Seventh-grader Simon, with his new emotional-support-puppy-in-training Hercules, is trying to cope with some pretty severe PTSD after being the only survivor of his entire fifth-grade class school shooter massacre.
No mental health punches are pulled, which I appreciate, but Simon also heals step by hard step and with the support of his family and friends in this hilarious and highly entertaining novel.
The setting alone is worth the price, fictional Grin and Bear It, Nebraska, home of the National Quiet Zone (no internet) where radio astronomers listen for sounds of life in the universe. There are alpacas and emus. There are goat births and cadavers lost from hearses. What else do you need in a good MG?
Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature
“Funny, poignant and—most important—hopeful.” —New York Times
For fans of Kate DiCamillo and Jack Gantos, a hilarious, wrenching, hopeful novel about finding your friends, healing your heart, and speaking your truth.
Simon O’Keeffe’s biggest claim to fame should be the time his dad accidentally gave a squirrel a holy sacrament. Or maybe the alpaca disaster that went viral on YouTube. But the story the whole world wants to tell about Simon is the one he’d do anything to forget: the one starring Simon as a famous survivor of gun violence…
This is a story about a seventh-grader named Hercules navigating trauma and grief, that are aptly rendered as struggles through twelve, um, Herculean labors.
Schmidt is a master storyteller, and Hercules is another one of his endearing twelve-year-olds (“Oh boy, oh boy”) whose drole observations in a supportive but eccentric Cape Cod community you’d like to live in will make you laugh out loud.
Hercules’ journey of well-earned healing and growth after a staggering loss—with wonderful supporting characters, including a drill sergeant of a teacher, brother Achilles’ vampire girlfriend, an awesome support dog, and loyal sidekicks—should be savored and shared with your favorite young reader.
From award-winning author Gary D. Schmidt, a warm and witty novel in the tradition of The Wednesday Wars, in which a seventh grader has to figure out how to fulfill an assignment to perform the Twelve Labors of Hercules in real life-and makes discoveries about friendship, community, and himself along the way.
Herc Beal knows who he's named after-a mythical hero-but he's no superhero. He's the smallest kid in his class. So when his homeroom teacher at his new middle school gives him the assignment of duplicating the mythical Hercules's amazing feats in real life, he's skeptical. After all, there…
I look out for great stories for younger readers that also happen to normalize mental illness. This YA novel is about Alberto, a sincere and kind undocumented young man from Mexico who lives with his sister in the US and works long hours for her dodgy boyfriend.
Alberto has auditory hallucinations due to increasingly severe bipolar disorder, and then is accused of a grisly crime. Stork shows us how easily the mentally ill are victimized and preyed upon versus the converse, and we fear the predators may pull it off as Alberto is indeed ill. However, with the help of friends and community, he’s got a chance in this high-stakes YA thriller.
Alberto's life isn't easy: He's an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who lives with his sister's abusive boyfriend, but he'd always accepted his place in the world. Until he starts hearing the voice of a man called Captain America, a voice that wants him to achieve more, no matter the cost. Grace has it all: She has a supportive boyfriend, she's on track to be valedictorian, and she's sure to go to the college of her dreams. Still, nothing feels right to her any more after the divorce of her parents, and feels she needs something more. When Alberto and Grace…
18-year-old Del is in a healthier place than
she was a year and a half ago: She’s sober, getting treatment for her
depression and anxiety, and volunteering at a suicide-prevention hotline.
Her
own suicide attempt is in the past, and living in San Francisco with her beloved
aunt has helped her see a future for herself. But when Aunt Fran is diagnosed
with terminal cancer, Del’s equilibrium is shattered.
She struggles to help
care for her aunt while dealing with a crush, her looming first semester
at college, and her shifts at the crisis line. After Aunt Fran asks for her
help with a mind-boggling final request, Del must confront her own demons and
rethink everything she thought she knew about life and death.
My small granddaughter loves the idea of a girl nicknamed Tiny dressed up as a doll jumping out of balloon baskets and airplanes. Who doesn’t?
She cheers Tiny’s story about a small, impoverished, uneducated girl with so much gumption and ingenuity, not to mention guts, that she risks her life to leap her way to fame and fortune and is the first woman to parachute from an airplane. Tiny then goes on to invent the handy ripcord.
The illustrations are lovely; the story is accessible for all ages and bears up beautifully under repeated readings.
This thrilling biography tells the story of Tiny Broadwick, the first woman to ever parachute from a plane and the inventor of the parachute rip cord, and how her determination, courage, adventurousness, and joy in doing what she loved lifted her up to stand as tall as a pioneer in flight.
The crack of a pistol shattered the silence- Tiny's signal to jump. Her hands trembled as she cut her parachute away from the balloon.
Tiny Broadwick, a teeny, uneducated mill girl, had big dreams of soaring above the earth, out of poverty, and above expectations. She became the first…
