Author: Emily Barr
Published: 2017 When Flora was ten, she had a tumor removed from her brain, and after the procedure she woke up to find that she could not make new memories. She remembers everything from before the age of ten, but everything else she can only remember for a couple hours at a time before she forgets everything. This is called anterograde amnesia. In order to remember that she's 17, who her friends are, and where she's at, she writes messages on her arms. She also carries around a notebook with her where she has written what has happened to her and other important things for her to remember. One night she's at a party, and she kisses her best friend's boyfriend Drake on the night before he is leaving to go study in Svalbard, Norway. The miraculous thing is that Flora remembers this the next day. She hasn't made a new memory in seven years, but she remembers kissing Drake. When her parents leave town to go visit Flora's sick brother, Flora decides she must find Drake because she thinks she's in love with him, and she also thinks that he is the key to remembering things. But how will she travel that far alone with the way her memory works? The One Memory of Flora Banks is such a unique story. There are surprises in the end that you won't see coming!
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Author: Cylin Busby & John Busby
Published: 2008 When Cylin was nine-years-old, her father (a police officer) was leaving his house to go to work when he was shot at a close range through his car window. The attacker hit him in the face, but John was able to get inside a neighbor's house, bleeding extremely heavily. He was rushed to the hospital, and everyone was afraid he wasn't going to make it. He managed to survive, but his face was so damaged that he was hardly recognizable anymore. Half of the book is told from Cylin's point-of-view, and the other half is told from John's, her father's. Overnight, this family went from being normal to living in fear and being guarded at all times by police officers because they feared the attacker would come back and try to hurt the family again. Cylin talks about how she was able to ride the bus to school, but a police officer would drive right behind the bus all the way. Her friends weren't allowed to hang around her anymore because their parents were worried about the dangers. A huge fence had to be installed around the Busby's house with armed officers there around the clock. John talks about the anger he feels towards the person who shot him. He is pretty sure he knows who did it, but because this man has close ties to some of the police officers, John thinks that nothing is going to happen to him. He wants to take matters into his own hands. This is a true story about the Busby family and the year after the shooting that changed their lives. Author: Neil Gaiman
Published: 2002 Coraline and her parents have moved into a new house. Coraline is an only child and is extremely bored. Her parents are busy with work and tell her to explore the house. In one of the rooms, she finds a locked door. She gets the key and finds that the door doesn’t lead to anywhere--it just opens up to a brick wall. She’s disappointed and still bored. A couple days later she decides to try the door again. This time when she opens it, the bricks are gone! She walks through the door and finds that she is still in her own home. Everything looks the exactly the same. She hears her mom call her name from this strange place, and when she finds her she looks exactly like her mom, only she has black buttons for eyes. She calls herself her “other mother.” Coraline finds that she has an “other father” as well. She really likes this place and finds it more exciting than her own home. But when she goes back home, she finds out that her real parents are gone and her other mother will do anything to make Coraline stay with her. Coraline is a very creepy book perfect for this time of year! Author: Ellie Terry
Published: 2017 Calli and her mom move around all the time. Whenever her mom gets a new boyfriend, things are okay for a little while. Then when they break up, it’s time to move on to a new town and a new school. Calli hates being the new kid, especially because she has a secret. She has Tourette syndrome, so she sometimes makes noises and faces that she doesn’t mean to make. Calli is about to start a new school year in a new town, and she has met her neighbor, a boy named Jin who is in her grade and is the student body president. She and Jin become friends before school starts. On the first day of school, all the kids notice that she is different and does weird things with her body and her face. She quickly becomes the target of bullying and Jin even starts to ignore her and doesn’t stand up for her. Calli feels so alone because she feels like she can’t tell anyone that she has Tourette syndrome, and the more she tries to hold in her tics, the worse they are. This is such an amazing book. Most of it is told from Calli’s point of view (which is written in verse) and there are parts told from Jin’s point of view (which is written in regular sentences). Tourette Syndrome is really misunderstood, and this book explains it really well. Author: Margaret Peterson Haddix
Published: 2016 Nick and Eryn are twins. Their mother announces that she is going to be getting married to Michael, the man she has been dating. The twins quickly find out that Michael has two kids that they have never heard him mention before, but their mom tells them that they will never meet their stepsiblings, Ava and Jackson. Nick and Eryn find that really strange and try to figure out why their mom and new stepfather don’t want them to meet. After the wedding, they move into a new house. Each of the four children get their own room. Their parents have it set up where Nick and Eryn stay there one week and then during the week they spend with their dad, Ava and Jackson stay at the house. One day, Nick and Eryn find themselves home alone during a snow day. They pick the locks and look into their stepsiblings' rooms and find that their rooms are almost exact copies of their own rooms. Eryn and Nick decide to brave the cold and find their stepsiblings’ other house. What they see when they get there is so strange, you won’t believe it! Author: Katherine Applegate
Published: 2012 The One and Only Ivan is about a gorilla named Ivan who lives in a mall in an animal exhibit. There’s also an elephant there named Stella and a stray dog who visits them named Bob. Ivan counts the days he’s been there -- 9855 days (27 years). He sees the visitors come and go. He draws pictures that are sold to the visitors. Time passes. He doesn’t really think about leaving his domain. Then a new baby elephant named Ruby comes to join them at the mall and Stella and Ivan believe that she deserves more than to live in a small cage in a mall. It’s up to Ivan to figure out how to make this change to give Ruby a better life than he’s had. This is an amazing, heartbreaking book that animal lovers will adore. Author: Sarah Weeks
Published: 2004 Heidi sees her mother every single day, but she doesn’t know many things about her. Her mother has some sort of mental disorder that Heidi refers to as a “bum brain,” and therefore she cannot communicate very well. At twelve years old, Heidi must take care of her mother along with the help of Bernadette, their agoraphobic (someone who stays inside all the time) neighbor. She knows that twelve years ago, Bernadette found Heidi’s mom outside of the apartment building with her when she was a baby. When Bernadette asked her mom what her name was, she said something that sounded like “So Be It.” There is one thing that really bothers Heidi. Her mom always says the word “soof,” but Heidi cannot figure out what it means. She finds a box of pictures in her mom’s room that leads helps lead her to figure out her mom’s past. This is such an amazing book about a girl who has to take care of herself and her mom and her journey to finding the truth to her family's past. Author: Sharon M. Draper
Published: 2015 Stella lives in segregated North Carolina in 1932. There are stores she can't go in just because she is an African American. While there are some white people who treat her nicely, there are others who are mean and nasty. Everyone knows that you don't ask the white community for help. The African American and the white members of the town are separate and should keep to their own groups. The book starts with Stella and Jojo out after dark hiding behind a tree. Across the pond, they see nine members of the Ku Klux Klan dressed in all white, surrounding a burning wooden cross. The Klan hasn't been active in this town for years, but the last time they were, someone got hurt. The election is coming up, and some members of the African American community want to vote. Stella's father is one of those men. He wants to show his children that they need to stand up for what is right, but he is also worried about the backlash and the threats his family might receive because he wants to vote. Meanwhile, Stella is going to school and trying to become a better writer. She finds it so difficult and has a hard time getting words on paper. She has a dream to write articles for the newspaper, but it takes a lot of work and sometimes a lot of courage to write about things that scare you. Stella by Starlight is an Iowa Children's Choice Award book for the 2017-2018 school year. Author: Claudia Mills
Published: 2014 Annika loves math. Her parents both have jobs that deal with math, so their house is filled with mathematical things, such as number-patterned curtains, magnetic numerals, salt and pepper shakers shaped like numbers, and more! She even has a dog named Prime (short for Prime Number) who she is trying to teach how to count. Annika's best friends are interested in other things, but they all still get along. Their school is having a carnival this year, and it is up to Annika's homeroom to bake cookies. Each time Annika and her friends try to bake a batch of cookies, they always turn out wrong because they missed an ingredient or measured incorrectly. Will Annika's math skills help save the day? Annika Riz, Math Whiz is an Iowa Children's Choice Award book for the 2017-2018 school year. Author: Carl Deuker
Published: 2013 Jonas is the point guard for his high school team. His coach is helping him send videos to colleges to help him get a scholarship to play basketball. But then his dad gets a new job, and he has to move, which means a new team and a new coach. When he first gets there, he meets the coach who seems kind of old-fashioned. The team already has a point guard, so Jonas is worried that his chance of getting a scholarship and playing ball in college is ruined. However, there's a new assistant coach this year, and he seems to believe in Jonas. Levi is an outsider who is amazing at basketball. He comes from a very religious family, and many people make fun of him for not being very smart. Jonas and Levi quickly become good friends. When the coach has an accident, the assistant coach, Coach Hartwell, takes over. Jonas gets more playing time, and his chances at a scholarship are looking up. However, Jonas' grades begin to slip, and he worries that he won't be given that scholarship. When Coach Hartwell has a solution for him, Jonas has to decide if it's worth it or not. Meanwhile, Levi begins acting strange, quiet, and angry. Jonas can't seem to reach him. What is going on with his friend? Swagger is a book about what's right and wrong and being there for your friends. It is an Iowa Teen Award book for the 2017-2018 school year. |
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