"Revolver" by Marcus Sedgwick. After the accidental death of his father, Sig finds himself isolated in the Arctic and threatened by a terrifying giant claiming a share of stolen gold. All Sig knows is that there is a loaded Colt revolver hidden in the cabin, a gun that may save his life.

"Dark Water" by Laura McNeal. Fifteen-year-old Pearl DeWitt falls into a precarious friendship and a forbidden romance with a migrant worker on her father’s farm. When a wild fire threatens the workers caught in its path, Pearl Desperately risks her own safety to warn those she has come to love and respect, before it’s too late.

"Lockdown" by Walter Dean Myers. Reese is a young man who wants to get out of the juvenile correction facility before he gets into trouble that will put him permanently into jail. But when he is assigned to a work program at a local senior citizens’ home, he finds one of the residents, Mr. Hooft, particularly hard to please. Can he convince Mr. Hooft and himself that he’s a decent human being, worth saving?

"The End of the World Club" by J & P Voelkel. The Mayan Calendar has long predicted the end of the world in the year 2012, but teenager Max Murphy finds himself at the end of his own rope. He owes a favor to the Maya Lords of Death, and now they’ve called it in. From a pack of hellhounds to headless phantoms, this story takes Max and his friends to the edge of survival and is filled with non-stop action and suspense.

"The Faeman Quest" by Herbie Brennan. Faerie princess Mella plans an outing away from her royal palace, hoping to visit the strange and exotic world of the humans. Expecting nothing more than a day’s outing, Mella is not prepared for a miscalculation that accidentally lands her in the midst of a rebel force preparing an invasion against her own Faerie Realm.

"The Dreamer" by Pam Munoz Ryan and Peter Sis. Young Neftali hears the call of a mysterious voice, and he knows he cannot ignore the call. Under the canopy of the lush rain forest, he listens and he follows, and creates a world of poetry in spite of the harsh criticism of his father and the taunts of the neighborhood children.

"Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life" by James Patterson and Christ Tebbetts. This is the totally insane story of Rafe, a kid who survives the worst and the best of middle school. For example, Rafe must fight and overcome a diabolical teacher called the Dragon Lady, and wrestle a live bear. Middle school can’t get more exciting and silly than that!