Author: Jenny Torres Sanchez
Published: 2020 Pulga lives in Guatemala with his mom and Chico. Pulga and Chico are brothers but not by blood. Pulga and Chico are witnesses to a crime, and Rey the leader of a gang, threatens them and says they must work for him or else they will be killed. Pequeña is Pulga's cousin, also not by blood. She is seventeen and is having a baby. The thing is she doesn't want to talk about the baby, think about the baby, or even look at the baby after he is born. Rey sexually assaulted her and now wants her to be his wife and live with him now that the baby is here. The thing is, Pequeña is terrified of him. She is traumatized from being assaulted and the thought of having to be with him is killing her. Pulga, Chico, and Pequeña have no choice but to run. They decide to leave their families behind and try to make it on the extremely dangerous journey to the United States. We Are Not From Here is a book that stays with you long after you finish it. Every page has absolutely beautiful writing and painful truths that just tear your heart in two. The things these characters are going through and the trauma they are experiencing just for a chance to survive is heart wrenching. I will never forget this book.
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Author: Jessica Kim
Published: 2020 Yumi is invisible at her school. She is shy and never has partners to work on projects with or friends to hang out with. Her parents have high expectations for her because her big sister is a genius who graduated high school early and is currently in medical school. Because her grades are not what they should be, her mom signed her up for tutoring every single day this summer. Yumi doesn't want to spend her summer studying, she wants to spend her summer writing comedy. She wants to be a comedian, but her parents think it's a waste of time. Yumi accidentally discovers that there is a comedy camp going on taught by her favorite YouTube comedian. She walks in, and they mistake her for one of the girls who hasn't showed up to camp yet--Kay Nakamura. Yumi is too shy to correct them, so she stays for the day participating in the workshop like she was Kay. But then she comes back the next day and the next without telling anyone there who she really is and keeping it a secret from her parents. As time goes on, Yumi is worried that her secret will come out and she will betray the trust of a lot of different people. But what is her other option? Give up comedy? Stand Up, Yumi Chung is a fantastic middle grade novel about a hilarious and shy girl who knows what she wants and just needs to believe in herself and figure out how to get there. Authors: Ibi Zoboi & Yusef Salaam
Published: 2020 Amal was there the night it happened. There was a fight, and Jeremy Mathis, a white boy was beaten so bad he was put in the hospital in a coma. Amal was blamed and was put on trial. The truth though? Amal didn't do it. Yes he was there, and yes he was a part of it, but he had nothing to do with how badly Jeremy was beaten. But Jeremy can't wake up to tell anyone the truth of what happened. Amal is sixteen-years-old and is sent to prison for this crime that he didn't commit. Amal is an artist and a writer, and he's a bright student. But even his art teacher has bad things to say about him at trial. Why are people willing to believe that he did this? Why is he labeled as disruptive and angry when he questions things? Written in verse, this story explores what is going through Amal's head and heart as he deals with this horrifying ordeal. Punching the Air is wrtten by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam, one of the Exonerated Five, five boys who were convicted of a crime they didn't commit, spending years serving out their sentences before the real criminal confessed. Author: April Henry
Published: 2020 Savannah and her mom's boyfriend Tim do not get along. Right before she is supposed to go to kung fu class, she and Tim get in an argument and he grounds her and takes her phone. Savannah storms out the door and goes to kung fu class anyway. As she is leaving after class, she is kidnapped by a man in a white van. When Savannah doesn't come home, people think she just ran away because she got in an argument with Tim. They have no idea what she is actually going through. She is locked in a trailer home with another girl named Jenny who has been there for ten months. There is no way to escape. If they did manage to escape the trailer home, a vicious dog waits for them outside. The dog who almost killed Jenny when she tried to escape. When the man who took them gets second thoughts, the girls soon find they are in more danger than they ever thought possible. The Girl in the White Van is a great thriller for readers who love mystery and suspense. Author: Kayla Miller
Published: 2019 Olive has a lot of different friend groups, but she doesn't feel like she has a best friend. When her fifth grade class has a variety show, all her friends form groups without her and they spend all their time practicing for their acts. Olive feels like she has been left behind. Then after a night with her Aunt Molly who had similar problems when she was younger, Olive has an idea for what she could do for the variety show. Click is a great graphic novel for fans of Raina Telgemeier and for anyone who feels like they get left behind sometimes. Author: Jennifer Torres
Published: 2018 Flor and her parents' petting zoo has been on the road with the carnival for a long time. But lately the lines are shorter and they aren't pulling in as many customers as the other acts at the carnival. Miranda and her siblings are in a band traveling with the carnival for the first time this summer. When they play, they fill up all the seats. When Miranda's dad who is in charge of the band talks to the owner of the carnival, her dad tells him they deserve to be on the main stage and they deserve to be paid more. The owner says he'll give them one chance to play on the main stage that night to see how it goes but that they might have to cut other acts, like the petting zoo in order to pay the family more. Flor overhears this terrible news and sets her plan in motion. She is going to sabotage Miranda so that she doesn't make it to her big performance. But in trying to sabotage her, Flor discovers that maybe they actually aren't on opposite sides. Flor and Miranda Steal the Show is a good story about doing the right thing with a feel-good summertime setting that will have you wishing you could go spend the day at a carnival. Author: Hena Khan
Published: 2017 Now that Amina is in middle school, things are starting to change. Her best friend Soojin and her family are about to become United States citizens, and Soojin wants to pick a more "American" name for herself. Amina doesn't think there's anything wrong with Soojin. Then Soojin starts letting a girl named Emily hang around them, but Amina can't forget how Emily and her friends used to be mean to them, like when she made fun of the kinds of food Soojin brought for lunch. For the first time, Amina is worried about her friendship. Amina has a beautiful voice but has always been scared to sing or talk in front of large groups of people. Her mom signs her up for a contest to read parts of the Quran, the holy book for Muslims, and Amina is trying to come up with an excuse to get out of it. When their mosque, a place of worship, is vandalized, Amina fears for her family and her community. Why would somebody do something so hateful? Everything seems like it's falling apart. Amina's Voice is a story about a girl who finds the strength to do what needs to be done. It is an absolutely beautiful book. Author: Andrea L. Rogers
Published: 2020 Mary is a member of the Cherokee Nation in the year 1838. They live in the area that came to be called Georgia, though her family had lived there for generations before it was called that. Due to an illegal treaty, all members of the Cherokee Nation were forced to leave their land. This was a journey of over 1000 miles that Native Americans had to walk. They didn't have enough food or water. The conditions were brutal. This journey was called the Trail of Tears. Mary and her family became separated from her father and worry they won't meet up with him again. They face unkindness and violence from the white soldiers forcing them to leave. On the way, their family faces a terrible tragedy. Mary and the Trail of Tears is a devastating look at a horrifying time in our country's history where Native Americans were forced to leave their homes and many were killed. Author: Julie Gilbert
Published: 2020 What Leah wants most in the world is to move out west and become a cowboy. But as a girl in the year 1919, her uncle wants her to stay in the same neighborhood, get married, and have kids. When a tank in the neighborhood holding over two million gallons of molasses explodes, Leah finds herself in a lot of danger. She and her classmate Francesca are swept up in the molasses flood and soon become trapped, worried they will drown in the save that just keeps getting higher and higher. Leah Braves the Flood is based on the very real event known as the Great Molasses Flood that killed 21 people and injured 150 in Boston in 1919. The Girls Survive series is fantastic for readers of I Survived. Authors: Mac Barnett & Jory John
Published: 2017 Miles doesn't want to start a new school. He doesn't want to just be invisible; he wants to be known for something. At his old school, he was the best prankster. When he shows up on the first day of school, however, he discovers that there is already a prankster at school when someone moves Principal Barkin's car to block the doors to the school building. Principal Barkin suspects Miles, even though he had nothing to do with it. Miles decides to try to go through with his plan to be the best prankster in school, but soon every prank that Miles tries to plan gets ruined. Then someone approaches him with a deal--to team up to be the best pranksters the school has ever seen. The Terrible Two is great for fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid or other funny stories. It is hilarious and will have you laughing out loud the whole time! |
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