The king of jam sandwiches —Walters, Eric, 1957- author.

"Fourteen-year-old Robbie never knows from one day to the next if there is going to be enough to eat or if his father will even come home"-- Provided by publisher.

The year we fell from space —King, A. S. (Amy Sarig), 1970- author.

Middle schooler Liberty likes to make her own maps of the stars, in fact she is obsessed with them, especially since her family is falling apart; her parents are getting divorced, her nine-year-old sister will barely lea...

Blister —Shreve, Susan Richards.

When a family tragedy occurs, ten-year-old Alyssa "Blister" Reed changes schools, moves to an apartment with her depressed mother while her father gets his own place, and tries to believe her grandmother, who tells her s...

The undrowned —Alexander, K. R., 1986- author.

"Samantha and Rachel used to be friends. But then Rachel betrayed Samantha . . . and Samantha decided to make her life a living nightmare. Then one day, Sam and Rachel found themselves in a fight by a lake. Samantha push...

The burning queen —Lasky, Kathryn, author.

When Princess Mary ascends the throne in sixteenth-century England, Rose is forced to leave Princess Elizabeth and serve Mary. Mary's coronation is coming, and Rose will be put to work making elaborate gowns. But the rel...

A game of fox & squirrels —Reese, Jenn, author.

After an incident shatters their family, eleven-year-old Samantha Littlefield and her older sister, Caitlin, are sent to live in rural Oregon with an aunt they've never met. Sam wants nothing more than to go back to the ...

No small thing —Ghent, Natale, 1962-

When twelve-year-old Nathaniel and his two sisters, Cid and Queenie, discover an ad for a free pony in the paper, they can hardly believe their luck. The pony is theirs as long as they can afford to take care of it. But ...

The other side of silence —Mahy, Margaret.

As a member of a gifted, idiosyncratic, and argumentative family, twelve-year-old Hero chooses mutism until she reconciles the true with the real in her life.

Poppy's return —Avi, 1937-

Poppy, accompanied by her troublesome son Junior, his skunk friend, and Uncle Ereth the porcupine, responds to a summons to return to her ancestral home, Gray House, to save the mice there from destruction by a bulldozer...

All of me —Baron, Chris (Christopher Leigh), author.

Thirteen-year-old Ari faces what it is to be a man while dealing with a cross-country move, his parents' separation, being bullied for his weight, and belatedly starting bar mitzvah preparations.

The land of forgotten girls —Kelly, Erin Entrada, author.

Abandoned by their father and living in poverty with their heartless stepmother in Louisiana, two sisters from the Philippines, twelve-year-old Sol and six-year-old Ming, learn the true meaning of family.

Finding Cooper —Matson, Stacey, author.

"Twelve-year-old Cooper believes that his grandfather-- who is living in a locked Alzheimer's ward-- is actually D. B. Cooper, the famous (real) skyjacker who secured a small fortune and vanished in 1971. Cooper sets out...

Also known as Harper —Leal, Ann Haywood.

Writing poetry helps fifth-grader Harper Lee Morgan cope with her father's absence, being evicted, and having to skip school to care for her brother while their mother works, and things look even brighter after she befri...

Running wild —Bledsoe, Lucy Jane, author.

"When living in the Alaskan wilderness with her survivalist father becomes intolerable, 12-year-old Willa sets out on a journey of escape with her younger brothers"-- Provided by publisher.

Beverly, right here —DiCamillo, Kate.

Beverly Tapinski has run away from home plenty of times, but that was when she was just a kid. By now, she figures, it's not running away. It's leaving. Determined to make it on her own, Beverly finds a job and a place t...

Sara and the search for normal —King, Wesley, author.

Seventh-grader Sara wants to be normal but her panic attacks and other episodes cause her to isolate herself until, in group therapy, she meets talkative and outgoing Erin, her first friend.

The secret sheriff of sixth grade —Sonnenblick, Jordan, author.

Maverick Falconer is just starting middle school and he wishes he were a hero like his father because maybe then he could deal with his mother's drinking and series of abusive boyfriends, not to mention the kids who bull...

I love you, Michael Collins —Baratz-Logsted, Lauren, author.

In 1969, as her own family is falling apart, ten-year-old Mamie finds comfort in conducting a one-sided correspondence with the least famous astronaut heading toward the moon on Apollo 11.

Don't feed the boy —Latham, Irene.

Eleven-year-old Whit's zookeeper parents have rarely allowed him to go outside of the Alabama zoo they run, but he stops seeing it as such a cage when he meets "Bird Girl, for whom the place is a refuge from problems at ...

Nellie's promise —Tripp, Valerie, 1951-

Nellie and her younger sisters are about to be adopted by Samantha's aunt and uncle when Uncle Mike shows up and threatens to put a stop to the plan.