Reading Level: Ages 12 and up

Reading Level: Grade 5-7

Abby Shapiro is an eleven-year-old Jewish girl who desperately wants two things, her first bra and the hot new doll of 1959, the Barbie doll, the one with the bosoms! Her mom says no to the bra and that she can earn her own money to buy the doll. Abby comes up with the idea of designing clothes and sellling her fashion designs to Jackie Kennedy, the "possible future first lady of the United States. Thus Abby begins sending letters to "her friend in fashion."

Reading Level: Grades 6 - 8

When Slog's father dies following a grueling illness involving many amputations, the boy becomes convinced that his dad has returned from the dead. Slog's friend, who tells us this story, is sympathetic to Slog but doubtful. This unconventional story, told partly with mixed-media illustrations, is simultaneously dark but hopeful, as it explores the pain of loss.

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Reading Level: Grade 6-8

It has always been just Willow and her Nana. 15-year-old Willow has grown up listening to her grandmother's fairy tales about a magical realm called Mistolear. Willow used to enjoy the stories but as her grandmother slips further and further into Alzheimer's, hearing Nana talk of a fantasy world as if IT is the reality hurts.

Reading Level: Grades 3 - 6

Inkblots: a messy, awesome project with fascinating techniques for such a seemingly random piece of art - and they aren't just used for Rorschach tests, either! After reading this, I want to buy gallons of India Ink and rolls of parchment!

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Reading Level: Grade 6-8

This book is a creepy blend of realistic fiction and horror. Teenager Lacey lives alone with her mentally ill mother. Despite her situation, she struggles to have a normal life, even managing to get a job at the local library. However, the novel's intentional uncertainty creates a foreboding mood. At times the reader even wonders if the voice guiding Lacey's mother really exists or if it is due to her illness. All becomes clear by the novel's end, when Lacey realizes just how alone she really is.

Reading Level: Grade 6-8

When Mrs. Abbott went into the gas station to pay for the gas, her eight-year-old daughter Wren asked to stay in the car to listen to music. It was the biggest mistake either of them would ever make.

Reading Level: Grades 6+

Athletic baseball star Dicey Bell and quiet, nerdy Jack Chen are assigned to a school project together - care for an egg as if it were a real baby. Over the course of the project, the two bond over the egg, finding that they have much more in common than they initially thought. At the conclusion of the project, Jack musters up the nerve to ask Dicey out on a date.

A typical, perky-yet-enjoyable realistic high school romance, right?

Reading Level: Grades 6+

Doug Swieteck and his lousy older brother just moved to a brand-new town that will be probably just as lousy as the old one - and with less baseball. And, just like in his old town, everyone who's anyone (teachers, the police, his dad, Lil Spicer down the street) thinks that Doug's just a skinny good-for-nothing kid who won't ever amount to anything except for trouble.

Reading Level: Grades 5 - 8