Character-Driven Literature Circle

Kit contains six copies of each book. LOCATION: St. Gabriel


HADDIX, MARGARTE PETERSON
FOUND

Thirteen-year-old Jonah has always known that he was adopted, and he’s never thought it was any big deal. Then he and a new friend, Chip, who’s also adopted, begin receiving mysterious letters. The first one says, “You are one of the missing.” The second one says, “Beware! They’re coming back to get you.”

Jonah, Chip, and Jonah’s sister, Katherine, are plunged into a mystery that involves the FBI, a vast smuggling operation, an airplane that appeared out of nowhere – and people who seem to appear and disappear at will. The kids discover they are caught in a battle between two opposing forces that want very different things for Jonah and Chip’s lives.

Do Jonah and Chip have any choice in the matter? And what should they choose when both alternatives are horrifying?

RL 5.7 GRL W


LORD, CYNTHIA RULES

Twelve-year-old Catherine just wants a normal life. Which is near impossible when you have a brother with autism and a family that revolves around his disability. She’s spent years trying to teach David the rules from “a peach is not a funny-looking apple” to “keep your pants on in public” – in order to head off David’s embarrassing behaviours.

But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a surprising, new sort-of friend, and Kristi, the potential next-door friend she’s always wished for it, it’s her own shocking behaviour that turns everything upside down and forces her to ask: What is normal?

RL 4.5 GRL R



RORBY, GINNY HURT GO HAPPY

Joey Willis is used to being left out of conversations. Though she’s been deaf since the age of six, her mother has never allowed Joey to learn sign language. Everything changes when Joey meets Dr. Charles Mansell and his baby chimpanzee, Sukari. Her new friends use sign language to communicate, and Joey secretly begins to learn to sign. Spending time with Charlie and Sukari, she has never been happier. But as Joey’s world blooms with possibilities, Charlies and Sukari’s choices begin to narrow – until Sukari’s very survival is in doubt.

RL 5.2 GRL V



SONNENBLICK, JORDAN

DRUMS, GIRLS AND DANGEROUS PIE

Steven has a totally normal life (well, almost): He plays drums in the All-City Jazz Band (whose members call him the Peasant), has a crush on the hottest girl in school (who doesn’t even know he’s alive), and is constantly annoyed by his younger brother Jeffrey (who is cuter than cute – which is also pretty annoying). But when Jeffrey gets sick, Steven’s world is turned upside down, and he is forced to deal with his brother’s illness, his parents’ attempts to keep the family in one piece, his homework, the band, girls, and Dangerous Pie (yes, you’ll have to read the book to find out what that is!)

RL 6.2 GRL V






WALTERS, ERIC ALEXANDRIA OF AFRICA

As far as Alexandria Hyatt is concerned, being rich and glamorous is simply what she was born to be. When she is arrested for shoplifting, having to drag herself into court to face a judge just seems like a major inconvenience. But Alexandria has been in trouble before – and this time she can’t scheme her way out of the consequences. Before she knows it, she is on a plane headed to Kenya, where she has been ordered to work for an international charity.

Over 7,000 miles away from home, with no water, no cell phone reception, no friends or family, Alexandria is confronted with a land as unfamiliar as it is unsettling. Over the course of her month in Africia, Alexandria will face a reality she could never have imagined, and will have to look inside herself ot see if she has what it takes to confront it.