The Midnight Children by Dan Gemeinhart

 Ravani Foster lives in Slaughterville, so named because of the slaughterhouse.  He is a quiet kid, and somewhat a sensitive kid who doesn't fit in and gets bullied.   His dad works at the slaughterhouse and on occasion Ravani has to take his lunch to him.  He HATES going to the slaughterhouse.  (and I do too after reading this book).  One night Ravani sees a large truck pull up to the empty house across the street and seven kids climb out and go into the house, but the next day nothing looks different.  The house still looks empty.  As Ravani is coming home from delivering papers, he sees some of the kids and ends up making friends with them, especially Virginia.  Ravani finds out the children have a BIG secret and a dangerous secret and they include him on the secret, but it accidentally gets out and danger is coming. 

Awesome story about friendship and differences in people.  The slaughterhouse descriptions are not exactly graphic, but they are pretty disgusting so I would recommend grades 6 and up.

The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill

 

Stone-in-the-Glen used to be a wonderful town, full of generosity and kindness, but the library burned down, houses burned down, and people started moving away. An ogress moved near the town and built herself a house and was able to grow lovely crops that she decided to share with the town anonymously.  When people started struggling to provide for themselves and were told to take care of themselves, they started becoming a tad selfish and tunnel visioned to only themselves.  The orphans who lived there struggled to provide for everyone, but no one was paying attention, until one of them decided to run away to have one less mouth to feed.  The ogress found her in the woods and took care of her, but returned her to the town.  In doing so, it started a chain reaction of what was really going on and how to get the town back to the wonderful place it used to be.

Lovely story with great themes to teach about.  Great for grades 4 and up.

A Taste of Magic by J. Elle

Kyana lives with her single mom and grandma in the inner-city.  Her mom works several jobs and her grandma kind of runs the house.  When Kyana turns 12 and discovers she is a witch,  she finds out her family has had witches in it for a long time.  She also discovers there has been magic all around her neighborhood, that she now can see.  She starts to attend magic school in the back of a hair salon and she is excited to start to learn all the different skills and specialties she can until the funding for her school disappears. She comes up with an idea to enter a baking contest to win money to fund the school, but when she adds a little magic in things go horribly wrong.

Loved this telling about family, hard work and not judging people from first impressions.  This is the first book in the series of Park Row Magic Academy.  Grades 5 and up.

 

Long Live the Pumpkin Queen by Shea Ernshaw

Sally Skellington is the new Pumpkin Queen, but she is shy and wants to just be behind the scenes.  She discovers another door in a tree to another world, Dream Town, and accidentally lets out the Sandman.  He puts all of Halloween Town to sleep along with all the other Holiday worlds and our world as well.  As she tries to save everyone, she goes into Dream Town to find answers, but in turn discovers who she truly is and her inner strength.

This book was just okay.  If you are a Nightmare Before Christmas fan, you will love it.  Fine for grades 5 and up.

 

The Swag is in the Socks by Kelly J. Baptist

 

Xavier lives with his Aunt Kat and his sister.  As he turns 12,  his Uncle Frankie Bell gives him a pair of crazy looking socks with some challenge to get out there and do things.  Xavier wants to be part of a service organization at school that his dad was in and Frankie Bell were in.  However, when he applies, because he is pretty quiet and keeps to himself, he doesn't get in.  He decides to work to getting in in the spring and with a little help from Frankie Bell's socks and advice challenges, Xavier starts to break out of his shell.

Love, love, love this book so much!  Xavier's parents are incarcerated, his aunt is raising he and his sister on a low income, but there is so much heart in this book and Xavier works hard and it pays off. Great for grades 4 and up. 

Wave by Diana Farid

 

1987 Southern California...13 year old Ava is looking forward to summer surfing and spending time with her best friend Phoenix.  Her mother, who is a doctor, tells her she has to come volunteer at the hospital where she works, which Ava doesn't love, she has extra practice for her solo part in the 4th of July celebration, she ends up breaking her leg so surfing is out and Phoenix's lymphoma comes back.  The summer does not shape up like she wanted, but it is a realistic portrayal of life.

Written in verse with a mix tape selection at the end, I LOVED this book.   

Ravenous Things by Derrick Chow

Reggie Wong has lost his father.  His mother doesn't seem to be dealing well with it and has basically closed herself off from everything.  When Reggie meets the Conductor, who promises him his hearts desire to get his dad back, he goes on a subway with all the other kids who have been promised the same thing.  After he is reunited with his dad, he realizes something is not right and that his dad is not the same.  They start to relive the same day over and over and Reggie finds out it is all a hoax, however when he tries to return home he and his friends realize the Conductor has taken over their lives and their town.  They wonder if things will ever go back to how it should be.

This is loosely based on the Pied Piper.  Great creepy, crawly book.  I listened to the audio book for part of it and read the rest because I just had to finish to find out what happened.  Great for grades 4 and up.