Far From Fair, by Elana K. Arnold.
Odette Zyskowski has a list: Things That Aren't Fair. At the top of the
list is her parents' decision to take the family on the road in an ugly
RV they've nicknamed the Coach. There's nothing fair about leaving
California and living in the cramped Coach with her parents and
exasperating younger brother, sharing one stupid cell phone among the
four of them. And there's definitely nothing fair about what they find
when they reach Grandma Sissy's house, hundreds of miles later. Most
days it seems as if everything in Odette's life is far from fair. Is
there a way for her to make things right?
With warmth and
sensitivity Elana K. Arnold makes the difficult topics of terminal
illness and the right to die accessible to young readers and able to be
discussed.
The Inn Between, by Marina Cohen.
Eleven-year-old Quinn has had some bad experiences
lately. She was caught cheating in school, and then one day, her little
sister Emma disappeared while walking home from school. She never
returned.
When Quinn's best friend Kara has to move away, she goes
on one last trip with Kara and her family. They stop over at the first
hotel they see, a Victorian inn that instantly gives Quinn the creeps,
and she begins to notice strange things happening around them. When
Kara's parents and then brother disappear without a trace, the girls are
stranded in a hotel full of strange guests, hallways that twist back in
on themselves, and a particularly nasty surprise lurking beneath the
floorboards. Will the girls be able to solve the mystery of what
happened to Kara's family before it's too late?
Mutt's Promise, by Julie Salamon. Illustrated by Jill Weber.
Luna is a farm puppy who loves to dance, and has only known a happy,
serene life surrounded by her mother, Mutt, and her siblings, and cared
for by Gilberto, the son of farm workers. But now Gilberto and his
parents have moved on, and Mr. Thomas the farmer doesn't feel he can
take care of a whole family of dogs. He finds new homes for the puppies,
not realizing that the man who took Luna and her brother does not have
their best interests at heart. Luna and Chief, hungry and scared, are
trapped in the smelly barn of a puppy mill—until they take matters into
their own paws and find a way to escape. But can Luna and Chief find
their way home?
With a lovable cast of animal characters and
endearing illustrations, this charming story is a perfect read-aloud for
fans of classic children's novels like
Gentle Ben,
A Cricket in Times Square, and
Shiloh.
The Way I Used to Be, by Amber Smith.
Eden was always good at being good. Starting high school didn't change
who she was. But the night her brother's best friend rapes her, Eden's
world capsizes.
What was once simple, is now complex. What Eden
once loved—who she once loved—she now hates. What she thought she knew
to be true, is now lies. Nothing makes sense anymore, and she knows
she's supposed to tell someone what happened but she can't. So she
buries it instead. And she buries the way she used to be.
Told
in four parts—freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior year—this
provocative debut reveals the deep cuts of trauma. But it also
demonstrates one young woman's strength as she navigates the
disappointment and unbearable pains of adolescence, of first love and
first heartbreak, of friendships broken and rebuilt, and while learning
to embrace a power of survival she never knew she had hidden within her
heart.
Wink Poppy Midnight, by April Genevieve Tucholke.
Every story needs a hero. Every story needs a villain. Every story needs a secret.
Wink
is the odd, mysterious neighbor girl, wild red hair and freckles. Poppy
is the blond bully and the beautiful, manipulative high school queen
bee. Midnight is the sweet, uncertain boy caught between them. Wink.
Poppy. Midnight. Two girls. One boy. Three voices that burst onto the
page in short, sharp, bewitching chapters, and spiral swiftly and
inexorably toward something terrible or tricky or tremendous.
What really happened? Someone knows. Someone is lying.
For fans of Holly Black,
We Were Liars, and
The Virgin Suicides, this mysterious tale full of intrigue, dread, beauty, and a whiff of something strange will leave you utterly entranced.
(All descriptions from OverDrive.)
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