Because Yumi RuÍz-Hirsch has grandparents from Japan, Cuba, and Brooklyn, her mother calls her a poster child for the twenty-first century. Yumi would laugh if only her life wasn’t getting as complicated as her heritage. All of a sudden she’s starting eighth grade with a girl who collects tinfoil and a boy who dresses like a squid. Her mom’s found a new boyfriend, and her punk-rock father still can’t sell a song. She’s losing her house; she’s losing her school orchestra. And worst of all she’s losing her grandfather Saul.Yumi wishes everything couldstay the same. But as she listens to Saul tell his story, she learns that nobody ever asks you if you’re ready for life to happen. It just happens. The choice is either to sit and watch or to join the dance.National Book Award finalist Cristina García’s first middle-grade novel celebrates the chaotic, crazy, and completely amazing patchwork that makes up our lives.
Intermediate (ages 9-14)
Material appropriate for intermediate age groups
The Hispanic Americans
Discusses the social and economic problems faced by twelve million Hispanic Americans who live and work in the United States today.
Paint the Wind
A photograph, a box filled with toy horses, and a fractured memory are all that Maya has left of her mother. Now, in Grandmother’s house in California, she lives like a captive, until a shocking event changes everything. A world away, in Wyoming, a wild Paint horse, called Artemisia, runs free. In a land where mountain lions and wranglers pose an ever-present threat, Artemisia must protect her new foal, until a devastating act separates them from their bond. Maya’s and Artemisia’s lives will ultimately intertwine. And together, they hold the key to each other’s survival.
On The Texas Trail Of Cabeza De Vaca
In 1527, the conquistador Cabeza de Vaca set sail for the Spanish territory of La Florida. His aim was to explore and colonize an unknown land that stretched from present-day Florida to Texas.
The Midnight Tunnel
In 1905, Suzanna is in training to be a well-mannered hostess at a Loch Harbor, New Brunswick, hotel, but her dream of being a detective gets a boost when a seven-year-old guest goes missing and Suzanna’s uncle, a famous detective, comes to solve the case.
The Romeo and Juliet Code
Felicity’s glamorous parents have a secret. When they leave her with distant relatives in Maine, Felicity hopes they won’t leave her long. Her new Uncle Gideon hides things. Her Aunt Miami is star-crossed. And Derek, a kid her age, refuses to leave his room. But Felicity needs Derek’s help. Gideon is getting coded letters from Felicity’s parents, and she’s sure they’re in trouble. Can Felicity crack the code, heal the family and save her parents, all while surviving her first crush? It’s a tall order, but Felicity’s up for the challenge.
Under the Green Hill
Meg and her siblings have been sent to the English countryside for the summer to stay with elderly relatives. The children are looking forward to exploring the ancient mansion and perhaps discovering a musty old attic or two filled with treasure, but never in their wildest dreams did they expect to find themselves in the middle of a fairy war. When Rowan pledges to fight for the beautiful fairy queen, Meg is desperate to save her brother. But the Midsummer War is far more than a battle between mythic creatures: Everything that lives depends on it. How can Meg choose between family and the fate of the very land itself?
All The World’s a Stage
Twelve-year-old orphan Christopher “Kit” Buckles becomes a stage boy in a London theater in 1598, tries his hand at acting, and later helps build the Globe Theater for playwright William Shakespeare and the Chamberlain’s Men acting troupe.
Escape Velocity
Pupils and staff at HIVE are horrified to discover that Dr Nero has been captured by the forces of HOPE, the Hostile Operative Prosecution Executive, the world’s newest and most ruthlessly efficient security force. Three months pass without any news of his fate, and Number One has decided to appoint a sinister new headmistress for the school, somebody that the pupils and staff had thought that they’d seen the last of. Meanwhile Otto is also struggling to cope with new abilities that are starting to manifest themselves; can he really be unconsciously interfacing with computers without physical contact? And if he is, what exactly do these new powers really mean? The only way to find Nero and the truth behind the lies is to escape HIVE. Otto must get out, and take the risks which come with being a rogue agent. Then he just has to break into MI6…..
Johnny Swanson
The secret to instant height? Stand on a box. Want to make your money go further? Roll it down a hill. The answer to smelly feet? Wear a clothes pin on your nose. Eleven-year-old Johnny Swanson is in business. He’s raking in the money with his advertising scams and his advice columnist persona, who offers advice on absolutely anything in return for a shilling. But his money-making schemes are getting him in too deep with the wrong kinds of people. Everything is spiralling out of control, and now his own mother is in mortal danger. There’s only one thing to be done: Johnny must assume another role as undercover detective! In the spirit of Roald Dahl, this is a funny and delightful story with a satisfying mystery, a wonderful cast of characters, and an unlikely but completely likeable hero.