September Reader’s Choice: Youth-Recommended Reads
Stories – Rex School’s First Day of School by Rex, Adam
Annotation: When Frederick Douglass Elementary opens, the school is nervous that it may not like having the little kids inside. But after an exciting first day, the school is ready to invite all of the children back. For grades K-3.
DB54794, BR17950, JBR Par Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus by Park, Barbara
Annotation: Junie B. is almost six years old and is starting kindergarten. She worries for a week about riding the yellow school bus and doesn’t like her first trip on it at all. So she decides not to ride it home after school. For grades K-3.
DB103584 Judy Moody: Book Quiz Whiz by McDonald, Megan
Annotation: As Judy and the rest of the Virginia Dare Bookworms prepare for the Book Quiz Blowout competition against Braintree Academy, her team discovers the other group has a secret weapon and worries about their chance of winning. For grades 2-4.
DB122071 Not Really Buddies by Carr, Jan
Annotation: It is the first day of second grade and already Buddy is disappointed because his class has a new teacher, not the one he wanted, and there is a new student, Bea, who is boisterous and much too pushy for the reserved Buddy–and who insists that they are friends. For grades 2-4.
DB113093 The First Helping by Krosoczka, Jarrett
Annotation: Serving justice…and lunch! Hector, Terrence, and Dee have always wondered about their school lunch lady. What does she do when she isn’t dishing out the daily special? Where does she live? Does she have a lot of cats at home? Little do they know, Lunch Lady doesn’t just serve sloppy joes—she serves justice! Whatever danger lies ahead, it’s no match for LUNCH LADY in these two exciting adventures packed into one audiobook! Get ready for the return of this exciting series, by the author of Hey, Kiddo. For grades 3-6.
BRG04149 The Tiny Hero of Ferny Creek Library by Bailey, Linda
Annotation: Eddie is a tiny green bug who loves to read and who lives behind the chalkboard in Mr. Wang’s fourth-grade classroom with his parents, his 53 brothers and sisters, and his Aunt Min. But when Aunt Min goes to the school library and never returns, Eddie goes to rescue her, dodging running sneakers, falling books, and terrifying spiders. At the library, Eddie finds Aunt Min stuck on a desk with two broken legs! To top it all off, there’s a substitute librarian who has terrible plans to close the library and turn it into a local testing center. Encouraged by the brave deeds done by small creatures like Stuart Little and Charlotte from “Charlotte’s Web”, Eddie comes up with a plan to save the library–a plan that requires all the courage one little bug can muster. Grades 3-6.
DBG03366 My Name is Mitch by Supeene, Shelagh Lynne
Annotation: Mitch MacLeod is the smallest kid in grade six but he has a great sense of humour and a strong backbone. He can’t read very well, in fact his grade one reading buddy can read better than him. Then things start to change when he stands up to Philip, his arch-enemy, and when his dad moves back to town. Grades 4-7.
DB100561 Things Seen from Above by Pearsall, Shelley
Annotation: Looking to escape the sixth-grade lunch hour social scene, April volunteers for the Buddy Bench at recess. Her perspective shifts after she encounters and observes Joey, a boy who wanders the playground and carries his own special story. For grades 4-7.
DBG08643 FaceSpace by Chamberlain, Adrian
Annotation: Danny McBride is not the coolest kid in school. And if the other kids knew he spent his Saturday nights playing Parcheesi with his mom and working on a city made of Lego blocks, he’d be even less cool. Danny wants more than anything to be popular. He creates a fictional British rocker named James and befriends him publicly online, hoping his make-believe friend’s cool will rub off. Grades 5-8.
DB105107 Defending Champ by Lupica, Mike
Annotation: When the girls’ soccer team learns it has been canceled due to budget cuts, they come up with a plan to raise the necessary funds through a face-off with the boys’ team, which is led by a sneering superstar. For grades 6-9.
DB120165 Ellie Haycock is Totally Normal by Schreiber, Gretchen.
Annotation: Ellie, a high schooler with a rare genetic condition, navigates the divide between her “hospital-life” and “home-life,” as a hospital stay brings her closer to Ryan, who challenges her perspective and makes her consider the extraordinary possibilities of her life. For young adult readers.
DB122844 The Legacies by Goodman, Jessica
Annotation: Membership to the exclusive Legacy Club in New York City gives you a lifetime of access to power and wealth beyond any prep school doors. Legacy Club members always look out for their own– aftr you make it through a rigorous week of events and the extravagant gala, the Legacy Ball. Excelsior Prep seniors Bernie Kaplan, Isobel Rothcroft, and Skyler Hawkins are no surprise as nominees: their family pedigrees have assured their membership since birth, even if they’re all keeping secrets that could destroy their reputations. But scholarship kid from Queens, Tori Tasso? She’s a surprise nominee. So what did she do to secure her place? The night of the Legacy Ball is supposed to be a night of luxury and excess. No one expects their secrets to come out… or for someone to die trying to keep them hidden. For young adult readers.
