Wildwood

By Colin Meloy, illustrated by Carson Ellis

541 pages
 

Prue McKeel lives an ordinary life - until the day her baby brother is snatched and carried off by a murder of crows into Wildwood, an "Impassable Wilderness."  Prue and her friend Curtis know they have to rescue him, but they are not prepared for the world they find there.  A fantastical quest journey full of animals; illustrations by Carson Ellis (The Mysterious Benedict Society).  Grade 5.

Inside Out and Back Again

By Thanhha Lai

262 pages

The year is 1975.When war threatens, Hà, her mother, and her three older brothers are forced to flee Vietnam.The refugees travel by overcrowded boat to an uncertain future, leaving behind family, school, friends, home and all that is familiar.This award-winning story, written in free verse, poignantly describes how Hà finds herself again in a brand new place where everything feels alien, where a unfamiliar language is spoken, and where she is regarded as different and strange.  Grade 5.