Save Me a Seat ✭✭✭✭✭

Two fifth grade boys are in the same class, but seem to have little in common at the outset of this realistic fiction story. Ravi and Joe narrate the story in alternating chapters divided up into sections titled after the daily school cafeteria offering. Ravi Suryanarayanan begins the story, and he is very excited to start school in his new country. He has just immigrated from to New Jersey from India with his family where he was a star student and cricket player. Joe, who has a learning disability, looks on with interest as Ravi's talents are under-appreciated by his new teacher. Joe also watches as Ravi awkwardly tries to make friends with an "ABCD" (American born Indian) boy who Joe knows is the class bully. Your reader's heart will ache as Dillon begins to execute a series of cruel and sneaky pranks on both Ravi and Joe.

Alternating narrative, short chapters, and a high interest topic make this a great book to recommend to reluctant readers. Sarah Weeks has a knack for writing about food, and she doesn't disappoint with her descriptions of both Indian and American dishes (recipes included!) Fans of Oggie Cooder, Pie and Honey all by the same author will love this book. For another similar read, point your middle grade reader to Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea.

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Cyclone by Doreen Cronin ✮✮✮✮

Give this book to someone who likes books brimming with drama. In the beginning of the story, Nora and her cousin Riley are visiting the Coney Island amusement park. Using emotional blackmail, Nora convinces her reluctant cousin to take a ride on a heart-stopping roller coaster. Immediately after the ride, Riley tragically falls to the ground and becomes unconscious. The two big questions the reader will want to ask are: Will Riley survive? and will Nora be able to stop blaming herself for the incident?

Doreen Cronin has done what other children's book authors such as Kevin Henkes and Mac Brown have done: added to her repertoire of very successful picture books and early readers such as  Click Clack Moo! and The Chicken Squad: The First Misadventure with this enjoyable middle-grade debut novel. Your fifth grade and up reader will enjoy Nora's whimsical drawings as much as her touching story.

Honey by Sarah Weeks ✩✩✩✩

Available on Amazon.com

Honey is a very sweet story that follows two separate characters: a girl named Melody, and a dog named Mo, who both live in the quaint fictional town of Royal, Indiana. They are each trying to recollect important information that is floating around in their distant memories. At the same time, Melody, with the help of her best friend Nick, is doing some detective work to try and find out more about the "honey" whom Melody's father appears to be dating. By the end of the story, the reader will learn how their lives happily intertwine.

Melody also has a special, unique talent: naming hand-mixed colors of nail polish for the local beauty shop. I think Sarah Weeks, the author, should start a side business selling nail polishes with names such as: Gingersnap, Red Badge of Courage, or Emerald City!

The small town of Royal, where folks come into the local beauty shop to get their nails done and catch up on town gossip, makes me think of Stars Hollow, Connecticut, the setting of The Gilmore Girls. Your third-sixth grade lover of satisfying realistic fiction will want to curl up on the couch next to their favorite pooch, and crack open this book.

Sarah Weeks also wrote Pie, another sweet, yet not too sticky confection of a story. That book includes several delicious sounding pie recipes.

What is the Seventh Most Important Thing?

In this compelling story by Shelley Pearsall, 13-year old Arthur Owens has just thrown a brick at an old man's head in a gritty neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Arthur could spend a significant amount of time in juvie, but his victim has other plans for his sentence and redemption. Arthur, under the watchful eye of his tough parole officer Billie, is instructed to report every Saturday to "St. James" Hampton. Outside St. James' rented garage space, Arthur learns that he will be collecting specific items from people's trash. Will Arthur use this chance to make things right? Spoiler alert: if you want to know more about the real James Hampton, as well as the purpose of Arthur's "trash" collecting, click here.

Other books to try: Lost in the Sun by Lisa Graff.

Realistic Fiction Fans Will Love Ivy Blake ✩✩✩✩

If you put the historical fiction title The Wonder of Charlie Ann by Kimberly Newton Fusco, and the popular One For the Murphys by Lynda Mulally Hunt nto a book blender, you could very well end up with The Education of Ivy Blake by Ellen Airgood.

Ivy has been living in foster care with her best friend and family, who are a colorful and creative bunch. When Ivy's mom returns to bring her home, Ivy is excited, yet nervous. Has her mom changed her ways? Or will Ivy see more of her mom's reckless and unpredictable behavior? Fortunately, Ivy learns to cope by using her creative skills to sketch in a journal and eventually fulfill her dream by making a movie. Ivy's descriptive coming-of-age journey makes it easy to have the "movie in your mind" of this story. This book is recommended for your fifth or sixth grade fan of realistic fiction.

Jerry Spinelli Knows Kids

 I don't know how Jerry Spinelli does such a terrific job of getting inside kids' heads. Even in a short story such as The Library Card, the author has the reader experience a head-spinning amount of teen emotions. Crash and Loser both have endings that leave the reader rewarded and happy he or she got to spend time with these great characters. Before I read these books, I gave Hokey Pokey a try when it first came out, and couldn't get into it. But now I am very willing to give it another try! I also need to put Stargirl on my very long "want to read" list.