From the author of such greats as Boy Meets Boy and The Lover’s Dictionary: A Novel and collaborative efforts Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (with Rachel Cohn) and Will Grayson, Will Grayson (with John Green) comes a new YA novel with an electrifying premise. At some point in our lives, we’ve all wished we could wake up as someone else. But what would it feel like to actually do it? Every day.

Virginia Lee Burton’s picture book classic The Little House celebrates its 70th anniversary this year as a picture book classic. Originally published in 1942, the story of a little house that witnesses a city grow up around it won the Caldecott Award for illustration and was later adapted into an Disney animated short,

I’m always sad when the farmers’ market closes for the season. But this year, I learned that our local market is staying open till November (yea!). Then, as an added bonus, I recently discovered this great little recipe and project book, At the Farmers’ Market with Kids, written by Leslie Jonath and Ethel Brennan.

It seems like only yesterday that my daughter was getting ready to start preschool for the first time. Scary, how time flies! As summer winds down and back-to-school season nears, my 5-year-old is gearing up for kindergarten. We’ve visited and we’ve talked about it and I know she’s a little anxious—because it means saying goodbye to her familiar, cozy preschool and going to the Big School, where the older kids go. To help prepare her, we’ve also been reading books about kindergarten. Here are her favorites so far.

From Newbery Honor and National Book Award-winning author Phillip Hoose’s riveting book about the nearly extinct rufa red knot shorebird’s epic 18,000-mile annual round-trip migratory journey, to the first two installments of Nathan Hale’s new “strange but true” graphic novel series documenting important moments in American history, to the bold and photo-filled account of veteran climber Pete Athans’s summiting of Mount Everest, to the death-defying story of a virtually impossible rescue mission off the coast of Alaska, these four nonfiction titles are must-haves for the classroom or library.

A series of clues hidden in coin-operated machinery help ten-year-old Stuart Horten uncover his family history. They may also lead to the secret workshop his great-uncle --- a magician --- is rumored to have left behind. Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms has adventure, mystery, and humor, as well as a sequel coming out this fall.

We grown-ups tend to take road signs for granted, but when you think about it, it’s easy to see why young children find them so fascinating. Glimpsed while on the go, many road signs communicate via graphically striking images or bright colors—a concept that’s tailor-made for the car-seat crowd. That’s why Maria van Lieshout’s Backseat A-B-See is such a great idea.

If you’re looking for a novel that deals with death in a delicate and digestible way, Rebecca Rupp’s After Eli (ages 9-12) is just the ticket. Fourteen-year-old Danny’s older brother Eli died while serving as a medic in Iraq. This is Danny’s heartrending story of how he and his family came to terms with the loss.

The story of “Some Pig” Wilbur and the interspecies friendships that twice save his life, Charlotte’s Web marks its 60th anniversary this year as one of the bestselling and most beloved children’s novels ever to be published in the United States.

In 2008, Rebecca Stead published her first novel, First Light. In 2010, When You Reach Me won the Newbery Medal. Next Tuesday, her third book, Liar & Spy will hit bookstore shelves. While I won’t give away all the secrets, I will share with you one important tip: It’s signature Stead at her finest.