11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass
It's Amanda's 11th birthday and she is super excited -- after all, 11 is so different from 10. But from the start, everything goes wrong. The worst part of it all is that she and her best friend, Leo, with whom she's shared every birthday, are on the outs and this will be the first birthday they haven't shared together. When Amanda turns in for the night, glad to have her birthday behind her, she wakes up happy for a new day. Or is it? Her birthday seems to be repeating iself. What is going on?! And how can she fix it? Only time, friendship, and a little luck will tell. ..
Madame Pamplemousee and her Incredible Edibles
by Rupert Kingfisher
Madeleine must work in her horrible Uncle Lard’s restaurant, The Squealing Pig, every summer. Though a fairly good cook herself, Madeleine is only allowed to wash dishes and stay out of the way. But one evening while on an errand for the chef, her luck changes. As she wanders through the streets of Paris, she happens upon a tiny shop. Not just any shop, but Edibles owned by Madame Pamplemousse.
When Uncle Lard learns of the extraordinary and delicious ingredients brewing in Madame Pamplemousse’s kitchen, he decides to steal her recipes and he’ll use his niece to do it. Lucky for Madeleine, Madame Pamplemousse may not be the only chef capable of culinary magic….
(A short, sweet and delicious tale!)
Julia Gillian and the Art of Knowing
by Alison McGhee
(This title is actually almost a year old, but I discovered it just recently. It reminds me of an older, female version of the early reader series, Henry and Mudge. A WONDERFUL addition to the Fit Lit collection!)
Ten-year-old Julia Gillian knows everything about her quirky neighbors, her Minneapolis neighborhood, even the inscrutable "claw machine" in the back of the corner hardware store. The one thing Julia Gillian doesn't know is how the book she's reading is going to end. It doesn't seem as if it's going to have a happy ending, and that scares her. But Julia learns a little something about fear: sometimes you just have to work through it. And though bad things do happen sometimes, having good friends and family around you makes life a bit less scary - and much more fun!
