Swindle by Gordon Korman

What a great story!  The action moves from spending the night in an abandoned and possibly haunted house to planning and executing a major heist.  When Griffin Bing discovers he has been cheated out of a million-dollar baseball card, he vows to steal it back.  Even though the main characters are kids, they are so well-developed that the reader never doubts that they are capable of such an amazing feat.  Along the way, they deal with bullies, dangerous guard dogs, and a completely unlikeable and sleazy villain.  The ending is perfect with a twist of irony that ties all the pieces together in a neat little package.  Even though there are two more books featuring the same cast of characters, this one can stand on its own.  Swindle would make a great read-aloud and will appeal to both boys and girls.

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan was an action-packed thriller.  From the early chapters through to the very end, the action was non-stop.  The two main characters, Sadie and Carter, tell the story, with the narrator changing every chapter or two.  Being brother and sister, their relationship is not always friendly, but the way they learn to trust each other and like each other gives an added depth to the story.  Being pursued by the awakening gods and goddesses of Ancient Egypt puts them in many situations where their relationship is tested, and they must lean on each other in order to survive.  The ending was satisfying, and the book can stand on its own, even though it is apparently the beginning of a series entitled The Kane Chronicles.  Highly recommended either as an independent read or a read-aloud.

Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Fans of her Among the Missing series will find a lot to love in this new set of historical suspense novels by Margaret Peterson Haddix.  It all starts with a mysterious plane that appears with no adults on board, only babies, and disappears as soon as the babies are rescued.  In Found, the story begins when two boys realize (through a combination of first class sleuthing and stumbling discoveries) that they are part of this group of babies who have been adopted out but are now, for some reason, being drawn into the same area.  Strangers who appear and disappear at key points add to the suspense as we discover the beginnings of the true identities of these children.  As with all first books in a series, the story is really just getting started when the first book ends, but it would appear that there will be some interesting adventures throughout history as the two boys work to save all these children without wrecking time.  Fast-paced and intelligent with likable characters and just enough mystery to keep the reader guessing, this appears to be the beginning of a very interesting series.