Our Middle Grade book spotlight this week is focused on books that have some amazing Colorful Covers!!! Let’s be real here for a minute because we all judge and choose a book on the front cover (most of the time) even though we are told not to do so, but that can honestly lead us to read some books that we would not have picked up otherwise. Since we are choosing these books based on their front covers, then we have an amazing selection that are all completely different from realistic to humor, fantasy, horror and even some award winners! These books and more can be found by searching the catalog using the search tag #youthcolorfulcovers as well as on Libby and Hoopla. Check back next week for a new Middle Grade book spotlight and if you have any book suggestions, please let us know!!
Fish In a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt--Sixth-grader Ally Nickerson has managed to keep her inability to read a secret from her teachers and classmates at seven different schools in seven years. But keeping her secret takes a big toll on Ally's reputation, requiring her to constantly create disruptions in the classroom to distract her teachers from her debilitating dyslexia. It is not until a new teacher, Mr. Daniels, realizes that the bright but disruptive Ally is unable to read that Ally is offered a chance to finally realize her potential. Slowly, her confidence grows as she begins to learn to read with Mr. Daniel's help, and new possibilities open in her life.
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole In the Sky by Kwame Mbalia--Reading his dead best friend's journal allows seventh-grader Tristan Strong to see folk heroes John Henry and Brer Rabbit. Then, a character from the Anansi story steals the journal, and in his effort to retrieve it, Tristan accidentally rips open a chasm into Alke, where African American folk characters are gods. Tristan learns that the people of Alke are suffering partly due to Tristan's actions, and in order to get back home and save his friends, Tristan, John Henry, and Brer Rabbit must seek out the god Anansi the Weaver to fix the chasm.
I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day--Twelve-year-old Edie knows her mother is a Native American adopted by white parents, but she knows nothing about her Native heritage. One day Edie discovers a box of letters and photographs that raise questions her mother can't or won't answer about the Native American woman who might be Edie's namesake, and Edie begins to question her own identity.
Slider by Pete Hautman--After David accidentally puts $2,000 on his mom's credit card, he begins training as a competitive eater in order to win the money back. And as he trains, he has to keep an eye on his special needs kid brother; and his friends, Cyn and HeyMan are becoming more than friends.
Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani--Priyanka Das, an Indian girl living in America, has always wondered why her mother abandoned her home in India years ago, taking Priyanka with her, and still refuses to tell Pri anything about India or her father. One day, Pri finds one of her mother's pashminas in a forgotten suitcase, and, putting it on, finds herself transported to a place that very much resembles India--however, it may be another world altogether, and there is danger.
The Key to Extraordinary by Natalie Lloyd--Twelve-year-old Emma Casey lives by a haunted graveyard where she gives tours, helps her brother and Granny Blue with the family bakery, and waits for her destiny dream to come from her ancestors. But when it finally does come, it shows her only a key and she finds that she must solve a ghostly mystery that has haunted her town for generations.