Assignment:
Choose one realistic fiction novel appropriate for your age and reading level. Consider choosing a title that explores one of the following themes. Please do not select a title that you read for English during grades 6-8.
Discrimination
Family Dynamics
Overcoming an Obstacle
Facing a Personal Challenge
As you read, please create one of the following that focuses on the theme of the novel and supporting evidence as you read:
Annotations in the margins
Post it notes
Reading journal
Your Librarian Recommends:
Discrimination
The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
/ facing deportation as an immigrant
Inventing Victoria by Tonya Bolden
/ 1880’s society as a young black woman
A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi
/ post-9/11 as a Muslim American girl in NYC
The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry
/ the Crusades in France as a woman with “healing powers”
Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome
/ being a young black man during the Great Migration
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
/ facing the justice system as a young black man
Monday’s Not Coming Back by Tiffany D. Jackson
/ the disappearance of a young black woman
We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson
/ surviving bullies as LGBTQ+
Family Dynamics
Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld
/ lying to Indian-American parents about going to college
If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo
/ parent-child relationships after coming out as trans
When Rishi Met Dimple by Sandhya Menon
/ the complications of arranged marriages
Far from the Tree by Robin Benway
/ three different siblings separated by adoption
I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
/ keeping secrets from your twin / LGBTQ+
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
/ coming from a religious family in Harlem
The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson
/ a daughter’s relationship with her veteran father who has PTSD
Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt
/ about being a father at 13 years old and what it costs
Overcoming an Obstacle
Brave Enough by Kati Gardner
/ overcoming physical disability as an athlete
The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkalf
/ overcoming OCD during the 1969 race riots of Kuala Lumpur
The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney
/ surviving the Darfur genocide in 2003
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
/ fighting for freedom as a slave during the Revolutionary War
This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp
/ surviving a gun shooting on the first day of school
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
/ overcoming peer expectations as LGBTQ+
Pandemic by Yvonne Ventresca
/ surviving mass sickness
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
/ solving a mystery as an autistic boy
Facing a Personal Challenge
Pointe by Brandy Colbert
/ when being a snitch means saving your friend at the cost of your reputation
Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
/ anger management meets swim team
Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
/ moving to Iran while suffering from depression
Exit, Pursued By a Bear by E.K. Johnston
/ what it takes to get better after sexual assault
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
/ the personal challenges of a family that loves basketball
All the Bright Places by Jennifer Nixen
/ mental illness and what it does to relationships
We Are Okay by Nina LaCour
/ overcoming a break-up as an LGTBQ+ teen
Spoiler Alert 