Hilary McKay Casson series -

Indigo's Star
This is one of those books that could easily be tagged as "family", but it 's really so much more. The Casson family, in between their messiness and their obvious love for each other, have to deal with a lot of stuff. It's unusual in a a book geared for this age to find characters and situations that treat the audience as full participants in the story, but this one really does. I've read 3 of the 4 books in the series, and while I'm eager to read the last installment, I'm going to wait for a bit. It's not just that I don't want it to end . . . it's more that I want to savor this series. I really like living in their world, and I just want it to last a bit longer.