1. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Regan Barnhill

Luna, whose magical abilities are emerging, was raised in the forest by a witch, a swamp monster, and a dragon, but when a young man from the Protectorate is determined to kill the witch, Luna must use her magic to protect her family.

2. Lumberjanes. Volume 1, Beware the Kitten Holy. by Noelle Stevenson

Best friends Jo, April, Mal, Molly, and Ripley spend a fun summer at Lumberjane scout camp where they encounter yetis, three-eyed wolves, and giant falcons while solving a mystery that holds the fate of the world in the balance.

3. Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata

4. The Underneath by Kathi Appelt

5. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

6. The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

7. A Million Ways Home by Dianna Dorisi-Winget

Forced to go into witness protection after she witnesses an armed robbery, Poppy Parker finds it hard to believe she will ever find a way home, let alone save Gunner, a beautiful German shepherd with an uncertain future.

8. Tunnels by Roderick Gordon

When Will Burrows and his friend Chester embark on a quest to find Will’s archaeologist father, who has inexplicably disappeared, they are led to a labyrinthine world underneath London, full of sinister inhabitants with evil intentions toward “Topsoilers” like Will and his father.

9. Booked by Kwame Alexander

Twelve-year-old Nick loves soccer and hates books, but soon learns the power of words as he wrestles with problems at home, stands up to a bully, and tries to impress the girl of his dreams.

10. We Will Not Be Silent: The White Rose Student Resistance Movement that Defied Adolf Hitler by Russell Freedman

A carefully researched portrait of Hans and Sophie Scholl describes how they questioned the beliefs of Austria’s Hitler Youth and risked their freedom and lives to organize a resistance campaign with other students.

11. The Inquisitor’s Tale, or, The Three Magical Children and their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz

Crossing paths at an inn, thirteenth-century travelers impart the tales of a monastery oblate, a Jewish refugee, and a psychic peasant girl with a loyal greyhound, the three of whom join forces on a chase through France to escape persecution.

12. Amulet. Book 1, The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi

After their father’s death, Emily and Navin move with their mother to the house of her deceased great-grandfather. Before long, a sinister creature lures their mother through a door in the basement. Desperate, the children follow her into an underground world inhabited by demons, robots, and talking animals.

13. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

14. Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

15. Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis

16. Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm

In 1935, when her mother gets a job housekeeping for a woman who does not like children, eleven-year-old Turtle is sent to stay with relatives she has never met in far away Key West, Florida.

17. Hoot by Carl Hiaasen

18. Courage for Beginners by Karen Harrington

Wishing she were more like a fictional hero who always knows how to handle such challenges as a best friend’s abandonment, her father’s hospitalization and a painful family secret, seventh-grader Mysti taps her inner courage with the help of a new friend and a hot-air balloon.

19. Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin

Struggling with Asperger’s, Rose shares a bond with her beloved dog, but when the dog goes missing during a storm, Rose is forced to confront the limits of her comfort levels, even if it means leaving her routines in order to search for her pet.

20. The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester

21. Savvy by Ingrid Law

22. Half-Minute Horrors by

23. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

24. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

25. Bomb : the Race to Build and Steal the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin

Recounts the scientific discoveries that enabled atom splitting, the military intelligence operations that occurred in rival countries, and the work of brilliant scientists hidden at Los Alamos.

26. Doll Bones by Holly Black

Zach, Alice, and Poppy, friends from a Pennsylvania middle school who have long enjoyed acting out imaginary adventures with dolls and action figures, embark on a real-life quest to Ohio to bury a doll made from the ashes of a dead girl.

27. Smile by Raina Telgemeier

From sixth grade through tenth, Raina copes with a variety of dental problems that affect her appearance and how she feels about herself.

28. Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson

Tells the tale of the sinking of the Titanic using the narratives of the witnesses and survivors to the disaster.

29. Paperboy by Vince Vawter

When an eleven-year-old boy takes over a friend’s newspaper route in July, 1959, in Memphis, his debilitating stutter makes for a memorable month.

30. Small Steps by Louis Sachar

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