Willowood by Cecilia Galante

From the Publisher: "There's nothing ten-year-old Lily Sinclair likes about her new life in the city with her single mom. She misses her best friend, who seems to have forgotten her and their secret place, Willowood. She never sees her mom, who's working long hours at her new job. She's managed to make an enemy of the class bully. Mrs. Hiller from across the hall, who takes care of Lily after school, keeps preparing yucky healthy snacks for her. And she can't get her mother to tell her anything about her absent father. Her only source of comfort is her beloved pet gecko, Weemis. Everything changes when Mrs. Hiller introduces Lily to the owner of the Pet Palace, a nearby pet store, and his adult Down's syndrome son, Nate Lily finds herself with an unofficial after school job—and forges a tentative friendship with Nate that's threatened by a dark secret about Nate Lily knows nothing about."
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2010,  272 pp.

Leaving Gee's Bend by Irene Latham

From the Publisher: "Ludelphia Bennett may be blind in one eye, but she can still put in a good stitch. Ludelphia sews all the time, especially when things go wrong. But when Mama goes into labor early and gets deathly ill, it seems like even quilting won't help. That's when Ludelphia decides to do something drastic—leave Gee's Bend for the very first time. Mama needs medicine that can only be found miles away in Camden. But that doesn't stop Ludelphia. She just puts one foot in front of the other. What ensues is a wonderful, riveting and sometimes dangerous adventure. Ludelphia weathers each challenge in a way that would make her mother proud, and ends up saving the day for her entire town.  Set in 1932 and inspired by the rich quilting history of Gee's Bend, Alabama, Leaving Gee's Bend is a delightful, satisfying story of a young girl facing a brave new world."  Publisher: Penguin, 2010, 240 pp.

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

From the Publisher: "In Caitlin's world, everything is black or white. Things are good or bad. Anything in between is confusing. That's the stuff Caitlin's older brother, Devon, has always explained. But now Devon's dead and Dad is no help at all. Caitlin wants to get over it, but as an eleven-year-old girl with Asperger's, she doesn't know how. When she reads the definition of closure, she realizes that is what she needs. In her search for it, Caitlin discovers that not everything is black and white—the world is full of colors—messy and beautiful." 
Publisher, Philomel, 2010, 224 pp.

Falling In by Frances O'Roark Dowell

From the Publisher:  "When Isabelle starts listening to a buzzing instead of, say, her boring teacher, strange things happen. She gets sent to the principal's office (that's not so strange), but then while awaiting her punishment, she tumbles into an adventure — into another world that's a little bit different, a little bit Hansel & Gretel-y, a little bit like a fairy tale, which would be great, but...did I mention that Isabelle is an unusual dresser? When she shows up in fairy-tale land wearing her favorite high, pointy boots, the fairy-tale people start thinking that Isabelle is a witch — and not just any witch, but the witch!"
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2010,  245 pp.

Stuck on Earth by David Klass

From the Publisher: "Ketchvar III’s mission is simple: travel to Planet Earth, inhabit the body of an average teenager, and determine if the human race should be annihilated. And so Ketchvar—who, to human eyes, looks just like a common snail—crawls into the brain of one fourteen year old Tom Filber. The more entangled Ketchvar becomes with humans, the harder it is to answer the question he was sent to Earth to resolve: Should the Sandovinians release the Gagnerian Death Ray and erase the human species for good? Or is it possible that Homo sapiens really are worth saving?" 

Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2010, 240 pp.

The Line by Teri Hall

From the Publisher: "An invisible, uncrossable physical barrier encloses the Unified States. The Line is the part of the border that lopped off part of the country, dooming the inhabitants to an unknown fate when the enemy used a banned weapon. It's said that bizarre creatures and superhumans live on the other side, in Away. Nobody except tough old Ms. Moore would ever live next to the Line. Nobody but Rachel and her mother, who went to live there after Rachel's dad died in the last war. It's a safe, quiet life. Until Rachel finds a mysterious recorded message that can only have come from Away. The voice is asking for help." Publisher: Penguin, 2010, 224 pp.

A Million Shades of Gray by Cynthia Kadohata

From the Publisher: "A boy and his elephant escape into the jungle when the Viet Cong attack his village immediately after the Vietnam war." Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2010, 216 pp.