Tentacle and wing

Twelve-year-old Ada is a Chimera, born with human and animal DNA thanks to a genetic experiment gone wrong. Because being a "kime" is believed to be contagious, she has kept her condition - complete with infrared vision - hidden.

But a surprise test outs her, and Ada is shipped off to a quarantined school for kimes. There Ada meets kids of many different shapes, stripes, and appendages, such as a girl with dragonfly wings and a seal-boy.

As she adjusts to her new life, Ada senses that the facility is keeping a secret that could upend everything the world knows about Chimeras.

But will someone put a stop to her efforts to uncover the truth? AGES: 10 to 12 AUTHOR: Sarah Porter is the author of the young adult novels Lost Voices, Waking Storms, The Twice Lost, and Vassa in the Night.

She is also an artist and a freelance public school teacher.