New realistic middle grade fiction

I have been hoping for some fantasy fiction, because frankly, real life is real enough for me!  However, the advanced reader copies I've been getting are realistic fiction, so realistic it is!  Luckily, both these books were awesome and so different from my life, that they were both a great get away.

The first one is called Turtle Boy by M. Evan Wolkenstein.  It's about 12 year old Will who's having a hard time.  First, his dad died when he was four.  Will's dad went into the hospital to a hernia repaired and died.  Part of Will's coping mechanism has been withdrawing, which brings the reader to problem 2, Will doesn't really have any friends.  Well, he has one good friend, Shirah and one friend who annoys him, but is still his friend, Max.  Shirah and Max and Will have been friends since they were small and the rest of the kids at their school do a lot of teasing, which Will perceives as bullying.  Will is also coming up on his Bar Mitzvah and he's super worried about that.  In addition to learning Hebrew, Will is also required to do community service hours.  The rabbi suggests that Will go to the hospital to spend time with a kid named RJ who has a degenerative disease that will eventually kill him.  Will, because of his dad, is fairly traumatized by hospitals, and when his mom says that he might need surgery to correct his jaw, Will isn't sure he will survive any of this.  There is a strong representation of Jewish culture in this story.  There are big themes of finding yourself, taking risks, and doing the right thing, even if it's hard.  There's also a lovely thread of the story about scientific study, endangered animals, land preservation, and standing up for what you believe.  I think this story would also provide excellent opportunities to talk about the difference between teasing and bullying and why both of them might be upsetting as well as strategies for dealing with bullies along with the idea of upstanding versus by standing.  I think this book will find a place in a lot of upper elementary and middle school libraries because Will's voice rang loud and clear.

The second one is a fictional story based on real stories that were big news not so long ago.  It's called Santiago's Road Home by Alexandra Diaz.  Santiago is a 12 year old who has been passed from relative to relative in Mexico.  He has been living with a distant cousin that he called Tia (aunt) and he mainly takes care of her three small children.  When his uncle loses his job, he blames the loss on Santiago and Tia says he needs to go back to live with his grandmother.  She gives him bus fare and sends him on his way.  Except Santiago REALLY doesn't want to go back to live with his grandmother.  She thinks his mom (who died when Santiago was 5) was silly and ridiculous and that Santiago takes after her in the worst possible ways.  To punish him, she would beat him or burn him with cigarettes, so Santiago decides to spend the bus fare on something to eat and then figure things out after that.  He meets a young woman, Maria Dolores and her young daughter, Alegria and together, they decide to go to America, where Maria Dolores has a sister who will take them all in.  They find the least despicable person (coyote) and hires him to take them all to the US but a tragic incident happens (I don't want to tell you EVERYTHING) and they all end up in a detention center, waiting for the US government to figure out what's going to happen next. 

This is a very sympathetic story-Santiago, in spite of all the abuse he's suffered, is kind and optimistic about life.  He works hard and is willing to go above and beyond to help others.  Maria Dolores is also very kind and persistent when it comes to a child that she doesn't know or have any real connection to, other than a few days they spent together in a highly stressful situation.  The rest of the story is as bleak and terrifying as anything I've ever read-parents separated from children, children separated from their parents and their siblings, guards and officials who don't communicate with the kids about the process that they are going through, the trauma of living in an institution, the complicated and drawn out process of applying for asylum, citizenship or just a visa so that you could live in a place without fear.  

This would be an excellent story for building empathy and helping kids (and adults) to understand what would drive people to walk hundreds or thousands of miles, pay people their entire life savings, risk every single thing that they have to come to a new country.  I think this would make an excellent read aloud for upper elementary and middle school, maybe even high school students.