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Grand Avenue Summer Reading Suggestions Rosanne Walker - Librarian Reviews:
Anything but Typical (Mar 2009)
Author: Baskin, Nora Raleigh
Jason, a twelve-year-old autistic boy who wants to become a writer, relates what
his life is like as he tries to make sense of his world.
People say 12-year-old Jason Blake is weird. He blinks his eyes oddly and flaps
his hands, his fingers jerking "like insects stuck on a string." Jason is autistic. He
hates art class and PE, where there's too much space and unorganized time, but
he feels at home on his computer, writing stories on the Storyboard website.
When he meets a fellow writer named Rebecca online and has the chance to
meet her in person at a Storyboard conference, he panics. What will happen to their
comfortable online relationship when she meets him? Baskin's delineation of an autistic
boy's world is brilliant, putting readers into Jason's mind, showing how he sees the world,
understands how his parents feel about him, frets about fitting in and yearns to find at
least one friend in the world.
The Compound (Apr 2008)
Author: Bodeen, S. A. (Stephanie A.)
After his parents, two sisters, and he have spent six years in a vast underground
compound built by his wealthy father to protect them from a nuclear holocaust,
fifteen-year-old Eli, whose twin brother and grandmother were left behind,
discovers that his father has perpetrated a monstrous hoax on them all.
Ever since their world was destroyed by a nuclear attack, 15-year-old Eli and his
family have lived in the Compound, a state-of-the-art bomb shelter built by his billionaire
father. Despite having every comfort, Eli is haunted by the fact that his twin and his
grandmother were left behind. He also begins to question his father's sanity after an
inventory miscalculation threatens their survival, and his dad hatches a morally corrupt
plan to "enhance their food supply." Eli's worst suspicions are confirmed when he
discovers a live Internet signal using an old laptop. Did the world really end six years
ago? Why else would Eli's father want to keep his family underground?
Red Kayak (Sep 2004)
Author: Cummings, Priscilla
Living near the water on Maryland's Eastern Shore, thirteen-year-old Brady and
his best friends J.T. and Digger become entangled in a tragedy which tests their
friendship and their ideas about right and wrong.
In this crime and coming-of-age drama, a toddler drowns in a kayak accident
after friends of teenage Brady, the victim’s neighbor, vent some anger against the
child’s dad by drilling holes in the bottom of his craft. It was a mean-spirited
prank--but no one was supposed to die. What happens now? Revealing the
terrible secret would implicate Brady’s friends in the drowning, and it clouds his
whole world with guilt and fear. Cummings works plot and characterizations skillfully,
building suspense as the evidence unfolds and as Brady wrestles with his decision and
tries to come to terms with his own responsibility.
Payback Time (Sep 2010) Author: Deuker, Carl
After losing the election for editor, Mitch True, an overweight aspiring journalist, is
assigned to be the sports reporter for his high-school paper. He's initially
disappointed with the assignment, but he soon discovers that the gig has its perks.
Kimi, the sports photographer, is beautiful, bright and brave, and, remarkably, he
may be sitting on a scorcher of a story. It seems that there's a high-school football
player, a recent transfer, who is huge and amazingly talented. Yet the player is
seriously underutilized, and, oddly, the coach doesn't want a word written about him. As
Mitch begins to lose weight, gain confidence and, with Kimi's help, ferret out the
mystery, he finds that he has accidentally poked his pen into a hornet's nest. Told in the
first person, the story is initially funny, but the humor is soon eclipsed by the suspenseful
plot and the play-by-play football action.
Out of My Mind (Mar 2010)
Author: Draper, Sharon M. (Sharon Mills)
Considered by many to be mentally retarded, a brilliant, impatient fifth-grader
with cerebral palsy discovers a technological device that will allow her to speak
for the first time.
Melody, an 11-year-old girl with cerebral palsy, who cannot speak or walk, tells
the story of her daily struggles. While Melody cannot express herself through
words, those around her realize that she understands more than she has been
given credit for. Melody’s mother enrolls her at their neighborhood
elementary school where she is placed in a classroom for physically and mentally
challenged students. The teacher decides that her students are going to be included in
regular classroom activities, and Melody is given a computer, which allows her to
express herself by speaking for her. She is able to join a group of students who participate
in a national quiz bowl. Once everyone realizes that Melody has far more talent than
many of the regular students, they question their treatment of others.
Michael Vey – Prisoner of Cell 25 (Aug 2011) Science Fiction
Author: Evans, Richard Paul
Tale of a teenager with superpowers and the conspiracy that created him. Years
ago, a medical equipment accident killed dozens of newborns and left 17of them
with assorted "electrical powers." In present-day Idaho, 14-year-old misfit Michael
Vey, who can create electricity and has Tourette's syndrome, is one of the last two
living outside of Pasadena. Coincidentally, the other "electric child" is Michael's
crush, cute cheerleader, Taylor who is able to mentally "reset" people's brains. When a
mysterious organization called Elgen kidnaps Taylor as well as Michael's mother,
Michael, his best friend Ostin, and a pair of school bullies venture on a cross-country trip
to rescue them.
Better Nate than Ever (Feb 2013)
Author: Federle, Tim
An eighth-grader who dreams of performing in a Broadway musical concocts a
plan to run away to New York and audition for the role of Elliot in the musical
version of "E.T.".
In this funny and insightful story, the dreams of many a small-town, theater-loving
boy are reflected in the starry eyes of eighth-grader Nate. When Nate hops a
Greyhound bus to travel across Pennsylvania to try out for the Broadway-bound
musical based on the movie E.T., no one but his best friend, Libby, knows about it;
not his athletic brother, religious father, or unhappy mother. Self-reliant, he arrives in
Manhattan for the first time and finds his way into the audition with dramatic results, and
when his estranged actress/waitress aunt suddenly appears, a troubled family history and
a useful subplot surface. Nate’s emerging sexuality is tactfully addressed in an age-
appropriate manner throughout, particularly in his wonderment at the differences between
his hometown and N.Y.C., “a world where guys . . . can dance next to other guys who
probably liked Phantom of the Opera and not get threatened or assaulted.
Under the Egg (Mar 2014)
Author: Fitzgerald, Laura Marx
Her grandfather's dying words lead thirteen-year-old Theodora Tenpenny to a
valuable, hidden painting she fears may be stolen, but it is her search for
answers in her Greenwich Village neighborhood that brings a real treasure.
Could a treasure be hiding underneath? An accident with a bottle of rubbing
alcohol reveals an unusual image that sets the teen off on an art history adventure taking
her from New York Public Library's Jefferson Market branch to a fancy Upper East Side
auction house, to a church, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Center for Jewish
History, and two Holocaust survivors. Along the way, she befriends Bodhi, the jet-
setting, paparazzi-hounded daughter of two celebrities; Reverend Cecily from Grace
Church; and a punk-rock librarian named Eddie.
Following her grandfather’s death, Theo shoulders the responsibility of looking after her
mentally unfocused mother and keeping their Greenwich Village household running with
no income. When Theo uncovers the old painting, possibly an original Raphael, she
hopes to save their home. But is it a Raphael? Why was it hidden under a layer of paint?
Was it stolen? By her beloved grandfather?! Along the way, Fitzgerald includes a good
bit of art history, which becomes as interesting as the interplay between the two friends.
The Skin I'm In (Oct 1998)
Author: Flake, Sharon
Thirteen-year-old Maleeka, uncomfortable because her skin is extremely dark,
meets a new teacher and makes some discoveries about how to love who she is
and what she looks like. In this YA novel, a middle - schooler feels like an
outcast and struggles for acceptance. Maleeka Madison feels like a freak in her
inner-city middle school. The kids pick on her because she's "the darkest, worst-
dressed thing in school" and because she gets good grades. The leader of the pack
is Charlese, who pulls and pushes Maleeka into wilder and wilder
delinquent behavior. A new teacher tries to help and so does a smart,
friendly boy. In the end, Maleeka stands up for herself, wins the poetry contest, and likes
the skin she's in. The gum-smacking, wisecracking dialogue in the hallways, the girls'
bathroom, and the classroom will pull readers into a world too rarely represented in
middle-grade fiction. Every outsider kid will get it, every victim of class bullies.
Dead End in Norvelt (September 2011)
Author: Gantos, Jack
In the historic town of Norvelt, Pennsylvania, twelve-year-old Jack Gantos spends
the summer of 1962 grounded for various offenses until he is assigned to help an
elderly neighbor with a most unusual chore involving the newly dead, molten
wax, twisted promises, Girl Scout cookies, underage driving, and lessons from
history, typewriting, and countless bloody noses.
Jack accidentally discharges his father's war relic, a Japanese rifle, and is
grounded for the summer. When a neighbor's arthritic hands get the best of her,
his mother lifts the restriction and volunteers the 12-year-old to be the woman's
scribe, writing obituaries for the local newspaper. Business is brisk for Miss
Volker, who doubles as town coroner, and Norvelt's elderly females seem to be
dropping like flies. It is a madcap romp, with the boy at the wheel of Miss
Volker's car as they try to figure out if a Hell's Angel motorcyclist has put a curse
on the town, or who might have laced Mertie-Jo's Girl Scout cookies with rat
poison. Each quirky obituary is infused with a bit of Norvelt's history, providing
insightful postwar facts focusing on Eleanor Roosevelt's role in founding the town
on principles of sustainable farming and land ownership for the poor.
Far North (Sep 1996) Adventure - Realistic Fiction
Author: Hobbs, Will
From the window of a small float plane, 15-year-old Gabe Rogers is getting his
first look at Canada's magnificent Northwest Territories with Raymond Providence,
his roommate from boarding school. Below is the spectacular Nahanni River: wall-
to-wall whitewater racing between sheer cliffs and plunging over Virginia Falls.
The pilot sets the plane down on the lake-like surface of the upper river for a closer
look at the thundering falls. Suddenly the engine quits. The only sound is a dull
roar downstream, as the Cessna drifts helplessly toward the falls. . . . With the brutal
subarctic winter fast approaching, Gabe and Raymond soon find themselves stranded in
Deadmen Valley. Trapped in a frozen world of moose, wolves, and bears, two boys from
vastly different cultures come to depend on each other for their very survival.
Stormbreaker (May 2001)
Author: Horowitz, Anthony
After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, fourteen-year-old Alex
Rider is coerced to continue his uncle's dangerous work for Britain's intelligence
agency, MI6.
When his uncle and legal guardian are mysteriously killed in a car crash, 14-year-
old Alex sees his prep-school world overturned in an instant. Police explain in funeral
voices that Ian Rider’s death was the result of not wearing his seat belt, but
that doesn’t explain the fresh spray of bullet holes across the car’s battered
windshield. Finding out what really killed his uncle “and saving England” become
young Alex’s new life mission. Inspired by James Bond and his own opulent but
lonely boarding school upbringing, Horowitz thoughtfully balances Alex’s super-spy
finesse with typical teen insecurities to create a likable hero living an adventure fantasy
come true.
Fish in a Tree (Feb 2015)
Author: Hunt, Lynda Mullaly
“Everybody is smart in different ways. But if you judge a fish by its ability to
climb a tree, it will live its life believing it is stupid.”
Ally's greatest fear is that everyone will find out she is as dumb as they think she
is because she still doesn't know how to read"--. Ally Nickerson has been to
seven schools in seven years, and the same thing happens at each one: she spends
more time in the principal’s office than in class. The pattern is repeating at Ally’s current
school until a long-term substitute teacher, Mr. Daniels, discovers that Ally is acting out
to hide the fact that she can’t read. Ally is deeply ashamed and has bought into what
others have told her—that she’s dumb and worthless—but Mr. Daniels helps her
understand that she has dyslexia and see her talents and intelligence. As Ally’s fragile
confidence grows, she connects with two other classroom outsiders, Albert and Keisha.
One for the Murphys (May 2012) Author: Hunt, Lynda Mullaly
A moving novel about a foster child learning to open her heart to a family's
love.
Sent to a foster home after a beating from her stepfather, eighth-grader Carley
Connors learns about a different kind of family life. At first she resists living
with her foster family and then she resists having to leave the loving, loyal
Murphys.
Carley uses humor and street smarts to keep her emotional walls high and thick. But the
day she becomes a foster child, and moves in with the Murphys, she's blindsided. This
loving, bustling family shows Carley the stable family life she never thought existed, and
she feels like an alien in their cookie-cutter-perfect household. Despite her resistance, the
Murphys eventually show her what it feels like to belong--until her mother wants her
back and Carley has to decide where and how to live. She's not really a Murphy, but the
gifts they've given her have opened up a new future.
The Great Greene Heist (May 2014)
Author: Johnson, Varian
Jackson Greene has a reputation as a prankster at Maplewood Middle
School, but after the last disaster he is trying to go straight--but when it looks
like Keith Sinclair may steal the election for school president from Jackson's
former best friend Gabriela, he assembles a team to make sure Keith does not
succeed.
Trying to go straight, troublemaker Jackson Greene succumbs to the lure of
the con when it appears Maplewood Middle School's student-council election
is being rigged against his friend Gaby de la Cruz. Although Gaby's been
angry at Jackson for more than four months, the two could be more than just
friends. And her twin brother, Charlie, Jackson's best friend, is worried about her
electoral chances. So Jackson breaks rule No. 3 of the Greene Code of Conduct: "Never
con for love. Or even like." During the week before the election, a delightful and diverse
cast of middle school students with a wide range of backgrounds and interests concocts a
series of elaborate schemes to make sure the Scantron-counted ballots will produce
honest results. While all this is going on, Gaby is busily campaigning and rethinking her
love life.
Ungifted (Aug 2012)
Author: Korman, Gordon
.
Donovan Curtis is an impulse-driven prankster who, at the start of Ungifted ,
manages to alienate both the students and faculty of his middle school. First he
mocks the basketball team over the school PA system with a derisive cheer and
then he whacks the school's statue of Atlas with a stick, knocking the huge globe
off and sending it rolling down the hill where it smashes into the gymnasium
and stops the big game. When Donovan ends up in trouble, the district
superintendent accidentally adds his name to the roll of gifted students at the
Academy for Scholastic Distinction. Although he flounders at his new school, Donovan
ends up humanizing a program that focuses on academic achievement and ignores the
social aspects of students' success. Donovan finds that his gift lies in helping the smart
kids by teaching them how to be "normal.
Death Cloud (Feb 2011) Mystery
Author: Lane, Andy
In 1868, with his army officer father suddenly posted to India, and his mother
mysteriously "unwell," fourteen-year-old Sherlock Holmes is sent to stay with
his eccentric uncle and aunt in their vast house in Hampshire, where he uncovers
his first murder and a diabolical villain.
Series: Young Sherlock Holmes, 1
Legend (Nov 2011) (Sci Fi)
Author:Lu, Marie
In a dark future, when North America has split into two warring nations, fifteen-
year-olds Day, a famous criminal, and prodigy June, the brilliant soldier hired to
capture him, discover that they have a common enemy.
In this futuristic tale told in alternating voices, the United States has devolved
into factions and California is a part of the Republic. The people are oppressed,
except for the privileged few, and Day is carrying out a raid on a hospital for
plague medicine for his family. Readers learn that he has been fighting against
the Republic for some time, with phenomenal success. Unfortunately, his raid ends with
a Republic soldier wounded, and Day is also injured while making his escape. The other
narrator is June, who is Republic-trained, privileged, and also in possession of
remarkable abilities. She vows vengeance on her brother's killer—he is the wounded
soldier. June knows about Day, and she also knows that he doesn't kill, so why did he kill
her brother? It's a good question, since he didn't. There is plenty of intrigue and
underhanded dealing going on, mostly by Republic officials. The mystery surrounding
June's brother and the constant recurrence of various strains of plague are solved by the
end, with June and Day joining forces to fight injustice.
Every Soul a Star (Oct 2008)
Author: Mass, Wendy
Ally, Bree, and Jack meet at the one place the Great Eclipse can be seen in
totality, each carrying the burden of different personal problems, which become
dim when compared to the task they embark upon and the friendship they find.
The lives of three young people intersect and transform against the backdrop of a
total solar eclipse. Homeschooled Ally has grown up at the remote Moon
Shadow Campground, which her family runs. An eclipse, which can be viewed
only from this site, is approaching, and ahead of it come Bree, an aspiring model
obsessed with popularity, and Jack, a reclusive artist and avid sci-fi reader. Ally's
sheltered world is about to change as she discovers that her parents plan to cede
management of the campground to Bree's parents after the event. Neither Ally nor Bree is
excited about the prospect, but as the teens interact they come to terms with the changes
they face. Meanwhile, introverted Jack finds himself making friends and becoming a
leader. As they go their separate ways, all three approach the future with a newfound
balance between their internal and their external lives.
Second Chance Summer (May 2012)
Author: Matson, Morgan
Taylor Edwards' family might not be the closest-knit--everyone is a little too
busy and overscheduled--but for the most part, they get along just fine. Then
Taylor's dad gets devastating news, and her parents decide that the family will
spend one last summer all together at their old lake house in the Pocono
Mountains. Crammed into a place much smaller and more rustic than they are
used to, they begin to get to know each other again. And Taylor discovers that
the people she thought she had left behind haven't actually gone anywhere. Her
former best friend is still around, as is her first boyfriend...and he's much cuter at
seventeen than he was at twelve. As the summer progresses and the Edwards become
more of a family, they're more aware than ever that they're battling a ticking clock.
Sometimes, though, there is just enough time to get a second chance--with family, with
friends, and with love.
The Cruisers (Aug 2010)
Author: Myers, Walter Dean
Series: 1 (Three other books in series)
Friends Zander, Kambui, LaShonda, and Bobbi, caught in the middle of a
mock Civil War at DaVinci Academy, learn the true cost of freedom of speech
when they use their alternative newspaper, The Cruiser, to try to make peace.
Eighth-grader Zander Scott and his friends are known as the Cruisers in their Harlem
school for gifted and talented kids, primarily for being fine with Cs and not into “that
heavy competition thing.” They’ve also started an unofficial newspaper, The Cruiser,
that isn’t explicitly designed to ruffle the school administration’s feathers but has a knack
for it anyway. A project on the Civil War splits the class into Union and Confederate
sympathizers, and the Cruisers are tasked with trying to mediate a peace. Tempers flare
as the school allows the project to progress a bit too far, but that gives the kids a chance
to get creative in their responses to racial tensions.
A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story
(Jan 2009)
Author: Park, Linda Sue
When the Sudanese civil war reaches his village in 1985, eleven-year-old Salva
becomes separated from his family and must walk with other Dinka tribe
members through southern Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya in search of safe haven,
food and water. Based on the life of Salva Dut, who, after emigrating to America
in 1996, began a project to dig water wells in Sudan
The lessons Salva remembers from his family keep him from despair during harsh times
in refugee camps and enable him, as a young man, to begin a new life in America. As
Salva's story unfolds, readers also learn about another Sudanese youth, Nya, and how
these two stories connect contributes to the satisfying conclusion. This story is told as
fiction, but it is based on real-life experiences of one of the "Lost Boys" of the Sudan.
Salva and Nya have difficult paths to walk in life. Salva's journey, based on a true story,
begins in 1985 with an explosion. The boy's small village in Sudan erupts into chaos
while the 11-year-old is in school, and the teacher tells the children to run away. Salva
survives and gets 1200 boys to safety in Kenya. Nya's life in 2008 revolves around water.
She spends eight hours a day walking to and from a pond.
Bluefish (Sept 2011)
Author: Schmatz, Pat
Everything changes for thirteen-year-old Travis, a new student who is trying to
hide his illiteracy, when he meets a sassy classmate with her own secrets and a
remarkable teacher. Eighth-grader Travis is beginning his first year in a new
school. When he helps out a student being bullied, this rare act of middle-school
kindness impresses an unusual, witty, and talkative girl named Vida—or
Velveeta, as she prefers to be called. She befriends the strong-but-silent newcomer.
Velveeta and Travis have the same reading class, where compassionate Mr. McQueen
quickly recognizes that Travis has a serious reading deficit and suggests that he visit him
for extra tutoring. Velveeta soon guesses what Travis is doing in these early-morning
sessions and offers to help him. Eventually, he reluctantly agrees. But Travis's reading
problem is only one of the deeper secrets that this unlikely pair will gradually begin to
share. Travis lives with his alcoholic grandfather and his beloved dog, Rosco. When he
and his grandfather move to a new town, the dog disappears, and Travis is devastated.
Worse, he feels like a “bluefish,” his word for stupid. And, indeed, school is a struggle
for him because, as the reader soon discovers, he has a closely guarded secret.
Okay for Now (Apr 2011)
Author: Schmidt, Gary D.
When his dad loses his job, Doug Swieteck has to leave his friend Holling and
Camillo Junior High and get used to things in Marysville, NY. His oldest brother's in
Vietnam, his middle brother's still a hoodlum, his mom is quiet but nice, and his only
salvation is weekly visits to the public library, where the librarian is teaching him to
draw by using models from a volume of Audubon's Birds of America. Lil, the
daughter of the grocer, gives him a delivery job. Schmidt brings in baseball,
theatrical events, and timely events like the Moon landing and the Vietnam War.
Readers know right away that Doug’s father is abusive, but for a while Doug keeps the
magnitude of it a secret among other secrets—hidden from those around him. He grows
to realize a lot about his family's relationships through study of Audubon's painted birds
(one plate is featured at the start of each chapter), and the volume itself becomes a
metaphor for his journey from fragmented to whole self. A tough but engaging story.
Scrawl (Sept 2010)
Author: Shulman, Mark
When eighth-grade school bully Tod and his friends get caught committing a
crime on school property, his penalty--staying after school and writing in a
journal under the eye of the school guidance counsellor--reveals aspects of
himself that he prefers to keep hidden.
After class-bully Tod and his “droogs” get caught vandalizing school property,
his punishment is to spend every day in after-school detention writing in a
notebook. “About anything?” he asks Mrs. W., his jailer. “Okay. Fine. You asked
for it. I’ll write about this desk. I hate this desk.” The classic smarter-than-his-teachers
underachiever with a rotten home life, Tod has a real way with words (the way he
crashes, then dominates the spelling bee is priceless), and he soon warms to his enforced
writing therapy.
The Schwa was Here (Oct 2004)
Author: Shusterman, Neal
A Brooklyn eighth-grader nicknamed Antsy befriends the Schwa, an "invisible-
ish" boy who is tired of blending into his surroundings and going unnoticed by
nearly everyone.
When Anthony “Antsy” Bonano and his friends meet Calvin Schwa, they are
impressed and puzzled by his ability to appear and disappear before their very
eyes. Antsy concocts a moneymaking scheme based on the Schwa’s invisibility
that seems promising until he and his friends overreach and are caught by the town’s
legendary mean millionaire, Mr. Crawley. Their resulting community service project--
walking the 7 virtues and 7 vices (Crawley’s 14 afghan hounds) and going out with
Crawley’s granddaughter Lexie--cements and ultimately challenges friendships.
Counting by 7s (Aug 2013)
Author: Sloan, Holly Goldberg
Twelve-year-old genius and outsider Willow Chance must figure out how to
connect with other people and find surrogate families for herself after her parents
are killed in a car accident.
Twelve-year-old Willow Chase lives with her adoptive parents in Bakersfield,
California. There in the desert, she grew a garden in her backyard, her sanctuary.
She was excited about starting a new school, hoping this time she might fit in,
might find a friend. Willow had been identified in preschool as highly gifted, most of the
time causing confusion and feelings of ineptness in her teachers. Now at her new school
she is accused of cheating because no one has ever finished the state proficiency test in
just 17 minutes, let alone gotten a perfect score. Her reward is behavioral counseling with
Dell Duke, an ineffectual counselor with organizational and social issues of his own. She
does make a friend when Mai Nguyen brings her brother, Quang-ha, to his appointment,
and their lives begin to intertwine when Willow's parents are killed in an auto accident.
For the second time in her life she is an orphan, forced to find a "new normal." She is
taken in temporarily by Mai's mother, who must stay ahead of Social Services. While
Willow sees herself as just an observer, trying to figure out the social norms of regular
family life, she is actually a catalyst for change, bringing together unsuspecting people
and changing their lives forever.
Peak (May 2007) Author: Smith, Roland
A fourteen-year-old boy attempts to be the youngest person to reach the top of
Mount Everest.
Fourteen-year-old New Yorker Peak Marcello hones his climbing skills by
scaling skyscrapers. After Peak is caught climbing the Woolworth Building, an
angry judge gives him probation, with an understanding that Peak will leave
New York and live with his famous mountaineer father in Thailand. Peak soon learns,
however, that his father has other plans for him; he hopes that Peak will become the
youngest person to climb Mt. Everest. Peak is whisked off to Tibet and finds himself in
the complex world of an Everest base camp, where large amounts of money are at stake
and climbing operations offer people an often-deadly shot at the summit. This is a
thrilling, multifaceted adventure story. Great for a kid who thinks books are boring.
Action filled realistic fiction.
Curveball: the Year I Lost My Grip (Mar 2012)
Author: Sonnenblick, Jordan
Peter Friedman, high school freshman, is a talented photographer and a former
baseball star. When a freakish injury ends his pitching career, Peter has some
major things to figure out. Is there life after sports? Why has his grandfather
suddenly given him thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment? And is it
his imagination, or is the super-hot star of the girls' swim team flirting with
him, right in front of the amazing new girl in his photography class?
Realizing that his baseball career is over, Peter Friedman, 13, turns to sports
photography, in emulation of his beloved grandfather, who was a professional
photographer. It soon becomes evident; however, that Grampa is slipping into senility.
Peter feels that his parents are unwilling to accept this reality, and so he attempts to deal
with his grandfather's growing impairment on his own, with near-catastrophic results. He
also keeps the extent of his arm injury secret from his best friend, the popular and
outgoing AJ, who continues to make plans for their mutual success on the diamond. With
the help of wise and sassy Angelika, a fellow photographer, Peter learns to confront the
difficult issues in his life.
The Meaning of Maggie (May 2014) Author: Sovern, Megan Jean
Maggie Mayfield, 11, begins chronicling her life, because keeping a memoir is very
important when you are a future U.S. president. This is the year that she will start
middle school, defend her science fair title, and become a Coca-Cola shareholder.
But while Maggie is acing her classes and keeping an eye on her flighty sisters, her
father’s health is failing. He quits his job, and her mom goes back to work, plus her
sisters are acting even more strangely while everyone is adjusting to this new system. As
her father’s symptoms of multiple sclerosis become more severe, Maggie’s hope is to
find a cure with her science fair project. Maggie’s story is at once optimistic but realistic.
Typical school problems and family issues compete for attention, but she stays true to
herself.
Liar & Spy (Aug 2012)
Author: Stead, Rebecca
Seventh-grader Georges adjusts to moving from a house to an apartment, his father's
efforts to start a new business, his mother's extra shifts as a nurse, being picked on at
school, and Safer, a boy who wants his help spying on another resident of their
building. Georges’ life is turned upside down when his father loses his job, forcing
his mother to take on extra nursing shifts and prompting the family to move from
their house into an unfamiliar Brooklyn apartment. At school, Georges is a bit of an
outcast, having been abandoned by his one and only friend and often the subject of
bullies' taunts. Then he sees a sign advertising a Spy Club and meets Safer, a
homeschooled loner who lives in his building, and Safer's warm, welcoming, and quirky
family offers him respite from the stress at home. Together the boys track a mysterious
building resident who Safer is sure is hiding a sinister secret. As the investigation
progresses, Georges grows increasingly uncomfortable with Safer's actions. Stead has
written a layered novel that explores friendship in all its facets. She particularly examines
truths, secrets, deceptions, and imagination and whether these can destroy or ultimately
strengthen a friendship.
Unfriended (Sep 2014)
Author: Vail, Rachel
In middle school, nothing is more important than friendship. When Truly is
invited to sit at the Popular Table with the group she has dreamed of joining,
she can hardly believe her luck. Everyone seems so nice, so kind to one
another. But all is not as it seems with her new friends, and soon she's caught
in a maelstrom of lies, misunderstandings, accusations and counter-
accusations, all happening very publicly in the relentless, social media world
from which there is no escape.
Six middle schoolers, four girls and two boys, struggle to understand and process their
interactions in one another's lives as they find new ways to disconnect, but also to
connect.
The novel addresses cyber bullying among eighth-graders, multiple narrators give their
first-person accounts of the thorny relationship between former best friends Truly and
Natasha—and its effects on the social dynamic of a wide circle.
Paperboy (May 2013)
Author: Vawter, VinceAn 11-year-old boy living in Memphis in 1959 throws the
meanest fastball in town, but talking is a whole different ball game. He can barely
say a word without stuttering, not even his own name. So when he takes over his
best friend’s paper route for the month of July, he knows he’ll be forced to
communicate with the different customers, including a housewife who drinks too
much and a retired merchant marine who seems to know just about everything.
The newspaper route poses challenges, but it’s a run-in with the neighborhood junkman,
a bully and thief, that stirs up real trouble–and puts the boy’s life, as well as that of his
family’s devoted housekeeper, in danger.
The Running Dream (Jan 2011)
Author : Van Draanen, Wendelin
When a school bus accident leaves sixteen-year-old Jessica an amputee, she
returns to school with a prosthetic limb. Running is Jessica’s life. She was
hoping for a sports scholarship to college when she is injured in the bus accident.
She slips into depression. Whenever Jessica starts feeling better about her
situation, something knocks her back down. She fits in all right at school, but she
finds out that the insurance companies won't pay for her bills so her parents have
to fight in court. Her father is putting in long hours at work to pay the bills
Her track team finds a wonderful way to help rekindle her dream of running again.
The Final Four (Mar 2012)
By: Volponi, Paul
The fates of four college basketball players come together as their teams meet in a
semifinal game of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Malcolm McBride and
Michael Jordan are members of the vaunted Michigan State Spartans while Roko
Bacic and Crispin Rice play for the underdog Troy University Trojans. Their stories are
told by means of flashbacks, journal entries, newspaper accounts, and TV interviews
weaving in and out of the play-by-play. Four players with one thing in common: the will
to win.
Malcolm wants to get to the NBA ASAP. Roko wants to be the pride of his native
Croatia. Crispin wants the girl of his dreams. M.J. just wants a chance. Malcolm,
Michael, and Roko come across as being especially complex, multifaceted, driven
individuals. Malcolm is in many ways the least likable but most compelling of the
protagonists. He boldly speaks truth to power in challenging a college athletic system that
routinely exploits student athletes while raking in hundreds of millions of dollars from
their unpaid labors. This book contains exciting game action and a candid exploration of
the hypocrisy of amateur sports.
So B. It (May 2004)
Author: Weeks, Sarah
The only family that 13-year-old Heidi has ever known is an unusual one made up
of her developmentally disabled mother and their agoraphobic neighbor,
Bernadette. (Agoraphobia is a terrible fear of open spaces.) Bernadette ("Bernie")
has been taking care of both Heidi and her mother since they showed up in her
Reno, Nevada apartment building soon after Heidi was born. But since Heidi's
mom only uses 23 different words, neither Heidi nor Bernie really knows where
she came from or whether Heidi and she have any other family. When Heidi finds
an old camera and the developed film gives her a clue about her mother's past, she
strikes out on her own for New York, determined to find her roots.
Revolution (May 2014)
Author: Wiles, Deborah
Struggling to adapt within her newly blended family in 1964 Mississippi, Sunny
witnesses increasingly scary community agitation when activists from the North
arrive in town to help register African Americans to vote. Readers are offered two
alternate viewpoints from very different worlds within the same Greenwood,
Mississippi town during the tumultuous Freedom Summer of 1964. Sunny, a 12-
year-old white girl is worried about reports of "invaders" descending upon the
sleepy Southern enclave and causing trouble. Meanwhile, Raymond, a black boy from
Baptist Town (known among the white citizens as "Colored Town"), is becoming
increasingly aware of all the places (especially the public pool and Leflore's theater) he is
barred from attending due to Jim Crow laws. Song lyrics, biblical verses, photographs,
speeches, essays, and other ephemera immerse readers in one of the most important—and
dangerous—moments during the Civil Rights Movement. Readers are offered a window
into each community and will see both characters change and grow over the course of the
summer.
The Revealers (Oct 2003)
Author: Wilhelm, Doug
Tired of being bullied and picked on, three seventh-grade outcasts join forces and,
using scientific methods and the power of the Internet, begin to create a new
atmosphere at Parkland Middle School.
Parkland Middle School is a place the students call Darkland, because no one in it
does much to stop the daily harassment of kids by other kids. Three bullied
seventh graders use their smarts to get the better of their tormentors by starting an unofficial
e-mail forum at school in which they publicize their experiences. Unexpectedly, lots of other
kids come forward to confess their similar troubles, and it becomes clear that the problem at
their school is bigger than anyone knew.
No Summit Out of Sight: the true story of the youngest person to climb the
seven summits (May 2014) Biography - Non-fiction
Author: Romero, Jordan
The true story of a 10-year-old who climbed to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro and
subsequently summited the tallest mountains on the other six continents by the age
of 15.Inspired by a school mural, 9-year-old Jordan Romero announced to his father
his goal to climb each of the Seven Summits, the tallest mountains on each
continent. He reached his first, Kilimanjaro, when he was 10 and conquered Everest
at 13. At 15, Romero completed his final climb in Antarctica, becoming the youngest person
to reach all Seven Summits, plus Mount Carstensz in New Guinea, and setting several world
records. Romero's father and stepmother, both professional athletes, were unwaveringly
supportive in helping him achieve his goal. Funding the expeditions was accomplished
through corporate sponsorship, T-shirt sales, a lemonade stand and support from small
businesses in Jordan's hometown. Now 17 (and with the assistance of LeBlanc), Jordan
vividly chronicles his preparation for the climbs, his impressions of the countries he visited,
the dangers and thrills of the ascents, and the physical and emotional endurance required to
achieve his goals.