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Showing posts from September, 2021

BUCKLE UP, ME HEARTIES: BEST YA PIRATE STORIES

  Tika Viteri   Sep 23, 2021 It’s spooky season my friends, and that means stories about ghosts and ghouls and creepy-crawlies that go bump in the night. Many of us could — and do! — read Halloween-y books year ’round, but occasionally we need to look around for a good old fashioned palate cleanser. And what’s that I see on the horizon, sailing out of a clear blue sky, with red sails and an ominously skeletal flag? Is that…a  pirate ship ? Who doesn’t love a story of dashing, derring-do and some swashbuckling in the bargain? Ahoy are stories of ships and the sea and magic and mermaids. Airships and kissing, love and loss and everything in between.  Pirates continue to capture the imagination because they refuse to follow the rules of the land, instead taking what they can and giving nothing back. They are dangerous, but often have a soft heart (in literature, at least), and the denizens of a pirate ship are made up of the ultimate group of misfits. Misfits whose criteria for adding a c

ROCK OUT WITH THESE YA BOOKS ABOUT BANDS

by Tirzah Price 9/15/21 IT GOES LIKE THIS  BY MIEL MORELAND Once upon a time, Eva, Celeste, Gina, and Steph were middle school best friends who formed a band, never imagining the heights it would take them. Now, their friendship and their band is falling apart, along with Eva and Celeste’s romantic relationship. As the members go their separate ways, Eva finds herself lost and confused and unable to tear herself away from the good old days, uncertain of her future. But when a devastating storm hits their hometown and the members reunite for one last benefit concert, will it bring them to closure they need, or just drive them even further apart? SUPER FAKE LOVE SONG  BY DAVID YOON It’s love at first sight for Sunny when he meets Cirrus, daughter of his parents’ friends. Cirrus is impossibly cool, and Sunny wants to impress her…so much so that when Cirrus mistakes his estranged older brother’s bedroom, filled with rock music and instruments, as his, he lies and says that he’s the front m

Young Adult Books by Latinx and Hispanic Authors

  Here are some titles written by notable Latinx and Hispanic authors!  Check them out~ When We Make It by Elisabet Velasquez We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez The Fall of Innocence by Jenny Torres Sanchez Sanctuary by Paola Mendoza and Abby Sher This is How We Fly by Anna Meriano Imaginary Borders by Xiuhtezcatl Martinez Concrete Kids by Amyra Leon Perfectly Parvin by Olivia Abtahi Juliet Take a Breath by Gabby Rivera The Grief Keeper by Alexandra Villasante Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson Beyond the Break by Heather Buchta When I am Through With You by Stephanie Kuehn Living Beyond Borders: Growing Up Mexican in America Food-Related Stories by Gaby Melian Diamond Park by Phillippe Diederich Chasing After Knight by Heather Buchta

Hi-Lo Titles for Striving Readers

 Kathryn Ferrante - SLJ July 2021 Hi-lo (high-interest, lower reading level) books are designed to meet striving readers where they are.  With fast-paced plots and controlled vocabularies, hi-lo titles are written with readability and accessibility in mind. This becomes all the more important at the secondary level, where students who are reading below grade level should be engaged with age-appropriate stories that are relevant to them. Hi-lo texts for the middle and high school audience typically run 100 to 200 pages with short chapters, easy-to-read fonts, and plenty of white space. While realistic fiction is the most common genre, these readable texts can span a wide range of interests, and the below selections include sports, action, horror, and fantasy. With diverse characters dealing with authentic, real-life issues, these hi-lo titles will appeal to a plethora of ­interests and are recommended for collections serving tweens and teens. Middle School BATES, Sonya Spreen.   Oh Brot