Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library
By Chris Grabenstein

This is a fun and unusual adventure, perfect for puzzle and secret code lovers!
Set in a fantastic new high-tech library designed by famous game master extraordinaire Mr. Luigi Lemoncello, a group of kids must solve puzzles and follow clues to get out of the library and win the incredible prize being offered!
I think I read somewhere that this book is kind of a cross between Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Mr. Lemoncello seems inspired by Willy Wonka, for sure) and The Hunger Games...but takes place in a library...
If you enjoy it, there are several sequels too.

Inside Out & Back Again

Inside Out & Back Again
By Thanhha Lai

This is a beautiful story, in verse, of coming to the United States from Vietnam just at the end of the war, in 1975.
Ten-year-old Ha, along with her mom and three brothers, flees Saigon and survives a harrowing boat ride--eventually ending up in Alabama. There, she struggles to be included in school and learn English while suffering the intolerance and racism of many neighbors and schoolmates.
Stepping into Ha's shoes, we can understand how it feels to have to start over from scratch, leave one home behind and build another, and the power of kindness and compassion.

Refugee

Refugee
By Alan Gratz

We hear a lot about refugees in the news--all over the world people choose to leave their homes or are forced from their homes because of war and other violence, unfair government, religious beliefs, or ethnicity.
In Refugee, Alan Gratz tells the stories of three children and their families: Josef, fleeing from Nazi Germany in the 1930s; Isabel, fleeing Cuba in 1994; and Mahmoud, fleeing Syria in 2015. Each of the journeys is dangerous and terrifying, heartbreaking and true-to-life.
Although the three main characters live in different time periods in history and travel in separate parts of the world, their alternating stories overlap in surprising ways.
Get ready to read this powerful book quickly, because it is hard to put down. And get ready to have a fuller understanding of what people are able to endure and overcome, everyday. 

Mockingbird

Mockingbird
By Kathryn Erskine

Caitlin has Asperger's syndrome.
Along with her grieving dad, she is trying to make sense of her older brother's death in a senseless and tragic school shooting.
When she learns about the word "closure" and looks it up in the dictionary (Caitlin loves words, and dictionaries) she realizes this is what she and her dad need to help them feel better.
With the support of an understanding school counselor, Caitlin works to overcome some of her fears and challenges so she and her dad can move forward after the tragedy they have experienced.
Mockingbird, like Out of My Mind, is a beautiful story that allows the reader to really step into the shoes of someone who may be experiencing life in a very different way.  

Wolf by Wolf

Wolf by Wolf
by Ryan Graudin

Wolf by Wolf was hard to put down!
Set in an alternative historical time--Hitler has won World War II and is in power--a girl named Yael has survived brutal treatment and escaped from a Nazi death camp.
Now a teenager, Yael is part of the underground Resistance force, and she has a top secret, very dangerous mission: impersonate a famous German teenager (who happens to be the winner of a prestigious annual motorcycle race) so that she can win the next race, meet Hitler in person, and kill him.
Luckily Yael has some special powers that allow her to "skinshift", the result of horrible human experimentation she underwent as a little girl in the concentration camp.
She can make herself look like anyone.
But that is the easy part...winning the fiercely competitive motorcycle race across the continents, and then figuring out a plan to assassinate Hitler--and escape alive--are two unfathomable challenges she faces.
The sequel to Wolf by Wolf is Blood for Blood...you won't want to miss it!

Lily and Dunkin

Lily and Dunkin
By Donna Gephart

Told through alternating characters/voices, Lily and Dunkin relates the story of two eighth graders dealing with some difficult stuff:
Lily Jo, known to most of her family and school as Timothy, is transgender and weighing her desire to come out as a girl with the consequences of serious bullying at school. And her Dad is having difficulty in coming to terms with his child's true identity.
Dunkin, known to his family and school as Norbert (a name he hates) has just moved to town after a family tragedy. He's struggling with bipolar disorder, and experimenting with being on and off of his prescription medication.
Each of the characters longs to connect with the other but circumstances dictate otherwise, for a while...Ultimately, Lily and Dunkin find the strength each needs to be brave enough to be friends, and to be who they really are.
Make sure you have some tissues handy as you near the end of this heartbreaking and heartwarming book!

The D.B. Cooper Hijacking

The D.B. Cooper Hijacking: Vanishing Act
by Kay Melchisedech Olson

This is an incredible true crime story that has never been solved!
In 1971 a man (maybe a woman?!), known to the media as D.B. Cooper, hijacked a Boeing 727 airplane and then escaped by jumping out with a parachute--and over a million dollars.
There was a major search for this hijacker involving hundreds of troops, spy planes, and a submarine...but no trace of the criminal was ever found.
D.B. Cooper would have been 90 years old last year, and the FBI finally just ended the hunt!
Read this book to learn all of the details of the crime, the investigation, and why the story continues to intrigue people to this day.

Other books in the True Crime series:
The Black Dahlia: Shattered Dreams
The Great Train Robbery: History-making Heist
The Zodiac killer: Terror and Mystery

The Girl Who Drank the Moon

The Girl Who Drank the Moon
by Kelly Barnhill

This fantasy novel received the 2017 Newbery Medal.
It's about a sweet, kind witch--Xan--and the baby girl she adopts and raises, Luna.
It's also about a dysfunctional/dystopian town (reminded me of Jonas's town in The Giver) where every year a baby is sacrificed by the people in charge "for the good of everyone"...but really, it's just to keep the townsfolk scared and powerless.
As Luna approaches her 13th birthday and learns more about her past and her own magical powers, she embarks upon a great and dangerous adventure with her dear friends, a Swamp Monster and a Tiny Dragon....what unfolds is both creepy and beautiful.

Fallout

Fallout
By Todd Strasser

What if the Russian government had actually launched a nuclear bomb at the United States in 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis?
During those scary years, some people--like author Todd Strasser's own family--actually dug out bomb shelters under their homes and stocked them with food, emergency supplies, and water. But what would it really be like to spend two weeks underground, surviving an attack? Especially if there were too many people for the shelter, and too few supplies...
Strasser explores this scenario in Fallout, a fictionalized account of survival during the worst WHAT IF? you might be able to imagine.
This is a pretty dark story, but a good one...it's a page-turner, and one that really questions the logic of building and keeping nuclear weapons in the world.

Cloud and Wallfish

Cloud and Wallfish
By Anne Nesbet

1989, East Berlin, Germany.
The setting of this story may or may not be familiar to readers, but this was the year the Berlin Wall came down--the Wall that divided a city, separated families, distinguished very different governments, all within the same country! This Wall served as a literal Iron Curtain, dividing capitalist systems from communist systems.
Noah Keller, an American kid, travels to East Berlin with his parents who suddenly get official permission to cross the border and do "research". But there are some weird things going on; Noah's parents insist that his age, birthday, home town and even his name must be changed while they are living in East Berlin. There are serious Rules to follow, and Noah learns quickly that the secret police may be listening to anyone's conversations, anywhere.
What is Noah's family really doing there?
What is going on?

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
By Ransom Riggs

This is a real page-turner...and pretty spooky, too!
Jacob, 16 years old, was always been enchanted by his grandfather's crazy stories of growing up in an orphanage on a wind-swept island off the coast of Wales--along with a number of children with strange powers and abilities. Jacob has even seen the photos. But as he got older, his grandfather's stories seemed too fantastic to be true. After a mysterious "accident", Jacob is suddenly inspired to investigate the island and track down anyone still connected with the orphanage.
Set against the backdrop of World War II, this novel is a mix of fantasy, reality, mystery and horror...it will keep you guessing!!

This book is part of a trilogy; Hollow City and Library of Souls are the next two books. And Tales of the Peculiar is a collection of short stories that relates to the trilogy. Check them out!

The Lie Tree

The Lie Tree
By Frances Hardinge

The Lie Tree is part historical fiction, part fantasy--a mysterious, intriguingly dark story.
Fourteen year-old Faith Sunderly pretends to be a good, quiet girl because that's what is expected of her in Victorian England. But inside she is a gifted natural scientist, determined to win her famous scientist father's attention.
When he is mysteriously murdered, Faith does some detective work on her own. She discovers a fantastic tree her father has been hiding--a tree that feeds off of lies whispered to it in the dark. In order to learn more, and perhaps unable to resist the power of this strange specimen, Faith begins to spread her own lies. However, this becomes more dangerous that she ever could have imagined... 

The Sun is Also a Star

The Sun is Also a Star
By Nicola Yoon

If you're in the mood for a love story, this may be it.
Told from many perspectives, about lives that intertwine in surprising ways, this story takes place all in one day in New York City.
Natasha, a teenager originally from Jamaica, loves facts and is determined to be a scientist. She is also living undocumented with her family in the U.S...and about to be deported. So when she meets Daniel on the street, it's not really a great time to start up a romance.
Daniel, however, is love-struck. He doesn't know the whole story about Natasha and even when he does, he won't give up. His own challenges with his Korean-American family and their expectations of him propel him to pursue a relationship with Natasha despite all odds...
Are Natasha and Daniel meant for each other? What is the Universe trying to do??!

Ms. Marvel

Ms. Marvel #1

By G. Willow Wilson
Illustrated by Adrian Alphona

Get ready to be impressed if you have not already heard about Marvel's new superhero Ms. Marvel!
Kamala Khan, a Pakastani-American teenager from Jersey City, NJ, feels like she doesn't quite fit in with most of the other students in her high school; She can't go to parties, she can't eat bacon (her parents are loving but strict, and the family is Muslim), she doesn't feel as devout as her brother and friend Nakia.
After a green misty bomb explodes in her city one night (bringing the new Age of Inhumanity) Kamala is mysteriously given special powers...Kamala loves the original comic book Ms. Marvel--aka Carol Danvers--but is completely surprised when she herself is transformed into Ms. Marvel!
Being a superhero is not all it's cracked up to be, discovers Kamala, and she must figure out ways to make her  new powers work; maybe by starting to be more accepting of herself!

Outrun the Moon

Outrun the Moon
By Stacey Lee

Fifteen-year-old Mercy Wong will win you over with her spunky attitude, strength, sense of humor, and determination. And she will need all of that and more to survive San Francisco's 1906 earthquake; not only does Mercy face the destruction of her city and beloved Chinatown neighborhood, but she faces discrimination at being a girl AND as a Chinese American.
Against all odds, Mercy talks her way into a private, elite girls school because she's convinced it is her only ticket to becoming the businesswoman she wants to be...but the Great Quake shakes up her plans and brings many unexpected connections, along with devastation and tragedy.
I could not put this book down!

Talking Leaves

Talking Leaves 
by Joseph Bruchac

I read this novel over the winter vacation and found it really interesting, and good!
Told from the perspective of the great Cherokee leader Sequoyah's 13-year-old son, Uwohali, the story relates how the Cherokee alphabet was first invented. At the time, tribe members thought Sequoyah was crazy--or engaging in witchcraft--when he first began to write strange characters and claim to use them for  communication...but eventually his genius invention helped unify the Cherokee people and inspire pride and autonomy.
Joseph Bruchac also wrote Code Talker, which I love.

www.native-languages.org