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by Jason Reynolds

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Eleven-year-old Brooklynite Genie has "worry issues," so when he and his older brother, Ernie, are sent to Virginia to spend a month with their estranged grandparents while their parents "try to figure it all out," he goes into overdrive.

First, he discovers that Grandpop is blind. Next, there's no Internet, so the questions he keeps track of in his notebook (over 400 so far) will have to go un-Googled. Then, he breaks the model truck that's one of the only things Grandma still has of his deceased uncle. And he and Ernie will have to do chores, like picking peas and scooping dog poop. What's behind the " nunya bidness door"? And is that a gun sticking out from Grandpop's waistband? Reynolds' middle-grade debut meanders like the best kind of summer vacation but never loses sense of its throughline. The richly voiced third-person narrative, tightly focused through Genie's point of view, introduces both brothers and readers to this rural African-American community and allows them to relax and explore even as it delves into the many mysteries that so bedevil Genie, ranging from "Grits? What exactly are they?" to, heartbreakingly, "Why am I so stupid?" Reynolds gives his readers uncommonly well-developed, complex characters, especially the completely believable Genie and Grandpop, whose stubborn self-sufficiency belies his vulnerability and whose flawed love both Genie and readers will cherish.

This pitch-perfect contemporary novel gently explores the past's repercussions on the present . (Fiction. 9-12)

Did you like this book?

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Eleven-year-old Brooklynite Genie has "worry issues," so when he and his older brother, Ernie, are sent to Virginia to spend a month with their estranged grandparents while their parents "try to figure it all out," he goes into overdrive. First, he discovers that Grandpop is blind.

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by Lois Lowry

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Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community.

December is the time of the annual Ceremony at which each twelve-year-old receives a life assignment determined by the Elders. Jonas watches his friend Fiona named Caretaker of the Old and his cheerful pal Asher labeled the Assistant Director of Recreation.

But Jonas has been chosen for something special. When his selection leads him to an unnamed man - the man called only the Giver - he begins to sense the dark secrets that underlie the fragile perfection of his world.

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Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. December is the time of the annual Ceremony at which each twelve-year-old receives a life assignment determined by the Elders.

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Booklist
"Graff employs a light touch, turning in a poignant, often funny exploration of what it means to celebrate one's skills rather than lamenting one's limitations . . . An upbeat and sensitive look at what it's like to be different, this novel will spark discussion."
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"This is a remarkable story of maturation, featuring a boy whose growing up is not evident on the tape measure he keeps hidden in the back of his closet . . . This entertaining and thoughtful read will encourage youngsters to consider the true meaning of growth."
The Horn Book
"This first novel uses the unconventional tactic of introducing its main character by inviting readers to touch their left ears with their right hands, something that young Georgie cannot do, "because the thing was, Georgie Bishop was a dwarf." . . . [Graff] sensitively and accurately depicts the emotions he struggles with. In Georgie, Graff has created a likable, realistic fourth-grader who is a dwarf, and more."

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by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

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Synopsis

The author of the beloved One for the Murphys gives readers an emotionally-charged, uplifting novel that will speak to anyone who's ever thought there was something wrong with them because they didn't fit in.

Everybody is smart in different ways. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its life believing it is stupid."

Ally has been smart enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a new school, she is able to hide her inability to read by creating clever yet disruptive distractions. She is afraid to ask for help; after all, how can you cure dumb? However, her newest teacher Mr. Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble maker. With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of. As her confidence grows, Ally feels free to be herself and the world starts opening up with possibilities. She discovers that there's a lot more to her-and to everyone-than a label, and that great minds don't always think alike.
Read Chapter One here! Teachers - Share (and find!) Fish in a Tree ideas that you have enjoyed using with your kids. Printable Fish in a Tree Teacher's Guide!
Awards and Honors:

Schneider Family Book Award

SCBWI Crystal Kite Winner

ALSC Notable Book of 2016

New York Times Bestseller

Global Read Aloud choice, 2015

SLJ Best Book, 2015

Audible.com (Amazon) Kids Audiobook of Year Winner

Will be published in 15 different languages thus far

ALSC Notable Children's Recordings Nominee

ALSC Notable Children's Book Nominee

Indie Best Book Choice

Amazon Best Book of the month

Amazon Best Book of the Year (9-12 yo), 2015

Amazon bestseller re: books about disabilities

Barnes and Noble ~ Best books about bullying

ALSC Summer Reading List, 2016

SCBWI Summer Reading List, 2016

*State Lists:

Great Stone Face Award Book (New Hampshire)

Colorado State Book Award nominee

Golden Sower Award (Nebraska) nominee

South Carolina Junior Book Award nominee, 2016-2017

Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award (Illinois) nominee, 2016-2017

Iowa Children's Choice Award nominee, 2016-2017

Georgia Children's Book Award nominee, 2016-2017

North Carolina Battle of the Books, 2016-2017

Black-Eyed Susan Book Award (Maryland) nominee, 2016-2017

Maine Student Book Award Nominee, 2016-2017

Buckeye State Award List (Ohio), 2016-2017

William Allen White Award List (Kansas), 2017-2018

Visit Ally's Sketchbook of Impossible Things

Read (or add your own!) SUCCESS STORIES of people who struggled in school and later set the world on fire! (as Mr. Daniels would say ;-) Buy merchandise from a non-profit online store Help yourself to some Fish in a Tree badges
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SOLVING THE SECRET CODE:
HELLO! Below is the code that Mr. Daniels writes on the board for the students to solve. Unfortunately, I will not give you an answer for it. However, I will tell you a couple of things:

1. Yes, it can be solved.

2. Each letter stands for another letter in the alphabet and follows a pattern. So, for example, if I told you that every letter in this word < ALD > was really the letter that is three letters after it in the alphabet, <ALD > would really be < DOG >. This code below follows a pattern similar to this.

3. Writing out the entire alphabet for yourself and experimenting will make this easier to solve.

4. If you find this hard, don't quit! It's supposed to be hard and it feels AWESOME to solve something difficult.

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The videos below were done in conjunction with Global Read Aloud. Each video covers 8 chapters of the book. Video 1: Chapter 1 - 8 Video 2: Chapter 9 - 17 Video 3: Chapter 18 - 24 Video 4: Chapter 25 - 33 Video 5: Chapter 34 - 42 Video 6: Chapter 43 - end I begin each taping with a reading of the last chapter in the block and then answer questions form readers for that chapter block ONLY. The last video has a bit more of an overview.

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Synopsis The author of the beloved One for the Murphys gives readers an emotionally-charged, uplifting novel that will speak to anyone who's ever thought there was something...

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by Rodman Philbrick

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RULES FOR DAVID

If the bathroom door is closed, knock! (especially if Catherine has a friend over).

Say thank you when someone gives you a present (even if you don't like it).

Don't stand in front of the TV when other people are watching it.

A boy takes off his shirt to swim, but not his shorts.

Some people think they know who you are, when really they don't.

No toys in the fishtank.

Twelve year old Catherine just wants a normal life, but she thinks that's impossible with a family that revolves around her brother's autism.

But what is normal?
Awards and Honors
Newbery Honor Medal

Schneider Family Book Award

Mitten Award (Michigan Library Association)

Great Lakes Great Books Award (Michigan)

Maine Student Book Award

Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award (Vermont)

Kentucky Bluegrass Award

Great Stone Face Award (New Hampshire)

Buckeye Children's Book Award (Ohio)

"A heartwarming first novel." Booklist

New York Public Library's 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing

"Catherine is an appealing and believable character, acutely self-conscious and torn between her love for her brother and her resentment of his special needs. Middle-grade readers will recognize her longing for acceptance and be intrigued by this exploration of dealing with differences." Kirkus Reviews

KidPost Book of the Week, Washington Post

"The appealing, credible narrator at the heart of Lord's debut novel will draw in readers, as she struggles to find order and balance in her life.... A rewarding story that may well inspire readers to think about others' points of view." Publishers Weekly

Notable Children's Book in the Language Arts (NCTE)

"This is a story that depicts the impact of a needy child on an entire family very realistically. One of the treats in this book is that David echoes words rather than generating his own and he frequently speaks in lines he remembers from Arnold Lobel's Frog & Toad." Children's Literature - Joan Kindig, Ph.D.

Book of the Week, Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)

"Catherine is an endearing narrator who tells her story with both humor and heartbreak. . . this sensitive story is about being different, feeling different, and finding acceptance. A lovely, warm read, and a great discussion starter." School Library Journal

Editors' Pick, HW Wilson Standard Catalog

"This is an absorbing tale about valuing people even when it's difficult, and it may encourage readers to consider the benefits and challenges of their own families and friends." Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Accelerated Reader (AR) Title

"This is not only a great read, with a nice rhythm and easy style, but it is an important book that siblings of kids with special needs need to read." Kid Lit: Books and More For Kids and Teens

ALA Notable Children's Book

"The first-person narrative is very engaging, and readers will identify with Catherine's struggles and cheer for her at the end. This is a great book to help students gain some understanding about autism, while also providing a good read. The author is the mother of an autistic child. Recommended." Library Media Connection

Read On Wisconsin, Middle-School Pick
Nominated for state Kids' Choice Awards in:
"[A]n honest and frequently funny portrayal of what it's like to have a sibling with autism at an age when being accepted is so important." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pacific Northwest (voting together: Alaska, Alberta CA, British Columbia CA, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington), Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.

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RULES FOR DAVID If the bathroom door is closed, knock! (especially if Catherine has a friend over). Say thank you when someone gives you a present (even if you don't like it). Don't stand in front of the TV when other people are watching it.

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by Sharon Draper

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Out of My Mind is a novel by Sharon M. Draper, a New York Times bestselling author. The cover illustration of the fifth edition is by Daniel Chang, and the cover photography is by Cyril Bruneau/Jupiter Images. A reading group guide is enclosed. The book is recommended for ages 10 and up and for grades 5-8. The story was written in first person, featuring Melody Brooks, a girl with cerebral palsy.

Melody Brooks is a ten-year-old girl who was born with cerebral palsy. Her parents have done everything they can to help her live a normal life, but life is often frustrating for Melody since she cannot speak, move, nor communicate her wishes. As a result, Melody has to fight to get her wishes. At age five, Melody is even diagnosed as "profoundly retarded and idiotic" by a doctor who suggests putting Melody in a nursing home. Despite this, Melody's mother enrolls her in Spaulding Street Elementary School to get the education she needs. However, the class she is put in is like a baby class, learning the same things every day, i. e. the alphabet. Melody is frustrated by this, due to having far superior knowledge but cannot speak or write. Her neighbor, Mrs. V., is a kind, but tough woman. She pushes Melody to do the best she can. When Melody was three, Mrs. V. was not impressed by Melody having to rely on her parents for everything. Because of this, Mrs. V. forced her to learn how to crawl and roll on the ground. She even taught Melody how to catch herself whenever she fell from her wheelchair. This helped Melody become self-sufficient, but she continues to be reliant on her parents to help feed her and help her go to the bathroom.

When Melody turns eight, her mother becomes pregnant. During this time, Melody overhears them talking about the new baby and their fears that it will suffer the same disabilities, causing her to feel ashamed. However, Melody is happy when the baby, Penny, is born perfectly healthy. Melody feels jealous as Penny grows and matures since she will never be able to do the things Penny can do. However, Melody loves her little sister, and the pleasures Penny brings to the family.

When Melody enters fifth grade, she has trouble communicating what she wants to everyone. She eventually learns of and gets a communication device that allows her to talk with other people. At school, her new teacher starts an inclusion program that allows the special needs students to participate in the standard classes. Melody also gets an aide, Catherine, to help her. Melody befriends Rose Spencer but is bullied by Molly and Claire, who believe that her disability makes her dumber than them. Even her teacher, Mr. Dimming, believes that Melody cannot participate, but is surprised that not only does Melody join, but passes a test exam of a trivia competition with a perfect score. She then participates in the qualifying exam to be part of the trivia competition and once again, surprises everyone when she makes the team.

Eventually, Melody helps the team win the qualifying competition to earn a trip to Washington D.C. for the national competition. However, on the day the group is to fly to Washington, Melody learns that her flight has been canceled due to weather, but that the rest of the team has made an earlier flight without her. The following day Melody insists on going to school, despite the fact that her mother is sick, tired, and frustrated. However, when Melody kicks, hits, and screams to warn her mother that Penny has slipped out of the house and is in the path of the car, her mother fails to understand, resulting in Penny being hit and injured. Melody feels guilty for not being able to warn her mother but learns that Penny will recover. On Monday, Melody's class apologizes for their lack of consideration towards her by giving her the ninth place trophy, hoping to reconcile with her. However, Melody forgives and laughs at them, destroys the trophy by accident, and heads out of the room. The next day, she and Catherine begin work on her autobiography, which begins with the first few lines of the book.

The cover shows a goldfish jumping out of a bowl. This cover represents Melody going out of her mind when being stuck in her head so long. The goldfish represents Melody, and the bowl symbolizes her mind.[citation needed ]

There is also a scene in the book where Melody watches her pet goldfish jump out of the goldfish bowl to freedom. The cover of the book is both literal and a metaphor for how Melody feels trapped in her mind.

New York Times Bestselling Novel for nine weeks

Kirkus Reviews Best Children's Book of 2010

A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of The Year

Essence Magazine Book of the Year

Top 10 Book of the Year for Shelf Awareness

Featured in the July 9 issue of Time Magazine

Featured in the July issue of Ladies' Home Journal

A NCTE Notable Children's Book in the Language Arts

Critical reception has been positive and seen as a well-written novel. Out of My Mind has received reviews from The Denver Post, The Columbus Dispatch, Publishers Weekly, Children's Literature, Washington Post, The Horn Book, and The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. The novel received starred reviews from School Library Journal, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews. Kirkus Reviews praised the book was "rich in detail of both the essential normalcy and the difficulties of a young person with cerebral palsy", and "descriptions of both Melody's challenges-"Going to the bathroom at school just plain sucks"-and the insensitivities of some are unflinching and realistic". Publishers Weekly criticized that there was a "lack of tension in the plot", although it was "resolved halfway through". Booklist stated that Out of My Mind is "a book that defies age categorization, an easy enough read for upper-elementary students yet also a story that will enlighten and resonate with teens and adults". The Bulletin said the novel "[Will make] students think twice about their classmates, acquaintances, and siblings with special needs". The Columbus Dispatch (Ohio) and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania) stated "Draper challenges those who read her story to become activists for those who are different". The Denver Post powerfully concluded: "if there's only one book teens and parents (and everyone else) can read this year, Out of My Mind should be it." VOYA Magazine praised "Melody's triumphs and setbacks as she strives to become a socially accepted classmate and team member are vividly described in this inspirational novel, which will appeal not only to middle school readers but also to anyone who wonders what might be going on in the minds of individuals with severe physical handicaps".[citation needed ] The Horn Book exclaimed that the novel is "a powerfully eye-opening book with both an unforgettable protagonist and a dume cast of fully realized, complicated background characters". Children's Literature said "this is a genuinely moving novel".[citation needed ] The Washington Post commented "author Sharon Draper creates an authentic character who insists, through her lively voice and indomitable will, that the reader become fully involved with the girl in the pink wheelchair".

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Out of My Mind is a novel by Sharon M. Draper, a New York Times bestselling author. The cover illustration of the fifth edition is by Daniel Chang, and the cover photography is by Cyril Bruneau/Jupiter Images. A reading group guide is enclosed. The book is recommended for ages 10 and up and for grades 5-8.

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Jacqueline Davis

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The Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus (T)

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The Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus (T)

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Dusti Bowling

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​

Aven Green gets that question a lot. She loves to tell people that she lost her arms in an alligator wrestling match, or a wildfire in Tanzania, but the truth is she was born without them. And when her parents take a job running Stagecoach Pass, a rundown western theme park in Arizona, Aven moves with them across the country knowing that she'll have to answer the question over and over again.

Her new life takes an unexpected turn when she bonds with Connor, a classmate who also feels isolated because of his own disability, and they discover a room at Stagecoach Pass that holds bigger secrets than Aven ever could have imagined.

It's hard to solve a mystery, help a friend, and face your worst fears. But Aven's about to discover she can do it all . . . even without arms.

Praise for Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus

★ Aven Green's missing arms have never been an issue for her or her family. Adopted as a two-year-old, her parents taught her to be a "problem-solving ninja" so that she could do everything people with arms can do. At home in Kansas, Aven is sociable, athletic (soccer is her game) and a prankster. When her father accepts an offer to run Stagecoach Pass, a western-themed amusement park in Arizona, she's not thrilled at the idea of having to make new friends. Sure enough, her new middle school is a challenge. When she meets Connor, a boy with Tourette syndrome, the two immediately bond over the way people behave around them. "They just act weird around me," Aven says, "like they don't know whether to look or not, to ask about it or not. But no one has talked to me like I'm an actual person." When they find a strange room in the park with boxes of intriguing old papers, they join forces to investigate the whereabouts of the mysterious, unseen Stagecoach Pass owner. Dusti Bowling's story of a regular, hugely likable kid who deals with her unusual challenges with grace and humor is pitch-perfect. Aven and her friends have hilarious conversations (for example, when she and Connor meet: "'I would shake your hand, but....' He motioned toward my armless area, blinking his eyes rapidly and barking as he did so. 'But you have horrible warts all over your hands,' I said.") but it's their empathy and warmth that win the day. Sitting under her favorite centuries-old saguaro cactus, Aven realizes that she may be "an entirely insignificant event in the life of this cactus," but her life does matter, in all its painful, sweet, awkward glory. - Shelf Awareness (starred review)

Bowling's sensitive and funny novel . . . demonstrates how negotiating others' discomfort can be one of the most challenging aspects of having a physical difference and how friendship can mitigate that discomfort. . . . [an] openhearted, empathic book. - Publishers Weekly

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​ Aven Green gets that question a lot. She loves to tell people that she lost her arms in an alligator wrestling match, or a wildfire in Tanzania, but the truth is she was born without them.

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Barbara O'Connor

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Sometimes you pick up a book and it just says, "Read me." This one has an irresistible cover, a compelling title, and a most unexpected first line that will hook readers and keep them riveted: "The day I decided to steal a dog was the same day my best friend, Luanne Godfrey, found out I lived in a car." Georgina's father has bolted, leaving the family with nothing; the landlord has kicked them out of their apartment; and Mama is working two jobs. Georgina and her little brother Toby have been sleeping in the back seat of the Chevrolet for a week now, washing up in the gas station each morning. Then Georgina sees a sign, tacked up on a telephone pole: "Reward. $500. Have you seen me? My name is Mitsy." Who would pay so much money for a lost dog? Mama says $500 would be enough for them to get a place to live. That's when Georgina comes up with a plan to find a dog someone loves so much, they'd pay $500 to get it back. Half of her thinks, "Georgina, don't do this. Stealing a dog is just plain wrong." But the other half thinks, "Georgina, you're in a bad fix, and you got to do whatever it takes to get yourself out of it." And so, she finds herself a dog, recording in her notebook lists and rules and steps she will need to carry out her plan.

What a gripping and thought provoking moral dilemma readers face here. They'll ache for Georgina to be able to lead a normal life again, but at what expense? How do you root for a character who is about to do something terrible? Still, they will empathize with her as they ponder and discuss, What would I do if this happened to me?

Reviewed by : JF.

Themes : BROTHERS AND SISTERS. DOGS.

CRITICS HAVE SAID

"The myriad effects of homelessness and the realistic picture of a moral quandary will surely generate discussion." - Booklist

IF YOU LOVE THIS BOOK, THEN TRY:

Creech, Sharon. Love That Dog. HarperCollins, 2001.

DiCamillo, Kate. Because of Winn-Dixie. Candlewick, 2000.

Hannigan, Katherine. Ida B: And Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World. Greenwillow, 2004.

Lindquist, Susan Hart. Wander. Delacorte, 1998.

Lisle, Janet Taylor. How I Became a Writer and Oggie Learned to Drive. Philomel, 2002.

Lowry, Lois. Stay!: Keeper's Story. Houghton Mifflin, 1997.

Myers, Anna. Red-Dirt Jessie. Walker, 1992.

Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds. Shiloh. Atheneum, 1991.

OConnor, Barbara. Me and Rupert Goody. Farrar, 1999.

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Sometimes you pick up a book and it just says, "Read me." This one has an irresistible cover, a compelling title, and a most unexpected first line that will hook readers and keep them riveted: "The day I decided to steal a dog was the same day my best friend, Luanne Godfrey, found out I lived in a car."

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Ann M. Martin

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Gordon Korman

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Chase Ambrose doesn't remember falling off the roof. He doesn't remember hitting his head. In fact, he doesn't remember anything. He wakes up in a hospital room and suddenly has to learn his whole life over again ... starting with his own name.

Okay, he's Chase. But who is Chase? Soon he's hearing stories of the alpha jock and bully who held a reign of terror over an entire school. Is that the person he was ... and is destined to be again?

Is it possible to restart?
READ AN EXCERPT CLICK HERE to watch a video preview of RESTART
ORDER NOW

Amazon Barnes and Noble Indigo IndieBound

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Chase Ambrose doesn't remember falling off the roof. He doesn't remember hitting his head. In fact, he doesn't remember anything. He wakes up in a hospital room and suddenly has to learn his whole life over again ... starting with his own name. Okay, he's Chase. But who is Chase?

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By Jerry Spinelli

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Jerry Spinelli, Stargirl

Stargirl is what her name claims to be. She is one in a million and she chose Leo. Leo is as ordinary as it gets, struggling to conform to the rest of his peers, he has to chose between having a normal life or a life with Stargirl.

I have a love/hate relationship with this book. It is supposed to be a must read for teens, an inspiration.

But this is why I hated it: The whole way through reading the book I was like 'what?'. It wasn't confusing, in fact it was very basic but the social boundaries Stargirl and Leo crossed were what made me want to shut the book and leave it at that. Though it was a short quick book to read I constantly got stuck on a chapter, unable to stay focused because the story just didn't interested me. And I did not appreciate the abrupt ending.

Why I loved the book: Jerry Spinelle's writing was excellent and creative and innovative. It gave us an insight into every teenager's mind trying to figure out whether different is good and put the reader in a compromising position because although you don't want to conform, it feels like you do. It is very conflicting and toys with my morals about popularity and being true to yourself. What if being true to yourself means being shunned where no one wants to apreciate your true self? Changing yourself makes no impact on others, so the moral is: stay true to yourself.

There were occasions on which I couldn't stand Leo and literally wanted to slap him when he said "she doesn't understand how important it is to be popular". But to be honest, I didn't understand what it meant to be popular either. Popularity doesn't mean being more predominant than everyone else, nor does it mean everyone having to like you, popularity is to be understood by a majority. If people do not understand you and what you do, you cannot be appreciated or noticeable.

Stargirl was beyond weird. She broke all the norms of society but I admire her for that. Spinelle wrote a beautiful captivating story which exposes the difficulties of being a teenager. So much happened in this book and I wish I could be as free spirited as Stargirl. For the record, I much prefered the angelic Stargirl over her Susan stereotype.

Although myself and Stargirl don't have the best relationship, I think it's important for teenagers to read books like this in order to experience other perspectives and understand people on a different level.
Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop. Want to tell the world about a book you've read? Join the site and send us your review!

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DayDreamer: 'Why I loved the book: Jerry Spinelli's writing was excellent and creative and innovative.

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By Tony Abbott

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"It wasn't much, really, the whole Jessica Feeney thing. If you look at it, nothing much happened. She was a girl who came into my class after the beginning of the year and was only there for a couple of weeks or so. Stuff did get a little crazy for a while, but it didn't last long, and I think it was mostly in my head anyway. Then she wasn't there anymore"

So begins the winning narrative of Firegirl. The story is told by Tom, an introverted, pudgy seventh grader at St. Catherine's. Usually, Tom hangs out with his caustic friend, Jeff, who, after his parents' nasty divorce, isn't such a nice person right now. Tom revels in his ongoing, vivid daydreams of driving a fat red Cobra and rescuing popular, pretty classmate, Courtney with his imagined superpowers. He has such a crush on her. He envisions himself as a superhero with dumb little powers: he can spin on one foot, has a hand made of glue, can roll uphill. And, in each scenario, in his mind's eye, he rescues Courtney. In real life, she's never noticed him, of course.

Then Mrs. Tracey, his seventh grade teacher, announces that a new girl is joining the class. Jessica Feeney, she tells them, was badly burned in a fire, and she'll be going for treatments at the hospital in New Haven. "She does not look like . . . anyone you have seen before. . . . But I know you will treat her as good children should."

Jessica's face is scary and disfigured. It looks like a mask. It's horrible. The kids in the class aren't actually mean to her face-they just don't speak with her, really. Except for Tom. When a little photo falls from her notebook, he picks it up. "Who's this?" he asks. "It's my sister, Anne," she says. "She's really cute. Does she go to this school?" the other kids want to know. Jessica says, simply, "She died."

The rumors begin to fly. Maybe the fire is all Jessica's fault. Maybe she even set the fire that killed her sister, which would make her a murderer. Their vicious talk makes Tom feel sick. (You will deduce, before Tom finds out, that there is no sister. The photograph is of Jessica before the fire.) Tom talks with Jessica and treats her like a person when no one else will, even when Jeff and others in class are spreading hateful lies about her. When she's absent from school, he brings her homework to her house, and he even makes her laugh. These are little things. But sometimes those little things are bigger than you think. When Tom has the chance to do the right thing, he tries, even if he's not perfect. Still, the three weeks that he gets to know Jessica change his life a little bit. We talk about doing acts of kindness, how one person can make a difference, and here it is in concrete terms-one insecure boy, not popular, not "out there", as his mom wants him to be, but he does, in his own fumbling way, something small, and it makes a difference.

Tony Abbott, author of the popular easy-to-read fantasy series, "The Chronicles of Droon," may surprise you with his spare, moving, slice-of-life story about doing the right thing. Tom may remind you of Jerry Spinelli characters like Palmer LaRue in Wringer or Donald Zinkoff in Loser--characters who act morally when others around them do not. Readers will think about Tom's caustic, sarcastic, insensitive, and angry friend, Jeff, and why he acts this way, and perhaps rethink the story from Jeff's point of view. What about Jessica? Certainly, they will empathize with Jessica's feelings, too, and will live this story in their heads for some time.

Reviewed by : JF.

Themes : FRIENDSHIP. SCHOOLS.

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"It wasn't much, really, the whole Jessica Feeney thing. If you look at it, nothing much happened. She was a girl who came into my class after the beginning of the year and was only there for a couple of weeks or so.

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By Sharon Flake

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by Mary Shelley ; Gris Grimly ; illustrated by Gris Grimly ‧

A slightly abridged graphic version of the classic that will drive off all but the artist's most inveterate fans.

Admirers of the original should be warned away by veteran horror artist Bernie Wrightson's introductory comments about Grimly's "wonderfully sly stylization" and the "twinkle" in his artistic eye. Most general readers will founder on the ensuing floods of tiny faux handwritten script that fill the opening 10 pages of stage-setting correspondence (other lengthy letters throughout are presented in similarly hard-to-read typefaces). The few who reach Victor Frankenstein's narrative will find it-lightly pruned and, in places, translated into sequences of largely wordless panels-in blocks of varied length interspersed amid sheaves of cramped illustrations with, overall, a sickly, greenish-yellow cast. The latter feature spidery, often skeletal figures that barrel over rough landscapes in rococo, steampunk-style vehicles when not assuming melodramatic poses. Though the rarely seen monster is a properly hard-to-resolve jumble of massive rage and lank hair, Dr. Frankenstein looks like a decayed Lyle Lovett with high cheekbones and an errant, outsized quiff. His doomed bride, Elizabeth, sports a white lock à la Elsa Lanchester, and decorative grotesqueries range from arrangements of bones and skull-faced flowers to bunnies and clownish caricatures.

Grimly plainly worked hard, but, as the title indicates, the result serves his own artistic vision more than Mary Shelley's. (Graphic classic. 14 & up)

Did you like this book?

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by Mary Shelley ; Gris Grimly ; illustrated by Gris Grimly ‧ A slightly abridged graphic version of the classic that will drive off all but the artist's most inveterate fans. Admirers of the original should be warned away by veteran horror artist Bernie Wrightson's introductory comments about Grimly's "wonderfully sly stylization" and the "twinkle" in his artistic eye.

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by R.J. Palacio

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An unforgettable story of kindness and unrelenting courage.

Sara Blum lives an idyllic life with her adoring parents in Vichy France. But her world comes crashing down when the Nazi occupation separates the family and forces the young Jewish girl into hiding. Her classmate Julien and his family will risk everything to ensure her survival, and, together, Sara and Julien manage to find beauty in a secret world of their creation.

First a graphic novel, now read the novelized version of the celebrated New York Times bestselling story of kindness and unrelenting courage in a time of war-inspired by the blockbuster phenomenon Wonder.

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Celebrate the Power of Kindness with WONDER - Penguin Random House

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Celebrate the power of kindness with WONDER by R.J. Palacio-the worldwide bestseller that launched the Choose Kind movement.

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by Louis Sachar

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Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnatses. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys' detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the boys build character by spending all day, every day digging holes exactly five feet wide and five feet deep. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. But there are an awful lot of holes.

It doesn't take long for Stanley to realize there's more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys are digging holes because the warden is looking for something. But what could be buried under a dried-up lake? Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment-and redemption.

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Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnatses. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys' detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the boys build character by spending all day, every day digging holes exactly five feet wide and five feet deep.

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Gordan Korman

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Chapter One

Kiana Roubini

It's no fun riding to school with Stepmonster-not with Chauncey screaming his lungs out in the back seat.

Don't get me wrong. I'd cry too if I'd just figured out that Stepmonster is my mother. But at seven months old, I don't think he's processed that yet. He just cries. He cries when he's hungry; he cries when he's full; he cries when he's tired; he cries when he wakes up after a long nap. Basically, any day that ends in a y, Chauncey cries.

There also seems to be a connection between his volume control and the gas pedal of the SUV. The louder he howls, the faster Stepmonster drives.

"Who's a happy baby?" She coos over her shoulder into the back seat, where the rear-facing car seat is anchored. "Who's a happy big boy?"

"Not Chauncey, that's for sure," I tell her. "Hey-school zone. You better slow down."

She speeds up. "Motion is soothing to a baby."

Maybe so. But as we slalom up the driveway, swerving around parked parents dropping off their kids, and screech to a halt by the entrance, it turns out to be one motion too many. Chauncey throws up his breakfast. Suddenly, there's cereal on the ceiling and dripping down the windows. That's another thing about Chauncey. His stomach is a food expander. It goes in a teaspoon and comes out five gallons.

"Get out of the car!" Stepmonster orders frantically.

"You have to come in with me," I protest. "They won't let me register without an adult."

She looks frazzled, and I guess I don't blame her. That much baby puke must be hard to face. "I'll run home, change him, and wipe down the car. Wait for me. Ten minutes-fifteen at the most."

What can I do? I haul my backpack out of the SUV, and she zooms off around the circular drive. I don't even have the chance to make my usual Parmesan cheese joke-that's what it smells like when Chauncey barfs. When I first came from California to stay with Dad and Stepmonster, I thought they ate a lot of Italian food. That was a disappointment-one of many.

So there I am in front of Greenwich Middle School, watching swarms of kids arriving for the first day of classes. A few of them glance in my direction, but not many. New girl; who cares? Actually, the new girl doesn't much care either. I'm a short-timer-I'm only in Greenwich for a couple of months while Mom is off in Utah shooting a movie. She's not a star or anything like that, but this could be her big break. After years of paying the bills with bit parts in sitcoms and TV commercials, she finally landed an independent film. Well, no way could I go with her for eight weeks-not that I was invited.

Eventually, a bell rings and the crowd melts into the school. No Stepmonster. I'm officially late, which isn't the best way to start my career in Greenwich,. But short-timers don't stress over things like that. Long before it could come back to haunt me on a report card, I'll be ancient history.

I check on my phone. It's been twenty minutes since "ten minutes-fifteen at the most." That's SST-Stepmonster Standard Time. I try calling, but she doesn't pick up. Maybe that means she's on her way and will be here any second.

But a lot of seconds tick by. No barf-encrusted SUV.

With a sigh, I sit myself down on the bench at student drop-off and prop my backpack up on the armrest beside me. Stepmonster-her real name is Louise-isn't all that monstrous when you think about it. She's way less out of touch than Dad, which might be because she's closer to my age than his. She isn't exactly thrilled with the idea of having an eighth grader dropped in her lap right when she's getting the hang of being a new mom. She's trying to be nice to me-she just isn't succeeding. Like when she strands me in front of a strange school when she's supposed to be here to get me registered.

The roar of an engine jolts me back to myself. For a second I think it must be her. But no-a rusty old pickup truck comes sailing up the roadway, going much faster than even Stepmonster would dare. As it reaches the bend in the circular drive, the front tire climbs the curb, and the pickup is coming right at me. Acting on instinct alone, I hurl myself over the back of the bench and out of the way.

The truck misses the bench by about a centimeter. The side mirror knocks my book bag off the armrest, sending it airborne. The contents-binders, papers, pencil case, gym shorts, sneakers, lunch-are scattered to the four winds, raining down on the pavement.

The pickup screeches to a halt. The driver jumps out and starts rushing after my fluttering stuff. As he runs, papers fly out of his shirt pocket, and he's chasing his own things, not just mine.

I join the hunt, and that's when I get my first look at the guy. He's a kid-a middle school kid! "Why are you driving?" I gasp, still in shock from the near miss.

"I have a license," he replies, like it's the most normal thing in the world.

"No way!" I shoot back. "You're no older than I am!"

"I'm fourteen." He digs around in his front pocket and pulls out a laminated card. It's got a picture of his stupid face over the name Parker Elias. At the top it says: PROVISIONAL LICENSE.

"Provisional?" I ask.

"I'm allowed to drive for the family business," he explains.

"Which is what-a funeral parlor? You almost killed me."

"Our farm," he replies. "I take produce to the market. Plus I take my Grams to the senior center. She's super old and doesn't drive anymore."

I've never met a farmer before. There aren't a lot of them in LA. I knew Greenwich was kind of the boonies, but I never expected to be going to school with Old MacDonald.

He hands me my book bag with my stuff crammed in every which way. There's a gaping hole where the mirror blasted through the vinyl.

"I'm running late," he stammers. "Sorry about the backpack." He jumps inthe pickup, wheels it into a parking space, and races into the building, studiously avoiding my glare.

Still no sign of Stepmonster on the horizon. I call again. Straight to voice mail.

I decide to tackle the school on my own. Maybe I can get a head start filling out forms or something.

The office is a madhouse. It's packed with kids who a) lost their schedules, b) don't understand their schedules, or c) are trying to get their schedules changed. When I tell the harassed secretary that I'm waiting for my parent and/or guardian so I can register, she just points to a chair and ignores me.

Even though I have nothing against Greenwich Middle School, I decide to hate it. Who can blame me? It's mostly Chauncey's fault, but let's not forget Parker McFarmer and his provisional license.

My phone pings. A text from Stepmonster: Taking Chauncey to pediatrician. Do your best without me. Will get there ASAP.

The secretary comes out from behind the counter and stands before me, frowning. "We don't use our phones in school. You'll have to turn that off and leave it in your locker."

"I don't have a locker," I tell her. "I just moved here. I have no idea where I'm supposed to be."

She plucks a paper from the sheaf sticking out of the hole in my backpack. "It's right here on your schedule."

"Schedule?" Where would I get a schedule? I don't even officially go to school here yet.

"You're supposed to be in room 117." She rattles off a complicated series of directions. "Now, off you go."

And off I go. I'm so frazzled that I'm halfway down the main hall before I glance at the paper that's supposed to be a schedule. It's a schedule, all right-just not mine. At the top, it says: ELIAS, PARKER. GRADE: 8.

This is Parker McFarmer's schedule! It must have gotten mixed up with my papers when we were gathering up all my stuff.

I take three steps back in the direction of the office and freeze. I don't want to face that secretary again. There's no way she's going to register me without Stepmonster. And if there's a backlog at the pediatrician's, I'm going to be sitting in that dumb chair all day. No, thanks.

I weigh my options. It's only a fifteen-minute walk home. But home isn't really home, and I don't want to be there any more than I want to be here. If I went to all the trouble of waking up and getting ready for school, then school is where I might as well be.

My eyes return to Parker's schedule. Room 117. Okay, it's not myclass, but it's a class. And really, who cares? It's not like I'm going to learn anything in the next two months-at least nothing I can't pick up PDQ when I get back to civilization. I'm a pretty good student. And when Stepmonster finally gets here, they can page me and send me to the right place-not that I'll learn anything there either. I've already learned the one lesson Greenwich Middle School has to teach me: fourteen-year-olds shouldn't drive.

That's when I learn lesson number two: this place is a maze. My school in LAis all outdoors-you step out of class and you're in glorious sunshine. You know where you're going next because you can see it across the quad. And the numbers make sense. Here, 109 is next to 111, but the room next to that is labeled STORAGE CLOSETE61-B2. Go figure.

I ask a couple of kids, who actually try to tell me that there's no such room as 117.

"There has to be," I tell the second guy. "I'm in it." I show him the schedule, careful to cover the name with my thumb.

"Wait." His brow furrows. "What's"-he points to the class description-"SCS-8?"

I blink. The guy's right. Instead of a normal schedule, where you go to a different class every period, this says Parker stays in room 117 all day. Not only that, but under SUBJECT, it repeats the code SCS-8 for every hour except LUNCHat 12:08.

"Oh, here it is." I skip to the bottom, where there's a key explaining what the codes mean. "SCS-8-Self-Contained Special Eighth-Grade Class."

He stares at me. "The Unteachables?"

"Unteachables?" I echo.

He reddens. "You know, like the Untouchables. Only-uh"-babbling now-"these kids aren't untouchable. They're-well-unteachable. Bye!" He rushes off down the hall.

And I just know. I could read it in his face, but I didn't even need that much information. Where would you stick a guy who could annihilate a backpack with a half-ton pickup truck? The Unteachables are the dummy class. We have a couple of groups like that in my middle school in California too. We call them the Disoriented Express, but it's the same thing. Probably every school has that.

I almost march back to the office to complain, when I remember I've got nothing to complain about. Nobody put me in the Unteachables-just Parker. From what I've seen, he's in the right place.

I picture myself, sitting in the office all day, waiting for Stepmonster to arrive. If she arrives. Chauncey's health scares-which happen roughly every eight minutes-stress her out to the point where she can't focus on anything else. To quote Dad, "Jeez, Louise." He really says that-an example of the sense of humor of the non-California branch of my family.

So I go to room 117-turns out, it's in the far corner of the school, over by the metal shop, the home and careers room, and the custodian's office. You have to walk past the gym, and the whole hallway smells like old sweat socks mixed with a faint barbecue scent. It's only temporary, I remind myself. And since my whole time in Greenwich is temporary anyway, it's more like temporary squared.

Besides-dummy class, Disoriented Express, Unteachables-so what? Okay, maybe they're not academic superstars, but they're just kids, no different from anybody else. Even Parker-he's a menace to society behind the wheel of that truck, but besides that he's a normal eighth grader, like the rest of us.

Seriously, how unteachable can these Unteachables be?

I push open the door and walk into room 117.

A plume of smoke is pouring out the single open window. It's coming from the fire roaring in the wastebasket in the center of the room. A handful of kids are gathered around it, toasting marshmallows skewered on the end of number two pencils. Parker is one of them, his own marshmallow blackened like a charcoal briquette.

An annoyed voice barks, "Hey, shut the door! You want to set off the smoke detector in the hall?"

Oh my God, I'm with the Unteachables.

Chapter Two

Mr. Kermit

The first day of school.

I remember the excitement. New students to teach. New minds to fill with knowledge. New futures to shape.

The key word is remember. That was thirty years ago. I was so young-not much older than the kids, really. Being a teacher was more than a job. It was a calling, a mission. True, mission: impossible, but I didn't know that back then. I wanted to be Teacher of the Year. I actually achieved that goal.

That was when the trouble started.

Anyway, I don't get excited by the first day anymore. The things that still get my fifty-five-year-old motor running are the smaller pleasures: the last tick of the clock before the three-thirty bell sounds; waking up in the morning and realizing it's Saturday; the glorious voice of the weather forecaster: Due to the snowstorm, all schools are closed down. . .

And the most beautiful word of all: retirement. The first day of school means it's only ten months away. My twenty-three-year-old self never could have imagined I'd turn into the kind of teacher who'd be crunching numbers, manipulating formulas, and counting the nanoseconds until I can kiss the classroom and everybody in it goodbye. Yet here I am.

I sip from my super-large coffee mug. The other teachers call it the Toilet Bowl when they think I'm not listening. They gripe that I owe extra money to the faculty coffee fund because I drink more than my fair share. Tough. The students are bad enough, but the dunderheads who teach them are even worse. Colleagues-they don't know the meaning of the word. A fat lot of support they ever offered me when it was all going wrong.

"Mr. Kermit."

Dr. Thaddeus is standing over me in the faculty room, his three-thousand-dollar suit tailored just so. Superintendent. Major dictator. A legend in his own mind.

Christina Vargas, principal, is with him. "Nice to see you, Zachary. How was your summer?"

"Hot," I tell her, but she keeps on smiling. She's one of the good ones, which puts me on my guard. Thaddeus uses her to do his dirty work. Something is coming. I can smell it.

"There's been a change in the schedule," the superintendent announces. "Christina will fill you in on the details."

"As you know, Mary Angeletto has left the district," the principal says. "So we're moving you into her spot with the Self-Contained Special Eighth-GradeClass."

I stare at her. "You mean the Unteachables?"

Dr. Thaddeus bristles. "We don't use that term."

"Every teacher in this building knows what they are," I fire back. "They're the kids you've given up on. They had their chance in sixth and seventh grade, and now you're just warehousing them until they can be the high school's problem."

"They're a challenging group," Christina concedes. "Which is why we've chosen a teacher with a great deal of experience."

"Of course," the superintendent goes on pleasantly, "if you don't feel you're up to the job-"

Light dawns. So that's what this is really about. Thaddeus figured out that I qualify for early retirement after this year. He doesn't want the school district on the hook supporting me forever. The Kermit men live till ninety-five, minimum. My grandfather, at 106, is still president of the shuffleboard club at Shady Pines. That's why they're giving me the Unteachables. They aren't interested in my experience. They want my resignation.

I look the superintendent right in his snake eyes. "You're just trying to make me quit before I qualify for early retirement."

His response is all innocence. "You're up for retirement already? I think of you as so young. It still seems quite recent-that horrible Terranova incident. The media attention. The public outcry. The scandal."

Well, there it is. Jake Terranova. Thaddeus is never going to forgive and forget, even though it wasn't my fault. Or maybe it was. They were my students, after all, and it happened on my watch.

What a hypocrite. Thaddeus wasn't superintendent then. He had Christina's job-principal. And did he ever take the credit when a class at his school scored number one in the country on the National Aptitude Test. He squeezed every ounce of glory out of that-interviews, profiles in magazines. When there was traffic in the driveway, you could bet it was because of a TV station mobile unit on its way to interview the high-exalted lord of all principals.

Until the truth came out. A kid named Jake Terranova had gotten hold of the test and charged his classmates ten bucks a pop for a copy of it. That's why they aced it-they were cheating. And when the whole thing blew up, was Thaddeus there to take the heat the way he'd taken the acclaim? Not on your life. It was the teacher's fault. That's who I've been ever since. The guy who. The teacher whose class gave the entire Greenwich School District a black eye.

Officially, life went on after that. No one revoked my teaching certificateor docked my pay,or kicked me out of the union. But everything was different. When I stepped into the faculty room, people stopped talking. Colleagues wouldn't look me in the eye. Administration kept changing my department. One year it was English, then math, French, social studies, even phys ed-me with my two left feet.

I went into a blue funk. Okay, that wasn't the school's fault, but it began to affect my personal life. My engagement to Fiona Bertelsman fell apart. My bad. I was lost in my own misery.

Worst of all, the one thing that was most important to me-teaching-became a bad joke. The students didn't want to learn? Fine. I didn't particularly want to teach them. All I needed to do for my paycheck was show up.

Until next June, when early retirement wouldcarry me away from all of it.

And now Thaddeus thinks he can make me throw that away too, just to avoid a year with the Unteachables. Obviously, the superintendent doesn't have the faintest idea who he's messing with. I would happily go into room 117 with a pack of angry wildcats before I'd give him the satisfaction of forcing me out.

I look from the superintendent to the principal and back to the superintendent again. "I enjoy a good challenge." I pick up the Toilet Bowl and walk out of there, careful to keep the big mug steady. Can't risk spilling coffee all over myself. It would spoil the dramatic exit.

Three decades in this school, and never once have I set foot inside room 117. I know where it is, though, from the stint in phys ed. Somebody has to be in the remotest classroom of the entire building, but I decide to be offended by it. It's just another part of the conspiracy to force me out.

Well, it won't work. After all, how bad can these Unteachables really be? Behavior issues, learning problems, juvenile delinquents? Does Thaddeus honestly think I've never crossed paths with students like that throughout thirty years in the classroom? Bad attitudes? The kid hasn't been born with an attitude that's half as bad as mine at this point. Face it, the Unteachables can hurt you only if you try to teach them. I gave up on teaching anybody anything decades ago. Since then, my relationship with my classes has been one of uncomfortable roommates. We don't much like each other, but everybody knows that if we just hold our noses and keep our mouths shut, we'll eventually get what we want. For me, that means early retirement. For the SCS-8 students, it means being promoted to ninth grade.

That part's a slam dunk, because surely the middle school is dying to get rid of them. What would they have to do to get held back-burn the whole place to the ground?

I walk into my new classroom.

A roaring fire in a wastebasket. Smoke pouring through the open windows. Kids toasting marshmallows on the end of pencils. Pencils catching fire. One pyromaniac-in-training seeing if he can get his eraser to burn. An escapee standing outside in the bushes, gazing in, eyes wide with fear. A boy draped over a desk, fast asleep, oblivious to it all.

Most kids would scramble to look innocent and be sitting up straight with their arms folded in front of them once the teacher puts in an appearance. Not this crew. If I came in with a platoon of ski marine paratroopers, it wouldn't make any more of an impression.

I stroll over to the flaming wastebasket and empty the giant cup of coffee onto the bonfire, which goes out with a sizzle. Silence falls in room 117.

"Good morning," I announce, surveying the room. "I'm your teacher, Mr. Kermit."

Only ten months until June.

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Chapter One Kiana Roubini It's no fun riding to school with Stepmonster-not with Chauncey screaming his lungs out in the back seat. Don't get me wrong. I'd cry too if I'd just figured out that Stepmonster is my mother. But at seven months old, I don't think he's processed that yet.

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by Rodman Philbrick

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By Megan Wolitzer

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Also available in ...

From two extraordinary authors comes a moving, exuberant, laugh-out-loud novel about friendship and family, told entirely in emails and letters. Avery Bloom, who's bookish, intense, and afraid of many things,... More

New York Times Bestseller! New York Times Notable Book of 2018 One of People Magazine's Top Ten Books of 2018 One of USA Today's Top Ten Books of 2018 "Ultra-readable." -Vogue ... More

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Also available in ... From two extraordinary authors comes a moving, exuberant, laugh-out-loud novel about friendship and family, told entirely in emails and letters. Avery Bloom, who's bookish, intense, and afraid of many things,... More New York Times Bestseller!

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Pam Munoz Ryan

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Esperanza Ortega possesses all the treasures a girl could want: dresses; a home filled with servants in Mexico; and the promise of one day presiding over El Rancho de las Rosas. But a tragedy shatters that dream, forcing Esperanza and her mother to flee to Arvin, California and settle in a farm camp. There, they confront the challenges of work, acceptance, and economic difficulties brought on by the Great Depression.

Spanish edition (Esperanza Renace) Audio book edition, Listening Library

Awards and Honors

Pura Belpré Medal - Jane Addams Children's Book Award - The Willa Cather Award - Américas Award Honor Book - ALA Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults - Publisher's Weekly Best Book of the Year - NY Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing - IRA Notable Book for a Global Society - NCSS Notable Book for Young People - Jefferson Cup Award Worthy of Note - Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist - Smithsonian Best Book of the Year - Southern California Judy Lopez Memorial Award - Arizona Young Adult Book Award

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Esperanza Ortega possesses all the treasures a girl could want: dresses; a home filled with servants in Mexico; and the promise of one day presiding over El Rancho de las Rosas. But a tragedy shatters that dream, forcing Esperanza and her mother to flee to Arvin, California and settle in a farm camp.

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by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

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Synopsis

The author of the beloved One for the Murphys gives readers an emotionally-charged, uplifting novel that will speak to anyone who's ever thought there was something wrong with them because they didn't fit in.

Everybody is smart in different ways. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its life believing it is stupid."

Ally has been smart enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a new school, she is able to hide her inability to read by creating clever yet disruptive distractions. She is afraid to ask for help; after all, how can you cure dumb? However, her newest teacher Mr. Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble maker. With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of. As her confidence grows, Ally feels free to be herself and the world starts opening up with possibilities. She discovers that there's a lot more to her-and to everyone-than a label, and that great minds don't always think alike.
Read Chapter One here! Teachers - Share (and find!) Fish in a Tree ideas that you have enjoyed using with your kids. Printable Fish in a Tree Teacher's Guide!
Awards and Honors:

Schneider Family Book Award

SCBWI Crystal Kite Winner

ALSC Notable Book of 2016

New York Times Bestseller

Global Read Aloud choice, 2015

SLJ Best Book, 2015

Audible.com (Amazon) Kids Audiobook of Year Winner

Will be published in 15 different languages thus far

ALSC Notable Children's Recordings Nominee

ALSC Notable Children's Book Nominee

Indie Best Book Choice

Amazon Best Book of the month

Amazon Best Book of the Year (9-12 yo), 2015

Amazon bestseller re: books about disabilities

Barnes and Noble ~ Best books about bullying

ALSC Summer Reading List, 2016

SCBWI Summer Reading List, 2016

*State Lists:

Great Stone Face Award Book (New Hampshire)

Colorado State Book Award nominee

Golden Sower Award (Nebraska) nominee

South Carolina Junior Book Award nominee, 2016-2017

Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award (Illinois) nominee, 2016-2017

Iowa Children's Choice Award nominee, 2016-2017

Georgia Children's Book Award nominee, 2016-2017

North Carolina Battle of the Books, 2016-2017

Black-Eyed Susan Book Award (Maryland) nominee, 2016-2017

Maine Student Book Award Nominee, 2016-2017

Buckeye State Award List (Ohio), 2016-2017

William Allen White Award List (Kansas), 2017-2018

Visit Ally's Sketchbook of Impossible Things

Read (or add your own!) SUCCESS STORIES of people who struggled in school and later set the world on fire! (as Mr. Daniels would say ;-) Buy merchandise from a non-profit online store Help yourself to some Fish in a Tree badges
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SOLVING THE SECRET CODE:
HELLO! Below is the code that Mr. Daniels writes on the board for the students to solve. Unfortunately, I will not give you an answer for it. However, I will tell you a couple of things:

1. Yes, it can be solved.

2. Each letter stands for another letter in the alphabet and follows a pattern. So, for example, if I told you that every letter in this word < ALD > was really the letter that is three letters after it in the alphabet, <ALD > would really be < DOG >. This code below follows a pattern similar to this.

3. Writing out the entire alphabet for yourself and experimenting will make this easier to solve.

4. If you find this hard, don't quit! It's supposed to be hard and it feels AWESOME to solve something difficult.

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The videos below were done in conjunction with Global Read Aloud. Each video covers 8 chapters of the book. Video 1: Chapter 1 - 8 Video 2: Chapter 9 - 17 Video 3: Chapter 18 - 24 Video 4: Chapter 25 - 33 Video 5: Chapter 34 - 42 Video 6: Chapter 43 - end I begin each taping with a reading of the last chapter in the block and then answer questions form readers for that chapter block ONLY. The last video has a bit more of an overview.

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Synopsis The author of the beloved One for the Murphys gives readers an emotionally-charged, uplifting novel that will speak to anyone who's ever thought there was something...

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Lynda Lullaly Hunt
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Synopsis
You don't have to weather the storms alone.
Delsie loves a good storm - except when the squalls are in her own life. Her summer friend, Brandy, is back on the Cape at last-but devastates her by dumping her for a new friend. And she could really use a mom right now - except hers left years ago and her loving Grammy won't discuss her mom, saying it's too painful.

So when she meets snarky Ronan, supposedly a liar and a thief, Delsie wonders if he's another storm on the horizon. Turns out he's caring and courageous - a fisherman's son who'd rather protect sea life than eat it. But she recognizes something else, too. He is lonely just like she is. As they traipse around the island they uncover deep neighborhood secrets, stand up to cruelty and get into both good and bad trouble. But they also open up to each other and tackle complicated stuff like what it means to be angry versus sad, broken versus whole, and abandoned versus loved.

Lynda Mullaly Hunt, author of New York Times bestseller Fish in a Tree, has written a tender, compelling story about learning to feel complete, figuring out who deserves your love - and making sure those are the folks you give your heart to.
Read Chapters 1, 2,3

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SHOUTING AT THE RAIN | Lynda Mullaly Hunt

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You don't have to weather the storms alone. Delsie loves a good storm - except when the squalls are in her own life. Her summer friend, Brandy, is back on the Cape at last-but devastates her by dumping her for a new friend.

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by Jason Reynolds

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Eleven-year-old Brooklynite Genie has "worry issues," so when he and his older brother, Ernie, are sent to Virginia to spend a month with their estranged grandparents while their parents "try to figure it all out," he goes into overdrive.

First, he discovers that Grandpop is blind. Next, there's no Internet, so the questions he keeps track of in his notebook (over 400 so far) will have to go un-Googled. Then, he breaks the model truck that's one of the only things Grandma still has of his deceased uncle. And he and Ernie will have to do chores, like picking peas and scooping dog poop. What's behind the " nunya bidness door"? And is that a gun sticking out from Grandpop's waistband? Reynolds' middle-grade debut meanders like the best kind of summer vacation but never loses sense of its throughline. The richly voiced third-person narrative, tightly focused through Genie's point of view, introduces both brothers and readers to this rural African-American community and allows them to relax and explore even as it delves into the many mysteries that so bedevil Genie, ranging from "Grits? What exactly are they?" to, heartbreakingly, "Why am I so stupid?" Reynolds gives his readers uncommonly well-developed, complex characters, especially the completely believable Genie and Grandpop, whose stubborn self-sufficiency belies his vulnerability and whose flawed love both Genie and readers will cherish.

This pitch-perfect contemporary novel gently explores the past's repercussions on the present . (Fiction. 9-12)

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Eleven-year-old Brooklynite Genie has "worry issues," so when he and his older brother, Ernie, are sent to Virginia to spend a month with their estranged grandparents while their parents "try to figure it all out," he goes into overdrive. First, he discovers that Grandpop is blind.

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Linda Sue Park

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"There have been several books about the lost boys of Sudan for adults, teens, and even for elementary-school readers. But [this] spare, immediate account, based on a true story, adds a stirring contemporary dimension. . . . Young readers will be stunned by the triumphant climax." - Booklist, starred review

"[This] spare, hard-hitting novel delivers a memorable portrait of two children in Sudan. . . . Tragic and harrowing."- Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Two narratives intersect in a quiet conclusion that is filled with hope."- School Library Journal, starred review

"This powerful dual narrative packs suspense and introspection into Park's characteristic spare description; while there are lots of details offered to the reader, they come not in long, prosaic lines but in simple, detached observations. Both Salva's and Nya's stories are told with brutal, simple honesty, and they deliver remarkable perspective on the Sudanese conflict. The novel's brevity and factual basis makes the reality of life in Sudan very accessible, and readers will find both the story and the style extremely moving."- The Bulletin

"Park simply yet convincingly depicts the chaos of war and an unforgiving landscape. . . . A heartfelt account."- Kirkus Reviews

"Brilliant. . . . A touching narrative about strife and survival on a scale most American readers will never see."- Book Page

"Riveting."- The Horn Book

"[A] fast, page-turning read. . . . A great book for high school students and an important novel for young adults who enjoy learning about other world cultures."- VOYA

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A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story

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"There have been several books about the lost boys of Sudan for adults, teens, and even for elementary-school readers. But [this] spare, immediate account, based on a true story, adds a stirring contemporary dimension. . . . Young readers will be stunned by the triumphant climax."

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By Robert Buyea

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No one likes or wants to take the statewide tests. Not the students in Mrs. Woods's sixth-grade class, not even their teacher. It's not like the kids don't already have things to worry about. . . .

Under pressure to be the top gymnast her mother expects her to be, RANDI starts to wonder what her destiny truly holds. Football-crazy GAVIN has always struggled with reading and feels as dumb as his high school-dropout father. TREVOR acts tough and mean, but as much as he hates school, he hates being home even more. SCOTT's got a big brain and an even bigger heart, especially when it comes to his grandfather, but his good intentions always backfire in spectacular ways. NATALIE, know-it-all and aspiring lawyer, loves to follow the rules-only this year, she's about to break them all.

The whole school is in a frenzy with test time approaching-kids, teachers, the administration. Everyone is anxious. When one of the kids has a big idea for acing the tests, they're all in. But things get ugly before they get better, and in the end, the real meaning of the perfect score surprises them all.﻿﻿

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No one likes or wants to take the statewide tests. Not the students in Mrs. Woods's sixth-grade class, not even their teacher. It's not like the kids don't already have things to worry about. . . . Under pressure to be the top gymnast her mother expects

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by Lois Lowry

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Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community.

December is the time of the annual Ceremony at which each twelve-year-old receives a life assignment determined by the Elders. Jonas watches his friend Fiona named Caretaker of the Old and his cheerful pal Asher labeled the Assistant Director of Recreation.

But Jonas has been chosen for something special. When his selection leads him to an unnamed man - the man called only the Giver - he begins to sense the dark secrets that underlie the fragile perfection of his world.

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Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. December is the time of the annual Ceremony at which each twelve-year-old receives a life assignment determined by the Elders.

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by Alan Gratz

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Reviewed by Lyn Miller Lachmann

The news today is filled with the plight of refugees from Syria and elsewhere trying to find new homes while it seems that the rest of the world - including the United States - is trying to keep them out. Alan Gratz's novel for older middle grade and young adult readers, , presents three 13-year-olds forced to flee in three different time periods.

Josef Landau turns 13 and celebrates his Bar Mitzvah on the St. Louis, a German ship filled with desperate Jews escaping from Nazi Germany. In 1994, during the "special period" of deprivation following the collapse of Cuba's benefactor, the Soviet Union, Isabel Fernandez and her family, including her pregnant mother, join their neighbors in a leaky boat headed for Florida. In 2015, Mahmoud Bishara and his family run from their bombed-out home in Aleppo, Syria toward the Turkish border, hoping to cross more than half a dozen countries to a new life in Germany. Continue reading.

JOSEF is a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany. With the threat of concentration camps looming, he and his family board a ship bound for the other side of the world . . .ISABEL is a Cuban girl in 1994. With riots and unrest plaguing her country, she and her family set out on a raft, hoping to find safety in America . . .MAHMOUD is a Syrian boy in 2015. With his homeland torn apart by violence and destruction, he and his family begin a long trek toward Europe . . .All three kids go on harrowing journeys in search of refuge. All will face unimaginable dangers -- from drownings to bombings to betrayals. But there is always the hope of tomorrow. And although Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud are separated by continents and decades, shocking connections will tie their stories together in the end.This action-packed novel tackles topics both timely and timeless: courage, survival, and the quest for home.

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Reviewed by Lyn Miller Lachmann Review Source: Pirate Tree Book Author: The news today is filled with the plight of refugees from Syria and elsewhere trying to find new homes while it seems that the rest of the world - including the United States - is trying to keep them out.

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Lynda Mullaly Hunt
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by Shelley Pearsall

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Bank Street Best Book, Outstanding Merit

New York Public Library Top 100

Junior Library Guild selection

Capitol Choice (D.C.) Noteworthy Book

State Book Award nominee: Vermont, Missouri (MASL), Indiana, Maine, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Virginia, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Rhode Island, Kansas, Michigan, Connecticut, Arkansas, Arizona and Nebraska.

"A moving exploration of how there is often so much more than meets the eye." Booklist, starred

"Shelley Pearsall tells a sumptuously layered tale of transformation." School Library Journal feature, starred

1. Build a unique "throne" or other sculptures from discarded items.

2. Create 7-Minute Mini-Sculptures: Give teams of students a sandwich bag with 7 items inspired by the list in the book (eg: Christmas lights, foil, cardboard, bottle cap, coffee filter, etc.), plus scissors, tape, markers. Set a 7-minute time limit for creating a mini-sculpture. Display.

3. Write a short narrative using one of these story starters: a character who develops wings, the theme of FEAR NOT, or trash turned to treasure. Ideas from Harmon MS, OH.

4. Paint "cardboard quotes" and display. Idea from Berner MS, NY.

5. Give each student seven paper towel rings to display seven objects, pictures, or drawings that symbolize "important things" in their lives. Idea from Bigelow MS, MA.

6. Create Vision Boards sharing your interests, thoughts, quotes, and visions for your future. Idea from Morton Grove Public Library, IL.

7. Try out some of the wonderful ideas on for encouraging friendship and empathy among middle school students.

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Shelley Pearsall The Seventh Most Important Thing

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Bank Street Best Book, Outstanding Merit New York Public Library Top 100 Junior Library Guild selection Capitol Choice (D.C.) Noteworthy Book State Book Award nominee: Vermont, Missouri (MASL), Indiana, Maine, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Virginia, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Rhode Island, Kansas, Michigan, Connecticut, Arkansas, Arizona and Nebraska.

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By Ali Benjamin
(This is going to be a Netflix series.)

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In middle school, where "Worst Thing" can mean anything from a pimple to public humiliation, Suzy "Zu" Swanson really has a reason to be in crisis: her former best friend has died unexpectedly, and the seventh-grader is literally silenced by grief and confusion.

A chance encounter with a jellyfish display on a school trip gives her focus-for Zu, the venomous Irukandji jellyfish, while rare, provides a possible explanation for the "how" of Franny's death. And Zu is desperate for answers and relief from her haunting grief and guilt. In seven parts neatly organized around the scientific method as presented by Mrs. Turton, a middle school teacher who really gets the fragility of her students, Zu examines and analyzes past and present. A painful story of friendship made and lost emerges: the inseparable early years, Franny's pulling away, Zu's increasing social isolation, and a final attempt by Zu to honor a childhood pact. The author gently paints Zu as a bit of an oddball; not knowing what hair product to use leaves her feeling "like a separate species altogether," and knowing too many species of jellyfish earns her the nickname Medusa. Surrounded by the cruelty of adolescence, Zu is awkward, smart, methodical, and driven by sadness. She eventually follows her research far beyond the middle school norm, because " 'Sometimes things just happen' is not an explanation. It is not remotely scientific."

A painful story smartly told, Benjamin's first solo novel has appeal well beyond a middle school audience. (Fiction. 12 & up)

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THE THING ABOUT JELLYFISH | Kirkus Reviews

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In middle school, where "Worst Thing" can mean anything from a pimple to public humiliation, Suzy "Zu" Swanson really has a reason to be in crisis: her former best friend has died unexpectedly, and the seventh-grader is literally silenced by grief and confusion.

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by Crystal Brunelle

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Reviewed by Crystal Brunelle

Jade creates stunning collages. She's an artist turning bits and pieces of color, texture and shapes together. Art has often been one of the ways people explore what they think about the world and sometimes it's a way to find healing. Jade creates these amazing collages and they are a way she processes what's going on in her life. It seems like the people who love her make her whole and the world takes her apart.

"Sometimes it feels like I leave home a whole person, sent off with kisses from Mom, who is hanging her every hope on my future. By the time I get home I feel like my soul has been shattered into a million pieces."

This is an introspective book. Jade is a thinker and I loved seeing through her eyes. Continue reading.

Find more books and articles by author Renée Watson.

Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson
Published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA on February 14th 2017
Genres: African American, Family, OwnVoices, Racism, School, Teen Years
Pages: 272
Reading Level: High School
ISBN: 9781681191058
Review Source: Rich in Color
Buy at Powell's Books
Also by this author: Ways to Make Sunshine

Publisher's synopsis: Jade believes she must get out of her poor neighborhood if she's ever going to succeed. Her mother tells her to take advantage of every opportunity that comes her way. And she has. She accepted a scholarship to a mostly-white private school and even Saturday morning test prep opportunities. But some opportunities feel more demeaning than helpful. Like an invitation to join Women to Women, a mentorship program for "at-risk" girls. Except really, it's for black girls. From "bad" neighborhoods. And just because Maxine, her college-graduate mentor, is black doesn't mean she understands Jade. And maybe there are some things Jade could show these successful women about the real world and finding ways to make a real difference.

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Piecing me Together - Social Justice Books

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Reviewed by Crystal Brunelle Review Source: Rich in Color Book Author: Jade creates stunning collages. She's an artist turning bits and pieces of color, texture and shapes together. Art has often been one of the ways people explore what they think about the world and sometimes it's a way to find healing.

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by Kwame Alexander

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"Alexander fully captures Josh's athletic finesse and coming-of-age angst in a mix of free verse and hip-hop poetry that will have broad appeal. . . . This will inspire budding players and poets alike."

- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review

This novel in verse is rich in character and relationships. . . . Poet Alexander deftly reveals the power of the format to pack an emotional punch."

- Kirkus, starred review

"The poems dodge and weave with the speed of a point guard driving for the basket, mixing basketball action with vocabulary-themed poems, newspaper clippings, and Josh's sincere first-person accounts that swing from moments of swagger-worth triumph to profound pain."

- Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Alexander has crafted a story that vibrates with energy and heat and begs to be read aloud. A slam dunk."

- School Library Journal, starred review

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"Alexander fully captures Josh's athletic finesse and coming-of-age angst in a mix of free verse and hip-hop poetry that will have broad appeal. . . . This will inspire budding players and poets alike." - Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review This novel in verse is rich in character and relationships.

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By Sharon Draper

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When a young girl gains confidence from her failures and strength from what her community dreads most, life delivers magic and hope.

Stella Mills and her brother Jojo witness the Ku Klux Klan burning a cross late one starry night, setting off a chain reaction that leaves their entire community changed. During the Depression, North Carolina was less than hospitable for African-Americans forced to work more to earn less while being deprived of basic human rights. Through the perspective of Stella, young readers glimpse the nearly suffocating anguish that envelops this black community, illuminating the feelings associated with suppression. In a telling passage, Stella's mother attempts to comfort her: " 'It's gonna be all right,' her mother whispered as she smoothed down Stella's hair. But Stella felt the tension in her mother's arms, and she knew that in reality, fear hugged them both." Draper expertly creates a character filled with hope, dreams and ambition in a time when such traits were dangerous for a girl of color. While the use of language honors the time period, the author is careful to avoid the phonetic quagmire that ensnares lesser writers of the period, allowing the colorful idioms to shine.

A tale of the Jim Crow South that's not sugar-coated but effective, with a trustworthy narrator who opens her heart and readers' eyes. (Historical fiction. 9-13)

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When a young girl gains confidence from her failures and strength from what her community dreads most, life delivers magic and hope. Stella Mills and her brother Jojo witness the Ku Klux Klan burning a cross late one starry night, setting off a chain reaction that leaves their entire community changed.

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Jacqueline Woodson

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I spend too much time on Tumblr and not enough time reading about forthcoming books, so I tend to miss things like the publication of Jacqueline Woodson's latest novel, Harbor Me. In case you've missed it too, now you know! And here's the unsurprising review: it's really great.

Summary: The book opens two months after eleven-year-old Haley's father has come home from prison. Her uncle, who raised her, is moving out and Haley is feeling uncertain about the future and nostalgic about the past. (One thing I love about this book is how meaningfully Woodson renders kids' nostalgia for their younger days, never making light of it.) As Haley reminisces about sixth grade, we flash back to her memories of that school year...

Six 5th- and 6th-grade kids who attend a public school in Brooklyn and struggle academically are placed in a classroom with a single teacher to see whether their performance improves. Their teacher gives them an hour alone at the end of each week, in a room without any adults, to talk with each other. After an awkward beginning, it becomes a kind of peer-led group therapy.

Esteban is in crisis; his father was arrested by ICE and is in a detention center in Florida. Amari is frustrated by what it means for him to grow up as a black boy in the U.S. Ashton, the only white kid in the class, is being bullied by some eighth-graders and has a hard time accepting that his friends experience racism. Tiago's brain works better in Spanish than English, and he's saddened by the anti-Latinx racism he and his mom experience, even though - as Puerto Ricans - they're native-born citizens. Haley's best friend, Holly, has fewer outside pressures but wishes she had better control over her hyperactivity. And Haley is struggling to deal with the reason her father went to prison in the first place and what his upcoming release will mean for her.

Review: Harbor Me is aimed at upper-elementary and middle-grade kids, which means it's a fairly quick and easy read. Nonetheless, it has great emotional depth and gives its young readers credit for being able to handle difficult subjects. By having the kids talk things through with each other rather than an adult, the conversation remains accessible to young people and avoids patronizing them. Woodson's concern with accessibility also shows through in her decision to render the dialogue in italic rather than place it in quotation marks, creating a strong visual distinction between dialogue and narrative.

Although this is a prose novel, Woodson's background in poetry shines through in the rhythm of the text and its use of repeated refrains. Those refrains also demonstrate her mastery of dramatic tension, as when the book's opening line, "We think they took my papi," draws readers into the story and through some initial world- and character-building before its meaning is revealed.

By creating a diverse cast of characters who are facing contemporary issues-immigration and ICE, racism, police shootings, imprisonment, and poverty-Woodson creates room to acknowledge how these issues are affecting youth, encourages kids to recognize their peers' struggles, and provides valuable language and tools for discussing these issues with kids. If you're a parent, teacher, or librarian who works with kids in 3rd-6th grades, I highly recommend picking up Harbor Me.

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Book Review: Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson

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I spend too much time on Tumblr and not enough time reading about forthcoming books, so I tend to miss things like the publication of Jacqueline Woodson's latest novel, Harbor Me. In case you've missed it too, now you know! And here's the unsurprising review: it's really great.

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by Rob Buyea

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Rhode Island Book Award Nominee

Missouri Mark Twain Award

Illinois Bluestem Book Award Nominee

South Carolina Book Award Nominee

Wyoming Indian Paintbrush Award Nominee

Nebraska Golden Sower Book Award- WINNER

Kentucky Blue Grass Book Award Nominee

Pennsylvania Young Readers Choice Nominee

Virginia Reader's Choice Nominee

Georgia Children's Book Award Nominee

Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award WINNER ﻿

Iowa Children's Book Award WINNER ﻿

Indies Choice/ E.B White Honor Book

C ybils Middle Grade Award Finalist 2010

New Voices Pick by the Association of Booksellers for Children

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Rhode Island Book Award Nominee Missouri Mark Twain Award Illinois Bluestem Book Award Nominee South Carolina Book Award Nominee Wyoming Indian Paintbrush Award Nominee Nebraska Golden Sower Book Award- WINNER Kentucky Blue Grass Book Award Nominee Pennsylvania Young Readers Choice Nominee Virginia Reader's Choice Nominee Georgia Children's Book Award Nominee Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award WINNER ﻿ Iowa Children's Book Award WINNER ﻿ Indies Choice/ E.B White Honor Book C ybils Middle Grade Award Finalist 2010 New Voices Pick by the Association of Booksellers for Children

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By John David Anderson

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There was a war. This is where it ended.
I can't tell you exactly when it changed, when it spiraled out of control like a kite twisting in the wind. When it stopped being something funny and clever and became something else. Maybe there was no single moment. Maybe underneath all the squares plastered on the walls and notebooks and windows there was the same message over and over. We just ignored it because it was easier to stomach that way.

I know what you are going to say: sticks, and stones, and broken bones. But words can kick you in the gut. They wriggle underneath your skin and start to itch. They set their hooks into you and pull. Words accumulate like a cancer, and then they eat away at you until there is nothing left. And once they are let loose there really is no taking them back.

"The characters, both adult and teen, are vivid, flawed, and approachable. Anderson dives into the world of middle school with a clear sense of how it works and what it needs. Kids, and the rest of the world, need more books like this one."

"Anderson captures the tumultuous joys and pains of middle school with honesty, creating characters with whom readers will find common ground and insight. Words have lingering and persistent power, Anderson makes clear, but so does standing up for others and making one's voice heard."
- Publishers Weekly, starred review

Written with understated humor and fine-tuned perception, Frost's first-person narrative offers a riveting story as well as an uncomfortably realistic picture of middle school social dynamics.... This rewarding novel should resonate with many readers." - Booklist, starred review

​"Acute observations about social media and school life and a smart, engaging narrator make this a journey well worth taking. Readers might even want some Post-it notes to mark the good parts."

"A forceful book that focuses on bullying and the development of friendships in middle school amid exploration of the power of words."
- School Library Journal

I'm still not sure what it was about that day, that trip, that moment. Maybe it was the four of us daring each other to pee in the Muskegon River, or Bench climbing a tree and getting his undies snagged on a branch, or Deedee claiming to have found a print in the mud that he swore was from a velociraptor. Or maybe we all just subconsciously realized that there was strength in numbers. Looking back on it, I think it had to be something like getting lost in the woods. Otherwise we might have just gone on ignoring each other. I don't want to make it out to be some big gooey, sappy thing. We didn't share the same pair of traveling pants or promise over spit shakes to be BFFs. We just kind of glommed together. And we managed to stay that way for two whole years. Just the four of us. Pretty much perfect.

Then she came along. And the war started.

And everything came unglued.

The challenge is simple: Go get a pad of Post-it notes (twenty, fifty, a hundred) and vow to use every single one of those notes to say something nice about someone you know. Keep the pad of notes in your backpack so that you can leave messages of gratitude, admiration, encouragement or support whenever the occasion arises. Give yourself a set amount of time to use up all your notes (a day, a week, a month); then kick back and bask in the warm, fuzzy karma, knowing your words probably gave somebody (or several somebodies) out there something to smile about.

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There was a war. This is where it ended. I can't tell you exactly when it changed, when it spiraled out of control like a kite twisting in the wind. When it stopped being something funny and clever and became something else. Maybe there was no single moment.