Far from the Tree

Far from the Tree
By Robin Benway

Oh, this book is so good!
There are three main teenage characters in this wonderful novel, and the chapters alternate between each of their stories: Grace, Maya and Joaquin are siblings who have just discovered each other because each was given up for adoption as a baby or small child. Now they are learning what it means to be reconnected, to be family. And each is stronger because of the connection.

• Grace has already had a baby of her own--at age 16--and chosen to give her baby to loving, adoptive parents. Her own adoptive parents have given her the love and support necessary to make such a hard decision.

• Maya, also adopted into a loving and supportive family, struggles to understand her mother's alcoholism. Her little sister and her supportive girlfriend provide help and support, especially when a bad accident happens at home.

• Joaquin was never adopted. He spent his whole childhood in foster homes, some better than others...But finally he lives with foster parents who want to adopt him--he just needs to figure out if he is brave enough to accept their love.  

*This novel just won the 2017 National Book Award!

Inside Out & Back Again

Inside Out & Back Again
By Thanhha Lai

This is a beautiful story, in verse, of coming to the United States from Vietnam just at the end of the war, in 1975.
Ten-year-old Ha, along with her mom and three brothers, flees Saigon and survives a harrowing boat ride--eventually ending up in Alabama. There, she struggles to be included in school and learn English while suffering the intolerance and racism of many neighbors and schoolmates.
Stepping into Ha's shoes, we can understand how it feels to have to start over from scratch, leave one home behind and build another, and the power of kindness and compassion.

Mockingbird

Mockingbird
By Kathryn Erskine

Caitlin has Asperger's syndrome.
Along with her grieving dad, she is trying to make sense of her older brother's death in a senseless and tragic school shooting.
When she learns about the word "closure" and looks it up in the dictionary (Caitlin loves words, and dictionaries) she realizes this is what she and her dad need to help them feel better.
With the support of an understanding school counselor, Caitlin works to overcome some of her fears and challenges so she and her dad can move forward after the tragedy they have experienced.
Mockingbird, like Out of My Mind, is a beautiful story that allows the reader to really step into the shoes of someone who may be experiencing life in a very different way.  

The Girl Who Drank the Moon

The Girl Who Drank the Moon
by Kelly Barnhill

This fantasy novel received the 2017 Newbery Medal.
It's about a sweet, kind witch--Xan--and the baby girl she adopts and raises, Luna.
It's also about a dysfunctional/dystopian town (reminded me of Jonas's town in The Giver) where every year a baby is sacrificed by the people in charge "for the good of everyone"...but really, it's just to keep the townsfolk scared and powerless.
As Luna approaches her 13th birthday and learns more about her past and her own magical powers, she embarks upon a great and dangerous adventure with her dear friends, a Swamp Monster and a Tiny Dragon....what unfolds is both creepy and beautiful.

Ms. Marvel

Ms. Marvel #1

By G. Willow Wilson
Illustrated by Adrian Alphona

Get ready to be impressed if you have not already heard about Marvel's new superhero Ms. Marvel!
Kamala Khan, a Pakastani-American teenager from Jersey City, NJ, feels like she doesn't quite fit in with most of the other students in her high school; She can't go to parties, she can't eat bacon (her parents are loving but strict, and the family is Muslim), she doesn't feel as devout as her brother and friend Nakia.
After a green misty bomb explodes in her city one night (bringing the new Age of Inhumanity) Kamala is mysteriously given special powers...Kamala loves the original comic book Ms. Marvel--aka Carol Danvers--but is completely surprised when she herself is transformed into Ms. Marvel!
Being a superhero is not all it's cracked up to be, discovers Kamala, and she must figure out ways to make her  new powers work; maybe by starting to be more accepting of herself!

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.

I Lived on Butterfly Hill

I Lived on Butterfly Hill
By Marjorie Agosín

This is a fictionalized account of a real dictatorship that happened in Chile, a beautiful country in South America. In the novel an 11-year-old girl named Celeste, from Valparaíso (the "San Francisco of Chile") experiences the disappearances of friends and neighbors as the General takes power over her country. Eventually her own parents, who are doctors helping the poor, are forced to go into hiding--and Celeste moves north to Maine to live with her aunt until Chile is safer for her family.
I Lived on Butterfly Hill is slow-paced, written by a Chilean poet and writer, and it has lovely illustrations throughout the story.
Celeste's experience of living far away from her parents--not knowing where they are hiding, for two years--and learning to adapt in a new country is very moving. 

Wonderstruck

Wonderstruck
By Brian Selznick

This thick, heavy book may look intimidating at first glance--but you will race through Wonderstruck, both because the plot is so compelling and because half of it is told through pictures!
I enjoyed trying to figure out the connections between the text-only story of a boy who just lost his mother (and his hearing, from a lightning strike) and the drawings of a deaf girl, many years before, who runs away from home to New York City.
Full of curious characters, unusual museum artifacts, and unexpected friendships, Wonderstruck is an unconventional half-graphic-novel you will no doubt enjoy!

The False Prince

The False Prince
By Jennifer A. Nielsen

California Young Reader Medal
2014-2015 Middle School Winner!

I had a hard time putting this book down once I'd started it--and the twists and turns in the story really surprised me!

Four similar-looking orphan boys, selected and purchased by a wealthy and powerful nobleman, are forced to compete with each other to be the new--false--prince who will be installed on the throne. The royal family has been disappeared, the kingdom is on the verge of war, and the dubious noblemen has a bizarre plan that may prevent war...or maybe he's just planning his own path to power...?

Chained

Chained 
By Lynn Kelly

In northern India, Hastin lives with his mother and younger sister in a small village. After his sister contracts a serious illness from mosquitoes, Hastin decides to leave home to work off his family's debt for the hospital bill. Unfortunately, the circus master who "hires" Hastin has no intention of actually paying him anything, and treats him terribly. Hastin's job as the elephant keeper for a baby elephant he helped trap is the only thing that provides any comfort; he and the elephant develop a strong bond, and protect each other from the cruelty of the awful circus master.
Hastin must escape and get back to his home--but he can't leave the young elephant at the circus...he must figure out a way to save them both. It seems impossible!
A real page-turner for animal lovers.

I am Malala

I am Malala: how one girl stood up for education and changed the world
By Malala Yousafzai
With Patricia McCormick

(Young Readers Edition)

Malala always had a passion for education--ever since she was a very little girl, she loved school and excelled at learning. When the Islamist militant group known as the Taliban began to take control of her hometown in Pakistan, all girls were suddenly forbidden to attend school. Along with her father, Malala spoke out about this injustice (she was 11 years old at the time) and through interviews and blog postings she gave the world an understanding of the horrors of Taliban occupation.
One day, inside the school bus on the way home from school, Malala was shot in the head by the Taliban...miraculously, she survived, though she underwent many serious operations.
To this day Malala speaks passionately all over the world about the rights of children and women to receive an education.
In 2014, at age 17, Malala Yousafzai won the Nobel Peace Prize--the youngest person ever to win this prestigious honor.
An amazing, inspiring true story of courage and perseverance.

Shooting Kabul

Shooting Kabul 

By N.H. Senzai

Taking place around the time of the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001, middle school student Fadi faces harassment and bullying for being Muslim in his new community of Fremont, California. Along with his family, Fadi recently fled his home country of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, but his 6-year-old sister was accidentally left behind. Fadi is determined to find her by any means and cooks up some wild plans to get to Pakistan, where he thinks his little sister might be.
I loved this story, and especially the surprising and clever end..!

Revolution

Revolution
By Deborah Wiles

This is a hefty book, almost 500 pages. But along with the gripping Civil Rights-era story are pages of photos, leaflets, song lyrics and quotes from the Mississippi Freedom Summer project in 1964.
"The overthrowing of Jim Crow [state laws] by the federal government was a revolution. And it came with its battles. One of those battles was Freedom Summer," writes the author in the book's afterword.
Revolution is an incredible documentary novel about what it took to ensure African Americans in the south could vote and access their rights as citizens of this country. It truly took a  revolution.

Doll Bones

Doll Bones
By Holly Black

I thought Doll Bones was just as great as it looks and sounds!
A creepy underlying story about a supposedly-murdered-girl-turned-into-a-ceremic-doll really makes for an excellent plot.
And the three middle school-aged friends, Zach, Poppy and Alice are very endearing and believable. Dealing with their own issues about growing up and getting too old to "play dolls", they embark upon an exciting adventure with many twists and turns, and some unexpected disappointments too.
An excellent book that truly kept me up--reading--at night!

P.S. I had to look up whether bone china is really made from bones...It is...!

Ninth Ward

Ninth Ward
By Jewell Parker Rhodes

Lanesha sees ghosts--all around her neighborhood in New Orleans, including her own mama who died giving birth to her. Growing up with her adopted grandmother, Mama Ya-Ya, Lanesha has become comfortable with the ghosts and even appreciates their company.
When Hurricane Katrina hits the city, Lanesha needs to be stronger than she's ever been, drawing on all the skills and knowledge Mama Ya-Ya has taught her over the past 12 years. Even the ghosts are called upon to help out as Lanesah, Mama Ya-Ya, a neighbor boy and their dog end up in a serious survival situation: the Mississippi River flooding into their home and the waters are rising and rising...
This is an intense book based on the real events of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Brown Girl Dreaming

Brown Girl Dreaming
By Jacqueline Woodson

This is a beautiful collection of story-poems about author Jacqueline Woodson's own childhood in both the South and in New York. Her perspective of the Civil Rights Movement is particularly interesting and engaging, since she was a little girl at the time and just beginning to understand what it was all about.
Brown Girl Dreaming won the National Book Award in 2014 for YA literature; click here to see the author speaking about her book when she received this prestigious award!

Joey Pigza

Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key
By Jack Gantos

Joey Pigza is a funny, smart, quirky kid who struggles daily with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). His medication doesn't always work, his mom has been in and out of his life, his grandma has had her own challenges being a substitute mom...things are not always very easy!
Joey gets in trouble at school, all the time--and sometimes really endangers himself and classmates. Like the time he's running with scissors...
But Joey is an awesome kid and everybody knows it. He wants to learn how to have more control, and luckily Joey has some supportive people in his life to help him out.

The One and Only Ivan

The One and Only Ivan

By Katherine Applegate

Just finished this one last night...sniffling, wiping my eyes a little, I'll admit. I can understand why it was selected for a Newberry medal.
Told simply but powerfully, from the perspective of a gorilla locked in a cage (for 27 years!) in a shopping mall, this novel is based--sadly--on a true story.
But author Katherine Applegate gives Ivan some special friends to keep him company in her story, including a stray dog and a couple of amazing elephants...and Ivan, who is a dedicated artist, really perseveres against all odds.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
By Benjamin Alire Sáenz
 

This is the story of two teenage Mexican-American boys growing up in El Paso, Texas.
One of the boys, Ari, is angry at his parents for never talking about his older brother who is in prison. He has few friends until the summer day he meets Dante at the swimming pool, and everything changes.
Dante--full of life and happiness--gives Ari the opportunity to experience real friendship for the first time.
Over the course of the novel, there are some misunderstandings, dangerous accidents, and ultimately the discovery that it is OK to fall in love, even if it's with another boy.

Turtle in Paradise

Turtle in Paradise
by Jennifer L. Holm

This is a Newbery Honor Book by the creator of the very popular Babymouse series...I didn't realize she wrote historical fiction until I read this great book!

Set in the 1930's in hot and humid Key West, Florida, it's a tough time to be the kid of a single mom desperate for work--it's the middle of the Great Depression.

Eleven-year-old Turtle is sent off to live with her aunt, uncle and 3 wild boy cousins who are just scraping by themselves.

But Turtle is a strong and strong-willed girl, and she makes the best of the situation...not only surviving a hurricane on a tiny island with her cousins, but also navigating the ups and downs of family life--and an unexpected adventure involving pirate treasure!

I was interested to read that this novel is inspired by the author's own Conch great-grandmother, who emigrated to Key West from the Bahamas.