by Elizabeth Bunce

Introducing Myrtle Hardcastle, your favorite new amateur detective: a wickedly smart twelve-year-old with a keen interest in criminology and a nose for murder. 

by Sy Montgomery

Sibert Medaliist and National Book Award Honoree Sy Montgomery turns her talents to the story of California Condors and the scientists who have fought against their extinction. 

by Hilary McKay

Abi and her two step-brothers, Max and Louis, find that strange things happen when they are alone in their eerie, ivy-covered new house. 

Abi, reading alone finds herself tumbling deep into books, while Louis summons a startling guest.  Even Max has started to see shapes in the shadows.

Their busy parents see none of it–but Louis’ secret visitor is growing too alarming to keep secret,  and he finds he cannot manage without Max and Abi’s help. 

by Lindsey Stoddard

Cyrus Olson’s dad is a hero, and everyone expects Cyrus to follow in his dad’s record-breaking footsteps, and he wishes they were right–except he’s never been brave like that.  But this year, with the help of a stray dog, a few new friends, a little bit of rhythm, and a lot of nerve, he may just discover that actually…he is. 

by Kate Dicamillo

Stella Endicott loves her teacher, Miss Liliana, and she is thrilled when the class is assigned to write a poem.  Stella crafts a beautiful poem about Mercy Watson, the pig who lives next door–a poem complete with a metaphor and full of curiosity and courage.  But Horace Broom, Stella’s irritating classmate, insists that Stella’s poem is full of lies and that pigs do not live in houses. 

by David Larochelle

What happens when the book gets it wrong?  Max is not a cat–Max is a dog!  But much to his dismay, this book keeps instructing readers to “see the cat.”  How can Max get through to the book that he is a dog? 

by David Wiesner

It’s big sister to the rescue when a new baby is delivered to a family of robots and the adults are flummoxed by technical difficulties. 

by Jesse Simon

Determined to build “the biggest, fanciest, most excellent sandcastle” to impress her sister, Jules is foiled again and again by the ocean. 

by Mike Twohy

When a mysterious visitor arrives from outer space one night, a family dog makes an unexpected friend. 

by Jonathan Fenske

When the clock strikes midnight, a squad of squids creeps out of the ocean-and over to your house!  Their mission? To leave their inky mark by drawing on walls, the floor, and even your toys.