Junebug

Written by: Alice Mead

First line: I've got the sail hauled in tight.

Why you should read this book: Reeve McClain, Jr.—Junebug to his friends, family, and neighbors—dreams of sailing ships, but right now he's mostly concerned with the likelihood that he's going to be forced to join a gang, as happens to all the ten-year-old boys who live in his housing project. Junebug has a wish, and a plan to launch that wish into the universe, but he's got to contend with his negligent aunt and trouble with people in his neighborhood and taking care of his little sister, along with the possibility that his mother might take a better job that would force him to move and change schools and introduce a lot of uncertainty in his life. Fast-paced, high-interest, and charming.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You are overly concerned with dumping in America's waterways. 

The Missing

Written by: Tim Gautreaux

First line: Sam Simoneaux leaned against the ship's rail, holding on in the snarling wind as his lieutenant struggled toward him through the spray, grabbing latches, guy wires, valve handles.

Why you should read this book: Sam, sometimes knows as "Lucky," missed the fighting in World War One by a day but still has perhaps a bit more experience of loss than others in his generation. Smart, sensitive, and perceptive, he's happy in his comfortable post-war career as a security guard in a high end department store, until the day that a little girl is kidnapped on his watch. Suddenly, Sam's entire world is upended and no matter how many times he tries to walk away, he still feels a relentless compulsion to find this lost child at any cost. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You get motion sickness just thinking about boats.