The Queen of Water by Laura Resau

"As a little girl, I did not know I was a descendant of the Inca, the most powerful ancient civilization of South America."

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A child in Ecuador is sent to be the servant of a rich mestizo family where she is mistreated. She teaches herself to read and write and escapes, but she is lost between two cultures. Based on a true story.

Delacorte Press; 352 pages

The Great Migration: Journey to the North by Eloise Greenfield

"They read about it, heard about it, in letters and newspapers sent down from the North, from visiting cousins and brothers and aunts: there were jobs up there, nice houses, no Ku Klux Klan everywhere you turn, burning down schools and homes and hope."

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Describes the period of the 20th century when many African Americans left the South to make better lives for themselves in the nothern states.

Harper Collins; 32 pages

Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Not Reading by Tommy Greenwald

"My name is Charlie Joe Jackson, and I hate reading."

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Middle schooler Charlie Joe is proud of his success at avoiding reading, but eventually his schemes go too far.

Roaring Brook Press; 220 pages

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos

"School was finally out and I was standing on a picnic table in our backyard getting ready for a great summer vacation when my mother walked up to me and ruined it."

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In the historic town of Norvelt, Pennsylvania, twelve-year-old Jack Gantos spends the summer of 1962 grounded for various offenses until he is assigned to help an elderly neighbor with a most unusual chore involving the newly dead, molten wax, twisted promises, Girl Scout cookies, underage driving, lessons from history, typewriting, and countless bloody noses.

Farrar Straus Giroux; 341 pages

Roots and Blues: A Celebration by R. Gregory Christie

"Each word a hammer hit."

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Lyrical text explores how Blues have been part of everyday life throughout history, from its origins in the sounds of the earth, through slaves' voices singing of freedom, to today's greatest performers--and listeners.

Clarion Books; 86 pages

The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow

"As Herr Boch finished the last lecture of the school year, I sketched one final caricature of him into the margins of my notebook."

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In 1936 Berlin, fourteen-year-old Karl Stern, considered Jewish despite a non-religious upbringing, learns to box from the legendary Max Schmeling while struggling with the realities of the Holocaust.

HarperTeen; 404 pages

Small as an Elephant by Jennifer Richard Jacobson

"Elephants can sense danger."

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Abandoned by his mother in an Acadia National Park campground, Jack tries to make his way back to Boston before anyone figures out what is going on, with only a small toy elephant for company.

Candlewick Press; 275 pages