Mrs. Malecha Reads!

 by Maulik Pancholy Genre:  Realistic Fiction/LGBTQ+ Rahul is getting ready to start 7th grade and he is not looking forward to it.  He is feeling very anxious about all of the new things this year will bring, but most especially because of the class bully, Brent.  Rahul's best friend Chelsea and his grandfather, Bhai, are great supporters, but Brent is relentless and is making his life miserable.  Bhai's advice to Rahul is that he pick one thing to be the best at.  But what should that one thing be?

 by K.A. Holt Genre:  Realistic Fiction, Novel in Verse Ben Bellows and 4 others have failed the Florida State Language Arts assessment so they get to spend the summer at school in a tiny room under the stairs practicing for the retake.  None of them want to be there, but none of them are expecting their new teacher, Ms. Jackson to be as awesome as she is.  Everyone in the class has 2 things in common - they love to play the video game Sandbox and they hate reading.  From day one they challenge Ms. J to get them to read...who will win this battle?

 by Watt Key Genre:  Adventure/Science Fiction Adam and his parents are in a car accident one night.  He knows that something came out of the woods and onto the road that caused his dad to swerve the car.  Now his parents are missing and no one seems to know what to do to find them.  When the search is officially called off,  Adam decides to head into the woods alone.  He is convinced that the night of the accident, he may have seem a Sasquatch-like creature and fears that the creature may have taken his parents.  No one will believe him so it will be up to him to discover what creatures are living in the Florida swamp.

 by Alda P. Dobbs Genre:  Historical Fiction 1913 is a dangerous time in twelve year old Petra Luna's life.  Her mother has died and her papa has been taken away by soldiers so it is up to Petra to keep her grandmother and 2 younger siblings alive.  When their village is destroyed, they have no choice but to flee with only the clothes on their backs.  They cross the desert barefoot, determined to get to the US border in hopes that they might reach safety.  The small family faces many challenges along the way, but Petra remembers her promise to her father and will do anything she has to in order to protect her family.

 by Gordon Korman Genre:  Realistic Fiction/Historical Fiction Trevor has 2 favorite things:  playing war-based video games and hearing the stories from his great-grandpa, Jacob,  about his WWII days.  Jacob was part of a group of soldiers who helped liberate a small French village at the end of the war, and they have asked him to return so that they can give me an award.  Trevor, his dad, and great-grandpa go on a trip to Europe to retrace Jacob's journey.  Trevor thinks this will be the experience of a lifetime, but for Jacob, it is going to open up painful memories of a past that he has never fully dealt with.  Trevor is about to learn that there is so much more to war than what is portrayed in the video games he loves to play.

 by Gordon Korman Genre:  Realistic Fiction Chokecherry, CO is a quiet town and teenagers Link, Michael, and Dana are going through middle school without too many issues until one day when someone vandalizes the school by painting a large swastika on the wall.  The students and the community are outraged and the school implements a tolerance curriculum.  But the swastikas keep appearing and no one can figure out who the vandal is.  Link learns some new information about his family which causes him to want to get to the bottom of the mystery even more.  As the students and community fight back against hate, they come up with a project that brings them all together even as they struggle with crimes committed in their town in the past.  Will solving the mystery bring them closer together or farther apart?

 by Rebecca Behrens Genre:  Realistic Fiction, Adventure Joss and Alex have been best friends forever until Alex goes off to summer camp and comes home with a new best friend, Laura, who happens to be the most popular girl in school.  Joss isn't a fan of Laura and doesn't understand why Alex thinks she is so great.  As the summer progresses, Joss and Alex are hardly speaking, but their two families are still renting a cabin together for their annual summer vacation.  When the families start off on a rafting adventure, Joss and Alex get separated from the group and when their inner tube springs a leak, they suddenly find themselves alone in the wilderness. Will this experience bring them closer or farther apart?