Mrs. Malecha Reads!

 by Laurel Snyder Genre:  Realistic Fiction The school year is over, but Leah feels anything but excited.  It has been a miserable year, and this summer looks to be the same.  Leah and her parents have been lost for the last year...and there are no signs that things will get better.  Until Leah meets the mysterious Jasper who has just moved into the neighborhood.  Leah is excited about making a new friend and having someone to hangout with who doesn't look at her as sad and broken because of what happened last summer.  However, Jasper has some secrets of her own that Leah is going to have to decide if she can keep.  Is this a friendship that can save both of them?

 by Linda Sue Park Genre:  Historical Fiction Hanna and her father have finally decided to settle in the town of Laforge.  They have been traveling east from California, looking for a place to open a dress goods store.  Hanna is hoping that the tiny town of Laforge will be more accepting of her than other places she has lived.  Hanna is half-Chinese and she has learned from experience that many white people will want nothing to do with her.  But she and her father are determined to build the life that her mother would have wanted for her which means being willing to risk hatred and prejudice over and over again.  Is Hanna strong enough to survive life out on the prairie?

by J.L. Esplin Genre:  Dystopian  96 miles.  That is all that separates John and Stew from survival.  When the power goes out and the world ceases to exist the way it has always been, John knows that it is going to be up to him to get his brother to Brighton Ranch.  Their father always taught them to be prepared for every possibility, but he didn't know that he was going to be out of town when the world changed or that people in the town would rob his family of their hoard of survival good. The brothers have very little food and water, and no gas.  As they set out, they run into Cleverly and Will who are even worse off than they are.  The four kids decide to band together and hope they can walk the 96 miles they need in order to survive.

 by Lynda Mullaly Hunt Genre:  Realistic Fiction Life on Cape Cod is pretty good for Delsie, except for the fact that she misses the mom she never really knew.  Her summer friend, Brandy, has returned to the Cape for the summer, but she seems to have changed and only wants to hang out with Tressa.  Then Delsie meets Ronan, a boy who has just moved to the Cape to live with his dad and seems like he is just as lonely as she is.  It will be a summer to remember...new friends, new secrets, and maybe learning how to feel okay with the life she's got.