Middle School Reads!

 by Nic Stone Genre:  Realistic Fiction Vernell, aka Quan, and Justyce, aka Jus, grew up less than a block apart.  They have a chance encounter one night in a park, but from that point on their lives go in drastically different directions.  Quan winds up behind bars while Jus graduates from high school and goes to college.  Jus decides to visit Quan when he is home and break and the two begin to correspond.  Quan eventually admits that he didn't commit the crime that he confessed to and Jus is determined to prove his friend's innocence.

 by Julie Buxbaum Genre:  Realistic Fiction Abbi Hope Goldstein thinks of herself as just a regular old teenager, but the world sees her as an iconic symbol of hope from the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  Abbi turned one the day the Twin Towers fell and the picture that was taken of her with her rescuer is known all over the world.  But Abbi just wants to be herself.  She signs up to work as a day camp counselor and is hoping that for once no one will recognize her.  On the first day, she meets Noah and he quickly figures out who she is.  Noah has a plan to find out what happened to the rest of the people in the photograph and wants Abbi to help him tell their stories.  Both Abbi and Noah have secrets they are keeping from each other and their families.  Will working together on this project help them better cope with the day that changed their lives forever?

 by Monica Hesse Genre:  Historical Fiction When Zofia Lederman was liberated from the Gross-Rosen concentration camp, she had one goal:  do whatever it took to find her younger brother Abek.  She hasn't seen him in over 3 years, but their plan was if they got separated they would find their way back to their home in Poland.  Zofia returns to her apartment to find it empty and most of her family's things are gone and there is no sign that Abek has returned.  Zofia is determined to write letters and visit as many of the displaced persons camps as she can.  She has to find Abek so that she can begin to live again.

 by Donna Barba Higuera Genre:  Realistic Fiction Lupe Wong loves baseball and her uncle has promised her that she can meet her favorite pitcher if she can get all As.  The only class she is worried about is P.E. because the next unit is square dancing!  Lupe thinks square dancing is ridiculously outdated and that it should be removed from the curriculum.  Lupe tries several times to get the school to rule out square dancing, but ultimately she figures out that the best way to win is to be the best square dancer of all time.  When Lupe sets her mind to something...watch out!

 by Dana Alison Levy Genre: Realistic Fiction Theo's self portraits have been vandalized and nobody seems to know how it happened.  Or at least nobody is willing to tell what they know about what happened.  Ms. Lewiston has decided to gather Theo and the 5 people who were present and have them be a Justice Circle.  They have to spend their entire spring break getting to the bottom of what happened.  These are not people with whom Theo would usually associate with and he thinks that it is probably a complete waste of time.  Does it really matter who wrecked his stuff?  It's not like knowing who did it will fix his photographs, but he decides to see what happens when the Justice Circle convenes.

 by Lisa Brown Genre:  Fantasy, Graphic Novel Iss and Jane have spent their whole lives on the road with as a carnival exhibit. They are the mysterious Siamese Twins that people pay money to gawk and stare at.  But one day a doctor comes to the show and tells them that he thinks he can safely separate them so that they can have their own separate lives.  Jane is all for it, but Iss is not so sure.  What if something goes wrong?  Is their current reality really that bad?  Once the operation is over, Iss realizes that her life will never be the same again.

 by Sara Fujimura Genre:  Realistic Fiction Olivia Kennedy has always dreamed of being an Olympic champion.  She and Stuart Trout were on track to realize their dream until they had an epically bad performance at Skate Detroit.  Now they seem to be finished.  Stuart has enrolled in college and Olivia is giving high school a try.  But life without skating isn't all that she through it would be.  Jonah Choi has recently moved to town and he has aspirations of becoming a speed skating champion.  As Olivia watches him train, she realizes that she is missing skating and wonders if she made the right decision.  Is it too late to get her skating dreams back on track?