On Shelves Now: JUST LIKE ME by Nancy Cavanaugh

256 p.
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Ages: 8 to 12

Who eats Cheetos with chopsticks?! Avery and Becca, my "Chinese Sisters," that's who. We're not really sisters—we were just adopted from the same orphanage. And we're nothing alike. They sing Chinese love songs on the bus to summer camp, and I pretend like I don't know them.

To make everything worse, we have to journal about our time at camp so the adoption agency can do some kind of "where are they now" newsletter. I'll tell you where I am: At Camp Little Big Woods in a cabin with five other girls who aren't getting along, competing for a campout and losing (badly), wondering how I got here…and where I belong.

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On Shelves Now: BOOKED by Kwame Alexander

320 p.
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Ages: 10 to 12

Like lightning/you strike/fast and free/legs zoom/down field/eyes fixed/on the checkered ball/on the goal/ten yards to go/can’t nobody stop you/
can’t nobody cop you…

In this follow-up to the Newbery-winning novel The Crossover, soccer, family, love, and friendship, take center stage as twelve-year-old Nick learns the power of words as he wrestles with problems at home, stands up to a bully, and tries to impress the girl of his dreams. Helping him along are his best friend and sometimes teammate Coby, and The Mac, a rapping librarian who gives Nick inspiring books to read.

This electric and heartfelt novel-in-verse by poet Kwame Alexander bends and breaks as it captures all the thrills and setbacks, action and emotion of a World Cup match!

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