You think YOU have it tough?

Chances are your life is easier than that of Auggie, the main character in Wonder by R. J. Palacio.  Auggie was born with a number of facial deformities, and despite multiple surgeries, he still looks quite a bit different from most people.  Because of the numerous times in the hospital, he's always been taught at home, but now it's time to go to a school for the first time.  Auggie is intelligent, realistic, gentle, and just plain nice. He has a pretty good idea of how people are going to react, and his first-person narrative tells about it in a wonderfully authentic voice.  Some chapters are told by others around him, such as his sisters and friends, so the reader experiences multiple views of how Auggie affects the entire community. He's a very likable character, and even though I was bit nervous about reading this book (wouldn't it be completely depressing?), I was totally drawn in by this story and the kindness that was depicted in a number of ways.  This would be an incredible book for a group discussion.

What a science experiment!

Okay, science fans, this one's for you: Brendan Buckley's Sixth-Grade Experiment by Sundee T. Frazier.  It's a light-hearted book, but Brendan is dealing with a lot: starting middle school, being paired with Morgan (a girl with a big crush on him) for a science project on cow poop, and worrying that she's going to mess up his guy friendships.  On top of that, he's got a difficult relationship with his dad, who's always proud of Brendan's skills in martial arts but doesn't seem to care about Brendan's love of (and talent for) science.  Brendan's a likable kid, and the author does a great job of describing his family relationships without over-emphasizing them - Mom and Grandpa Ed are white, Dad and Grandma Gladys are black. Although Brendan's thoughts and words sometimes seem a bit far-fetched (they're verrrrry science-y), the situations seem very realistic and are often pretty funny....especially at the end of the experiment.

Yoda rules!

Right after I went to my public library and checked out The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger, I learned that it had been nominated for the 2013 Rebecca Caudill Award.  Excellent idea! Dwight is your basic middle school oddball - pretty much a loser, except that he has an origami Yoda finger puppet that somehow manages to give excellent advice to Dwight's classmates.  Each chapter is written by a different person about their Yoda experiences, followed by comments from Harvey, who doesn't quite believe in "Paperwad Yoda," and Tommy, who wants to know if he should follow Yoda's advice concerning a particular girl.  Chapters are short and very funny, the goofy little drawings in the margins are great, and yes, there are actual directions for making your own Yoda in the back.  A perfect books for middle schoolers!