Jerry Spinelli
1) Stargirl
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 4.2 - AR Pts: 6
Language
English
Formats
Description
In this story about the perils of popularity, the courage of nonconformity, and the thrill of first love, an eccentric student named Stargirl changes Mica High School forever.
2) Smiles to go
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG+ - BL: 3.3 - AR Pts: 5
Language
English
Formats
Description
Will Tuppence's life has always been ruled by science and common sense but in ninth grade, shaken up by the discovery that protons decay, he begins to see the entire world differently and gains new perspective on his relationships with his little sister and two closest friends.
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 3.8 - AR Pts: 8
Language
English
Formats
Description
Still moping months after being dumped by her Arizona boyfriend Leo, fifteen-year-old Stargirl, a home-schooled free spirit, writes "the world's longest letter" to Leo, describing her new life in Pennsylvania.
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 4.1 - AR Pts: 9
Language
English
Formats
Description
Living with her warden father in an apartment above a 1950s prison, Cammie O'Reilly struggles to come to terms with the loss of her mother, who died saving her from harm when she was a baby, and interacts with some of the reformed inmates.
5) Wringer
Author
Publisher
HarperCollins
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 4.5 - AR Pts: 5
Language
English
Formats
Description
As Palmer comes of age, he must either accept the violence of being a wringer at his town's annual Pigeon Day or find the courage to oppose it.
10) Loser
Author
Publisher
Joanna Cotler Books
Pub. Date
2003, c2002
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 4.3 - AR Pts: 5
Language
English
Description
Even though his classmates from first grade on have considered him strange and a loser, Daniel Zinkoff's optimism and exuberance and the support of his loving family do not allow him to feel that way about himself.
11) Jake and Lily
Author
Publisher
Balzer + Bray
Pub. Date
c2012
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 3.2 - AR Pts: 6
Language
English
Description
"Jake and Lily are twins and have always felt the same--like two halves of one person--but the year they turn eleven and Jake begins hanging out with Bump Stubbins, everything changes"--
12) Dead Wednesday
Author
Publisher
Alfred A. Knopf
Pub. Date
[2021]
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 3.9 - AR Pts: 5
Language
English
Description
When the school assigns each eighth-grader the name of a teenager who died in the past year as a lesson in mortality, Worm Tarnauer, who thrives on being invisible, doesn't count on Becca Finch, the seventeen-year-old car crash victim who changes everything.
Author
Publisher
Arthur A. Levine Books
Pub. Date
2012
Accelerated Reader
IL: LG - BL: 2.9 - AR Pts: 1
Language
English
Description
"George 'Suds' Morton competes with his third-grade classmates to earn the first 'halo' of the year for good behavior, but being good turns out to be more stressful than he anticipated"--
14) Eggs
Author
Publisher
Little, Brown
Pub. Date
2007
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 3.6 - AR Pts: 4
Language
English
Description
Mourning the loss of his mother, nine-year-old David forms an unlikely friendship with independent, quirky thirteen-year-old Primrose, as the two help each other deal with what is missing in their lives.
15) Crash
Author
Publisher
Distributed by Random House
Pub. Date
c1996
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 3.6 - AR Pts: 4
Language
English
Description
Seventh-grader John "Crash" Coogan has always been comfortable with his tough, aggressive behavior, until his relationship with an unusual Quaker boy and his grandfather's stroke make him consider the meaning of friendship and the importance of family.
16) Hokey Pokey
Author
Publisher
Alfred A. Knopf
Pub. Date
c2013
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG+ - BL: 3.6 - AR Pts: 5
Language
English
Description
Ever since they were Snotsippers, Jack and the girl have fought, until one day she steals his bike and as he and the Amigos try to recover it, Jack realizes that he is growing up and must eventually leave the "goodlands and badlands of Hokey Pokey."