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NPR's Backseat Book Club polled children's booksellers and librarians to find 2012's best books for middle-graders. The winners are a heartwarming city kid's tale, a Chinese folklore-inspired adventure, and an encounter with a 10-year-old you'll never forget.

Condoleezza Rice remembers her time in the Bush administration, Michael Lewis and Thant Myint-U discuss the world's economies, Michael Moore recounts his journey toward becoming a filmmaker, and Toni Morrison collects essays about censorship and the power of literature.

Novelist Don DeLillo collects his short stories, retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens reflects on his career, Lawrence Lessig looks at money and power in politics, and comedians Ellen DeGeneres and John Hodgman poke fun at life's sunny and gloomy sides.

Writer Jody Arlington picks three hot summer graphic-novel reads. The twist? They all star anthropomorphic animals: Doughty badger detective LeBrock, hard-boiled cat detective John Blacksad and resistance rabbit Hardin dodge assassins, steal secrets and track down the missing just like their human counterparts.

NPR's Barrie Hardymon has been scanning the catalogs all year, searching for the summer's best books. Her five favorites range from young-adult fiction to a memoir about cheese.

In softcover nonfiction, Rosecrans Baldwin opines about France, Carissa Phelps goes from juvy to J.D., and Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy chart the history of rabies. In fiction, Shani Boianjiu draws from her time as an Israeli soldier, and Sheila Heti crafts a novel from her own life experiences.

In fiction, a novel from Nobel Prize-winner Nadine Gordimer, a posthumous thriller from Michael Crichton and a sensual werewolf tale from Anne Rice arrive in paperback. In softcover nonfiction, Paul Krugman confronts our economic depression, and Charles Murray looks at the U.S. class divide.

In softcover fiction, Barbara Kingsolver explores climate change, Jami Attenberg depicts an eating disorder, Dave Eggers sends a businessman to Saudi Arabia, and Vaddey Ratner fictionalizes life under the Khmer Rouge. In nonfiction, Jeffrey Toobin examines the Supreme Court and President Obama.

Some of these novels will touch your heart; others will challenge your mind. One will make you laugh — a few might make you cry. But all of these books recommended by NPR's Lynn Neary will give you and your friends plenty to talk about.

Julia Alvarez's story of a promise kept, Alice Kaplan's account of three American women in Paris, Bart D. Ehrman's inquiry into the identity of Jesus, and Andrew Nagorski's survey of Americans who witnessed Hitler's ascent arrive in paperback.