The Boy on the Porch
by Sharon Creech
151 pages

What is the right thing to do?  This mysterious and bittersweet tale raises some moral questions as it unfolds.  A boy is discovered one morning sleeping on the porch of a young farming couple, John and Marta.  The note that they find promises "Wil be bak wen we can," but when day after day nobody appears to reclaim him, John and Marta have to work out what to do.
Grade 4

Liar & Spy

By Rebecca Stead

180 pages

 

When seventh-grader Georges' dad loses his job, he and his parents move to a more affordable Brooklyn apartment building.  At home, Georges spends lots of time alone- his father is trying to start his own business, and his mother is always working extra hours at the hospital.  At school, he has become the new target of Dallas the class bully.  He is grateful to meet Safer, the strange boy who is a self-appointed spy for the apartment building. However, spying with Safer draws him into activities that feel wrong, and Georges must choose between what he feels is right, and his only friend. Grade 6.