Star Crossed

 by Barbara Dee

Genre:  Realistic Fiction


The 8th graders can't believe it!  Their teacher, Mr. Torres, has decided that the 8th grade play for the year will be Romeo and Juliet.  For Mattie and her friends, Lucy and Tessa, it leads to much discussion about who should have which part.  Mattie decides on a small part while Lucy and Tessa want more important roles.  Gemma is cast as Juliet which Mattie thinks is fantastic, but Romeo is going to be played by Liam which everyone thinks is an odd choice.  When Liam struggles to learn his part, Mr. Torres asks Mattie to step in as his Shakespeare tutor which Mattie agrees to do because it means she can spend more time with Gemma, who seems to be, in Mattie's opinion, an amazing person.  A last minute emergency forces Mattie into the role of Romeo, opposite of Gemma in the role of Juliet.  Are the feelings that Mattie has towards Gemma all part of the play or is it something more?



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hush

Image
by Jacqueline Woodson Lexile:  640 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Toswiah Green doesn’t know who she is anymore.  Is she Evie Thomas?  Or is she a combination of the two?  When Toswiah’s father, a police officer, witnesses a murder and decides to testify about the truth of what he saw, she and her family must assume new identities and move on to an uncertain future.  Now she is Evie and has to live in a strange new city, make new friends, and watch her father fight the loss of a career that he loved second only to his family.  Toswiah misses her old life and can only hope that her family can figure out who they are in their new life.
Read more

Where I Belong

Image
 by Marcia Argueta Mickelson Genre: Realistic Fiction Millie Vargas knows that after she graduates from high school, her life is going to change.  She has a full ride scholarship to Stanford University, but hasn't worked up the courage to tell her mother yet because her mom depends on her to help the family stay together.  Her mom works long hours as a housekeeper for the wealthy Wheeler family who is in the midst of a senate race.  When Mr. Wheeler turns his campaign focus on immigration, he unknowingly places Millie's family in a tough situation.  Millie's family came across the border illegally and worked hard to earn their citizenship.  Millie wants to stay out of the conversation, but her mom and others, feel that she should get involved and do whatever she can to support others who have not been as fortunate as her family.  
Read more

Restart

Image
by Gordon Korman Lexile:  730 Genre:  Realistic Fiction Chase has no memory of falling off the roof or of the thirteen years before, but there are plenty of people in his life who do remember the kind of person he was.  Apparently, Chase was a troublemaker and had been responsible for bullying kids at school and had recently been given community service for a prank he pulled at school.  As Chase's memories return, he realizes that he has been given a second chance to be a different kind of person.  Will he be able to put his past behind him?
Read more