Playing with Fire, by Bruce Hale

Summary: Reluctant orphan-turned-spy Max Segredo discovers intrigue at the Merry Sunshine Orphanage and must confront an international group bent on world domination, while uncovering mysteries from his past.

Disney Hyperion

 

Gingersnap, by Patricia Reilly Giff

Summary:  When her brother Rob, a Navy cook, goes missing in action during World War II, Jayna, desperate for family, leaves upstate New York and their cranky landlady, accompanied by a turtle and a ghost, to seek their grandmother, who Rob believes may live in Brooklyn.

Wendy Lamb Books

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Tangle of Knots, by Lisa Graff

Summary:  Told in multiple viewpoints, A Tangle of Knots is a magnificent puzzle.  In a slightly magical world where everyone has a Talent, Destiny leads 11-year-old Cady to a peanut butter factory, a family of children searching for their own Talents, and a Talent Thief who will alter her life forever.

Philomel

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Keeping Safe the Stars, by Sheila O’Connor

Summary:  Orphaned and living with their grandfather, Old Finn, in rural Minnesota, the children, like their grandfather, are wary of outsiders. They believe, as Old Finn taught them, in self-reliance. But then Old Finn falls seriously ill and is taken to the hospital all the way in Duluth, leaving the children to fend for themselves. Pride, as oldest, assumes the lead. Though she makes mistakes, she keeps them afloat; they even earn money for the bus trip to Duluth. But when they finally see Old Finn, he can’t walk or even say his own name, and Pride knows her days of keeping safe the Stars are drawing to a close. Self-reliance can’t make Old Finn well again. But maybe, just maybe, a secret from Old Finn’s past might make a way for them to stay together after all.

Putnam

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The Great Unexpected, by Sharon Creech

Summary:  Humorous and heartfelt, this is a story of pairs–of Sybil and Nula (now estranged sisters who grew up together in Ireland) and Naomi and Lizzie (both orphans in present-day USA) and unraveling mysteries about family and identity.

Joanna Cotler

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Broken Lands, by Kate Milford

Summary:  A crossroads can be a place of great power. So begins this deliciously spine-tingling prequel to Kate Milford’s The Boneshaker, set in the colorful world of nineteenth-century Coney Island and New York City. Few crossroads compare to the one being formed by the Brooklyn Bridge and the East River, and as the bridge’s construction progresses, forces of unimaginable evil seek to bend that power to their advantage. Only two orphans with unusual skills stand in their way. Can the teenagers Sam, a card shark, and Jin, a fireworks expert, stop them before it’s too late? Here is a richly textured, slow-burning thriller about friendship, courage, and the age-old fight between good and evil.

Clarion

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Emily and Jackson Hiding Out, by Phyllis Reynholds Naylor

Summary:  Emily is thrilled that she and her orphan friend Jackson have escaped the clutches of the Child-Catching Services and Emily’s villainous uncle Victor. Emily and Jackson are now living happily with her loving aunt Hilda. But someone’s snooping around for an orphan child on the run! He knows Jackson is hiding nearby and aims to get a reward for snatching him and sending him to work at a mill. And some sort of creature is coming to their gate when Jackson and Emily are home alone.

Delacourte

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Summer of the Wolves, by Polly Carlson-VoilesU

Summary: Orphaned  Nika and her  brother Randall   leave a California foster home to visit a long-lost uncle on a wilderness island. Nika, of all people, knows not to get her heart set on anything, but as she follows her uncle in his job studying wolves, Nika stumbles upon a relationship with an orphaned wolf pup that makes her feel — for the first time since her mother died — whole again. Here in these woods, with this wolf, none of the hard things in her past can reach her.

HoughtonMifflin

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Splendors and Glooms, by Laura Amy Schlitz

Summary:  When Clara vanishes after the puppeteer Grisini and two orphaned assistants were at her birthday party, suspicion of kidnapping chases them away from London.  The two orphans find themselves caught in a trap set by Grisini’s ancient rival, a witch with a deadly inheritance to shed before it’s too late.

Candlewick Press

The Crowfield Demon, by Pat Walsh

Summary:  In March of 1348, the awakening of an ancient evil drives fay creatures from the woods, causes Crowfield Abbey to crumble, and haunts the dreams of the monks, but the demon seems especially drawn to Will, who is beginning to realize the significance of his Sight.

Scholastic

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The Humming Room, by Ellen Potter

Summary: Twelve-year-old orphan Roo Fanshaw is sent to live with an uncle she never knew in a largely uninhabited mansion on Cough Rock Island and discovers a wild river boy, an invalid cousin, and the mysteries of a hidden garden.

Feiwel & Friends

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False Prince, by Jennifer Nielsen

Summary: In the country of Carthya, a devious nobleman engages four orphans in a brutal competition to be selected to impersonate the king’s long-missing son in an effort to avoid a civil war.

Scholastic

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Liesl and Po, by Lauren Oliver

Summary: A mix-up involving the greatest magic in the world has tremendous consequences for Liesl, an orphan who has been locked in an attic, Will, an alchemist’s runaway apprentice, and Po, a ghost, as they are pursued by friend and foe while making an important journey.

HarperCollins

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Sound Bender, by Lin Oliver

Summary:  After their parents are declared dead, Leo and his brother Hollis are taken in by a wealthy but distant step-uncle, and when, on his thirteenth birthday, Leo acquires the ability to hear sounds from the past when touching certain objects, he tries to use the skill to rescue a dolphin, whatever the cost.

Scholastic

The Midnight Gate, by Helen Stringer

Summary:  Twelve-year-old Belladonna Johnson, who lives with the ghosts of her parents, once again teams up with her classmate Steve, whose mother has suddenly disappeared, when they are given a dangerous assignment by a ghostly monk involving a return to the Dark Times.

Feiwel & Friends

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