Halfway to Harmony

Walter Tipple is looking for adventure. He keeps having a dream that his big brother, Tank, appears before him and says, “Let’s you and me go see my world, little man.” But Tank went to the army and never came home, and Walter doesn’t know how to see the world without him.

Then he meets Posey, the brash new girl from next door, and an eccentric man named Banjo, who’s off on a bodacious adventure of his own. What follows is a summer of taking chances, becoming braver, and making friends — and maybe Walter can learn who he wants to be without the brother he always wanted to be like. “Halfway to Harmony,” by award-winning author Barbara O’Connor of Asheville, is an utterly charming story about change and growing up. This is a heartfelt middle-grade novel about a boy whose life is upended after the loss of his older brother — timeless, classic, and whimsical. Hardcover, 240 pages, $16.99; e-book, $7.99 (prices may vary by retailer).