A Single Shard - Linda Sue Park. (B) In this Newbery Medal­ When a storm hits their rural town, rivers overflow, the roads are ENTERING 6th GRADE winning book set in 12th century Korea, Tree-ear, a 13-year-old flooded, and Rain goes missing. Rose's father shouldn't have let Seletl One "A fl Book and One "Bfl Book orphan, lives under a bridge in Ch'ulp'o, a potters' village famed Rain out. Now Rose has to find her dog, even if it means leaving for delicate celadon ware. He has become fascinated with the her routines and safe places to search. Hearts will break and Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements. (A) When fifteen-year-old potter's craft; he wants nothing more than to watch master potter spirits will soar for this powerful story, brilliantly told from Rose's Bobby wakes up and finds himself invisible, he and his parents and Min at work, and he dreams of making a pot of his own someday. point of view When Min takes Tree-ear on as his helper, Tree-ear is elated - his new blind friend Alicia try to find out what caused his condition Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson. (B) Blistering winds, Bitter and how to reverse it. until he finds obstacles in his path; the backbreaking labor of digging and hauling clay, Min's irascible temper, and his own cold. And the hope of a new future. In this compelling sequel to Bystander by James Preller. (A) Eric is the new kid in seventh ignorance. But Tree-ear is determined to prove himself- even if Chains, a National Book Award Finalist and winner of the Scott grade. Griffin wants to be his friend. When you're new in town, it's it means taking a long, solitary journey on foot to present Min's O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, acclaimed author Laurie Halse hard to know who to hang out with-and who to avoid. Griffin seems work in the hope of a royal commission ... Even if it means Anderson shifts perspective from Isabel to Curzon and brings to cool, confident, and popular. But something isn't right about Griffin. arriving at the royal court with nothing to show but a single the page the rale of what it takes for runaway slaves to forge their He's a liar, a bully, a thief. Eric wants to break away, do the right celadon shard. own paths in a world of obstacles - and in the midst of the thing. But in one shocking moment, he goes from being a bystander American Revolution.The Patriot Army was shaped and ...to the bully's next victim. strengthened by the desperate circumstances of the Valley Forge winter. This is where Curzon the boy becomes Curzon the young Smile by Raina Telgemeier. (A) Raina just wants to be a normal ENTERING 7th GRADE man. In addition to the hardships of soldiering, he lives with the sixth grader. But one night after Girl Scouts she trips and falls, Seletl One "A flBook and One "B fl Book fear of discovery, for he is an escaped slave passing for free. And severely injuring her two front teeth. What follows is a long and then there is Isabel, who is also at Valley Forge - against her frustrating journey with on-again, off-again braces, surgery, Among the Hidden (Shadow People series) by Margaret will, she and Curzon have to sort out the tangled threads of their embarrassing headgear, and even a retainer with fake teeth Haddix. (A) In a future where the Population Police enforce the friendship while figuring out what stands between the two of them attached.And on top of all that, there's still more to deal with: a law limiting a family to only two children, Luke has lived all his and true freedom. major earthquake, boy confusion, and friends who turn out to be not twelve years in isolation and fear on his family's farm, until Lyddie by Katherine Patterson. (B) so friendly. another "third" convinces him that the government is wrong. A story of an orphan girl, separated from her siblings, and her struggle to earn enough The River by Gary Paulsen. (A) "We want you to do it again." Lunch Money by Andrew Clements. (A) Sixth-grader Greg money to reunite them, along with her struggle for better working These words, spoken to Brian Robeson, will change his life.Two Kenton has always had a talent for making money. His latest conditions in the Lowell, Massachusetts mills. years earlier, Brian was stranded alone in the wilderness for 54 days scheme, creating and selling miniature comic books, looks to be a The Fighting Ground by Avi. (B) with nothing but a small hatchet.Yet he survived.Now the success. However, problems arise when his classmate and Thirteen-year-old Jonathan government wants him to go back into the wilderness so that longtime nemesis, Maura, competes with him by making her own goes off to fight in the Revolutionary War and discovers the real astronauts and the military can learn the survival techniques that mini-stories. war is being fought within himself. kept Brian alive. Soon the project backfires, though, leaving Brian Soldier's Heart by Gary Paulsen. (B) In June 1861, when the with a wounded partner and a long river to navigate. His only hope is The Crossover by Kwame Alexander. (A) "With a bolt of lightning on my kicks ... The court is SIZZLING. My sweat is Civil War began, Charley Goddard enlisted in the First Minnesota to build a raft and try to transport the injured man a hundred miles Volunteers. He was 15. He didn't know what a "shooting war" downstream to a trading post - if the map he has is accurate. DRIZZLING.Stop all that quivering, Cuz tonight I'm delivering," announces dread-locked, 12-year old Josh Bell. He and his twin meant or what he was fighting for. But he didn't want to miss out Lily's Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff. (B) When Lily meets Albert, brother Jordan are awesome on the court. But Josh has more on a great adventure. a refugee from Hungary, during the summer of 1944, they begin a than basketball in his blood, he's got mad beats, too, that tell his special friendship. However, Lily and Albert have both told lies, and family's story in verse, in this fast and furious middle grade novel Lily has told a lie that may cost Albert his life. of family and brotherhood from Kwame Alexander. Josh and ENTERING 8th GRADE fl fl Letters From Rifka by Karen Hesse. (B) In letters to her cousin, a Jordan must come to grips with growing up on and off the court to Seletl One "A Book and One "B Book young Jewish girl chronicles her family's flight from Russia in 1919 realize breaking the rules comes at a terrible price, as their story's and her own experiences when she must be left in Belgium for a heart-stopping climax proves a game-changer for the entire A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park (A) Based on a true while when the others emigrate to America. family. story, this is the compelling and inspiring account of Nya and Salva, Rain, Reign by Ann M. Martin. (A) Rose Howard is obsessed two young Sudanese people caught in the midst of war, drought Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos by R.L. LaFevers. (B) and famine. Theodosia Throckmorton has her hands full at the Museum of with homonyms. She's thrilled that her own name is a homonym, Legends and Antiquities in London. Her father may be head curator, and she purposely gave her dog Rain a name with two Heat by Mike Lupica. (A) When someone wonders how a but it is Theo-and only Theo-who is able to see all the black homonyms (Reign, Rein), which, according to Rose's rules of twelve-year-old boy could possibly throw with as much power as magic and ancient curses that still cling to the artifacts in the homonyms, is very special. Not everyone understands Rose's Michael Arroyo throws. Michael's secret world is blown wide open, obsessions, museum. Theo uses Egyptian magic to remove the curses and her rules, and the other things that make her different and he discovers that family can come from the most unexpected protect her father. - not her teachers, not other kids, and not her single father. sources. Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mulally Hunt. (A) "Everybody is smart only ever known Saigon: the thrills of its markets, the joy of its in different ways.But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a traditions, and the warmth of her friends close by. But now the tree, it will leave its life believing it is stupid." Ally has been smart Vietnam War has reached her home. Ha and her family are enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a forced to flee as Saigon falls, and they board a ship headed new school, she is able to hide her inability to read by creating toward hope - toward America. This moving story of one girl's clever yet disruptive distractions. She is afraid to ask for help; year of change, dreams, grief, and healing received four starred after all, how can you cure dumb? However, her newest teacher reviews, including one from Kirkus which proclaimed it Mr.Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble "enlightening, poignant, and unexpectedly funny." An author's maker.With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and note explains how and why Thanhha Lai translated her personal that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of.As her confidence experiences into Ha's story.This paperback edition also includes grows, Ally feels free to be herself and the world startsopening up an interview with the author, an activity you can do with your with possibilities.