Diary of a Zombie Steve: Book 1


M.C. Steve - 2016
    Now Zombie Steve, too nice to abandon young Beep, has to play babysitter on a new quest to reunite the precocious child with his worried parents. But there will be spiders, silverfish, a miner and even a friendly wolf or two along the way.Zombie Steve knows he needs to do the right thing and bring Beep to his parents, unfortunately, his parents are avid zombie hunters!Will Zombie Steve be able to return Beep home by protecting his own (zombified) skin? Read “Beep” to find out.A hilariously written page turner, this book would be the perfect gift for Minecraft lovers of any age.Disclaimer: This book is a work of fanfiction; it is not an official Minecraft book. It is not endorsed, authorized, licensed, sponsored, or supported by Mojang AB, Microsoft Corp. or any other entity owning or controlling rights to the Minecraft name, trademarks or copyrights.

We All Fall Down


Eric Walters - 2006
    As part of a school assignment, all the students in his class will be going with their parents tomorrow, but Will isn’t excited about it – he’d rather sleep in and do nothing with his friends. His father doesn’t even have an exciting job like his best friend James’s father, who is a fireman. Will’s dad works for an international trading company and has to wake up early every morning to commute to his office on the 85th floor in the south building of the World Trade Center in Manhattan. Will doesn’t see his father very often because of the hours he puts in at the office. He doubts that his dad will bother making time for him tomorrow even when they are supposed to be spending the day together.

The Raft


S.A. Bodeen - 2012
    She's taken the flight from Honolulu to the Midway Atoll, a group of Pacific islands where her parents live, many times. When she has to get to Midway in a hurry after a visit with her aunt in Hawaii, she gets on the next cargo flight at the last minute. She knows the pilot, but on this flight, there's a new co-pilot named Max. All systems are go until a storm hits during the flight. The only passenger, Robie doesn't panic until the engine suddenly cuts out and Max shouts at her to put on a life jacket and she sees him struggle with a raft.And then...she's in the water. Fighting for her life. Max pulls her onto the raft, and that's when the real terror begins. They have no water. Their only food is a bag of Skittles. There are sharks. There is an island. But there's no sign of help on the way.

Half Brother


Kenneth Oppel - 2010
    But all that changes when his mother brings home Zan — an eight-day-old chimpanzee. Ben’s father, a renowned behavioral scientist, has uprooted the family to pursue his latest research project: a high-profile experiment to determine whether chimpanzees can acquire advanced language skills. Ben’s parents tell him to treat Zan like a little brother. Ben reluctantly agrees. At least now he’s not the only one his father’s going to scrutinize.It isn’t long before Ben is Zan’s favorite, and Ben starts to see Zan as more than just an experiment. His father disagrees. Soon Ben is forced to make a critical choice between what he is told to believe and what he knows to be true — between obeying his father or protecting his brother from an unimaginable fate.Half Brother isn’t just a story about a boy and a chimp. It’s about the way families are made, the way humanity is judged, the way easy choices become hard ones, and how you can’t always do right by the people and animals you love. In the hands of master storyteller Kenneth Oppel, it’s a novel you won’t soon forget.

We Are All Made of Molecules


Susin Nielsen - 2015
    Fourteen-year-old Ashley is the undisputed “It” girl in her class, but her grades stink. Their worlds are about to collide when Stewart and his dad move in with Ashley and her mom. Stewart is trying to be 89.9 percent happy about it, but Ashley is 110 percent horrified. She already has to hide the real reason her dad moved out; “Spewart” could further threaten her position at the top of the social ladder. They are complete opposites. And yet, they have one thing in common: they—like everyone else—are made of molecules.

Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me


Julie Johnston - 1994
    Fifteen-year-old Sara Moone, abandonded at birth and shunted from one foster home to another, finds that she cannot remain aloof from her latest family.

Episode 1: Growing Girl: The Extraordinarily Ordinary Life of Cassandra Jones


Tamara Hart Heiner - 2017
    She’s as ordinary as any other 12-year-old.Except no matter how hard she tries, Cassie just can’t seem to fit in. Excited to fill the summer before her seventh grade year, Cassie enrolls in soccer camp. She can’t wait to improve her ball-kicking skills and make a few goals.But Cassie quickly discovers a few obstacles in her path. Namely: herself. As much as she wants to be, she just isn’t very good at the sport. Either camp will be her chance to improve, or it will be the last time she ever plays.

Red Dirt Diary


Katrina Nannestad - 2010
    It will be another hard year of dust storms and drought on her family's farm - with the odd leech attack and bagpige-loving pig thrown in for good measure!

The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z.


Kate Messner - 2009
    . . but not for Gianna Z. With less than one week to collect twenty-five leaves for a science project, her spot at cross-country sectionals is in serious peril. Plus with a dad who runs a funeral parlor out of the basement, a grandma who keeps losing her teeth, and a rival trying to steal her spot on the team, Gee just wishes life could leave her alone to finish her project. But when Nonna disappears one afternoon, suddenly some things seem more important than projects and races.Gianna Z. will have readers rooting for her-and maybe even for science projects-from the very first page of this funny and poignant novel about family, friendship, and being true to yourself.

The Tiffin


Mahtab Narsimhan - 2011
    They are legendary for their near-perfect service: for every six million lunches sent, only one will fail to reach its intended destination. "The Tiffin" is about that one time in millions when a box goes astray, changing lives forever. When a note placed in a tiffin is lost, a newborn Kunal is separated from his mother. Twelve years later, Kunal lives as a virtual slave under the thumb of his foster father, Seth. With danger and oppression making it impossible to stay where he is, Kunal asks his friend Vinayak, an aging dabbawalla, to help him find his birth mother. Vinayak introduces Kunal to the tiffin carriers, and a plan is hatched. Along the way, Kunal learns what it means to be part of a family.

Missing Nimama


Melanie Florence - 2015
    Missing Nimama shows the human side of a tragic set of circumstances.An afterword by the author provides a simple, age-appropriate context for young readers. Includes a glossary of Cree terms.

The 12 Dares of Christa


Marissa Burt - 2017
    What’s not to love? There’s decorations! Gifts! Caroling with friends! But thanks to her parents’ recent separation, Christa’s favorite time of year is now filled with heartache. And when her mom announces that she’s taking her on a mother-daughter trip to Europe over winter vacation, Christa knows she should be excited. She just can’t imagine spending the yuletide season without her dad.However, waiting at her hotel in Italy is a special package from her father: the first of twelve dares that take Christa to landmarks in three beautiful countries and introduce her to people who will show her that hope is alive in the strangest of places.Funny, genuine, and feel-good to the core, The 12 Dares of Christa is Marissa Burt’s fifth novel.

Umbrella Summer


Lisa Graff - 2000
    That's why being careful is so important, even if it does mean giving up some of her favorite things, like bike races with her best friend, Rebecca, and hot dogs on the Fourth of July. Everyone keeps telling Annie not to worry so much, that she's just fine. But they thought her brother, Jared, was just fine too, and Jared died.

Snakes in the Meadows


Ayaz Kohli - 2019
    In the hilly village of pathri Aali, where legends appear true, Aslam and ashwar, two young lovers, dream of marriage and of good things of life. But that is not to be. Unable to cope, Aslam leaves pathri Aali forever. Years later, as men migrate to Saudi Arabia for employment, pathri Aali is populated mostly by women and children. Soon they realize the mujahedeen, who guise themselves as their liberators, are the worst perpetrators, and misery seems inescapable. Ashwar refuses to be cowed down by this reign of terror and is determined not to let it devastate the once-peaceful village. The only one she can Bank on is aslam—and she calls out to him across the distance of time and space, to return and live up to the legends of their village. Snakes in the meadows is a saga of the onset of militancy, and the suffering and the resilience of pir panjal—the ‘and’ of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Goat


Anne Fleming - 2017
    Rumor says there’s a goat living on the roof, but how can that be?