K. A Holt

A novel in verse about Kevin's journey from bully to being bullied, as he learns about friendship, family, and his talent for poetry.

Told in assonant free verse, Levi was once a premature baby who suffered from respiratory problems; he recovered, and now in seventh grade, he struggles to demonstrate to his divorced mother and overprotective brother that he is okay--so when his father suggests he take up boxing he falls in love with the sport, but he still must find a way to convince his family to set him free to follow his dream.

Told in text messages, middle-schooler Ava is having a really bad day: her parents are getting divorced, she has had a big argument with her best friends, and the charge on her cellphone is getting low; but things are about to get a lot worse because the lockdown alarm has just gone off, and there is an intruder in the school building.

On the first day of eighth grade Amelia finds a letter that her older sister Clara wrote to herself before she drowned, and it contains a list of the things Clara planned to do in her own eighth grade year--so Amelia, with the help of her best friend Taylor, resolves to complete the list, in the hope that it will bring some closure and ease her still raw emotions.

School and life have become much more difficult since Ben Y's older brother died, especially since the indefinable Ace seems determined to seek her out without clarifying what kind of relationship she wants; mostly Ben Y tries to cope with her situation by going to the chatroom and obsessively typing messages to her brother who is no longer there--but when she starts getting messages from the ghost in the machine (apparently) she finds that her deepest...

At a middle school where zombies, blood-sucking chupacabras, and humans never mingle, "lifer" Siobhan and Loeb, a zombie who likes to write haiku, share an attraction. Story written entirely in haiku.

Mike is suspicious when his family joins an expedition to Mars at the last minute, and his fears are confirmed when all of the adults on the colonizing mission, including his parents, begin to act strangely.

Soon-to-be thirteen-year-old Javier spends his birthday weekend hunkered down with his mom, his teacher, and his teacher's cat as a hurricane passes over his Florida town, using his sketchbook to help him cope with his own stormy interior.