All the Lovely Bad Ones

All the Lovely Bad Ones
By Mary Downing Hahn

It was fun to read this creepy ghost story, recommended to me by Fiona, an avid reader and regular in our middle school library.

Brother and sister Travis and Corey are spending the summer at their grandmother's inn in rural Vermont--and to make things a little more fun they decide to revive some old ghost stories by pretending to haunt the grounds. Little do they know they are awakening real ghosts with their pranks! A group of orphaned children inhabited the "poor farm" centuries ago and were treated cruelly by the farm's mistress, Miss Ada. The ghost-children, "the lovely bad ones," still long for justice and to be peacefully laid to rest. The horrible Miss Ada continues to mistreat them, though, even from beyond the grave...it's up to Travis and Corey to put an end to this head ghost, and to restore peace at the farm. Will they be brave enough?

All American Boys

All American Boys
By Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

All American Boys is a timely, important, and super impressive book about how an isolated instance of police brutality towards a black teenager affects an entire community, and ultimately the whole country.
When Rashad, age 16, reaches into his bag for his cell phone at a corner store, a minor accident leads to a false accusation that he's trying to shoplift a bag of chips; he is brutally beaten up by a police officer who claims he is "just doing his job."
This event is captured on video and broadcast around the country on the news while Rashad recovers in the hospital...Meanwhile, Quinn, a classmate who witnessed the beating, tries to figure out what he should do in the face of this incredible injustice--especially because he is a friend and neighbor of the police officer.
Told in alternating voices, by two different teenagers--one black, one white--the novel is also written by two authors--one black, one white.