Book Recommendations from Mrs. Watford

As we go throughout the year, I'll be recommending books I read or have read in the past. I'll keep the list of those books here so you can always refer back to them when you're looking for a book. Always ask me if you need help finding a book. It may take me a little while to think about it, but I want to come up with a book that YOU will like.

Book Recommendations:

• Befriended by Hope Whitaker: 12 year old Hadley moves from her home in Nashville to the country in Alabama to be near her grandmother. She is alone and not happy about the situation. Throughout the story, magical things happen and help Hadley learn her true self and her true friends. In Mrs. Watford's classroom library

• Ain't Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffin. This is a novel in verse and art. It's very different than any other book you will ever read, but I highly recommend it because of that. The author shows you how the narrator feels in such specific and haunting ways.

• Hideout by Watt Key: This is an action packed book with the main character, Sam, exploring the swamp in his boat. He finds a boy hiding out in the swamp and everything that could go wrong, does go wrong. Great thriller of a book!

• House Arrest by KA Holt: This book is about a boy who is on a year of house arrest because he stole a wallet to pay for his little brother's medication. I enjoyed it so much that I've checked out the next book so I can find out what happens to the characters next.

• Some Kind of Hate by Sarah Darer Littman: In this book, a baseball star loses all he has in an accident trying to impress a girl. He quickly turns to online friends that lead him down a path of hate, anti-Semitism, and breaking the law. Before long, he has to decide. Is he with his family or with the haters? Recommend this book for mature readers.

• Darkroom by KR Alexander: This book is about an app that kids can play to find ghosts and defeat them by snapping a picture of them. It's super spooky and has all the good parts of a horror novel. I couldn't put it down. Will they live or die?

• Two Degrees by Alan Gratz: This book is about climate change and its effects over America. It is told from three different viewpoints.

• The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes: This book is a mystery. What would you do if you were given millions of dollars from a perfect stranger? The only catch is you have to live with his very angry (and now poor) family for a year. Why would he do this?