"Cassie Sullivan, the survivor of an alien invasion, must rescue her young brother from the enemy with help from a boy who may be one of them"--

Benny, Nix, Lou, and Lilah journey through a fierce wilderness that was once America searching for the jet they saw months ago, while evading fierce animals and a new kind of zombie.

"As StarClan warns of an oncoming storm, the five warrior Clans by the lake must decide what they are willing to sacrifice to make a permanent home among them for SkyClan"--

Lavender and the rest of the sixth-graders are on a camping trip to the Chiricahua wilderness, but the trip seems cursed from the start, and when a flash flood splits the group up Lavender finds herself lost, together with her former best friend Marisol, mean-girl Rachelle, and a boy John who has been behaving like a surly jerk since the start--they have only one pack of supplies and only the most basic wilderness knowledge, but if they are to survive...

"Lucky and the dogs of the Wild Pack must fight tooth and claw to survive the storm of dogs--the terrifying battle that has been haunting Lucky's dreams"--

Because the Taliban rulers of Kabul, Afghanistan, impose strict limitations on women's freedom and behavior, eleven-year-old Parvana must disguise herself as a boy so that her family can survive after her father's arrest.

At the end of a winter-long journey into manhood, Little Hawk returns to find his village decimated by a white man's plague and soon, despite a fresh start, Little Hawk dies violently but his spirit remains trapped, seeing how his world changes.

When Aero Horizon 16 crashes in the Arctic, eight children emerge from the wreckage to find themselves alone and surrounded, not by ice, but by a mysterious and deadly jungle full of carnivorous plants and predatory birds--the other five hundred people from the plane are gone, not necessarily dead, but taken by something that lives in the jungle. Horizon is the debut middle grade novel for Scott Westerfeld.

"In a world gone dark, life goes on for Adam and his fortified neighborhood--but the trade-offs made for safety and security are increasingly wrenching and questionable"--

Brandon is visiting his dad on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 when the attack comes; Reshmina is a girl in Afghanistan who has grown up in the aftermath of that attack but dreams of peace, becoming a teacher and escaping her village and the narrow role that the Taliban believes is appropriate for women--both are struggling to survive, both changed forever by the events of 9/11.