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| Amal Unbound by Aisha SaeedWhat it's about: Quiet Pakistani schoolgirl Amal has plans to become a teacher, but those plans are shattered when the crooked village landlord forces her to work off her family's debt as a servant in his luxurious home. Can Amal find a way to beat an unfair system that's designed to keep her down?
Why you might like it: You'll be drawn to Amal's spirit and strength as she holds onto hope and fights for her future. |
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| The Memory of Forgotten Things by Kat ZhangStarring: seventh-grader Sophia, who has a picture-perfect memory of the cake her mom baked for her tenth birthday...despite the fact that her mom died when she was six.
What happens: It turns out that Sophia isn't the only one with impossible memories, and together with new friends, she searches for a way to turn those memories into reality.
You might also like: Christopher Edge's The Many Worlds of Albie Bright, another thought-provoking book that asks: could life be better in an alternate universe? |
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Reformed
by Justin Weinberger
Ian, a sweet but hapless nerd in a school full of bullies, bonds with Devon Crawford, an outspoken boy who sometimes goes too far standing up for his friends, but after one of Devon's pranks goes awry, Ian finds himself shipped off to a bully reform school, where he is confronted by worse threats. A first novel.
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The Lifters
by Dave Eggers
Journey to an underground world where adventure awaits and heroes are made in this middle grade novel from the bestselling, Pulitzer-nominated author of The Monk of Mokha and Her Right Foot .
When Gran and his family move to Carousel, he has no idea that the town is built atop a secret. Little does he suspect, as he walks his sister to school or casually eats a banana, that mysterious forces lurk mere inches beneath his feet, tearing up the earth like mini-hurricanes and causing the town to slowly but surely sink.
When Gran's friend, the difficult-to-impress Catalina Catalan, presses a silver handle into a hillside and opens a doorway to underground, he knows that she is extraordinary and brave, and that he will have no choice but to follow wherever she leads. With luck on their side, and some discarded hockey sticks for good measure, Gran and Catalina might just find a way to lift their town--and the known world--out of danger.
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Snared : Escape to the Above
by Adam Jay Epstein
As trapsmith of the Carrion Tomb, Wily Snare spends all day every day inventing traps to keep plunderers at bay. While bored with his lot, he's proud that no one has ever outwitted his snares--until one day, the unlikeliest group of invaders does just that.An acrobatic thief, a warrior with a phantom arm, and a giant not only steal the tomb's gold--they take Wily, too! His skills will be invaluable for looting other treasure hoards across the kingdom. Yet the crew soon discovers it has an unexpected but crucial role to play in the fight against the Infernal King, a malevolent engineer who seeks to control the kingdom. Spanning a realm filled with dragons and dream spiders, golems and sorcerers, Snared: Escape to the Above is a great fit for middle-grade readers, particularly video game fans.
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The Legend of Greg
by Chris Rylander
A boy discovers his destiny could totally stink in this riotously funny fantasy-adventure
Risk-averse Greg Belmont is content with being ordinary. He's got a friend--that's right, just one--at his fancy prep school, and a pretty cool dad (even if he is obsessed with organic soaps that smell like a mix of salted pork and Icelandic bog). The problem is, Greg isn't ordinary . . . he's actually an honest-to-goodness, fantastical Dwarf!
He discovers the truth the day his dad brings home a gross new tea--one that awakens bizarre abilities in Greg. Then a murderous Bro-Troll kidnaps his dad and Greg is whisked away to the Underground, where Dwarves have lived for centuries right beneath the streets of Chicago.
With the help of some awesome new friends and a talking ax, Greg learns all about the history of the Dwarves, which has been marked with tales of epic failure since the dawn of time. However, the return of the magic they once wielded means big changes are afoot, escalating tensions with the Dwarves' sworn enemy: the Elves.
Brimming with humor and action, Chris Rylander's The Legend of Greg turns dwarf lore on its head, delivering an adventure readers won't be able to resist.
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Flor and Miranda steal the show
by Jennifer Torres
When Flor finds out that Miranda and her band could potentially put her family's petting zoo out of business, she forms a plan to keep Miranda from an important performance that night.
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Focus on: Science Fiction
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| Fuzzy by Tom Angleberger and Paul DellingerFeaturing: Fuzzy, the first robot student at Vanguard Middle School; Max, the free-thinking classmate who becomes Fuzzy's guide; and Vice Principal Barbara, the controlling supercomputer who's out to get them both.
Reviewers say: "a day-after-tomorrow cautionary tale of friendship with a fuzzy, robotic heart" (Kirkus Reviews).
About the author: You might recognize co-author Tom Angleberger's name -- and his smart, offbeat sense of humor -- from the popular Origami Yoda series. |
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| Time Traveling with a Hamster by Ross WelfordStarring: Albert Einstein Hawking Chaudhury, whose 12th birthday gifts include a pet hamster, a letter from his deceased father, and a mission to find his dad's time machine and use it to prevent the accident that led to his dad's death. No pressure, right?
Why you might like it: Packed with uproarious mishaps and big ideas, Time Traveling with a Hamster will make you think while keeping you on the edge of your seat. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books for ages 10-13!
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Michigan City Public Library 100 E. 4th Street Michigan City, Indiana 46360 219-873-3044mclib.org/ |
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