Homeschool Librarian

Lexile/Reading Level
Recommended for 4-8 Grades

No-No Boys (Home-Front Heroes)

Author: Part of a Series:

Based on a true story in the winter of 1943… Fourteen-year-old Tai Shimoda’s family has lost everything. Like many other Japanese-Americans at the start of World War II, Tai’s family has been forced to leave their home and move to Tule Lake Relocation Center-a desolate camp surrounded by barbed wire in northern California. Though he misses his home in Sacramento, Tai keeps busy at Tule Lake hanging out with friends and training for the judo tournament. But as tensions in camp rise, Tai’s brother, Ben, joins a group that has refused to swear allegiance to the United States. They call themselves the No-Nos. Tai’s father calls them Disloyals. Soon Tai must decide what he believes. Will he join his beloved brother and the No-Nos or, like his father, remain true to America?

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Please note: Our posting a book in our Homeschool Librarian database does not mean that we endorse its contents. Please use your own discretion when selecting books for your child to read. Also, we are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Purchases made through our affiliate links help support this site. Book descriptions are sourced from either Amazon.com or GoodReads.
Lexile/Reading Level
880L

Genre/Category
Biographies | Nonfiction

Historical Time Period
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Cross and the Switchblade

A young preacher from the Pennsylvania hills comes to New York City and influences troubled teenagers with his inspirational message.

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Please note: Our posting a book in our Homeschool Librarian database does not mean that we endorse its contents. Please use your own discretion when selecting books for your child to read. Also, we are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Purchases made through our affiliate links help support this site. Book descriptions are sourced from either Amazon.com or GoodReads.
Lexile/Reading Level
760L

Genre/Category
Fiction | Realistic

Historical Time Period
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Contender, The (The Contender #1)

Author: Part of a Series:

This is a sports fiction novel that tells a story of Alfred Brooks, a seventeen-year-old high school drop-out, living in Harlem, finding his way in the world and in boxing. Alfred learns that getting to the top is not as important as how you get there, and that before you can be a champion, you have to be a contender with the will to get back on your feet after you have been knocked down.

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Please note: Our posting a book in our Homeschool Librarian database does not mean that we endorse its contents. Please use your own discretion when selecting books for your child to read. Also, we are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Purchases made through our affiliate links help support this site. Book descriptions are sourced from either Amazon.com or GoodReads.
Lexile/Reading Level
820L

Genre/Category
Fantasy | Fiction | Mystery

Historical Time Period
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Young Unicorns (Austin Family #4)

They had been standing around the lamp, looking at Emily holding it in her strong fingers, rubbing it. Certainly none of them, not even Rob, expected to hear a sepulchral voice behind them.”You called me?”

They swung around…

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Please note: Our posting a book in our Homeschool Librarian database does not mean that we endorse its contents. Please use your own discretion when selecting books for your child to read. Also, we are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Purchases made through our affiliate links help support this site. Book descriptions are sourced from either Amazon.com or GoodReads.
Lexile/Reading Level
NA - Recommended for 5-8 Grades

Genre/Category
Fiction | Historical

Date
Topic
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| Main Character
Format

Sweet America: An Immigrant’s Story (Jamestown’s American Portraits)

In Sweet America, Kroll shows 14-year-old Tonio’s gradual transformation into Tony, a hardworking immigrant striving to survive and succeed in New York City at the end of the 19th century. Predictable difficulties with gangs, overcrowded tenements, layoffs, and the generation gap almost, but not quite, overcome lively Tonio’s charm.

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Please note: Our posting a book in our Homeschool Librarian database does not mean that we endorse its contents. Please use your own discretion when selecting books for your child to read. Also, we are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Purchases made through our affiliate links help support this site. Book descriptions are sourced from either Amazon.com or GoodReads.
Lexile/Reading Level
790L

Genre/Category
Fiction | Historical | Realistic

Date
Topic
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Chipper

It’s 1895 in New York City. Hard times have hit, and life isn’t going to get better any time soon. Almost thirteen-year-old Chipper Carey is running with the Midnight Rats just to survive. Fortunately, fate steps in and introduces him to Miss Sibley, who, like Ma, believes he’s meant for something better than the Midnight Rats.

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Please note: Our posting a book in our Homeschool Librarian database does not mean that we endorse its contents. Please use your own discretion when selecting books for your child to read. Also, we are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Purchases made through our affiliate links help support this site. Book descriptions are sourced from either Amazon.com or GoodReads.
Lexile/Reading Level
HL570L

City of Orphans

Author:

The streets of 1893 New York are full of life: crowded, filthy, dangerous. If you are a newsboy like thirteen-year- old Maks Geless, you need to watch out for Bruno, leader of the Plug Ugly Gang whose shadowy, sinister boss is plotting to take control of all the newsies on the lower East Side. With Bruno’s boys in fierce pursuit, Maks discovers Willa, a strange girl who lives alone in an alley. It is she, stick in hand, who fights off the Plug Uglies–but further dangers await. Maks must find a way to free his sister Emma from The Tombs, the city jail where she has been imprisoned for stealing a watch at the glamorous new Waldorf Hotel. Maks, believing her innocent, has only four days to prove it. Fortunately, there is Bartleby Donck, the eccentric lawyer (among other employments) to guide Maks and Willa in the art of detection. Against a backdrop alive with the sights and sounds of tenement New York, Maks, as boy detective, must confront a teeming world of wealth and crime, while struggling against powerful forces threatening new immigrants and the fabric of family love.

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Please note: Our posting a book in our Homeschool Librarian database does not mean that we endorse its contents. Please use your own discretion when selecting books for your child to read. Also, we are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Purchases made through our affiliate links help support this site. Book descriptions are sourced from either Amazon.com or GoodReads.
Lexile/Reading Level
NA - Recommended for Elementary

Gorilla Gang

G. G. is seven years old and at the age when young gorillas act like human teenagers. He imitates the powerful grown-ups and is jealous of his little sister. Together with the other young gorillas in the tribe, he has formed a gang and gets into all kinds of trouble. But it’s not long before G. G.’s antics get someone else into trouble — he startles his infant sister and she falls from her perch in a tree. Little Ori is caught in a tree fork and is choking. Ori’s mother can’t get her out, and La-Go, the tribe’s strong silverback leader, is too far away to help. With a little bit of luck, G. G. saves the day and makes some discoveries about himself in the process. This fascinating peek at gorilla behavior will enchant animal lovers of all ages.

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Please note: Our posting a book in our Homeschool Librarian database does not mean that we endorse its contents. Please use your own discretion when selecting books for your child to read. Also, we are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Purchases made through our affiliate links help support this site. Book descriptions are sourced from either Amazon.com or GoodReads.
Lexile/Reading Level
610L

Scorpions

Bad Trouble

Lately everybody’s messing with Jamal. His teachers, the kids at school, even his dad. And now that Jamal’s brother Randy’s in the slam, Crazy Mack has a crazy idea. He wants Jamal to take control of the Scorpions and run crack.

All the gang jive–Jamal has no use for it. Unless, like some say, it’s the only way to cop the bread for Randy’s appeal…

The story of twelve-year-old Jamal, whose life changes drastically when he acquires a gun. Though he survives the experience, it’s not without sacrificing his innocence and possibly his relationship with his best friend.

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Please note: Our posting a book in our Homeschool Librarian database does not mean that we endorse its contents. Please use your own discretion when selecting books for your child to read. Also, we are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Purchases made through our affiliate links help support this site. Book descriptions are sourced from either Amazon.com or GoodReads.