In 1986 Malaysia, as she worries about her parents’ constant fighting, ardent soccer fan Maya, age eleven, trains herself and pulls together a team at her girls’ school, despite soccer being a “boys’ game.”
Ten
Realistic Fiction
Realistic Fiction genre
As Red As Blood
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo meets Six of Crows this international bestseller is an edge-of-your-seat thriller that chills to the bone, and not just because of the icy winter setting.
The Icarus Show
David, a boy in his class, does react. He’s branded a weirdo, becomes an outcast, and is given a terrible nickname. Alex is determined not to suffer the same fate. But one day, Alex gets a note in his bag that forces him out of his safe little world. The Icarus Show is an unforgettable story about friendship, loneliness, and a strange kind of genius.
The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora
When his family’s restaurant and Cuban American neighborhood in Miami are threatened by a greedy land developer, thirteen-year-old Arturo, joined by Carmen, a cute poetry enthusiast, fight back, discovering the power of poetry and protest through untold family stories and the work of José Martí.
The Lotterys Plus One
Sumac Lottery is nine years old and the self-proclaimed “good girl” of her (VERY) large, (EXTREMELY) unruly family. And what a family the Lotterys are: four parents, children both adopted and biological, and a menagerie of pets, all living and learning together in a sprawling house called Camelottery. Then one day, the news breaks that one of their grandfathers is suffering from dementia and will be coming to live with them. And not just any grandfather; the long dormant “Grumps,” who fell out with his son so long ago that he hasn’t been part of any of their lives. Suddenly, everything changes. Sumac has to give up her room to make the newcomer feel at home. She tries to be nice, but prickly Grumps’s clearly disapproves of how the Lotterys live: whole grains, strange vegetables, rescue pets, a multicultural household… He’s worse than just tough to get along with — Grumps has got to go! But can Sumac help him find a home where he belongs?
How Not To Disappear
In England, newly pregnant seventeen-year-old Hattie and her gin-drinking great-aunt Gloria, who is in the early stages of dementia, set out togethere on a road trip of self-discovery–Gloria to finally confront the secrets of her past before they are wiped from her memory forever and Hattie to face the hard choices that will determine her future.
Because Of The Sun
From the backyards of suburban Florida to the parched desert of New Mexico, Because of the Sun explores the complexity of family, the saving grace of friendship, and the healing that can begin when the truth is brought to light.
Binny Bewitched
In one greedy moment, Binny Cornwallis snatches some bills left behind at an ATM. After all it’s her mother’s birthday, and just think of what she could do with some cash in her never-quite-enough-money household. But of course she has to hide the money she can’t explain it. And in her tiny house, every hiding place is in danger of discovery. After a few tries, Binny does hide it. And she hides it so well she can’t find it again, even after she decides she wants to give it back.Now, Binny must team up with her best enemy Gareth, a ruthlessly honest boy who sets out to play detective and figure out who might have taken the money. Meanwhile the next-door neighbor is doing odd things like presenting Binny with a little doll that looks just like herwith her hand in her pocket, just as Binny’s was when she pocketed the cash. There’s plenty more going on in the Cornwallis house, as Binny’s older sister Clem has a secret of her own, and little brother James is having a kung fu clash with his best friend. Mayhem, love, and laughter run riot in this new hilarious Binny adventure.
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents’ house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family. But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga’s role.
Featured in WOW Review Volume X, Issue 4.
In The Shadow Of The Sun
North Korea is known as the most repressive country on Earth, with a dictatorial leader, a starving population, and harsh punishment for rebellion. Not the best place for a family vacation. Yet that’s exactly where Mia Andrews finds herself, on a tour with her aid-worker father and fractious older brother, Simon. Mia was adopted from South Korea as a baby, and the trip raises tough questions about where she really belongs. Then her dad is arrested for spying, just as forbidden photographs of North Korean slave-labor camps fall into Mia’s hands. The only way to save Dad: get the pictures out of the country. Thus Mia and Simon set off on a harrowing journey to the border, without food, money, or shelter, in a land where anyone who sees them might turn them in, and getting caught could mean prison — or worse.