I have been a voracious reader all my life. As a child, my happy place was the public library. I realized quickly that not all novels had the same effect. Most stories were enjoyable, but there were some books that told a story to make a point. These were stories with characters that I couldn’t forget, and I was challenged, encouraged, and inspired by what I read. These novels changed me for the better. I am grateful for authors who wrote stories with purpose. Now I have an opportunity to tell a story that will have an impact and make a difference in the lives of those who read it.
Sometimes a book is “more than the sum of its pieces.” It can appear to be a book for middle school students, filled with silly crushes, teenage angst, and family drama.
Yet when those pieces are added together, we find ourselves reading a rich story full of profound lessons on life. One of the most important lessons to be learned is that “most people don't look beneath the surface until it's too late.”
In this novel, the characters flip their perspective, and as a result, they are never the same again. Those who read this book will also be challenged to look beneath the surface and flip their perspective, which means that they may never be the same again as well.
A classic he-said-she-said romantic comedy! This updated anniversary edition offers story-behind-the-story revelations from author Wendelin Van Draanen.
The first time she saw him, she flipped. The first time he saw her, he ran. That was the second grade, but not much has changed by the seventh. Juli says: “My Bryce. Still walking around with my first kiss.” He says: “It’s been six years of strategic avoidance and social discomfort.” But in the eighth grade everything gets turned upside down: just as Bryce is thinking that there’s maybe more to Juli than meets the eye, she’s thinking that he’s not quite…
Some truths are caught and not taught. Jay is on a quest to catch escaped monkeys, but along the way, he catches something far more valuable.
With the help of his grandfather and crippled sister, Jay catches truths about perseverance, courage and sacrifice. In the process, his priorities change. As we follow Jay on his humorous and frustrating chase of a group of wily monkeys, we’ll have the chance to catch these truths as well, and have our priorities changed for the better.
From the author of the beloved classic Where the Red Fern Grows comes a timeless adventure about a boy who discovers a tree full of monkeys.
The last thing fourteen-year-old Jay Berry Lee expects to find while trekking through the Ozark Mountains of Oklahoma is a tree full of monkeys. But then Jay learns from his grandpa that the monkeys have escaped from a traveling circus, and there’s a big reward for the person who finds and returns them. His family could really use the money, so Jay sets off, determined to catch them. But by the end of the…
This climate fiction novel follows four generations of women and their battles against a global giant that controls and manipulates Earth’s water. Told mostly through a diary and drawing on scientific observation and personal reflection, Lynna’s story unfolds incrementally, like climate change itself. Her gritty memoir describes a near-future Toronto…
“Of all the kids in the seventh grade at Camillo Junior High, there was one kid that Mrs. Baker hated with heat whiter than the sun. Me.”
When I read that first line, I assumed The Wednesday Wars was going to be another shallow story with the typical conflict between a mean teacher and a student victim. But I was wrong. Completely wrong.
The Wednesday Wars will make you smile a real smile, not a teacher smile. It will make you laugh as you learn Shakespearean curses. It will make you cry when a student earns the high praise of “chrysanthemum” from a teacher who is no longer an enemy but a friend. This won’t make sense until you read the book, and it’s definitely worth reading this book.
In this Newbery Honor–winning novel, Gary D. Schmidt tells the witty and compelling story of a teenage boy who feels that fate has it in for him, during the school year 1968-69.
Seventh grader Holling Hoodhood isn't happy. He is sure his new teacher, Mrs. Baker, hates his guts. Holling's domineering father is obsessed with his business image and disregards his family. Throughout the school year, Holling strives to get a handle on the Shakespeare plays Mrs. Baker assigns him to read on his own time, and to figure out the enigmatic Mrs. Baker. As the Vietnam War turns lives…
This book has fallen in and out of favor over the years, but I applaud and defend it as one of the most brilliant and moving books ever written.
There is something powerful about walking beside a young child and seeing the world through her eyes. Maycomb is not a perfect town. The neighbors and townsfolk are not perfect people. There is much to confuse in the court case taken on by Atticus Finch.
But as Scout tries to make sense of injustice in a broken world with broken people, she learns about character, choice, and courage. She will also find loyalty, love, and hope in the most unexpected of places.
'Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'
Atticus Finch gives this advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of this classic novel - a black man charged with attacking a white girl. Through the eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Lee explores the issues of race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s with compassion and humour. She also creates one of the great heroes of literature in their father, whose lone struggle for justice pricks the conscience of a town steeped…
Bright but unassuming Marilyn Jones has some grown-up decisions to make, especially after Mama goes to prison for drugs and larceny. With no one to take care of them, Marilyn and her younger, mentally challenged brother, Carol, get tossed into the foster care…
I admit that I was annoyed with this book after the first few chapters.
I had just settled into the rhythm and style of the story, told by one of the main characters. But after a few chapters, the novel switched to the voice of a different main character. This happened throughout the book, as the story is told from the perspective of three main characters. It was annoying at first. But as I continued reading, I began to appreciate the change.
Each character has individual struggles, and each character has something to learn. Having three different voices magnifies the impact as we celebrate the beauty of community, the power of hope, and the difference that just one person can make to change their world, and the world around them.
The #1 New York Times bestselling novel and basis for the Academy Award-winning film-a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't-nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read.
Aibileen is a black maid in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, who's always taken orders quietly, but lately she's unable to hold her bitterness back. Her friend Minny has never held her tongue but now must somehow keep secrets about her employer that leave her speechless. White socialite Skeeter just graduated college. She's full of ambition, but without a husband, she's…
The last place Kelly Martin wants to spend her summer vacation is volunteering at a Christian camp. But it’s either that or be forced by her parents into a program for girls with eating disorders. Prepared to be surrounded by boring religious fanatics, Kelly is surprised to meet genuine friends who pull her into the first crazy prank of the summer. Even more unexpected is the handsome fellow counselor who starts noticing her. But it’s the radical campfire talks that touch Kelly’s heart most of all, sparking a longing for change. But that would mean choosing to trust God. And Kelly vowed she’d never do that again.
This is a steamy tale of vulnerability and betrayal. Struggling in her marriage, her new life in England, and her work in a hospice, Canadian-born Lindsey is drawn to her best friend's attractive husband, David.
Guilt about her fascination with David is complicated by her admiration for his wife, Grace,…
Seeker: As societies grow increasingly fragmented, hopelessness, nihilism, division, and despair are on the rise. But there is another way—a way of mystery and magic, of wholeness and transformation. Do you dare take the first step? Our path is not for the faint-hearted, but for seekers of ancient truths...
