The Dead by Charlie Higson takes place just over a year prior to his first novel, The Enemy. This is when the dangerous disease that turns anyone over the age of 16 into a decaying, flesh eating zombie is just taking over all of the adults. This story follows a group of boys from a private school as they fight to escape their teachers, and make their way through the streets of London, trying to find safety. Along the way, they pick up several other kids who have had their own struggles dealing with losing their parents and friends to this terrible disease. Whether they're called zombies, strangers, sickos or mothers and fathers, the diseased adults are the walking dead - covered in pus filled boils and oozing blood. The only thing they seem to want is children... for dinner! For the children, survival seems bleak and some simple give up. Others create their own religion to give them solace, and still others just take everything one step at a time, becoming leaders despite believing they never could.
The Enemy by Charlie Higson takes place in London about a year and a half after a terrible disease has sickened all of the adults over the age of 14. This disease rots the brain, leaving the adults unable to talk or really even think. Their skin is covered in infected boils and sores. Worse yet... they eat children. The children of London have banded together in different areas to try to continue living and hiding from the grown-ups. One group lives in an old grocery store. They have a pretty good system for scavenging food and supplies, and keeping everyone relatively safe. One afternoon, a strange boy shows up at the store, followed by a vicious band of grown-ups. Jester tells the Holloway kids about a new colony of kids who are living at Buckingham Palace. They are growing food, raising animals, and are really making a good life for themselves. Jester's job was to travel around London, searching for other groups of kids to join the Palace group. (Unfortunately, Jester left with a party of 5 and was the only one who made it alive.) Arran, the Holloway group leader and Blue, another group's leader confer and decide to band together and head to Buckingham Palace, following Jester. On the way, they meet many groups of grown-ups who seem to be behaving differently - they are "hunting" and grouping together, almost as if they are communicating and following some sort of plan. They also meet up with a group of kids who have been living on the streets. In a skirmish, one of the girls accidentally shoots Arran and he dies. This leaves Maxie, Arran's second in command the leader of the Holloway kids. Things seem too good to be true once the group finally makes it to the Palace. After a few days, however, Maxie and Blue begin to see David's (the Palace kids' leader) true plan - to take over and rule all of the kids in London. They try to make a plan to escape, but David catches them and locks them up. Now it seems all the kids they were supposed to be protecting will fall under the dictatorship of David and his minions with no chance of escape.
Reincarnation by Suzanne Weyn is a love story about two people who meet over and over through multiple lives from prehistory through the present time. Amazingly they are able to find one another in each life, their story growing with each lifetime. Through every lifetime, both characters bring something of their former selves and are easily able to recognize one another, even though they don't exactly know why. Each part of the story ends tragically, with their love never quite working out, with the exception of the final story, in which they find one another and are together even now!
Hothouse by Chris Lynch is about Russ, a high school student who has just suffered a terrible loss: his father, and the father of his best friend DJ, have died fighting a fire. The entire small town is celebrating these two men as heroes, which trickles down to the two boys. It's almost as if they are celebrities. That is, until some terrible news comes out of the investigator's report about the fire. Suddenly, Russ and DJ not only have to deal with the loss of their fathers and their own heroes, but also the wrath of the town who only days before had celebrated their existence.
Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine is about Caitlin, a 5th grader with autism. Her mother died of cancer and her older brother, Devon was recently shot and killed in a school shooting. Having Asperger's, a high functioning form of autism, Caitlin sees everything in black and white. She often misunderstands and misinterprets what people say and do. Seeking solace in her dictionary, Caitlin reads the definition for 'closure' and decides that's what she and her dad need to find. In her quest for closure, Caitlin makes some discoveries about herself and others she never could have imagined! 
I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore is about 15 year old John Smith... at least, his name is John Smith for now. John and his guardian, Henri, are on the run and have been moving every few months for the past 11 years. They are running from a murderous race of aliens, the Mogadorians, who are trying to wipe out every last being from the planet Lorien, where John and Henri are from. They've hidden on Earth, along with 8 other kids and their guardians. Watching their planet and all of their people be destroyed by the Mogadorians, these 9 members of the garde (special Loriens who develop supernatural skills called Legacies) and their 9 cepan (guardians who help the garde develop their Legacies) are the planet's only hope for survival. They were bound by an enchantment just before their ship left for Earth - they can only be killed in a specific order. John is number 4... and the first 3 have already been killed. Now, it is extremely important for John and Henri to remain hidden. They choose to do so in a small Ohio town where John finds his first girlfriend, a protective beagle, and the only friend he's ever been able to tell the truth. Will John's Legacies develop before the Mogadorians find him? What will happen to John's friends? Will they ever get back to Lorien? Read I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore to find out!
Walk Softly, Rachel by Kate Banks is about fourteen year old Rachel. When she was 7, Rachel's older brother Jake died. Ever since, her family has kept his room exactly the same - complete with all of his track medals and trophies and personal items. Rachel is struggling with the loss of her best friend Adrien, who moved to Africa with his family. As a result, she goes into Jake's room to try to connect with him. She finds his journal and begins reading. The rest of the story goes back and forth between what's happening in Rachel's world and what was happening in Jake's world just before his death. Both share their innermost thoughts, feelings, and struggles. Through reading his journal, Rachel learns a lot about her brother, her family, and herself.
Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn is about Ali, a 13 year old girl who was hired by her aunt to spend the summer at a cottage in Maine and babysit her 4 year old cousin, Emma, while Aunt Dulcie works on her painting. Just before heading up to the family cottage, Ali stumbles upon a ripped photo of her mother and aunt. She can tell it was taken at the cottage in Maine, even though no one in their family has been there for 30 years. The strange things is, someone has been torn out of the photo and a name on the back, beginning with 'T' has been scratched out. When she asks her mother about it, she starts acting strangely and refuses to admit she knows anything about the other girl in the photo. Ali's mother doesn't want anyone going to the cottage for the summer, convinced it's too dangerous, but she won't say why. Once at the cottage, Ali and Emma meet Sissy, a young girl who seems to follow her own rules. She's not very nice, but Emma insists upon spending time with her. As Ali comes closer to discovering the secret about the girl in the photo, Sissy continues her erratic behavior, turning Emma against both Ali and Aunt Dulcie. Things come to a head on a foggy, stormy day when the mystery of what happened 30 years ago at the lake finally unravels for Ali, putting her and her family in a deep and dark and dangerous situation.
Dirty Little Secrets by C. J. Omololu is about sixteen year old Lucy and the secret her family is desperate to keep. Lucy's the youngest of three siblings. Her older sister and brother have already moved out of the house, and their father left a long time ago. Lucy is along with her mother, who is an obsessive hoarder. The only tidy place in the entire house is Lucy's room. The rest of the house is a maze of pathways in the stacks of newspapers, magazines, trash, random items, and even garbage. Any time anyone touches or moves anything from its place, Lucy's mother becomes extremely angry. Lucy has learned to keep to herself, but has just developed a friendship in Kaylie and may even be close to dating the boy of her dreams, Josh. Lucy knows the closer she gets to people outside of her family, the more likely it is their secret will get out - it's happened before. Lucy's former best friend caused such a swarm of bullying after finding out about Lucy's house, she eventually had to switch schools! Just when Lucy thinks she's got everything under control with her relationships with Kaylie and Josh, the unthinkable happens. She returns home one evening to find her mother dead under a pile of garbage. Lucy knows she should call 9-1-1, but she's too embarrassed to have medical workers enter her house to retrieve her mother. She's certain news crews will be soon to follow and then her secret will be exposed. So, Lucy develops a plan to clean up the house before reporting her mother's death. Unfortunately, many unforeseen obstacles present themselves, including nosy neighbors, the unexpected arrival of her bossy sister, her mother's boss's phone calls, and, of course, Josh's invitation to a party she'd really like to attend. Lucy has to make some drastic changes to her plan before everything works out for her.
The Last Invisible Boy, written by Evan Kuhlman and illustrated by J. P. Coovert, is Finn Garrett's story - literally. Finn has written down and illustrated all of his thoughts about himself, his brother, his mother and father, his best friend Melanie, Henry the cat, and "The Terrible Day That Changed Everything." You see, Finn is disappearing. His black hair is turning white, his pink skin is turning white... Finn is sure he's turning invisible. This all started the day after The Terrible Day That Changed Everything. Finn isn't quite ready to share much about The Terrible Day That Changed Everything until the middle of the story or so, and even then, it's hard for him. It has to do with his dad and why he's not around anymore. It takes a while for Finn to recover, but when he does he slowly begins to turn visible again.
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold is about the tragic murder of Suzie Salmon, a 14 year old girl. It is told from the perspective of Suzie, through her memories of her family, through her experiences in life, and her reality in heaven. Suzie was survived by her mother, father, 13 year old sister, and 4 year old brother. Each of them deals with her death in their own way. Her father, trying desperately to pin the blame on their neighbor, Mr. Harvey. Her mother, who eventually has to leave the family to escape. Her sister, Lindsey, who tries to distance herself from her own last name and works to solve the mystery of her sister's life and death. And, Buckley, the 4 year old who just wants to move on while keeping Suzie's memory safe. Mr. Harvey, who in fact did kill Suzie in a most brutal way, trying to maintain his innocence while living 2 houses down from the Salmons. Suzie watches from her own version of heaven, seeing her family and friends grow without her. She knows an old acquaintance, Ruth, can feel her presence, but doesn't know how to reach out to her family to help them solve the crime.
A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass is about Mia, an 8th grader who appears totally normal... except she's been hiding a secret about herself from EVERYONE, since she was in 3rd grade. Mia sees colors and shapes for every letter, word, and sound.
The Sledding Hill by Chris Crutcher is about friends Eddie and Billy. Poor Eddie has had a really rough life lately - his dad died and within three months, his best friend Billy died - and Eddie was the one to find them both. Eddie really doesn't have any other friends, so he's lucky that despite being dead, Billy hasn't really left. Billy is able to visit Eddie through dreams and "bumps" once Eddie is able to open his mind to him. One place they visit together often is the old sledding hill where they used to spend time when Billy was alive. At school, there is a big controversy over a book Eddie's literature class is reading. The local church and youth group have begun proceedings to have the book banned due to language and content. Many of the other students are against the ban, but the church is so powerful, they aren't sure how to stop them. Eddie decides to infiltrate the church by pretending he's against the book, only to find out the church and youth group's secrets. Eddie lets loose on the congregation when he is asked to testify before his confirmation. Just after that, at the school board meeting, many students and parents come together against the ban. The author of the 'offensive' book himself even shows up to defend the book (at Eddie's request).
The Duel: The Parallel Lives of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr by Judith St. George describes the lives of two powerful men in US history, and the events that lead up to their duel. Both men had similar stories - they were orphaned at an early age, they were both very smart and personable, both studied law, both entered the army during the Revolutionary War, both entered politics and lived in New York City and Philadelphia, and both grew to know and dislike one another. So, at dawn, on July 11, 1804, they met in Weehawken, New Jersey, to duel. When the duel was over, one man was dead and the other had to go into hiding (dueling was illegal).
Chicken Boy by Frances O'Roark Dowell is about twelve-year-old Tobin McCauley. No one really knows him at his middle school, including his teachers, but because of his last name and the reputations of his brothers and sister, everyone thinks they know exactly who he is. Tobin doesn't really do anything to change their opinions about him until Henry sticks up for him during a fight. Tobin gets suspended for a week, and during that time he gets to know Henry and his younger brother, Harrison. Henry has a philosophy about chickens having souls and ropes Tobin into helping him and his brother with their chicken egg business. This is the one positive thing in Tobin's life, especially when his grandmother decides to file a report on Tobin's dad with social services, stating that Tobin is being neglected. It's been hard on Tobin's whole family ever since his mother died of cancer five years ago. Unfortunately, since he's the youngest, it affects Tobin most. Tobin ends up learning a lot about people, friends, family, life, and chickens by the end of the story!
Chasing Lincoln's Killer: The Search for John Wilkes Booth by James L. Swanson is exactly what the title implies - the events leading up to and followed the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. It follows John Wilkes Booth and several of his accomplices and acquaintances through the planning process of the murder. It follows Lincoln and his family as they make plans to see American Cousin at Ford's Theater on April 14th, (Good Friday) 1865. It also follows the aftermath of the shooting. The rest of the book is about the manhunt to chase down Booth and the rest of the people involved, as well as Booth's escape.
Searching for David's Heart by Cherie Bennett is about Dee Dee, an adolescent year old girl who idolizes her older brother, David. After their father is turned down for a promotion he thought he was getting and injures his back, their family is really hurting for money. Especially since their Meemaw is in an expensive nursing home. Dee Dee's dad seems to take out all of his frustrations on her, but David is always there to make things better. One day, however, David meets Jayne, and they become a couple. Dee Dee is so jealous of the time with David "the J-word" takes away from her, that she lets it ruin her own birthday party! As a result, David is in an unexpected accident and dies. His organs are donated to people all across the country. After a long bout of depression, Dee Dee finally enlists the help of her best friend Sam, and they set off on an adventure to Florida, searching for the person who now has David's heart.
