Mrs. Malecha Reads!

 by John Schu Genre:  Realistic Fiction, Novel in Verse Jake was happy until he started middle school.  Everyone seems to have found their own group of people and he feels left out, alone and worthless.  He is constantly teased so Jake feels the only way he can survive is to try and take up less space.  So he stops eating and exercises constantly to try to make himself as small as possible.  The voice in his head becomes his only friend. His parents know there is something wrong, but they have their own worries.  He used to enjoy spending time with his Grandma, but she seems to be changing too.  Is there anything that Jake can do to drown out the loud voice in his head that tells him not to trust                                                      anyone else?

 by Sarah Sax Genre:  Realistic Fiction, Sports, Graphic Novel The Brinkley Martian baseball team is hoping to have a winning season, but they lost most of their players last year.  Alexandra is hoping that this will play in her favor as she has to convince the new coach that she can play just as well as the boys.  When Al gets a spot on the team, not all of the boys are happy and when she gets interviewed by the local tv show, things get worse.  But Al is determined to learn from her mistakes and help her team move forward together.

 by Kelly Yang Genre:  Realistic Fiction Lina Gao is so excited when she finally gets her first phone.  Now she can be on social media all of the time!  But when she starts to see what has been going on online, she starts to doubt how she feels about herself and worries all the time about how others are feeling about her.  Meanwhile, her mom has turned to social media to boost her small business so she's on the phone all the time.  Lina realizes that she is spending more and more time in the online world and needs help to get out of it.  Will she be able to stand up for herself and tell her friends that enough is enough?

 by Katherine Applegate Genre:  Animal Story Ivan is a silverback gorilla who has spent most of his life in captivity.  He has a good life with his wife and friends at the wildlife sanctuary.  Ivan has just learned that he is going to be a dad and is wondering how that will change his calm and easy existence.  He thinks that being a dad might be kind of fun, and when the big day arrives he is ready, until he learns that there will be twins!  Ivan is about to begin the biggest adventure of his lifetime.

 by Kwame Mbalia Genre:  Fantasy Tristan Strong feels like he is having a hard time living up to his name.  He lost his last boxing match and he couldn't save his friend when their bus crashed.  Tristan's parents think that the best thing for him to do is to spend a month on his grandparent's farm in Alabama.  But when he arrives, he finds that this farm is anything but ordinary.  Somehow Tristan ends up in the middle of a battle that has worn down the defenses of John Henry and Brer Rabbit.  Apparently, Tristan is going to be involved in saving a world that he didn't even know existed!

 by Leslie Connor Genre:  Realistic Fiction Perry T. Cook has had an unusual life.  He was born and raised at the Blue River Correctional Facility, even though he has never committed a crime.  He attends public school, but spends the rest of his time with his mom who is serving time for a manslaughter charge.  Perry doesn't think is life is out of the ordinary, but not everyone in the town thinks that a child should be living behind bars.  The new district attorney has decided to take Perry's story public, so now he's being forced to leave his mom and all of his friends and live with a foster family.  Perry decides to look into more of the details surrounding his mom's conviction.  If they can't live together inside, maybe he can find away to get her paroled so that they can live together on the outside.

 by Saadia Faruqi and Shazleen Khan Genre:  Realistic Fiction, Graphic Novel Zara and Seeshan can barely stand to be in the same room as each and now they have to go on a family trip.  Their parents are tired of the constant fighting so their punishment is to have their phones taken away. Now they have to spend a week together figuring out how to get along!  Zara stumbles across a sick turtle and at first Zeeshan teases her about her love for animals and constant need to help them, but eventually, he decides that helping the turtle out might be a cool project.  When the twins become focused on something other than themselves, they are surprised to learn that hanging out together isn't all that bad!