An American Summer -- Frank Deford

It is the summer of 1954 and fourteen year old Christopher "Christy" Bannister has just moved from Indiana to Baltimore, Maryland where his father has just been made president of a porcelain company. While out trying to sell the "lower-class" newspaper on his second day in town (and his first day of the new job his dad got him), Christy happens to meet Kathryn Slade, a beautiful 23-year-old woman who had caught polio 6 years before and was now confined to an iron lung. Kathryn becomes Christy's first friend in Baltimore, and as the Summer progresses, they become the best of friends.

That summer marks a time of many changes in Christy's life. He comes of age quickly as he sees glimpses into the world of adulthood where promises are sometimes broken, where those who may be idolized fall from grace, and where sometimes principles collide. But amidst those hard-earned lessons of life come sweet lessons as well as Christy learns about love and the sacrifice some are willing to make because of it; and he learns just what it means to make another person happy.

Alcatraz vs. The Evil Librarians -- Brian Sanderson

Alcatraz Smedry is a foster child with a knack for breaking things. And he has just turned 13. On his 13th birthday, he received a gift from the father he never knew: a bag of sand. With the bag of sand (though a day late...) comes Alcatraz's grandfather who reveals to Alcatraz that the bag of sand was no ordinary bag of sand, but was rather sands that could be turned into powerful Oculators' lenses. Unfortuneately, but the time this new reaches Alcatraz, the sands have already been stolen from him by the Evil Librarians. Now it is up to Alcatraz, his grandfather, two cousins Alcatraz just met, and a Knight of Crystallia to retrieve the sands and thwart the Librarians' plans to keep everyone from knowing the truth! And through this adventure, Alcatraz will realize that some of the very things he thought were weaknesses are actually strengths.