2013

Charlie Bucktin, 13, unwittingly coaxed into a gruesome crime scene, faces his bookish naiveté and perceptions of truth while questioning his seemingly ordinary family and community. Australian Matt Cowlrick creates eerie calmness, sarcastic acceptance, and desperation to keep the reader clinging and wondering until the very end (12 up).

A boy, girl, and fierce half-man struggle against child soldiers in this companion to Shipbreaker featuring political chaos and the repercussions of global warming. Their hellish war-torn jungle surrounds former Washington, DC.

In this coming-of-age novel set in a small Montana town, a recently-orphaned and spirited young woman, Cameron, discovers her homosexuality. When her aunt discovers Cam’s “problem,” she sends Cam to a camp that will “fix” it. Cam’s experiences offer an honest look at a teen’s developing sexual awareness.

This gripping, meticulously researched, compassionate recounting of the night the Titantic, a supposedly unsinkable luxury liner, met with disaster includes eyewitness accounts, primary sources, diagrams, and archival photographs. Mark Bramhall's and Peter Altschuler’s audio narration effectively heighten the emotion and drama of this terrible event.

In 1958, 12-year-old Marlee's forbidden friend, fearless Lizzie, helps her find  her own voice in concert with the adults around her who have been quietly acquiescent to the battle against integration that closed high schools in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1958. The novel’s verbal power offers a viable alternative for Julia Whelan’s uniquely voiced and perfectly-timed audio narration. (10-14)