Skellig by David Almond

(AR Book Level: 3.5, AR Point Level: 4.0, YA Fiction Almond)
Ten-year-old Michael was looking forward to moving into a new house. But now his baby sister is ill, his parents are frantic, and Doctor Death has come to call. Michael feels helpless. Then he steps into the crumbling garage. What is this thing kind of beast never before seen?

Tangerine by Edward Bloor

(AR Book Level: 4.3, AR Point Level: 13.0, YA Fiction Bloor)
When the Fishers move to Tangerine, Florida, they enter a place where weird is normal. Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight.

Skeleton Man by Joseph Bruchac

(AR Book Level: 4.8, AR Point Level: 3.0, Juv Fiction Bruchac)
Ever since the morning Molly woke up to find that her parents had vanished, her life has become filled with terrible questions. Where have her parents gone? Who is this spooky old man who's taken her to live with him, claiming to be her great-uncle? Why does he never eat, and why does he lock her in her room at night? There's one thing Molly does know. She needs to find some answers before it's too late.

The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney

(AR Book Level: 4.8, AR Point Level: 6.0, YA Fiction Cooney)
No one ever really paid close attention to the faces of the missing children on the milk cartons. But as Janie Johnson glanced at the face of the ordinary little girl with her hair in tight pigtails, wearing a dress with a narrow white collar--a three-year-old who had been kidnapped twelve years before from a shopping mall in New Jersey--she felt overcome with shock. She recognized that little girl--it was she. How could it possibly be true?

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

(AR Book Level: 4.5, AR Point Level: 13.0, YA Fiction Donnelly)
In 1906, sixteen-year-old Mattie, determined to attend college and be a writer against the wishes of her father and fiance, takes a job at a summer inn where she discovers the truth about the death of a guest. Based on a true story.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

(AR Book Level: 8.8, AR Point Level: 16.0, YA Fiction Doyle)
He's rude, arrogant, cold, unfriendly, and easily bored. But nobody minds, because Sherlock Holmes is a genius at solving mysteries. This collection includes unabridged tales of blackmail, lost fortunes, and, of course, murder.

Sammy Keyes series by Wendelin Van Draanen

(AR Book Level: Varies, AR Point Level: Varies, Series Juv Fiction Van Draanen)
Look out Harriet the Spy! Here comes Sammy Keyes, a resourceful, brave, too-curious-for-her-own-good young sleuth who gets into trouble with her grandmother's binoculars. She is much more than a brilliant detective: Sammy Keyes, who is curious in all the right ways, is the sort of person you'd love to have as a friend.

Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix

(AR Book Level: 4.8, AR Point Level: 7.0, Juv Fiction Haddix )
Jessie lives with her family in the frontier village of Clifton, Indiana, in 1840 -- or so she believes. When diphtheria strikes the village and the children of Clifton start dying, Jessie's mother reveals a shocking secret -- it's actually 1996, and they are living in a reconstructed village that serves as a tourist site. In the world outside, medicine exists that can cure the dread disease, and Jessie's mother is sending her on a dangerous mission to bring back help.

Hoot by Carl Hiassen

(AR Book Level: 5.2, AR Point Level: 9.0, YA Fiction Hiassen)
Unfortunately, Roy's first acquaintance in Florida is Dana Matherson, a well-known bully. Then again, if Dana hadn't been sinking his thumbs into Roy's temples and mashing his face against the school-bus window, Roy might never have spotted the running boy. And the running boy is intriguing: he was running away from the school bus, carried no books, and-here's the odd part-wore no shoes. Sensing a mystery, Roy sets himself on the boy's trail.

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

(AR Book Level: 5.3, AR Point Level: 8.0, YA Fiction Raskin)
This highly inventive mystery involves sixteen people who are invited to the reading of Samuel W. Westing's will. They could become millionaires, depending on how they play the tricky and dangerous Westing game, which involves blizzards, burglaries, and bombings.

Holes by Louis Sachar

(AR Book Level: 4.6, AR Point Level: 7.0, YA Fiction Sachar)
Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnats. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys' detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the warden makes the boys "build character" by spending all day, every day, digging holes: five feet wide and five feet deep. It
doesn't take long for Stanley to realize there's more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys are digging holes because the warden is looking for something. Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment--and redemption.

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Jennifer Osborne, Teen Librarian
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