I'm always looking for good books that have a reading level of 6th grade or higher, so when I found The Dark Hills Divide, by Parick Carman (RL 6.1, 10 points in AR), 
I gave it to my son to read. The Dark Hills Divide is the first of The Land of Elyon series, which has 5 titles. Both my son and I enjoyed the book very much. This fantasy novel is narrated by the heroine, Alexa Daley, and follows her adventures as she leaves the safety of her walled community to try to find out what is outside the city that people are afraid of. During her adventures her small size is a distinct advantage because she has to squeeze through very small passageways and tunnels. She also finds that she is able, with the help of a magic stone she finds in a stream, to talk with the animals in the forest, including a huge grizzy bear named Ander, a wolf named Darius, and a hyperactive squirrel named Murphy.
This is one of those stories where the small child plays a very important role in the affairs of her community, and it seems to me that this is almost always appealing to children because too often in real life kids feel pretty small and powerless. The end of this first book was satisfying (no cliffhanger ending) yet I was still left with an appetite for more about this world. This is a great series for both boys and girls who enjoy fantasy and adventure.
Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu's The Shadow Speaker is a science fiction YA novel set in Africa in the year 2070. 
On the back cover of the novel there are quotes from Diana Wynne Jones and Ursula K. Le Guin praising the author's imagination and originality. I couldn't agree more. The time and place of the story are like nothing I've read before, and the characters are complex and unpredictable. This is post-nuclear war Earth, where people live in a world profoundly changed. The laws of physics no longer apply, and magic is no longer confined to fantasy books. The heroine, fourteen-year-old Ejii, goes on a dangerous journey in response to a mystical calling. Toward the end I did have a little trouble sticking with the story, because it just became a little too "out there" for my taste. Still, this is a marvelous book filled with great characters and a suspenseful plot.
My friend Nina recommended Shannon Hale's Book of a Thousand Days, and I'm so glad she did because I really enjoyed this story. 
The book is a series of diary entries written by a lady's maid named Dashti who, along with her mistress Lady Saren, is imprisoned in a tower. Lady Saren refuses to marry the man her father chooses, so her father decides to wall her up in a tower for seven years as punishment. The two women are given a large store of food, and the guards bring fresh milk every day for a while. However, soon the rats have eaten much of the food and the milk stops coming. Because she is intelligent, strong, and resourceful, Dashti pretty much saves her mistress's life not only by caring for her during their imprisonment (which turns out to be about 2 years instead of the planned seven) but also by finding a way to escape.
In the second part of the book Lady Saren and Dashti return to civilization, but Lady Saren is too afraid to reveal her true identity. They are therefore forced to work as kitchen maids. Dashti's skill as a "mucker," or healer, is soon discovered and she is summoned to the aid of the gentry. I think I enjoyed this second part even more than the first, as it was fast-paced and exciting.
In The True Meaning of Smekday, by Adam Rex, narrator Gratuity Tucci (know to her friends as Tip)
tells the story of when an alien race called the Boov invaded Earth and herded all the humans first to the state of Florida, and then to Arizona. Her essay is an entry in a contest for inclusion in a time capsule. This is a funny, fast-moving book that I think both boys and girls will like very much. Although it is a hefty 423 pages, the type is fairly big and there are quite a lot of drawings and graphic novel-type sections that help speed things along. Gratuity is a smart, observant, 11-year old girl, and I never tired of listening to her story. The reference to "Smekday" is explained by the fact that the Boov leader's name is Smek, but we don't hear too much about him. Instead, the story focuses on Grautity's relationship with a rogue Boov whom she calls J.Lo (the author dedicates the book, in part, to Ms. Jennifer Lopez). I really liked watching their relationship grow and being able to root for both of them during their adventure!
Well Witched, by Frances Hardinge, follows the adventures of three friends who fall victim to a spirit after they steal coins from her well. The spirit, or well witch, 
grants each of the three a special power: Chelle is able to read the minds of people who have previously made wishes at the well; Ryan grows strange eyes on the knuckles of one hand; and Josh can create havoc with electricity and electric appliances. Strange? Yes, very. Now that the kids have these powers, the well witch demands that they start to grant the wishes, eveidently because there are so many that she has become overwhelmed. I found this story rather confusing. Maybe it was because I read it over such a long period of time, but I kept getting the characters mixed up and losing the thread of the story. It was OK, but it will not have a place among my favorites.
The Wednesday Wars, by Gary Schmidt, was a Newbery Honor book for 2008. I really loved this book, and I'm looking forward to reading more of this author's books. 
The Wednesday Wars is set in Long Island, New York in 1967, and the main character and narrator is a 7th grader named Holling Hoodhood. He is the only Protestant in his class, so every Wednesday afternoon, when the rest of his class attends either Catechism or Hebrew school, he and his teacher, Mrs. Baker, spend the afternoon reading Shakespeare's plays. This is a coming of age story, and both Shakespeare and Mrs. Baker help Holling learn some very important life lessons. The best part, though, is that Holling's narration is very funny. I just loved watching the interaction between Mrs. Baker and Holling, and seeing their relationship grow. This is a great book for tweens, both boys and girls.
Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan, is yet another title I found on School Library Journal's Best Books 2008 list. 
SLJ's advisory is grade 9 and up, and the reason for this is evident in the first chapter, in which Liga, the story's protagonist, is subjected to incestuous rape, forced to take drugs to induce abortion, and later gang raped by five men. Clearly, this is not a gentle book. However, Liga is magically transported to an alternative world in which all that was terrible has been scrubbed away, and she is allowed to raise her two daughters in this idyllic world. The contrast between Liga's two realities provides the basis for the story's theme of accepting both the positive and negative aspects of life. Even so, I don't think the author meant to condemn Liga's heavenly world because it was born only of her great and urgent need for it.
The book is very, very long, and I can't say that I enjoyed it. I do appreciate Lanagan's skill as a storyteller, and the pages began to turn more easily near the end. However, I would only recommend this book to avid readers who really like fantasy.
Lost in the Barrens, by Farley Mowat, is another exciting adventure/survival story. The story takes place in Canada, and the two protagonists are teen boys: Awasin, a Cree Indian, and Jamie, a boy from Toronto who had been living for a year with his fur-trading uncle, Angus. 
Jamie stays with Awasin's family while his uncle and Awasin's father go on a trading trip, and during this time a group of Chipeweyan Indians comes to the Cree village asking for help because they are starving. Jamie and Awasin then accompany the Chipeweyans on a hunting trip to the far north. Unfortunately, Jamie and Awasin's canoe is destroyed while they are separated from the group, and they end up having to survive alone in the wilderness.
The story includes much detail about the survival techniques the boys use. The author describes how they make shelter and clothes for themselves, as well as how they hunt for, preserve, and prepare their food. The boys must overcome many extreme challenges in order to survive, making for an exciting story.
Allan Eckert's Incident at Hawk's Hill was a Newbery Honor book in 1972, but I didn't know that when I bought a copy for my son. 
This is one my local library does not own, but I will definitely recommend its purchase because it is truly inspired. Benjamin MacDonald is a six-year-old boy who lives in Canada near Winnipeg with his parents and three siblings in 1870. From the description the author gives of Ben, it seems clear to me that he is mildly autistic. Ben's parents worry because Ben prefers the company of animals to that of humans. Ben imitates animals' movements and sounds, and spends hours by himself observing animal behavior. He might, for example, spend an afternoon observing an ant colony, lose track of time, and turn up late for dinner.
The adventure of the story begins when one day Ben wonders off further from home than he has ever been and gets lost. A thunderstorm drives him to seek shelter in an underground hole which turns out to be the den of a badger he had made friends with earlier. He ends up spending several weeks living with the badger. It sounds unlikely, but an author's note tells us that the story is based on a real event.
This story is about survival in the wild and as such is an exciting adventure, but it is also about family, tolerance, and love. I was moved to tears at the end. This is a really great book!
Everlost, by Neal Shusterman, is about two teens who both die in an auto accident but do not "make it to where they are going." In other words, they end up in a limbo called Everlost. 
Here, the living world is in shadow, and as the resident souls move around they must seek out "dead spots," or places where people have died, because these are the only solid ground. In all other areas the souls simply start sinking, as though they were standing in quicksand. In this world, the twin towers in New York still stand, because they are special buildings that the collective human memory will never forget. Other things from the living world, such as a ship, a train station, the Hindenburg zeppelin, and a car, also have crossed over into Everlost because they were special in some way. Neal Shusterman has created an imaginative and exciting world for this story, and I really cared about Nick and Allie as they struggled to adapt to their deaths and make important choices. Neal Shusterman is quickly becoming one of my favorite YA authors.
