Octavian grows up in a house of colonial scholars in the years before the American Revolutionary War. His mother is a princess from a foreign land, flirted with and adored by the bookish men who toil at their mysterious experiments all day, while Octavian is petted and coddled by the kindly old professors who teach him science, Latin, and how to play the violin. Then one day he discovers a room within the house of books that reveals a startling truth so contrary to what he understands about his existence that Octavian must re-learn who and what he is from the ground up, basically from nothing. Who is Octavian Nothing? Patriot? Traitor? Property? Or Freeman? M.T. Anderson’s compelling book is at once incredibly complex in its construct, told in a myriad of forms and voices, while being breathtakingly simple in its theme of freedom and individual choice. This book isn’t an easy read, or a light one. It will take some awhile to get into and finish. But finish it you must to learn the secret—and the surprising fate—of the Astonishing Octavian Nothing.

The Rivers are your typical 1960’s family. Mom is a housewife who dreams of being a writer, little brother Danny desperately dreams of getting a dog, older brother Beau is obsessed with the NASA space program, which currently features the Gemini space capsules piloted by astronaut Gus Grissom, and Dad is building a fallout shelter in the backyard. Typical. Ordinary, even. But what is not so ordinary is how Danny reacts after Beau is in a terrible accident. After the accident, Danny’s parents finally let him have a dog. The dog, Rocket, becomes Danny’s best friend and shadow. But when Rocket savagely attacks a neighborhood bully, the authorities come to put him down. Danny knows he has to save his dog no matter what, his dog who loves model airplanes and seems to watch the television every time Gus Grissom is on. Because Danny knows, even though no one else believes him, that Rocket is really the reincarnation of his dead brother Beau. Haunting, beautifully written and sweetly nostalgic, Gemini Summer is reminiscent of “Stand By Me” or “The Outsiders,” and will transport you back to a time when we were still in awe of all the things we didn’t know and couldn’t always explain.

Death has seen quite a few catastrophic events in his time, but none quite so ruthless and methodical as the genocide of the Jewish people carried out by Hitler and his death squads during WWII. But no matter how terrible the circumstances, there is no rest for gentle Death, who must continue to gather souls, from battlefields and gas chambers alike. However, he finds his ancient head turned by one little German girl who, in the midst of darkness, has found light through the magic of books and reading. Liesl, the book thief of the title, has attracted Death’s attention because of her unusual habit of stealing books during times of great distress in her life. Now, Liesl and her parents have hidden a young Jewish man in the basement of their home, and he will need more than just words on a page to survive the war. Narrated by the striking and original voice of Death, the tale of The Book Thief is one of horror, courage and unbelievable love that you will probably need (and want!) to read more than once to fully understand and appreciate.

In 1645 England, Nell is the granddaughter of a village healer, and a “merrybegot,” a child conceived on the first of May, a joyful and auspicious day according to Pagan tradition. Her new neighbors, Grace and Patience, are daughters of the widowed Puritan minister, a stern man with no tolerance for the villagers’ superstitious customs. Nell cares not for the prissy, stiff girls who are rarely allowed outside the dark walls of their forbidding house, and Grace thinks Nell is more wild animal than girl, with the way she races headlong through the forest on bare and dirty feet. When the minister embarks on a mission to clear the village of remnants of the “Old Religion” once and for all, Nell and her grandmother are immediately singled out as possible witches. Nell stands defiant against the minister’s crusade, even as her grandmother weakens and grows ill. But when Grace needs to hide a terrible secret, she takes advantage of her father’s “divine” cause to get rid of Nell and her independent ways once and for all! Shivery, shocking, and wonderfully atmospheric, The Minster’s Daughter blends fact, fiction, and fantasy in a way that will have you frantically flipping pages to find out what happens next, while simultaneously hoping this amazing book will never end!

In the unforgiving frontier landscape of late 1870’s Colorado, 13 year old Eva suddenly finds herself with no folks and no money when both of her African American foster parents pass away. But not quite with no place to go. Seems that Eva’s adopted mama kept the name and address of Eva’s birth mama and upon her deathbed, gave that information to Eva. Now Eva is traveling all alone to Denver, to discover the identity of the woman who lives on Holladay Street. And the fact that she lives in a high class brothel is not nearly as upsetting to Eva as the secret that is revealed the first time she sees her biological mother’s face! Fascinating and utterly original, Last Dance will give you some idea of the lack of choices women had when this country was new, and the sacrifices that were made to insure the freedom of the daughters of this generation. An amazing story by an equally amazing storyteller, who writes some of the hippest hist. fic. around!

It’s 1935, and twelve year old Moose Flanagan’s dad is a new guard on the notorious Alcatraz Island prison. Back then, guards and their families were given free housing on the island. Understandably, Moose is a little weirded out living next door to criminals, no matter how famous they are. “I’m sleeping with my clothes on. Who wants to face a convicted felon in your pajamas?” Moose also has to deal with his “big” sister Natalie, who looks like a teenager but acts like a little kid. And Moose has to watch Natalie a lot more now that his father is working so much and his mom is away teaching piano lessons. While all this sister-sitting doesn’t leave much time for hunting baseballs outside the cons’ recreation yard, or getting involved in a laundering (shirts, that is) scheme with the manipulative daughter of the warden, Moose still manages to get into some serious trouble doing both. When the special school that his sister goes to threatens to remove Natalie, Moose turns to the infamous Al Capone for help. Smuggling a note to the hard nosed criminal through the laundry, Moose asks that if Capone has any pull left on the outside, could he use some of it to help Natalie stay at her school? You won’t believe the kind of answer Moose gets…This is one funny historical fiction novel, set in one of the most original locations ever!

Just when I was convinced that I couldn’t be surprised or moved by yet another emotionally wrenching Holocaust story, veteran author Spinelli proved me wrong. Misha is an orphan in the Warsaw ghetto who can’t remember his real name, who his parents were, or where he was born. With his coloring, he could be a Jew or a Gypsy, neither of which is safe in Hitler’s Europe. Having never known any other life than that of a hungry beggar and a thief, Misha takes pleasure in small things, like a warm mouthful of bread, or the polished boots of the Nazi soldiers. He is shockingly naive, not recognizing the danger that surrounds him until it almost too late. It is only when most of his gang of orphan friends have been killed or deported that he begins to see how amazing it is that he has survived this long, and plans his own escape from the ghetto. There are images in this book that will haunt me forever, mostly the picture Spinelli paints of a group of Nazi soldiers and their girlfriends, who come to the ghetto in their rich clothes and full bellies to throw bread to the starving Jewish children as if they were hungry birds, and laugh as they fight over it. Gorgeous writing, but oh so sad. Keep some Kleenex handy.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin story is given fresh breath in this inventive retelling by the master of the fractured fairy tale, Donna Jo Napoli. In medieval Hameln, the townsfolk can’t seem to cure the horrible disease that is felling both man and beast. Twelve year old narrator Salz is the only one who seems to be unaffected by this illness that looks like the dread Black Death, but isn’t. Could it be coming from the swarms of filthy rats that seem to be everywhere: in the beds, in the stables, even the soup pots? When a traveling musician offers to pipe the vermin away, the townsfolk happily agree. But when the fits of madness still plague the people after all the rats have been removed, they no longer believe that they owe the piper his due. Salz has all the pieces to the puzzle of the mysterious illness, if he could only put them together in time. This is a rich, gorily detailed story that is not only great hist. fic. but an absorbing mystery as well. An author’s note at the end puts it all together for readers who, like Salz, can’t quite figure it out.

In 1906, 16 year old aspiring author Mattie Gokey finds herself in the middle of circumstances she couldn’t even imagine in one of her own stories: a possible murder at the Catskills hotel where she is working as a maid. The first time Mattie meets the sad and lonely Grace Brown, she thrusts a handful of letters into the surprised Mattie’s hands just before going boating with her fiancee. The next day, Grace Brown drowned body is found, the fiancee has disappeared, and Mattie has to decide what to do with the incriminating letters. Meanwhile, Mattie’s dream of moving off the mountains and heading to New York to pursue her dream as a “writing woman” grows dimmer and dimmer as her widowed father puts more pressure on her to take care of her many siblings, and a local Lothario urges her to marry him. As Mattie begins to read Grace’s letters and piece together the mystery of her death, she begins to see the danger in letting other make your life decisions for you. Is she brave enough to leave the Catskills and all she have ever known behind? If she doesn’t, she may end up as dead inside as Grace Brown. A 2004 Printz-award honor book, A Northern Light is historical fiction at it’s very best.