Darius suffers from depression, which he can keep under control if he takes his medication every day. His father also suffers from depression, which is one of the only things the two have in common--that and their love for Star Trek. Darius' mother is Iranian and his father is white. He has always felt like he does not live up to his father's expectations--he weighs too much, doesn't fit in enough, doesn't get good enough grades. His dad thinks that it's Darius' fault that he gets picked on by his peers at school. If he would just try, then he wouldn't be a target.
When his grandfather who lives in Iran gets sick, Darius and his family go to Iran for the first time to see his mom's family. Darius feels left out because he doesn't speak Farsi like the rest of his mom's family--at least he has another thing in common with his dad. He thinks life is going to be the same as it was in the United States, that he won't fit in and he'll always be the outsider. But this trip he takes to Iran changes his life in many different ways. Darius is hilarious and lovable. I loved the story line and the representation of mental illness. One of the best books I've read this year!
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Author: Tim Wynne-Jones
Published: 2019 Nate's family owns a beautiful cabin on Ghost Lake. Right next door Dodge, his best friend, and Dodge's family own a cabin. The two families used to go camp together all the time. Then a few months ago Dodge disappeared in a boating accident, and his body was never found. The thing Nate really struggles with is the fact that Dodge had begged him to come with him on the day he died, but Nate didn't go because his dad said it was too dangerous. It is winter, and Nate is going back to Ghost Lake for the first time without his dad. He is supposed to be going with another friend, but when that friend tells Nate at the last minute that he can no longer go, Nate decides to keep that from his parents and just go by himself. Camping for Nate's family is not what you would expect. He has to catch a train that takes him to just the right spot and then trek in snowshoes through many feet of snow to find the place. When he finally gets there with all his things, he discovers that his camp is already occupied. Two men who have escaped from prison are currently hiding out in his cabin. He can't just turn around--he has no phone service, another train isn't scheduled to come for awhile, and a storm is coming. He finds his life in danger in more ways than one. The Starlight Claim was such an interesting read. A fantastic mix of survival story and thriller. Author: Mike Lupica
Published: 2016 Tommy loves football, and he is very good at it. He is hoping that his dad will be able to make the game, but every time he looks up to where his dad usually sits, he's not there. Then he hears the siren of a fire truck, and he knows that his dad who is a firefighter will not be making the game. Then he hears more sirens, which means that the fire was really big. At the end of the game, his mom gets a phone call and suddenly their lives change forever. Tommy and his sister are having a really hard time dealing with what happened, and it starts to affect Tommy on the field. Last Man Out is a heartbreaking book that tells the story of a family dealing with an extremely difficult loss. Author: Joelle Charbonneau
Published: 2018 It is the week before school starts, and a few kids are at school for different reasons--a yearbook meeting, to practice the clarinet, a secret. When a bomb goes off in the school, everyone in the building is in extreme danger. Some have been injured and others have even died. The ones who survived find that there are no free exits. There is a fire on one side of the building and everywhere else is blocked due to the debris from the bomb. When the six kids who are still alive in the building find each other, they turn on a radio and discover that the police believe that the bomber is still in the building. Suddenly they can't trust each other. Time Bomb is told from the different perspectives of the six students who find each other in the building. Each one has a secret of some kind, but which one put the bombs in the building? Students who like thrillers will love this book that I just couldn't put down! Author: April Henry
Published: 2019 Miranda is at the mall when shots break out. There are multiple shooters, and people are being killed. It's chaos. There are people trying to escape only to find that the doors have been blocked. Those who are left in the mall are brought together into a big group and are taken hostage by the gunmen. Miranda is stuck in the mall, but she is not in this big group. She ends up hiding in a storage closet with a group of other kids. They are worried that if they stay there, the shooters will find them and kill them. Each chapter focuses on different characters and the situation they are in during this tragic event. Terrifying story about a horrifying situation. Author: Paul Langan
Published: 2002 Darrell has to move all the way from Philadelphia to California. He has to leave behind his best friend and go to a new school where he knows no one. The thing he is most nervous about is making friends. Darrell is very small for his age, and he is worried about people making fun of him. When he gets to California, one of his first interactions with the kids at school is terrible. A boy named Tyray and his friends immediately start to make fun of him. When school starts, Darrell feels invisible--no one will sit with him at lunch, no one will talk to him in classes. The only time he is noticed is when Tyray and his friends humiliate him. Soon they are demanding that Darrell give him money every week. If he pays, they promise to leave him alone. Feeling like he has no one to turn to, Darrell dreads going to school. Will he ever make friends and escape the bullies at school? The Bully, a book in the Bluford High series, is a great story for readers who like reading about real issues young people face but are intimidated by longer books. Author: Joelle Charbonneau
Published: 2019 In the future, everyone uses tablets instead of paper for everything. If you find paper and turn it in to be recycled, you get money. There are still some who cling to the old ways and do things by hand but the practice is slowly dying out. Meri's mother is an artist who still used canvases instead of creating digital art. Before she died in a tragic car accident, she had started a painting that now haunts Meri because it is not finished. When a mysterious man hands Meri a piece of paper with a strange word on it, Meri decides to look it up on a computer at school. The word is verify and when she looks it up on the computer, there are no results. Her search must have set off an alarm because shortly after she leaves, the police show up to find the person who made the search. Meri used to trust everything she heard on the news and everything she learned about the world in school, but suddenly she finds herself in the middle of a whole new world where she begins to question everything about her life. This is a great book for fans of Charbonneau's other books and other dystopian stories! |
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