Book list *Starred Review* Mikey's 15-year-old sister, Karyn, is holed up in the family's apartment, unwilling to go out or see anyone since accusing an older boy of sexual assault. Feeling helpless and outraged, Mikey vows to seek revenge for his sister, even as the court case against Tom Parker continues. Meanwhile, Tom's sister, Ellie, the only witness to the alleged crime, feels unsure about her statement to the police. When Mikey (who at ...More

School Library Journal Gr 7-9-Eighth-grader Travis, tall and quiet, is beginning his first year in a new school. When he helps out a student being bullied, this rare act of middle-school kindness impresses an unusual, witty, and talkative girl named Vida-or Velveeta, as she prefers to be called. She befriends the strong-but-silent newcomer and tries to plumb his mysterious depths-and maybe grub a free dessert or two during lunch. Velveeta and Travis have th...More

Publishers Weekly Albom (The Five People You Meet in Heaven) has a nose for "thin places": places where the boundary between secular and sacred is porous, and ultimate meaning is easier to encounter. In his new novel, Coldwater, Mich., is this thin place, a town where people who have lost loved ones begin receiving phone calls from the dead in heaven. Sully Harding's wife died while he was in prison, and their young son, Jules, hopes h...More