Star in the Forest by Laura Resau

Zitlally's parents are immigrants from Mexico. When her father is deported back to Mexico, she is so sad that she stops trying to fit in with the popular girls at school. She finds a dog tied up in a car junkyard, and befriends it and feeds it. She comes to believe that the fate of the dog is connected to her father's fate. Star in the Forest is a lovely, gentle story of friendship and standing firm, with a ring of truth. Includes a note on immigration and a glossary of Nahuatl and Spanish words. This book reminded me a little of Pam Munoz Ryan's Becoming Naomi Leon, but for a slightly younger audience. (149 p.)

Falling In by Frances O'Roark Dowell

On the day that Isabelle begins to hear a persistent buzzing noise, she is sent to the principal's office by her teacher. While awaiting her turn, she opens a closet door and tumbles into another world: a world of children on the run from a child-eating witch. When Isabelle and a younger child meet a kind woman living alone in a cottage in the forest, Isabelle feels so comfortable and familiar: but who is the woman? Falling In is an interesting, well-written, unusual fantasy about an outsider in a strange world, with a good dose of suspense. By the author of Dovey Coe and Chicken Boy. (245 p.)