Hit the Road by Caroline B. Cooney

"A police car was behind her.
No way! she thought. It's a mirage.
She looked a second time. Definitely a police car.
Brit could hardly hold on to the wheel.
The diamond-and-emerald bracelet felt very stolen.
Aurelia felt very kidnapped.
The Safari felt very illegal."

While her parents go on vacation, sixteen-year-old Brit will be spending the next few weeks with at her grandmother's house...or so she thinks. As soon as Mom and Dad are out of sight, Nannie unveils her plan to kidnap one of her oldest and dearest friends from her nursing home and head up to their annual college reunion. Before she knows what's happened, Brit finds herself behind the wheel of a rental van, responsible for four elderly women, and on the run from the cops! On that road trip, Brit begins to understand the heartbreak of getting old and being forced to give up your independence. Fans of the prolific Caroline Cooney will not doubt love this book, too.

SLJ recommends grades 8 to 10.

Learn more at HCL, Amazon, and here.

Wabi by Joseph Burchac

"'Young one, do you hearrr meeee?'
I turned my head to listen more closely to that voice. It was a voice I had never heard before. It was...strange. I might have said it was pleasant, but somehow it made me feel uneasy. Yet is was an attractive voice, a voice that made me curious. I knew immediately that I wanted to see the one who had that voice.
'Young one, come hhhhhheeeerrre," it trilled, "into the swaaaammmp. I have something forrrr you.'"

Wabi is an owl. Or is he a human? Joseph Bruchac spins a tale of an owl who becomes a man through the magic of the seven stones and through his own battles against monsters like Mamaskwa, the Toad Woman, and Mojid, the Greedy Eater. Bruchac combines a respect for the natural world, the elements of the heroic journey, and just a dash of love with the style of a Native American storyteller to produce a story that is in turn exciting and mystical. Wabi will appeal to fantasy fans, adventure readers, and nature lovers.

SLJ recommends grades 5 to 8.

Learn more at HCL, Barnes and Noble, and here.