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Books for 5th & 6th Graders Summer 2024
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Lily Xiao Speaks Out
by Nicole Chen
When her cousin, newly arrived from Taiwan, struggles with schoolwork, Lily Xiao pushes her school to provide more ESL support, but her first-generation immigrant family, nervous about her challenging the status quo, forces her to decide just how far she'll go to stand up and speak out.
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Kicked Out
by A. M. Dassu
While his home life is unraveling, thirteen-year-old Ali organizes a charity soccer match to help his friend Aadam avoid deportation back to Syria.
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A Game of Noctis
by Deva Fagan
In the opulent, sinking city of Dantessa, the Great Game rules all. Pia Paro believes that so long as you follow the rules, you always have a chance at winning. But after her beloved Gramps is sentenced to a life of servitude, Pia accepts a dangerous offer and joins a team of players seeking to win the most perilous game of all - Noctis. With her grandfather's life at stake, Pia must finally decide whether she's brave enough to not just break the rules, but to change the very nature of the Game.
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The Other Side of Perfect
by Melanie Florence
When Autumn, a wealthy girl from an Indigenous family, comes across Cody face down in the laneway behind her house, beaten by his father, she lets him hide out in her dad's art studio, and as his story of neglect and abuse comes out, so does hers. Two kids from two different worlds form an unexpected friendship, reminding us that we are all more than our circumstances, and we are all more connected than we think.
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Lion of the Sky
by Ritu Hemnani
In this historical novel-in-verse, 12-year-old Raj and his family are forced to flee their home after the British Partition of India, and after suffering devastating losses, he must summon the courage to survive the brutal upheaval of both his country and his heart.
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Code Name Kingfisher
by Liz Kessler
While helping her father empty her beloved grandmother's house, 13-year-old Liv finds an old chest that reveals Oma's involvement in the Dutch resistance during WWII and learns what it means to be brave and go above and beyond to offer someone else a life of dignity, happiness and freedom.
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The Secret Library
by Kekla Magoon
Finding a mysterious letter from her late Grandpa, Dally is led straight to a library of secrets where each book is a portal to a precise moment in time, and she must find the courage to write her own life story as she "checks out” adventure after adventure.
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South of Somewhere
by Kalena Miller
When FBI agents swarm twelve-year-old Mavis Callahan's downtown Chicago home, her mom goes on the run. With the family's house and bank accounts seized, Mavis's dad takes her and her siblings to seek refuge with his sister just south of rural Somewhere, Illinois - a far cry from the big city lifestyle Mavis is used to. Mavis learns to make new friends and starts a babysitting business to bring in some much-needed cash for the family. But she can't help but wonder - is her mom truly guilty? And if not, why has she gone into hiding, contacting Mavis only through a series of postcards from exotic locales?
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Keeping Pace
by Laurie Morrison
Signing up for a half-marathon race, Grace discovers her friend-turned-rival Jonah is running it too and is determined to beat him on race day, but when they start training together, she starts to question what it means to win - and what they mean to each other.
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Songs of Magic: A Thundering of Monsters
by S. A. Patrick
With the Piper of Hamelyn hunting for a mythical amulet to achieve true immortality, Patch and his dracogriff friend Barver must find a way to reunite with their friends to vanquish the evil Piper after being transported to a mysterious island where they are trapped by monstrous beasts.
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Isabel in Bloom
by Mae Respicio
Starting a new school in San Francisco, 12-year-old Isabel, newly arrived from the Philippines, struggles to make friends until she joins the gardening and cooking clubs, where she starts to bloom.
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Cece Rios and the Queen of Brujas
by Kaela Rivera
When her vicious tía, Catrina, seizes the throne of Devil's Alley and sets her sights on the living world, Cece Rios must do everything in her power to stop the bruja queen from taking control of the four elements.
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Ultraviolet
by Aida Salazar
Bent on revenge after betrayal and heartbreak, eighth grader Elio Solis doesn't anticipate that a fight to prove his manhood and defend his girlfriend's honor will lead to dire consequences, in this hilarious, heartwarming and highly relatable coming-of-age story about puberty, hormones and first love.
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Louder Than Hunger
by John Schu
Even though he likes helping people, Jake, who avoids kids his own age, mirrors and food, must help himself when the destructive voices inside get to be too much, in this raw and transformative novel-in-verse about managing and articulating pain, and embracing self-acceptance, support and love.
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Call Me Al
by Wali Shah
In this middle-grade novel, eighth-grade student Ali Khan finds that writing poetry - first about his crush, then about what it means to be an immigrant and the anti-Muslim racism around him - helps him discover who he truly is.
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Skandar and the Chaos Trials
by A. F. Steadman
For their third year of training, Skandar and his friends must complete a series of terrifying trials that pushes them to the limit, while Skandar's sister, Kenna, puts the island of Eyrie in danger, forcing Skandar to decide where his loyalties lie.
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Nic Blake and the Remarkables : The Manifestor Prophecy
by Angie Thomas
It's not easy being a Remarkable in the Unremarkable world. Some things are cool - like getting a pet hellhound for your twelfth birthday. Others, not so much - like not being trusted to learn magic because you might use it to take revenge on an annoying neighbor. All Nic Blake wants is to be a powerful Manifestor like her dad. But before she has a chance to convince him to teach her the gift, a series of shocking revelations and terrifying events launch Nic and two friends on a hunt for a powerful magic tool she's never heard of...to save her father from imprisonment for a crime she refuses to believe he committed.
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Mid-Air
by Alicia Williams
After their friend is killed in a hit-and-run, Isaiah and Drew find their friendship fading and Isaiah, desperate to keep them together, comes up with a plan, but when it backfires and something unspeakable happens, he wonders how much he can keep inside before he explodes.
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Finally Heard
by Kelly Yang
When her mom's video on social media takes off, 10-year-old Lina Gao sets out to go viral herself but discovers there's a lot more to social media than she ever imagined and must find the courage to be her authentic self in this fast-paced world.
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In and Out the Window
by Jane Yolen
Accompanied by enchanting artwork, this brilliant collection of more than 100 poems from the legendary author celebrates childhood, showing just how wonderful it is to be a kid.
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Thirteen Witches: The Palace of Dreams
by Jodi Lynn Anderson
To save the Earth's one last treasure?—?the Museum of Imagined Things?—?Rosie and the League of Witch Hunters, along with the world's last ghosts picked up from Limbo along the way, cross the galaxy in preparation for their last showdown with the Nothing King. Simultaneous eBook.
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The Last Kids on Earth and the Forbidden Fortress
by Max Brallier
Faced with a monstrous mission, Last Kids Jack, Quint, June and Dirk must infiltrate the other-dimensional stronghold of the evil Thrull before he completes the mysterious Tower, a structure that could spell doom for this dimension.
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Serwa Boateng's Guide to Witchcraft and Mayhem
by Roseanne A. Brown
Serwa Boateng and her aunt Boahinmaa set out to steal the Midnight Drum from the Smithsonian Museum to free Serwa's powerful grandmother and defeat the forces of black magic, which causes Serwa to confront truths about herself she's tried hard to deny.
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Fury of the Dragon Goddess
by Sarwat Chadda
Using the mythic tablet of destinies to bring his brother back from the dead, Sikander Aziz sets in motion a chain of events that leads to the resurrection of Tiamat, the great chaos dragon and mother of all monsters.
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Marvellerverse: The Memory Thieves
by Dhonielle Clayton
Set in a global magic school in the sky, this second installment in the best-selling The Marveller-verse series finds Ella, Jason and Brigit returning for their second year at the Arcanum Training Institute.
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On Air with Zoe Washington
by Janae Marks
While building a relationship with her newly exonerated birth father, who is having a hard time re-entering society, Zoe starts a podcast to shed light on the struggles exonerees experience and fundraise for his lifelong dream of opening his own restaurant.
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The Forgotten Five: Rebel Undercover
by Lisa McMann
With Lada going undercover to gather intelligence for the supernatural resistance that wants to take down corrupt President Fuerte, the forgotten five are set up for a showdown with their most powerful enemy yet - their own criminal parents.
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Merci Suârez Plays It Cool
by Meg Medina
Facing school drama and family dynamics while entering into an eighth grade year filled with changes, Merci Suárez must decide where her loyalty stands, as she discovers who she can count on - and what can change in an instant.
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Paola Santiago and the Sanctuary of Shadows
by Tehlor Kay Mejia
To save her best friend Dante from the void, even though he turned against her, Paola must face down two enemies - El Cucuy, the bogey man, and someone even scarier who looks a lot like Paola herself.
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Keeper of the Lost Cities: Stellarlune
by Shannon Messenger
With her friends divided and scattered, and the Black Swan wanting her to focus on their projects, Sophie is led in a different direction to Stellarlune, which might be their salvation or destruction, and learns the true meaning of power - and evil.
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The Candy Shop War: Carnival Quest
by Brandon Mull
When the third White sibling brings a carnival to town, giving everyone who visited strange nightmares and weird dreams, the Blue Falcons, with a host of new candies, must tap into the power of their own dreams to battle their greatest adversary yet.
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The Witchlings: The Golden Frog Games
by Claribel A. Ortega
When a forbidden hex turns their fellow champions to stone and suspicion falls on them, the Witchlings must unravel the truth as Seven, who keeps hearing a monstrous voice, tries to fix her broken magic to save Thorn from becoming the next victim.
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City Spies: City of the Dead
by James Ponti
"To discover who is behind a series of cyberattacks by following the deciphered messages, Kat leads a team to Egypt and the ancient City of the Dead which becomes one of the most complex missions they have yet to face. Simultaneous eBook. "
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Once Upon Another Time: Happily Ever After
by James Riley
Now living in peace with all the other humans in the Blessed City after lifting a curse, giant Lena soon discovers this new world isn't right as she searches for Jin while things are at their darkest.
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Tales from the Multiverse: The Human Kaboom
by Adam Rubin
From a hotel guest who spontaneously combusts to a death-defying human cannonball, this explosive companion to The Ice Cream Machine takes readers into six thrilling new worlds filled with danger and mystery - and things that go BOOM!
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Skandar and the Phantom Rider
by A. F. Steadman
While Skandar and his friends are faced with a new threat which is killing supposedly immortal unicorns, and terrible storms ravage the island, his sister, Kenna, is determined to help him search for the key to stop the island from tearing itself apart.
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The Notorious Scarlett and Browne
by Jonathan Stroud
When their notoriety spreads a bit too far, Albert, who can read minds, and Scarlett, who has a way with weapons, must save their friends who are being held hostage by their enemies, a situation that forces them to pull off an impossible mission to win their freedom.
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Front Desk: Top Story
by Kelly Yang
Mia Tang is at the top of her game! She's spending winter break with Mom, Lupe, Jason, and Hank in San Francisco's Chinatown! Rich with history and hilarious aunties and uncles, it's the place to find a great story - one she hopes to publish while attending journalism camp at the Tribune. But this trip has as many bumps as the hills of San Francisco... 1. Mia's camp is full of older kids, with famous relatives, fancy laptops, and major connections! 2. Lupe's thinking about skipping ahead to college! 3. Jason's crushing hard on a new girl. For the first time ever, Mia is speechless... and jealous. Even for the best writers, it's not always easy to find the right words. But if anyone can tell a top story, it's Mia Tang!
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Heroes of the Water Monster
by Brian Young
To save the Fourth World from devastation, two Navajo stepbrothers, a young water monster named Dew and Dew's sister, the powerful Yitoo Bii'aannii, must confront the traumas in their people's history.
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