After she's hit by lightning at a wedding, twelve-year-old Lilah Bloom develops a new talent: she can hear dead people. Among them, there's her overopinionated Bubby Dora; a prissy fashion designer; and an approval-seeking clown who livens up a séance. With Bubby Dora leading the way, these and other sweetly imperfect ghosts haunt Lilah through seventh grade, and help her face her one big fear: talking to-and possibly going to the seventh-grade dance with-her crush, Andrew Finkel. *from Indiebound

Freedom Jane McKenzie isn't good at following the rules. She's good at getting into trouble and playing marbles. All she wants is to show the boys in the neighborhood that she's the best player. Set in 1959, "The Marble Queen" is a timeless story about growing up. *from Indiebound

When eleven-year-old Annie first started lying to her social worker, she had been taught by an expert: Gran. "If you’re going to do something, make sure you do it with excellence," Gran would say. That was when Gran was feeling talkative, and not brooding for days in her room — like she did after telling Annie and her little brother, Rew, the one thing they know about their father: that he was killed in a fight with an angry man who was sent away. *from Candlewick site

Haley and Dodger don't have much in common. Haley lives in Greenhaven, Connecticut; Dodger lives in Port Salmon, Washington. Haley has a family who loves and supports her; Dodger can't seem to ever get his dad's approval. Haley is well adjusted and passionate; Dodger hears strange voices in his head. But they both want something: a new map, a path away from home--or, perhaps, a path toward it. Of course, this was all before they heard about the missing people, the untraceable radio signals, the unexplained phenomena. Before they both became the first recipients of a summer research grant from a certain mysterious foundation. Before they discovered that their fledgling theories about extraterrestrial life were all too accurate. Now Haley and Dodger are the only ones who can figure out what is happening in towns across America, who can give voice to the people whispering "alien abduction." At the very least, they're both going to have the most eventful summer vacations of anyone they know.

A Scott O'Dell Award-winning graphic novelist follows three dauntless adventurers on a Jules Verne-inspired challenge: circling the world, solo! As the nineteenth century wound down, a public inspired by the novel Around the World in Eighty Days clamored for intrepid adventure. The challenge of circumnavigating the globe as no one ever had before--a feat assuring fame if not fortune--attracted the fearless in droves. Three hardy spirits stayed the course: In 1884, former miner Thomas Stevens made the journey on a bicycle, the kind with a big front wheel. In 1889, pioneer reporter Nellie Bly embarked on a global race against time that assumed the heights of spectacle, ushering in the age of the American celebrity. And in 1895, retired sea captain Joshua Slocum quietly set sail on a thirty-six-foot sloop, braving pirates and treacherous seas to become the first person to sail around the world alone. With cinematic pacing and deft, expressive art, acclaimed graphic novelist Matt Phelan weaves a trio of epic journeys into a single bold tale of three visionaries who set their sights on nothing short of the world.