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The Circus

Olivia Levez

To others, it might seem like Willow has all she could ever need, from a pony to a big house and even her own maid. Although, what others don’t realize is that since she was little the only thing Willow’s ever wanted, and never had, was a loving family that she could spend time with, ask advice from, a family that genuinely cares about her. On the verge of getting married to a woman half his age, Willow’s father never spent much time with her, opting to spend his hours working and having the maid play with/occupy Willow instead. Her mother left, joining the circus when Willow was young, leaving her and her father.

In this book, Olivia Levez tells the not-so-classic story of a girl (Willow) who runs away from home to join the circus. The book is filled with twists and turns as it follows Willow as she tries to survive on her own with nothing more than a bit of money and a few of her belongings. On the streets, Willow meets people who help her stay alive and follow her dream of joining the circus and others who will try to slow her down.

From the moment I started reading this book, I didn’t want to put it down. It will bring you through a rollercoaster of emotions, and you’ll just want to keep reading to figure out if Willow makes it. “The Circus” is a realistic fiction book, but it’s filled with adventure, humour and friendship. – Yara M.

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Chemistry Lessons

Meredith Goldstein

For seventeen-year-old Maya, the equation for happiness is simple: a dream internship at MIT + two new science nerd friends + a perfect boyfriend = one amazing summer. Then Whit dumps her out of the blue.

Maya is miserable until she discovers that her scientist mother, before she died, was conducting research on manipulating pheromones to enhance human attraction. If Maya can finish her mother’s work, maybe she can get Whit back. But when her experiment creates chaos in her love life, she realizes that maybe love and loss can’t be understood using the scientific method. Can she learn to trust the unmeasurables of love and attraction instead?

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Anger Is A Gift

Mark Oshiro

A story of resilience and loss, love and family, Mark Oshiro’s Anger is a Gift testifies to the vulnerability and strength of a community living within a system of oppression.

Six years ago, Moss Jefferies’ father was murdered by an Oakland police officer. Along with losing a parent, the media’s vilification of his father and lack of accountability has left Moss with near crippling panic attacks.

Now, in his sophomore year of high school, Moss and his fellow classmates find themselves increasingly treated like criminals by their own school. New rules. Random locker searches. Constant intimidation and Oakland Police Department stationed in their halls. Despite their youth, the students decide to organize and push back against the administration.

When tensions hit a fever pitch and tragedy strikes, Moss must face a difficult choice: give in to fear and hate or realize that anger can actually be a gift.

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Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief

Rick Riordan

Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson realizes that he is not like other kids his age and suspects there is an issue with his body, along with how he sees the world. That’s when he learns he is a half-blood; half-human, half-Greek God. Percy is the son of Poseidon, the Greek God of the Sea, who is the brother to Zeus and Hades. When taken to a Half-Blood camp, an organization for kids like Percy to escape and hide from monsters that attack half-bloods, Percy finds out that someone stole Zeus’s master bolt and that he is blaming Poseidon for the theft. If Poseidon fails to retrieve the master bolt and return it to Zeus on Mount Olympus, Zeus will declare war on his brother which will ultimately result in the downfall of the entire God and Goddess system. In order to save his father, Percy goes on a quest to retrieve Zeus’s master bolt along with other members of the camp where they meet monsters and Gods such as Medusa, notorious for her snake hair and ability to turn anyone to stone, Ares, the God of War, and Hades, the God of the Dead. Percy must fight off many of these beings and begins to learn dark truths regarding his family and the plans for potentially the most significant war of all time between the big three Gods, Hades, Zeus and Poseidon. Unfortunately, a twist occurs where Percy becomes responsible for the theft of Zeus’s master bolt.

This novel, along with the other books in series, is an exciting, mysterious and suspenseful story, especially for those readers that have an interest in Greek Mythology. It can teach readers to be determined in any project and advises them to protect one another like family. This story keeps the reader guessing and allows them to develop an interest in fantasy style novels, and fall in love with a potential hero. I would recommend this book to readers above grade 7. -Eesa K.

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Flight

Jae Waller

Philip Pullman meets Avatar in a new epic fantasy series

Seventeen-year-old Kateiko doesn’t want to be Rin anymore — not if it means sacrificing lives to protect the dead. Her only way out is to join another tribe, a one-way trek through the coastal rainforest. Killing a colonial soldier in the woods isn’t part of the plan. Neither is spending the winter with Tiernan, an immigrant who keeps a sword with his carpentry tools. His log cabin leaks and his stories about other worlds raise more questions than they answer.

Then the air spirit Suriel, long thought dormant, resurrects a war. For Kateiko, protecting other tribes in her confederacy is atonement. For Tiernan, war is a return to the military life he’s desperate to forget.

Leaving Tiernan means losing the one man Kateiko trusts. Staying with him means abandoning colonists to a death sentence. In a region tainted by prejudice and on the brink of civil war, she has to decide what’s worth dying — or killing — for.

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Everything Everything

Nicola Yoon

Her name is Madeline, Madeline Whittier, the girl who’s allergic to the world. Her disease is so rare that she has not left her house in 17 years. The only people she ever sees are her nurse and her mother until one day she sees a moving truck across the street. That is when she sees him. He’s tall and lean, and his name is Olly. Maddie knows she is going to fall in love with Olly, but she also knows that it’s impossible – they would never be able to see each other. She has always wanted to travel the world but cannot due to her disease.

This book will give you butterflies inside, and it is just a gorgeous and well-told novel. It will keep you up for hours on end. This extraordinary novel is the new The Fault in our Stars. Sometimes we are too afraid to take risks, and then you realize that the biggest risk is not taking one at all. –Ali M.

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Lifel1k3

Jay Kristoff

On a floating junkyard beneath a radiation sky, a deadly secret lies buried in the scrap.

Eve isn’t looking for secrets—she’s too busy looking over her shoulder. The robot gladiator she’s just spent six months building has been reduced to a smoking wreck, and the only thing keeping her Grandpa from the grave was the fistful of credits she just lost to the bookies. To top it off, she’s discovered she can destroy electronics with the power of her mind, and the puritanical Brotherhood are building a coffin her size. If she’s ever had a worse day, Eve can’t remember it.

But when Eve discovers the ruins of an android boy named Ezekiel in the scrap pile she calls home, her entire world comes crashing down. With her best friend Lemon Fresh and her robotic conscience, Cricket, in tow, she and Ezekiel will trek across deserts of irradiated glass, infiltrate towering megacities and scour the graveyard of humanity’s greatest folly to save the ones Eve loves, and learn the dark secrets of her past.

Even if those secrets were better off staying buried.

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Before I Let Go

Marieke Nijkamp

Best friends Corey and Kyra were inseparable in their snow-covered town of Lost Creek, Alaska. When Corey moves away, she makes Kyra promise to stay strong during the long, dark winter, and wait for her return.

Just days before Corey is to return home to visit, Kyra dies. Corey is devastated—and confused. The entire Lost community speaks in hushed tones about the town’s lost daughter, saying her death was meant to be. In addition, they push Corey away as if she is a stranger.

Corey knows something is wrong. With every hour, her suspicion grows. Lost is keeping secrets—chilling secrets. Piecing together the truth about what happened to her best friend may prove as difficult as lighting the sky in an Alaskan winter…

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Tempests and Slaughter

Tamora Pierce

Arram Draper is on the path to becoming one of the realm’s most powerful mages. The youngest student in his class at the Imperial University of Carthak, he has a Gift with unlimited potential for greatness–and for attracting trouble. At his side are his two best friends: Varice, a clever girl with an often-overlooked talent, and Ozorne, the “leftover prince” with secret ambitions.

Together, these three friends forge a bond that will one day shape kingdoms. As Ozorne gets closer to the throne and Varice gets closer to Arram’s heart, Arram realizes that one day–soon–he will have to decide where his loyalties truly lie.

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Masterminds: Criminal Destiny

Gordon Korman

Masterminds: Criminal Destiny is the long-awaited continuation of the cliffhanger in book one, Masterminds. In this second book of the Masterminds trilogy, we follow four kids, Eli, Malik, Tori, and Amber who are running from their peaceful town named Serenity.

 

These kids have uncovered that their true identities are clones of criminal masterminds, and that their entire lives have all been a scientific experiment. Now they have to travel and navigate through the states, find billionaire Tamara Dunleavy, and avoid the purple people eaters. These problems are a lot of for a few kids to handle, so when they are put in multiple fly-or-die situations, these 4 clones have to use their criminal abilities to help themselves.

 

They are attempting to expose the scientists behind project Osiris and get justice for themselves and the others back in Serenity. This is a thrilling book and is so interesting that you will not be able to put it down even for a second. Not only is this book entertaining, but it is also a thoughtful book. It makes you constantly wonder what you would do in a situation like this even if it were to be highly unlikely. Masterminds: Criminal Destiny is another great book by the fantastic author, Gordon Korman and fans will not be disappointed to continue reading this series. A wonderful series for grades 4-6. – Aquilin C.

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