Graff, Lisa. Lost in the Sun (Realistic Fiction)
Hiaason, Carl. Hoot; Flush; Scat; Chomp (Realistic Fiction/Ecology/Award Winner)
Jamieson, Victoria. Roller Girl. (Realistic Fiction/Graphic Novel/ Newbery Honor)
Mull, Brandon. Fablehaven (Series/Fantasy)
Olson, Gretchen. Call Me Hope (Realistic Fiction)
Riordan, Rick. Percy Jackson series (Fantasy/Mythology)
Robinson, Sharon. Promises to keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America (Nonfiction)
Selznick, Brian. Invention of Hugo Cabret (Historical Fiction/Award Winner)
Selznick, Brian. Wonderstruck: a Novel in Words and Pictures. (Historical Fiction)
Albee, Sarah. Bugged! How Insects Changed History. Students will learn more than they bargained for about the impact of insects on human history.
Alexander, Kwame. Booked. In this follow-up to the Newbery-winning novel The Crossover, soccer, family, love, and friendship take center stage as twelve-year-old Nick learns the power of words and wrestles with problems at home, stands up to a bully, and tries to impress the girl of his dreams.
Allen, Thomas B. Mr. Lincoln's High-tech War: How the North Used the Telegraph, Railroads, Surveillance Balloons, Iron-clads, High-powered Weapons, and More to Win the Civil War. Meet Abraham Lincoln, the nation's first hands-on Commander-in-Chief, whose appreciation for the power of technology plays a critical role in the North's Civil War victory over the less developed South.
Aguilar, David A. Cosmic catastrophes : Seven Ways to Destroy a Planet like Earth. Blending science, speculation, photographs, and striking, full-color digital art, the author examines seven cosmic catastrophes that could decimate Earth, from a supernova explosion to a potential alien invasion.
Barnhill, Kelly Regan. The Girl who Drank the Moon. An epic fantasy about a young girl raised by a witch, a swamp monster, and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon, who must unlock the powerful magic buried deep inside her. Newbery Medal Winner.
Bauer, Joan. Close to Famous. Everyone in the little town of Culpepper has a dream, but nobody is even close to famous - until some unexpected events shake up the town and its inhabitants-and put their big ambitions to the test.
Black, Holly. Doll Bones. Three friends steal into the night on a perilous quest to satisfy an unquiet spirit inhabiting a creepy doll.
Bow, Erin. Simon Sort of Says. In this story filled with quirky characters, Simon learns that life is full of tragedy, sensitive moments, and most importantly, humanity. Humor abounds as Simon learns the true meaning of letting go of the past and facing his future as only a middle schooler can do.
Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker. The War that Saved My Life. A young disabled girl and her brother are evacuated from London to the English countryside during World War II, where they find life to be much sweeter away from their abusive mother. A Newbery Honor Book and winner of the Schneider Family Book Award (Middle School)
Bragg, Georgia. How They Choked: Failures, Flops and Flaws of the Awfully Famous. The author pokes fun, plays up, and revels in the mistakes of 14 famous figures because "There's nothing better than reading about how someone else messed up."
Brown, Don. Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans. A graphic novel account of the Hurricane Katrina disaster in August of 2005, when the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, and surrounding areas were flooded and more than fourteen hundred people lost their lives.
Bryan, Ashey. Infinite Hope: A Black Artist’s Journey from World War II to Peace. Part memoir, part social history, part artist’s sketchbook, this title offers a rare insight into the treatment of black soldiers serving in World War II. Bryan, a renowned children’s book creator and Newbery Honoree and Coretta Scott King Award winner, offers an impressionistic work. After facing discrimination when he applied to college, Bryan earned a scholarship to Cooper Union in New York. Just when he thought he was on his way to achieving his dream of working as an artist, 19-year-old Bryan was drafted into the United States Army in 1943. Although he’d encountered prejudice before, Bryan was surprised by the level of segregation he experienced in the military. Black recruits were immediately separated from white ones; they were assigned dangerous “service” jobs and were not offered the same opportunities to advance. Bryan used art as a way to feed his spirit as he faced perilous assignments, including taking part in the D-Day invasion and sleeping in a foxhole on Omaha Beach for months. Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award Honors.
Burgan, Michael. Breaker Boys: How a Photograph Helped End Child Labor. You’ve heard that pictures speak louder than words. See the proof in this book that describes how the compelling photographs of Lewis Hine and others brought to light the harsh working conditions for immigrants, the poor, and the children working in mines, factories, and mills.
Conkling, Winifred. Radioactive! : how Irene Curie & Lise Meitner Revolutionized Science and Changed the World. The fascinating, little-known story of how two brilliant female physicists' groundbreaking discoveries led to the creation of the atomic bomb.
Cooper, Michael L. Fighting fire! Ten of the Deadliest Fires in American History and How We Fought Them. Brings to life ten of the deadliest infernos this nation has ever endured. With historical images and a fast-paced text, this is both an exciting look at firefighting history and a celebration of the human spirit.
Davis, Kenneth C. In the Shadow of Liberty : the Hidden history of Slavery, Four Presidents, and Five Black Lives. Did you know that many of America's Founding Fathers—who fought for liberty and justice for all—were slave owners?
Through the powerful stories of five enslaved people who were "owned" by four of our greatest presidents, this book helps set the record straight about the role slavery played in the founding of America.
Day, Nicholas. The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, A Shocking Heist, and the Birth of a Global Celebrity. A rollicking true tale of the improbable theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre in 1911, set alongside the equally improbable story of its creation and the life of its painter, Leonardo da Vinci.
Fleming, Candace. Amelia Lost: the Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart. One of the enduring mysteries of the 20th century is the disappearance of aviator Amelia Earhart. This book not only explores that disappearance, but goes back to study the life of this daring woman, using maps, photographs and other primary sources.
Fleming, Candace. The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion and the Fall of Imperial Russia. History comes to vivid life in Fleming’s sweeping story of the dramatic decline and fall of the House of Romanov.
Freedman, Russell. Because They Marched: The People’s Campaign for Voting Rights that Changed America. For the 50th anniversary of the 1965 march for voting rights from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, Newbery Medalist Russell Freedman has written a riveting account of this pivotal event in the history of civil rights.
Friesner, Esther M. Threads and Flames. In 1910, thirteen-year-old Raisa travels alone from Poland to New York City, where she discovers her older sister, who was supposed to take care of her, has disappeared, leaving Raisa to accept a job at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, where her life is changed once again after a tragic fire.
Gidwitz, Adam. The Inquisitor’s Tale, or, Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog. 1242. On a dark night, travelers from across France cross paths at an inn and begin to tell stories of three children. Their adventures take them on a chase through France: they are taken captive by knights, sit alongside a king, and save the land from a farting dragon. On the run to escape terrors unknown, save precious and holy texts from being burned, their quest drives them forward to a final showdown at Mont Saint-Michel, where all will come to question if these children can perform the miracles of saints.
Heiligman, Deborah. Torpedoed: The True Story of the WWII Sinking of “The Children’s Ship.” Heiligman tells a story of bravery, courage, and despair through the eyes of the passengers on the SS City of Benares, a ship commissioned to sail to Canada with 100 children on board during World War II. The SS City of Benares was torpedoed by a German submarine. The imagery of the waves hitting the lifeboats and rafts as the survivors hung on for life is so vivid that readers almost feel as if they, too, are fighting for their lives. Heiligman includes information about the lascars, or Indian sailors, many of whom gave their lives to save as many people as they could.
Hesse, Monica. Girl in the Blue Coat. In 1943 Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, teenage Hanneke--a 'finder' of black market goods--is tasked with finding a Jewish girl a customer had been hiding, who has seemingly vanished into thin air.
Jacobson, Jennifer. Small as an Elephant. Abandoned by his mother in an Acadia National Park campground, Jack tries to make his way back to Boston before anyone figures out what is going on, with only a small toy elephant for company.
Jamieson, Victoria. All’s Faire In Middle School. Calling all Raina Telgemeier fans! The Newbery Honor-winning author of Roller Girl is back with a heartwarming graphic novel about starting middle school, surviving your embarrassing family, and the Renaissance Faire. Eleven-year-old Imogene (Impy) has grown up with two parents working at the Renaissance Faire, and she's eager to begin her own training as a squire. First, though, she'll need to prove her bravery. Luckily Impy has just the quest in mind--she'll go to public school after a life of being homeschooled! But it's not easy to act like a noble knight-in-training in middle school. Impy falls in with a group of girls who seem really nice (until they don't) and starts to be embarrassed by her thrift shop apparel, her family's unusual lifestyle, and their small, messy apartment. Impy has always thought of herself as a heroic knight, but when she does something really mean in order to fit in, she begins to wonder whether she might be more of a dragon after all.
Jarrow, Gail. Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary. In a true story that reads like fiction, the author describes the search for Mary Mallon, also known as Typhoid Mary, who is thought to be the cause of the spread of typhoid fever in New York in 1909.
Levy, Debbie. This Promise of Change: One Girl’s Story in the Fight for School Equality. This evocatively told, carefully researched memoir-in-verse is the story of a group of 12 teenagers from Clinton, TN, who, in 1956, were among the first black students to pave the way for school integration. Free verse and formal poetry, along with newspaper headlines, snippets of legislation, and other primary sources about national and local history are mixed with Boyce's first-person narrative. The book opens with an overview of life in segregated Clinton and the national events leading up to the desegregation of Clinton High. The rest of the work follows the four months in the fall of 1956 when Boyce and the other 11 teens attended Clinton High. They faced angry white mobs outside the school, constant harassment from white classmates, and a hostile principal who viewed integration as a legal choice rather than a moral one. The book includes an introduction and epilogue, authors' notes, brief biographies of the involved students, photographs, a timeline, and a bibliography. The writing invites readers to cheer on Boyce for her optimism and her stubbornness in the face of racism, without singling her out as a solitary hero. This story adeptly shows readers that, like the Clinton Twelve, they too can be part of something greater than themselves. Robert F. Sibert Informational Honors winner.
Lockhart, E. We Were Liars. Spending the summers on her family's private island off the coast of Massachusetts with her cousins and a special boy named Gat, Cadence struggles to remember what happened during her fifteenth summer. Read it before someone spoils the ending!
Martin, Pedro. MexiKid: A Graphic Memoir. Pedro and his large family take an epic road trip to Mexico to bring his abuelito back to America. This hilarious graphic novel memoir has a lot of heart and will keep kids laughing
Macy, Sue. Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom: (with a few flat tires along the way). Through vintage photographs, advertisements, cartoons, and songs, this book transports young readers to bygone eras to see how women used the bicycle to improve their lives.
McClafferty, Carla Killough. Fourth down and inches : Concussions and Football's Make-or-Break Moment. Award-winning author Carla Killough McClafferty takes readers on a bone-crunching journey from football's origins to the latest research on concussion and traumatic brain injuries in the sport.
Napoli, Donna Jo. Treasury of Greek Mythology: Classic Stories of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes & Monsters. Tap into the renewed interest in Greek mythology generated by the Percy Jackson series and enjoy this beautifully illustrated and comprehensive treasury.
Newman, Patricia. Plastic, ahoy! : Investigating the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Plastic - it's used to make everything, from drink bottles and bags to toys and toothbrushes. But what happens when it ends up where it doesn't belong--like in the Pacific Ocean? Find out what scientists discovered when they set out to investigate the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Ogle, Rex. Free Lunch. Heart-wrenching, timely, and beautifully written, this is a powerful and urgent work of autofiction. Telling his own story of growing up in Texas, Ogle looks back at starting middle school while navigating the crushing poverty and intermittent violence of his home life. It is especially humiliating to sixth-grade Rex that he is required to announce his free lunch status every day in the school cafeteria, wear second hand clothes, and give excuses for not playing football when the truth is that there’s no money for the uniform. At home, where he lives with his unemployed mother and her boyfriend, Rex is the one who cares for his baby brother, balances the checkbook, and cooks dinner. His mother, overwhelmed and hopeless, clearly loves Rex, but does not know how to care for her sensitive son. At school, Rex struggles to maintain friendships with boys who have joined the football team and to make new friends—until he meets Ethan, a classmate who encourages Rex to recognize that every family is complicated. He also has to contend with his English teacher, Mrs. Winstead, who does not miss an opportunity to make Rex feel bad about himself. Over time, and with the support of his loving Mexican grandmother, Rex grows into an empathetic boy who begins to recognize the hardships his mother faces and starts to look outward in ways not restricted by his immediate situation. Excellence in Nonfiction Award Winner.
Ortiz, Victoria. Dissenter on the Bench: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Life and Work. This accessible and engaging biography of the Supreme Court Justice successfully weaves together information about her life and major court cases in which she had significant influence. Each of the 10 chapters highlights a different court case and a segment of Bader Ginsburg's life, including her academic pursuits, experiences as a woman facing blatant gender discrimination, and her marriage to Martin Ginsburg. The many challenges Bader Ginsburg faced as a person of the Jewish faith growing up during the time of World War II, and as a woman studying law in an overwhelmingly male field are described. Her ferocious determination to fight injustice and inequality stem from personal experience. Sydney Taylor Book Awards - Young Adult.
Quigley, Dawn. Apple in the Middle. This coming-of-age debut tackles what it means to belong. Apple is quirky, blurts things out to classmates, pretends to be a foreign exchange student, and feels responsible for her mother's death. She is Native, living with her nonindigenous family. Her dad and stepmom decide to send her to Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation to stay with her grandparents, strangers to her, over the summer. Apple's cousin Junior becomes her protector, and her cousin Nezzie, her first best friend. Apple is threatened by Karl, a man who knew her mother growing up and does not think she is "Indian" enough. Young Adult Honors Book.
Reynolds, Jason. Ghost (Track series, Book 1). In this National Book Award Finalist book, 13-year-old Castle "Ghost" Cranshaw, a troubled youth living in a poor neighborhood, struggles to cope with the trauma of his father's past violence. After being recruited to the Defenders track team, Ghost learns to harness his natural talent for speed and finds a new direction in life through the support of Coach Brody and his new teammates. The novel explores themes of trauma, bullying, and finding a sense of belonging through sports and friendship. The Track series continues with Patina, Sunny and Lu.
Reynolds, Jason. Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks. Ten short stories paint a picture of what happens one particular afternoon after the dismissal bell at Latimer Middle School. Each tale focuses on one student or group of friends. The magic of this book is Reynolds’s ability to weave the same teachers and various students in and out of the ten stories. Students after school swirl and eddy. Ms. Post the crossing guard helps everyone cross the street while her son looks on from his spot by the stop sign; Ms. Wockley, the principal, stands in the hall yelling at students; and Ms. CeeCee sells penny candy from her house. Some backstory in each piece puts the characters’ actions into perspective, with each entry ending with a bit of a surprise. The very last one ends where the first one begins, with a mythical flying school bus. Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award Honors book.
Riggs, Ransom. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. On the brink of his sixteenth birthday, something terrible happens to Jacob—something so terrible that it splits his life into two parts: Before and After. Before, he was an ordinary young man with a peculiar but doting grandfather. After, he discovers he isn’t so ordinary after all. Nor are the “peculiar children” he meets at Miss Peregrine’s home. Look for the sequels Hollow City and Library of Souls.
Rivera, Lilliam. Barely Floating. A great addition to a summer reading list, this story follows Nat as she falls in love with and tries out for the L.A. Mermaids, a synchronized swimming group. Over the summer, she learns how good it feels to surround herself with people who lift her up and how to let herself shine, even when it gets tough.
Rubin, Susan Goldman. Music Was It: Young Leonard Bernstein. This inspiring biography chronicles the life of Leonard Bernstein from early childhood to his triumphant debut at age twenty- as conductor of the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall.
Schlosser, Eric. Chew on this: Everything You Don't Want to Know about Fast Food. This adaptation of Schlosser’s adult book, Fast Food Nation, will make you stop and think before you gulp down that Big Mac.
Schmidt, Gary D. What Came from the Stars. In a desperate attempt for survival, a peaceful civilization on a faraway planet sends its most precious gift across the cosmos into the lunchbox of Tommy Pepper, sixth grader, of Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Schrefer, Eliot. Endangered. A girl, who has traveled with her mother to an animal sanctuary for bonobos in the Congo, struggles to survive with the animals after revolution breaks out and she and the animals are forced to flee into the jungle. Don’t miss the follow-up novels, Threatened and Rescued.
Sheinkin, Steve. The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny and the Fight for Civil Rights.
An astonishing civil rights story from a Newbery Honor winner, this book tells the story of fifty black sailors who refused to work in unsafe and unfair conditions after an explosion in Port Chicago killed 320 servicemen, and how the incident influenced civil rights.
Shusterman, Neal. Scythe. A thrilling new series by National Book Award-winning author Neal Shusterman in which Citra and Rowan learn that a perfect world comes only with a heavy price - A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery: humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. One organization, the Scythes, are given the ultimate decision. Is everything as perfect as it seems?
Van Wagenen, Maya. Popular: A Memoir. Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek.
Stuck near the bottom of the social ladder at "pretty much the lowest level of people at school who aren't paid to be here," Maya has never been popular. But before starting eighth grade, she decides to begin a unique social experiment: spend the school year following a 1950s popularity guide, written by former teen model Betty Cornell. The real-life results are hilarious, painful, and filled with unexpected surprises.
Vickers, Elaine. Half Moon Summer. Seventh-graders Mia and Drew spend their summer running together as they train for a half marathon and face challenges within their families.
Wallace, Sandra Neil. Bound By Ice: A True North Pole Survival Story. In the years following the Civil War, "Arctic fever" gripped the American public, fueled by myths of a fertile, tropical sea at the top of the world. Several explorers attempted to find a route to the North Pole, but none succeeded. Bound by Ice follows the journey of George Washington De Long and the crew of the USS Jeannette, who departed San Francisco in the summer of 1879 hoping to find a route to the North Pole. However, in mid-September the ship became locked in ice north of Siberia and drifted for nearly two years before it was crushed by ice and sank. De Long and his men escaped the ship and began a treacherous journey in extreme polar conditions in an attempt to reach civilization. Pick up this true thriller to find out who made it!
Warga, Jasmine. Other Words for Home. Twelve-year-old Jude lives in a coastal tourist town in Syria where many people go to get away. While Jude wants to become a movie star, her older brother, Issa, wants more from their future than the oppression overtaking their beloved country. As the tumult crawls closer to Jude's home, Issa yearns to join the revolution in Aleppo, Baba refuses to leave his seaside store, and Mama believes the safest place for Jude, herself, and the baby she is carrying is with Jude's Uncle Mazin and Aunt Michelle in America. Leaving a possible war behind is easy, but leaving Baba, Issa, and everything she knows is hard. Adjusting to life in Cincinnati alongside her less-than-welcoming cousin, Sarah, is almost as difficult, especially with school play tryouts looming and Jude feeling that a girl like her would never get, or even merit, the spotlight. With the help of her fellow immigrant classmates and new Arabic-speaking American friend, Layla, Jude adjusts to her new home and family while never forgetting what she left behind. Newbery Medal Honors book.
Williams, Alice D. Genesis Begins Again. Genesis comes home from school to find her family's belongings on the lawn; they've been evicted again. Her father promises that this next time will be different, renting a house in the suburbs and promising that he will get a promotion at work so they can afford it. At school, Genesis makes friends for the first time and is mentored by Mrs. Hill, the choir teacher, but Genesis's father still drinks too much and her parents' marriage is unraveling. Genesis tries lightening her skin, begs to be able to use a relaxer in her hair, and keeps a list of things she hates about herself, believing that if she only looked like her light-skinned mother and not her dark-skinned father, the situation at home would improve. This message is hammered home by her father's cruel comments and her grandmother's story of the "brown paper bag" test. Genesis escapes by singing; she is inspired by greats like Billie Holiday and Etta James. When she has the opportunity to sing in the school talent show, Genesis must find the power in using her voice to speak her truth. Genesis' struggles are age appropriate but do not shy away from the hard truth about colorism within the Afro American community. Through each character, readers come to understand the significance of how one's story plays out in reactions and interactions with the people around them. The hopeful but not happy ending adds to the realism and emotional impact of this powerful story. This book was awarded the Newbery Honor, the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award, and was a William C. Morris Finalist.
Wolk, Lauren. Beyond the Bright Sea. Twelve-year-old Crow has lived her entire life on a tiny, isolated piece of the starkly beautiful Elizabeth Islands in Massachusetts. Abandoned and set adrift in a small boat when she was just hours old, Crow's only companions are Osh, the man who rescued and raised her, and Miss Maggie, their fierce and affectionate neighbor across the sandbar. Crow has always been curious about the world around her, but it isn't until the night a mysterious fire appears across the water that the unspoken question of her own history forms in her heart. Soon, an unstoppable chain of events is triggered, leading Crow down a path of discovery and danger.
Woodson, Jacqueline. Remember Us. Twelve-year-old Sage experiences a summer of self-discovery as she spends her days playing basketball and watching fires overtake the beloved Bushwick neighborhood where she lives in this novel set in the 1970s.
Woollett, Laura A. Big Top Burning : the True Story of an Arsonist, a Missing Girl, and the Greatest Show on Earth. Combining a gripping disaster story, an ongoing detective and forensics saga, and vivid details about life in World War II-era America, Big Top Burning is sure to intrigue any history or real-life mystery fan.