Book Review - Game Changer

📖Recommend for Grades 6 and up📖

Game Changer

by Tommy Greenwald

An incident at football camp has landed thirteen-year-old Teddy Youngblood in a coma. His family, friends, and classmates support Teddy and his recovery by flocking to his bedside and posting on an online page set-up for him. Teddy's teammates say what happened to Teddy was an accident, but others think there is more to the story. It doesn't help that some of the players are being slightly suspicious.

Multiple voices tell this story in various formats such as dialogue, texts, transcripts, newspaper articles, and posting on social media. Readers will be turning the page to find out what exactly happened to Teddy and if he will recover while trying to put the pieces together themselves. Despite many of the character's connection to football or questioning the safety of it, this is more than just a sports story.

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Book Review - The Art of Breaking Things

📖Recommend for Grades 10 and up📖

The Art of Breaking Things

by Laura Sibson

Seventeen-year-old Skye wants to survive her senior year and get out of her hometown by way of art school. When her mom’s ex-boyfriend Dan pops back up into their lives, Skye’s plan slowly starts to change. Skye feels she needs to get away now more than ever, but how can she leave her sister Emma with him there? Something happened with Dan the last time he was around, something Skye hasn’t exactly shared. She’s spent the years since numbing the pain with drugs and alcohol, but now that he is back, something needs to change, and her art may be the key.

The Art of Breaking Things is a powerful story dealing with a difficult topic that isn’t for every reader. Dan hurt Skye in a way that no person should hurt another, especially when one is a child. The picture it paints about one’s life after abuse is heartbreaking and done brilliantly. Readers will feel for Skye and her struggle between sticking to her plan and wanting to protect her little sister.

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Book Review - The Losers Club

📖Recommend for Grades 6 and up📖

The Losers Club

by Andrew Clements

It's the first day of school and Alec has found himself in the principal's office for reading in class instead of paying attention. There, the principal informs Alec that summer school is in his future if he doesn't get his act together. When Alec's brother reminds him about attending the extended day program this year, Alec is excited. He thinks it means three uninterrupted hours of reading after school instead of reading in class. But recreational reading in the extended day program isn't an option, not unless Alec starts a club for it. To deter people away, Alec calls his reading club The Loser's Club, but things don't exactly go as Alec planned.

The Losers Club is an enjoyable read with wonderful and relatable characters. There is more to this story than just reading about kids reading. Alec also has to deal with several dilemmas. From dealing with a bully named Kent (especially since they both have a crush on Nina) and making sure his grades are high enough to avoid the homework room. Whether you are a book lover like Alec or not, you should give this book a try.

As this story contains many readers, there are many books mentioned within, with a complete list in the back

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Book Review - Suggested Reading

📖Recommend for Grades 8 and up📖

Suggested Reading
by Dave Connis
Clara Evans shouldn't be reading her private school librarian's e-mail, but she does. In it, she discovers a list of "prohibited media" that will be put into effect this school year. As an avid reader and lover of books, she is shocked and angered by this list. After pulling the books from the shelves, she is supposed to distribute them to her tiny libraries. Instead, she opens an underground library right under the administration's nose. Now she is circulating dozens of banned books to her friends and classmates, developing new relationships all because of the books. When a horrible incident occurs, Clara blames herself and begins to wonder if maybe the books should be banned.
Suggested Reading is a fictional story, but many of the books on the school's list are often frequently challenged. This has happened in school (public and private) as well as public libraries across the country. When it comes to Clara, she isn't the most likable character, but any reader will feel her anger of the prohibited media list. Her friends and allies she finds along the way are all more enjoyable than Clara and help shape the story.

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