The Marvels
by Brian Selznick  

This is another amazing book by the author of Wonderstruck and The Invention of Hugo Cabret! This story is told primarily in pictures with some text. The illustrations are fantastical. The story involves the different evolving generations of a theatre family.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Old School
by Jeff Kinney   

This is the tenth book in the Wimpy Kid series. It’s set in the summer and involves more of his entertaining exploits, like a failed lemonade stand and a class camping trip. 

Dorothy Must Die
by Danielle Paige   

This is one my favorite books of 2015 (along with Everything, Everything)—top rated picks!  Amy Gumm, the protagonist, is swept away in her trailer home by a tornado and deposited in Oz. Amy comes to learn that Dorothy from the original tale has drained the magic from Oz’s soil and is now a tyrannical dictator. Amy bands together with some of the other bad guys from the first story and plots to kill Dorothy.

Mindwalker
by A. J. Steiger 

This is a dystopian YA novel. Lain Fisher is training to become a mindwalker, a person who can erase the traumatic memories of others. A classmate named Steven reaches out to her to erase some of his traumatic childhood memories. Everyone’s mental wellbeing is rated on a scale one to five—one being a stable functioning person and five being a menace to society. Steven is rated as a “four” and no one is willing to wipe his memory because he is not deemed worth saving in that society.  Long story short, hidden in his memories is a governmental conspiracy that Lain and Steven search to find more about.

Stargirl
by Jerry Spinella  

My mom and I loved, loved, loved this book! Stargirl is an eclectic adolescent who does not conform to societal standards. She was homeschooled until tenth grade when she enrolled at Mica High where she meets Leo. Leo is a very stereotypical male teenager who is wowed by Stargirl’s authenticity, but hates the fact that she is so weird. After they begin dating, Stargirl wants to become popular and Leo convinces her to conform. Even after she changes her behavior and appearance, she is still not accepted by her peers.

Lara’s Gift
by AnneMarie O’Brien

Lara is a young Russian girl who spends most of her time working with her father in the kennel breeding and training Borzoi dogs for the Tsar.  It is unheard of for a female to be trained in this capacity as the first born son generally inherits this occupation. Lara has prophetic visions about the dogs that her father disregards out of fear and insists she keep secret. When Lara’s mother becomes pregnant and births a male, Lara is forced to learn more traditional female duties since her newborn brother will now become kennel steward. Then she has a vision regarding the Borzoi that ultimately convinces her father to reassess his stance on Russian tradition.