester of Richmond, Virginia, strives to walk across occupied France, with the help of the French Resistance, in hopes of rejoining his unit.

9. The Brooklyn Nine: A Novel in Nine Innings 1845: Felix Schneider, an immigrant from Germany, cheers the New York Knickerbockers as they play Three-Out, All-Out. 1908: Walter Snider, batboy for the Brooklyn Superbas, arranges a team tryout for a black pitcher by pretending he is Cuban. 1945: Kat Snider of Brooklyn plays for the Grand Rapids Chicks in the All-American Girls Baseball League. 1981: Michael Flint finds himself pitching a perfect game during the Little League season at Prospect Park. And there are five more Schneiders to meet. In nine innings, this novel tells the stories of nine successive Schneider kids and their connection to Brooklyn and baseball. As in all family histories and all baseball games, there is glory and heartache, triumph and sacrifice. And it ain't over till it's over.

10. Out of the Dust Fourteen-year-old Billie Jo's life is defined by struggle, both physical and emotional. A struggle to forgive her father for causing the accident that killed her mother. She fights a daily battle to survive during the worst days of the Oklahoma dust storms. And she strives to heal her body and her soul when severe burns leave her disfigured and unable to play the music she loves. Set during the time of the Great Depression and written in free verse, Billie Jo's emotions are captured; from the heart-wrenching sadness at the death of her mother and newborn brother to the challenge of rebuilding a relationship with her embittered father

11. Red Scarf Girl The author tells about the happy life she led in China up until she was twelve-years-old when her family became a target of the Cultural Revolution, and discusses the choice she had to make between denouncing her father and breaking with her family, or refusing to speak against him and losing her future in the Communist Party.

12. Heaven Marley has lived in Heaven since she was two years old, when her mother found a postcard postmarked HEAVEN, OH on a park bench and decided that was where she wanted to raise her family. And for twelve years, Marley's hometown has lived up to its name. She lives in a house by the river, has loving parents, a funny younger brother, good friends, and receives frequent letters from her mysterious Uncle Jack. Then one day a letter arrives form Alabama, and Marley's life is turned upside down. Marley doesn't even know who she is anymore -- but where can she go for answers, when she's been deceived by the very people she should be able to trust the most?

13. Cracker ! The Best Dog in Vietnam Cracker, a large German shepherd, is given up by Willie, her young owner, because the landlord says she's too big to live in the family's apartment. She is given to the Army as part of the military canine program to be trained to sniff out bombs, traps, and the enemy during the Vietnam War. Rick Hanski, 17, is headed to Vietnam to "whip the world." Cracker and Rick are paired up, and the two learn to work together finding traps and saving men's lives.

14. Schooled Capricorn, 13, lives with his hippie grandmother on a farm commune. He's never been to school, never watched TV, and doesn't even own a phone. When Rain falls out of a tree while picking plums and is sent to rehab for several weeks, Cap stays with a social worker and is sent to the local junior high school. There he is introduced to iPods, cell phones, spit balls, and harassment. Cap, with his long frizzy hair, hemp shoes, and serene ignorance of everything most of the kids care about, is the dweebiest of the dweebs, and it's the custom at this school to elect such a kid to be eighth-grade class president (which offers extra humiliation opportunities).

15. To Kill a Mockingbird This story is about six-year- old Scout Finch, her older brother Jem, and their father, Atticus, a small-town Alabama lawyer assigned to defend Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of rape. The reaction of the town, the dignity of Robinson, and the character of their father affect both children as they navigate the path from childhood innocence to adult understanding.

16. Legend What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem. From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths - until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family's survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias's death.

17. A Monster Calls Conor O'Malley, 13, is having a difficult time with bullying and loneliness. His father is living in America with his new family, and at home he has to contend with a recurring nightmare that torments him every night. His mother is seriously ill and undergoing painful cancer treatments. One night, he wakes up to a voice calling his name. An ancient, treelike monster, hovering over him like a sleeping giant, has come to tell him three stories. When the monster is done, he wishes for Conor to tell him a fourth tale, wanting the scariest thing of all-the truth. The wise monster's ambiguous tales contain unexpected outcomes and help demonstrate that not all stories have happy endings, but they can be more important than anything else if they carry the truth. Conor has to accept the truth about his mother's prognosis and letting go, even if it means losing her. Only then can he start to heal, without destroying himself in the process.

18. Wonder Auggie was born with severe facial deformities-no outer ears, eyes in the wrong place, his skin "melted"-and he's learned to steel himself against the horrified reactions he produces in strangers. Now, after years of homeschooling, his parents have enrolled him in 5th grade. In short chapters from various first-person perspectives, Auggies challenging but triumphant year is told. Though he has some expectedly horrible experiences at school, Auggie has lucked out with the adults in his life-his parents love him unconditionally, and his principal and teachers value kindness over all other qualities. While one bully manages, temporarily, to turn most of Auggie's classmates against him (Auggie likens this to becoming the human equivalent of "the Cheese Touch," a clever Diary of a Wimpy Kid reference), good wins out. Few first novels pack more of a punch: it's a rare story with the power to open eyes-and hearts-to what it's like to be singled out for a difference you can't control, when all you want is to be just another face in the crowd.

19. Ghosts in the Fog Many World War II titles exists but very little has been written about the invasion and occupation of Alaska by Japanese forces in June 1942. At first denied by the U.S. Navy, and then kept in a cloud of secrecy to avoid embarrassment and panic, details of "one of the bloodiest and deadliest hand-to-hand combat battles" between the U.S. and Japan are in sealed documents. This title shows how the country was unprepared for an invasion, how the "Ghost Warriors" of Japan gained territory, and how American soldiers fought to reclaim the westernmost section of Alaska. The focus is on various individuals and military units and the feats they performed. The cooperation of the native Aleuts is well documented. Sadly, so is their callous treatment at the hands of the U.S. government (e.g., removal from their lands under the pretext of evacuation, substandard living conditions, and many years of waiting for reparation).

20. Bomb: the Race to Build and Steal the Worlds Most Dangerous Weapon In December of 1938, a chemist in a German laboratory made a shocking discovery: When placed next to radioactive material, a Uranium atom split in two. That simple discovery launched a scientific race that spanned 3 continents. In Great Britain and the United States, Soviet spies worked their way into the scientific community; in Norway, a commando force slipped behind enemy lines to attack German heavy-water manufacturing; and deep in the desert, one brilliant group of scientists was hidden away at a remote site at Los Alamos. This is the story of the plotting, the risk-taking, the deceit, and genius that created the world's most formidable weapon. This is the story of the atomic bomb.

21. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Francie Nolans coming-of-age at the turn of the century (1912-1920s). A bittersweet story of the formative years in the slums of Williamsburg. The daily experiences of the Nolan family are told to us with compassion, cruelty, laughter, and heartache.

22. The Emerald Atlas Kate, Michael, and Emma have passed from one orphanage to another in the ten years since their parents disappeared to protect them, but now they learn that they have special powers--and a fearsome enemy--and embark on a prophesied quest to find a magical book.

23. The Mysterious Benedict Society "Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?" When this peculiar ad appears in the newspaper, dozens of children enroll to take a series of mysterious, mind- bending tests. But in the end just four very special children will succeed. Their challenge: to go on a secret mission that only the most intelligent and resourceful children could complete. To accomplish it they will have to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened. As our heroes face physical and mental trials beyond their wildest imaginations, they have no choice but to turn to each other for support.

24. The Land Born during the Civil War, Paul- Edward is the son of a white plantation owner and a former slave. Though no unusual for the time, his upbringing is. Paul- Edward's white father sees to it that he and his sister have many of the privileges their white half- brothers enjoy. But at 14, Paul- Edward runs away to seek his fortune. His story is filled with exciting, sometimes heart- breaking adventures, and what is most amazing, his dream of land- ownership, almost impossible for a black person to accomplish in the South, after the Civil War becomes reality.

25. Three Times Lucky Rising 6th grader Miss Moses LoBeau lives in the small town of Tupelo Landing, NC, where everyones business is fair game and no secret is sacred. She was washed ashore in a hurricane 11years ago, and shes been making waves ever since. Although Mo hopes someday to find her "upstream mother," shes found a home with the Colonel--a cafe owner with a forgotten past of his own--and Miss Lana, the fabulous cafe hostess. She will protect those she loves with every bit of her strong will and tough attitude. So when a lawman comes to town asking about a murder, Mo and her best friend, Dale Earnhardt Johnson III, set out to uncover the truth in hopes of saving the only family Mo has ever known. A North Carolina story

26. Crow A North Carolina story and author The violent race riots in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1898 are the story in this gripping historical novel narrated by 11- year-old Moses Thomas, who witnesses unspeakable mob brutality that changes his community forever. The story integrates the historical details, including the roles of several public figures, and the White Declaration of Independence. Moses' mother works all day as a housekeeper for a rich white family, and he is raised by his devoted grand- mother, an illiterate former slave whose practical folk wisdom sometimes clashes with the views of his loving dad, a Howard University graduate who works for the Record, the largest black newspaper in the state. Tension rises with elections coming until white racists riot to stop blacks from voting, people are lynched, and a mob burns down Dad's newspaper offices.