By now, I think you know I love a book list, and I hope I’m not the only one who does. If I don’t write down the books I have, I forget which ones I have or want to read. As I mentioned last week, I’ve five middle-grade books I’d like to share with you, which I’ll also add to a folder. I’ve a collection of books and audiobooks that’s become disorganised, making it difficult for me to find anything, especially now that I’ve read most of them. The bonus is that I think I will be able to fly through them like the novel-in-verse books.
Goodreads Blurb:
Skye Nickson’s world changed forever when her dad went on the run with her brother, Finn. It’s been four years without Finn’s jokes, four years without her father’s old soul music, and four years of Skye filling in as Rent-a-Finn on his MIA birthdays for their mom. Finn’s birthday is always difficult, but at least Skye has her best friends, Reece and Jax, to lean on, even if Reece has started acting too cool for them.
But this year is different because after Finn’s birthday, they get a call that he’s finally been found. Tall, quiet, and secretive, this Finn is nothing like the brother she grew up with. He keeps taking late-night phone calls and losing his new expensive gifts, and he doesn’t seem to remember any of their inside jokes or secrets.
As Skye tries to make sense of it all through the lens of her old Polaroid camera, she starts to wonder: Could this Finn be someone else entirely? And if everyone else has changed, does it mean that Skye has to change too?
Goodreads Blurb:
To say Alex has had it rough is an understatement. His father’s gone, his mother is struggling with mental health issues, and he’s now living with an aunt and uncle who are less than excited to have him. Almost everyone treats him as though he doesn’t matter at all, like he’s nothing. So when a kid at school actually tells him he’s nothing, Alex snaps, and gets violent. Fortunately, his social worker pulls some strings and gets him a job at a nursing home for the summer rather than being sent to juvie. There, he meets Josey, the 107-year-old Holocaust survivor who stopped bothering to talk years ago, and Maya-Jade, the granddaughter of one of the residents with an overblown sense of importance. Unlike Alex, Maya-Jade believes that people care about what she thinks, and that she can make a difference. And when Alex and Josey form an unlikely bond, with Josey confiding in him, Alex starts to believe he can make a difference—a good difference—in the world. If he can truly feel he matters, Alex may be able to finally rise to the occasion of his own life.
Goodreads Blurb:
Bree can’t wait for her first day at her new middle school, Enith Brigitha, home to the Mighty Manatees–until she’s stuck with the only elective that fits her schedule, the dreaded Swim 101. The thought of swimming makes Bree more than a little queasy, yet she’s forced to dive headfirst into one of her greatest fears. Lucky for her, Etta, an elderly occupant of her apartment building and former swim team captain, is willing to help.
With Etta’s training and a lot of hard work, Bree suddenly finds her swim-crazed community counting on her to turn the school’s failing team around. But that’s easier said than done, especially when their rival, the prestigious Holyoke Prep, has everything they need to leave the Mighty Manatees in their wake.
Can Bree defy the odds and guide her team to a state championship, or have the Manatees swum their last lap–for good?
Goodreads Blurb:
All Amara wants is to visit her father’s family in Harlem. Her wish comes true when her dad decides to bring her along on a business trip. She can’t wait to finally meet her extended family and stay in the brownstone where her dad grew up. Plus, she wants to visit every landmark from the Apollo to Langston Hughes’s home.
But her family, and even the city, is not quite what Amara thought. Her dad doesn’t speak to her grandpa, and the crowded streets can be suffocating as well as inspiring. But as she learns more and more about Harlem—and her father’s history—Amara realizes how, in some ways more than others, she can connect with this other home and family.
Goodreads Blurb:
Sage’s thirteenth birthday was supposed to be about movies and treats, staying up late with her best friend and watching the sunrise together. Instead, it was the day her best friend died. WIthout the person she had to hold her secrets and dream with, Sage is lost. In a counseling group with other girls who have lost someone close to them, she learns that not all losses are the same, and healing isn’t predictable. There is sadness, loneliness, anxiety, guilt, pain, love. And even as Sage grieves, new, good things enter her life — and she just may find a way to know that she can feel it all.
In accessible, engaging verse and prose, this is an important story of a girl’s journey to heal, grow, and forgive herself. To read it is to see how many shades there are in grief, and to know that someone understands
All the Blues in the Sky by Renée Watson could have went in last week’s post, but I didn’t have access to read it, so I waited. A great graphic novel I read last week was Fizzy by Claribel A. Ortega, which explores culture, beauty standards, and grief.
Alex
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