Author: Gordon Korman
Published: 2015 Eli lives in the town of Serenity where everything is perfect and nobody lies.... or do they? Eli has never left the town of Serenity. Why would he need to? Everything there has always been perfect, plus his dad is the mayor. Then one day his friend Randy convinces him to ride his bike out of city limits to look at something. When he does, Eli suddenly feels really sick and cannot keep moving. He thinks something is seriously wrong with him! Then a helicopter comes out of nowhere to rescue him. Soon his friend Randy is sent away and leaves him a secret note telling him that that there are weird things going on in the town and that there's a reason why Eli got sick when he tried to leave. Eli gets some kids together and they start looking into the town. They discover something that they never in a million years would have expected! This is such a great mystery book that will have kids hooked until the very end!
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Author: Jo Knowles
Published: 2016 Noah goes to a small school where everybody knows everybody else. The school even has a pet, a hairless cat named Curly. Noah and his two best friends, Sam and Ryan, are learning what it's like to be in middle school, when crushes start to come between friends. Luckily, Noah, a gifted artist, has his art to keep him sane during all the arguments. Emma is Noah's older sister. She is perfect and wonderful, and everyone loves her. Lately Noah has been worried about Emma because of the way she is acting. She's acting a lot like she did when The Thing They Don't Talk About happened. Emma insists she is fine, but his parents are starting to look worried too. This is a great book about family and friendship that tackles tough issues students may be able to relate with. Author: Aisha Saeed
Published: 2018 Amal lives in Pakistan. As the oldest girl in her family, she has a lot of responsibilities, including helping take care of her younger sisters. After her mom gives birth to yet another girl, she goes into a depression and won't get out of bed to take care of the girls. Amal must step up, which means having to stay home from school, something that she finds really difficult because she loves school and wants to be a teacher when she grows up. The Pakistani village is run by the Khan family. The men are evil with too much power, and anyone who gets in their way suffers greatly. On her way home from the market, a member from the Khan family demands that Amal give her some food that she purchased. Not knowing who the man is, Amal refuses and runs home. As punishment, the Khan family forces Amal to move to their estate and work for them. Amal is devastated to leave her family and school. And she is horrified at the way the family treats people. She understands why people don't stand up to them, but if nobody stands up to them, then nothing will change. This is such a great book about being brave and standing up for what you believe. Author: Mike Jung
Published: 2016 Chloe Cho is a great violinist and an A student, she also is Korean. And she is sick and tired of everyone thinking that she is good at those things just because she's Asian. Chloe and her best friend Shelley are very interested in all things Korean, but any time Chloe asks her parents about their Korean background, they act like they aren't interested and always change the subject. It's weird and annoying. Luckily, this year at school there's a new teacher named Ms. Lee who is Korean American, and Chloe finally has someone who understands her. In Ms. Lee's class, students have to explore their family's backgrounds. Chloe feels like she finally is going to get to talk to her parents about their pasts, but what she finds is definitely not what she expected. This is an easy read with a huge twist that I absolutely did NOT see coming! Author: Melanie Conklin Published: 2016 Thyme's little brother Val has cancer. When he is accepted into a new cancer trial, Thyme is so excited and hopes that his cancer will go away. The only problem for Thyme is that they have to move to New York for a few months while Val is going through the trial. This means they have to leave behind her home and her friends. But Thyme would do anything to help Val. When they get to New York, Thyme has hope that the trial will work and that they will be able to move back to San Diego soon. Luckily, the cancer treatment looks like it may help, but when Thyme asks her parents when they are going back to San Diego, they don't answer. Soon, her dad gets a full-time job in New York, and Thyme worries that she will never go back to her friends. This is a great book about sacrifices for people we love and finding the good in life. Author: Nora Raleigh Baskin
Published: 2016 Will is a boy from Pennsylvania who lost his father in a terrible car accident. Naheed is a Muslim girl from Ohio who is starting to get made fun of for the head scarf she wears. Sergio is a boy from New York who lives with his nana because his parents have passed away. Aimee just moved to California. She misses her mom who has to travel a lot for work. These four kids don't know each other but their lives are about to connect. This book starts in the days leading up to the September 11 terrorist attacks. Author: Joelle Charbonneau Published: 2015 What do you need? That's what the new, popular website asks the students of Nottawa High. Not "What do you want?" but "What do you need? Because there is a difference. Once you state what you need, the website will process your request and give it to you, as long as you do what it says first. At first, their directions are simple--invite 5 friends to NEED. But then they get stranger and more dangerous. Kaylee needs a kidney for her sick brother. She decides to ask NEED for it. After all, everyone else seems to be getting what they are asking for. But Kaylee soon discovers that NEED is responsible for deaths happening in the community. It is up to her to figure out who is behind NEED before anyone else dies. Author: Nikki Grimes
Published: 2016 Garvey's dad wants him to be a jock so that they have something in common. Sports, however, are just not Garvey's thing. That doesn't stop his dad from trying to get him to play sports, making Garvey feel like he's not good enough the way he is. Garvey gets made fun of at school for being overweight and awkward. Garvey feels like he just doesn't fit in at school or at home anymore. Then Garvey finds something he's really good at, something that will make his dad and his classmates see the real Garvey. This book, written in verse, is a great story about finding what you love. Author: Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Published: 2017 Amihan lives with her sick mom on an island. There are many other sick people on the island, all sick with leprosy, a contagious disease that affects the skin and nerves and can cause deformities. Amihan's mom usually wears a cover when she goes out because of what the disease has done to her appearance. Amihan is not sick because they take proper precautions to keep her healthy. Despite the sickness, life is great on the island, until a government official named Mr. Zamora shows up. Then everything changes. First, they split everything up--there are the healthy areas on the island and the sick areas. Then, it is ordered that all healthy children have to leave the island because the island will now become a leper colony. People with leprosy will be sent there with the hope that keeping them quarantined will keep the disease from spreading. Suddenly Amihan must leave everything she knows. This is a heartbreaking book about how government decisions can harm people. Author: Elizabeth Acevedo
Published: 2018 Xiomara and her twin brother Xavier have very religious parents. Xiomara isn't sure she believes in all that God stuff, which makes her mom very upset. Instead, Xiomara likes to write poetry and crush on this boy in her class. When her English teacher starts a spoken word poetry club, Xiomara wants to join but it's the same time as her Confirmation class at the church. Xiomara must decide if she is going to do what she wants or if she's going to follow her parents' wishes. This novel, written in verse, is great for fans of Gabi, A Girl in PIeces by Isabel Quintero. |
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