Hot Reads

2011 Mildred L Batchelder Award Winner

When Blaise Fortune turns seven years old, the Soviet Union collapses and his mother Gloria decides that she and Blaise must flee the political troubles and civil unrest in Georgia. The two make their way westward on foot, heading toward France, where Gloria says they will find safe haven. But what exactly is the truth about Blaise's past? …More

MacColl presents a novel of intrigue and romance about how Princess Victoria became queen with the help of a maid, a newspaperman, and a scoundrel. Illustrations. …More

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Sepetys presents a powerful and haunting novel based on a little-known real-life event in history. In terrifying detail, Ruta Sepetys re-creates a World War II coming of all all too timely today. "Between Shades of Gray" is a document long overdue.--Newbery Medalist Richard Peck. …More

In 1930s Berlin, a Jewish boy forms an unlikely bond with a boxing champion in the second novel from the author of "My Mother the Cheerleader." …More

2010 Costa Children's Book Award Winner

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Orphaned and plagued with the grief of losing everyone he loves, 15-year-old Abdul has made a long, fraught journey from his war-torn home in Baghdad, only to end up in The Jungle -- a squalid, makeshift migrant community in Calais. Desperate to escape, he takes a spot in a small, overloaded England-bound boat that's full of other illegal migrants -- and a secret stash of heroin. A sudden skirmish leaves the boat stalled in the middle of the Channel, the pilot dead, and four young people remaining -- Abdul; Rosalia, a Romani girl who has escaped from the white slave trade; Cheslav, gone AWOL from a Russian military school; and Jonah, the boat pilot's ten-year-old nephew. As they attempt to complete the frantic and hazardous Channel crossing their individual stories are revealed and their futures become increasingly uncertain. "No Safe Place" is a novel of high adventure and heart-stopping suspense by a writer at the height of her powers. …More

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From a Newbery Medalist comes a mesmerizing novel based on a true story. "A Long Walk to Water" begins as two stories, told in alternating sections, about a girl in Sudan in 2008 and a boy in Sudan in 1985. …More

Fourteen-year-olds Raphael and Gardo team up with a younger boy, Rat, to figure out the mysteries surrounding a bag Raphael finds during their daily life of sorting through trash in a third-world country's dump. …More

Danny is a freelance IT specialist--that is, a hacker. He and his pal Omar are both skilled at parkour, or freerunning, a discipline designed to enable practitioners to travel between any two points regardless of obstacles. This is fortunate, because they're off on an adventure that's filled with obstacles. …More

The international award-winning story of two girls from different backgrounds, united in friendship

Parisian teenager Lou has an IQ of 160, OCD tendencies, and a mother who has suffered from depression for years. But Lou is about to change her life--and that of her parents--all because of a school project about homeless teens. While doing research, Lou meets No, a teenage girl living on the streets. As their friendship grows, Lou bravely asks her parents if No can live with them, and is astonished when they agree. No's presence forces Lou's family to come to terms with a secret tragedy. But can this shaky, newfound family continue to live together when No's own past comes back to haunt her?

Winner of the prestigious Booksellers' Prize in France, "No and Me "is a timely and thought-provoking novel about homelessness that has far-reaching appeal. …More