Audacity
By Melanie Crowder Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group Pages: 400 Age Range: 12 – 17 Years ABOUT A 2015 National Jewish Book Award finalist The inspiring story of Clara Lemlich, whose fight for equal rights led to the largest strike by women in American history A gorgeously told novel in verse written with intimacy and power, Audacity is inspired by the real-life story of Clara Lemlich, a spirited young woman who emigrated from Russia to New York at the turn of the twentieth century and fought tenaciously for equal rights. Bucking the norms of both her traditional Jewish family and...
Read MoreI’m With Cupid (Switched at First Kiss)
By Anna Staniszewski Publisher: Sourcebooks Pages: 240 Lexile: 690L Age Range: 10 – 14 Years ABOUT Marcus is a Cupid. Lena is a Reaper. Opposites attract in the exciting new Switched At First Kiss series by the acclaimed author of The Dirt Diary. Dared to kiss the adorkable Marcus Torelli at a party, Lena thinks it’s the perfect opportunity to cross First Kiss off her list of “Things to Accomplish Before I Turn Fourteen.” It’s only when she gets sent on an assignment the next day she realizes something went horribly wrong. That ZING she felt wasn’t the...
Read MoreBe a Changemaker: How to Start Something That Matters
By Laurie Ann Thompson Publisher: Simon Pulse/Beyond Words Pages: 240 Lexile: 1130L Age Range: 12 – 17 Years ABOUT Empower yourself in today’s highly connected, socially conscious world as you learn how to wield your passions, digital tools, and the principles of social entrepreneurship to affect real change in your schools, communities, and beyond. At age eleven, Jessica Markowitz learned that girls in Rwanda are often not allowed to attend school, and Richards Rwanda took shape. During his sophomore year of high school, Zach Steinfeld put his love of baking to good use and started...
Read MoreFooter Davis Probably Is Crazy
By Susan Vaught Illustrated by Jennifer Black Reinhardt Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books Pages: 240 Lexile: 800L Age Range: 10 – 14 Years ABOUT Winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best mystery. Footer Davis is on the case when two kids go missing after a fire in this humorously honest novel that is full of Southern style. “Bless your heart” is a saying in the South that sounds nice but really isn’t. It means, “You’re beyond help.” That’s what folks say about fifth grader Footer Davis’s mom, who “ain’t right” because of her bipolar disorder. She just shot a snake...
Read MoreEmmanuel’s Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah
By Laurie Thompson Illustrated by Sean Qualls Publisher: Random House Children’s Books Pages: 40 Lexile: AD770L Age Range: 4 – 8 Years ABOUT Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah’s inspiring true story—which was turned into a film, Emmanuel’s Gift, narrated by Oprah Winfrey—is nothing short of remarkable. Born in Ghana, West Africa, with one deformed leg, he was dismissed by most people—but not by his mother, who taught him to reach for his dreams. As a boy, Emmanuel hopped to school more than two miles each way, learned to play soccer, left home at age thirteen to provide for his...
Read MoreAnother Kind of Hurricane
By Tamara Ellis Smith Publisher: Random House Children’s Books Pages: 336 Lexile: 570L Age Range: 9 – 12 Years ABOUT In this stunning debut novel, two very different characters—a black boy who loses his home in Hurricane Katrina and a white boy in Vermont who loses his best friend in a tragic accident—come together to find healing. A hurricane, a tragic death, two boys, one marble. How they intertwine is at the heart of this beautiful, poignant book. When ten-year-old Zavion loses his home in Hurricane Katrina, he and his father are forced to flee to Baton Rouge. And when Henry,...
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