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Beanball by Gene FehlerLuke "Wizard" Wallace, a gifted high school center fielder, gets beaned by a pitch--beaned hard enough to crack his skull and cause the loss of vision in one eye. We learn about this life-changing event from different points of view: not just Luke's, but also his distraught parents, his wise coach, his shallow girlfriend, the kind girl who has a crush on him, his good friends, and the pitcher who beaned him, among others.
Oggie Cooder by Sarah Weeks Oggie Cooder has a talent -- he can charve better than anyone else in 
Truman Elementary School. (Charving, for the uninitiated, is the carving of a piece of cheese with one's teeth. ) Oggie doesn't think this is anything special -- but his whole school will soon be disagreeing with him. Because after he inadvertantly charves during a nationwide hunt for unusual talents, his charving puts him on the path to fame and forture. Suddenly, he's the star of the school . . . but he's not sure that he wants to shine that way.
Year of the Rat by Grace Lin The Year of the Rat brings big changes: Pacy must deal with Melody moving to California, find the courage to forge on with her dream of becoming a writer and illustrator, and learn to face some of her own flaws. Pacy encounters prejudice, struggles with acceptance, and must find the beauty in change.
When the Black Girl Sings by Bil Wright Lahni Schuler is the only black student at her private prep school. She's also the adopted child of two loving, but white, parents who are on the road to divorce. Struggling to comfort her mother and angry with her dad, Lahni feels more and more alone. But when Lahni and her mother attend a local church one Sunday, Lahni hears the amazing gospel 
choir, and her life takes an unexpected turn.It so happens that one of Lahni's teachers, Mr. Faringhelli, has nominated her for a talent competition, and she is expected to perform a song in front of the whole school. Lahni decides to join the church choir to help her become a better singer. But what starts out as a way to practice singing becomes a place of belonging and a means for Lahni to discover her own identity.
Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George Blessed—or cursed—with an ability to understand animals, the Lass has always been an oddball. And when an isbjorn (polar bear) 
seeks her out, and promises that her family will become rich if only the Lass will accompany him to his castle, she doesn’t hesitate. But the bear is not what he seems, nor is his castle, which is made of ice and inhabited by a silent staff of servents. Only a grueling journey on the backs of the four winds will reveal the truth: the bear is really a prince who’s been enchanted by a troll queen, and the Lass must come up with a way to free him before he’s forced to marry a troll princess.
Porcupine by Meg Tilly When Jacqueline Cooper's father is killed in Afghanistan, her mother goes to pieces and takes her three children to live on a farm with a strict great-grandmother they didn't know they had. After she leaves, the 12-year-old makes it her job to keep her family together and safe.
Hurricane: A Novel by Terry Trueman Striking while José's father, older brother and sister are out on the road, the calamitous weather induces a mudslide that destroys all but two of the houses in the village and buries most of the residents. It falls to José to conquer his fear and be the man of the house.
Absolute Brightness by James LecesneThe small coastal town of Neptune, NJ, is thrown for a loop when flamboyant and flashy Leonard, 14, arrives to live with the Hertle family. 
His cousin Phoebe, 15, resents his inclusion and watches with annoyance as he proceeds to join the high school drama crowd and give her mother's beauty parlor clients makeovers of body and mind. When Leonard goes missing, Phoebe begins to realize that she had not been able to see beyond his six-inch platform sneakers; his love for others and his desire to be loved in return touched the people of Neptune more deeply than anyone had expected. As she struggles to make sense of his disappearance, she leans on Travis, her wrong-side-of-the-tracks boyfriend who had at an earlier time accosted Leonard.
The Girl in the Castle inside the Museum by Kate Bernheimer, pictures by Nicoletta Ceccoli
In an eclectic toy museum, children are drawn to a glass globe where it is said that, if they look hard enough, they can see the little girl who lives in the castle therein. To their delight, she is visible, as is her entire enchanted world. The girl is lonely when the museum empties, and she dreams of other children visiting her. This is a picture book, 32 pages.
The King's Arrow by Michael Cadnum
When eighteen-year-old Simon, the half-English, half-Norman son of a noble family living in Norman-occupied England in 1100, is offered the
chance to accompany the king’s friend Walter Tirel on a royal hunt, he is flattered by the honor. He hopes his association with Tirel will help him advance in a country where being English means being subject to the whims of the Norman upper class. But when the king is killed by Tirel’s arrow during the course of the hunt, Simon must join Tirel in fleeing for their lives. Accident or murder? Based on real events, this heart-pounding tale from acclaimed author Michael Cadnum reconstructs one of the most fascinating mysteries of English history.
The Magic Half by Annie Barrows
Miri is the only single child in the middle of a family with two sets of twins--older brothers and younger sisters. When the family moves to an old farmhouse Miri accidentally travels back in time to 1935 only to discover Molly, a girl in need of a real family to call her own.
The Butter Man by Elizabeth Alalou and Ali Alalou
While Nora waits impatiently for dinner, her father stirs up a story from his childhood. During a famine Nora's grandfather must travel over the mountain to find work so he can provide food for his family. While young Ali waits for his father's return, he learns a lesson of patience, perseverance, and hope. This is a picture book, 32 pages.
The Key to Rondo by Emily Rodda
There are three rules to the old painted, music box: Wind the box three times only. 
Never shut the box when the music is playing. Never move the box before the music stops. Leo wouldn't dream of breaking these rules, but does his stubborn cousin Mimi listen? She winds the box four times -- and suddenly the paintings on its side come to life and a powerful witch is released. Now its up to Leo and Mimi to stop the witch, if only they can find the key to the music box -- and the magical world it controls.
We are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson The story of Negro League baseball is the story of gifted athletes and determined owners; of racial discrimination and international sportsmanship; of fortunes won and lost; of triumphs and defeats on and off the field. 
It is a perfect mirror for the social and political history of black America in the first half of the twentieth century. But most of all, the story of the Negro Leagues is about hundreds of unsung heroes who overcame segregation, hatred, terrible conditions, and low pay to do the one thing they loved more than anything else in the world: play ball.
The Gollywhopper Games by Jody Feldman Gil is one of 5000 kids competing for fame and prizes in a fantastic event sponsored by the Golly Toy and Game Company. By solving a series of word games and puzzles, and passing physical challenges, he reaches the finals, where he must outshine four others, including an ex-classmate who may be cheating. Gil has further motivation to win - his father was wrongly accused of embezzling from the company.
Simon Bloom: The Gravity Keeper by Michael Reisman
Sixth-grader Simon Bloom can’t believe his luck when he finds a book that enables him to control the laws of physics. By simply reciting the formulas it contains, he can cancel gravity to fly around his bedroom, or decrease friction so he can slide down the street as if he were on Rollerblades. When two thugs with evil intentions come after Simon, he must use the formulas to save himself and the book from falling into their hands. Here's a quote from "Simon Bloom: The Gravity Keeper""You see, everything around you--everything in the entire universe--has rules. Laws. And the Books contain the laws. Explain them. Control them. In ways that even I don't fully understand, the Books make sure the Universe doesn't fall apart."
Go Big or Go Home by Will Hobbs Brady Steele watches in awe as a fireball comes crashing through the roof of his house. Brady immediately calls up his cousin, Quinn. They both love all things extreme, and this is the most extreme thing ever! Fred, as Brady names his space rock, turns out to be one of the rarest 
meteorites ever found. Professor Rip Ripley from the museum in Hill City wants to study a sliver of it in search of extraterrestrial bacteria. He's hoping to discover the first proof of life beyond Earth, a momentous breakthrough for the new science of astrobiology. During a wild week of extreme bicycling, fishing, and caving, Brady and Quinn battle their rivals, the notorious Carver boys, for possession of the meteorite. With each new day, Brady is discovering he's able to do strange and wonderful feats that shouldn't be possible. At the same time, he's developing some frightening symptoms. Could he be infected with long-dormant microbes from space? Is Fred a prize or a menace?
Keeping Score by Linda Sue Park Maggie doesn't play baseball—but at almost ten years old, she is a dyed-in-the-wool fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers. 
Maggie can recite all the players' statistics and understands the subtleties of the game. Jim Maine is a Giants fan, but it's Jim who teaches Maggie the fine art of scoring a baseball game. Not only can she revisit every play of every inning, but by keeping score she feels she's more than just a fan: she's helping her team.Jim is drafted into the army and sent to Korea, and although Maggie writes to him often, his silence is just one of a string of disappointments—being a Brooklyn Dodgers fan in the early 1950s meant season after season of near misses and year after year of dashed hopes. But Maggie goes on trying to help the Dodgers, and when she finds out that Jim needs help, too, she's determined to provide it. Against a background of major league baseball and the Korean War on the home front, Maggie looks for, and finds, a way to make a difference.
The Bronze Pen by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
With her father's failing health and the family's shaky finances, twelve-year-old Audrey's dreams of becoming a writer seem very impractical until she is give a peculiar bronze pen that appears to have unusual powers.
Game by Walter Dean Myers Drew Lawson knows basketball is taking him places. It has to, because his grades certainly aren't. But lately his plan has run squarely into a pick. Coach's new offense has made another player a star, and Drew won't let anyone disrespect his game. Just as his team makes the playoffs, Drew must come up with something big to save his fading college prospects. It's all up to Drew to find out just how deep his game really is.
The Attack of the Frozen Woodchucks by Dan Elish The giant woodchuck makes his first appearance before Saturday night dinner, just as ten-year-old Jimmy Weathers is setting the table. Jimmy’s father and sister have just returned from a walk in New York City’s Central Park, and they 
are very excited about their discovery. Jimmy and his mother look at each other with agreeing eyes. Their father is at it again with his overactive imagination. After all, Jimmy’s father is a lawyer by day and an unsuccessful children’s author by night. Who could believe this latest tale? It is all a joke, until Jimmy’s father is kidnapped in the middle of the night. It is up to Jimmy and his best pal, William H. Taft, to find his dad and the kidnapping frozen woodchucks.
Lulu Atlantis and the Quest for True Blue Love by Patricia Martin
Lulu Atlantis has a big problem: her new baby brother, Sam. With him in the picture, Mother certainly doesn’t need her around. Luckily, she has her best friend, Harry, a top-hat-wearing daddy longlegs spider to turn to. Over the course of four enchanting parts, the two friends rescue a skunk stuck in a yogurt pot, encounter gangster bakers, seek out the Secret Ingredient to make Sam’s oatmeal edible, and contend with a monster (not to mention an evil cat named Princess Fancy). Through it all, Harry stands by Lulu Atlantis, his one and only True Blue Love, as she searches–quests!–for some True Blue Love of her own.
After Tupac & D Foster by Jacqueline WoodsonThe day D Foster enters Neeka and her best friend's lives, the world opens up for them. D comes from a world vastly different from their safe Queens neighborhood, and through her, the girls see another side of life that
includes loss, foster families and an amount of freedom that makes the girls envious. Although all of them are crazy about Tupac Shakur's rap music, D is the one who truly understands the place where he's coming from, and through knowing D, Tupac's lyrics become more personal for all of them. The girls are thirteen when D's mom swoops in to reclaim D-and as magically as she appeared, she now disappears from their lives. Tupac is gone, too, after another shooting; this time fatal. As the narrator looks back, she sees lives suspended in time, and realizes that even all-too-brief connections can touch deeply.
Truman Elementary School. (Charving, for the uninitiated, is the carving of a piece of cheese with one's teeth. ) Oggie doesn't think this is anything special -- but his whole school will soon be disagreeing with him. Because after he inadvertantly charves during a nationwide hunt for unusual talents, his charving puts him on the path to fame and forture. Suddenly, he's the star of the school . . . but he's not sure that he wants to shine that way.
choir, and her life takes an unexpected turn.It so happens that one of Lahni's teachers, Mr. Faringhelli, has nominated her for a talent competition, and she is expected to perform a song in front of the whole school. Lahni decides to join the church choir to help her become a better singer. But what starts out as a way to practice singing becomes a place of belonging and a means for Lahni to discover her own identity.
seeks her out, and promises that her family will become rich if only the Lass will accompany him to his castle, she doesn’t hesitate. But the bear is not what he seems, nor is his castle, which is made of ice and inhabited by a silent staff of servents. Only a grueling journey on the backs of the four winds will reveal the truth: the bear is really a prince who’s been enchanted by a troll queen, and the Lass must come up with a way to free him before he’s forced to marry a troll princess.
Porcupine by Meg Tilly 
His cousin Phoebe, 15, resents his inclusion and watches with annoyance as he proceeds to join the high school drama crowd and give her mother's beauty parlor clients makeovers of body and mind. When Leonard goes missing, Phoebe begins to realize that she had not been able to see beyond his six-inch platform sneakers; his love for others and his desire to be loved in return touched the people of Neptune more deeply than anyone had expected. As she struggles to make sense of his disappearance, she leans on Travis, her wrong-side-of-the-tracks boyfriend who had at an earlier time accosted Leonard.
Bunker 10 by J.A. Henderson
Never shut the box when the music is playing. Never move the box before the music stops. Leo wouldn't dream of breaking these rules, but does his stubborn cousin Mimi listen? She winds the box four times -- and suddenly the paintings on its side come to life and a powerful witch is released. Now its up to Leo and Mimi to stop the witch, if only they can find the key to the music box -- and the magical world it controls.
It is a perfect mirror for the social and political history of black America in the first half of the twentieth century. But most of all, the story of the Negro Leagues is about hundreds of unsung heroes who overcame segregation, hatred, terrible conditions, and low pay to do the one thing they loved more than anything else in the world: play ball.
The Gollywhopper Games by Jody Feldman 
meteorites ever found. Professor Rip Ripley from the museum in Hill City wants to study a sliver of it in search of extraterrestrial bacteria. He's hoping to discover the first proof of life beyond Earth, a momentous breakthrough for the new science of astrobiology. During a wild week of extreme bicycling, fishing, and caving, Brady and Quinn battle their rivals, the notorious Carver boys, for possession of the meteorite. With each new day, Brady is discovering he's able to do strange and wonderful feats that shouldn't be possible. At the same time, he's developing some frightening symptoms. Could he be infected with long-dormant microbes from space? Is Fred a prize or a menace?
Fergal Bamfield collects tin cans. Then one day he finds a can without a label. What could be in it? Peaches, soup, perhaps revolting spam? But instead it's something gruesome: a human finger. Then Fergal finds another can, this time containing a one-word message, HELP! Now Fergal and his friend Charlotte are knee-deep in an adventure, and they're about to learn something horrible: Everybody has an expiration date. .
The Life and Crimes of Bernetta Wallflower: A Novel by Lisa Graff
My Chocolate Year: A Novel with 12 Recipes by Charlotte Herman
Maggie can recite all the players' statistics and understands the subtleties of the game. Jim Maine is a Giants fan, but it's Jim who teaches Maggie the fine art of scoring a baseball game. Not only can she revisit every play of every inning, but by keeping score she feels she's more than just a fan: she's helping her team.Jim is drafted into the army and sent to Korea, and although Maggie writes to him often, his silence is just one of a string of disappointments—being a Brooklyn Dodgers fan in the early 1950s meant season after season of near misses and year after year of dashed hopes. But Maggie goes on trying to help the Dodgers, and when she finds out that Jim needs help, too, she's determined to provide it. Against a background of major league baseball and the Korean War on the home front, Maggie looks for, and finds, a way to make a difference.
The Bronze Pen by Zilpha Keatley Snyder 
Game by Walter Dean Myers 
includes loss, foster families and an amount of freedom that makes the girls envious. Although all of them are crazy about Tupac Shakur's rap music, D is the one who truly understands the place where he's coming from, and through knowing D, Tupac's lyrics become more personal for all of them. The girls are thirteen when D's mom swoops in to reclaim D-and as magically as she appeared, she now disappears from their lives. Tupac is gone, too, after another shooting; this time fatal. As the narrator looks back, she sees lives suspended in time, and realizes that even all-too-brief connections can touch deeply. 
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