Zora and Me by Victoria Bond

Zora Neale Hurston loves a good story. She is such an imaginative storyteller that she even believes her own stories. Her latest story involves an old reclusive man that shape-shifts into an alligator and steals human souls.  However, when a prideful man named Sonny loses his arm to a mysterious giant alligator named Ghost while trying to capture him and a headless black man is found along the railroad tracks soon after, Zora and her friends set out to solve the murder. What they learn may change the town of Eden forever.

Read-a-likes: The Legend of Buddy Bush by Shelia P. Moses
Lexile: 860

Nothing But the True by Avi

Philip Malloy is an angry ninth grader who cannot tryout for the track team because he is failing his English class.  He blames his English and homeroom teacher, Mrs. Narwin, for his misfortune and begins to develop a plan that, if it works, will get him transferred out of Mrs. Narwin's class. However, once Phillip sets his sinister plan in motion, it quickly gets out of hand. Many will suffer, especially Mrs. Narwin, as lies and half-truths begin to unfold, angry adults and community leaders weigh-in, and the national news gets involved.

Will Phillip ever be transferred of of Mrs. Narwin's class? Will he make the track team? Better, yet, what does his sinister plan involve?

War Horse by Michael Morpurgo

It is 1914 and Joey, a beautiful red horse is secretly sold to the army to fight on the Western Front. Joey is heartbroken to have been taken away from Albert, a farmer's son who loves and takes care of him and whom Joey has come to love as well. Being a war horse will mean that Joey will have to face horrific battles in France, fight bravely, become wounded, and experience periods of famine. What will happen to Joey? Will he ever see Albert again? Will he survive?

Read a-likes: Black Beauty by Anna Sewell and Chancey of the Maury River by Gigi Amateau

Lexile: 1090

Black Beauty by Anne Sewell

Do you love animals? Horses? If so, this is the book for you. Black Beauty is a wonderful classic story about a horse named Black Beauty who is sold over and over again from the moment he is born. Along the way, Black Beauty experiences kindness as well as many cruelties and hardships. He will also meet other horses who he will learn from and love. Read about Black Beauty's life, you will be happy that you did.

Read a-likes: War Horse by Michael Murpurgo and Chancey of the Maury River by Gigi Amateau

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez

Tyler and his family are about to lose their dairy farm in Vermont, their beloved home, because they can no longer keep up with all the work it requires.  Tyler's father has been disabled in a farming accident, his older brother has gone off to college and 11 year-old Tyler is unable to handle the farming work on his own and go to school.  To save the farm, Tyler's parents decide to hire three immigrant men.  They soon learn that one of the three men is raising his three daughters while his wife is away.

The three girls, all named Maria, will be attending Tyler's school next year. Tyler is happy that his family may now save their dairy farm, that is, until his mother tells him not to tell anyone that they have hired a family to work the farm.  It turns out that the three immigrant men are undocumented and Tyler's family could get into trouble for knowingly hiring the three men.  Tyler struggles with the morality of the situation. How could his family break the law?  Why would they ask him to keep such a secret? Is the secret worth keeping if it saves his family farm, his home? What will Tyler do?

Lexile: 890

Wonder by R. J. Palacio

Auggie is a very special boy who is born with a facial deformity that prevents him from attending a mainstream school.  However, this year, his mother decides that it is time for Auggie to join other kids his age as he enters the fifth grade. 

Being the new kid on the block is tough but being the new kid with a facial deformity is even tougher. How will Auggie deal with the stares, silent whispers, bullying and teasing he knows are sure come? Will he ever be able to make any friends?

Read-a-likes: Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper.

Lexile 790

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What Students Are Saying:

"Great book. Amazingly funny and shows friends working together. 5 thumbs up."   Comment by Jack ~ 6th Grade

Smile by Raina Telegemeier

Lexile 410 - Graphic Novel

Trash by Andy Mulligan

Lexile 850

Dark Life by Kat Falls

Lexile 690

Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper

Lexile 700

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Author & Book Extras

Lexile 820

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

What a crazy summer indeed, especially for Delphine, Vonetta and Fern, three African American Brooklyn girls who travel to Oakland, California the summer of 1968 to visit their wayward mother, Cecile, who abandoned them years earlier. In Oakland, the girls must fend for themselves since Cecile is too busy with her poetry to be bothered by the girls' inconvenient visit.  Each morning, Cecile sends the girls off to a center summer camp run by the Black Panthers for breakfast and to get the girls out of her way. 

Throughout their four week stay in Oakland, the three girls learn about the "cause", freedom, revolution, social and civic responsibility, the Black Panther movement, friendship, and loyalty. However, will they ever get the chance to get to know their mother? Does Cecile even love them or what to get to know them?  Will they be safe amidst all the chaos of the 1960s?

Lexile 750