Fiction
Save me a seat
Sarah Weeks
jFICTION Weeks Sarah
Fiction
Ravi has just moved to the United States from India and has always been at the top of his class; Joe has lived in the same town his whole life and has learning problems--but when their lives intersect in the first week of fifth grade they are brought together by a common enemy (the biggest bully in their class) and the need to take control of their lives.
Focused
Alyson Gerber
jFICTION Gerber Alyson
Fiction
"Twelve-year-old Clea wants to do her homework, follow instructions, pay attention in school, and play chess on the school team, but somehow she cannot focus on whatever is in front of her, and the other kids at school are starting to notice and make fun of her; when her worried parents take her to be tested she finds out that she has ADHD (only without the hyperactivity)--and with help from the psychiatrist who seems to really understand her, she is determined to learn how to focus." --
Added by Anne W
Insignificant events in the life of a cactus
Dusti Bowling
jFICTION Bowling Dusti
Fiction
New friends and a mystery help Aven, thirteen, adjust to middle school and life at a dying western theme park in a new state, where her being born armless presents many challenges.
Added by Anne W
Fish in a tree
Lynda Mullaly Hunt
jFICTION Hunt Lynda
Fiction
"Ally's greatest fear is that everyone will find out she is as dumb as they think she is because she still doesn't know how to read"--
Added by Anne W
Wonder
R. J Palacio
jFICTION Palacio, R. J.
Fiction
Ten-year-old Auggie Pullman, who was born with extreme facial abnormalities and was not expected to survive, goes from being home-schooled to entering fifth grade at a private middle school in Manhattan, which entails enduring the taunting and fear of his classmates as he struggles to be seen as just another student.
Added by Anne W
Out of my mind
Sharon M. (Sharon Mills) Draper
jFICTION Draper, Sharon M.
Fiction
Considered by many to be mentally retarded, a brilliant, impatient fifth-grader with cerebral palsy discovers a technological device that will allow her to speak for the first time.
Added by Anne W
Roll with it
Jamie Sumner
jFICTION Sumner Jamie
Fiction
Twelve-year-old Ellie, who has cerebral palsy, finds her life transformed when she moves with her mother to small-town Oklahoma to help care for her grandfather, who has Alzheimer's Disease.
Added by Anne W
Wink : a novel
Rob Harrell
jFICTION Harrell Rob
Fiction
After being diagnosed with a rare eye cancer, twelve-year-old Ross discovers how music, art, and true friends can push him through treatment and survive middle school.
Added by Anne W
Pachinko
Min Jin Lee
FICTION Lee Min
Fiction, Historical Fiction
"A new tour de force from the bestselling author of Free Food for Millionaires, for readers of The Kite Runner and Cutting for Stone. PACHINKO follows one Korean family through the generations, beginning in early 1900s Korea with Sunja, the prized daughter of a poor yet proud family, whose unplanned pregnancy threatens to shame them all. Deserted by her lover, Sunja is saved when a young tubercular minister offers to marry and bring her to Japan. So begins a sweeping saga of an exceptional family in exile from its homeland and caught in the indifferent arc of history. Through desperate struggles and hard-won triumphs, its members are bound together by deep roots as they face enduring questions of faith, family, and identity"--
Terrific historical detail, an engaging story, and compelling characters. -Jason
Utopia Avenue
David Mitchell
Soho, London, 1967. Folk-rock-psychedelic quartet Utopia Avenue is formed. Guitarist Jasper de Zoet, a shy, half-Dutch public-school musical prodigy, was hearing voices long before he dropped acid. Keyboardist Elf Holloway must defy the prejudices of her bank manager father, her housewife mother, and her age to forge her own career. Bassist Dean Moss cannot, will not, spend his life on the factory floor like everyone else in Gravesend. Band manager Levon Frankland--gay, Jewish, and Canadian--is not unduly burdened by conscience. The drummer is a drummer. Over two years and two albums, Utopia Avenue navigates the dark end of the Sixties: its parties, drugs and egos, political change and personal tragedy; and the trials of life as a working band in London, the provinces, European capitals and, finally, the promised land of America. What is art? What is fame? What is music? How can the whole be more than the sum of its parts? Can idealism change the world? How does your youth shape your life? This is the story of Utopia Avenue. Not everyone lives to the end.
A decent historical fiction novel from one of my favorite writers. Engaging characters with lots of cameos from classic rock heroes, nothing monumental here but solid writing and pretty fun. -Jason
Added by Anne W