So You Want to Be a Wizard by Diane Duane
I read this book quite a few years ago and recently have been catching up with some of the other titles in the Wizard series. Premise of this first book in the series is that Nita - bookworm and science geek - takes refuge in the children's department of public library to escape a group of bullies. While there, she spots a book entitled "So You Want to Be A Wizard" and as she reads, realizes that she posesses many of the characteristics needed to train to become a wizard. So begins this series, where wizards work to slow entropy in the universe by fighting against dark forces.
Nita is a well-drawn character who over the course of the series matures, as she encounters challenges and even tragedies in both the real and fantasy world. Despite the premise of young adults training to become wizards, the series is very different from the Harry Potter Books. The magic is rooted in science, particularly physics, and the wizards must always be careful to balance their use of magic against the energy available in the universe. A strong series and highly recommended

Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams

Ingrid Levin-Hill's hero is Sherlock Holmes. For several years, the eighth grader has kept a copy of his "Complete Adventures" on her bedside table, and spends a lot of time thinking about how Holmes figures out the world around him. "The more bizarre a thing is the less mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are really puzzling..." Holmes tells Dr. Watson.

Everything in Ingrid's world seems pretty commonplace. She lives in a 1950s Cape Cod house located in small cozy town where nothing much happens. She goes to school, plays soccer, fights with her brother - all pretty mundane stuff.

But a wrong turn on the way home from soccer practice lands Ingrid on the doorstep of local eccentric Cracked Up Kate and life starts to get pretty weird. Kate is murdered later that night and Ingrid is going to be in big trouble unless she can retrieve her soccer shoes from Kate's house before the police figure out who they belong to. Next, Ingrid is forced out of her lead role in a local production of "Alice in Wonderland" after the producer is injured under suspicious cirumstances. Somewhere, there is a connection between these two events, and with years of studying the techniques of the world's greatest fictional detective, Ingrid is determined to figure it out.

Abrahams does a wonderful job in creating a three dimensional world in Down the Rabbit Hole. Adults who have read his thriller "The Tutor" will recognize some of the same characters, redrawn for a younger audience, but also in my mind, further developed and more enjoyable.

Ages 10 through 14 (and any age if you enjoy a good mystery)