|
|
|
|
The Crossover by Kwame AlexanderA middle-grade novel in verse follows the experiences of twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan, who struggle with challenges on and off the court while their father ignores his declining health.
|
|
|
|
Home of the Brave by Katherine ApplegateKek, an African refugee, is confronted by many strange things at the Minneapolis home of his aunt and cousin, as well as in his fifth grade classroom, and longs for his missing mother, until he finds comfort in the company of a cow and her owner.
|
|
|
|
All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook by Leslie ConnorSecretly being raised in prison so that he can be with his inmate mother, 11-year-old Perry is discovered by an ambitious new district attorney and brought to the outside world, where he desperately seeks to reunite with his mother while learning the truth about why she is in jail.
|
|
|
|
Hate That Cat by Sharon CreechJack learns the power of the written word when he goes up against a crazy fat black cat who gives him something to write about, causing him to see and hear the world in a whole new way.
|
|
|
|
Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul CurtisTen-year-old Bud, a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his father--the renowned bandleader, H. E. Calloway of Grand Rapids.
|
|
|
|
Mountain Dog by Margarita EngleSent to live with a great uncle he has never met in beautiful Sierra Nevada when his mother goes to jail, traumatized young Tony bonds with his TÃo and a search-and-rescue dog named Gabe while making new friends in his new school and church who help him to experience unconditional love for the first time.
|
|
|
|
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead GeorgeA young boy relates his adventures during the year he spends living alone in the Catskill Mountains including his struggle for survival, his dependence on nature, his animal friends, and his ultimate realization that he needs human companionship.
|
|
|
|
Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris GrabensteinTwelve-year-old Kyle wins a coveted spot to be one of 12 children chosen to stay in the new town library--designed by his hero, the famous gamemaker Luigi Lemoncello--for an overnight of fun, food and games, but in the morning, the kids find all the doors still locked and must work together to solve secret puzzles in order to discover the hidden escape route.
|
|
|
|
Refugee by Alan GratzAlthough 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.
|
|
|
|
Sal & Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Alberto Pablo HernandezA teen troublemaker with a talent for sleight of hand clashes with his school's student council president when the latter accuses him of putting a raw chicken inside a friend's locker.
|
|
|
|
The Great Greene Heist by Varian JohnsonWhen his ex-girlfriend and an ill-intentioned rival with ties to the principal run for school president, reformed con artist Jackson Greene secretly assembles a crack team to ensure the election is run fairly, an effort that is complicated by Jackson's enduring feelings for his ex.
|
|
|
|
Restart by Gordon KormanA standalone novel in the vein of No More Dead Dogs follows the experiences of a former bully who gets a chance at redemption after a memory-impairing accident tests whether he can change or will revert to his previous ways.
|
|
|
|
The Stars Beneath Our Feet by David Barclay MooreUnable to celebrate the holidays in the wake of his older brother's death in a gang-related shooting, 12-year-old Lolly Rachpaul struggles to avoid being forced into a gang himself while constructing a fantastically creative LEGO city at the Harlem community center.
|
|
|
|
Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds NaylorWhen he finds a lost beagle in the hills behind his West Virginia home, Marty 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.
|
|
|
|
The False Prince by Jennifer A. NielsenA first entry in a new trilogy by the author of Elliot and the Goblin War finds court nobleman Conner endeavoring to unify a kingdom on the brink of civil war by finding an impersonator of the king's long-lost son, a role desperately played by a defiant youth who faces life-threatening dangers.
|
|
|
|
Wonder by R. J. PalacioBorn with a facial deformity that initially prevented his attendance at public school, Auggie Pullman enters the fifth grade at Beecher Prep and struggles with the dynamics of being both new and different, in a sparsely written tale about acceptance and self-esteem.
|
|
|
|
A Long Walk to Water: A Novel by Linda Sue ParkWhen the Sudanese civil war reaches his village in 1985, 11-year-old Salva becomes separated from his family and must walk with other Dinka tribe members through southern Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya in search of safe haven. Based on the life of Salva Dut, who, after emigrating to America in 1996, began a project to dig water wells in Sudan.
|
|
|
|
Hatchet
by Gary Paulsen
Headed for Canada to visit his father for the first time since his parents' divorce, thirteen-year-old Brian is the sole survivor of a plane crash, with only the clothes he has on and a hatchet to help him live in the wilderness. A Newbery Honor Book.
|
|
|
|
Zane and the Hurricane: A Story of Katrina by W. R. PhilbrickVisiting New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hits, mixed-race 12-year-old Zane Dupree is rescued by two African-American locals before facing the limited supplies and responses that threaten their survival.
|
|
|
|
Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker RhodesAfter seventh-grader Jerome is shot by a white police officer, he observes the aftermath of his death and meets the ghosts of other fallen black boys including historical figure Emmett Till.
|
|
|
|
The Lightning Thief by Rick RiordanAfter learning that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea, Percy Jackson is transferred from boarding school to Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp for demigods, and becomes involved in a quest to prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.
|
|
|
|
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. RowlingA winner of England's National Book Award, the acclaimed debut novel tells the outrageously funny, fantastic adventure story of Harry Potter, who escapes a hideous foster home thanks to a scholarship to The Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.
|
|
|
|
Pay attention, Carter Jones by Gary D SchmidtWhen a mysterious English butler appears one morning and stays to help his troubled family, young Carter struggles to navigate middle school under the watch of the resented newcomer, who promotes challenging notions of decorum.
|
|
|
|
Clean Getaway by Nic StoneAn 11-year-old boy confronts the realities of race relations past and present and the mysterious agenda of his unconventional grandmother during an unplanned spring break road trip through the once-segregated American South.
|
|
|
|
Crush by Svetlana ChmakovaWhen the group dynamic among Jorge's friends starts to shift, he must learn to balance what his friends expect of him and what he really wants.
|
|
|
|
Illegal by Eoin ColferResolved to join the siblings who left months earlier, 12-year-old Ebo ventures through the Sahara and the dangerous streets of Tripoli before embarking on a hazardous voyage from Ghana to a safe haven in Europe.
|
|
|
|
New Kid by Jerry CraftEnrolled in a prestigious private school where he is one of only a few students of color, talented seventh grade artist Jordan finds himself torn between the worlds of his Washington Heights apartment home and the upscale circles of Riverdale Academy.
|
|
|
|
Gaijin: American Prisoner of War: a Graphic Novel by Matt FaulknerTargeted with animosity after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese-American youth Koji Miyamoto is sent to an internment camp, where his half-white heritage renders him an outcast.
|
|
|
|
Mighty Jack by Ben HatkeA first of two graphic novels that retell the story of "Jack and the Beanstalk" depicts a boy from a single-parent home who, at the urging of an autistic sibling, trades in the family car for a box of magic beans, sparking a magical adventure involving onion babies, biting cabbages and a fiery dragon.
|
|
|
|
The Giver by P. Craig RussellPresents a graphic novelization of Lois Lowry's novel in which Jonas, a boy from a seemingly utopian, futuristic world, is receives special training from The Giver, who alone holds the memories of the true joys and pain of life.
|
|
|
|
|
|