Author: Rex Ogle
Published: 2019 There are a lot of hard things going on in Rex's life. He lives his mom, his younger brother, and his mom's boyfriend Sam. His mom and her boyfriend get into fights all the time, physical fights that leave his mom injured. They also take their anger out on Rex, and he gets hurt too. While Rex has always had friends, this year his friends aren't really acting like his friends so he sometimes finds himself sitting alone at lunch. Lunch is awful anyways because this year is that his mom has put him in the free lunch program. This means that everyone else gets to walk through the line and pay for their meals, but he has to stop by the lunch lady and has to tell her his name and she has to get out this big red binder and put a checkmark down. It is definitely very noticeable, and people look at him differently when they see him do this. Free Lunch is the true story of Ogle's childhood in an abusive home and all the things he had to worry about that many other people wouldn't even think of. I was heartbroken for this child and what he had to go through.
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Author: Candace Buford
Published: 2021 The towns of Monroe and Westmond are right next to each other but they couldn't be more different. Monroe is mostly Black and poor; Westmond is more white and wealthy. Rus and his best friend Marion have dreams of getting a scholarship to play football, and they have a good chance too. A police officer was transferred to Westmond after killing an innocent Black boy. Rus and all the other Black teens are terrified that he is so close to them and that the same thing could easily happen to one of them. During a football game with Westmond, two white boys on the opposing team call Marion the n word and then start a fight with them. The white boys face no consequences, but who do the police arrest? Marion. He is facing charges and is suspended from the team in the meantime. His chance at getting a football scholarship is ruined. Because of all the injustices going on, Rus makes the decision to kneel during the National Anthem at a football game. He faces tons of backlash--the anger of some of his teammates, his coach, his dad. He is worried that he just ruined his future as well. But doing the right thing is not always easy. Kneel is a fantastic story about the Black Lives Matter movement that is extremely important in our society today. Author: Shaun David Hutchinson
Published: 2019 Shaun David Hutchinson writes his story of growing up as a gay boy who was also depressed. When he was younger, he didn't realize why he never felt anything for girls. He had an idea about what it was to be gay, and he was convinced that wasn't him. It took him a long time to realize that he had feelings for boys, but he still was convinced he wasn't like other gay people. Shaun keeps his secret from his parents and friends. He is also hiding his depression. He doesn't think he deserves happiness and finds himself having these bursts of anger and self-loathing. When he does eventually come out to his family and friends, he finds he still has these feelings. Shaun doesn't know how to deal with them, so he does what he thinks will make everything better. Brave Face is a heartbreaking and honest true story. Recommended for grades 8 and up. Adapted for Young Readers
Author: Trevor Noah Published: 2019 Born a Crime is a fantastic memoir by Trevor Noah, comedian and host of The Daily Show. Noah writes about growing up as the son of a white father and black mother in South Africa during a time when it was illegal for people of different races to have kids together. He was literally born a crime. Apartheid was extreme racial segregation in South Africa from 1948 to 1991. Even though black South Africans outnumbered white South Africans, white South Africans were treated by the government as superior. The black South Africans were further divided into different tribes with different languages, and they were all inferior. The government passed many laws to keep the separation of different races, including the immorality act, stating that it was illegal to be romantically involved with someone from a different race. Noah write about how biracial people like him just didn't really exist during that time. He was never white, but he also was never black, so he didn't ever fit in. He writes about living with his step-father, Abel, a man who drank far too much and took it out on his family. He writes about how he was a troublemaker when he was younger and the different ways he tried to make money. Born a Crime is beautifully and hilariously written. One minute I was in awe of how terrible a story he was writing about was and the next minute I was laughing at something else he wrote. Absolutely fantastic read! Author: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar & Raymond Obstfeld
Published: 2017 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar grew up with the name Lew Alcindor. He was a smart kid who worked hard in school and listened to his parents. He had no idea that he was going to become Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the basketball legend. In this autobiography, Kareem writes about growing up and the lessons he learned from all the different coaches in his life. Not just coaches from his teams, but how his parents, teachers, and friends were life coaches, helping him grow up and become who he is today. Not only is Kareem a 7 foot 2 inch tall record-breaking basketball player, but he is also an activist. This book is about Kareem’s passion for basketball, but it is also equally about his passion for equality and fighting racism. Author: Shannon Hale
Published: 2017 This graphic memoir is based on the author, Shannon Hale's, childhood. It starts when Shannon is in kindergarten and goes up through when she finishes fifth grade. Shannon is the middle of five kids, and she often feels left out when her brothers and sisters play together. When she is in kindergarten, she meets her very best friend in the world, Adrienne. The two become inseparable. In third grade Adrienne starts to hang around with a new group of girls called the Group. They are led by a girl named Jen. Shannon is sometimes invited to hang out with the group, but sometimes she gets left out and the Group is mean to her. She never really feels like she belongs, but if she leaves, then she'll lose Adriennne and have no friends! Real Friends is about friends--having friends, losing friends, wishing you had friends, wishing things were the way they were in the past. Everyone will be able to relate to this honest look at the good and the bad things that come with friendships and growing up. Author: Malala Yousafzai with Patricia McCormick Malala Yousafzai is an activist for education access to girls around the world. Malala grew up in Pakistan. She attended a school that her father started and tried her hardest to be the top of the class. She heard about other girls around the world who did not have the same opportunities she did when it came to getting an education, and she thought that wasn’t right. When the Taliban started to have power in Pakistan, the rights of the women there were denied in many ways. Schools for girls were bombed and destroyed, strict rules were made stating that women could not leave the house without a male with them, women had to cover up their entire bodies in proper burqas. Girls and women who violated these rules were often beaten and sometimes even killed. Malala began to speak out alongside her father for the rights of girls to receive an education. She started to become famous throughout the world. Soon, she started to receive death threats. Malala was scared, but she knew that her message was more important. One day on her way to an exam, two men stopped the van Malala and her classmates were riding. They asked which girl was Malala, and they shot her in the head, intending to kill her. Luckily, she survived and is living in England now telling her story and continuing her fight for women’s rights. I Am Malala is a great story about an amazing young woman who wanted change and is helping make that change happen. "The Taliban have shot me. But they can only shoot a body. They cannot shot my dreams, they cannot kill my beliefs, and they cannot stop my campaign to see every girl and every boy in school." Author: Jacqueline Woodson Published: 2014 I loved Brown Girl Dreaming. This novel is a memoir written in verse. Jacqueline Woodson writes about her childhood and growing up in the 60s and 70s and the challenges her families faced depending on where they were in the country. Woodson talks about her desire to write, even when she was young. It is clear that writing was always a passion of hers. The passage below reminds me of one of the reasons why I wanted to become a librarian: to help every reader find a book they can connect with and enjoy. Brown Girl Dreaming is an Iowa Children's Choice Award nominee for the 2016-2017 school year.
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