All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

An alternative to the epic, sweeping historical World War II sagas, this award-winning literary novel makes history much smaller and very personal - as seen through the perspective of a blind French girl and an orphaned German boy.

When you understand that no one is completely good and no one is completely bad - that life is much more nuanced and impacted by perspective - it's easier to see that WWII wasn't simply the Evil Nazis versus the Free World.

Werner's early aptitude for science and math are his salvation from working the coal mines that entombed his father. The conformity and cruelty of his instructors and schoolmates in the elite Nazi Wehrmacht school are tough for the boy to handle, yet he doesn't dare to rebel and destroy his chance for a future.

Marie-Laure goes blind as a young child, and her locksmith father finds fabulous ways to empower his daughter to independence. When they're forced to flee Paris upon invasion, the pair settle with her mentally fragile great-uncle in a towering house on the coast in Saint-Malo.

Many have been critical of the super-short chapters and constantly switching perspectives and timeframes, but I thought it allowed the book to move briskly without my attention flagging. It's not a book that's tied up in a neat bow at the end - some things remain a mystery - again, much like real life.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and understand why it won both the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Also, it made me want to read Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea!

The Emerald Atlas

by John Stephens

Adventure! Intrigue! 

Three siblings find themselves on the journey of a lifetime.  A decade previous, their parents disappeared, and they've bounced from one orphanage to another.  Shortly after we meet them, they find a land ruled by a viscous woman and her undead army.  In order to survive and save countless lives, they must travel through time, determine which magical beings can be trusted, and secure an enchanted book.

This story is riddled with fast-paced action.  Even still, I struggled to get through it.  Now that it is finished, the ending has left me wanting more.  I'm determined to find out what happens in the rest of the trilogy.  

Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge

At just the perfect moment, 12-year-old orphan Mosca finds her chance to escape when a traveling con artist needs a hand getting out of town posthaste. But she may have just walked into a whole new brand of trouble by hooking up with a spy.

This kids novel is set in a time and place much like 19th century England, but with a fictional political upheaval that has resulted in the banning and elimination of almost all written word. Mosca's father was a revolutionary who taught her to read - a skill that almost no one has.

There's lots of political espionage here, and a fair amount of behind-the-scenes machinations that add drama to the tale. Mosca's goose Saracen adds a bit of comedy relief, and Mosca's a plucky heroine who tries always to do the right thing.

I'd recommend it for the 9-12-year-old crowd looking for adventure and a bit of fantasy.

Arcady's Goal

by Eugene Yelchin

What do you know about the children left behind by Russia's enemies of the people in the beginning of the 20th century?  This work of fiction sheds just a little light on the life of one boy whose luck might just turn for the better.

Arcady has spent most of his life in a children's home.  While life is tough, he excels at one thing - soccer.  Although the children must play all games one-on-one, he is able to beat anyone the guards place against him.  It doesn't sound like much, but his skill is sometimes the only way to win food rations from the stingy guards.

He dreams of the day his talent will lead him to a better life.  When it does, Arcady must learn just how difficult life on the outside can be.

The author's note at the end will have you clamoring for more information.

Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

This lovely book deals with a tough subject: super-smart geeky kid Willow Chance is tragically left untethered after an accident claims her parents. But quick thinking and a hopeful heart lead to a new kind of family, made up of friends.

It's hard to write an encouraging review of a book (that will make you want to read it) with a theme so heavy. But this is a really, really wonderful middle-school book about friendship and community, about the impact you have on others without even realizing it. Even though there's tragedy, it's an uplifting book full of hope and happiness. There's a great cast of misfit characters, all of whom are a little broken but together can manage amazing, transformative things.

It's been a major award-winner, and for good reason. Highly recommended!

Songs of Willow Frost by Jamie Ford

William Eng is the only Chinese child at his Seattle orphanage. On the boys' birthday (they're all celebrated at once - the girls get a different day), William is shocked to see his mother starring in the movie preview for an upcoming live movie-star appearance. You can imagine that a boy like William won't rest until he sees and speaks with the actress Willow Frost.

A few years back I loved Ford's Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, and this one is just as good. The author does an fantastic job of really putting you into the American minority experience.

Bad things happen to William and his mother, Liu Song, but they aren't solely minority stories; during the depression and 1920s life was hard for many in Seattle and elsewhere, white or otherwise. But the fact that both characters are American-born Chinese (who have never been to China) does add a different flavor and accent to the story.

This story contains heartbreak and misfortune, but also innocence and optimism. And I never knew this real-world history about early American film (before Hollywood became our movie capital). Fascinating, and another great one for your book club to discuss.

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

A different approach to the ever-popular vampires and fairy genre - and it really works!

Evie's never known "normal." She bounced around in foster care until her special talents were discovered when she was eight, and since then she's been an agent under protection of the International Paranormal Containment Agency. Her best friend is a mermaid, and she's homeschooled at the IPCA between capture-and-tag assignments. But really, she's a teen who dreams of hanging out at the mall, having a locker, and going out for pizza with friends.

When the IPCA is infiltrated by a supernatural being they can't identify, Evie's whole world is rocked off it's boring old rails. Before it's over she makes a friend, loses a friend, finds herself, and saves the world (while wearing a really pink prom dress).

The book's got a satisfactory completion, yet still leaves itself open to becoming a series. And I'd buy that - I really liked the characters, they experience realistic angst and emotions, and the action (while supernatural and weird) was also believable.

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

I got utterly and thoroughly sucked into this world and these characters - and then the action just ENDS! No conclusion, everybody's under investigation, no answers. Not even a temporary conclusion before the next book's action! Argh!

The first book in a new series, Clare is continuing her Shadowhunter mythology here but stepping back in time to the Victorian age. Some common Shadowhunter family names pop up here and the immortal Magnus Bane features into this story as well, but for the most part it's a stand-alone series.

This book has a steampunk feel to it - the bad guys is creating humanoid robots and trying to animate them with demon energy. It's got another great lead female character who isn't quite human but until now has never suspected anything was different. And there's always the allure of a sexy Shadowhunter (or two).

But where Clare's past books have wrapped up a storyline yet led you into the greater story of the series, this one has nothing completed when it ends. And second book doesn't come out for six months.

Dear Enemy

by Jean Webster

Webster was Samuel Clemens' great-niece. I had not known that until I picked up this book, which is the sequel to one of my favorites from childhood: Daddy-long-legs. Believe it or not, these are as close to teen books as you will find from the era in which they were written. Both books revolve around women who spent part of their lives in the fictional John Grier Home for orphans.

Sallie McBride, a recent college graduate, finds herself the superintendent of an orphan asylum as a favor to a friend. Throughout much of this epistolary novel, she contends that her role is temporary. As the book was written in 1915, it makes sense that Sallie believes she is meant for marriage and a life that does not involve paid work outside the home. Modern girls will cheer for Sallie as she triumphs over many adverse conditions left by her predecessor. Owing to that pre-suffrage era, Sallie does manage to fall in love and plot her married life. Far too often for my modern feminist taste, she is rescued by men. I repeatedly reminded myself that men would have been the benefactors who could provide all that the orphanage needed.