Our middle grade book spotlight this week is all about Possibilities of Discovery!! We are exploring books this week that are all about reading or learning about new things in both fiction and nonfiction. Summer is a perfect opportunity to read about something you normally would not explore as you may actually have time to read and digest what new information or themes you have explored. Science Fiction allows you to read about things, places, or experiences we may actually have in the future while nonfiction helps us learn about times and events from the past as well as science, the arts, and more. These books and more can be found by searching the catalog using the search tag #youthscifi and #amazingyouthnonfiction as well as on Libby and Hoopla.
The 2022 Summer Reading Program Oceans of Possibilities is taking place from June 4th-August 10th with a new theme and badge activities every week. Make sure to watch the Middle Grade Book Spotlight book talk video for this week as it counts towards your badge activities for the week; if you read one of the titles featured or on the tagged list, that counts as another activity as well!!! Earn the weekly themed badges to get your virtual tickets which can be turned into opportunities to win prizes! For more information--such as to sign up or to sign in to your account in order to track your books and activities--visit our Summer Reading page and click “LOG IN NOW”.
Check back next week for a new middle grade book spotlight and if you have any book suggestions, please let us know!!
Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez--At the quirky Miami’s Culeco Academy of the Arts, thirteen-year-old Sal Vidón has an inexplicable ability to reach through time and space to retrieve items, including his dead mother, from other dimensions. School reporter and student body president Gabi Real is on to him, but isn’t bothered by his unusual abilities. Until, that is, her baby brother gets very ill. She enlists Sal’s help, but in order to save him, Gabi and Sal might just break the universe.
Leia: Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray--When her parents begin acting strangely, sixteen-year-old Princess Leia sets out to uncover their secrets, putting herself in the path of the watchful Empire.
The Lost Planet by Rachel Searles--Chase Garrety wakes up on the planet Trucon behind a fence he never should have been able to cross. He has a blaster wound on the back of his head, and his memory is completely gone, except for his name and a message he knows he has to deliver to someone: "guide the star."
D-Day: The World War II Invasion that Changed History by Deborah Hopkinson--Provides a comprehensive narrative describing the people, events, and planning that went into D-Day--the World War II invasion that brought America to France. Examines not only the major players, but also ancillary individuals who made significant contributions to the war effort. Ties together official documents, personal narratives, and archival photographs to offer a more complex view of the events of 1944 and how they impacted the rest of the war.
Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson--This adaptation of the original expertly details John Wilkes Booth's loyalty to the South and his determination to rid the Union of Lincoln's presence any way he could. He originally planned to kidnap Lincoln and hold him hostage. Booth's co-conspirators attempted and failed to assassinate Secretary of State William H. Seward as Lincoln lay dying, but they expertly helped Booth evade arrest for 12 days.
History Smashers: Plagues and Pandemics by Kate Messner--Relates facts and information about assorted historic and recent plagues and pandemics aimed at clearing up preconceived notions and offering further insight, such as how the diseases spread, how governments often made the problem worse, and the challenges of treating the diseases. Includes sidebars, comics, illustrations, a glossary, and further resources.