Brian Selznick.  The Invention of Hugo Cabret

When twelve-year-old Hugo, an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931, meets a mysterious toyseller and his goddaughter, his undercover life and his biggest secret are jeopardized.

Laura Amy Schlitz.  Good Masters!  Sweet Ladies!  Voices from a

Medieval Village   A collection of short one-person plays featuring characters, between ten and fifteen years old, who live in or near a thirteenth-century English manor.

Author

Margarita Engle.  The Poet Slave of Cuba:  A Biography of Juan

Francisco Manzano  Juan Francisco Manzano was born in 1797 into the household of wealthy slaveowners in Cuba. He spent his early years at the side of his owner's wife, entertaining her friends. His poetry was his outlet, reflecting the beauty and cruelty of his world. Written in verse.

Illustrator

Yuyi Morales.  Los Gatos Black on Halloween

Easy to read, rhyming text about Halloween night incorporates Spanish words, from las brujas riding their broomsticks to los monstruos whose monstrous ball is interrupted by a true horror.

Illustrator

Ashley Bryan.  Let It Shine

Illustrated versions of three well-known hymns.

Author

Christopher Paul Curtis.  Elijah of Buxton

In 1859, eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman, the first free-born child in Buxton, Canada, which is a haven for slaves fleeing the American south, uses his wits and skills to try to bring to justice the lying preacher who has stolen money that was to be used to buy a family's freedom.

Miyuki Miyabe.  Brave Story

Young Wataru Mitani's life is a mess. His father has abandoned him and his mother has been hospitalized after a suicide attempt. Desperately he searches for some way to change his life; a way to alter his fate.

Children (age 0-10)

Andrea Stenn Stryer.  Kami and the Yaks

In the Himalaya Mountains of Nepal, a deaf Sherpa boy proves himself to his father by rescuing his family's yaks from a dangerous storm.

Middle (age 11-13)

Tracie Vaughn Zimmer.  Reaching for Sun

Josie, who lives with her mother and grandmother and has cerebral palsy, befriends a boy who moves into one of the rich houses behind her old farmhouse.

Teen (13-18)

Ginny Rorby.  Hurt Go Happy

When thirteen-year-old Joey Willis, deaf since the age of six, meets Dr. Charles Mansell and his chimpanzee Sukari, who use sign language, her world blooms with possibilities but that of the chimp begins to narrow.

Mo Willems.  There Is a Bird on Your Head!

Gerald the elephant discovers that there is something worse than a bird on your head-- two birds on your head! Piggie will try to help her best friend.

Peter Sis.  The Wall:  Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain

In his most personal work to date, award-winning author Peter Sis offers a brilliant graphic memoir, taking readers on an extraordinary journey as he recalls his youth growing up in Czechoslovakia in the 1960s, when his country was on the Communist side of the Iron Curtain.

Illustrator

Ashley Bryan.  Let it Shine

Illustrated versions of three well-known hymns.

Author

Sundee T. Frazier.  Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything In It

Brendan Buckley, a biracial ten-year-old, applies his scientific problem-solving ability and newfound interest in rocks and minerals to connect with his white grandfather, the president of Puyallup Rock Club, and to learn why he and Brendan's mother are estranged.