Books like When Mischief Came to Town by Katrina Nannestad

In Camp Green Lake, a boy named Stanley Yelnats must dig endless holes for a supposedly reformatory camp that really hides a buried truth.

Charles Dickens’ classic bildungsroman follows an orphan named Pip as he grows from humble beginnings in Kent to London society, encountering wealth, poverty, love, and moral triumph.

In 1943 Copenhagen, ten‑year‑old Annemarie Johansen helps her Jewish friend Ellen Rosen escape Nazi persecution, learning courage and resilience while navigating war‑time hardships.

Ivan, a gorilla who has lived behind glass in a shopping‑mall circus for 27 years, learns new meaning for art and friendship when a baby elephant named Ruby arrives.

A china rabbit named Edward Tulane is lost and follows an extraordinary path—from the sea to a fisherman’s net, from a sick child’s bedside to the streets of Memphis—learning that even the most fragile heart can love, lose, and love again.

A nine‑year‑old girl named Ada escapes her abusive home amid World War II, joining her brother in London’s evacuation; she learns to ride a pony, reads, and finds a new family with Susan Smith while watching for German spies.

El Deafo is a graphic novel by Cece Bell that follows a young girl who loses her hearing, learns to navigate the world with a hearing aid, and finds new friendships through humor and creativity.

At the heart of a bustling Paris train station lives a 12‑year‑old orphan, Hugo Cabret, who keeps the clockwork heart of his father’s old watch; when a new girl and a mysterious toy‑seller enter his cramped world, secrets, a hidden mechanism, and a mechanical man unite in a striking blend of story and illustration.

A spirited eleven‑year‑old orphan named Pollyanna moves in with her stern Aunt Polly in Beldingsville, Vermont, and spreads optimism through her "Glad Game," uplifting residents while facing resistance from those who refuse her help.

Jo March, now Jo Bhaer, runs the progressive Plumfield school for boys with her husband, Professor Bhaer, two sons and twelve rescued orphan boys, navigating adventures and challenges that test their ideals and friendships.

When Grandma Mimi has a stroke, Claudia must take over babysitting duties, which strains her already tense relationship with her sister and threatens her place in the Babysitters Club.

Marin heads to college in New York, leaving her past behind. When her friend Mabel visits, Marin confronts the truth about a tragic summer that reshaped both their lives.

310 pages ; 22 cmHL740L Lexile

Rafe Khatchadorian arrives at Camp Wannamorra, where he and his bunkmates must contend with the popular kids who try to sabotage their summer, turning boredom into adventure and friendship.

When her adoptive parents die, twelve‑year‑old genius Willow Chance must navigate grief, diagnosis, and a new surrogate family while staying true to her obsessive love of nature and counting by sevens.

Sixteen‑year‑old Drew, grieving the loss of his family, hides in a hospital after a tragic accident. When a fellow patient, Rusty, who was burned for being gay, helps him confront his past, Drew starts to heal and creates a superhero comic to cope.

After his mother's death, Matt begins working at a Brooklyn funeral home, confronting grief and growing into responsibility while learning the meaning of family and community.

High school sweethearts Katie Reynolds and Bill Logan navigate love, friendship, and unexpected business deals in Cape May as they confront their futures together.

When Katie’s world collapses, her estranged grandmother Mary’s dementia forces a family reunion that reveals long‑hidden secrets, forcing Katie to confront her mother’s controlling ways, her own sexuality, and her future as she pieces together Mary’s past.

An independent heroine and a cunning aristocrat team up to outwit rivals and uncover a hidden treasure amid the intrigue of London.

Middle mouse Nora feels overlooked, so she creates a ruckus that finally brings her family’s attention to her—showing that a noisy little mouse can be the heartbeat of a home.

INCORRIGIBLE! Spoiled, sassy and enticingly lovely, Heather Blair-Burns rightfully belongs among Boston's high society -- certainly NOT in a Dodge City saloon. But had the haughty, high-spirited debutante remained back East, she would have missed a daring train robbery, a reunion with her presumed-dead father ... AND the handsome, rough and rugged rogue who calls himself Morgan Stone. It's bad enough that evidence has linked Wells Fargo agent Stone to a string of robberies. Now he has to work undercover behind a bar and deal with the saloonkeeper's beautiful brat of a daughter -- an exasperating minx who would serve the customers lemonade and give the local soiled doves lessons in decorum. But love has a way of ambushing even the most mismatched of hearts. All it takes is a hint of passion -- and a touch of ... Mischief.

A touching dialogue between a grandmother and her granddaughter about the nature of good and bad people, woven into a broader tale of family, adventure and the challenges of growing up.

Kenny Wright imagines himself as the powerful superhero Stainlezz Steel, but in his Washington, D.C. inner‑city middle school he feels like a "Grandma’s Boy." Facing real‑world challenges, Kenny must decide what loyalty and self‑esteem truly mean.