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When Candice finds a letter in an old attic in Lambert, South Carolina, she isn't sure she should read it. It's addressed to her grandmother, who left the town in shame. But the letter describes a young woman. An injustice that happened decades ago. A mystery enfolding its writer. Google. Puzzle mystery, family history

2019 Coretta Scott King Honor Book

“Told in letters, poems, text messages, news stories, and comics–a series of documents Nora collects for the Wolf Creek Community Time Capsule Project–Breakout is a thrilling story that will leave readers thinking about who’s really welcome in the places we call home.” Kate Messner

This takes place after Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. Pinmei’s grandmother tells wonderful stories to her and other villagers. But one night the emperor’s soldiers’s kidnap grandmother. Pinmei sets out on a journey to rescue her with her friend Yishan, facing many obstacles.
NPR Best Book of the Year Pick

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a children's novel inspired by Chinese folklore. This is a wonderous novel with an epic journey and memorable characters in the tradition of The Wizard of Oz. 2010 Newbery Book

The importance of friends helping individuals deal with life's hardships is shown through the friendship between Crenshaw and Jackson.

Eleven-year-old Melody is not like most people. She can’t walk. She can’t talk. She can’t write. All because she has cerebral palsy. But she also has a photographic memory; she can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She’s the smartest kid in her whole school, but NO ONE knows it. Most people—her teachers, her doctors, her classmates—dismiss her as mentally challenged because she can’t tell them otherwise. But Melody refuses to be defined by her disability. And she’s determined to let everyone know it…somehow. Simon & Schuster

New York Times bestseller 

A story of three kids, Ally, Keisha, and Albert, who “set the world on fire” as they overcome challenges and conflicts. The plot begins with Ally refusing to try at school because of her learning disabilities, but a new teacher will make a big difference. “Everyone is smart in different ways. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it’ll spend it’s whole life thinking it’s stupid” (p. 159). 

Rose Howard is obsessed with homonyms and struggles with Aspergers. She’s named her beloved dog Rain (name with two homonyms). No one understands her obsessions and rules, including her teachers and single father. When her dog goes missing during a bad storm, Rose goes off to find him. The story is told from Rose’s point of view.

New York Times-bestselling middle grade novel

Red is an oak tree who is many rings old. Red is the neighborhood "wishtree"—people write their wishes on pieces of cloth and tie them to Red's branches. Along with a crow named Bongo and other animals who seek refuge in Red's hollows, this wishtree watches over the neighborhood.