Our Middle Grade book spotlight this week is is the fourth and final part of a series we have been working through over the course of our past spotlights! Over the past few weeks, we have worked our way through the alphabet as we use letters for inspiration as each title starts with the next letter in order. This week we are moving on to the final part of the alphabet with books that start with a S through Z giving us eight amazing books to explore; we have everything from humor to graphic novels, realistic, and some page turning horror and nonfiction. These books and more can be found by searching the catalog using the search tag #youthatoz as well as on Libby and Hoopla. Check back next week for a new Middle Grade book spotlight and if you have any book suggestions, please let us know!!
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.
Thornhill by Pam Smy--Features parallel stories, one from 1982, which is told in text, and 2017, which is told through illustrations, of two girls unraveling the mysteries of the Thornhill Institute for Children.
Unspeakable by Carole Boston Weatherford--A picture book that sensitively examines the racial massacre in the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1921. The book describes the residents of the prosperous African American community, and what happened when a white mob attacked and destroyed the town.
Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett--Sixth graders Petra and Calder discover their mutual love for art on a museum field trip. At the same time their new friendship is beginning, Vermeer's painting "A Lady Writing" is stolen en route from Washington D.C. to Chicago. When the audacious thief starts leaving clues in the newspaper, Petra and Calder set out to track down the painting, a task that has befuddled even the FBI.
White Bird by R.J. Palacio--From a character drawn from the author's collection of stories titled "Auggie & Me" comes Grandmère's tale of her childhood in German-occupied France. As a young Jewish girl, Grandmère, or Sara as she was then known, takes refuge with a boy that she and her classmates bully and ostracize, but whose family now becomes her salvation from the Nazis.
The Key to Extraordinary by Natalie Lloyd--Twelve-year-old Emma Casey lives by a haunted graveyard where she gives tours, helps her brother and Granny Blue with the family bakery, and waits for her destiny dream to come from her ancestors. But when it finally does come, it shows her only a key and she finds that she must solve a ghostly mystery that has haunted her town for generations.
You Go First by Erin Entrada Kelly--Twelve-year-old Charlotte Lockard and eleven-year-old Ben Boxer live across the country from each other and know each other from an online Scrabble game. Although they are different in many ways, the two find friendship and connection as they face family issues and the turmoil of middle school.
Zero Tolerance by Claudia Mills--Seventh-grade honor student Sierra Shepard faces expulsion after accidentally bringing a paring knife to school, violating the school's zero-tolerance policy.