Published by HarperCollins

Summary:  Since birth, Chester has aspired to be a service dog like his mother was.  He’s got everything it takes, except that he can’t overcome his fear of loud noises.  When a thunderstorm rolls in on the day service dogs are being chosen, Chester is left behind.  Instead, he is sold to a family with an autistic son, Gus.  Although he is brought into the family as a pet, Chester takes it upon himself to serve Gus.  Gus is almost completely nonverbal, but Chester can occasionally communicate with Gus through their thoughts.  Eventually, Chester is allowed to go to school with Gus, where the dog sees things that the humans are missing.  When the principal discovers Chester isn’t a certified therapy dog, he’s barred from the school, unable to help Gus when he’s beaten up by a bully with no witnesses around.  When Gus starts having seizures, his parents are at their wits’ end, but Chester may have the answer to turn the situation around and move Gus’s life in a positive direction.  272 pages; grades 3-7.

Pros:  Chester is funny and lovable, as one would expect of a dog narrator.  His insights about Gus and his parents will give readers a new understanding of severely autistic kids.  I flew through this book in two days.

Cons:  At times, Chester’s intelligence and communication with Gus strained credulity.  Also, I’m pretty sure dogs can’t perceive what’s on a TV screen to pick up the many lessons about humans that Chester does.

Published by Greenwillow Books

Summary:  Four kids from the same neighborhood share the story of an early summer day.  Valencia, whose voice is the only first person one, loves spending time observing the natural world, but sometimes feels cut off from other kids because she is deaf.  Virgil is the only quiet member of a loud, boisterous family and struggles at school, both academically and socially.  Kaori believes herself to have psychic powers and uses them to try to help Virgil.  Chet is a bully who picks on Virgil.  When he throws Virgil’s backpack in an old dry well, Virgil climbs down to rescue his guinea pig who is in the pack and can’t get back out.  Meanwhile, Valencia and Kaori have met for the first time, on a day Virgil had an appointment with Kaori.  When he doesn’t show up, they suspect something is wrong, and the wheels are set in motion for all four characters to come together.  Their lives intersect in the woods, where a dramatic rescue sets the stage for a happy ending.  320 pages; grades 3-7.

Pros:  Kelly does a masterful job of creating fully developed characters through the dialogue, actions, of memories of each child.  Even the bully becomes more understandable as the story unfolds.  Virgil’s plight is enough to keep the pages turning to the end.

Cons:  There’s (possibly) a bit of magic for Virgil in the well that might be confusing to younger readers.

Published by Salaam Reads/Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers

Summary:  Amina is a shy sixth grader.  She has a beautiful singing voice, but prefers to stay out of the spotlight.  Middle school is proving challenging, as her best friend Soojin is thinking of changing her Korean name to Susan and has started hanging out with Emily, a former enemy of both girls.  In addition to these universal problems, Amina struggles with her Pakistani immigrant parents who don’t always understand the American culture she and her brother live in.  When a conservative uncle comes for a visit from Pakistan and the Islamic Center is severely vandalized, Amina realizes she must overcome her shyness and learn to express who she truly is.  208 pages; grades 3-7.

Pros:  A moving story about a contemporary immigrant family and the struggles each member faces.  Readers will relate to Amina and her older brother Mustafa, while learning more about Pakistani culture and Islam.

Cons:  Kids may need some guidance in reading about the hate crime against the Islamic Center.

Published by HarperCollins

Summary:  Flora and her brother Julian don’t believe they were born.  After years of foster care, some of it bordering on abusive, they have only dim memories of their past and have come up with many theories of how they came to be.  Each chapter begins with one of their theories.  For the last two years, they have been in their “forever” home, reassured by their parents that they will never have to move again, but it’s hard for them to really believe that.  Julian still sneaks food and hides it in his closet, and Flora frequently has trouble talking.  With the help of a therapist, their parents decide the best way for them to move on is to face their past, and so they go on a trip, starting with a visit to their most recent foster home, then working backward.  As they gradually uncover the people and places from their early childhood, they find reasons to be sad and angry, but also grateful; and they learn that only by facing the past can they can begin to heal and move into the future.  320 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  A powerful book that was hard to put down.  Flora narrates the story; readers see events unfold through her eyes and learn of the past through her incomplete memories.  The characters are memorable and realistically portrayed, and the story seems heartbreakingly real.

Cons:  I skipped reading most of the  kids’ chapter-opening theories about how they came to be.

Published by Viking Books for Young Readers

Summary:  In this modern-day middle school retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac, Gracie discovers quite unexpectedly that she has a crush on her friend A.J.  When A.J. is asked in a convoluted series of maneuvers which girl he likes, it turns out to be Sienna, Gracie’s pretty, sporty best friend.  Gracie has grown up with parents who lost their first daughter at a young age, so she knows it’s important to keep people happy and never let on when you’re feeling upset.  When Sienna feels awkward about texting A.J., Gracie takes over as the voice of Sienna, pleasantly surprised by how witty A.J.’s texts are.  She’s able to comfortably report all this to Emmett, the vertically-challenged boy next door who has been her best friend since preschool.  Secret identities are revealed, feelings are hurt, and relationships shift cataclysmically at a single eighth grade party, as Gracie realizes that being 14 is way harder than being 13 ever was, but maybe more rewarding as well.  320 pages; grades 5-8.

Pros:  Middle schoolers will zip through this fresh and funny novel.  There are no big surprises about who ends up with whom, but the realistic characters and settings, as well as Gracie’s  slightly sarcastic but caring voice will keep them hooked until the end.

Cons:  Gracie’s and Emmett’s constant quipping Got. Kinda. Old.

Published by Scholastic Press

Summary:  When Annabelle was ten years old, she threw almost everything in the bedroom out the window.  Her mother’s hoarding had taken over every inch of space, and she couldn’t stand it any longer.  Now, three years later, the rest of the house is worse than ever, but Annabelle’s room is almost empty.  She checks it every day to make sure her mother doesn’t start stashing one of her collections in it again.  It’s her way of coping with a family spinning out of control, like her older brother Chad, who spends as much time as he can out of the house, and her younger sister Leslie, who tries to keep everyone else happy but is plagued by nightmares. Normally, her father escapes into his work, but when he discovers a Leslie’s folder of articles about hoarders who have been killed by their possessions, he leaves early on a business trip, warning that he won’t return until housecleaning is underway.  The family is more in crisis than ever, and Annabelle realizes she can’t keep hiding her feelings and pretending to her friends that everything is fine.  There are no easy answers, but by the end of the book, the family is taking their first cautious steps toward getting some help.  256 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  The author tackles a serious subject with a light touch.  Annabelle’s voice is funny and strong, and her family is loving despite their dysfunction.  Realistic fiction fans will find this hard to put down.

Cons: As something of an anti-hoarder, I was pained by the description of the house.

Published by HarperCollins

Summary:  Rydr is traveling from California to Chicago, and toward an unknown future.  Traveling as an unaccompanied minor, she wears a nametag reading “Rider”, and that’s the name she uses on her trip (part way through the book, she changes the spelling).  As the journey goes on, Rydr slowly reveals her past.  Her mother was a drug addict who tried to raise her daughter, but had to frequently send her to live with her grandmother in California.  Ryder discovered her mother dead of an overdose, then a short time later, she was the one to find her grandmother’s body.  A great uncle in Chicago whom she has never met is the only person keeping her out of foster care. On the train, she feels safe, befriending Dorothea, the Amtrak employee assigned to look after her, and Neal, the snack bar attendant.  She has a bit of a romance with a boy from a scout troop traveling on the same train.  By the end of the trip, she is ready to spread her mother’s ashes, with the help of Dorothea and Neal, and she has made some discoveries about who she is and how she can create her own future.  192 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  A beautifully written novel about a girl who has seen too much in her 13 years, but has gained a wisdom and strength which will hopefully serve her well moving into an unknown future.

Cons:  This book is recommended for third or fourth grade and up, but there’s some pretty mature subject matter for most elementary students.