TOP 10
Here is a list of my 10 favorite books for this school year!
01
Out Of My Mind
What if you were the smartest person in your school and NO ONE knew? What you had a million things to say and couldn't say them? What if almost everyone around you thought you were capable of NOTHING. That's Melody's life. She is SUPER smart, but can't speak. She knows more than anyone, but everyone around her thinks she just takes up space. Melody has cerebral palsey and can't speak, walk, or use her hands very well. Out Of My Mind is a story about how much Melody desperately wants to speak, make friends, and show what she knows. She wants to be known for something other than her disability. Out Of My Mind is AMAZING! It talked about challenges people with disabilities face that I hadn't even thought of and made me better understand just how much they can positively contribute, lead, and enrich the lives of those around them. So many kids have come to me saying this is a fantastic book and is one of their favorites. Read this book. I know you will love it!
​
​
02
Greenglass House
If you like mysteries, READ THIS BOOK! If you like surprises, READ THIS BOOK! If you like stories within stories and somehow they are all woven together, READ. THIS. BOOK!!! This book has a surprise, clue, and twist around every corner. Several mysteries have to be solved, several people have a secret past, and it all takes place in the most wonderful stained glass house you could imagine. Seriously, I wish I lived in that house and I wish I knew these people in real life. Like all mysteries, you will try to figure it out along with the main characters and probably try to even beat them to the punch and figure it out yourself, but (and don't take this the wrong way) you will be wrong. Very wrong. The twists are too crazy, the surprises are too far-fetched to be thought of, and stories are all told in such a stop-and-go way that there is no way you will figure this out. And there is no way I will tell you any more than that. I can't. There are so many unexpected things that if I were to tell you I would surely bump into one of them. You have to become the dectective and read it for yourself .
​
03
Wish Tree
This is such a wonderful book. The author does a great job of mixing quiet and powerful at the same time. It's not noisy, there's not a lot of action, and the characters don't go through any huge, dramatic change, but they begin to. And that's where the power of Wish Tree come in. You will come to love the characters and will root for them as they try to change their neighborhood. They don't have superhero powers or action speed, but you still want them to win, because what they are fighting for is equally as important as anything Spiderman or Batman fought for. They are fighting for hope. While there is no enormous change, there is a wish that somewhere after the reader turns the last page the characters' lives will begin to turn for the better. In short, there's HOPE. There is hope for the human characters and hope for the non-human characters (a tree is telling the story, after all). It's a short read, it's a quiet read, and it's a read that will make you smile when you're finished. Go read Wish Tree. Maybe after you're finished you will go create your own neighborhood Wish Tree.
​
04
Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library
This book. is. fun!!! If you like solving puzzles, board games, and libraries then this book is for you. It's about a billionaire game maker, Mr. Lemoncello, who challenges twelve kids to a race - be the first one to break out of his library (And this library is COOL! Think bookshelves that are moving mazes, robots that help you find your book, holograms EVERYWHERE, and a ceiling that changes pictures every few minutes). The prize? The winning kid gets to star in every Lemoncello marketing campaign, billboards, commercials, magazine ads, game boxes. They'll be rich and famous. The twelve kids battle it out to win by complete puzzles and racing after clues. If you replaced the candy with board games, this book would be a lot like
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. It's a can't miss read. You'll find yourself racing along with the twelve kids trying to beat the clock and their competitors. This is one book you won't be able to put down. May the best game player win!
​
05
Space Case
If you like a good mystery then this book is for you. Space Case is set in the future where a group of scientists and their kids live on the moon to conduct their research. Everything is going ok. Boring, but ok. Until...there's a murder. Everyone thinks it was an accident, but Dash knows better. Soon he's hunting down clues and putting together pieces. This book is fantastic. You'll be running along Moon Base Alpha with Dash trying to solve the mystery. Whatch out though, there's a twist at the end that you will NOT see coming. This book is fun, tech-loving, and will make you feel like Sherlock Holmes. It definitely belongs on your MUST READ list.
​
​
06
The Wednesday Wars
Every once in a while I read a book and think, "Now this would be a good movie." This is one of those times. Its about a kid named Holling Hoodhood in the 1960's. The Vietnam War is raging, his home life is in tatters, his best friends have moved away, and now he has to spend every Wednesday with Mrs. Baker, his English teacher, who he's pretty sure HATES him. Seventh grade doesn't look like it's shaping up to be all that great. Enter Mrs. Baker. She's strict, she's fierce, and you don't want to mess with her. She also becomes Holling's biggest ally and champion. It's a feel-good book that will leave you smiling, laughing, and feeling hopeful. One of those hopeful feelings might even be wishing Stephen Spielberg decides to pick it up and turn it into a blockbuster movie.
​
07
Resistance
Every once in a while I read a book and have to wait a while before I start another one, because I can't get the first book out of my mind. Resistance is just such a book. It follows Chaya, an undercover Jewish resistance fighter during World War II. She moves from one harrowing and dangerous mission to the next, hoping to give her Jewish people a fighting chance in the midst of the Holocaust. She is brave, completely fearless, resourceful, and is about to embark on the mission of her life. This book is fiction, but is based on the true event of the Warsaw ghetto uprising. It will make you hope, want for fight for what's right, and give you an in depth look at the Jewish heroes who hid and fought in plain sight during one of the darkest times in our history.
​
08
Refugee
Refugee is a book that is bound to become a classic. It will be read and reread in classrooms, at home, and everywhere else for years to come. It is about three kids in three different times running with their families from their homes to escape violence and persecution. As their stories, journies, and adventures unfold you will be shocked at what these kids face and the decisions they have to make just to be safe. One reviewer said "Some novels are engaging and some novels are important. Refugee is both" (Ruta Sepetys). This book is meant to have the reader "walk a mile in someone else's shoes." This author wants you to experience and understand what it would be like to lose everything and have to start over with nothing. Then he wants you to remember that although the characters are pretend the events are real. The hardship is real. The despair is real. And the struggle to never give up is real. This is a powerful book. It is meant to be read and meant to have you think and feel for these characters, and then think and feel for the real people you meet in your life who need a helping hand.
​
09
100 Cupboards
If you're looking for suspense and mystery, check out this thriller. It's about a boy, Henry, who goes to stay with his aunt, uncle, and cousins. His new room is in a boring, run-down attic. It's a pretty average, run-of-the-mill room until Henry finds a cuboard, and then another cupboard, and another, and another. Pretty soon he finds 100 cupboards in his attic bedroom. It isn't long until he finds that each cupboard opens to a different world, some of these worlds are good, some are not. It's all fun and games until his cousing, Henrietta, gets lost in the cupboard worlds and Henry has to go find her. If you like the Percy Jackson series, you are going to love 100 Cupboards. Pick this book up and get lost in the different worlds Henry encounters.
​
10
Nowhere Boy
What would you do if you were lost in Belgium, a foreign country. You had nothing to eat, nowhere to sleep, and knew no one. This is the problem that Ahmed faces. He's lost both of this parents and his sisters, is completely alone, and has no idea where to go from here. The only thing he can think to do is hide in a stranger's basement until he can figure out a plan. Everything goes ok, well, as ok as it can get, until he meets the son of the family who owns the house. Max hates Belgium and he hates feeling like the eternal screw up. When he meets Ahmed he finally feels like he can do something important. As the two boys begin their adventure and work to figure out how to help Ahmed they development the most important friendship either boy will ever have.
​
​
​
​
​
​