Lizzie Bright and the Buckmister Boy by Gary Schmidt

Sometimes you find a book that makes you angry at the beginning and keep giving you reasons for that anger to grow. Turner, the new minister's son, finds many reasons to hate his father's new job in a small town on the coast of Maine. Between the bullies and the older people who are quick to judge you when you are a minister's son, he finds little support. But then he meets Lizzie while on the beach alone, he finally gets a friend and a friendly place - the island colony that was founded by freed slaves where she lives with her grandfather. She is also an outsider since she looked down upon because of her race. It seems no matter what he does, nothing will get better. But sometimes you have to stand up for what is right, no matter the costs. The costs are high, maybe too high. Price is always paid when you take on the powers of both small towns and people's racism. But sometimes you find a few bright lights no matter how dark life becomes. Too many will relate to Turner and maybe his courage will help those who do.

Stella has dreams, but it seems that Jim Crow laws will get in the way. It is 1932 and segregation is enforced by law and terror. It takes a community to overcome and stand strong, and this will prove to Stella that her dreams may come true. She just has to get through the year, but what a year it is. When some of the men stand up and want to vote, it seems everyone will pay a price. How can someone be so cruel as to burn a house or turn away when someone could die if they don't help? Can good come out of all this bad? What is stronger, hate or love?  If you want a story that will stay with you and could haunt you, read this book.

The Cheshire Chees Cat :ADickens of a Tale by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright

From the writer that brought us The Library Dragon, a twisted tale of a friendship between a cat, a mouse, and a missing little girl. Shilley is an alley cat with a problem and needs to find a home. He thinks the answer to his prayers will be becoming the house cat for "Ye Old Cheshire Cheese" pub. He does this by making a deal with the mice that helps both, but Charles Dickens himself can see something is up with that cat and those mice. The pub has the reputation of having the best cheese in the whole of England. When Shilley finds a missing tower raven, the plot thickens. But when the cook's helper brings in another cat to get rid of the mice, Shilley may lose it all -- his home, his best friend, the raven, and his secret. If you like a fast paced, funny story with lots of twists and turns, enjoy. You will not believe the ending when Pip the mouse helps out one of the greatest writers ever to write one of his most famous lines.

Nobody's Secret by Michaela MacColl

Emily's life is full of limits. Limited by the social practices and expectations of women in the 1840s. Limited by her mother's health and her mother's worries about hers. Limited by the fact that everyone in her small village knows her family, the Dickersons. So when she is out in the fields, she meets a young man who refuses to tell her his name so she calls him Mr. Nobody. She sees him in town. The next time she sees him, he is dead in her family pond. Because she is not the only one who doesn't know his name, he is laid out in the church basement to see if anyone knows who he is. Emily makes it her quest to find out who killed him. As she tries to follow the clues, she has to keep all the adults in the dark about her doings, especially her mother. As the clues lead closer and closer to the killer, the danger grows. Whoever did it has killed once and will kill again to keep from getting caught. Will Emily really risk her life and maybe the lives of her family to just bring Mr. Nobody's killer to justice? If she does, will she finally learn his name? Maybe you should not wish that your life is too boring just like Emily did. You might not like the excitement that may come your way.

How to catch a Bogle by Catherine Jinks

Your life must have been hard if you think you have it made if you are used as bait to catch supernatural demons that eat children. Birdie is an orphan who thinks she has it made because she isn't in the workhouse, begging, or stealing for a living. Alfred makes a living as a Bogle catcher and Birdie's special talent makes a good living for both of them. When Miss Eames, a rich society lady, learns of their activities, she wants to learn more about how they work. She also wants to give Birdie a better life but Birdie is loyal to the man who found her after her mother died and gave her a home. When some pickpockets come up missing, the trail leads to one of the most evil men in London and this man will kill to keep his "experiments" a secret! As Birdie, Alfred, and Miss Eames get closer, the more danger everyone is in. Will Birdie's new friend come in time? And if she does, will Birdie take the path that leads to a better life if she lives to do it? If you like fast paced mysteries with lots of clues, you will love this.

Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman

Have your parents ever told you that you have a bad attitude, are mean, and say awful things? Then you may understand Meggy. Do you ever feel the world is out to get you? Then you do understand Meggy. Born to a mother who didn't really want her, she is sent to a father who she has never met after the one person who really loved her dies. There her life doesn't get much better. She has to make her own way and not expect much from him, but you will be shocked by how unloving his last behavior is toward her. Even with his attitude, she still doesn't know what to do when she learns of a plot he is involved with that could get him hanged. What she does will bring a surprising ending to those from whom she found kindness in this medieval world. If you don't know what alchemy is, don't look it up before you read this book. Why ruin the same surprise that Meggy had when she learned what her father was really up to.

The Last Silk Dress by Ann Rinaldi

Does every stand have to cost you dearly? Susan's life has been turned upside down by the Civil War. She is a daughter of the South and wants to help any way she can. So she gets involved in finding a way to give the South its own balloon even if she has to leave her comfort zone. But the war's effect on her life is not as big as the secrets her family has. Once those secrets are learned, how can she be the same? Choices you make once you find the truth don't always affect only you. One choice will be deadly. If you think your family may be strange, you have not read about this one. Modern soap operas have nothing on some Southern families before the Civil War and once war comes the drama only gets harder on those involved. Which side would you have been on if you were in Susan's shoes? Are you sure of that answer? You have to read to find out that those in history had reasons to do stuff we condemn today.

Constable and Toop by Garerh P. Jones

I promised the author if I liked his book I would put it on my book blog. (Yes, I met him in person and have a signed copy for the junior high to prove it.) If you enjoy humorous ghost tales with lots of "interesting" characters, action that jumps between tales that meet with a bang at the end, and lots of surprises between, you will love it also. Sam sees ghosts and can talk to them, but he doesn't want the gift because when you live with your father above his undertaking business you see too many ghosts. When a mysterious man shows up late one night, even Sam's strange life takes a twist. Lapsewood is just a ghost working his afterlife in the Ghost Bureau and it is just as boring as his human life. But when he is assigned to the housing department and sent back to Earth to find a missing outreach worker, his life isn't boring anymore. If he is not careful, he will end up in "the vault", a place whose name alone will scare even a ghost. Throw in teenage Claire who likes her haunted house and a reverend who is setting up a horrible plague for both ghosts and humans with every exorcism he does, not everyone will survive to see the last page.  How do ghost dogs and rogue ghosts fit in? You will have to read to find out. 

Across the Great Barrier by Patricia Wrede

I have not let myself read a whole series in almost 20 years, but I had to read the sequel to The Thirteenth Child.  The reason the sequel made this blog is you don't have to read it to understand the story (but you will want to anyway after you read this book). Eff has always had trouble controlling her magic. She has lived in the shadow of her twin brother and liked it that way. But now she has to figure out what she will do with her life as she graduates school. With others starting to believe she could be a powerful magician, she just wants to be left alone. But a trip across the great magical barrier brings her to a land where regular animals can kill you if the magic ones don't get you first.  If you don't understand the rules, you can get killed even if you are on the "safe" side. Her twin, Lan, has never been one who respects the rules and learns that with magic, not doing so will get someone killed quickly. But it will take both of them to help the settlers when a new magical animal shows up and there is evidence it has been in the area before with terrible consequences. If you like history and fantasy, just imagine what our country's history would be like if there was really magic in the world. Beware, you may have to read the last in series The Far West just like I did. I have too many authors to read to keep reading books by authors I have read but this series made me read it. Will it make you?

Bird by Rita Murphy

Can a house be evil or just the person who desires it above all? If Miranda doesn't find the right answer, she might never escape. Or does she really want to escape the only real home she has ever had. Everyone in the small town stays away and when she does go to town, she hears the whispers of a curse that destroyed all who lived there. She also wonders why her real family never came to find her whereabouts when she was young and just blew to the house. Yes, blew in and that is why she is forced to wear those heavy shoes by the widow Wysteria Barrows, the owner of Bourne Manor. Can she really fly away just like the kites she found hidden in a secret room? Why must all the doors be locked every night? Is the widow trying to lock Miranda in or is she trying to keep something awful locked out? If you can follow the many twists and turns, you will learn the answers hidden just under the surface? How many clues did you miss?

Fair Weather by Richard Peck

Do you ever get too old for your parent to embarrass you? Just when Rose thinks the only fun this summer will be watching her older sister pine over her suitor (maybe boyfriend if the parents ever agree), a letter from her aunt inviting them to Chicago for the 1893 World's Fair comes in the mail. Her aunt stated that Rose's grandfather is not invited and her parents' world revolves around the county farm, so Rose knows that her aunt's kind offer will be turned down. Rose and her aunt get more surprises that summer because Grandpa is more headstrong and has a more interesting past than anyone ever knew. If you like the other books by Richard Peck, you will enjoy the ride and never see the ending coming. The world of 1893 Americans is not like ours, so which one would you like to live in? Let me know your answer.

Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede

What if our history had magic in it? What would be different? Does a belief really mean that an innocent child can be bad or great because of the number of their birth order? Eff is a twin. She is the 13th child, but her twin brother Lan is the 7th son of a 7th son. She will be a bad seed and her brother will be a great magician, at least according to her uncle. To escape her uncles', aunts', and cousins' beliefs, her parents agree to let her Dad take a job as professor of Magic in a land grant college at the edge of the wilderness on the Mammoth River. It is a frontier town just like the ones in our history, but magic keeps the mythical beasts like dragons, unicorns,and woolly mammoths from the settlements. Adventures are always around the corner and danger is nearer than anyone wants to think. As Eff and Lan grow up, they learn that there is more than one type of magic. But which is best, the one that gave their relatives their beliefs and their father teaches, or the one a favorite teacher learned from her parents? With many twists, characters, and weird facts that seem so similar to our history, the tension builds until the their world starts to blow apart and the matter of who is the real powerful one is questioned in a fight to not die or see their father's death before their eyes. See if you can figure out what part of our history has been changed by just adding a little magic.

Time Enough for Drums by Ann Rinaldi

When you remember and still keep a book in your top favorites for 25 years, you know it must be a great book. Set during the American Revolution, the events are seen through a teenage girl whose family gets too up close to the action. Jemina is head strong and even if she doesn't believe it, is lucky to have a tutor. Most girls are either uneducated or have only a basic education. John Reid is difficult, demanding, and worst of all, a Tory that supports the king. Most of Jemina family, including her, are supporting the rebels. Mr. Reid feelings about Jemina are just as same, dislike and barely tolerance of the other. But when Jemina learns Mr. Reid's secret, a secret that if it gets out means death, the balance of power changes. Can Mr. Reid and even her parents trust a teenage girl with lives in the balance? How many people that Jemina loves will be alive at the end of war, especially when the war comes to Trenton, her home. You will either love Ann Rinaldi books or hate them. Find out which side you are on.

Willow Run by Patricia Reilly Giff

Sequel to Lilly's Crossing, this does stand alone. What would you do if your whole life is turned upside down? Meggie's family moves to Michigan so her father can work in the bomber plant. She has a nice home in New York, but lives in quickly-built worker housing. Her brother is off to war and her German American grandfather stays back in New York to look after things. Thrown into a group of other transplants, she learns that life is what you make it and that friends don't have to share your background, just your present.

The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman

Winner of the Newbery, the heart warming tale of a girl who finds a home, an occupation, some food, and her own name. Nameless until the midwife starts calling her Beetle because of where she found her (think of the grossest place in the world) , Beetle never remembers anyone who cared for her, not even in toddlerhood. Life is tough in the 14th century. Midwifery is looked down about even if they are the only ones who can help bring a new life in the world. What would you do to keep the only safe place you have ever know and what name would you give yourself if you could? This character in this very quick read has more in common with todays students than you think possible. Hope, dreams and needs don't change, just the ablity to fill them.

Wolf by the Ears by Ann Rinaldi

Based on historical people and maybe actual facts, this story is about the tough choice that Thomas Jefferson's bi-racial daughter has to make. She is a slave like her mother, but at 21 she can get her freedom. If she does take her freedom, will she pass as white, or stay true to those who raised her. But who is Harriet, if she has both black and white parents. At a time when you had to choose and could not be both, passing will open up a better world but you would lose your past forever. You either will love or hate Ann Rinaldi's work . Filled with strong teenage women characters, the stories are true to their settings in history. Being bi-racial, EML also had to make the choice of who I am. Once you make it, it is who you are for the rest of your life, even if you don't look like the choice you made when you get older.

Striking Out by Will Weaver (Billy Baggs Novel)

The first book of a 3 part series about a farm boy who can pitch, doesn't look like something non baseball lovers or farm kids could relate to very well. But if you don't get along with your parents, have dreams beyond your small world, or have that person who you want to get even with, this book is a great one for you. Billy's life is sad, hard, and limited. But does he give up or give in, when there are people who want to help him make his dreams come alive? Real world problems with no easy answers lurk in the corners of this young adult award winner.

Shooting the Moon by Frances O'Roark Dowell

Why does Jamie's brother send letters to her parents, but rolls of film to her to develop? Doesn't he know she wants to know what is really going on in Vietnam? Both have grown up in the army since their father is a Colonel. But as she developes the films, it is clear that the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words has new meaning. What is her brother trying to tell her that even soldiers can't really put in words? How will that help her when his tour of duty is cut short by the worst news a family can hear? Can she help another soldier from ending up like her brother?

It's Like This, Cat by Emily Neville

I finally read this to find out why it kept getting stolen from the libraries I worked at. What I found was one of the best Newbery Award winners I have ever read. It was ground breaking in 1963 to have a real life teen that thought his dad didn't know everything and got involved with a "criminal". While it was realistic when it was written, it is a wonderful trip through a New York City that doesn't exist anymore. Written in a boy's point of view, the adventures of getting a cat, a girlfriend, and enjoying the freedom of wandering a city will relate to any reader who wished for a time where parents knew that kids just needed to get away and live their lives without adult supervision.

Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins

Sometimes a little confusing at first, this is a story of interconnections we make with others and those that are just missed that would have been life changing. A group of small town teens live their normal lives that end up effecting each other in both small and big ways. Set in the 1960's, many of the events could happen in any small town, not just northern Michigan, today. From the dreamer of big dreams ,to the slacker trying to find the easy way out, to old person whose life is saved and changed, almost every reader will find a character who is just like them.