Our middle grade book spotlight this week is all about Tales That Woke!! A Woke Book is defined as a book that seeks to challenge social norms, give voice to the voiceless, provide information about groups that have been disenfranchised, disrupt the status quo, and share perspectives from underrepresented or oppressed groups. These books feature characters that have not been traditionally featured in books but need to be because everyone needs to see themselves in a book while also providing an opportunity to readers to gain insights into the lives of others! This week we have some fiction and nonfiction, graphic novels, realistic, and historical! These books and more can be found by searching the catalog using the search tag #youthwoke as well as on Libby and Hoopla.
The 2021 Summer Reading Program takes place from June 5th-August 11th 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!!
Everything Sad Is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri--As Khosrou (whom everyone calls Daniel) stands in front of his Oklahoma middle school classmates, he tries to tell them his story from the jasmine-scented city of Isfahan to the terrifying journey out of Iran steps ahead of the secret police to the refugee camps of Italy.
Getting Away With Murder by Chris Crowe--Presents a true account of the murder of fourteen-year-old Emmett Till, in Mississippi, in 1955.
Clean Getaway by Nic Stone--William Lamar, known as "Scoob," goes on a road trip through the South with his grandmother in her recreational vehicle, visiting some of the major sites in the Civil Rights movement and learning about how people like him have been treated.
Strike Zone by Mike Lupica--Twelve-year-old pitcher Nick Garcia dreams of winning the Little League MVP and throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium. But he also dreams of a world in which his sister can be cured of lupus and his undocumented parents don't have to live in fear of the government. Then his worst fears come to pass and they affect his fastball. Fortunately, an unlikely hero steps in just in time.
When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson--When Omar has the opportunity to get an education while living in a refugee camp, he must decide what is more important: education or taking care of his nonverbal brother Hassan.
Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte--Mary Lambert has felt safe and accepted on her beloved island of Martha's Vineyard, comforted by the fact that her great-great-grandfather was the first deaf islander and paved the way for many to learn sign language. However, when Mary's brother dies and her family shatters amidst land disputes with the English settlers and Wampanoag people, it paves the way for an opportunistic young scientist to come and study the island's prevalent deafness, and, without moral scruples, he begins using Mary as a "live specimen" for increasingly cruel experiments.