PACL Recommends: Realistic Fiction for TweensLike this list

25 items

• Look Both Ways

  a Tale Told in Ten Blocks

  Reynolds, Jason,

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  Reynolds packs the 10 blocks surrounding multiple schools with 10 relatable slice-of-life stories that start after school ends, each beginning with a black-and-white drawing by Alexander Nabaum. An overlapping cast of black characters populates the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• King and the Dragonflies

  Callender, Kacen,

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  In a small but turbulent Louisiana town, one boy's grief takes him beyond the bayous of his backyard, to learn that there is no right way to be yourself

• Planet Earth Is Blue

  Panteleakos, Nicole,

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  Autistic and nearly nonverbal, twelve-year-old Nova is happy in her new foster home and school, but eagerly anticipates the 1986 Challenger launch, for which her sister, Bridget, promised to return.

• From the Desk of Zoe Washington

  Marks, Janae,

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  Avid baker Zoe Washington receives a letter on her twelfth birthday from her biological father, who is in prison for a terrible crime.

• Amina's Voice

  Khan, Hena,

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  A Pakistani-American Muslim girl struggles to stay true to her family's vibrant culture while simultaneously blending in at school after tragedy strikes her community.

• Where the Watermelons Grow

  a Novel

  Baldwin, Cindy,

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  Twelve-year-old Della Kelly of Maryville, North Carolina, tries to come to terms with her mother's mental illness while her father struggles to save the farm from a record-breaking drought.

• Turtle Boy

  Wolkenstein, M. Evan,

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  Seventh-grader Will's Bar Mitzvah community service project, visiting an incurably ill older boy in the hospital, leads to a friendship that is life-changing for both them and those around them.

• Restart

  Korman, Gordon,

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  Chase does not remember falling off the roof, in fact he does not remember anything about himself, and when he gets back to middle school he begins to learn who he was through the reactions of the other kids--trouble is, he really is not sure he…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Clean Getaway

  Stone, Nic,

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  For the life of him, William "Scoob" Lamar can't seem to stay out of trouble--and now the run-ins at school have led to lockdown at home. So when G'ma, Scoob's favorite person on Earth, asks him to go on an impromptu road trip, he's in the RV faster…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• George

  Gino, Alex,

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  When people look at George, they think they see a boy. But she knows she's not a boy. She knows she's a girl. George thinks she'll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte's Web.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Same Sun Here

  House, Silas, 1971-

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  A twelve-year-old Indian immigrant in New York City and a Kentucky coal miner's son become pen pals, and eventually best friends, through a series of revealing letters exploring such topics as environmental activism, immigration, and racism.

• Blackbird Fly

  Kelly, Erin Entrada,

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  Bullied at school, eighth-grader Apple, a Filipino American who loves the music of the Beatles, decides to change her life by learning how to play the guitar.

• See You in the Cosmos

  Cheng, Jack, 1983-

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  Eleven-year-old Alex Petroski, along with his dog, Carl Sagan, makes big discoveries about his family on a road trip and he records it all on a golden iPod he intends to launch into space.

• Gracefully Grayson

  Polonsky, Ami

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  Grayson, a transgender twelve-year-old, learns to accept her true identity and share it with the world.

• The House That Lou Built

  Respicio, Mae,

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  Longing for an escape from her extended Filipino family, Lou plans to build a tiny house on land she inherited from her father, but difficulties quickly arise.

• Piecing Me Together

  Watson, Renée,

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  Tired of being singled out at her mostly-white private school as someone who needs support, high school junior Jade would rather participate in the school's amazing Study Abroad program than join Women to Women, a mentorship program for at-risk…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Counting by 7s

  Sloan, Holly Goldberg, 1958-

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  Twelve-year-old genius and outsider Willow Chance must figure out how to connect with other people and find a surrogate family for herself after her parents are killed in a car accident.

• My Basmati Bat Mitzvah

  Freedman, Paula J.

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  Tara Feinstein, proud of both her East Indian and Jewish heritage, questions what it means to have a bat mitzvah and deals with her own doubts about her faith.

• The Thing About Jellyfish

  Benjamin, Alison Wade,

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  Twelve-year-old genius and outsider Willow Chance must figure out how to connect with other people and find a surrogate family for herself after her parents are killed in a car accident.

• Breakout

  Messner, Kate,

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  From multiple perspectives, tells of a time capsule project and the middle schoolers who contribute, including future journalist Nora Tucker and newcomer Elidee Jones, whose brother is in the local prison.