ZM Summer Reading for NCCS Middle School Students 2018: Realistic Fiction

While trying to cheer up her depressed mother, twelve-year-old Sophie gets roped into doing a triathlon as part of a school project on risk-taking, and discovers she can see people's thoughts in bubbles above their heads. Grade 4-7

Twelve-year-old Mischa "Ish" Love's longtime dream has been to someday live on Mars, but when she collapses on the first day of seventh grade, Ish receives a diagnosis which threatens her future plans. Grade 5-8

A Pakistani-American Muslim girl struggles to stay true to her family's vibrant culture while simultaneously blending in at school after tragedy strikes her community in this sweet and moving middle grade novel from the award-winning author of It's Ramadan, Curious George and Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns .

Amina has never been comfortable in the spotlight. She is happy just hanging out with her best friend, Soojin. Except now that she's in middle school everything feels different. Soojin is suddenly hanging out with Emily, one of the "cool" girls in the class, and even talking about changing her name to something more "American." Does Amina need to start changing too? Or hiding who she is to fit in? While Amina grapples with these questions, she is devastated when her local mosque is vandalized.

Amina's Voice brings to life the joys and challenges of a young Pakistani American and highlights the many ways in which one girl's voice can help bring a diverse community together to love and support each other. Grade 3-6 (Lexile: 800L)

Twelve-year-old Jessie spends the summer with her family on Quicksand Pond, a New England vacation spot, where she develops a star-crossed friendship with independent Terri, and meets a reclusive old lady whose cconnection to a murder that took place decades ago still informs her present--and affects Terri in ways that Jessie gradually comes to understand the more time they spend together. Grade 5-8

Twelve-year-old Fella is swept away on a wild road trip by her older sister Zany to fulfill their late mother's dying wish. Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 800L)

Orphaned eleven-year-old Joe lives in a hospital due to his autoimmune disease, interacting only with his sister, an American boy with the same illness, and medical staff while dreaming of being a superhero. Grade 4-7

eeling most alive when he's playing the blues with his grandfather, Clayton is devastated when his grandfather dies and his mother forbids him from playing music, losses that compel him to run away and join bluesmen on the road. Grade 5-8

Eleven-year-old Fern helps to take care of her impoverished family by foraging for food in the forest, but when a fracking company rolls into. town, she realizes that her peaceful woods and her family's livelihood could be threatened. Grade 3-6

It s 1965, Los Angeles. All twelve-year-old Sophie wants to do is write her book, star in the community play, and hang out with her friend Jennifer. But she s the new black kid in a nearly all-white neighborhood; her beloved sister, Lily, is going away to college soon; and her parents marriage is rocky. There s also her family s new, disapproving housekeeper to deal with. When riots erupt in nearby Watts and a friend is unfairly arrested, Sophie learns that life and her own place in it is even more complicated than she d once thought. Leavened with gentle humor, this story is perfect for fans of Rita Williams-Garcia. Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 680L)

Shy ten-year-old Cadence grapples with an overprotective father, a mother who's skipped town to pursue stardom, and what to do when a recording of her amazing voice leaks before she's ready to share it with the world. Grade 4-6

Having shared so many foster homes that they are unable to trust that the family that has adopted them will last, Flora and her brother, Julian, are assisted by their new mother on a journey to resolve their past so that they can build a future.

Lives of four misfits are intertwined when a bully's prank lands shy Virgil at the bottom of a well and Valencia, Kaori, and Gen band together in an epic quest to find and rescue him. Grade 3-7

If it were up to Mattie Markham, there would be a law that said your family wasn't allowed to move in the middle of the school year. After all, sixth grade is hard enough without wondering if you'll be able to make new friends or worrying that the kids in Pennsylvania won't like your North Carolina accent. But when Mattie meets her next-door neighbor and classmate, she begins to think maybe she was silly to fear being the 'new girl' ... [until she realizes that] at school Agnes is known as the weird girl who no one likes. Grade 4-6 (Lexile: 840)

Hoping to win a cash prize in a pizza eating contest after racking up a tab on his mother's credit card, David must juggle his competitive eating training with the responsibility of looking after his autistic younger brother. Grade 5-8 (Lexile:660)

Fifth grader Robbie is determined to stay out of trouble so that she does not worry her grandfather whose memory is failing and to make sure that she and her grandfather stay together as he is the only family she has left. Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 900)

Emily Murphy is about to enter middle school. She's sort of excited--though not nearly as much as her best friend Hazel, who is ready for everything to be new. Emily wishes she and Hazel could just continue on as they always have, being the biggest fans ever of the Unicorn Chronicles, making up dance moves, and getting their regular order at The Slice. But things are changing. At home, Emily and her mom are learning to move on after her parents' divorce. Hardest of all, her beloved sister Mina has been in a treatment facility to deal with her anorexia, Grade 5-8

Believing his long-absent father is missing and leaving clues behind through geocaching, Zig, thirteen, relies on his love of electronics, a garage sale GPS unit, and his best friend, Gianna, to search for answers.Grade 5-7 (Lexile: 620)

Recently estranged from her best friend and weeks away from shifting from only child to big sister, seventh grader Beatrix Lee consoles herself by writing haiku in invisible ink and hiding the poems, but one day she finds a reply--is it the librarian with all the answers, the editor of the school paper who admits to admiring her poetry, an old friend feeling remorse, or the boy obsessed with visiting the local labyrinth? Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 640)

Twelve-year-old cancer survivor Norah struggles to fit in at middle school after two years of treatment, but she finds her voice with the help of new friend Griffin, who shares her love of mythology.Grade 4-7 (Lexile: 620)

Life at Flint Hill Elementary School may seem normal, but seven friends find themselves on a path to crack the code for an epic life. Whether they're chasing their dreams on stage, searching for an elusive monster fish, or running a makeshift business out of a tree house, can these heroes find a way to work together to change their community? Grade 5-7

Sixth-grader Alba is strengthening her left leg after a final surgery to correct her congenital clubfoot. Her friendship with intellectual classmate Levi is threatened when he scoffs at Alba's plans to run in an upcoming cross-country race, and she responds by scorning his theory that the school librarian has discovered a wormhole in her office. Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 620)

Even though twelve-year-old Pixie prefers to blend into the background, she might have to step closer to the center of attention when her friend runs for class president and when her mom leaves town indefinitely, leaving her parent's party planning business in need of a British-accented punk mermaid. Grade 4-6 (Lexile: 690)

Maddie is a normal twelve-year-old, but when a CT scan reveals she has a brain tumor, it will take all her imagination, courage, and support from her friends and family to meet this new challenge. Grade 4-6 (Lexile: 560)

The end of sixth grade is coming with a lot more change than Macy McMillan bargained for. Not only is her mother's impending marriage saddling their cozy family of two with a new stepdad and two new stepsisters, but it also means Macy must leave her old home behind. Things seem to get worse when Macy's mom forces her to help Iris, their aging next-door neighbor, pack up her home for her own upcoming move into an assisted-living facility. While Iris struggles with her diagnosis of early dementia, Macy, who is deaf and uses sign language, struggles to communicate with her. As the relationship between this unlikely pair blossoms, will Iris be able to help Macy accept the changes in her life? This touching novel in verse makes clever use of space on each page, not only visually acknowledging Macy's deafness, but inviting all readers to understand and process language in multiple ways. Green's story confronts life's challenges with depth and realism, creating a narrative that is sparse yet impactful, with characters that are bursting with life. Grade 3-6 (Lexile: 870) In Verse

A newbie to the track team, Patina "Patty" Jones must learn to rely on her family and teammates as she tries to outrun her personal demons. Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 710)

Seeing the world very differently because of her Asperger syndrome, young Lauren struggles to navigate the challenges of school life and masters tricks to stay calm, understand others' feelings, and let her personality shine. Grade 3-6 (Lexile: 650)

The seated child. With a single powerful image, Deborah Ellis draws our attention to nine children and the situations they find themselves in, often through no fault of their own. In each story, a child makes a decision and takes action, be that a tiny gesture or a life-altering choice.

Jafar is a child laborer in a chair factory and longs to go to school. Sue sits on a swing as she and her brother wait to have a supervised visit with their father at the children's aid society. Gretchen considers the lives of concentration camp victims during a school tour of Auschwitz. Mike survives seventy-two days of solitary as a young offender. Barry squirms on a food court chair as his parents tell him that they are separating. Macie sits on a too-small time-out chair while her mother receives visitors for tea. Noosala crouches in a fetid, crowded apartment in Uzbekistan, waiting for an unscrupulous refugee smuggler to decide her fate.

These children find the courage to face their situations in ways large and small, in this eloquent collection from a master storyteller. Grade 4-6 (720L)

As he grieves his best friend Benny's death, Mason and his friend Calvin, who are targeted by the neighborhood bullies, create an underground haven for themselves, but when Calvin goes missing Mason finds himself in trouble. Grade 5-7 (Lexile: 310)

A lightning strike made Lucy, twelve, a math genius but, after years of homeschooling, her grandmother enrolls her in middle school and she learns that life is more than numbers. Grade 4-6 (Lexile: 530)

From multiple perspectives, tells of a time capsule project and the middle schoolers who contribute, including future journalist Nora Tucker and newcomer Elidee Jones, whose brother is in the local prison. Grade 4-6

To defuse a situation between his best friend and a new student, Nolan eats a live stink bug, gaining popularity and a class project idea but, perhaps, losing a friend. Grade 4-6

welve-year-old Natalia Rose Baleine Gallagher dreams of seeing whales on the beach near her new home, and is consumed with the prospect that her mother who abandoned her as a child loves and misses her, and wants Nat to find her. Grade 5-8

his book is for anyone who has ever felt 'less than' or on the outside. That is to say, this is a book for everyone." --Elana K. Arnold, author of What Girls Are Made OfClaire Ladd knows that this summer is going to be special. She and her two best friends, Ronan and Brianna, are turning twelve. She is leaving camp behind and gets to do what she wants all day. She feels everything starting to change. But things don't always change for the better.With Brianna's cousin Eden visiting for the summer, Claire feels like a third wheel. Even though she is only a year older, Eden seems so much more sophisticated and glamorous . . . and when she's around, she takes up everyone's attention, including Brianna's.But that doesn't explain why things have felt awkward with Brianna ever since she moved to a fancy new house, or why Ronan, who lives in the trailer next to Claire's, has started acting moody anytime anyone mentions his dad.Claire has always been happy with her life just as it is, but as the summer wears on and the issues with her friends start to grow, she can't help but wonder: Would everything be better if she could just be someone else? Grade 4-7

Recent immigrants from China and desperate for work and money, ten-year-old Mia Tang's parents take a job managing a rundown motel in Southern California, even though the owner, Mr. Yao is a nasty skinflint who exploits them; while her mother (who was an engineer in China) does the cleaning, Mia works the front desk and tries to cope with demanding customers and other recent immigrants--not to mention being only one of two Chinese in her fifth grade class, the other being Mr. Yao's son, Jason. Grade 4-6 (Lexile: 640)

Misfit Tally is forced to room with queen bee Ava on the seventh grade's extended field trip to Washington, D.C., and discovers several surprising things about her roommate, including the possibility of an eating disorder. Grade 4-7 (Lexile: 640)

A girl with Asperger's joins Cassie's softball team but not everyone on the team welcomes her, creating a rift between Cassie and her teammates. Grade 5-8 (780L)

To help his dog through cancer treatment, Conor gives up hockey and finds himself considering who he is without the sport that has defined him, and connecting more with his family and best friend. Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 760)

Born on Water Island in the Virgin Islands during a hurricane, which is considered bad luck, twelve-year-old Caroline falls in love with another girl--and together they set out in a hurricane to find Caroline's missing mother. Grade 4-7

It is 1983 and Vanessa Martin, a thirteen-year-old African American girl in Newark's public housing, dreams of following in the footsteps of the first black Miss America, Vanessa Williams; but the odds are against her until a new teacher at school organizes a beauty pageant and encourages Vanessa to enter. Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 730)

A heartwarming story about a girl who's afraid to follow her dreams, and the family who help make them happen.

India Wimple can spell. Brilliantly. Every Friday night, she and her family watch the Stupendously Spectacular Spelling Bee on TV. When the Wimples suggest she enter the next Bee, India feels nothing but trepidation. She's sure she's not good enough Â- but with the support of her family, India finds the courage to sign up.

There are plenty of obstacles to reaching the finals, like Summer Millicent Ernestine Beauregard-Champion, a spoiled rich girl who isn't afraid to step on anyone who gets in her way of winning.

The whole thing seems rather calamitous to India. But with hope, hard work, and a little bit of heart, something splendiferous might be on the horizon... Grade 3-6

Thirteen-year-old Aven was born without arms and has trouble fitting in at her new school after her parents take a job at a dying western theme park, but she makes a new friend in a fellow disabled boy who helps her solve a mystery at the park. Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 700)

While trying to cheer up her depressed mother, twelve-year-old Sophie gets roped into doing a triathlon as part of a school project on risk-taking, and discovers she can see people's thoughts in bubbles above their heads. Grade 4-7

Julia is very short for her age, but by the end of the summer run of The Wizard of Oz, she'll realize how big she is inside, where it counts. She hasn't ever thought of herself as a performer, but when the wonderful director of Oz casts her as a Munchkin, she begins to see herself in a new way. As Julia becomes friendly with the poised and wise Olive—one of the adults with dwarfism who've joined the production's motley crew of Munchkins—and with her deeply artistic neighbor, Mrs. Chang, Julia's own sense of self as an artist grows. Soon, she doesn't want to fade into the background—and it's a good thing, because her director has more big plans for Julia! Bubbling over with humor and tenderness, this is an irresistible story of self-discovery and of the role models who forever change us. Grade 3-7 (Lexile 810L)

Save the restaurant. Save the town. Get the girl. Make Abuela proud. Can thirteen-year-old Arturo Zamora do it all or is he in for a BIG, EPIC FAIL?

For Arturo, summertime in Miami means playing basketball until dark, sipping mango smoothies, and keeping cool under banyan trees. And maybe a few shifts as junior lunchtime dishwasher at Abuela's restaurant. Maybe. But this summer also includes Carmen, a cute poetry enthusiast who moves into Arturo's apartment complex and turns his stomach into a deep fryer. He almost doesn't notice the smarmy land developer who rolls into town and threatens to change it. Arturo refuses to let his family and community go down without a fight, and as he schemes with Carmen, Arturo discovers the power of poetry and protest through untold family stories and the work of Jos#65533; Mart#65533;.

Funny and poignant, The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora is the vibrant story of a family, a striking portrait of a town, and one boy's quest to save both, perfect for fans of Rita Williams-Garcia. Grade 5-8

Told that they will have to move out of their Harlem brownstone just after Christmas, the five Vanderbeeker children, ages four to twelve, decide to change their reclusive landlord's mind. Grade 3-5 (Lexile: 820)

A coming-of-age tale of community and unlikely friendship relates the experiences of a 12-year-old musical prodigy who notices incremental differences between her happy-go-lucky twin brother and herself during a summer marked by respective goals, a serious accident and the Minnesota State Fair. Grade 4-6

Maverick Falconer is just starting middle school and he wishes he were a hero like his father because maybe then he could deal with his mother's drinking and series of abusive boyfriends, not to mention the kids who bully him in middle school (pretty much the same ones who bullied him in elementary school)--but as the year passes he begins to realize that other kids have problems too, and maybe if they can all survive sixth-grade things will get better, Grade 4-6 (Lexile: 760)

hirteen-year-old Nikki Demere is an orphan and a kleptomaniac, making her the perfect girl to portray the Trevors' daughter in witness protection, but she soon learns that the biggest threat to her new family's security comes from her own past. Grade 4-7 (Lexile: 750)

Baseball player and superfan Quinnen must struggle to deal with her older sister's death in a story that unfolds between two summers. Grade 4-6 (Lexile: 570L)

At the family cabin by the lake where his grandfather died two years ago, eleven-year-old Cooper Cameron spends the summer trying to rid himself of the rituals that allow him to cope with his grief and fear. Grade 4-6 (Lexile: 450)

When the Phillipine government takes over Culion, an island for people with leprosy, Ami is put in an orphanage on another island, where she finds a friend willing to help her return before her mother dies. Grade 4-7 (Lexile:770)

When her mother is wrongly imprisoned for a crime committed by her boyfriend, 12-year-old Ruby and her pet pig are sent to Ruby's estranged Aunt Eleanor's home on a peach orchard where she endeavors to heal family wounds and clear her mother's name. Grade 5-7 (Lexile: 730)

When seventh-grader Mango Delight Fuller accidentally breaks her BFF Brooklyn's new cell phone, her life falls apart. She loses her friends and her spot on the track team, and even costs her father his job as a chef. But Brooklyn's planned revenge--sneakily signing up Mango to audition for the school musical--backfires when Mango not only wins the lead role, but becomes a YouTube sensation and attracts the attention of the school's queen bee, Hailey Jo. Hailey Jo is from a VERY wealthy family, and expects everyone to do her bidding. Soon Mango finds herself forced to make tough choices about the kind of friend she wants to have . . . and, just as important, the kind of friend she wants to be. Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 820)

Clover and Danny's friendship is tested when Danny falls ill and must make numerous visits to the doctor, while Clover uses the scientific method to catalog Danny's symptoms and prove her usefulness toward his recovery. Grade 3-6

The seated child. With a single powerful image, Deborah Ellis draws our attention to nine children and the situations they find themselves in, often through no fault of their own. In each story, a child makes a decision and takes action, be that a tiny gesture or a life-altering choice.

Jafar is a child laborer in a chair factory and longs to go to school. Sue sits on a swing as she and her brother wait to have a supervised visit with their father at the children's aid society. Gretchen considers the lives of concentration camp victims during a school tour of Auschwitz. Mike survives seventy-two days of solitary as a young offender. Barry squirms on a food court chair as his parents tell him that they are separating. Macie sits on a too-small time-out chair while her mother receives visitors for tea. Noosala crouches in a fetid, crowded apartment in Uzbekistan, waiting for an unscrupulous refugee smuggler to decide her fate.

These children find the courage to face their situations in ways large and small, in this eloquent collection from a master storyteller. Grade 4-6 (720L)

As he grieves his best friend Benny's death, Mason and his friend Calvin, who are targeted by the neighborhood bullies, create an underground haven for themselves, but when Calvin goes missing Mason finds himself in trouble. Grade 5-7 (Lexile: 310)

Lotte, twelve, and Ben, eleven, are highly-skilled competitors at online Scrabble and that connection helps both as they face family issues and the turmoil of middle school. Grade 4-6 (Lexile: 640)

One of the happiest memories twelve-year-old Sophia Wallace has is of her tenth birthday. Her mother made her a cake that year--and not a cake from a boxed-mix, but from scratch. She remembers the way the frosting tasted, the way the pink sugar roses dissolved on her tongue.

This memory, and a scant few others like it, is all Sophia has of her mother, so she keeps them close. She keeps them secret, too. Because as paltry as these memories are, she shouldn't have them at all.

The truth is, Sophia Wallace's mother died when she was six years old. But that isn't how she remembers it. Not always.

Sophia has never told anyone about her unusual memories--snapshots of a past that never happened. But everything changes when Sophia's seventh grade English class gets an assignment to research solar eclipses. She becomes convinced that the upcoming solar eclipse will grant her the opportunity to make her alternate life come true, to enter a world where her mother never died.

With the help of two misfit boys, she must figure out a way to bring her mother back to her--before the opportunity is lost forever. Grade 5-8

Briana, devastated by the sudden death of her dad, imagines she has a new heart growing deep inside her belly that gives advice in her father's voice, providing her with the support she needs to navigate through her grief. Grade 5-8

On the first day of eighth grade Amelia finds a letter that her older sister Clara wrote to herself before she drown, and it contains a list of the things Clara planned to do in her own eighth grade year--so Amelia, with the help of her best friend Taylor, resolves to complete the list, in the hope that it will bring some closure and ease her still raw emotions. Grade 5-8

A dynamic novel in verse and companion to his Newbery Award-winner, The Crossover, illustrated with striking graphic novel panels.

Before Josh and Jordan Bell were streaking up and down the court, their father was learning his own moves. In this prequel to Newbery Medal winner The Crossover, Chuck Bell takes center stage, as readers get a glimpse of his childhood and how he became the jazz music worshiping, basketball star his sons look up to.

A novel in verse with all the impact and rhythm readers have come to expect from Kwame Alexander, Rebound will go back in time to visit the childhood of Chuck "Da Man" Bell during one pivotal summer when young Charlie is sent to stay with his grandparents where he discovers basketball and learns more about his family's past. Grade 6+ (Lexile: 780)

Aspiring to join other lucky finalists who are testing Mr. Lemoncello's fabulous new game, Kyle researches interesting facts about notable Americans only to stumble on a few less-than-encouraging truths about his hero. Grade 3-6 (Lexile: 750)

welve-year-old Della Kelly of Maryville, North Carolina, tries to come to terms with her mother's mental illness while her father struggles to save the farm from a record-breaking drought. Grade 4-6

When the Phillipine government takes over Culion, an island for people with leprosy, Ami is put in an orphanage on another island, where she finds a friend willing to help her return before her mother dies. Grade 4-7 (Lexile:770)

Longing for an escape from her extended Filipino family, Lou plans to build a tiny house on land she inherited from her father, but difficulties quickly arise. Grade 4-6 (Lexile: 660)

Frederick Frederickson has a food-chain theory about life. There are lions, like the school bully. Gazelles, like the bullied kids. There are meerkats, and the fleas that live on the butts of meerkats. Frederick's a flea.

Fifth grade is off to a terrible start when Frederick is sent to a disciplinary camp for troublesome boys. His fellow troop mates--Nosebleed, Specs, The Professor, and little-yet-lethal Ant Bite--are terrifying. But in between trust-building exercises and midnight escape attempts, a tenuous friendship grows between them. Which is lucky, because a Category 5 hurricane is coming and everyone will have to work together--lions and fleas alike--to survive! Grade 4-7 (Lexile: 720)

Fifth grader Robbie is determined to stay out of trouble so that she does not worry her grandfather whose memory is failing and to make sure that she and her grandfather stay together as he is the only family she has left. Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 900)

t's what he takes comfort in when the world around him gets to be too much. And after he faints during a safety assembly, Stanley takes his love of comics up a level by inventing his own imaginary superhero, named John Lockdown, to help him through.
Help is what he needs, because Stanley's entered Trivia Quest--a giant comics-trivia treasure hunt--to prove he can tackle his worries, score VIP passes to Comic Fest, and win back his ex-best friend. Partnered with his fearless new neighbor Liberty, Stanley faces his most epic, overwhelming, challenging day ever. What would John Lockdown do? Stanley's about to find out. Grade 3-6 (Lexile: 600)

Gandhi asks for one member of each family to join the fight for independence from the British, and when ten-year-old Anjali's mother is jailed for doing so, Anjali must step out of her comfort zone to take over her mother's work. Grade 4-7 (Lexile:830)

A 12-year-old boy living on the streets of Chandigarh, India, stumbles across a secret garden full of sculptures and discovers the possibility of another way of life as he bonds with the man who created them. Grade 4-6 (Lexile: 730)

ere is the true story of Ricky Richard Anywar, abducted at age fourteen in 1989 to fight with Joseph Kony's rebel army in Uganda’s decades-long civil war. Ricky is trained, armed, and sent to battle government forces alongside his brutal kidnappers. After witnessing unimaginable horror, he manages to escape.
Here also is the story, set twenty years later, of a fictionalized character named Samuel, representative of the thousands of child soldiers Ricky eventually helped rehabilitate as founder of the internationally acclaimed charity Friends of Orphans. Grade 5-8

Available July 31, 2018A poignant and timely novel about race, class, and second chances.

Ever since T’Shawn’s dad died, his mother has been struggling to keep the family afloat. So when he’s offered a spot on a prestigious diving team at the local private swim club, he knows that joining would only add another bill to the pile.

But T studies hard and never gets into trouble, so he thinks his mom might be willing to bear the cost… until he finds out that his older brother, Lamont, is getting released early from prison.

Luckily, T’Shawn is given a scholarship, and he can put all his frustration into diving practices. But when criminal activity increases in the neighborhood and people begin to suspect Lamont, T’Shawn begins to worry that maybe his brother hasn’t left his criminal past behind after all.

And he struggles to hold on to the hope that they can put the broken pieces of their damaged relationship back together. Grade 4-7

Thirteen-year-old Ghalib wishes his life could go back to normal. He wishes he could still hang out at the market with his friends, root for his favorite soccer team, even go to school. But civil war has destroyed his home.
As violence rages around them, his family makes the difficult choice to flee Syria. Together they start out on a dangerous journey toward Europe. Along the way, they encounter closely guarded borders, hardscrabble refugee camps, and an ocean crossing that they may not survive.
The gripping story of one boy's journey to find refuge pays tribute to struggles millions of Syrians face in today's real-world crisis. Grade 4-8 (Lexile: 610)

After Nadia is separated from her family while fleeing the civil war, she spends the next four days with a mysterious old man who helps her navigate the checkpoints and snipers of the rebel, ISIS, and Syrian armies that are littering Aleppo on her way to meeting her father at the Turkish border. Grade 4-7

Thirteen-year-old Aven was born without arms and has trouble fitting in at her new school after her parents take a job at a dying western theme park, but she makes a new friend in a fellow disabled boy who helps her solve a mystery at the park. Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 700)

Upon her mother's death, Wavie Conley, eleven, must go live with a scheming aunt in the Kentucky town her mother left behind. Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 660)