Mrs. Haver's Recommendations

Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca

Reha feels torn between two worlds: school, where she's the only Indian American student, and home, with her family's traditions and holidays. But Reha's parents don't understand why she's conflicted--they only notice when Reha doesn't meet their strict expectations. Reha feels disconnected from her mother, or Amma, although their names are linked--Reha means 'star' and Punam means 'moon'--but they are a universe apart. Then Reha finds out that her Amma is sick. Really sick. Reha, who dreams of becoming a doctor even though she can't stomach the sight of blood, is determined to make her Amma well again. She'll be the perfect daughter, if it means saving her Amma's life.If you are the child of immigrants, you will understand how Reha feels. Also, I'm not crying, you're crying.

Invisible

written by Christina Diaz Gonzalez, illustrated by Gabriela Epstein, with color by Lark Pien

Can five overlooked kids make one big difference? There's George: the brain, Sara: the loner, Dayara: the tough kid, Nico: the rich kid, and Miguel: the athlete. And they're stuck together when they're forced to complete their school's community service hours. Although they're sure they have nothing in common with one another, some people see them as all the same... just five Spanish-speaking kids. Then they meet someone who truly needs their help, and they must decide whether they are each willing to expose their own secrets to help... or if remaining invisible is the only way to survive middle school.

Fighting Censorship

Attack of the Black Rectangles

by Amy Sarig King

When sixth-grader Mac discovers several words of his classroom copy of Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic are blacked out he is outraged, so he, his friends, and his eccentric family set out to do something about the censorship imposed by one teacher and the school board.

Answers in the Pages

by David Levitan

When Donovan left his copy of 'The Adventurers' on the kitchen counter, he didn't think his mom would read it--much less have a problem with it. It's just an adventure novel about two characters trying to stop an evil genius. But soon the entire town is freaking out about whether the book's main characters are gay, Donovan's mom is trying to get the book removed from the school curriculum, and Donovan is caught in the middle.

Ban This Book

by Alan Gratz

Alan Gratz, a fourth grader fights back when 'From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler' by E. L. Konigsburg is challenged by a well-meaning parent and taken off the shelves of her school library. Amy Anne is shy and soft-spoken, but don't mess with her when it comes to her favorite book in the whole world. Amy Anne and her lieutenants wage a battle for the books ... as they start a secret banned books locker library, make up ridiculous reasons to ban every single book in the library to make a point, and take a stand against censorship.

You've Reached Sam by Dustin Thao

Seventeen-year-old Julie fell in love with Sam the day she met him, and planned to attend college with him; but Sam died, and getting rid of his things, trying to erase him from her life is not working, so desperate to hear his voice one more time, Julie calls his cellphone expecting to hear his voicemail--but then Sam answers, and suddenly their cellphones become the living connection between them, a connection Julie finds impossible to let go.Very sad and very romantic.

The War Outside by Monica Hesse

Teens Haruko, a Japanese American, and Margot, a German American, form a life-changing friendship as everything around them starts falling apart in the Crystal City family internment camp during World War II. I loved this historical fiction novel. This book talked about a lesser-known aspect of World War II, the internment of "enemy aliens" both Japanese and German. The history is very interesting, but I especially loved this book because of the characters. They are multidimensional and sympathetic. The story is both personal and historic. A great read!

The Eleventh Trade by Alyssa Hollingsworth

They say you can't get something for nothing, but nothing is all Sami has. When his grandfather's most-prized possession--a traditional Afghan instrument called a rebab--is stolen, Sami resolves to get it back. He finds it at a music store, but it costs $700, and Sami doesn't have even one penny. What he does have is a keychain that has caught the eye of his classmate. If he trades the keychain for something more valuable, could he keep trading until he has $700? Sami is about to find out. I have read many books about refugees and I loved this one. An 2021 Evergreen Teen Choice Nominee.

July is Pride Month

Redwood and Ponytail

K.A. Holt

A universal story of finding a way to be comfortable in your own skin: Kate and Tam meet, and both of their worlds tip sideways.

The Best At It

Malik Panchouly

Stonewall Honor Book! From award-winning actor Maulik Pancholy comes a hilarious and heartfelt middle grade debut about a gay Indian American boy coming into his own.

The Pants Project

Cat Clarke

My name is Liv (Not Olivia) ... I'm not technically a girl."I'm transgender. Which is a bit like being a transformer. Only not quite as cool because I probably won't get to save the world one day.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Benjamin Alire Saenz

Stone Book AwardPura Belpre AwardMichael L. Printz Honor

May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month

Proud: Living My American Dream

Ibthihaj Muhammad

An autobiography of the Olympic fencer, Ibthihaj Muhammad,and how she became the first American woman to compete in the Olympics wearing a hijab.

Unsinkable

From Russian Orphan to Paralympic Swimming World Swimming World Champion

Jessica Long

with Hannah Long

The life story of Russian-born United States Paralympic swimmer Jessica Long.

Mighty Moe

The True Story of a Thirteen-Year-Old Women's Running Revolutionary

Rachel Swaby and Kit Fox

The untold true story of runner Maureen Wilton, whose world record-breaking marathon time at age thirteen was met first with misogyny and controversy, but ultimately with triumph.

Ghost

Jason Reynolds

Ghost, a naturally talented runner and troublemaker, is recruited for an elite middle school track team. He must stay on track, literally and figuratively, to reach his full potential.

Booked

Kwame Alexander

Twelve-year-old Nick loves soccer and hates books, but soon learns the power of words as he wrestles with problems at home, stands up to a bully, and tries to impress the girl of his dreams.

Roller Girl

Victoria Jamieson

A graphic novel adventure about a girl who discovers roller derby right as she and her best friend are growing apart.

Nikki on the Line

Barbara Carroll Roberts

Nikki, thirteen, dreams of being a great basketball player but struggles on her new, elite team while also juggling school stress, her non-traditional family, and revelations about her biological father.

No Fixed Address by Susin Nielsen

Unable to afford an apartment, Felix and his loving but irresponsible mother live in a van. Felix sets out to win his favorite game show's junior tournament, thinking the cash prize will solve his problems. At turns scary, heartbreaking, funny, and sad, this uplifting book provides a window into the life of a homeless student and his mom. Nominated for the 2021 Pacific Northwest Young Readers Choice Award.

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

May is a national celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander history and culture. Try these outstanding novels that feature Asian American and Pacific Islander authors and characters.

Inside Out and Back Again

by Thanhha Lai

Through a series of poems, a young girl chronicles the life-changing year of 1975, when she, her mother, and her brothers leave Vietnam and resettle in Alabama. Winner of the National Book Award and Newbery Honor.

Hello, Universe

by Erin Entrada Kelly

The lives of four misfits are intertwined when a bully's prank lands shy Virgil at the bottom of a well and Valencia, Kaori, and Gen band together in an epic quest to find and rescue him. Winner of the Newbery Medal.

The Night Diary

by Veera Hiranandani

Shy twelve-year-old Nisha, forced to flee her home with her Hindu family during the 1947 partition of India, tries to find her voice and make sense of the world falling apart around her by writing to her deceased Muslim mother in the pages of her diary. Newbery Honor Book

The Good Hawk by Joseph Elliott

In mythical Scotland, years after a plague has wiped out the people on the mainland, the Isle of Skye is falling into turbulence. When another tribe kidnaps their clan, Jaime and Agatha are determined to rescue them--even if that means taking a fearsome enemy hostage, trekking the haunting mainland, and being forced to question their own long-held beliefs about the world and their places in it. Told by two narrators, this is an epic, original adventure. I was intrigued by the character of Agatha, the "Good Hawk" of the title.

Newbery Award Winners

Hello Universe

by Erin Entrada Kelly

The lives of four misfits are intertwined when a bully's prank lands shy Virgil at the bottom of a well and Valencia, Kaori, and Gen band together in an epic quest to find and rescue him.

The Crossover

by Kwame Alexander

Fourteen-year-old twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan wrestle with highs and lows on and off the court as their father ignores his declining health.

The One and Only Ivan

by Katherine Applegate

When Ivan, a gorilla who has lived for years in a down-and-out circus-themed mall, meets Ruby, a baby elephant that has been added to the mall, he decides that he must find her a better life.

A Boy and His Dog

Where the Red Fern Grows

by Wilson Rawls

The adventures of a ten-year-old boy and the two dogs he bought with money he had earned.

Love That Dog

by Sharon Creech

A young student, who comes to love poetry through a personal understanding of what different famous poems mean to him, surprises himself by writing his own inspired poem.

Shiloh

by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Marty finds a lost beagle in the hills behind his West Virginia home, and tries to hide it from his family and the dog's real owner, a mean-spirited man known to shoot deer out of season and to mistreat his dogs.

These authors know what they are talking about!

Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen!

by Sarah Kapit

Eleven-year-old knuckleball pitcher Vivy Cohen, who has autism, becomes pen pals with her favorite Major League baseball player after writing a letter to him as an assignment for her social skills class. The author grew up with autism.

Cursed

by Karol Ruth Silverstein

Depicts young teen Ricky Bloom's struggles with her recent chronic illness diagnosis, which comes amid family upheaval and challenges at school. The author was diagnosed with arthritis at 13. Winner of the Schneider Family Book Award.

Free Lunch

by Rex Ogle

Rex Ogle recounts his first semester in sixth grade in which he and his younger brother often went hungry, wore secondhand clothes, and were short of school supplies and he was on his school's free lunch program. Grounded in the immediacy of physical hunger and the humiliation of having to announce it every day in the school lunch line, Rex's is a compelling story of a more profound hunger -- that of a child for his parents' love and care. Winner of the 2020 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award.

Graphic Novels about World War II

Raid of No Return

by Nathan Hale

Retells, in graphic-novel format, of the American aviators who led an air raid on Tokyo and other Japanese cities four months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

They Called Us Enemy

by George Takei

Actor, author, and activist George Takei recounts his childhood imprisoned within American concentration camps for Japanese Americans during World War II and the impact the experience had on his later life.

Catherine's War

Julia Billet and Claire Fauvel

At the Sevres Children's Home outside Paris, Rachel Cohen has discovered her passion--photography. Although she hasn't heard from her parents in months, she loves the people at her school, adores capturing what she sees in pictures, and tries not to worry too much about Hitler's war. But as France buckles under the Nazi regime, danger closes in, and Rachel must change her name and go into hiding.

Yossel, April 19, 1943 : A Story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

by Joe Kubert

Presents a graphic novel that tells the story of a fifteen year old boy and his family living in the ghetto's of Warsaw, Poland during the Nazi occupation of World War II.

Seen the movie? Now read the book!

Little Women

by Louisa May Alcott

The classic story of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy in nineteenth-century New England. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be so glad you read this book.

Wonder

by R.J. Palacio

Ten-year-old Auggie Pullman, who was born with extreme facial abnormalities and was not expected to survive, goes from being home-schooled to entering fifth grade at a private middle school in Manhattan, which entails enduring the taunts and fear of his classmates as he struggles to be seen as just another student.

A Wrinkle in Time

by Madeleine L'Engle

Meg Murry and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers while searching for Meg's father, who has disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government. Winner of the Newbery Medal.

Classic tales of adventure

Treasure Island

by Robert Louis Stevenson

A pirate adventure is launched with the death of the despicable old boarder who refused to pay his rent and the discovery of a mysterious map among his personal effects. The mistress of the inn and her son find the treasure map that leads them to a pirate's fortune.

Around the World in Eighty Days

by Jules Verne

Englishman Phileas Fogg races around the world on a daring wager in the seemingly impossible time of eighty days.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

by Lewis Carroll

Having followed the White Rabbit down his rabbit hole, Alice finds herself in Wonderland, surrounded by curious creatures and with no idea of how to return home. From the Caterpillar to the Chesire Cat, tea with the March Hare, the Hatter, and the Dormouse to the ultimate croquet match with the Queen of Hearts, Alice' s Adventures in Wonderland has enchanted readers since its publication in 1865.

Three great books feature characters with Asperger's Syndrome

Rain Reign

by Ann Martin

Struggling with Asperger's syndrome, Rose shares a bond with her beloved dog, but when the dog goes missing during a storm, Rose is forced to confront the limits of her comfort levels , even if it means leaving her routines in order to search for her pet. I could relate to Rose and her love of language.

Mockingbird

by Katherine Erskine

Ten-year-old Caitlin, who has Asperger's Syndrome, struggles to understand emotions, show empathy, and make friends at school, while at home she seeks closure by working on a project with her father. Winner of the National Book Award and ALA Notable Children's Book.

Team Players

by Mike Lupica

A girl with Asperger's joins Cassie's softball team but not everyone on the team welcomes her, creating a rift between Cassie and her teammates. Lupica is a great sports author.

Internment by Samira Ahmed

Set in a horrifying near-future United States, seventeen-year-old Layla Amin and her parents are forced into an internment camp for Muslim American citizens.

With the help of newly made friends also trapped within the internment camp, her boyfriend on the outside, and an unexpected alliance, Layla begins a journey to fight for freedom, leading a revolution against the camp's Director and his guards.

I loved this dystopian novel that seemed all too possible.

Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds

Jason Reynolds conjures ten tales (one per block) about what happens after the dismissal bell rings, and brilliantly weaves them into one wickedly funny, piercingly poignant look at the detours we face on the walk home, and in life. A National Book Award Finalist and a Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book.

I'm a big fan of Jason Reynolds and this one is great!

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

In the valley of Fruitless mountain, a young girl named Minli lives in a ramshackle hut with her parents. In the evenings, her father regales her with old folktales of the Jade Dragon and the Old Man on the Moon, who knows the answers to all of life's questions. Inspired by these stories, Minli sets off on an extraordinary journey to find the Old Man on the Moon to ask him how she can change her family's fortune. She encounters an assorted cast of characters and magical creatures along the way, including a dragon who accompanies her on her quest for the ultimate answer. A Newbury Honor Winner.

A fun adventure with great characters and magical creatures.

Refugee by Alan Gratz

Although separated by continents and decades, Josef, a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany; Isabel, a Cuban girl trying to escape the riots and unrest plaguing her country in 1994; and Mahmoud, a Syrian boy in 2015 whose homeland is torn apart by violence and destruction, embark on harrowing journeys in search of refuge, discovering shocking connections that tie their stories together.

Great historical fiction novel that ties together three fascinating stories.

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