LibGuides: Keith Valley Middle School Library: Grade 7 Book Recommendations

Wanted! by Caroline B. Cooney

This is a suspenseful book, so check out some of these titles!

Each author writes a lot of similarly-themed books, so be sure to look on the shelves by the same call numbers.

Girl, Stolen by April Henry
Call Number: FIC HEN
ISBN: 9780805090055
Sixteen year-old Cheyenne Wilder is sleeping in the back of a car while her mom fills her prescription at the pharmacy. Before Cheyenne realizes what's happening, their car is being stolen--with her inside! Griffin hadn't meant to kidnap Cheyenne, all he needed to do was steal a car for the others. But once Griffin's dad finds out that Cheyenne's father is the president of a powerful corporation, everything changes--now there's a reason to keep her. What Griffin doesn't know is that Cheyenne is not only sick with pneumonia, she is blind. How will Cheyenne survive this nightmare, and if she does, at what price?
Ransom by Lois Duncan
Call Number: FIC DUN
ISBN: 0440972922
The lives of five captives hang in the balance while their families gather the ransom. Two brothers, their family frantic to find their sons. A loner whose uncle doesn't even know he's missing. An Army brat whose family will never be able to raise enough money. And a cheerleader who can't count on her stepdad, but knows her father will come through.
The Stalker by Joan Lowery Nixon
Call Number: FIC NIX
ISBN: 0440977533
When Jennifer Lee Wilcox returns home from the beach, she finds that Stella Trax, her best friend's mother, has just been murdered. The police think Stella's daughter Bobbie did it. Jennifer sets out to prove Bobbie's innocence, but as she uncovers clues, she realizes she's only leading herself to danger!

Maximum Ride by James Patterson

You might enjoy more action and science fiction stories like the ones featured below!

Don't forget, this is the first book in a series! The next titles are:

School's Out - Forever
Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports
The Final Warning
MAX: A Maximum Ride Novel
Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel
Angel: A Maximum Ride Novel
Nevermore Maximum Ride
Forever

Double Helix by Nancy Werlin
Call Number: FIC WER
ISBN: 014240327X
Publication Date: 2005-05-05
Eighteen-year-old Eli discovers a shocking secret about his life and his family while working for a Nobel Prize-winning scientist whose specialty is genetic engineering.
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
Call Number: FIC FAR
ISBN: 0689852231
This modern classic takes on an iron-fisted drug lord, clones bred for their organs, and what it means to be human.
Virals by Kathy Reichs
Call Number: FIC REI
ISBN: 1595143424
Tory Brennan, niece of acclaimed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan (of the Bones novels and hit TV show), is the leader of a ragtag band of teenage "sci-philes" who live on a secluded island off the coast of South Carolina. When the group rescues a dog caged for medical testing on a nearby island, they are exposed to an experimental strain of canine parvovirus that changes their lives forever. As the friends discover their heightened senses and animal-quick reflexes, they must combine their scientific curiosity with their newfound physical gifts to solve a cold-case murder that has suddenly become very hot-if they can stay alive long enough to catch the killer's scent. Fortunately, they are now more than friends- they're a pack. They are Virals.

City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

The City of Ember starts the series:

The People of Sparks
The Diamond of Darkhold
The Prophet of Yonwood

If you enjoyed this story of an alternate civilization existence, you may enjoy these titles, too!

Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix; Cliff Nielsen (Illustrator)
Call Number: FIC HAD
ISBN: 0689824750
In a future where the Population Police enforce the law limiting a family to only two children, Luke, an illegal third child, has lived all his twelve years in isolation and fear on his family's farm. Luke has never been to school. He's never had a birthday party, or gone to a friend's house for an overnight. In fact, Luke has never had a friend. Luke is one of the shadow children, a third child forbidden by the Population Police. He's lived his entire life in hiding, and now, with a new housing development replacing the woods next to his family's farm, he is no longer even allowed to go outside. Then, one day Luke sees a girl's face in the window of a house where he knows two other children already live. Finally, he's met a shadow child like himself. Jen is willing to risk everything to come out of the shadows -- does Luke dare to become involved in her dangerous plan? Can he afford not to?
The Tomorrow Code by Brian Falkner
Call Number: FIC FAL
ISBN: 0375843647
THE END OF THE WORLD started quietly enough for Tane Williams and Rebecca Richards. . . . Tane and Rebecca aren't sure what to make of it-a sequence of 1s and 0s, the message looks like nothing more than a random collection of alternating digits. Working to decode it, however, Tane and Rebecca discover that the message contains lottery numbers . . . lottery numbers that win the next random draw! Suddenly Tane and Rebecca are rich, but who sent the numbers? And why? More messages follow, and slowly it becomes clear-the messages are being sent back in time from Tane and Rebecca's future. Something there has gone horribly wrong, and it's up to them to prevent it from happening. As they follow the messages' cryptic instructions, Tane and Rebecca begin to suspect the worst-that the very survival of the human race may be at stake.
The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex (Illustrator)
Call Number: FIC REX
ISBN: 0786849002
Gratuity Tucci (call her Tip) gets a fairly early start behind the wheel. She's 11--and she's good if you want to know. Plus, laws don't matter too much these days, and Tip is desperate to find her mom who was abducted by aliens on Christmas Eve (technically Smekday Eve since the invasion). So while the rest of the American population gets shipped via rocketpod to Florida--the proposed new United State of America--Tip heads south in the family car to search for her mother. On the way, & she meets a solitary Boov mechanic named J. Lo. He's unarmed, and he can fix her battered car (make it fly), so she agrees to give him a ride, which leads to two& alarming discoveries.

Travel Team by Mike Lupica

Mike Lupica writes a lot of sports fiction, so be sure to look for his other titles under the call number FIC LUP.

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
Call Number: FIC ALE
ISBN: 9780544107717
Josh and Jordan must come to grips with growing up on and off the court to realize breaking the rules comes at a terrible price, as their story's heart-stopping climax proves a game-changer for the entire family.
Head Games by Keri Mikulski; Nicole Leigh Shepherd
Call Number: PB PRE
ISBN: 1595143874
Taylor is calm, cool, collected, and ferocious on the basketball court. A total all-star. Not so much in real life. She may be tall, gorgeous, and an incredible catch, but just try telling her that! And lately, Taylor doesn't know which way to turn: The summer showcase game is almost here. Her BFF Hannah roped her into a fashion show (eek!). And she can't decide between Zach-the super-popular, super-tall, super-off-limits basketball dynamo-and Matt-the sweet boy from her math class (who may just be dating her BFF's older sister). It's enough to make any girl's head spin! Can Taylor strike a pose, land the boy of her dreams, and win the game?
Hoops by Walter Dean Myers
Call Number: FIC MYE
ISBN: 0440938848
All eyes are on seventeen-year-old Lonnie Jackson while he practices with his team for a city-wide basketball Tournament of Champions. His coach, Cal, knows Lonnie has what it takes to be a pro-basketball player, but warns him about giving in to the pressure. Cal knows because he, too, once had the chance--but sold out. As the Tournament nears, Lonnie learns that some heavy bettors want Cal to keep him on the bench so that the team will lose the championship. As the last seconds of the game tick away Lonnie and Cal must make a decision. Are they eilling to blow the chance of a lifetime?
Last Shot - Mystery at the Final Four by John Feinstein
Call Number: FIC FEI
ISBN: 0553494600
When Stevie wins a writing contest for aspiring sports journalists, his prize is a press pass to the Final Four in New Orleans. While exploring the Superdome, he overhears a plot to throw the championship game. With the help of fellow contest winner Susan Carol, Stevie has just 48 hours to figure out who is blackmailing one of the star players . . . and why.

Tangerine by Edward Bloor

If you enjoyed Tangerine, try one of these stories of kids overcoming disabilities in their lives.

Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling
Call Number: FIC BOW
ISBN: 9781454923459
Aven Green loves to tell people that she lost her arms in an alligator wrestling match, or a wildfire in Tanzania, but the truth is she was born without them. And when her parents take a job running Stagecoach Pass, a rundown western theme park in Arizona, Aven moves with them across the country knowing that she'll have to answer the question over and over again. Her new life takes an unexpected turn when she bonds with Connor, a classmate who also feels isolated because of his own disability, and they discover a room at Stagecoach Pass that holds bigger secrets than Aven ever could have imagined. It's hard to solve a mystery, help a friend, and face your worst fears. But Aven's about to discover she can do it all . . . even without arms.
Left Out by Tim Green
ISBN: 9780062293824
Publication Date: FIC GRE
Landon Dorch wants to be like everyone else. But his deafness and the way he talks have always felt like insurmountable obstacles. But now he finally sees his chance to fit in. Bigger and taller than any other seventh grader in his new school, Landon plans to use his size to his advantage and join the school's football team. But the same speech problems and the cochlear implants that help him hear continue to haunt him. Just when it looks like Landon will be left out of football for good, an unlikely friend comes along. But in the end only Landon can fight his way off the bench and through a crowded field of bullies bent on seeing him forever left out.
One-Handed Catch by Mary Jane Auch
Call Number: FIC AUC
ISBN: 0805079009
Not even losing his hand can keep Norm from trying out for the baseball team What would life be like with only one hand? That's exactly what eleven-year-old Norm finds out when he loses his left hand in an accident at his family's store. It's July 4, 1946. World War II has ended, and life is getting back to normal. But for Norm, the pressing question now is whether he will ever be able to play baseball again, or be an artist. It's up to Norm to find the strength to get beyond this roadblock and move on with his life.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

If this was a great book for you, read its parallel book, Ender's Shadow.

These are some other great space science fiction stories:

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Call Number: FIC NES
ISBN: 0763645761
Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. Ever since the settlers were infected with the Noise germ, Todd can hear everything the men think, and they hear everything he thinks. Todd is just a month away from becoming a man, but in the midst of the cacophony, he knows that the town is hiding something from him -- something so awful Todd is forced to flee with only his dog, whose simple, loyal voice he hears too. With hostile men from the town in pursuit, the two stumble upon a strange and eerily silent creature: a girl. Who is she? Why wasn't she killed by the germ like all the females on New World?
Last Day on Mars by Kevin Emerson
Call Number: FIC EME
ISBN: 9780062306715
It is Earth year 2213--but, of course, there is no Earth anymore. Not since it was burned to a cinder by the sun, which has mysteriously begun the process of going supernova. The human race has fled to Mars, but this was only a temporary solution while we have prepared for a second trip: a one-hundred-fifty-year journey to a distant star, our best guess at where we might find a new home. Liam Saunders-Chang is one of the last humans left on Mars. The son of two scientists who have been racing against time to create technology vital to humanity's survival, Liam, along with his friend Phoebe, will be on the last starliner to depart before Mars, like Earth before it, is destroyed. Or so he thinks. Because before this day is over, Liam and Phoebe will make a series of profound discoveries about the nature of time and space and find out that the human race is just one of many in our universe locked in a dangerous struggle for survival.
Phoenix by S. F. Said; Dave McKean (Illustrator)
Call Number: FIC SAI
ISBN: 9780763688509
A boy with unprecedented power must turn to the terrifying Alien enemies of humanity to discover his true nature and bring peace to a galaxy at war. Lucky lives a relatively normal life on a remote moon of the planet Aries One, safe from the turmoil and devastation of the interstellar war between Humans and Aliens. Lucky has seen images of the horned, cloven-hooved Aliens before, but he's never seen one up close. Then one night, he dreams that the stars are singing to him--and wakes to evidence suggesting that he is not so normal after all. When Lucky's mother sacrifices herself to help him escape an elite Human military force called the Shadow Guards, he must rely on the Alien crew of a ramshackle starship, where he finds that humanity's deadly enemies seem surprisingly Human up close. In fact, they may be more Human than Lucky himself, who has a dangerous power that could change the course of the war and the fate of the galaxy--if he can learn how to use it.

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

These books are historical fiction stories like The Secret Life of Bees.

Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez
Call Number: FIC ALV
ISBN: 0375915443
Anita de la Torre never questioned her freedom living in the Dominican Republic. But by her 12th birthday in 1960, most of her relatives have emigrated to the United States, her Tio Toni has disappeared without a trace, and the government's secret police terrorize her remaining family because of their suspected opposition of el Trujillo's dictatorship.Using the strength and courage of her family, Anita must overcome her fears and fly to freedom, leaving all that she once knew behind.
Dovey Coe by Frances O'Roark Dowell
Call Number: FIC DOW
ISBN: 0689831749
My name is Dovey Coe and I reckon it don't matter if you like me or not. I'm here to lay the record straight, to let you know them folks saying I done a terrible thing are liars. I aim to prove it, too. I hated Parnell Caraway as much as the next person, but I didn't kill him. There have been Coes living in the mountains of Indian Creek, North Carolina, going on forever, and everyone in town is amazed that twelve-year-old Dovey might up and do such a terrible thing. Even if the girl does have a tendency to shoot her mouth off, she's had good reason since she's always had to stick up for her brother, Amos, who may be older and bigger, but folks treat like he's slow on account of his being deaf. Her sister, Caroline, might shake her head over Dovey's high spirits, but if Caroline hadn't been letting the likes of Parnell Caraway hang around her all summer, Dovey wouldn't be in this mess. Dovey's not one to sit back when troubles are brewing, but now with this murder charge, for once she might just have to keep quiet and let the slick city lawyer take care of things...or will she?
Numbering All the Bones by Ann Rinaldi
Call Number: FIC RIN
ISBN: 0786805331
It is 1864. The Civil War is coming to an end and Southern slaves in the US are slowly gaining their freedom. But for thirteen-year-old Eulinda, a house slave on a plantation in Kentucky, it is the most difficult time of her life. Her younger brother, falsely accused of stealing, has been sold. Then her older brother Neddy runs away, and Eulinda is left alone in a household headed by a cruel mistress - and a master who will not acknowledge that Eulinda is his daughter.

Zach's Lie by Roland Smith

Jack's Run is the next book in the Zach's Lie series.

Books like this could include characters who are living double lives, or who are dealing with complicated life situations.

Try these titles!

Deep Zone by Tim Green
Call Number: FIC GRE
ISBN: 9780062012449
Troy White can predict a play before it happens. Star quarterback on his state football team, Troy's a natural for the 7-on-7 tournament that's being held at the Super Bowl in Miami. With any luck, his "football genius" will also be working for the Atlanta Falcons on that big day. Ty Lewis is a wide receiver with exceptional speed. His brother, an NFL star, says getting on a 7-on-7 team will prove Ty's a winner. From the moment the two football champs cross paths, Troy and Ty begin to size each other up. Troy is suspicious of Ty's interest in his friend Tate, while Ty worries his speed will never be a match for Troy's game smarts. But when the two rivals find themselves somehow tangled in the same dangerous web of deceit, they discover that they have more in common than their skill at football.
Don't Look Behind You by Lois Duncan
Call Number: FIC DUN
ISBN: 0440207290
How can April give up her name, her friends, her boyfriend Steve, and everything she's ever known? April Corrigan feels like her life is over when she learns that her father has been working undercover for the FBI and the family must relocate under the Federal Witness Security Program. No one can reach them now... or can they?
Hush by Jacqueline Woodson
Call Number: FIC WOO
ISBN: 0399231145
Evie Thomas is not who she used to be. Once she had a best friend, a happy home and a loving grandmother living nearby. Once her name was Toswiah. Now, everything is different. Her family has been forced to move to a new place and change their identities. But that's not all that has changed. Her once lively father has become depressed and quiet. Her mother leaves teaching behind and clings to a new-found religion. Her only sister is making secret plans to leave. And Evie, struggling to find her way in a new city where kids aren't friendly and the terrain is as unfamiliar as her name, wonders who she is.

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

After reading Stargirl, you may want to read Love, Stargirl.

These books are also about non-conformity, and being proud of who you are.

Firegirl by Tony Abbott
Call Number: FIC ABB
ISBN: 0316011703
From the moment Jessica arrives, life is never quite the same for Tom and his seventh-grade classmates. They learn that Jessica has been in a fire and was badly burned, and will be attending St. Catherine's will receiving medical treatments. Despite her appearance and the fear she evokes in him and most of the class, Tom slowly develops a tentative friendship with Jessica that changes his life.
Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen
Call Number: FIC VAN
ISBN: 0375825444
The first time she saw him, she flipped. The first time he saw her, he ran. That was the second grade, but not much has changed by the seventh. But in the eighth grade everything gets turned upside down: just as Bryce is thinking that there's maybe more to Julie than meets the eye, she's thinking that he's not quite all he seemed.
Schooled by Gordon Korman
Call Number: FIC KOR
ISBN: 1423105168
Capricorn Cap Anderson has been homeschooled by his hippie grandmother, Rain. When Rain is injured in a fall, Cap is forced to attend the local middle school. Although he knows a lot about Zen Buddhism, nothing has prepared him for the politics of public school.

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen

Hiaasen's books are both funny and focused on environmentalism. Check these titles out:

Chomp
Flush
Scat
Skink - No Surrender

You may enjoy these other books by different authors.

Belly Up by Stuart Gibbs
Call Number: FIC GIB
ISBN: 1416987320
Twelve-year-old Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt Fitzroy has murder on his hands and trouble on his tail. He believes that Henry, the hippopotamus at the brand-new FunJungle, has been murdered. The zoo's top brass claim the hippo went belly up the natural way, but Teddy and his feisty friend Summer McCraken have other ideas. Could the culprit be FunJungle's animal-hating head of operations? Or is it FunJungle's owner--Summer's dad--a man who is much more concerned about money than animal welfare? The deeper Teddy and Summer dig, the more danger they're in--because when it comes to hippo homicide, the truth can't be caged!
Endangered by Eliot Schrefer
Call Number: FIC SCH
ISBN: 0545165776
A girl who must save a group of bonobos - and herself - from a violent coup. Congo is a dangerous place, even for people who are trying to do good. When Sophie has to visit her mother at her sanctuary for bonobos, she's not thrilled to be there. Then Otto, an infant bonobo, comes into her life, and for the first time she feels responsible for another creature. But peace does not last long for Sophie and Otto. When an armed revolution breaks out in the country, the sanctuary is attacked, and the two of them must escape unprepared into the jungle. Caught in the crosshairs of a lethal conflict, they must struggle to keep safe, to eat, and to live.
Me and Marvin Gardens by Amy Sarig King
Call Number: FIC KIN
ISBN: 9780545870740
Obe Devlin has problems. His family's farmland has been taken over by developers. His best friend Tommy abandoned him for the development kids. And he keeps getting nosebleeds, because of that thing he doesn't like to talk about. So Obe hangs out at the creek by his house, in the last wild patch left, picking up litter and looking for animal tracks. One day, he sees a creature that looks kind of like a large dog, or maybe a small boar. And as he watches it, he realizes it eats plastic. Only plastic. Water bottles, shopping bags... No one has ever seen a creature like this before, because there's never been a creature like this before. The animal-Marvin Gardens-soon becomes Obe's best friend and biggest secret. But to keep him safe from the developers and Tommy and his friends, Obe must make a decision that might change everything.

Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements

Things Not Seen is the beginning of a series:

Things Hoped For
Things That Are

The following titles are similar stories that you may like.

Cat Girl's Day Off by Kimberly Pauley
Call Number: FIC PAU
ISBN: 1600608833
Natalie - Cat Girl - Ng, who has the ability to talk to cats, must save the day when she is the only one who can see the true story of a kidnapped celebrity and the imposter who took her place.
Every Day by David Levithan
Call Number: FIC LEV
ISBN: 9780307931887
This is a story about a teen who wakes up every morning in a different body, living a different life. Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl. There's never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere. It's all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin's girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with--day in, day out, day after day.
Felix Yz by Lisa Bunker
Call Number: FIC BUN
ISBN: 9780425288504
When Felix Yz was three years old, a hyperintelligent fourth-dimensional being became fused inside him after one of his father's science experiments went terribly wrong. The creature is friendly, but Felix--now thirteen--won't be able to grow to adulthood while they're still melded together. So a risky Procedure is planned to separate them . . . but it may end up killing them both instead. This book is Felix's secret blog, a chronicle of the days leading up to the Procedure. Some days it's business as usual--time with his close-knit family, run-ins with a bully at school, anxiety about his crush. But life becomes more out of the ordinary with the arrival of an Estonian chess Grandmaster, the revelation of family secrets, and a train-hopping journey. When it all might be over in a few days, what matters most?

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

More books follow Uglies as a series:

Pretties
Specials
Extras

Take a look at some other science fiction like this.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Call Number: FIC MEY
ISBN: 9780312641894
A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth's fate hinges on one girl. . . . Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She's a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world's future.
The House of Power by Patrick Carman
Call Number: FIC CAR
ISBN: 0316166715
Edgar, a gifted climber, secretly scales the treacherous walls separating the three worlds of Atherton: the humble grove that is his home...a mysterious highland realm of untold beauty and sinister secrets ...and a vast wasteland below, where a monstrous danger lurks that could destroy them all. While searching the forbidden cliffs for a treasure lost in his faded memory, Edgar discovers the first of many startling revelations to come: the three realms are beginning to collapse, turning his entire world inside out. Atherton is not what it seems, but something far more dangerous, with a history locked inside the mind of a madman and a future beyond Edgar's wildest imagining.
The Selection by Kiera Cass
Call Number: FIC CAS
ISBN: 9780062059932
For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape a rigid caste system, live in a palace, and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon. But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her, and competing for a crown she doesn't want. Then America meets Prince Maxon--and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

Matched by Ally Condie

The next books in Condie's trilogy are

Crossed
Reached

Try some other books about dystopian societies, too!

The Big Empty by J. B. Stephens
ISBN: 1595140069
Publication Date: FIC STE
One year ago, a devastating plague called Strain 7 killed three quarters of the human race. Around the world, power systems failed and supply chains screeched to a halt. The surviving population of the United States has been relocated to the coasts; the heartland is now a wasteland called The Big Empty. But seven teens trying to put their lives back together will learn that the abandoned zone holds danger, secrets, and above all, hope.
The Giver by Lowry Lois
Call Number: FIC LOW
ISBN: 0553571338
Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. When Jonas turns 12 he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
ISBN: 0374386161
Publication Date: FIC LEN
When the children learn that Mr. Murry has been captured by the Dark Thing, they time travel to Camazotz, where they must face the leader IT in the ultimate battle between good and evil--a journey that threatens their lives and our universe.

Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick

The sequel to Freak the Mighty is Max the Mighty.

See the list below for some other books you may also enjoy.

Petey by Ben Mikaelsen
Call Number: FIC MIK
ISBN: 0786813369
Moving to a new town is no fun for Trevor Ladd, and it only gets worse when he protects a nursing home patient from the neighborhood bullies. Walking home from school, he catches the bullies throwing snowballs at a withered old man named Petey. As he chases them off, he can't imagine that his life is about to change.Petey has spent his life in institutions. Born with cerebral palsy, he was misdiagnosed as an infant and grew up in mental institutions. As an adult, he is bound by his wheelchair and struggles to communicate with the people around him. But Petey sees something in Trevor and is determined to become his friend -- and Trevor soon learns that there is more to Petey than meets the eye.
Rules by Cynthia Lord
Call Number: FIC LOR
ISBN: 0439443822
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 his embarrassing behaviours. But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a surprising new sort-of friend, and Kristi, the next-door friend she's always wished for, it's her own shocking behavior that turns everything upside down and forces her to ask: What is normal?
The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen
Call Number: FIC VAN
ISBN: 0375866280
When Jessica is told she'll never run again, she puts herself back together--and learns to dream bigger than ever before. Jessica thinks her life is over when she loses a leg in a car accident. She's not comforted by the news that she'll be able to walk with the help of a prosthetic leg. Who cares about walking when you live to run? As she struggles to cope, Jessica feels that she's both in the spotlight and invisible. People who don't know what to say act like she's not there. Jessica's embarrassed to realize that she's done the same to a girl with CP named Rosa. A girl who is going to tutor her through all the math she's missed. A girl who sees right into the heart of her. With the support of family, friends, a coach, and her track teammates, Jessica may actually be able to run again. But that's not enough for her now. She doesn't just want to cross finish lines herself--she wants to take Rosa with her.