Brothers at Bat: The True Story of an Amazing All-Brother Baseball Team
By Audrey Vernick Illustrated by Steven Salerno Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Pages: 40 Lexile: AD780L Age Range:4 – 8 Years ABOUT The Acerra family had sixteen children, including twelve ball-playing boys. It was the 1930s, and many families had lots of kids. But only one had enough to field a baseball team . . . with three on the bench! The Acerras were the longest-playing all-brother team in baseball history. They loved the game, but more important, they cared for and supported each other and stayed together as a team. Nothing...
read moreHouse Arrest
By K.A. Holt Publisher: Chronicle Books LLC Pages: 304 Lexile: 610L Age Range: 10 – 14 Years ABOUT Timothy is a good kid who did a bad thing. Now he’s under house arrest for a whole year. He has to check in weekly with a probation officer and a therapist, keep a journal, and stay out of trouble. But when he must take drastic measures to help his struggling family, staying out of trouble proves more difficult than Timothy ever thought it would be. Touching, funny, and always original, House Arrest is a novel in verse about a good...
read moreWhoosh!: Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions
By Chris Barton Illustrated by Don Tate Publisher: Charlesbridge Pages: 32 Lexile: 820L Age Range: 7 – 10 Years ABOUT A cool idea with a big splash! You know the Super Soaker. It’s one of top twenty toys of all time. And it was invented entirely by accident. Trying to create a new cooling system for refrigerators and air conditioners, impressive inventor Lonnie Johnson instead created the mechanics for the iconic toy. A love for rockets, robots, inventions, and a mind for creativity began early in Lonnie Johnson’s life. Growing up in a...
read moreTiger Boy
By Mitali Perkins Illustrated by Jamie Hogan Publisher: Charlesbridge Pages: 144 Lexile: 770L Age Range: 7 – 10 Years ABOUT “One of the new tiger cubs has escaped from the reserve!” When a tiger cub escapes from a nature reserve near Neel’s island village, the rangers and villagers hurry to find her before the cub’s anxious mother follows suit and endangers them all. Mr. Gupta, a rich newcomer to the island, is also searching—he wants to sell the cub’s body parts on the black market. Neel and his sister, Rupa, resolve to find the cub...
read moreNot in the Script: An If Only novel
By Amy Finnegan Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Pages: 392 Age Range: 12 – 17 Years ABOUT Enjoy Not in the Script and the other standalone titles in Bloomsbury’s contemporary If Only romance line centered around an impossible problem: you always want what you can’t have! Millions of people witnessed Emma Taylor’s first kiss-a kiss that needed twelve takes and four camera angles to get right. After spending years performing on cue, Emma can’t help but wonder if any part of her life is real anymore . . . particularly her...
read moreThe Ellie McDoodle Diaries: New Kid in School
By Ruth Barshaw Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Pages: 192 Age Range: 8 – 12 Years ABOUT Moving to a new house? Bad. Being the new kid? Worse. Ellie’s family is moving to a new town, and Ellie is sure she won’t fit in at school. The other kids play “new kid bingo” behind her back, and even the teachers can’t seem to remember her name. But when her new classmates start complaining about long lunch lines (and bad food), Ellie jumps at the chance to lead a protest. And tackling the school cafeteria just might be the...
read moreThe Looney Experiment
By Luke Reynolds Publisher: Blink Pages: 208 Age Range: 11 – 14 Years ABOUT Atticus Hobart couldn’t feel lower. He’s in love with a girl who doesn’t know he exists, he is the class bully’s personal punching bag, and to top it all off, his dad has just left the family. Into this drama steps Mr. Looney, a 77-year-old substitute English teacher with uncanny insight and a most unconventional approach to teaching. But Atticus soon discovers there’s more to Mr. Looney’s methods than he’d first thought. And as Atticus begins to unlock the...
read moreThe Great Good Summer
By Liz Garton Scanlon Publisher: Beach Lane Books Pages: 240 Lexile: 870L Age Range: 8 – 12 Years ABOUT Ivy and Paul hatch a secret plan to find Ivy’s missing mom and say good-bye to the space shuttle in this heartfelt and “engaging debut novel” (School Library Journal, starred review) reminiscent of Each Little Bird that Sings and Because of Winn-Dixie. Ivy Green’s mama has gone off with a charismatic preacher called Hallelujah Dave to The Great Good Bible Church of Panhandle Florida. At least that’s where Ivy and her dad think Mama...
read moreA Nearer Moon
By Melanie Crowder Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers Pages: 160 Lexile: 960L Age Range: 8 – 12 Years ABOUT In a small river village where the water is cursed, a girl’s bravery could mean the difference between life and death in this magical story of “perseverance and hope” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) from the author of Parched and Audacity. Along a lively river, in a village raised on stilts, lives a girl named Luna. All her life she has heard tales of the time before the dam appeared, when sprites danced in the currents...
read moreUnidentified Suburban Object
By Mike Jung Publisher: Scholastic, Inc. Pages: 272 Lexile: 830L Age Range: 8 – 12 Years ABOUT The next person who compares Chloe Cho with famous violinist Abigail Yang is going to HEAR it. Chloe has just about had it with people not knowing the difference between someone who’s Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. She’s had it with people thinking that everything she does well — getting good grades, winning first chair in the orchestra, et CETera — are because she’s ASIAN. Of course, her own parents don’t...
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