Rhonda Belyea

I really am glad you asked about this book, because I had not heard of it before! So, now I'm learning about a new author.

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett.
A young witch-to-be named Tiffany teams up with the Wee Free Men, a clan of six-inch-high blue men, to rescue her baby brother and ward off a sinister invasion from Fairyland.

Out Standing in my Field by Patrick Jennings.
Although fifth-grader Ty Cutter is named after baseball great Ty Cobb, he is the worst player on the Brewer's team--which happens to be coached by his overly-competitive father.

Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen.
In alternating chapters, two teenagers describe how their feelings about themselves, each other, and their families have changed over the years.

Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris.
A young man with a mysterious past and a penchant for inventing things leaves the troll who raised him, meets an unhappy princess he has loved from afar, and discovers a plot against her and her father.

Here are some other books you might enjoy:

A House Called Awful End by Philip Ardagh.
When Eddie's ill parents become "a bit crinkly round the edges," he is taken by his great-uncle and great-aunt, Mad Uncle Jack and Mad Aunt Maude, and embarks on adventures that involve strolling actors, St. Horrid's Home for Grateful Orphans, and a carnival float shaped like a giant cow. This is the first of three books in the series.

If you enjoyed Forged by Fire by Sharon Draper, you might like some of these titles.

Begging For Change by Sharon G. Flake.
Raspberry tries to sort out feelings for her homeless, drug-addicted
father.

Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson.
A boy learns to write out his emotions and feelings in poetry as he deal with the death of his parents and separation from his sister.

I'm so glad you made a Book Match request in order to kill two birds
with one stone: something you can have a good laugh reading and then
write an easy critique! I hope you'll find something that grabs you
from the list of books below.

You might try his Island series (Book one is Shipwreck, published in 2001; Book Two is Survival;Book Three is Escape).

Here are three other titles you might enjoy.

Downriver by Will Hobbs.
Fifteen-year-old Jessie and the other rebellious teenage members of a
wilderness survival school team abandon their adult leader, hijack his boats, and try to run the dangerous white water at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

I've included three titles below that I hope you might enjoy.

The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson.
Odge Gribble, a young hag, accompanies an old wizard, a gentle fey, and a giant ogre on their mission through a magical tunnel from their Island to London to rescue their King and Queen's son who had been stolen as an infant.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle.
Meg Murry and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for Meg's father, who has disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government.

Here are three very different titles I hope you might enjoy; one historical fiction, one from the guy's point of view and the other from the girl's point of view as she deals with her mother's death. While some of the characters may seem young, I chose these titles because the plots are strong and the characters are well developed. Hope something here strikes your fancy!

Here are three books I hope you might enjoy as well.

Dogboy by Christopher Russell.
In 1346, twelve-year-old Brind, an orphaned kennel boy raised with hunting dogs at an English manor, accompanies his master, along with half of the manor's prized mastiffs, to France, where he must fend for himself when both his master and the dogs are lost at the decisive battle of Crécy.