Dear Whiskers by Ann Whitehead Nagda

Dear Sameera,
I am a mouse.
I live in your desk.

When Jenny's fourth grade class is assigned to write letters to second graders, Jenny's a little excited about it.

But then she picks a funny name for her pen pal: Sameera. What kind of a name is Sameera? Jenny's best friend Richard had picked a boy named Eric. Smart, fussy Susan had a pen pal named Daniel. Really nice ordinary names.

Worse, the fourth graders are supposed to pretend to be mice writing the letters. What do mice write letters about? What do mice do? Jenny really hates this part of the project.

And, worst of all, Sameera never writes back! Doesn't she like Jenny's letters? Maybe she thinks "Whiskers" is a dumb name for a mouse. Or maybe she hates Jenny.

Jenny has two choices: try talking to her pen pal, or trade her in for a different second grader. But there's something Jenny doesn't know yet about Sameera...

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Melinda Sordino is a high school freshman with a terrible secret, no friends, and a newly acquired habit of remaining mute whenever possible. She is ostracized by her classmates for calling the police to break up a summer party. Gradually, readers will realize the events of that party are the catalyst that sent her spiraling out of control. Will she find her voice in time to save herself?

Anderson does an excellent job of writing realistic teen dialog and creating believable settings and scenarios for her characters to interact. Date rape, which is the trauma Melinda experiences, is thinly veiled and easily predicted; however, there is still interesting build-up to the final scene.

The conclusion of the book may be considered a bit too perfect for more mature readers but, overall, Speak navigates the inner mind of a traumatized teenager with impressive insight. Melinda's use of art to express herself, her parents' detached attitudes, and her utter sense of despair will have readers rooting for her.

Mostly Monty by Johanna Hurwitz

Monty has asthma. That means that sometimes it's hard for him to breathe, especially if there is a lot of dust or if there is a dog or a cat in the room. It also means that he can't go camping, or join Little League, or run around as much as the other kids in his neighborhood.

But there are a lot of things Monty can do. He's a terrific reader - he's only in first grade, but his teacher says he reads as well as a fourth grader. He's also very observant; he finds a lot of lost things at school and makes sure that they get to the Lost and Found lady. Now, that doesn't mean that Monty doesn't make mistakes sometimes, but at least he always tries his best - and has fun along the way!

For young readers who are looking for something adventuresome and challenging to read, Monty is here to lend a hand!

The Funeral Director's Son by Coleen Murtagh Paratore

I hear dead people.

No, seriously! You probably think I'm like the kid in that movie, what was it, something about the senses... but I'm not. I just hear dead people, sometimes.

Sometimes. Not all the time. Just... sometimes there's something someone needs to say, or have done, or something like that, before they're ready to catch the big ship in the sky. It's like an anchor, you know, something heavy tying them to the world.

Okay, yeah, I sound crazy. But I'm not. This is just one of my jobs.

Yup, Christopher "Kip" Campbell, messenger for the dead. Also, Christopher "Kip" Campbell, Outdoor Guy for Campbell and Sons Funeral Home. You're welcome anytime. Any day that ends in y. Morning, noon, or night. It's a family business, serving you and your family.

And sometimes I just want to get far away from it all.

The Hockey Sweater by Roch Carrier

Here in Michigan, home of Hockeytown, we take our hockey seriously. That is why we can relate so well to The Hockey Sweater. Roch, a schoolboy in Quebec, idolizes and wears the same red, white, and blue hockey sweater as his hero, Montreal Canadiens star player Maurice “The Rocket” Richard, as do all the other boys in the village. When he outgrows his beloved Montreal Canadiens sweater and his mother orders a new one, he is horrified when he receives a blue and white sweater of the despised Toronto Maple Leafs. Feeling left out and snubbed by everyone in the village, he loses his temper and is advised to go to church and ask for forgiveness. Read The Hockey Sweater and find out what Roch asks for at church. You are guaranteed to smile.

Surviving Brick Johnson by Laurie Myers

It was a perfectly innocent mistake. In fact, Alex didn't realize it was a mistake until after he'd made it.

See, the guys at the lunch table were doing impressions - Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, that kind of thing. Alex was never quite sure what made him do it, but he did an impression of Brick Johnson, the new transfer student in his class. And everybody laughed.

Everybody except Brick Johnson, that is. Big and mean looking (bigger than skinny Alex, that's for sure!), Brick leaned over the table and said, "At my other school a boy did an imitation of me and..."

And what?!? Alex doesn't know, because a teacher interrupted them right then. And I punched him? And they never saw him again? And I gave him a big hug and a lollipop? (Alex is pretty sure it's not that last one.)

Whatever it might be, Alex is making sure to stay well out of Brick's way - which is tough when it seems that every time he turns around, Brick's in the area. Great! Not even two weeks into his fifth grade year and Alex is already starting to worry that he won't live to be one hundred.

But even while he's running away from Brick, Alex is learning some things about himself and about the other guy that could change the way he thinks about a few things...

Cages by Peg Kehret

It was so easy. Kit had already been examining the bracelet for several minutes, and everyone else was focused on Marcia - braggy, annoying Marcia, who had gotten the lead in the class play when Kit wanted it, who had a father who was willing to buy her expensive jewelry, who had everything Kit wanted in the world.

Kit slipped the bracelet into her pocket, turned away... and her life changed forever.

She had come to the mall to escape her alcoholic step-father and her too-forgiving mother, to escape her disappointment at not getting a role in the play - but when a heavy hand falls on her shoulder, Kit discovers that she's locked herself into a worse cage.

The police are called, and so is her mother. She has to pay a fine and appear before a court committee. It's the most frightening thing that has ever happened to Kit. Now she's lying to her best friend and to everyone else she knows, scared silly that someone is going to find out what happened, and sure that she's lost every chance at the scholarship she needs to go to college.

But there is a bright side as well - like the hours she spends at the Humane Society petting and playing with the dogs, and the friend she makes there, who teaches her that cages aren't always made of chain links and metal poles... and that sometimes you are the one with the key.

Mercy Watson to the Rescue by Kate Dicamillo

Mr. Watson is dreaming about driving a really fast car.

Mrs. Watson is dreaming about buttering toast, lots and lots of toast.

And Mercy Watson is dreaming about eating lots and lots of buttered toast.

Which means that when they wake up to a loud Boom! and a loud Crack! - none of them know what is going on.

Mr. Watson thinks they should call the fire department.

Mrs. Watson thinks it's an earthquake.

Mercy Watson thinks she should go check the kitchen for hot buttered toast. And if she can't find any there, maybe she'll go check with the Lincoln sisters next door...

In a series of silly coincidences, Mercy Watson, the darling of her parents' eye, rousts out the firemen, saves the day, and gets to eat a great deal of hot buttered toast. A fun set of simple stories for those just beginning to read chapter books.

Stinky and Successful: The Riot Brothers Never Stop by Mary Amato

Riot Brothers Rule #1 is: Make something exciting happen every day. That rule is #1 because it is the most important - and third-graders Wilbur and Orville Riot make sure never to break it.

They have a Secret Riot Brother Mission Book where they write down their daily missions (that’s rule #16: You have to write down your mission of the day, because of rule #5: You can’t change your mission in the middle of the day). From rescuing a damsel, to winning the yearly April Fool’s Day contest with their mom, to becoming mad scientists, the Riot Brothers never stop finding creative ways to add laughter and fun to the most ordinary situations.

Remember: The world would be a better place if all children had a roof over their head, food in their stomach, a smile in their heart, and a fake rat in their pocket. –Wilbur and Orville Riot

Honus & Me by Dan Gutman

For a long while, Joe Stoshack has known there was something special about baseball cards. There's a sort of tingle in his fingers whenever he touches one. It doesn't happen with football cards or basketball cards, or plain old pieces of cardboard - he's checked. Nope, there's something special about baseball cards.

And he just found out what it is.

When old Miss Young - she's over a hundred, but she lives all alone in the house next to Joe and his mom - hires Joe to clean out her attic for $5, she tells him to just throw everything out. He tries not to groan about how much stuff there is as he lugs it all out to the curb - until suddenly one of the boxes breaks and Joe comes face to face with one of the most priceless baseball cards in history - that of Honus "Hans" Wagner.

Suddenly, Joe's got a big dilemma on his hands. He could give the card back to Miss Young - who did tell him to throw everything out and who did say she had no use for money... Or he could keep it, sell it, get $500,000 for it, and bring his family back together. If his parents don't have to fight about money anymore, they don't have to be divorced anymore, do they?

Things only get more complicated when Joe wakes up to find Honus sitting beside his bed, ready to tell him about honesty, being the only ballplayer in 1909 who refused to have his card printed because he thought smoking was bad for kids, and most importantly, baseball.

A Dog on His Own by Mary Jane Auch

Humans can't be trusted.

They just can't. They'll let you down every time.

Like this morning, when K-10 is just minding his own business and two guys trick him, trap him, and take him to the animal shelter.

Which, okay. Isn't entirely all that bad. When you're in, you get two squares a day and a comfy place to sleep where no one can sneak up on you. And K-10 has his own patented technique for getting adopted right quick - he's never spent more than one night at a shelter in his life.

But there's something different about this shelter stay. It all starts with Tucker, the old dog in the cage next to K-10. Now, K-10 himself would rather spend as little time as possible with humans, but some dogs aren't like that. Some dogs actually like living with people. Tucker's one of those kind of dogs - and his time at the shelter is nearly up. K-10 might not have any use for humans, but dogs have got to stick together, so he helps Tucker get adopted by, even K-10 has to admit, a pretty nice old guy.

And then there's Pearl, a tough old lady of a black Lab with an escape plan and a sharp tongue. And Peppy, a high-pitched, high-energy Chihuahua who thinks he's bigger than he is. K-10's a loner, a tough guy, a need-nobody, but... he can't leave those two on their own. They'll get eaten alive out there in the world!

Zucchini Out West by Barbara Dana

Zucchini loves living with Billy.

Billy is a quiet, shy boy who loves animals. He has a list next to his bed of all of the endangered and threatened animal species in the world. He told Zucchini he wants to help shorten that list, to help save the lives of all of those animals, but he isn't sure yet how to do it.

Right now, Billy has two problems. One is his shyness. He never quite gets the courage to ask people questions, and sometimes he'll talk himself out of doing things because he thinks he'll be stupid.

The other problem is Zucchini. Now, Zucchini is Billy's best friend, but he's also a ferret. He's a small tan ferret with a cold nose, a black mask, and black feet, which is where the problem really starts. There are three different kinds of ferrets in the world, and one of them is endangered: the black-footed ferret. It's one of the rarest mammals in the world, and it's illegal to own one. So if Zucchini really is a black-footed ferret, he and Billy won't be able to stay together anymore.

The only way to know for certain is to ask one of the experts on ferrets. Billy has the chance, on a family vacation, to talk to the scientists who study ferrets and ask them questions about saving endangered animals, about ferrets, and about Zucchini in particular. If only he can pull his courage together...

Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry

Have you ever wanted anything so badly that you knew your heart would break if you didn't have it?

That's the way Paul and Maureen feel about the Phantom, one of the wild ponies on Assateague Island. She's a beautiful copper and silver pony with a white map of the United States over her shoulders. Every year, the people of Chincoteague Island hold a Pony Penning Day, rounding up the wild ponies, but every year the Phantom has escaped the round up.

This year, though, it's going to be different. Paul's old enough to help with the round up, and he's determined to bring the Phantom in. And when he does, the brother and sister are going to buy the Phantom and give her a good home - her and her little silver-gold colt, Misty.

The siblings have hard work and a lot to learn along the way: they have to save up the Phantom's hundred-dollar price, deal with the highs and lows of the Pony Penning Day, and then, if they're very lucky, win the trust and cooperation of an independent, tough, thoroughly untamed pony.

Ellie McDoodle: New Kid in School by Ruth McNally Barshaw

This is the end. At least that's what Ellie thinks. Goodbye familiar house. Goodbye familiar school. Goodbye friends. Goodbye life. Ellie's family is moving for her dad's job, and even worse than being "the new kid" she now has to share a room with her sister Risa.

But then she finds the library, and woods to explore. School is still not so great. Teachers get her name wrong, and some of the students play "new kid bingo." How will Ellie make it change?

All fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid should definitely give Ellie McDoodle a try. Its illustrated journal format is fun to read. This book is the second in a series. See also Ellie McDoodle: Have Pen, Will Travel.

Rosa, Sola by Carmela Martino

Rosa is very excited: her mother is going to have a little bambino, a little baby! Rosa has been an only child all her life, and she's a little jealous of her best friend AnnaMaria, who has a baby brother and two little sisters. But it's okay now, because Rosa is going to be a big sister herself now, with a baby brother or sister of her own to take care of!

On Rosa's tenth birthday, Papa and Uncle Sal rush Ma to the hospital while Rosa and Aunt Ida stay home, praying for Ma and for the baby. The next day at school seems to drag on, until Rosa comes home to find Aunt Ida crying. The baby died, Aunt Ida tells Rosa, and suddenly everything is wrong.

Ma is sick, Papa is angry, and Rosa feels guilty, because she was the one who prayed so hard for a little brother. With her family all in pieces, Rosa feels even more sola - even more alone - than she did before. There has to be something she can do to bring her family back together!

Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

Clementine is having a not-so-good week. She tries to help her best friend and ends up making a big mess - okay, make that two big messes. She keeps getting sent to the principal's office for things that really were great ideas, even if they didn't work quite right. And to top it all off, she just knows that her parents are planning to get rid of her and just keep Spinach (Also known as Radish, Pea Pod, Zucchini - Well, if Clementine is named for a fruit, shouldn't her brother be named for a vegetable? It's only fair!) because he's the "easy one."

Clementine knows she really is the "hard one." Her room is never clean, her best friend is mad at her, and she talks too much and too fast and too loud. In fact, Clementine's not sure that even winning the Great Pigeon War is going to save her from being sent away. To top it all off, her parents have been having some really mysterious conversations lately...

A warm, funny story in the tradition of Amber Brown and Junie B. Jones.

Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen

Day one: Your birthday. Money's a little tight in the family right now, and you're trying to figure out how to get the money so you can replace the wheel on your bike. Then your grandmother gives you your grandfather's old mower for a birthday present. While you're fiddling with it, someone asks you if you mow lawns, and offers you forty dollars to do theirs.

Day two: Somebody else asks you to mow their lawn. Then somebody else. Then somebody else. Then you meet Arnold. He'd like you to mow his lawn, but he can't pay you. He's a stockbroker, and he'll put the forty dollars into stocks for you instead. Is that okay? Sure, you say; why not?

Day four: You're doing three lawns a day, seven days a week, and you've still got people asking you to come and mow theirs. Enter Pasqual and Louis, who help out with the work, Louis mowing and Pasqual doing the edging and other finishing touches.

Day fourteen: You are now employing fifteen people to mow lawns all around the neighborhood. You're not even doing the mowing yourself anymore, you're so busy keeping track of the lawns mowed and the money paid. Oh, and Arthur just said, hey, remember that forty dollars I invested for you, you know, in the stocks? Well, a lot of stuff happened and... you now own fifty thousand dollars.

Fifty. Thousand. Dollars.

You can buy a whole lot of bike tires with that.

But what about all those people you're employing to mow lawns? And what about Rock and his buddies, who are threatening to take over your business? For that matter, what are you going to do about Joey Pow?

Oh, yeah. And how about this big question:

How are you going to tell your parents?

Lowji Discovers America by Candace Fleming

When Lowji is upset about moving all the way from India to America, his father urges him to find the silver lining. It takes some doing, but Lowji finally thinks about having a cat - and a dog - and maybe a horse! His best friend Jamshed told him that people in America ride horses all the time.

But when they arrive in America, at their little apartment house that smells so lemony-fresh, Lowji discovers there isn't as much of a silver lining as he thought there would be. He still isn't allowed to have a pet, not even a tiny little mouse, and his family's landlady, Mrs. Crisp, keeps scolding him for making more work for her. The kids he sees around town mostly ignore him, and all-in-all Lowji is a little bored - and a lot lonely.

But he's sure he can find ways to help Mrs. Crisp with her workload. And there's the mystery of the footprints in the woods behind the apartment house. And there might not actually be any horses to ride, but there is... a pig???

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

"The land is no place for a Gribley," Sam's Dad always says, talking about the farm that Sam's Great-Grandfather built, plowed - and then left when he realized he truly wanted to be a sailor.

Dad had been a sailor too, but Sam isn't sure that means that all Gribleys are meant for the sea. As a matter of fact, he's determined to go out to the Catskill Mountains and find the old beech with the family name carved into it. And when he does... Well, he might as well stay out there and try living in the woods. All on his own. With only a knife, some string, and flint'n'steel in his pockets.

Join Sam as he learns about the wild animals of the forest, works out how to catch fish and trap animals, and figures out how to make clothes from deerskins he's cured. Worry with him as he tries to start a fire and makes a home, keeping it hidden from hikers and forest rangers. Learn with him as he raises Frightful, a young peregrine falcon, to be his friend and fellow hunter.

I think everyone dreams of running away from home at least once in their lives. For those of us who don't make it more than halfway down the block, here's the adventure we might have had.

100 Days and 99 Nights by Alan Madison

Meet Esme. At seven years old, she's already lived in Kenya, Korea, and Germany. That's because her dad, August Aloysius McCarther the Third, is a sergeant in the United States Army. That means that Esme, her little brother Ike, and their mom and dad go to live wherever the Army tells them to, whenever they are told to. It's their duty, which Esme knows means doing something that no one in the whole entire universe really wants to do.

But on the other hand, traveling all over the world has given her the chance to collect her bedzoo: thirty-one stuffed animals running the length of the alphabet (Aardvark to Zebra, with the eXception of X, because there are no animals that start with X) that remind her of all the places she's been and all the people she loves.

Besides, their family is always together, with their everyday routines that make life so good. Like making pancakes on Saturday morning, or movie nights on Fridays. Esme's Dad always has silly words or strange sayings - what does "than you can shake a stick at" really have to do with anything? - and he is, Esme knows, the strongest, bravest person alive.

But then one Saturday Dad tells them he has to go away for a tour of duty - one hundred days and ninety-nine nights in a faraway place. And gradually Esme learns that her Dad isn't the only strong, brave person in the family.