The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson 

The hardscrabble folks of Troublesome Creek must scrap for everything—everything except books, that is.  Thanks to Roosevelt's Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project, Troublesome's got its very own traveling librarian, Cussy Mary Carter.

Cussy's not only a book woman, however, she's also the last of her kind, her skin a shade of blue unlike most anyone else.  Not everyone is keen on Cussy's family or the Library Project, and a Blue is often blamed for any whiff of trouble.  If Cussy wants to bring the joy of books to the hill folks, she's going to have to confront prejudice as old as Appalachia and suspicion as deep as the holler.

Camino Winds by John Grisham 

We return to Camino Island only to suffer a hurricane.  And a brief affair between one of the island’s less savory writers and a woman who breaks-up with him and walks away during the hurricane.  Bruce Cable, bookstore owner on the island checks on his writers and discovers one has died, under mysterious circumstances.

Just as Bruce Cable’s Bay Books is preparing for the return of bestselling author Mercer Mann, Hurricane Leo veers from its predicted course and heads straight for the island. Florida’s governor orders a mandatory evacuation, and most residents board up their houses and flee to the mainland, but Bruce decides to stay and ride out the storm.

The hurricane is devastating.  Homes and condos are leveled, hotels and storefronts ruined, streets flooded, and a dozen people lose their lives. One of the apparent victims is Nelson Kerr, a friend of Bruce’s and an author of thrillers. But the nature of Nelson’s injuries suggests that the storm wasn’t the cause of his death: He has suffered several suspicious blows to the head.

Who would want Nelson dead? The local police are overwhelmed in the aftermath of the storm and ill equipped to handle the case. Bruce begins to wonder if the shady characters in Nelson’s novels might be more real than fictional. And somewhere on Nelson’s computer is the manuscript of his new novel. Could the key to the case be right there—in black and white? As Bruce starts to investigate, what he discovers between the lines is more shocking than any of Nelson’s plot twists—and far more dangerous. 

A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park - Tree-ear is an orphan who lives under a bridge with Crane-man, a disabled soldier.  Crand-man has raised Tree-ear since he was a toddler.  They live near Ch’ulp’o, a village of potters whose celadon finish is highly prized.  Tree-ear is determined to become the apprentice of Min, the oldest and best potter in the village.  Min dismisses him without consideration because only the son of a potter can become a potter.  But he does need help and eventually hires the boy to do laborious work that will allow Min to spend more time on his pottery.

An announcement is made in the village that a royal emissary is coming to select potters for a commission.  Min’s work is the best, but he is slower than other potters.  The emissary, wanting a sample from Min offers to let him bring his offering to the capital.  But Min cannot make such a journey.  Tree-ear offers to make the journey for him.  They pack the sample and Tree-ear sets off on his journey.  Part way along, he is set upon by thieves who think he has food or something they can easily sell for food in his backpack.  When they find it is only a piece of pottery, they cast it off the side of the mountain, breaking it into many pieces.  Tree ear climbs down the mountain but can only retrieve a single shard.  Even so, he perseveres and delivers the shard as a sample to the emissary.  The emissary gives a commission to Min.  When Tree-ear returns, he learns that Crane-man has perished in an accident, and that Min, will adopt Tree-ear as his son and rename him to Huang-pil.

Camino Island by John Grisham

A gang of thieves stage a daring heist from a secure vault deep below Princeton University’s Firestone Library. Their loot is priceless, but Princeton has insured it for twenty-five million dollars.

Bruce Cable, a known womanizer, owns a popular bookstore in the sleepy resort town of Santa Rosa on Camino Island in Florida. He makes his real money, though, as a prominent dealer in rare books. Very few people know that he occasionally dabbles in the black market of stolen books and manuscripts.  His girlfriend is an antiques dealer whose store is next door to the bookstore.

Mercer Mann is a young novelist with a severe case of writer’s block who has recently been laid off from her teaching position.  She used to spend summers on Camino Island when her grandmother was alive but has not been back in years.  She is approached by an elegant, mysterious woman working for an even more mysterious company. A generous offer of money convinces Mercer to go undercover and infiltrate Bruce Cable’s circle of literary friends, ideally getting close enough to him to learn his secrets.

To do this, Mercer frequents the bookstore.  She was supposed to visit when her book came out, but thinking no one really wanted to buy the book, she cancelled her tour just before going back to the island.  She strikes up a friendship with Cable, who wants to get her into his bed.  Eventually Mercer learns far too much, and there’s trouble in paradise, FBI involvement, and double-dealing.

 One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

This is the story of three sisters, Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern, who visit their estranged mother, Cecille in Oakland, California.  But when they arrive with dreams of Disneyland and movie stars, they discover their mother is nothing like they expected.  The end-up spending their summer in a school run by the Black Panthers and learn unexpected lessons.  The book won numerous awards, including the Scott O’Dell award, the Coretta Scott King award, a Newbury Honor and was a finalist for the National Book Award.