Author: Jason Reynolds
Published: 2017 Patty and her sister Maddy live with their aunt and uncle. Their dad died unexpectedly and their mom had to have her legs amputated and has to go to the hospital a lot. Their mom couldn't take care of them very well on their own, so they live with their aunt and uncle and visit their mom on Sundays. Patty has a temper. She usually is good about keeping everything inside until it just explodes out of her--when she loses a race, when a girl tries to pretend she knows what's going on Patty's life. Since moving in with her aunt and uncle, Patty has had to start at a new school. Instead of sitting down at lunch, she walks laps around the lunch room and eats her food while on the move because she doesn't really know where to sit. She is having a hard time adjusting, but at least she has running and track. Patina is another newbie on her track team, just like Ghost from Reynold's previous novel, Ghost. Their story continues in Patina. Patina is a great book about a strong girl who has dealt with more than her fair share of challenges in her life.
0 Comments
Author: Justin A. Reynolds
Published: 2019 Jack meets Kate at a party. Immediately the two have a connection. They always want to talk to each other and spend time with each other. They are in love. But Kate is keeping a secret--she is sick. Sad love story, right? But the weird thing is, there's more. At the moment Kate dies, Jack finds himself sent back in time to the night he meets Kate. He gets to do everything again. They fall in love all over again. Jack thinks that he is sent back in time to try to save Kate. But in trying to save Kate, other things start to go wrong. Will saving Kate be worth losing everything else? Opposite of Always is a great love story with a unique science fiction twist. I loved every single character in this book. Absolutely fantastic read! Author: Elly Swartz
Published: 2016 Ever since her mom left home (and her family) for a job in Canada, Molly has really been struggling. She wants everything she does to be perfect. If she writes something and a letter is crooked, it bothers her so much that she needs to re-do it. She has to get a ruler when she measures where she puts her glass figurines. If they are not in the exact same space, she thinks that bad things will happen to her brother. Molly will count and count repeatedly in her head. She will wash and re-wash her hands until they are raw. A part of Molly knows the things she does are not logical, but the other part of her convinces herself that she needs to do these things. Molly is gifted at poetry. When her school as a slam poetry contest, she thinks that if she wins her mom will have to come home for the winners' ceremony and then then everything will be okay. Soon the stress of all of these habits and trying to keep them a secret starts to take over her life. Will she reach out to someone for help? Finding Perfect is a great book about someone who has obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Readers who have experience with this illness or with others who have it will be able to relate heavily to the things Molly is going through. Author: John Feistein
Published: 2017 Tom and Jason have been best friends forever. They are absolutely thrilled when they receive full-ride scholarships to Thomas Gatch Prep School, a boarding school in Virginia that is very focused on sports. The two boys are very talented at football. Tom has always been a quarterback and Jason a wide receiver. When they get to the school, though, they are both put in different positions. When they speak up about it, they are shut down. As the football season gets started, Tom and Jason start to notice things that don't seem right. Why has there never been a black quarterback in the history of the school? How come Tom and Jason weren't allowed to be roommates even though they requested it when they got accepted? When they speak up about some of the issues they see, their scholarships are threatened. Tom and Jason need to decide if they are going to try to prove the football team and school is being run with racist policies or if they are going to keep their heads down so they can just play football. Backfield Boys deals with the racial bias that is still alive in our country today. The one thing this book is missing is Tom's point-of-view as a black kid going to this school. It would have been eye-opening to some readers to see how this whole experience affected him. Author: S.K. Ali
Published: 2019 Zayneb is Muslim. She recently got suspended from school because she got angry at a teacher for being an Islamophobe, someone who doesn't like Muslims. She is the only Muslim in the class, and Mr. Fencer always tries to get a rise out of her. This time it worked. So Zayneb flies to her aunt's house in Qatar after being suspended. Zayneb is angry. She experiences so much hate and prejudice because she is Muslim--it's easy to tell her religion because of her hijab she wears. Adam secretly dropped out of college because he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a disease that killed his mom. He is trying to keep his diagnoses a secret from his dad who is still having a hard time with the death of Adam's mom. But he may not be able to keep it a secret for much longer. Then Adam and Zayneb meet on the plane on the way to Qatar. Immediately they are drawn to each other. Love From A to Z is a sweet love story that also tackles a very relevant issues in our world today--Islamophobia. I love how Zayneb and her friends are social activists who try to make changes in their worlds. It is very inspiring for young people to read about people their age who are doing these things. Author: Remy Lai
Published: 2019 Jingwen and his mom and brother, Yanghao, just moved to Australia after the death of the boys' father. Life in Australia is difficult, especially because Jingwen is having a hard time learning English. His mom and brother are having no problems picking it up, but Jingwen feels like he's on Mars with a bunch of people speaking an alien language. The boys' father planned to open up a bakery called Pie in they Sky that would sell beautiful and fancy cakes; however, he passed away before he could achieve this dream. Jingwen and Yanghao's mom works the evening/night shift. The boys have decided that they are going to make all the cakes their father was going to sell at Pie in the Sky. There's one big problem--their mom has forbidden them from using the oven when she's gone. Pie in the Sky is a heartwarming book about a family that experienced a terrible heartbreak. The relationship the boys have with each other is going to be very relatable to those who have siblings of their own. This book has you laughing one minute and heartbroken the next. Fantastic read written in the style of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Author: Jordan Sonnenblick
Published: 2004 Steven is a fantastic drum player. He has a crush on one of the girls in his grade. He gets annoyed at his little brother Jeffrey for embarrassing him all the time. He lives a pretty normal life. Then the unthinkable happens. Jeffrey is diagnosed with leukemia and suddenly everything in Steven's world changes. His mom and Jeffrey are never home because they are always at the hospital. His dad is always at work and totally not dealing with the situation. Their family has hospital bills upon hospital bills that they cannot pay. Steven is completely terrified of losing his brother. He begins to lose focus at school, and his grades drop. He doesn't want to create unnecessary stress on his parents, so he tries to keep his grades a secret. He wants to keep his brother's sickness a secret from everyone at school because he doesn't want the attention. But when everything gets to be too much, Steven discovers that he can't do this alone. Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie is a beautiful book about the relationship between brothers. Steven loves Jeffrey so much and would do anything for him. If you like books that make your heart hurt, this is a good read for you! Author: Ami Polonsky
Published: 2014 Ever since she was little, Grayson has known the truth: she is a girl. Everyone else sees her as a boy. She holds on to this secret of hers and lives her days as a boy. Grayson lives with her aunt, uncle, and two cousins because her parents died when she was younger. She wonders if she could be more open with her secret to her parents if they were still alive. Grayson spends all her time by herself. She used to have a good friend to eat lunch with, but then she moved away. Whenever partners are chosen in class, Grayson freezes and waits until the teacher pairs her up with someone. At lunch, she goes and eats in the library alone. This year there is a new girl at school named Amelia, and Amelia wants to befriend Grayson. For the first time in a long time, Grayson has someone. When the middle school play auditions start, Grayson decides she wants to audition. But she doesn't want to play a boy character, she wants to be the lead female character. This causes all kinds of problems for her--the principal gets involved, bullies start bothering her all the time, and her aunt is furious that the school is even considering letting her play a female character. Gracefully Grayson is a great middle-grade read for lovers of George by Alex Gino. This book is such a great window for readers who don't know much about trans people and also a mirror for readers who are dealing with the same things Grayson is dealing with. Fantastic book! Author: Diane Guerrero with Erica Moroz
Published: 2018 Diane was fourteen-years-old when she came home to find that her undocumented parents had been detained and were deported soon after. Because Diane was born in the United States, she is a citizen, but her brother and parents were not, and they lived in fear of being deported every single day. With her family gone, Diane relied on the kindness of her friends' families to take her in and let her live with them. No government agency ever even checked in with her to find her a place to live. If not for her friends, she would have been homeless or put into foster care. Diane, who is best known for her roles in Orange is the New Black and Jane the Virgin, writes about how her family decided they needed to leave Columbia for a better life. When they got to the United States, they tried to become citizens but were taken advantage of and lost thousands of dollars and made no progress. A Family Divided is a much-needed account of what it is like to live undocumented in the United States and how a young girl can rise above all the challenges in her life to achieve her dream. Author: Kekla Magoon
Published: 2018 Caleb and Bobby Gene are brothers. They live in Sutton, Indiana, and their father would rather they stay in that town forever. He doesn't want them to ever leave because the real world is dangerous, and folks know them there. This summer, a new boy moves to town. His name is Styx Malone. He is sixteen-years-old and very cool. Caleb wants to be just like him. When Styx meets the boys, he tells them a fantastic idea called the Great Escalator Trade. Basically, it means you trade something small for something just a little bit better until you reach your goal of finally trading for something amazing. He talks about a man who traded his way from a paperclip all the way to a house! He and the boys come up with their goal--a beautiful moped someone in town is selling. They get to work on making it happen, but along the way the boys discover that Styx may have some secrets he is keeping from them. The Season of Styx Malone is a great book about friendship. |
Follow us on Instagram! @slmslibrary
Categories
All
Archives
August 2022
|