VSBA 2021 -- Intermediate List

"After eleven-year-old Ollie's school bus mysteriously breaks down on a field trip, she has to take a trip through scary woods, and must use all of her wits to survive. She must stick to small spaces"--

After a fight at school leaves Marcus facing suspension, Marcus's mother takes him and his younger brother, who has Down syndrome, to Puerto Rico to visit relatives they do not remember or have never met, and while there Marcus starts searching for his father, who left their family ten years ago and is somewhere on the island.

Seventh grader Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan is one of the few kids of color in his entire grade. As he makes the daily trip from his Washington Heights apartment to the upscale Riverdale Academy Day School, Jordan soon finds himself torn between two worlds--and...

In nineteenth-century England, after her father's disappearance Nan Sparrow, ten, works as a "climbing boy," aiding chimney sweeps, but when her most treasured possessions end up in a fireplace, she unwittingly creates a golem.--

Twelve-year-old Arthur forms a bond with a polar bear given by King Haakon IV of Norway to King Henry III of England in 1252 while traveling as her handler. Includes historical notes. --

In order to heal after his mother's death, Sal learned how to meditate. But no one expected him to be able to take it further and 'relax' things into existence. Turns out he can reach into time and space to retrieve things from other universes.

They say you can't get something for nothing, but nothing is all Sami has. When his grandfather's most-prized possession-a traditional Afghan instrument called a rebāb-is stolen, Sami resolves to get it back. He finds it at a music store, but it costs $700, and Sami doesn't have even one penny. What he does have is a keychain that has caught the eye of his classmate. If he trades the keychain for something more valuable, could he keep trading until...

Charlotte, twelve, and Ben, eleven, are highly-skilled competitors at online Scrabble and that connection helps both as they face family issues and the turmoil of middle school.

To save her younger brother from being forced to work in the mines, twelve-year-old Mallie pretends to be a boy and learns to ride and train flying horses.

Eleven-year-old Marin and her neighbor Charley hope that by preventing a disaster that occurred twenty years ago, they can save Charley's dad from a future of guilt and self-destructive behavior.