Surviving the Applewhites
by Stephanie S. Tolan | 
The Great Gilly Hopkins
by Katherine Paterson | 
Pictures of Hollis Woods
by Patricia Reilly Giff | 
The Pepins and Their Problems
by Polly Horvath | 
All About Sam
by Lois Lowry | 
The Winter Room
by Gary Paulsen | 
Joey Pigza Loses Control
by Jack Gantos | 
Philip Hall Likes Me, I Reckon Maybe
by Bette Greene | 
Yolonda's Genius
by Carol Fenner |
The Summer of the Swans
by Betsy Byars | 
Getting Near to Baby
by Audrey Couloumbis | 
Ramona and Her Father
by Beverly Cleary |
The Middle Moffat
by Eleanor Estes | 
Attaboy, Sam!
by Lois Lowry | 
Olive's Ocean
by Kevin Henkes | 
Double Fudge
by Judy Blume | 
One Year in Coal Harbor
by Polly Horvath | 
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel
by Jeff Kinney | 
The Third Wheel
by Jeff Kinney | 
The Book with No Pictures
by B. J. Novak |
In the small Canadian town of Coal Harbour, in a quaint restaurant called The Girl on the Red Swing, everything comes on a waffle--lasagna, fish, you name it. Even waffles! Eleven-year-old Primrose Squarp loves this homey place, especially its owner, Kate Bowzer, who takes her under her wing, teaches her how to cook, and doesn't patronize or chastise her, even when she puts her guinea pig too close to the oven and it catches fire. Primrose can use a little extra attention. Her parents were lost at sea, and everyone but her thinks they are dead. Her Uncle Jack, who kindly takes her in, is perfectly nice, but doesn't have much time on his hands. Miss Perfidy, her paid babysitter-guardian, smells like mothballs and really doesn't like children, and her school guidance counselor, Miss Honeycut, an uppity British woman of the world, is too caught up in her own long-winded stories to be any kind of confidante. Nobody knows what exactly to think of young Primrose, and Primrose doesn't quite know what to make of her small community, either.