The Short Seller

by Elissa Brent Weissman

Genre: Realistic fiction
Age group: 10+

It all started when Lindy Sachs got sick with mononucleosis and had to stay in bed for weeks. She couldn't ice skate, couldn't go to school, couldn't hang out with friends... so her dad introduced her to the stock market. Soon Lindy was hooked. School math made no sense to her, but this actually did. She understood how stocks rose and fell, and how you could sell them to make more money. To keep her busy, her dad gave her $100 to spend on whatever stocks she'd like, and soon Lindy's money is growing and growing. She's actually doing pretty well, and getting into the swing of things, when she clicks back to her parents' account page on the stocks website and sees how much capital (money in the account but not currently being invested) they have. And then Lindy starts to get greedy. Surely it will be okay if she borrows just a little of that money... after all, her parents have so much of it. But then the stocks began to fall drastically. In just one day, Lindy has lost a ton of money, and she needs to find a way to pay it back. Fast.

This book made me really, really interested in the stock market, because it brought all of that big information down to a simpler level and made it easy for younger people to understand it. It showed how stocks and bonds are not necessarily only for adults or economists. In addition to the main storyline of Lindy getting in financial trouble, there's also a smaller subplot about her relationship with her friends Steph, Howe, and a girl who isn't exactly a friend, Cassie. These parts of the story make it more relatable, and make it more appealing overall. It would be much less believable if the friendship subplot were taken out. The writing is also very good at adding suspense as the problems pile up and up and up. I think The Short Seller is really well-crafted, and is not only a good introduction to economics, it is an engaging and interesting novel about a new topic.

Austenland

by Shannon Hale

Genre: Realistic fiction
Age group: Maybe 13+? It didn't seem remarkably inappropriate but you need to be above a certain age to understand some of the things. I'd say you should be 13+ to truly understand everything, but really this book is geared towards adults.

Ever since she watched the BBC TV version of Pride and Prejudice, Jane Hayes' obsession with Colin Firth playing Mr. Darcy is legendary. She is kind of embarrassed by it, but in her eyes, no other man could ever compare to Colin. Then, her great-aunt passes away, and leaves Jane a vacation in her will. But it's not an ordinary vacation to the Bahamas—Jane is going to Pembrook Park, where the time is not the twenty-first century, but 1816, and Jane Hayes can be transported to the time of Jane Austen. Jane decides to give it a go, and soon she is surrounded by handsome gentlemen, cute gardeners, and fine ladies. At first Jane knows it's only a game, and none of it is actually real. The people starting to pay attention to the other visitors are just paid actors. But as Jane gets more and more involved in Pembrook Park and its inhabitants, the line between reality and pretense get blurred, and she isn't really sure of things anymore.

I just read Pride and Prejudice, and I think that reading that helped a lot with understanding this, though having not read any other Jane Austen, you could probably be okay if you haven't read any Jane Austen at all.
This book was funny. This book was unpredictable. This book was quite intriguing. It's kind of hard for me to explain why I liked it... The protagonist, Jane, was very likable. She is relatable and the way she handles the situations she is put into is very interesting because it's not always what others might do, especially others in this book. Also, there were plenty of plot twists or things that happen that add to the interest/suspense level of the book. The characters become believable as you get to know them, and you feel Jane's confusion when she is trying to discern the actors from the characters they are playing. Not everyone is exactly what you think they are. A great follow-up to any Austen novel.

Smile

by Raina Telgemeier

Genre: Memoir/Graphic novel
Age group: 10+

Raina is a normal girl... But one day, on her way home from Girl Scouts, she trips, falls, and knocks out her two front teeth. She's quickly taken to the dentist, and is treated immediately, but the result is less than perfect. So Raina embarks on a journey of dental visits, mouth pain, and sets upon sets of braces. It's not fun, and her friends aren't exactly supportive. As she grapples with crushes, friendship troubles, and oral surgery, Raina is also searching for her place, where she can fit in and finally smile.

I TOTALLY LOVED THIS BOOK!!!! I think it was just really perfect, and having it as a graphic novel added so much more interest. Without the pictures... this book would just fall apart. There's so much shown in the pictures that if they weren't there not only would Smile be so much more confusing, it would lose about three-quarters of its charm and excitement and interest. Also, because there are so many kids today who have braces, this book is great and fits this time period really well. Kids can relate to Raina's experiences, and might even feel better about their own because Raina goes through so much that is so common nowadays. Besides the dental part, Smile also addresses tons of other issues that may come up in schools, such as bullying and crushes. So kids can relate to those as well. This book makes so much sense for this day and age. It is real, and the author obviously remembers a lot about her experiences in middle school because those experiences are so true to life. AND it's funny. There are serious parts, but also humorous parts. I think this book should be required reading for at least all kids with braces.

Flora and Ulysses

2014 NEWBERY AWARD WINNER!!!
by Kate DiCamillo

Genre: Fantasy, I guess... It feels less like fantasy and more like just fiction, but it really is more fantastical.

It all started with a vacuum cleaner. When Tootie Tickham received an all-terrain one for her birthday and tried it outside (yes, it works on grass too), she accidentally sucked up a... squirrel?
Yes, a squirrel, and Flora, a natural-born cynic who loves reading comics, saved it from certain death. At first it just appears to be a regular, everyday squirrel who has just been sucked up into an all-terrain vacuum cleaner... But then it lifts up the vacuum cleaner. With one paw. The truth finally dawns on Flora: This squirrel is a superhero!
Flora names the squirrel Ulysses, and they become excellent friends. Ulysses, Flora soon finds out, can fly, write poetry, and of course, lift vacuum cleaners. But every superhero comes with an archvillain. And sure enough, Flora's cheesy-romance-novel-writing mother (who, by the way, cares more about a little shepherdess lamp than about Flora) hates Ulysses as soon as she sees him. She's convinced he's diseased, and is eager to get him out of the way and dead. Can Flora save Ulysses? Can Ulysses save himself? Can either of them save the world? Maybe they can't do it alone, but they can definitely do it together.

This book had a theme of friendship and love all the way through it. And, wonderfully, it was not between a boy and a girl or even human and human—it was between a girl and a squirrel. It's such a different idea... And Kate DiCamillo wrote the idea awesomely. She has dropped a lot of interesting characters into Flora and Ulysses. Another thing I like about this book is that there are some pictures. Sometimes there will be a comic strip illustrating part of the story. Sometimes there are full-page pictures to go along with the words. Sometimes there are small pictures next the words that show one thing they are talking about. Anyways, the pictures help the story a lot, especially the comic strips, because Flora likes comics a lot. Oh, and another good thing is because sometimes Kate DiCamillo writes in a somewhat roundabout, whimsical way, like she is writing for younger audiences, which isn't bad but sometimes it can be a little bit distracting, and in this book she writes in a more straightforward and clear manner. However, I stand firm in my belief that the best aspect in this book was the friendship and love theme. It was just carried off so beautifully!

The Time-Traveling Fashionista on Board the Titanic

by Bianca Turetsky

Genre: Fantasy
Age group: 9+

Louise Lambert is your average middle school student, with the exception of one thing that really sets her apart from the crowd—Louise loves fashion, especially vintage. She'd much rather go to a vintage clothing store than a glossy shop at the mall, and is working on building her soon-to-be extensive collection of vintage clothes. So when she one day receives an invitation to a pop-up vintage clothing store, she absolutely can't wait. 
The store is perfect for her, filled with wonderful finds, and when Louise discovers a beautiful pink dress, she can't resist trying it on. But when she does, a strange thing happens—the store around her disappears and she is transported into the past. Now she's Alice Baxter, stunning teenage movie star, aboard a luxurious cruise ship... and Louise is loving it. Until she finds out the name of the cruise ship. Turns out, Louise is on the Titanic, which is fated to crash into an iceberg and drown hundreds of its passengers. The only way for her to get back to the present is to put the dress back on... but it's gone missing! Can she find the dress and go back to her normal life, before it's too late and she's stuck in the past forever?

I really liked this book for two main reasons. 1) The pictures. This is one of the rare novels that has full-color pictures every so often, which is AWESOME!! Also, the pictures are of beautiful dresses, which I think are very nice. 2) The plot/story idea. It really is amazing nobody thought of this before, because this is a really fun idea, and Bianca Turetsky could really have fun with this. It's surprisingly action-packed. While this book may not be as interesting for some people, it's a really great book for fashion-lovers and people who are just looking for something new and fresh.
This book is actually part of a series, The Time-Traveling Fashionista, and Louise has, as of today, 2 other adventures: The Time-Traveling Fashionista at the Palace of Marie Antoinette and The Time-Traveling Fashionista and Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile.

The Fault in Our Stars

by John Green

Genre: Realistic fiction
Age: 13+

Hazel has cancer in her lungs. She uses an oxygen tank. Her parents hover over her at her every waking moment. Her mom wants her to get out more, and so she's been forced to attend a depressing cancer support group for kids like her - kids whose days are numbered. She tolerates the support group, and doesn't really enjoy it. But one day a boy called Augustus Waters shows up, a friend of her friend Isaac's. He used to have cancer, and now has one prosthetic leg, and he and Hazel immediately like each other. They start to spend time together, and Hazel makes Augustus read her favorite book, and he makes her read his. But soon they discover that they like-like each other.
But Augustus has been keeping a secret from Hazel. And when he decides to tell her, both of their new lives are going to change.

At first, I expected this book to just be very overrated. Then I read it.
It was AMAZINGLY GOOD. This is a new type of love story, with many more obstacles specially created for a book about cancer. It has so many emotions, tightly packed into a thick-with-thoughts novel, told in the slightly sarcastic (but definitely unique) voice of Hazel. And then a plot twist occurs nearer to the end of the novel that for me, at least, changed everything. My friends who read The Fault in Our Stars cried at the end. That is the level of the storytelling and plot in this book. In other words, it is EXCELLENT.

How to Rock Braces and Glasses

by Meg Haston

Genre: Realistic fiction
Age: 10-11+

Kacey Simon is the most popular girl in the whole of Marquette Middle School. She's scored the lead in the school play and gets to kiss Quinn Wilder, has her own program, Simon Says, on the Marquette Middle TV Program, and always makes sure to tell people the cold, hard truth. Whether they like it or not. Truthfully, Kacey's pretty harsh. But nobody's going to challenge the coolest girl at school.
One day, though, she gets an infection from her brand-new contacts - and gets stuck with huge, clunky glasses. Then she trips and needs - GASP! - braces!! And to top it all off, she's suddenly developed a hideous lithp. She goes from top of the pyramid to the very, very bottom in a few days. And that does not bode well for her social life. She soon overhears her best friend planning to ditch her, and loses her spot in the school play. But then she becomes friends again with Paige - one of the least popular girls in the school - and they start a plan to get Kacey right back where she belongs - at the top. But when she meets a new boy called Zander who has his own band, and becomes their lead singer, she starts to wonder if she really, truly wants to be super-popular again.
This book is not only funny, it's new. There are so many books out there that have a tyrannical mean girl who rules the school, but this one takes that idea and changes it up - because how many books out there have a tyrannical mean girl who drops to the pitiful, somewhat-nice girl? The point is, it's a new idea that's really very appealing. There are spots of humor, and Kacey's sarcastic voice makes for a great narration. Also, Kacey has to make lots of choices and decisions throughout the course of the book, and you sometimes find yourself urging her mentally to go with that choice! Overall, this was a great read, especially for middle-schoolers. :)