Summer I Saved The World in 65 Days, by Michele Weber Hurwitz

Nina Ross didn't mean to start a pay-it-forward revolution that summer she turned 13. She just saw her elderly neighbor, Mrs. Chung, who had recently broken her leg and was on crutches, struggling to plant her annual marigolds... and Nina decided to help. So she snuck into her neighbor's yard and planted those flowers. 

This small deed gave Nina's happiness a boost, something she needed.

Nina had been feeling sort of lost lately. She's missing her grandmother, who passed away a few months back, and she's worried she's drifting apart from her BFF, who has become increasingly obsessed with boys, clothes, and beauty (things that Nina just doesn't "get"). But that one good deed, anonymously planting Mrs. Chung's marigolds, felt good. Really good.

It made Nina feel she had a purpose.

So Nina decides to anonymously do ONE good deed each day for the rest of the summer. All 65 days of it. She won't do it to get credit or praise. She'll just do it for the sake of doing it. Because it'll help someone out. Or just brighten their day. Nina doesn't realize what a difference these small, daily good deeds will make for the people living on her cul-de-sac. But suddenly her neighbors are smiling more and being kinder to each other. The cul-de-sac is a friendlier place.

But by helping everyone else can Nina sort out her own life dramas?

Additionally, not everyone is a fan of the mysterious "superhero" bent on helping people--and they want to expose that person for the mischief-maker they believe them to be.

Will things end happily?

You'll have to read the book to find out!

Michele Weber Hurwitz's sweetly inspiring novel The Summer I Saved the World in 65 Days is one of the most adorable books I've read lately. Not only is Nina an extremely likable character, but she's real and relatable too. Reading this book just may inspire you to do something nice for someone too. This one is highly recommended. 

The Summer I Saved the World in 65 Days is one of the books from our NEW Tween Section, where you'll find all sorts of awesome books aimed at younger readers--AJB

Eleven, by Patricia Giff

What if your life wasn't really what you thought it was?

Young Sam is plagued by this question when, while snooping in his grandfather's attic for his birthday present, he discovers an old newspaper clipping containing a photo of his younger self. The only words Sam, who suffers from near-crippling dyslexia, can identify are his first name and the word "MISSING". Suddenly his whole world comes crashing down. If he is, indeed, "Missing," then where are his parents? Who is the man he has been calling "grandfather" all these years? Was he kidnapped? Who is SAM? 

Could these questions be the source of Sam's recurring nightmares about a castle a boat and a storm at sea?

If ONLY he could read that article!!

Then Sam is paired up with the surly and unapproachable Caroline for a class project. The two form an unlikely friendship, and Sam recruits Caroline, who loves to read, to help him solve the mystery. But time is running out. Can the two uncover the answers in time? 

Eleven, by Patricia Giff, is a fantastic, fast-paced mystery aimed at the tween audience, but older readers (even adults) will love it too and enjoy piecing together the clues as Sam and Caroline unravel them. There is a sense of urgency throughout this story, but readers will breathe a sigh of relief when all is revealed and things aren't as bad as they first seemed (the book ends happily). 

You won't be able to put this one down! --AJB