Ghost by Jason Reynolds
This author has been a favorite of mine for a while now, but most of his stuff I had read was for older readers. This series is the answer. It is about tough topics: broken families, domestic violence, and financial needs...Ghost has the chance to turn his emotions around through the partaking in a track team, if only he can stay out of trouble!Refugee by Alan Gratz
This book blew me away when I first read it. Three stories, three time periods, three children who are fighting to survive and escape countries where they are in danger. It was gripping and emotional and expertly written. Alan Gratz is a favorite author among my students for his historical fiction and this book continues that title.
Restart by Gordon Korman
I am a strong believer in every middle school reader tackling a Gordon Korman book. He has a variety of genres and subjects to select. He is a master at his craft without his books being overdone. Kids love him! Chase has fallen off his roof and doesn't remember anything, which makes him an interesting narrator to follow. The other narrators do remember his "before the fall" antics of bullying and meanness. They are not all ready to trust and welcome this new kind and friendly Chase, especially his two best friends who are wondering what he does truly remember?Hazardous Tales collection by Nathan Hale
Kids like nonfiction, just like they like fiction - it just has to be GOOD! These tales from Nathan Hale are good! This writer uses the fun idea that he shares a name with a famous spy and uses the spy, Nathan Hale, as a narrator to tell other tales from history as a way to avoid being hanged for his crimes. Full of wonderful details and some humor, these books are graphic novel in format and a favorite of many readers.
He has a new book coming out in December about Wesley Powell, a one-armed geologist, credited with the first government backed exploration of the Grand Canyon area. Like all of his books, I am hoping this one continues with same humor and a bit of gross that the other books have contained!Scar Island by Dan Gemeinhart
Through a series of events a group of juiville delintents find themselves unsupervised on a dark and scary island which is the detention center they have been sent to to serve their time. Do they band together to survive, turn on one another, or reach out for help? All of this while the narrator still doesn't seem to admit what he did to get him sent to this place. Part mystery and part action adventure, Scar Island is a definite page turner! 