New realistic middle grade fiction
Our spring break started today and for the first time in several years, we're NOT traveling. I'm envious of myself in years past as the pictures keep coming up in my Facebook feed. There are so many things I feel fortunate for! Good books are among the things at the top of my list! Here are two new ones to look for.
The first one is called The Only Black Girls in Town by Brandy Colbert. It's about Alberta who lives in Ewing, California, a small town on the coast near San Luis Obisbo. Alberta loves to surf, has a best friend named Laramie and two loving dads. The bed and breakfast next door to them has just sold and luckily enough, the people who bought it have a daughter just her age. Alberta has visions of a new best friend. What's great about this one is that although the plot sounds familiar, it has a lot of pieces that keep it really fresh. Like, the fact that Alberta has two dads and a surrogate mom, who she knows, but isn't a big part of her life, or how Alberta has been the one and only black girl in her grade and what that's like. Luckily, the new girl, Edie, is also black but has lived a really different kind of life in NY, which she misses desperately. Alberta worries about her friendship with Edie AND her friendship with Laramie in a completely middle school kind of way. Alberta and Edie end up trying to solve a mystery that revolves around some journals that were left in the attic. This is a compelling, wonderful story about people you'd want to be friends with (at least I did-I wanted to be friends with all of them!) It's also a really great opportunity talk about some of the racism that some people face every day. It's probably best suited for upper elementary and middle school students and I hope you get a chance to read it soon!
The first one is called The Only Black Girls in Town by Brandy Colbert. It's about Alberta who lives in Ewing, California, a small town on the coast near San Luis Obisbo. Alberta loves to surf, has a best friend named Laramie and two loving dads. The bed and breakfast next door to them has just sold and luckily enough, the people who bought it have a daughter just her age. Alberta has visions of a new best friend. What's great about this one is that although the plot sounds familiar, it has a lot of pieces that keep it really fresh. Like, the fact that Alberta has two dads and a surrogate mom, who she knows, but isn't a big part of her life, or how Alberta has been the one and only black girl in her grade and what that's like. Luckily, the new girl, Edie, is also black but has lived a really different kind of life in NY, which she misses desperately. Alberta worries about her friendship with Edie AND her friendship with Laramie in a completely middle school kind of way. Alberta and Edie end up trying to solve a mystery that revolves around some journals that were left in the attic. This is a compelling, wonderful story about people you'd want to be friends with (at least I did-I wanted to be friends with all of them!) It's also a really great opportunity talk about some of the racism that some people face every day. It's probably best suited for upper elementary and middle school students and I hope you get a chance to read it soon!
Here's what Colby Sharp had to say about this book.
The second one is a book that's set in Australia, which took me a while to figure out, but helped me hear the voice of the main character more clearly once I did. It's called A Song Only I Can Hear by Barry Jonsberg. It's about Rob, a thirteen year old who is writing a book. Rob's voice is sarcastic, funny, and critical in the best possible way. Rob's family includes a mom and a dad and a very cranky grandpa. Rob also has a best friend named Andrew along with a boatload of insecurities. But through a series of unlikely events (including falling madly in love with a beautiful new girl), Rob decides to start taking chances and they all turn out remarkably well (except possibly an attempt to get on the front page of the paper, which ends with bolt cutters and the police, but ok). This is a really great story with big themes of facing up to your fears (even the grownups) and taking risks, including the biggest risk of all-being true to yourself. I thought this one was terrific. It would be excellent in any upper elementary or middle school library (high schoolers might like it too if they didn't think they were too grown to read a story about a 13 year old).
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