(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Nathan Durfee. When her best friend Bess moves away, Claire becomes the only girl in her Chesapeake Bay–island elementary school. Letters to Bess trace the tribulations and eventual triumphs of Claire's fifth-grade year, from eating lunch alone every day to winning the junior regatta. Claire is a feisty and sympathetic heroine; the voice is lively and the pace quick in this engaging epistolary novel.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano

(3) 4-6 Popular girl Scarlet and awkward outsider Lavender have nothing in common--except their birthday. When the two girls, who are both vying for the lead in the school musical, switch bodies thanks to their mysterious drama teacher, they develop greater self-awareness and empathy. Complex characterizations and a lack of preaching help keep the story both thoughtful and entertaining.

Reviewer: Norah Piehl

(4) 4-6 39 Clues: Unstoppable series. Cahill siblings Amy and Dan continue their dangerous mission to stop evil media mogul Pierce from world domination in the spinoff series' second and third books. Relationships are tested and loyalties questioned when Amy takes matters into her own hands in Breakaway and makes a rash decision in Countdown. Plot development feels a little sluggish, but action-heavy moments raise the stakes. Review covers these 39 Clues: Unstoppable titles: Breakaway and Countdown.

Reviewer: Lana Barnes

(4) YA In 1982, college student Laura travels to Russia to study but becomes involved in a romance with a young Russian man. Laura struggles to decide if he really loves her, or if he's using her to escape the oppressive Communist regime--as she and her fellow American students have been warned. The story's premise and unusual setting helps offset the occasionally flat writing.

Reviewer: Zoey Peresman

(3) 4-6 Araminta (nicknamed "Minty," a.k.a. "Minty Fresh," her future roller-derby name) meets Raymond, a mysterious boy, in the woods. They team up to investigate the strange behaviors of other neighborhood kids (including Minty's best friend Paz, who's acting too grown-up for roller derby). Meanwhile, Raymond has his own secrets. All ends well in Standiford's perceptive story of changing friendships.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(2) YA The imperious grandmother of three teenage sisters, members of a wealthy Baltimore family, announces that one of them has offended her and threatens to cut the family out of her will unless the guilty party owns up. This results in three gobble-them-up first-person "confessions." Standiford absolutely nails the world of old-moneyed Baltimore for a thoroughly entertaining story.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2010

(2) YA At her new school, Bea connects with prickly Jonah. Their friendship truly starts when Jonah discovers that his brain-damaged twin, who supposedly died, is actually alive and institutionalized. Together the characters fumble toward fully formed identities and fulfilling relationships. Standiford realistically depicts both the social intricacies of a small school and the emotional nuances of two dysfunctional families.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2010

(3) K-3 Road to Reading series. Illustrated by Bob Doucet. This smoothly written account of the "Cardiff Giant" describes why George Hull had a man-made statue buried in a farm field and how it became a tourist attraction as a fossilized human. Illustrated with color artwork and a few black-and-white photographs, the true historical account of a nineteenth-century hoax will intrigue early readers.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta