Shane Berryhill.  Chance Fortune and the Outlaws

For as long as he can remember, 14-year-old Joshua Blevins has wanted to be a superhero. There's only one problem: he doesn't have any superpowers, but Josh isn't about to let that stop him.

Jen Bryant.  Pieces of Georgia:  A Novel

In journal entries to her mother, a gifted artist who died suddenly, thirteen-year-old Georgia McCoy reveals how her life changes after she receives an anonymous gift membership to a nearby art museum.

Alex Flinn.  Beastly

A modern retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" from the point of view of the Beast, a vain Manhattan private school student who is turned into a monster and must find true love before he can return to his human form.

Marian Hale.  Dark Water Rising

While salvaging and rebuilding in the aftermath of the Galveston flood of 1900, sixteen-year-old Seth proves himself in a way that his previous efforts never could, but he still must face his father man-to-man.

Kelly Milner Halls.  Tales of the Cryptids:  Mysterious Creatures

That May or May Not Exist  Cryptozoology is the study of animals that may or may not be real: familiar animals like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, and those that are less familiar like the Marozi of Kenya, the Orang-pendek of Sumatra and the Thylacine of Tasmania. Meet these and more in this introduction to cryptozoology.

Suzanne Harper.  The Secret Life of Sparrow Delaney

In high school, the last thing you want is for people to think you talk to ghosts. When Sparrow begins tenth grade at a huge new school full of strangers, she thinks her dreams of anonymity and a fresh start are finally coming true. No more following in her six older sisters' footsteps. No more going to class with kids who've seen her grandma doing jujitsu in the front yard next to the headstones of her four dead husbands. And no more worrying about keeping her deep, dark secret hidden. Sparrow makes a new best friend and has her eye on an irritatingly appealing guy in her history class. She feels like she's well on her way to a normal life. But it's another boy-a dead one-who wants Sparrow's attention, and he won't let her be till she's helped him Move On. You see, Sparrow Delaney's secret is that she's a psychic. And there's one very persistent ghost who won't let her forget it.

Elizabeth Haydon.  The Floating Island:  The Lost Journals of Ven

Polypheme  The morning of my fiftieth birthday found me, as the last twenty had, sneakily examining my chin in the looking glass, searching for a sign, any small sign, of a whisker. And, once again, as on the previous twenty birthdays, I found nothing. Absolutely nothing. It may seem strange to you that I was able to reach the age of fifty years and still have my face remain as smooth and hairless as a green melon, and you would be right. Many lads of my race begin sprouting their beards by the tender age of thirty, and nearly all of them have a full layer of short growth, known as their Bramble, by forty-five. It is all but unheard of among the Nain for a boy to reach his fiftieth year without at least some sign that his beard is beginning to grow in. But then, this is certainly not the first thing about me that the rest of the Nain in the city of Vaarn think of as odd.

Jennifer L. Holm.  Middle School is Worse than Meatloaf:  A Year

Told Through Stuff  Told entirely through notes, grocery receipts, report cards, bottle caps, newspaper clippings, and other pieces of a young girls life, Newbery Honor winner Holm delivers the story of Ginnys seventh-grade year using all the things that "really" matter.

Gordon Korman.  Schooled

Homeschooled by his hippie grandmother, Capricorn (Cap) Anderson has never watched television, tasted a pizza, or even heard of a wedgie. But when his grandmother lands in the hospital, Cap is forced to move in with a guidance counselor and attend the local middle school. While Cap knows a lot about tie-dyeing and Zen Buddhism, no education could prepare him for the politics of public school.

Conor Kostick.  Epic

On New Earth, a world based on a video role-playing game, fourteen-year-old Erik pursuades his friends to aid him in some unusual gambits in order to save Erik's father from exile and safeguard the futures of each of their families.

April Lurie.  Brothers, Boyfriends, & Other Criminal Minds

While living on the same block as several members of the Mafia does have the advantage of a lower crime rate, fourteen-year-old April and her brother find there are times when it is also a major disadvantage.

Cliff McNish.  Breathe:  A Ghost Story

When he and his mother move into an old farmhouse in the English countryside, asthmatic, twelve-year-old Jack discovers that he can communicate with the ghosts inhabiting the house and inadvertently establishes a relationship with a tormented, malevolent spirit that threatens to destroy both his mother and himself.

Laura Resau.  What the Moon Saw:  A Novel

Fourteen-year-old Clara Luna spends the summer with her grandparents in the tiny, remote village of Yucuyoo, Mexico, learning about her grandmother's life as a healer, her father's decision to leave home for the United States, and her own place in the world.

Graham Salisbury.  Night of the Howling Dogs

In 1975, eleven Boy Scouts, their leaders, and some new friends camping at Halape, Hawaii, find their survival skills put to the test when a massive earthquake strikes, followed by a tsunami.

Gary D. Schmidt.  The Wednesday Wars

During the 1967 school year, on Wednesday afternoons when all his classmates go to either Catechism or Hebrew school, seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood stays in Mrs. Baker's classroom where they read the plays of William Shakespeare and Holling learns much of value about the world he lives in.

Michael Scott.  Alchemyst:  The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas

Flamel  While working at pleasant but mundane summer jobs in San Francisco, fifteen-year-old twins, Sophie and Josh, suddenly find themselves caught up in the deadly, centuries-old struggle between rival alchemists, Nicholas Flamel and John Dee, over the possession of an ancient and powerful book holding the secret formulas for alchemy and everlasting life.

Roland Smith.  Peak

A fourteen-year-old boy attempts to be the youngest person to reach the top of Mount Everest.

Jordan Sonnenblick.  Zen and the Art of Faking It

When thirteen-year-old San Lee moves to a new town and school for the umpteenth time, he is looking for a way to stand out when his knowledge of Zen Buddhism, gained in his previous school, provides the answer--and the need to quickly become a convincing Zen master.

Rebecca Stead.  First Light

When twelve-year-old Peter and his family arrive in Greenland for his father's research, he stumbles upon a secret his mother has been hiding from him all his life, and begins an adventure he never imagines possible.

Trenton Lee Stewart.  The Mysterious Benedict Society

After passing a series of mind-bending tests, four children are selected for a secret mission that requires them to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules.