Greenglass House by Kate Milford

Milo lives in Greenglass House, which is an inn used mainly by smugglers. He is on his Christmas/Holiday Break when they start getting a lot of visitors to the Inn.  It is very unusual for this time of year.  Some come up together, and some alone, but he starts to realize most of them have something in common with each other.  As the mystery deepens, things are stolen, sabotaged, and becoming dangerous.  Milo keeps trying to figure out the answers with his friend Meddy, but will they solve it in time?

The Fall of the Readers (Forbidden Library 4) by Django Wexler

The final book of the series brings Alice to an end.  She trapped Geryon in the book, the other readers have been storming the library trying to take over and Ending has sent her to the Grand Labyrinth to get to the prisoner.  Alice takes most of her friends with her and they battle to the labyrinth through many trials.  Once there things take a turn and Alice was betrayed by the labyrinthine.  What will happen to the world and who exactly is Alice?

The Palace of Glass (Forbidden Library 3) by Django Wexler

This book was not as good to me as the first two, but it is leading up to the finale.  Geryon has to take a trip for a week and Ending has been practicing with Alice of how to write spells.  She sends Alice into a book to find the Palace of Glass to bring back a prison book to put Geryon in.  As Alice goes on her adventure, she meets Flicker, a fire-sprite, and he helps her navigate through to the book.  As she brings the book back to the library and prepares to trap Geryon, she lets out the prisoner and the questions becomes will anyone survive?

I Have No Secrets by Penny Joelson

Jemma has cerebral palsy.  She lives in a foster home with two other children, who also have disabilities.  Her aide, Sarah, has a boyfriend Dan who tells Jemma a secret, he killed her neighbor.  She can't tell anyone because she can't talk. Then Sarah goes missing and Jemma suspects Dan.  Jemma also finds out she has a twin sister! 

Her parents find a person who might be able to help Jemma talk by sniffing.  Jemma hopes it will work because she has so much to say. 

Lots of suspense. 

The Mad Apprentice (Forbidden Library 2) by Django Wexler

At the end of the first book Alice and Isaac had conquered The Dragon and bound it to them.  Alice has tried many times to wake the dragon, but it is solid as a rock.  Geryon is sending Alice to a Reader's fortress.  The Reader has been killed by his apprentice, Jacob.  Several Readers are sending their apprentices to go fetch Jacob back for judgement for his crime, and if he won't come willingly they can dispose of him.  As Alice ventures into this task she meets other apprentices:  Garret, Ellen, Dex, Soranna, and Isaac.  As they enter the readers realm, they realize the labyrinth is still in play.  It should be dead now that the Reader is dead.  They become separated as the labyrinthine, Torment, controls everything and he has a special interest in Alice.   Ending has asked Torment to "protect" her, but Alice is not very cooperative, she has ulterior motives, because the Reader is Esau, who was after her and knows what happened to her father and Alice is determined to make Torment tell her what happened. 

Lots of twists and turns kept me reading. 

 

The Forbidden Library by Django Wexler

Alice sees her father talking to a...fairy?  But this fairy looks nothing like she pictured.  This fairy is yellow and black and seems to be threatening her dad.  Not soon after her dad says he has to go away on a trip, but his ship goes down at sea and is presumed dead. As she is taken to live with Uncle Jerry, she begins on an adventure she was not expecting.  "Uncle Jerry" turns out to be Geryon, who has a bit of magic and can "read" himself into books.  Alice discovers she too possesses this gift when she accidentally gets sucked into a book and the only way out is to kill what is prisoned inside it. As she tries to figure out what happened to her dad, and begins to realize she can't trust anyone, Alice decides to begin to trust herself and look for her own answers.

This is the first book in the trilogy. 

Similar books:

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
The Book of Elsewhere by Jacqueline West

   

Wild Bird by Wendelin Van Draanen

Wren is snatched from her home by a "police type" guy, taken to the airport, and sent to a desert camp.  Her parents paid for it.  Wren started doing pot in 6th grade when they moved to a new town and she had no friends and felt lonely.  As she started high school things escalated into stealing, selling drugs, and drinking.  Throughout the book we visit Wren's past as she tries to work though her addiction and fight the demons it brings with it.

I listened to the audio and read the book interchangeably.  I would say this book is fine for a mature middle school reader.