Juvenile Literature

Paul Fleischman’s multi-perspective young adult novella Seedfolks presents a modern parable for community-building over 13 chapters, each narrated by a different character in monologue. Fleischman first published the work in 1997; the 2002 HarperCollins edition, which this study guide references, includes the author’s note “From seeds to Seedfolks.” Son of children’s book writer Sid Fleischman, Paul Fleischman began his career as a writer in college. Inspired by folklore, music, and verse, Fleischman soon found success... Read Seedfolks Summary

See You in the Cosmos, a 2017 middle-grade contemporary novel by Jack Cheng, features 11-year-old Alex Petroski as its main character and narrator. Inspired by scientist Carl Sagan, Alex wants to use a hand-built rocket to send audio recordings about life on Earth to extraterrestrial creatures. Though his quest to communicate with alien life fails, Alex finds himself on a much larger journey toward self-identity and truth. The novel is a Golden Kite Award Winner... Read See You in the Cosmos Summary

Serafina and the Black Cloak is a middle-grade mystery/fantasy by Robert Beatty. First published in 2015, the novel is set in 1899 at the historic Biltmore Estate near Asheville, North Carolina. The story features 12-year-old Serafina, a girl of mysterious origins and many unusual skills who lives secretly in the mansion’s basement. When some of the Biltmore guests’ children go missing, Serafina discovers that an evil intruder—the Man in the Black Cloak—is responsible. Serafina sets... Read Serafina and the Black Cloak Summary

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Eleven-year-old Marty Preston fights to save an abused beagle from its cruel owner in Shiloh (1991). Marty bonds with the dog, Shiloh, and learns more about himself and others as he struggles to reconcile the letter of the law with what he knows in his heart is right. Acclaimed children’s author Phyllis Reynolds Naylor based Shiloh on a poignant, personal encounter with a mistreated dog. Marty’s character struggles with the same issues that troubled Naylor... Read Shiloh Summary

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Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance by American author Jennifer Armstrong is a work of narrative non-fiction that tells the story of the survival of explorer Ernest Henry Shackleton and the crew of the ship Endurance after they were shipwrecked in the Antarctic Circle. Published in 1998, the book was the winner of the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction and was also named an... Read Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World Summary

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Shooting Kabul is a middle-grade novel published in 2010 by American author N. H. Senzai. In July 2001, 11-year-old Fadi Nurzai and his family flee Afghanistan, where the Taliban are taking power, to live in San Francisco. While boarding the truck in Kabul that will take them across the Pakistani border, Fadi loses his six-year-old sister, Mariam, in the melee, and she is left behind. The novel focuses on Fadi’s struggle with his conscience over losing... Read Shooting Kabul Summary

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Kenneth Oppel’s 1997 award-winning middle-grade novel Silverwing is a high-fantasy work that follows a young bat’s journey to find his colony. The novel has sold over a million copies and been adapted for television as an animated children’s series. This book is the first of four in The Silverwing Book Series.Other works by this author include Inkling, Bloom, Half Brother, and Airborn.Plot SummaryThe novel is divided into three parts, and it shifts point of view... Read Silverwing Summary

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