Author: Varsha Bajaj
Published: 2019 Karina and her family are Indian American. Her grandfather has moved in with them. With not a lot to keep him busy, Papa volunteers to help tutor one of Karina's classmates in math. It just happens to be their next door neighbor, Chris. Karina and Chris have a complicated past. Last year Chris was laughing with a bunch of boys who were making fun of Karina, and they haven't had much contact since. One day, Karina, Chris, and Papa are walking outside when a man comes up to them. He asks Chris, who is white, if he is okay. Then he starts physically attacking Papa and calling him terrible names. Luckily a neighbor hears and calls the police. After the attack, Karina and Chris are absolutely horrified and don't know what to do. Papa is in the hospital, and Karina decides to turn to social media to share what happened to them. Suddenly everyone has heard their story and everyone has an opinion. Count Me In is about prejudice and hate but also about acceptance and friendship. Fantastic story every middle school student should read.
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Author: Micol Ostow
Published: 2019 If you are a fan of the TV show Riverdale, then you should read this prequel novel! This book takes place on July 3rd, the day before Jason Blossom went missing. Betty is in LA working at her internship trying to find opportunities to prove herself to her boss, all while being sabotaged by someone else at work. Archie is dealing with a forbidden romance. Jughead is learning more about his dad and dealing with the loss of his workplace. Veronica is learning about her family scandal and is being betrayed by her closest friends. Throughout the book, texts, emails, notes, and posters are scattered between chapters that give more background on what is happening in the town of Riverdale and what led to the events that happened on July 4th. Author: Ashley Herring Blake
Published: 2018 Mara has recently broken up with her girlfriend, Charlie. They have decided that they don't want to lose each other as best friends, so they should stop dating. But that's not the truth. Mara is dealing with a secret from her past that she has told no one, and she feels like she needs to break up with Charlie because of it. When Mara sees that Charlie starts dating someone else, she is devastated and doesn't know what to do. Mara and Owen are twins. Owen is dating Mara's good friend Hannah. When Hannah accuses Owen of rape, Mara doesn't know what to believe. If the boy Hannah was accusing wasn't her twin brother, she would absolutely believe Hannah. But she also can't be on Owen's side because she doesn't know if she is convinced when he tells her he didn't do it. When Hannah comes back to school a week after she accuses Owen, it is not pretty. Owen's friends have started bullying her and the rumors are flying. Mara needs to decide what she is going to do. Mara, Charlie, and Hannah's story is heartbreaking and beautiful. It is tough but absolutely necessary. Alex lives with his mom and his dog. Alex's dad died eight years ago, and his older brother is living in LA and doesn't get home much. It is up to Alex to take care of his mom who has what Alex calls "quiet days" where she doesn't do much. Alex cooks food for her and makes sure she eats.
Alex is obsessed with rockets and space. He has built a rocket and is currently recording audio files on his iPod that he plans to launch into space. He wants whatever life forms who find it in outer space to know what life is like on earth, so he is recording the different things that happen to him. There is a huge rocket festival where Alex will get a chance to launch his rocket into space, so he has to leave his mom alone for a few days. He cooks her enough food to last her the few days and sets out with his dog. Alex meets two guys who take him under their wing. When he gets an email from Ancestry.com with a marriage license that lists his father marrying another woman who is not his mother, he convinces the guys to take him to Las Vegas, where his dad supposedly lives. Alex is convinced that his dad somehow got amnesia and doesn't remember he has a family. As Alex goes on this journey, we discover more about his family, including secrets he was never meant to find out. See You in the Cosmos is a story about a boy who is dealing with a lot more than he should have to. It reminds me of the book Small as an Elephant by Jennifer Richard Jacobson. Beautiful story about family and mental illness. Author: Lisa Moore Ramee
Published: 2019 Shayla is in 7th grade. She hangs out with her best friends from elementary school, Julia and Isabella. This year, things have started to change. Isabella gets her braces off and looks unbelievably amazing. Julia is starting to hang out with another group of friends. Shayla has a crush on a boy who might have a crush on Isabella, and for the first time she and her friends aren't getting along all the time. When another unarmed black person is killed by a white police officer, it is all over the news. Shayla's sister, Hana, is really into protesting and the Black Lives Matter movement. Shayla has never really gotten involved. She actually is accused of not being black enough by people at school because of who she hangs out with. She feels very confused about everything and is just convinced that the jury will find the police officer guilty; after all, everything was caught on video and clearly the police officer did something wrong. But it's not that simple. Shayla needs to decide what she is going to do to stand up for what is right. A Good Kind of Trouble is a great middle grade novel about racism and Black Lives Matter. It explains everything to readers, both familiar and unfamiliar with Black Lives Matter, in a very easy-to-understand way. Author: Linda Sue Park
Published: 2020 Hanna's mother was Chinese, and her father is white. The problem? It is 1880, and Hanna and her father have just traveled to the Midwest to start their lives after the death of Hanna's mother. Even though they faced discrimination, at least where she used to live there were others who looked like her. In her new home, she is the only one. Her father was just going to have her lay low to not cause any problems, but Hanna convinces him to let her go to school. When Hanna starts going to school, the parents of the other children throw a fit and many keep their kids home, demanding that Hanna not be allowed to be there. The teacher, Miss Walters, treats Hanna like any other kid and doesn't allow the missing students to disrupt the learning of the ones who do show up. Hanna's father is opening up a new store, and Hanna is trying to convince him to let her make dresses for the store. She is very talented, but he keeps turning her down. Meanwhile, with all the hate that Hanna is experiencing, she is worried it's going to affect her father's new store and they won't be able to make a home there after all. According to the Author's Note, Prairie Lotus was written because the author, Linda Sue Park, loved the Little House on the Prairie books but wanted to deal with the complicated feelings she had towards the books. This was a beautiful story! Author: Jerry Craft
Published: 2019 Jordan is in seventh grade, and all he wants is to go to art school. His parents decided to send him to a fancy school instead with a lot of people who don't look like him. He is one of the few people of color at the school. He talks about how the school just doesn't get it--people make assumptions about him and the other black kids all the time, teachers will call black kids by the same name on accident, and kids always are looking at them whenever anyone brings up slavery or civil rights. Jordan is also dealing with feeling like he is leaving his old friends behind, especially when he gets dropped off by his rich, white friend at his house. He feels like he is kind of stuck in the middle and doesn't belong in either place. New Kid is a fantastic graphic novel that addresses some of the issues people of color face that white people don't even think about. Author: Tiffany D. Jackson
Published: 2019 Steph's dad died in a hit and run years ago, and his killer was never caught. Now, Steph himself has been killed, and the killer has not been caught. Steph absolutely loved rapping when he was alive and he was really good at it. When his best friends Quadir and Jarrell discover tapes of his songs after his death, they come up with a plan to make Steph the next big hip hop artist. The only problem is they can't let anyone know he's dead or no record label will even give them a chance. With the help of Steph's younger sister, Jasmine, they start to spread his music around and realize that everyone is really impressed with it. When record labels start calling wanting to meet Steph, they realize they might be in over their heads. Jasmine and her mom are left to pick up the pieces after the death of Jasmine's father and now Steph. Jasmine agrees to help Quadir and Jarrell with Steph's music because they promise that they will help her find out what happened to her brother. She wants answers. The story is told from the different viewpoints of Jasmine, Quadir, and Jarrell, and we discover that they are all hiding something from each other. Will they be able to pull this off or will everything blow up in their faces? Fans of mystery and hip hop will adore this book! Author: Jason Reynolds
Published: 2014 When Noodles moved in next door to Ali, they quickly became best friends. Noodles has an older brother called Needles, but Noodles usually acts like he's in charge of Needles because Needles acts differently than other people. Needles has Tourette syndrome, which means he sometimes can't control what words come out of his mouth. He will blurt things out or his body will twitch automatically. After the boys have lived in the neighborhood awhile, people who know Needles are used to him, and it doesn't bother or scare anyone when this happens to him. Noodles, though, will sometimes yell at him or slap his head when it happens, something that Ali doesn't like but he feels like he can't say anything. There are lots of things Noodles does that make Ali feel uncomfortable but he doesn't want to say anything to mess up their friendship. When Ali, Noodles, and Needles go to a party they shouldn't have been at in the first place, something happens that tests the limits of their friendship and puts them all in danger. When I Was the Greatest is another great read by Jason Reynolds. Author: Maulik Pancholy
Published: 2019 Rahul is just starting his seventh grade year at school. He is being bullied by a boy named Brent who just won’t leave him alone. When Brent starts making fun of Rahul for staring at their classmate Justin and saying that he’s gay, Rahul feels so alone, especially because he is having complicated feelings towards Justin, and he doesn’t know who to turn to. Rahul and his family are Indian, and his mom and his aunties want Rahul and his friend Chelsea’s help to help spread the word about a celebration they are organizing on different cultures. When his aunties give a presentation in front of the whole school, Rahul is embarrassed. He doesn’t want to be a big part of the celebration. Rahul’s grandfather, Bhai, lives with him, and he tells Rahul about his grandmother who found something she was good at and became the best; Rahul thinks he needs to find something to be the best at. The problem is he doesn’t know what that is. Meanwhile he has started worrying about things like if the stove is off or if the door is locked. Keeping everything in is very hard on him. But will he reach out to someone? The Best At It is a fantastic middle grade book about a boy who is dealing with a lot of issues in his life and doesn’t know how to handle them on his own. I absolutely loved this sweet book. |
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