Malibu Rising is the story of the four children of mega-star Mick Rivera. Told around the events of one day, with throwbacks to moments in their childhood that help the reader understand the current-day events, this story is an addictive page-turner.

So many people helped and participated in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Georgia Gilmore ensure everyone was well fed, despite the personal losses it caused her.

Alan Gratz does it again with this fabulous book. WWll through the eyes of the son of an Irish spy family in Germany, who works his way into the Hitler Youth to gain information for the Allies. Adventure and high suspense will draw in many Middle Grades readers. I also love that the reader always learns so much about history, and some of the lesser known details of history, from his stories.

A beautiful and simply written novel-in-verse about the day Pearl Habour was bombed and the day Hiroshima was bombed from the perspective of two kids, and how the meeting of these two people many years brought their stories together.

Loved this historical fiction novel about Hanna and her dad moving from LA to the Dakota territory in 1890. Being half-Chinese causes Hanna to face racism and intolerance every day in her new home. Hanna's perspective of this time in history is one I haven't read before and I learned a lot about what they faced while trying to find a place to call home.

Another beautiful novel-in-verse for middle grade readers. Reha is an American-born Indian girl who struggles with what she feels are her two separate worlds- her American friends in her American school and her family time which is steeped in Indian culture and traditions. She often wonders if she can ever combine these worlds so that she can be both more easily. Reha loves her mom but sometimes finds that she hinders her wants with her American friends.
Devastating news hits her family and Reha is left doubting her wants for her American life and reeling from the sadness that surrounds her in her home life.
Eloquently told from Reha’s perspective, the reader is witness to Reha’s turmoil and discovery that the two parts of her life are actually one.

This lovely book enthralled me from the beginning. Set in the 1920s, Ophie is a young black girl who is awoken by her dad one night and he tells her to get her mom and go hide. This warning ends up saving their lives. She also hears later that her dad died much earlier that evening and she is told that he couldn’t have warned her. It is then that she starts to realise that she is able to communicate with ghosts. When she and her mom get a job as servants in a huge mansion she meets more ghosts and decides to help solve a mysterious death that happened many years earlier. An interesting story mixed with historical facts makes this a fantastic book.

What a book! Alan Gratz has an amazing ability to draw middle-grade students into history in captivating ways. This story of a Jewish boy during WWII in Germany and his years in concentration camps is both haunting and horrifying, however, it is done in a way that is accessible to Middle Grades students.

This book still sits on my list of best books I have ever read. I have read it to numerous groups of kids and every time it has been a bonding experience as we read this book. The collective gasps and tears as we read the stories of Josef (Germany 1939), Isabel (Cuba 1994) and Mahmood (Syria 2015) and their escapes and hope for better lives is something I won't soon forget.