Featured Canadian Authors: Marty Chan, Kenneth Oppel, Kit Pearson, Deborah Ellis, Janet Lunn, David E. Robertson, Gary Paulsen, Iain Lawrence, Susin Nielson, William Bell, Stacey Matson or Gordon Korman. |
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Dragonwatch
by Brandon Mull
Because Dragonwatch, an ancient group of wizards, enchantresses, and dragon slayers, is crumbling, an uprising of dragons threatens to destroy the magical preserves as well as overrun the nonmagical world. Read more of the Dragonwatch series.
Reading Level: 620L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Dragons, fairies, magic, fantasy adventure.
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Aru Shah and the End of Time
by Roshani Chokshi
Twelve-year-old Aru stretches the truth to fit in at her private school, but when she is dared to prove an ancient lamp is cursed, she inadvertently frees an ancient demon. Read more of the Pandava series.
Reading Level: 630L
Pillar: Service
Themes: Fantasy adventure, magic, Ancient Indian Art and Culture.
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The Trials of Morrigan Crow
by Jessica Townsend
A cursed child destined to die on her eleventh birthday is rescued and whisked away to a secret realm called Nevermoor and given the chance to compete for a place in a prestigious organization called the Wundrous Society. Read more of the Nevermoor series.
Reading Level: 790L, SORA audiobook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: problem-solving, quests, adventure, talents.
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Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes
by Jonathan Auxier
Raised to be a thief, blind orphan Peter Nimble, age ten, steals from a mysterious stranger three pairs of magical eyes, that lead him to a hidden island where he must decide to become a hero or resume his life of crime. Read more of the Peter Nimble series.
Reading Level: 790L SORA ebook
Pillar: Service
Themes: Fantasy adventure, clues, mystery, magic, quests, sidekicks.
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The Unwanteds
by Lisa McMann
In a society that purges thirteen-year-olds who are creative, identical twins Aaron and Alex are separated, one to attend University while the other, supposedly Eliminated, finds himself in a wondrous place where youths hone their abilities and learn magic. Read more of the Unwanteds series.
Reading Level: 880L SORA audiobook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Fantasy adventure, world building, twins, mystery, magic, survival.
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Artemis Fowl
by Eoin Colfer
When twelve-year-old evil genius Artemis Fowl tries to restore his family fortune by capturing a fairy and demanding a ransom in gold, the fairies fight back with magic, technology, and a particularly nasty troll. Read more of the Artemis Fowl series.
Reading Level: 600L SORA ebook
Pillar: Service
Themes: Fantasy adventure, magic, kidnapping, farting trolls, fairies, evil masterminds.
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Flora & Ulysses
by Kate DiCamillo
A girl named Flora and a squirrel named Ulysses, whose life was saved by Flora after he was involved in an incident with a vacuum cleaner, team up to use Ulysses' superpowers to conquer villains and protect the weak.
Reading Level: 520L
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Friendships, superheroes, girls, squirrels.
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Fablehaven
by Brandon Mull
When Kendra and Seth go to stay at their grandparents' estate, they discover that it is a sanctuary for magical creatures and that a battle between good and evil is looming.
Read more of the Fablehaven series.
Reading Level: 700L
Pillar: Courage, Service
Themes: action-packed; world-building, suspenseful, caretakers of mythical creatures, family, good and evil, magic.
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The Goose Girl
by Shannon Hale
She can whisper to horses and communicate with birds, but the crown princess Ani has a difficult time finding her place in the royal family and measuring up to her imperial mother. When she is shipped off to a neighboring kingdom as a bride, her scheming entourage mounts a bloody mutiny to replace her with a jealous lady-in-waiting. Barely escaping with her life, Ani disguises herself as a goose girl and wanders on the royal estate. Does she have the pluck to reclaim her rightful place? Read more of the The Books of Bayern.
Reading Level: 870L, SORA e-book
Pillar: Honesty, Courage
Themes: Courage, human/animal communication, betrayal, strong female protagonist, fairy tale retelling.
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The School for Good and Evil
by Soman Chainani
Best friends Sophie (princess wannabe) and Agatha (witchy loner) are headed (via kidnapping) to the School for Good and Evil, but their assumed destinies are reversed: Sophie's dumped into the School for Evil for Uglification and Henchmen Training classes, while Agatha attends Princess Etiquette and Animal Communication at the School for Good, and when a certain prince charming (son of King Arthur) is thrown into the mix, anything can happen! Read more of The school for good and evil series.
Reading Level: 830L, SORA ebook
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: friendship, boarding school, magic, crushes.
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The Dragonet Prophecy
by Tui Sutherland
Determined to end a generations-long war among the seven dragon tribes, a secret movement called the Talons of Peace draws on a prophecy that calls for a great sacrifice, compelling five appointed dragonets to fulfill a painful destiny against their will. Read more of The Wings of Fire series.
Reading Level: 740L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Dragons, friendship, self-reliance, destiny, action adventure.
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Down the Mysterly River
by Bill Willingham
When expert Boy Scout Max "the Wolf" finds himself in an unfamiliar wood, he is joined by three talking animal companions who are just as confused about how they got there, and soon the group is being chased by ruthless hunters and their relentless hounds.
Reading Level: 1040L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Animals, memory, human-animal communication, suspense, friendship, magic.
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The Wishing Spell
by Chris Colfer
Using a mysterious book to travel to a land of wonder and magic, twins Alex and Connor meet a host of classic fairy tale characters and nefarious monsters before discovering that returning back home will be more difficult than anticipated. Read more of the The Land of Stories series.
Reading Level: 760L, SORA audiobook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Fantasy adventure, magic, brothers and sisters, twins, fairy tale characters.
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The Sword of Summer
by Rick Riordan
Living alone on the streets of Boston, Magnus Chase learns he is the son of a Norse god, from an uncle his mother claimed was dangerous.
Read more of the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series.
Reading Level: 630L, SORA audiobook and ebook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Fantasy adventure, Norse mythology, quests, children.
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Only You Can Save Mankind
by Terry Pratchett
The alien spaceship is in his sights. His finger is on the Fire button. Johnny Maxwell is about to set the new high score on the computer game Only You Can Save Mankind. Suddenly, a message appears:We wish to talk. We surrender. But the aliens aren't supposed to surrender—they're supposed to die! Read more of the Johnny Maxwell series.
Reading Level: 540L, SORA ebook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Science fiction, humour, aliens, computer game, heroes.
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Pax
by Sara Pennypacker
When his father enlists in the military and makes him return his beloved pet fox to the wild, Peter, who has been sent to live with his grandfather hundreds of miles away, embarks on a journey filled with astonishing discoveries in order to be reunited with his fox.
Reading Level: 760L, SORA ebook and audiobook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: foxes as pets, human-animal relationship.
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The Boundless
by Kenneth Oppel
Aboard "The Boundless," the greatest train ever built, on its maiden voyage across Canada, teenage Will enlists the aid of a traveling circus to save the train from villains.
Reading Level: 730L
Pillar: Honesty, Courage
Themes: Adventure, railroad trains, circus, Canadian history-1864-1914, magic, survival.
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The Magic Misfits
by Neil Patrick Harris
A young street magician teams up with other talented street kids to save their town from a crime boss and his goons. Read more of The Magic Misfits series.
Reading Level: 690L
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Mystery, magic, family, identity, friendships.
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Awake and Dreaming
by Kit Pearson
While living a miserable, poverty-stricken life with her young, irresponsible mother, nine-year-old Theo dreams of belonging to a real family but finds a shadowy figure haunting her thoughts.
Reading Level: 650L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Friendship, families, urban poverty, wishes, ghosts, Victoria.
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Fires of Invention
by J. Scott Savage
Even though technology and inventions have been outlawed in the mountain city of Cove, in order to save the city Trenton and Kallista must follow a set of mysterious blueprints to build a creature to protect them from the dragons outside their door.
Read more of the The Mysteries of Cove series.
Reading Level: 690L
Pillar: Service
Themes: Steampunk, dragons, inventions, robots, teen boys.
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The Candymakers
by Wendy Mass
When four twelve-year-olds, including Logan, who has grown up never leaving his parents' Life Is Sweet candy factory, compete in the Confectionary Association's annual contest, they unexpectedly become friends and uncover secrets about themselves during the process.
Continue with the sequel: The Candymakers and the Great Chocolate Chase
Reading Level: 740L
Pillar: Service
Themes: Adventure, candy, secrets, contests, friendship.
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Under the Egg
by Laura Marx Fitzgerald
Her grandfather's dying words lead thirteen-year-old Theodora Tenpenny to a valuable, hidden painting she fears may be stolen, but it is her search for answers in her Greenwich Village neighborhood that brings a real treasure.
Reading Level: 790L SORA ebook
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Mystery, humour, friendship, families.
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The Black Book of Secrets
by F. E. Higgins
After running away from his evil parents in the City, Ludlow Fitch meets Joe Zabbidou, a pawnbroker of secrets who enlists Ludlow as an apprentice to record the confessions of the townspeople of the remote village of Pagus Parvus. Read more of the Tales from the sinister city series.
Reading Level: 830L
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Suspense, apprentices, pawnbrokers, betrayal.
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Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library
by Chris Grabenstein
Twelve-year-old Kyle gets to stay overnight in the new town library, designed by his hero (the famous gamemaker Luigi Lemoncello), with other students but finds that come morning he must work with friends to solve puzzles in order to escape. Read more of Mr. Lemoncello's Library series.
Reading Level: 720L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Adventure, literature trivia games, code solving, contests, friendship, libraries.
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Spy School
by Stuart Gibbs
Twelve-year-old Ben Ripley leaves his public middle school to attend the CIA's highly secretive Espionage Academy, which everyone is told is an elite science school.
Reading Level: 740L, SORA e-book
Pillar: Service
Themes: Deception, problem solving, friendship, CIA.
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It All Comes Down to This
by Karen English
Wanting to participate in community activities but feeling marginalized in her new, all-white 1965 Los Angeles neighborhood, 12-year-old Sophie struggles with household dynamics until the riots in nearby Watts and the unfair arrest of a friend make her realize that her life is more complicated than she realized.
Reading Level: 680L
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Humour, friendships, racism, historical fiction.
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Song For a Whale
by Lynne Kelly
Frustrated by the communication challenges of the hearing world as her school's only hearing-impaired student, a 12-year-old electronics whiz uses her tech skills to help a whale that has lost its ability to communicate.
Reading Level: 800L
Pillar: Service
Themes: different abilities, animals, empathy, adventure.
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A Good Kind of Trouble
by Lisa Moore Ramée
After attending a powerful protest, Shayla starts wearing an armband to school to support the Black Lives Matter movement, but when the school gives her an ultimatum, she is forced to choose between her education and her identity.
Reading Level: 720L
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Determination, identity, friendships, racism.
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Millions
by Frank Cottrell Boyce
It was a one-in-a-million chance. A bag crammed with cash comes tumbling out of the air and lands right at Damian's feet. Suddenly the Cunningham brothers are rich. Very rich. They can buy anything they want. There's just one problem -- they have only seventeen days to spend all the money before it becomes worthless. And the crooks who stole the cash in the first place are closing in -- fast.
Reading Level: 650L SORA audiobook
Pillar: Service
Themes: Humour, money, morality, choices, brothers.
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Something to Say
by Lisa Moore Ramée
Eleven-year-old Jenae doesn’t have any friends—and she’s just fine with that. She has perfected the art of being invisible at school however her new and only best friend, a boy named Aubrey, is desperate to win and earn a coveted spot on the debate team.
There’s just one problem: Jenae would do almost anything to avoid speaking up in front of an audience—including risking the first real friendship she’s ever had. Will she find her voice before she loses her best friend?
Reading Level: 720L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Humour, social justice, friendship, finding your voice.
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The Sun Will Come Out
by Joanne Levy
Twelve-year-old Bea Gelman plans to have the BEST SUMMER EVER at Camp Shalom―a sleep-away camp. When her friend can't go at the last minute, shy Bea faces bullies and mean girls on her own. She decides to spend the rest of the summer in the infirmary. There, Bea meets Harry, a boy living with a disease that’s way more intense than stress breakouts. Inspired by Harry’s strength and positive outlook, Bea decides to face her fears―in a big way.
Reading Level: 640L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Friendship, summer camp, illness, humour, resilience.
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The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USA
by Brenda Woods
Gabriel, twelve, gains new perspective when he becomes friends with Meriwether, a Black World War II hero who has recently returned to the unwelcoming Jim Crow South.
Reading Level: 780L
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Humour, friendships, racism, historical fiction.
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Wonder
by R. J Palacio
I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse. August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face.
Reading Level: 790L SORA ebook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: friendships, facial differences, bullying, school life.
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Middle School, the Worst Years of My Life
by James Patterson
This illustrated chapter book follows the misadventures of Rafe and his best friend, who plan to enjoy the year by breaking every single rule in their school's oppressive Code of Conduct. Read more of the Middle School series.
Reading Level: 680L
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Humour, bullies, first crushes, friendships.
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Soul lanterns
by Shaw Kuzki
Joining her family every year at Hiroshima’s lantern-floating ceremony in honor of those lost in the nuclear bombings of World War II, 12-year-old Nozomi asks about her mother’s unnamed lantern and how its reflects an urgent need for world peace. This is a haunting and poignant story of a how a young Japanese girl's understanding of the historic and tragic bombing of Hiroshima is transformed by a memorial lantern-floating ceremony.
Reading Level: 850L
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Historical fiction, Hiroshima, WWII, Japanese culture.
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11 Birthdays
by Wendy Mass
Amanda and Leo, best friends with the same birthday, had a falling out on their tenth birthday and have not spoken since, but peculiar things begin to happen as the day of their eleventh birthday repeats itself again and again. Read more of the Willow Falls series.
Reading Level: 650L
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Friendships, middle school, family dynamics.
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From Ant to Eagle
by Alex Lyttle
My name is Calvin Sinclair, I'm eleven years old and I have a confession… I killed my brother.
It's the summer before grade six and Calvin Sinclair is bored to tears. He's recently moved from a big city to a small town and there's nothing to do. Cal occupies his time by getting his brother to do almost anything: from collecting ants to doing Calvin's chores. And Sammy is all too eager - as long as it means getting a "Level" and moving one step closer to his brother's Eagle status.
Reading Level: 800L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Brothers, competitions, friendships, adventure, grief.
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Schooled
by Gordon Korman
After his hippie grandmother ends up in the hospital, Cap Anderson is forced to leave the commune where he is homeschooled and attend Claverage Middle School, where his odd looks and behavior make him the target of bullies.
Reading Level: 740L
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Humour, friendships, homeschool, hippies, belonging, individuality, heart-warming.
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Wolf Brother
by Michelle Paver
6,000 years in the past, twelve-year-old Tarak and his guide, a wolf cub, set out on a dangerous journey to fulfill an oath the boy made to his dying father--to travel to the Mountain of the World Spirit seeking a way to destroy a demon-possessed bear that threatens all the clans.
Read more of the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series.
Reading Level: 660L
Pillar: Service
Themes: Early humans, boys and wolves, prophecies, quests.
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The War that Saved my Life
by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
A young disabled girl and her brother are evacuated from London to the English countryside during World War II, where they find life to be much sweeter away from their abusive mother.
Read more of The War that saved my life series.
Reading Level: 580L, SORA e-book
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Life during wartime, living with visible disability, home front during WWII, families.
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The Strange Case of Origami Yoda
by Tom Angleberger
Sixth-grader Tommy and his friends describe their interactions with a paper finger puppet of Yoda, worn by their weird classmate Dwight, as they try to figure out whether or not the puppet can really predict the future. Includes instructions for making Origami Yoda. Read more of the Origami Yoda series.
Reading Level: 760L, SORA ebook
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Realistic fiction, origami, finger puppets, middle schools.
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The Way of the Warrior
by Chris Bradford
Orphaned by a ninja pirate attack off the coast of Japan in 1611, twelve-year-old English lad Jack Fletcher is determined to prove himself, despite the bullying of fellow students, when the legendary sword master who rescued him begins training him as a samurai warrior.
Read more of the Young Samurai series.
Reading Level: 750L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Samurai, ninja, pirates, orphans, bullying.
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Wilder Boys
by Brandon Wallace
To evade their mother's abusive boyfriend, brothers Jake, thirteen, and Taylor, eleven, venture from the suburbs of Pittsburgh toward the wilds of Wyoming in search of the father they have not seen in four years, using their wilderness skills to survive against both natural and human dangers. Includes wilderness tips.
Reading Level: 750L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Adventure stories; survival, runaway brothers, wilderness.
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Hatchet
by Gary Paulsen
After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the Canadian wilderness, learning to survive with only the aid of a hatchet given him by his mother, and learning also to survive his parents' divorce.
Reading Level: 650L SORA audiobook
Pillar: Service
Themes: Realistic adventure, wilderness survival.
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Liar & Spy
by Rebecca Stead
Moving into an apartment when his father loses his job, Georges befriends Safer, a twelve-year-old coffee-drinking loner and self-appointed spy, who recruits Georges into the world of espionage so that they can investigate a mysterious neighbour who lives on the top floor.
Reading Level: 670L
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Humour, friendship, families, spies.
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Stargazing
by Jen Wang
Chinese-American student Christine is devastated when her artistic best friend, Moon, falls dangerously ill amid revelations that she has been having visions about celestial beings telling her she does not really belong on Earth. Graphic novel
Reading Level: 510L, SORA e-book
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Graphic novel, best friends, family, illness.
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Swindle
by Gordon Korman
After unscrupulous collector S. Wendell Palamino cons him out of a valuable baseball card, sixth-grader Griffin Bing puts together a band of misfits to break into Palomino's heavily guarded store and steal the card back, planning to use the money to finance his father's failing invention, the SmartPick fruit picker.
Reading Level: 710L
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Suspenseful, baseball cards, collectors and collecting, friendship, crime
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George
by Alex Gino
Knowing herself to be a girl despite her outwardly male appearance, George is denied a female role in the class play before teaming up with a friend to reveal her true self.
Reading Level: 790L
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Gender identity, middle school students, bullying.
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Journal of a Travelling Girl by Nadine Neema
Eleven-year-old Julia has lived in the tiny northern community of Wekweètì since she was little. Although the community has always welcomed her, Julia still feels disconnected from the traditions and ancestral roots of the local culture. When she is invited on a canoe trip, Julia has no idea that the journey will change her life. Along the way she faces her fears, learns to survive in the wilderness and realizes the wisdom of traditional stories. Inspired by true events
Reading Level: approx. 560L
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Family, loss, growing up and the struggle to connect with tradition and culture.
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Fatty Legs: A True Story
by Christy Jordan-Fenton
Looks at the experiences of a strong-willed young Inuit girl who receives permission from her father to travel to a residential religious school run by non-Inuit outsiders, where she struggles to adapt to the new way of living.
Reading Level: 500L, SORA ebook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Autobiography, Indigenous, residential schools, bullying, hope.
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A stranger at home: a true story
by Christy Jordan-Fenton
Looks at the experiences of a young Inuit girl returning from a residential religious school, where she is not recognized by her mother and is seen as an outsider.
Reading Level: 870L
Pillar: Courage, respect
Themes: Autobiography, racism, residential schools, family dynamics.
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The scout : Tommy Prince
by David A. Robertson
A search down a wooded path for a well-hit baseball turns into an encounter between Pamela and a veteran soldier standing in front of a monument. The statue commemorates the heroism of Sgt. Tommy Prince, the most decorated Aboriginal soldier in Canada. Pamela is curious, and the veteran is happy to regale her with the story of the expert marksman and tracker, renowned for his daring and bravery in World War II and the Korean War. Read all of The Tales from Big Spirit series.
Reading Level: 510L
Pillar: Service
Themes: War heroes, graphic novel, non-fiction.
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Little Voice
by Ruby Slipperjack
A young Ojibway girl, struggling over the fact that her father has died, spends a summer in the bush with her grandmother and finds her own identity and voice.
Reading Level: approx. 650L
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Family, finding your voice, identity, summer trips.
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These Are My Words : The Residential School Diary of Violet Pesheens
by Ruby Slipperjack
Violet Pesheens is struggling to adjust to her new life at Residential School. She has run-ins with the other girls, she misses her Grandma, and everything she brought has been taken from her, including her name — she is now just a number. But worst of all, she has a fear. A fear of forgetting the things she treasures most: her Anishnabe language, the names of those she knew before, and her traditional customs. A fear of forgetting who she is.
Reading Level: 650L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Residential school life, homesickness, resilience.
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The Barren Grounds
by David A. Robertson
Morgan and Eli, two Indigenous children forced away from their families and communities, are brought together in a foster home in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They each feel disconnected, from their culture and each other, and struggle to fit in at school and at their new home -- until they find a secret place, walled off in an unfinished attic bedroom. Read more from The Misewa Saga.
Reading Level: 680L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: foster care, individual talents, fantasy adventure, family.
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The Girl Who Could Fly
by Victoria Forester
After leaving her quiet farm to attend a top-secret school for kids with unique skills, Piper McCloud enjoys the ability to fly freely with her peers, but as everyone settles in to the daily routine, it becomes clear to all at this special place that Piper has a quality even more special than the rest.
Reading Level: 750L SORA ebook
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Mystery, friendships, family relations.
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When You Reach Me
by Rebecca Stead
In the 1980s, as her mother prepares to be a contestant on a television game show, Miranda tries to make sense of a series of mysterious notes received from an anonymous source that seems to defy the laws of time and space.
Reading Level: 750L, SORA ebook
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Mystery, friendships, family relations.
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The Arctic Code
by Matthew J. Kirby
The Earth is in the grip of a new Ice Age, and when Eleanor's scientist mother disappears in the Arctic, Eleanor journeys to find her and uncovers a mystery, a crime, and evidence that Earth has been visited by extraterrestrials.
Read more of the Dark Gravity Sequence.
Reading Level: 720L
Pillar: Service
Themes: Adventure, mystery, science, cryptic codes.
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The Fourteenth Goldfish
by Jennifer L Holm
Hating change and missing both her best friend and her dead goldfish, 11-year-old Ellie encounters a boy who strongly resembles her immortality-obsessed grandfather, in a story that introduces the work of famous historical scientists. Read the sequel: The Third Mushroom.
Reading Level: 550L
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Scientists, families, humour, wit.
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Diego and the Rangers of the Vastlantic
by Armand Baltazar
A debut entry in an illustrated epic fantasy adventure is set in a world where a space-time cataclysm has torn apart time and space, reshaping the Earth into a place where people from all historical eras and cultures coexist and where a 13-year-old boy discovers he has a secret destiny. Read more of the Timeless series.
Reading Level: 650L
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Action adventure, dinosaurs, robots, destiny.
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The True Meaning of Smekday
by Adam Rex
In the chaotic turmoil that follows the Boov invasion of Earth, eleven-year-old Gratuity Tucci finds herself driving her mother's car to Florida, where all of the humans are being relocated, with her cat and a renegade extraterrestrial named J. Lo as her copilots.
Read the sequel: Smek for President!
Reading Level: 670L
Pillar: Respect
Themes: Humour, friendships, family relationships, UFO abductions, alien invasion.
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Randoms
by David Liss
A twelve-year-old boy is chosen to join a four-person applicant team to work towards membership in the Confederation of United Planets, and stumbles across conspiracies resembling science fiction he's been a fan of his entire life. Read more of the Randoms series.
Reading Level: 840L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Conspiracies, intergalactic space station, aliens, misfits.
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The City of Ember
by Jeanne Duprau
In the year 241, twelve-year-old Lina finds part of an ancient message that she is sure holds a secret to save her underground city from ruin, but Lina and her friend Doon must decipher the message before the lights go out on Ember forever. Read more of the City of Ember series.
Reading Level: 680L SORA ebook and audiobook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Science fiction, resourcefulness in children, dystopias, survival, natural resources.
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The Wild Robot
by Peter Brown
Initializing for the first time on a remote island where she is all alone, Roz the robot learns survival strategies from the island's hostile animals and finally gains acceptance when she cares for an orphaned gosling.
Reading Level: 740L SORA ebook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: survival, friendship, orphaned animals.
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Child of the Dream: a Memoir of 1963
by Sharon Robinson
A memoir from the daughter of Jackie Robinson follows the events of 1963, a pivotal year in the fight for civil rights, as well as documents the author's own struggles as a teenager.
Reading Level: approx. 650L
Pillar: Respect
Themes: African American history, civil rights, social justice, memoir.
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Making It Home: Real-Life Stories from Children Forced to Flee
by Beverley Naidoo
Children from around the world share their personal experiences with war and other forms of conflict that have shattered their homes and families, in a powerful volume that shows readers what it's like to be a refugee.
Reading Level: 750L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Child refugees, war, emotionally intense.
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Finding Home: The Journey of Immigrants and Refugees
by Jen Sookfong Lee
What drives people to search for new homes? From war zones to politics, there are many reasons why people have always searched for a place to call home. We explore the current issues facing immigrants and refugees today, and we hear the first-hand stories of people who have moved across the globe looking for safety, security and happiness.
Reading Level: 1200L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Human migration, social justice, immigration and refugees.
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The Titanic
by Kate Messner
The author of History Smashers: Women’s Right to Vote shares lesser-known facts about the sinking of the Titanic, using graphic panels and engaging sidebars to cover such topics as how the ship disregarded iceberg warnings and was unprepared for a disaster. Read the other books in the History Smashers series!
Reading Level: approx. 680L
Pillar: Honesty
Themes: Titanic, myth busters, history.
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Believe: the Victorious Story of Eric LeGrand
by Eric LeGrand
The defensive lineman for the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights, who was paralyzed from the neck down after suffering a spinal injury during a game, shares his transformative journey as he drew on his optimism to triumph over adversity.
Reading Level: 1040L
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Biography, football players, athletes with disabilities.
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Navy SEAL Dogs: My Tale of Training Canines for Combat
by Mike Ritland
A young adult adaptation of the best-selling Trident K9 Warriors presents an insider's tour of the world of elite Navy SEAL working dogs to explain how they are trained, the extreme missions they undertake and how after retiring they are placed in loving homes.
Reading Level: 900L
Pillar: Service
Themes: Military, working dogs, war, Navy Seals.
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I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
by Malala Yousafzai
When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education. Malala's determination has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York.
Reading Level: 830L, SORA ebook and audiobook
Pillar: Courage
Themes: Autobiography, education, human and children's rights, positive role model.
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