Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman

"To all of you who crawl and creep,
who buzz and chirp and hoot and peep,
who wake at dusk and throw off sleep:
Welcome to the night."


Summary: A collection of poems that celebrate the wonder, mystery, and danger of the night and describes the many things that hide in the dark.


Illustrated by Rick Allen

Houghton Mifflin; 32 pages

They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

"In the spring of 1865, as rain softened the hard ground, plenty of work was found for every pair of hands on the Williams plantation in Camden, Arkansas, despite the Civil War, which was still raging at the end of its fourth year."

Contents: A note to the reader -- "Bottom rail top" -- "Boys, let us get up a club" -- "I was killed at Chickamauga" -- "Worms would have been eating me now -- "They say a man ought not to vote" -- "I am going to die on this land" -- "A whole race trying to go to school" -- "They must have somebody to guide them" -- "Forced by force, to use force" -- "The sacredness of the human person" -- Epilogue : "it tuck a long time" -- Civil rights time line.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 172 pages

The Birthday Ball by Lois Lowry

"When Princess Patricia Priscilla woke on the morning of the day that was five days before her birthday, her first thoughts were not Oh, I am almost another year older, hardly a child anymore! or I wonder what fabulous gifts will be presented to me at the Birthday Ball six nights from now!"

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Summary: When a bored Princess Patricia Priscilla makes her chambermaid switch identities with her so she can attend the village school, her attitude changes and she plans a new way to celebrate her sixteenth birthday.

Houghton Mifflin; 186 pages

Just Grace Walks the Dog by Charise Mericle Harper

"There are two kinds of unfortunate things: those that are unfortunate because they have not happened, and those that are unfortunate because they already really did happen."

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Abstract: Eight-year-old Just Grace and her best friend Mimi embark on a campaign to convince Grace's parents that they are responsible and dependable enough to get a dog.

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin; 163 pages

Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

"How many times I have wondered what my fate might have been had I accompanied my parents that rainy spring morning."

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Summary: A girl is transformed, through instruction in life at court, determination, and magic, from sullen, pudgy, graceless Ben into Crown Princess Benevolence, a fit ruler of the kingdom of Montagne as it faces war with neighboring Drachensbett.

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin; 344 pages

The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry

"Once upon a time there was a family named Willoughby: an old-fashioned type of family, with four children."

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CIP Summary: In this tongue-in-cheek take on classic themes in children's literature, the four Willoughby children set about to become "deserving orphans" after their neglectful parents embark on a treacherous around-the-world adventure, leaving them in the care of an odious nanny.


Publisher: Houghton Mifflin; 174 pages