Every Soul a Star/By Wendy Mass Little, Brown, 2008.

Ally, Bree, and Jack meet at the one place the Great Eclipse can be seen in totality, each carrying the burden of different personal problems, which become dim when compared to the task they embark upon and the friendship they find.

Game/By Walter Dean Myers HarperCollins, 2009.

If Harlem high school senior Drew Lawson is going to realize his dream of playing college, then professional, basketball, he will have to improve at being coached and being a team player, especially after a new--white--student threatens to take the scouts' attention away from him.

The Graveyard Book/By Neil Gaiman HarperCollins, 2008.

After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own.

The Great Wide Sea/By M. H. Herlong Peguin, 2008.

Still mourning the death of their mother, three brothers go with their father on an extended sailing trip off the Florida Keys and have a harrowing adventure at sea.

A Horse of her Own/By Annie Wedekind Feiwal & Friends, 2008.

At summer camp Jane feels like an outsider among the cliquish rich girls who board their horses at Sunny Acres farm, and when the horse she has been riding is sold to another camper, she feels even worse until her teacher asks her to help train a beautiful but skittish new horse, and the experience brings out the best in her.

Knucklehead/By Jon Scieszka Penguin, 2008.

How did Jon Scieszka get so funny? He grew up as one of six brothers with Catholic school, lots of comic books, lazy summers at the lake with time to kill, babysitting misadventures, TV shows, and jokes told at family dinner.

The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg/By Rodman Philbrick Scholastic, 2009.

Twelve-year-old Homer, a poor but clever orphan, has extraordinary adventures after running away from his evil uncle to rescue his brother, who has been sold into service in the Civil War.

Savvy/By Ingrid Law Penguin, 2008.

Recounts the adventures of Mibs Beaumont, whose thirteenth birthday has revealed her "savvy"--A magical power unique to each member of her family--just as her father is injured in a terrible accident.

SCAT/By Carl Hiaasen Random House, 2009.

Nick and his friend Marta decide to investigate when a mysterious fire starts near a Florida wildlife preserve and an unpopular teacher goes missing.

The Trials of Kate Hope/By Wick Downing Houghton Mifflin, 2008.

At the young age of fourteen, Kate Hope is licensed to practice law in the state of Colorado in 1973, and with the help of her lawyer grandfather, and memories of her dead father, also a lawyer, she tries the case of a dog that is slated to be destroyed for attacking a baby.

Trouble/By Gary D. Schmidt Houghton Mifflin, 2008.

Fourteen-year-old Henry, wishing to honor his brother Franklin's dying wish, sets out to hike Maine's Mount Katahdin with his best friend and dog. But fate adds another companion--the Cambodian refugee accused of fatally injuring Franklin--and reveals troubles that predate the accident.

Waiting for Normal/By Leslie Connor HarperCollins, 2008.

Twelve-year-old Addie tries to cope with her mother's erratic behavior and being separated from her beloved stepfather and half-sisters when she and her mother go to live in a small trailer by the railroad tracks on the outskirts of Schenectady, New York.

Ways to Live Forever/By Sally Nicholls Scholastic, 2008.

Eleven-year-old Sam McQueen, who has leukemia, writes a book during the last three months of his life, in which he tells about what he would like to accomplish, how he feels, and things that have happened to him.