Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy

Words in the Dust transports the reader to a village in Afghanistan and into the life of a girl born with a cleft palate. Zulaikha does not have an easy life with a stepmother who doesn't care much for her and brothers to take care of. She is not allowed to go to school and constantly told that she will never marry because of her facial deformity. When American soldiers see her and offer to repair her cleft palate she sees it as her chance to be "normal." The author, an American soldier who served in Afghanistan, captures the heartbreaks of Zulaikha and her sister, who goes through with an arranged marriage with some unhappy consequences. It's more than a story about a girl getting an operation—it's about a girl awakening to the possibilities that an education might bring her. I enjoyed the book a lot, and the middle school kids who read it this year loved it. For most, it was their first exposure to a culture very different from their own and they enjoyed the story and learned from it as well. Highly recommended for middle schoolers.

Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator

This is the first book in the Gilda Joyce mystery series. In it we meet Gilda, a precocious eighth grader who is honing her skills as a psychic investigator. She loves reading about communicating with spirits and she longs to find a ghost she can talk to directly. When she successfully invites herself to a long-lost relative's San Francisco mansion, she discovers that the ghost of a relative who jumped to her death from a tower may be haunting the house and appearing to a girl named Juliet who lives there with her father. Gilda and Juliet investigate with seances and a ouija board, and with the help of some mysterious dreams they solve the mystery. These books are breezy and fun, and as a long-time fan of Harriet the Spy I appreciate the connections between Harriet and Gilda Joyce. Recommended for middle school girls.