Author: Ellen Hopkins
Published: 2021 Trace and his older brother Will have always had a great relationship. But then Will gets a brain injury during a football game and now things are different. Will is now very angry. He has a facial tic that he can't control, and he is depressed. In order to cope with all this Will has started abusing pills. This leads to all kinds of different issues. Trace feels like he needs to cover for his brother, but he also doesn't know if that's the right thing to do or not. What About Will is a fantastic novel in verse about brothers and trying to do the right thing.
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Author: Kwame Alexander
Published: 2022 This story is about the Asante people in the year 1860 who lived in a place called Upper Kwanta in West Africa now known as Ghana. Kofi is a young boy who love to swim and loves his family. At school he is expected to speak in only English but at home he is expected to speak Twi, his home language. In a festival called the Kings Festival, Upper Kwanta and Lower Kwanta have a wrestling contest between each village's best fighters. Kofi's brother Kwasi is selected to participate. When Kwasi is wrestling with the prince of Lower Kwanta, something horrible happens. Soon after that, something even worse happens and Kofi finds himself captured and in more danger than ever before. The Door of No Return is a heartbreaking historical fiction novel written in verse. Author: Jane Kuo
Published: 2022 Anna and her parents live in Taiwan with her relatives. They live a very happy life and have plenty of money to get by. They want to go to America for more opportunities. When her family goes to California, they realize that nothing is what they thought it would be. Anna is bullied at school for the way she looks and the food that she brings for lunch. Her parents spent all their money buying a restaurant and realize that they aren't making as much as they hoped and are barely staying afloat. Is America really ever going to be their home? In the Beautiful Country is a fantastic story written in verse that reminds me of Front Desk by Kelly Yang. Perfect for middle grade readers. Author: Helen Frost
Published: 2020 Henry is a little boy in 1937 when he gets really sick. After he gets better, he and his family realize that he can no longer hear anymore. He is sent to live at an institution called Riverside because he is considered to be "unteachable." While there, he and the other children experience poor living conditions and abuse. Henry doesn't know why his family left him there all alone. As time goes on, he makes some friends at Riverside. While World War II is going on, they are losing workers as many are going off to fight in the war. Victor is a conscientious objector, meaning he doesn't believe in war and refuses to fight. In those times, if you were a CO, you were either put in prison or you were given a necessary job. He is assigned to Riverside. Victor is kind and patient with the children there, unlike many of the other workers. And he doesn't think that Henry is unteachable. All He Knew is a fantastic historical fiction middle grade novel told in verse. My heart broke for Henry and the other boys at Riverside for the way they were treated. Author: Lisa Fipps
Published: 2021 Ellie has been bullied about her weight ever since she was five years old and wore a whale swimsuit to a birthday party. She has lots of not-so-nice nicknames, including Splash. While the kids are school are mean to her, being at home is not any better. Her brother and sister are always saying something rude, and her mom is doing everything in her power to change Ellie--she leaves weight loss articles on the fridge, she doesn't buy her new clothes for school because she thinks if she buys her bigger clothes than she'll just keep gaining weight, and all the comments are overwhelming. She goes through life believing that she is not good enough the way she is. The one place Ellie feels at peace is in her swimming pool where she can take up all the space she wants and no one can judge her. Luckily she has a new neighbor who doesn't judge and likes Ellie for who she is. As Ellie starts to go to therapy, she begins to reflect on how the comments and the people in her life are affecting her. Starfish is a beautiful book about accepting yourself. My heart broke for Ellie and the way the people in her life treated her and how that affected how she viewed herself. I loved how therapy was portrayed in this book and how it really helped Ellie. Author: James Patterson & Kwame Alexander Published: 2019 Have you ever wondered about what Muhammad Ali, the famous boxer, was like when he was a child, when his name was still Cassius Clay? Becoming Muhammad Ali is told from two different perspectives. We hear from Lucius, known as Lucky, one of Cassius' friends. The other perspective is Cassius Clay, and his part of the story is told in verse. Cassius grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, which was still segregated during the 40s and 50s when this story takes place. As a Black boy, he faced many challenges during his childhood. We learn about his drive and how he trained to be the best. We learn about his family and the dreams they had for Cassius, dreams that may not have always included boxing. Becoming Muhammad Ali tells the story of how one of the greatest boxers of all time got started. This is a great book for fans of sports and who enjoy Kwame Alexander's other books. Author: Candice Iloh
Published: 2020 For her whole life, Ada has only known her home and her family. Her father, who is very religious, expects Ada to be as well. Her mom, who doesn't live with them, doesn't quite know how to be a mother but Ada has learned how to navigate the relationship they do have. When it is time for Ada to leave to go to college, she finds that she has endless possibilities. She has struggled with self-acceptance her whole life, and she finds that those don't just go away as she starts off on her own life and begins to explore dance and her sexuality. Told in present day along with flashbacks to her childhood, readers are able to piece together Ada's story to understand who she is and who she is becoming. Told in verse, Every Body Looking is a great story about finding yourself and spreading your wings. Author: Allan Wolf
Published: 2020 In 1846, the Donner and Reed families, along with several others, decided to make their way from Illinois to California in order to get land, a journey of about 2000 miles. Partway through their journey, this group had a decision to make--take the well-known Oregon Trail or take a shortcut that would supposedly save them a lot of time. The Reeds and the Donners along with some others decided to use the shortcut they had heard about. The group was led by George Donner and so they called themselves the Donner party. Unfortunately, the shortcut was not actually a shortcut and led them through land that caused them to lose their wagons, their oxen, and was very hard on the travelers. By the time they finished with the supposed shortcut, it was in late September. When winter came early, the Donner party got snowed in in the Sierra Nevada mountains. This is a fictionalized account of the horrifying true event of what happened on the Donner party's journey west. When they were snowed in, they didn't have enough food and faced starvation. They did what they had to in order to survive, though not everyone did survive. Told from the different perspectives of people on the journey along with the voice of Hunger, this book is haunting and dark and real. I had a very hard time putting it down, and I also had a hard time thinking about the horrors this group experienced. 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: Jacqueline Woodson
Published: 2020 ZJ has always loved having a father who plays pro football. All of his friends think it is the coolest thing in the world. Recently his dad has been ordered by doctors to take a little bit of a break from football. He has been suffering from terrible headaches and other strange things. Sometimes he just stares at nothing. Other times he has a hard time remembering who people are. And sometimes he even forgets who ZJ is. ZJ is terrified that his dad will never get better. They go to doctor after doctor but don't really get a good answer on why this is happening and how to fix it. Sometimes ZJ feels like the only way he can get through to him is through music. Before the Ever After is a beautiful novel in verse about the relationship between father and son and what happens when something out of your control comes between you. |
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