6th Grade
Al Capone Does My Shirts, Gennifer Choldenko (Historical Fiction)
12-year-old Moose Flanagan moves to Alcatraz when his dad takes a job as a prison guard. “Today I moved to a twelve-acre rock covered with cement, topped with bird turd and surrounded by water. I'm not the only kid who lives here. There's my sister, Natalie, except she doesn't count. And there are twenty-three other kids who live on the island because their dads work as guards or cooks or doctors or electricians for the prison, like my dad does. Plus, there are a ton of bad men — hit men, con men, stickup men, embezzlers, connivers, burglars, kidnappers and maybe even an innocent man or two, though I doubt it. The convicts we have are the kind other prisons don't want. I never knew prisons could be picky, but I guess they can. You get to Alcatraz by being the worst of the worst. Unless you're me. I came here because my mother said I had to.”
Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson (Nonfiction, Memoir, Novel in Verse)
Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African-American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child’s soul as she searches for her place in the world. Woodson’s eloquent poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the fact that she struggled with reading as a child. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become.
Fast Break, Mike Lupica (Realistic Fiction)
Forced to live on his own after his mom dies and her boyfriend abandons him, 12-year-old Jayson does whatever it takes to get by. He will do anything to avoid the foster care system. Besides, his real home has always been the beat-up basketball court behind the projects in the North Carolina hills, and his family has always been his friends and teammates. He manages to get away with his deception until the day he gets caught stealing a new pair of basketball sneakers. Game over. Within a day a social worker places him with a family from the other side of town, the Lawtons. New home, new school, new teammates. Jayson, at first, is combative, testing the Lawtons' patience at every turn. He wants out, yet the Lawtons refuse to take the bait. But not everyone in Jayson's new life is so ready to trust him — and even Jayson's old friends give him a hard time now that he's attending a school full of rich kids. It's on Jayson to believe that he deserves a better life than the one he once had. The ultimate prize if he can? A trip to play in the state finals at Cameron Indoor Stadium — home to the Duke Blue Devils and launching pad to his dream of playing big-time college ball. Getting there will be a journey that reaches far beyond the basketball court.
Raymie Nightingale, Kate Dicamillo (Realistic Fiction)
In the summer of 1975, Raymie Clarke hatches a plan. If she can win a local beauty pageant, maybe her father will regret running off with a dental hygienist and come home. To win, Raymie thinks she needs to learn to twirl a baton. She befriends the two others in the class — quirky girls who have far-fetched plans and challenges of their own. Ultimately, through a series of adventures, their unlikely friendship helps them more than any contest ever could.
The Lions of Little Rock, Kristen Levine (Historical Fiction)
As 12-year-old Marlee starts middle school in 1958 Little Rock, it feels like her whole world is falling apart. Until she meets Liz, the new girl at school. Liz is everything Marlee wishes she could be: she's brave, brash and always knows the right thing to say. But when Liz leaves school without even a good-bye, the rumor is that Liz was caught passing for white. Marlee decides that doesn't matter. She just wants her friend back. And to stay friends, Marlee and Liz are even willing to take on segregation and the dangers their friendship could bring to both their families
Counting by 7's, Holly Goldberg Sloan (Realistic Fiction)
Willow Chance is a 12-year-old genius, obsessed with nature and diagnosing medical conditions, who finds it comforting to count by 7's. It has never been easy for her to connect with anyone other than her adoptive parents, but that hasn't kept her from leading a quietly happy life — until now. Suddenly Willow's world is tragically changed when her parents both die in a car crash, leaving her alone in a baffling world. The triumph of this book is that it is not a tragedy. This extraordinarily odd, but extraordinarily endearing, girl manages to push through her grief. Her journey to find a fascinatingly diverse and believable surrogate family is a joy and a revelation to read.
Other Words From Home, Jasmine Warga (Novel in Verse/Realistic Fiction)
I am learning how to be
sad
and happy
at the same time.
Jude never thought she’d be leaving her beloved older brother and father behind, all the way across the ocean in Syria. But when things in her hometown start becoming volatile, Jude and her mother are sent to live in Cincinnati with relatives. At first, everything in America seems too fast and too loud. The American movies that Jude has always loved haven’t quite prepared her for starting school in the US — and her new label of “Middle Eastern,” an identity she’s never known before. But this life also brings unexpected surprises — there are new friends, a whole new family, and a school musical that Jude might just try out for. Maybe America, too, is a place where Jude can be seen as she really is.
Sky Jumpers, Peggy Eddlemand (Science Fiction)
Hope is terrible at inventing. But since the bombs of World War III destroyed technology a generation ago, it seems like inventing is all that matters in her town. When bandits take over and steal the rare and precious antibiotics the town discovered, it is clear that it will take more than inventing to get help and save them all. Hope must face the deadly Bomb’s Breath and a terrible blizzard before it is too late for everyone.
The False Prince, Jennifer Nielsen (Action/Adventure)
In this first book in a remarkable trilogy, an orphan is forced into a twisted game with deadly stakes.
Choose to lie — or choose to die. In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king's long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner's motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword's point — he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage's rivals have their own agendas as well. As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner's sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together. An extraordinary adventure filled with danger and action, lies and deadly truths that will have readers clinging to the edge of their seats.
To Night Owl From Dogfish, Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer (Realistic Fiction)
Avery Bloom, who’s bookish, intense, and afraid of many things, particularly deep water, lives in New York City. Bett Devlin, who’s fearless, outgoing, and loves all animals as well as the ocean, lives in California. What they have in common is that they are both 12 years old, and are both being raised by single, gay dads. When their dads fall in love, Bett and Avery are sent, against their will, to the same sleep-away camp. Their dads hope that they will find common ground and become friends — and possibly, one day, even sisters. But things soon go off the rails for the girls (and for their dads too), and they ind themselves on a summer adventure that neither of them could have predicted. Now that they can’t imagine life without each other, will the two girls (who sometimes call themselves Night Owl and Dogfish) figure out a way to be a family?
Wings of Fire, The Dragon Prophecy, Tui T. Sutherland (Fantasy)
The story tells about a young dragon without heroic ambitions, learns that a prophecy predicted his four other dragonets' demise. He decides to leave his sheltered life and fight for his and the other dragon’s freedom. In this fantastic adventure, Clay and his friends leave the mountain and set the dragon world on a course that one could have predicted.
Rocket Boys, Homer Hickam (Memoir)
As the memoir begins, Homer Hickam Jr. is a young teenager living in the mining town of Coalwood, West Virginia. His father is Homer Hickam Sr. , the superintendent of the mine; his mother is Elsie Hickam, who makes no secret of her dislike for the mine and mining; and his brother is Jim Hickam, a handsome, popular football player. In 1957, the Soviet Union launches a satellite called Sputnik into space. Homer and his friends gather outside to watch Sputnik pass over Coalwood. As he watches, Homer realizes that his greatest ambition is to build rockets and eventually to build satellites for the government, like his hero, Dr. Wernher von Braun.