Drita, My Homegirl
Drita, My Homegirl

Author: Jenny Lombard

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2008-05-15

Total Pages: 145

ISBN-13: 1101200545

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A poignant story about the difficulties of leaving everything behind and the friendships that help you get through it. Fleeing war-torn Kosovo, ten-year-old Drita and her family move to America with the dream of living a typical American life. But with this hope comes the struggle to adapt and fit in. How can Drita find her place at school and in her new neighborhood when she doesn't speak any English? Meanwhile, Maxie and her group of fourth-grade friends are popular in their class, and make an effort to ignore Drita. So when their teacher puts Maxie and Drita together for a class project, things get off to a rocky start. But sometimes, when you least expect it, friendship can bloom and overcome even a vast cultural divide.

Drita, My Homegirl
Drita, My Homegirl

Author: Jenny Lombard

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2008-05-15

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13: 9780142409053

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A poignant story about the difficulties of leaving everything behind and the friendships that help you get through it. Fleeing war-torn Kosovo, ten-year-old Drita and her family move to America with the dream of living a typical American life. But with this hope comes the struggle to adapt and fit in. How can Drita find her place at school and in her new neighborhood when she doesn't speak any English? Meanwhile, Maxie and her group of fourth-grade friends are popular in their class, and make an effort to ignore Drita. So when their teacher puts Maxie and Drita together for a class project, things get off to a rocky start. But sometimes, when you least expect it, friendship can bloom and overcome even a vast cultural divide.

Dreidels on the Brain
Dreidels on the Brain

Author: Joel ben Izzy

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2016-10-04

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 0698141660

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At last a great American Hanukkah story! This very funny, very touching novel of growing up Jewish has the makings of a holiday classic. One lousy miracle. Is that too much to ask? Evidently so for Joel, as he tries to survive Hannukah, 1971 in the suburbs of the suburbs of Los Angeles (or, as he calls it, “The Land of Shriveled Dreams”). That’s no small task when you’re a “seriously funny-looking” twelve-year-old magician who dreams of being his own superhero: Normalman. And Joel’s a long way from that as the only Jew at Bixby School, where his attempts to make himself disappear fail spectacularly. Home is no better, with a family that’s not just mortifyingly embarrassing but flat-out broke. That’s why Joel’s betting everything on these eight nights, to see whether it’s worth believing in God or miracles or anything at all. Armed with his favorite jokes, some choice Yiddish words, and a suitcase full of magic tricks, he’s scrambling to come to terms with the world he lives in—from hospitals to Houdini to the Holocaust—before the last of the candles burns out. No wonder his head is spinning: He’s got dreidels on the brain. And little does he know that what’s actually about to happen to him and his family this Hanukkah will be worse than he’d feared . . . And better than he could have imagined.

The Accidental Afterlife of Thomas Marsden
The Accidental Afterlife of Thomas Marsden

Author: Emma Trevayne

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2015-07-28

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 144249882X

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At age twelve, grave robber Thomas Marsden discovers a boy who looks just like him in an unmarked grave and begins a journey of discovery as he learns of faeries trapped in London and their hope that he can return them to their realm.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Author: William Kamkwamba

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2015-02-05

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 1101637420

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Now a Netflix film starring and directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor, this is a gripping memoir of survival and perseverance about the heroic young inventor who brought electricity to his Malawian village. When a terrible drought struck William Kamkwamba's tiny village in Malawi, his family lost all of the season's crops, leaving them with nothing to eat and nothing to sell. William began to explore science books in his village library, looking for a solution. There, he came up with the idea that would change his family's life forever: he could build a windmill. Made out of scrap metal and old bicycle parts, William's windmill brought electricity to his home and helped his family pump the water they needed to farm the land. Retold for a younger audience, this exciting memoir shows how, even in a desperate situation, one boy's brilliant idea can light up the world. Complete with photographs, illustrations, and an epilogue that will bring readers up to date on William's story, this is the perfect edition to read and share with the whole family.

Save Me a Seat (Scholastic Gold)
Save Me a Seat (Scholastic Gold)

Author: Sarah Weeks

Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

Published: 2016-05-10

Total Pages: 186

ISBN-13: 0545846625

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A new friend could be sitting right next to you. Save Me a Seat joins the Scholastic Gold line, which features award-winning and beloved novels. Includes exclusive bonus content!Joe and Ravi might be from very different places, but they're both stuck in the same place: SCHOOL.Joe's lived in the same town all his life, and was doing just fine until his best friends moved away and left him on his own. Ravi's family just moved to America from India, and he's finding it pretty hard to figure out where he fits in.Joe and Ravi don't think they have anything in common -- but soon enough they have a common enemy (the biggest bully in their class) and a common mission: to take control of their lives over the course of a single crazy week.

The Crossing
The Crossing

Author: Gary Paulsen

Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

Published: 2014-05-27

Total Pages: 78

ISBN-13: 0545748097

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From the Newbery Award–winning, New York Times–bestselling author of Northwind. “A stark, moving portrait of Mexican poverty and street life.” —School Library Journal Fourteen-year-old Manny is an orphan in Juarez, Mexico. He competes with his bigger, meaner rivals for the coins American tourists throw off the bridge between Texas and his town. Across that heavily guarded bridge await a different world and a better existence. On the night when Manny dares the crossing—through the muddy shallows of the Rio Grande, past the searchlights and the border patrol—the young man encounters an old stranger who could prove to be an ally or an enemy. Manny can’t tell for certain. But if he is to achieve his dream, then he must be willing to risk everything—even his life. “Paulsen . . . is skilled at pace, incident and characterization, and he uses them to pull the reader to the memorable—and powerful—last scene . . . A book for older children and teenagers who will not want to put it down.” —Kirkus Reviews “Any work by such a proficient writer, who invokes a powerful sense of the tragic in readers young and old, is welcome indeed.” —Publishers Weekly

Letters from Rifka
Letters from Rifka

Author: Karen Hesse

Publisher: Henry Holt and Company (BYR)

Published: 2009-01-06

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 1466801328

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From Newbery media winner Karen Hesse comes an unforgettable story of an immigrant family's journey to America. "America," the girl repeated. "What will you do there?" I was silent for a little time. "I will do everything there," I answered. Rifka knows nothing about America when she flees from Russia with her family in 1919. But she dreams that in the new country she will at last be safe from the Russian soldiers and their harsh treatment of the Jews. Throughout her journey, Rifka carries with her a cherished volume of poetry by Alexander Pushkin. In it, she records her observations and experiences in the form of letters to Tovah, the beloved cousin she has left behind. Strong-hearted and determined, Rifka must endure a great deal: humiliating examinations by doctors and soldiers, deadly typhus, separation from all she has ever known and loved, murderous storms at sea, detainment on Ellis Island--and is if this is not enough, the loss of her glorious golden hair. Based on a true story from the author's family, Letters from Rifka presents a real-life heroine with an uncommon courage and unsinkable spirit.

Abduction!
Abduction!

Author: Peg Kehret

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2006-04-20

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 1101661666

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Matt is missing. Bonnie's brother left his classroom to use thebathroom —and disappeared. A police dog traces his scent to the curb, where he apparently got into a vehicle. But why would Matt go anywhere with a stranger? Overwhelmed with fear, Bonnie discovers that her dog is gone, too. Was Pookie used as a lure for Matt? Bonnie makes one big mistake in her attempt to find her brother. In a chilling climax on a Washington State ferry, Bonnie and Matt must outsmart their abductor or pay with their lives.

Paper Wishes
Paper Wishes

Author: Lois Sepahban

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2016-01-05

Total Pages: 146

ISBN-13: 0374302170

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Ten-year-old Manami did not realize how peaceful her family's life on Bainbridge Island was until the day it all changed. It's 1942, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and Manami and her family are Japanese American, which means that the government says they must leave their home by the sea and join other Japanese Americans at a prison camp in the desert. Manami is sad to go, but even worse is that they are going to have to give her and her grandfather's dog, Yujiin, to a neighbor to take care of. Manami decides to sneak Yujiin under her coat and gets as far as the mainland before she is caught and forced to abandon Yujiin. She and her grandfather are devastated, but Manami clings to the hope that somehow Yujiin will find his way to the camp and make her family whole again. It isn't until she finds a way to let go of her guilt that Manami can reclaim the piece of herself that she left behind and accept all that has happened to her family.