Holding up the universe by Jennifer Niven
Everyone thinks they know Libby Strout, the girl once dubbed “America’s Fattest Teen.” But no one’s taken the time to look past her weight to get to know who she really is. Following her mom’s death, she’s been picking up the pieces in the privacy of her home, dealing with her heartbroken father and her own grief. Now, Libby’s ready: for high school, for new friends, for love, and for every possibility life has to offer. In that moment, I know the part I want to play here at MVB High. I want to be the girl who can do anything.
Everyone thinks they know Jack Masselin, too. Yes, he’s got swagger, but he’s also mastered the impossible art of giving people what they want, of fitting in. What no one knows is that Jack has a newly acquired secret: he can’t recognize faces. Even his own brothers are strangers to him. He’s the guy who can re-engineer and rebuild anything, but he can’t understand what’s going on with the inner workings of his brain. So he tells himself to play it cool: Be charming. Be hilarious. Don’t get too close to anyone.
Until he meets Libby. When the two get tangled up in a cruel high school game—which lands them in group counseling and community service—Libby and Jack are both pissed, and then surprised. Because the more time they spend together, the less alone they feel. Because sometimes when you meet someone, it changes the world, theirs and yours.
The song from somewhere else / A.F. Harrold ; illustrated by Levi Pinfold
Frank doesn't know how to feel when Nick Underbridge rescues her from bullies one afternoon. No one likes Nick. He's big, he's weird and he smells – or so everyone in Frank's class thinks.
And yet, there's something nice about Nick's house. There's strange music playing there, and it feels light and good and makes Frank feel happy for the first time in forever.
But there's more to Nick, and to his house, than meets the eye, and soon Frank realises she isn't the only one keeping secrets. Or the only one who needs help
Crow country by Kate Constable
When Sadie moves back to her mother's home town in country Victoria, she finds herself drawn to the dried-up lake where eerie carved standing stones have recently been revealed. The wheeling crows seem to speak to her about an old wrong shemust set right, and she finds herself catapulted back to a time just after World War I. Three young men have just returned from the war: Sadie's grandfather who runs the local shop, the local landowner, and Jimmy Raven, an Indigenous stockman who works on the landowner's farm. Sadie discovers that Jimmy was killed under mysterious circumstances and that her grandfather helped cover it up. Back in her own time, Sadie befriends Walter, a boy from Mildura who may have a connection to Jimmy. Can Sadie and Walter work through the mystery and prevent a similar tragedy happening in their own time?
Scythe Neal Shusterman
A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery: humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now Scythes are the only ones who can end life and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control. Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe -- a role that neither wants. These teens must master the art of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.
The door that led to where by Sally Gardner
When the present offers no hope for the future, the answers may lie in the past. AJ Flynn has just failed all but one of his GCSEs, and his future is looking far from rosy. So when he is offered a junior position at a London law firm he hopes his life is about to change - but he could never have imagined how much. Tidying up the archive one day, AJ finds an old key, mysteriously labelled with his name and date of birth - and he becomes determined to find the door that fits the key. And so begins an amazing journey to a very real and tangible past - 1830, to be precise - where the streets of modern Clerkenwell are replaced with cobbles and carts, and the law can be twisted to suit a villain's means.
Dragonkeeper by Carole Wilkinson
In the year 141 B.C., Ping is an illiterate Chinese orphan who lives on the edge of one of the Emperor's least-used royal palaces. Her master is a boorish drunk who neglects his duties as Imperial Dragon Keeper. Under his watch, the Emperor's dragons have dwindled from a magnificent dozen to a miserable two. When the next to last dies, the remaining dragon, Long Danzi, coaxes Ping into helping him flee to the faraway ocean. Early on in the journey, Ping knows the dragon and the mysterious purple stone he carries are very special. But how is it that a grubby slave girl has come to be the keeper of the last imperial dragon? Only when the friends reach their destination will Ping be able to see herself as Danzi sees her, and learn to use the unique talents she alone possesses.
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Wonder is the funny, sweet and incredibly moving story of Auggie Pullman. Auggie wants to be an ordinary ten-year-old, but he is far from ordinary. Born with a terrible facial deformity, this shy, bright ten-year-old has been home-schooled by his parents for his whole life, in an attempt to protect him from the stares and cruelty of the outside world. Now, for the first time, Auggie is being sent to a real school - and he's dreading it. Auggie sees himself as just an ordinary kid and all he wants is to be accepted. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, underneath it all?
Freaks and revelations by Davida Wills Hurwin
Doug is a seventeen year old with an abusive father and a group of neo-Nazi friends. Jason is fourteen years old, gay and homeless. Based on true events, this raw and gripping novel follows these two teens as their lives spiral toward each other, allleading up to one tragic, fateful night.
Everybody sees the ants by A.S. King
Overburdened by his parents' bickering and a bully's attacks, fifteen-year-old Lucky Linderman begins dreaming of being with his grandfather, who went missing during the Vietnam War, but during a visit to Arizona, his aunt and uncle and their beautiful neighbour, Ginny, help him find a new perspective.
#Girlboss by Sophia Amoruso
The first thing Sophia Amoruso sold online wasn't fashion - it was a stolen book. She spent her teens hitchhiking, committing petty theft, and dumpster diving. By twenty-two, she had resigned herself to employment, but was still broke, directionless,and working a mediocre day job she'd taken for the health insurance. It was there that Sophia decided to start selling vintage clothes on eBay. Eight years later, she is the founder, CEO, and creative director of Nasty Gal, a $100 million plus online fashion retailer with more than 350 employees. #Girlboss is for outsiders (and insiders) seeking a unique path to success. It includes Sophia's story, and is filled with brazen wake-up calls, cunning and frank observations, and behind-the-scenes stories from Nasty Gal's meteoric rise.
Ungifted by Gordon Korman
The word gifted has never been applied to a kid like Donovan Curtis. It's usually more like "Don't try this at home". So when the troublemaker pulls a major prank at his middle school, he thinks he's finally gone too far. But thanks to a mix-up by one of the administrators, instead of getting in trouble, Donovan is sent to the Academy of Scholastic Distinction (ASD), a special program for gifted and talented students.
It wasn't exactly what Donovan had intended, but there couldn't be a more perfect hideout for someone like him. That is, if he can manage to fool people whose IQs are above genius level. And that becomes harder and harder as the students and teachers of ASD grow to realize that Donovan may not be good at math or science (or just about anything). But after an ongoing experiment with a live human (sister), an unforgettably dramatic middle-school dance, and the most astonishing come-from-behind robot victory ever, Donovan shows that his gifts might be exactly what the ASD students never knew they needed.
Paper planes by Steve Worland
One paper plane flies straight and fast and true. Dylan's. Twelve-year-old Dylan Webber lives in outback Western Australia in a small country town. When he discovers he has a talent for folding and flying paper planes, Dylan begins a journeyto reach the World Junior Paper Plane Championships in Japan. Along the way he makes unlikely new friends, clashes with powerful rivals and comes to terms with his family's past before facing his greatest challenge - to create a paper plane that will compete with the best in the world.
