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Cleave (Little Bee)again proves his subtle and profound ability to capture the inner lives of people wracked by personal conflict with exquisite compassion, accuracy, and tact. His latest, which examines the parallel lives of two Olympic-hopeful cyclists, is impossible to put down. Highly recommended as an emotional summer read.

This quirky and absorbing history from Sax combines the natural history of the raven with humanity's changing and complex attitudes toward nature. The ravens of the Tower of London have long persisted as symbols of British myth, but their history throughout Anglo-Saxon culture is even longer and more tangled. Both ominous and loveable, iconic and naturally fascinating, these birds are an evocative mascot for the entwined relationships of humans and animals, and Sax's unique book does them great justice.

At once an old-fashioned-buddy-novel-shoot-'em-up and a work of deliciously imagined fantasy, Howard L. Anderson's dazzling debut presents the haunting story of a world where something has gone horribly awry. Having escaped from Australia's Adelaide Zoo, an orphaned platypus named Albert embarks on a journey through the outback in search of "Old Australia," a rumored land of liberty, promise, and peace. What he will find there, however, away from the safe confinement of his enclosure for the first time since his earliest memories, proves to be a good deal more than he anticipated. An old-fashioned adventure told with a fresh voice, this is a great summer read.