When I came out of the closet in college, I lost friends and family who wouldn’t love me for who I was. As time went on, however, new family started appearing in surprising places: people that wanted to journey with me and stick by my side even though we weren’t related by blood or birth. New, chosen family found me. Reading stories about others searching for–and finding–family in the midst of the wackiness of life has always been a comfort. I hope that you find yourself immersed in the abundance of love that family (by blood or by choice) can bring.
Jeremiah just wants to have a normal summer with his dad. Unfortunately, his dad just moved to downtown Minneapolis to live with his wacky new boyfriend, Michael. Michael serves weird organic foods, wears shorts that are always too short, and rides around on The Uni-Cycle: a bike decorated to look like a unicorn. Things are shaping up to be a looooong summer. Thankfully Jeremiah finds Sage, the girl next door whose favorite hobbies include naming clouds and taking epic bike pilgrimages through the city. As the summer goes on and Jeremiah starts finding community in surprising places, he starts to wonder who truly belongs in his family.
Foreward Reviews say it’s, “Welcoming and inclusive.” Kirkus Reviewssay it’s, “Touching and unforgettable.” Naturally, I have to agree.
Four orphans who seemed all alone in the world, are brought together by the strange Mr. Benedict. Although they were chosen for their intelligence, braininess looks wildly different coming from each of them. As they go undercover to, well, save the world (more or less), their loyalty and bonds of deep friendship might be just as important as their wits. Family awaits in unforeseen places.
Bonus: You get to puzzle out clues right along with the rest of ‘em. See if your own wits would be enough to get you into the society!
"Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?"When this peculiar ad appears in the newspaper, dozens of children enroll to take a series of mysterious, mind-bending tests. (And you, dear reader, can test your wits right alongside them.) But in the end just four very special children will succeed. Their challenge: to go on a secret mission that only the most intelligent and resourceful children could complete. To accomplish it they will have to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules.As our heroes face physical and…
Travel back in time to the Boxer Rebellion in the early 1900s. This graphic novel follows Little Bao as he gathers a brotherhood (and later is joined by a sisterhood) called the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists. People from many different backgrounds gather together to support each other to fight for the freedom of their homeland, China. I love the way that the clean illustrations in this graphic novel make the story explode in my mind as I follow this band of ragtag revolutionaries coming together as a family on a mission!
Bonus: There’s a companion graphic novel, Saints, that tells a parallel story from a very different perspective!
From American Born Chinese author Gene Luen Yang: an innovative look at China's Boxer Rebellion told from two points of view, in two companion volumes. China, 1898. Bands of foreign missionaries and soldiers roam the countryside, bullying and robbing Chinese peasants. Little Bao has had enough. Harnessing the powers of ancient Chinese gods, he recruits an army of Boxers - commoners trained in kung fu who fight to free China from "foreign devils." But nothing is simple. Little Bao is fighting for the glory of China, but at what cost? So many are dying, including thousands of Chinese citizens who…
This is a story about a group of homeless rabbits forming a new family.
Wait a second.
Rabbits?!
Yep.
Driven from their old warren, the small group of rabbits is out in the wide world looking for a place to make a new home for themselves. Although only two of them are related by blood, the whole group of them are going to have to cover for each other, support each other’s weaknesses, and rely on one another’s strengths if they want to survive. If that doesn’t sound like family, I don’t know what does.
Bonus: You get to learn some rabbit language along the way. What’s a hrududu? How about flayrah? You’ll have to read to find out!
One of the best-loved children's classics of all time, this is the complete, original story of Watership Down.
Something terrible is about to happen to the warren - Fiver feels sure of it. And Fiver's sixth sense is never wrong, according to his brother Hazel. They had to leave immediately, and they had to persuade the other rabbits to join them.
And so begins a long and perilous journey of a small band of rabbits in search of a safe home. Fiver's vision finally leads them to Watership Down, but here they face their most difficult challenge of all .…
Having an epic, peculiar power sounds like fun, doesn’t it? What if that meant that you were cast out and disconnected from your family? What if there was a place where you could find others just as strange as you, but just as different as you are from the rest of the world?
Eery, haunting antique photographs give the book shiver-inducing realism as Jacob finds out about this formed family of peculiars, and about whether he might become to be a part of their group.
Bonus: The story may just have a time loop or two. I mean, how do you get better than that? Time loops are even better than Fruit Loops!
A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. And a strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children who once lived here - one of whom was his own grandfather…
Follow India Opal around her new town as she hunts for friendship and new family even as she learns more about the mother she lost. It’s a mangy mutt that helps break into the world of so many interesting people in her town. I’ve read this book at least a dozen times, and I’m always in love with the tangled ways that bring so many disparate characters together by the end of the book.
Bonus: it contains the best fictional candy of all time: the Littmus Lozenge!
Funny and poignant, this 2001 Newbery Honor novel captures life in a quirky Southern town as Opal and her mangy dog, Winn-Dixie, strike up friendships among the locals.
One summer's day, ten-year-old India Opal Buloni goes down to the local supermarket for some groceries - and comes home with a dog. But Winn-Dixie is no ordinary dog. It's because of Winn-Dixie that Opal begins to make friends. And it's because of Winn-Dixie that she finally dares to ask her father about her mother, who left when Opal was three. In fact, as Opal admits, just about everything that happens that…
Featured in "Best Middle Grade Fantasy Books" - Reedsy Discovery
"Fun & Fast Paced, This is Middle Grade Fantasy at its Best!"— Shaun Stevenson
"If you know any middle-grade readers who enjoy science fiction/fantasy with a mix of action, danger, and humor - recommend this book to them, or just go ahead and give them a copy." — The Fairview Review
“With elements of adventure, exploration, other worlds, and fantastical science, Nemesis and the Vault of Lost Time is an exciting middle-grade novel with plenty of suspense… Behind the adventure are important messages about believing in oneself and finding inner strength.”— The Children's Book Review
"The plot of Nemesis and The Vault of Lost Time is a tapestry of surprises characterized by its unforeseen twists and turns. It’s this element of suspense that grips the readers, while the vivid descriptions create immersive visual experiences. Beyond its adventurous core, this mystery novel delves into themes of friendship and the nuanced dynamics of father-son relationships, offering a multi-layered reading experience." — The Literary Titan
Thirteen-year-old Max is a daydreamer. It gets him into trouble at school, but his restless curiosity really turns problematic when he runs into a mysterious professor at his uncle's bookstore.
The old man informs Max that time is being sucked out of the planet by invisible bandits, stolen from unsuspecting people one breath and one sneeze at a time, and is being stored in a central vault. Once full, the vault will fuel a hungry horde of invaders looking to cross into earth, and cross out all its people.
What's more, the professor claims he knew Max's missing scientist father.…
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