Surviving the Applewhites, by Stephanie Tolan, was a Newbery Honor book in 2003, and I've been thinking about reading it for some time.
I'm glad I finally did. The whole Applewhite clan (with the exception of E.D., who is named for Edith Wharton) is eccentric, including their pet dog and parrot. Their home, which was once a farm and later a motel, is called Wit's End, and the family's children are homeschooled there at The Creative Academy. Enter bad boy Jake Semple, who has been kicked out of just about every school in North Carolina. He comes to live with the family and attend their school.
From the beginning it is clear that Jake is not really a bad kid, but the road to self-discovery that Jake travels during this story is filled with humor, and I enjoyed spending time with Jake and the Applewhites.
Chains, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is one that I've been wanting to read for some time because I enjoyed Fever 1793 so much. I was not disappointed. The novel is about a slave girl named Isabel who lives in New York during the Revolutionary War. 
Anderson is a YA author, but both Chains and Fever 1793 are certainly appropriate for upper-grade elementary school students, as well, especially 5th graders studying American history. In Chains, using her considerable storytelling skill, Anderson weaves fictional characters into a fascinating account of the many battles fought in and around New York in the year 1776. Readers hear about the horrible living conditions in which rebel prisoners were kept by their British guards, and about the appalling realities of slave life during that time. Isabel's intelligence, courage, and goodness make her a sympathetic character for whom readers will both weep and cheer. This is historical fiction at its best.
The Compound is S. A. Bodeen's first novel and it's a doosie. I read this in one sitting, and although I think the plot is rather far-fetched, I was willing to overlook this because I simply had to find out how the story would play out. 
Eli loses his twin brother, Eddy, at the beginning of the novel. Their billionaire father has built an amazing underground compound as a means of surviving in case of a nuclear war, and Eddy does not make it there in time when their father's worst fear is, in fact, realized. For six years Eli, his mother and father, and his two sisters live in the underground compound, believing they must stay there for at least 15 years before it will be safe to go above. Things get more interesting, though, when Eli discovers that his father has not been totally honest with his family. This is a great book to recommend to reluctant tween and teen readers. Others that I think relunctant tweens and teens might like include:
The Summer of the Swans is another Newbery Medal winner (1971).
I read this book quickly, partly because it is not long, but also because I was anxious to find out what happens to Charlie. The two main characters are Sara and Charlie, who are brother and sister. Charlie is mentally disabled, and Sara has for many years been extremely protective of him, fending off bullies at school and generally looking after his special needs. Then one day Charlie gets up in the middle of the night and goes out looking for some swans that he and Sara had seen on a nearby lake the day before. Unfortunately, he becomes lost, and a frantic search for him begins the next morning. The is a beautifully written and touching story about love and loss, and valuing what is really important in life.
I had not read L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz since I was about 13, and I was surprised by how different the book is from the movie (which I have seen more times than I can remember).
For example, in the book the shoes Dorothy gets from the Wicked Witch of the East are silver, not ruby colored. Dorothy and the gang meet the good witch of the North, who is an old lady, at the beginning of the book, but they also travel near the end of the book to see Glinda the Good, who is the good witch of the South. Also, the winged monkeys only obey the Wicked Witch of the West because she possesses a charmed cap, and she can only call on them to obey her three times before her power over them is at an end. The monkeys actually help both Dorothy and Glinda, as well as the Wicked Witch of the West, before the story ends.
Before I finished reading this book, I read an opinion piece in which the author says that The Wizard of Oz is far inferior to C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia novels. Perhaps I was swayed by this article, but I found myself rather disappointed by The Wizard of Oz. The writing was rather simple and almost sing-song at times, such as when the Scarecrow, Tin Man, Lion, and Dorothy all recite, in turn, what they are seeking (and might not get) from the wizard (they do this more than once). At the end, Glinda turns to each character in turn, and in order, and asks where they need to go after Dorothy goes home. Perhaps this predictability gives kids a sense of order and security, but I found it tedious.
The dangers the group faces when they are traveling all seem to be resolved so easily that they are not even that interesting, really. All in all, I believe I would have been happier with a darker, scarier land of Oz. Still, I think that more people should read the book (or books, if they decide they like this world). The movie is "wonderful," but the book is a whole different experience. I think it is just meant for children younger than I had thought.
