Middle grade fiction with social issues

One of the things that middle graders find compelling is an exploration of social issues.  As a group, they are exploring the edges of childhood and adulthood and trying to find their own paths, they are connected strongly to their families but are finding their own identities and sometimes these clash with their parents' views.  It's an interesting time.  The books that I've been reading this week explore some of those clashes.

The first one is called "No Fixed Address" by Susin Nielsen.  It opens with an interview at a police station.  Felix is 12 and lives with his mother.  It turns out they've been homeless for several months and despite Felix and his mother's optimism that things are going to work out, they really aren't working out.  But, that's really the end of the story.  The beginning works it's way through how they ended up there.  When Felix was small, they lived with his grandmother.  She died when he was about 5 and they inherited her house, but it was something and when they sold it, they were able to buy a nice new condo.  Except the condo was built on sinking land, and when the repairs came to $40,000, they had to move into an apartment and when Felix's mom lost her job, they got kicked out of there too. So they moved in with her new boyfriend and when he left to go to an ashram in India, they took over his van.  Astrid, Felix's mom, manages to get him into a good school where his best friend goes and they begin a hand to mouth existence, bathing in sinks at the convenience store or at the community center, and sometimes shoplifting.  Felix gets an idea that if wins a game show that he loves he'll be able to win enough money to solve all their problems.  It's a lovely story with lots of plot twists and really interesting characters.  There are some really interesting threads of social commentary as well-refugees, helping others, homelessness, sexual identity, beginning romance, mental illness, and hopefulness.  I can't wait to put this one in my library.

The second one is called "Where the Watermelons Grow" by Cindy Baldwin.  I kept singing that old song "Down by the Bay" when ever I saw the cover and I thought there might be a connection.  I was wrong about that.  The watermelons in this story are grown on the farm where Della and her family live.  It's a really hot and dry summer in eastern NC and the crops are struggling, but Della's family is struggling too.  Della's mom has schizophrenia and is sliding into a darker and darker place.  Della has seen this happen before and tries her hardest to try to help her mom by doing chores, helping her dad on the farm, watching her very mischievous little sister, Mylie but none of it is enough.  Della doesn't want anyone to know about her mom and her struggles, which is a really big theme throughout the book.  Della and her dad keep telling everyone she's ok but no one is surprised when things really fall off the rails and everyone wants to know why they didn't ask for help before.  I also really liked how Della seemed to think that there was something she had done wrong or something she could have done to fix this.  I think a lot of kids feel that way about family issues and it's good to see someone else going though this.  I thought this was a terrific story-I loved all the similes in the story and the language felt as sweet as the honey that was drizzled through the story.