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Save Me a Seat

By: Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan

Ravi has just moved to the United States from India and has always been at the top of his class; Joe has lived in the same town his whole life and has learning problems– but when their lives intersect in the first week of fifth grade they are brought together by a common enemy (the biggest bully in their class) and the need to take control of their lives.

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Wonder

By: R. J. Palacio

wAugust Pullman was born with a facial deformity that, up until now, prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid — but his classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face. Auggie is a hero to root for, who proves that you can’t blend in when you were born to stand out.

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Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things

By: Lenore Look

Alvin, an Asian American second grader, is afraid of everything—elevators, tunnels, girls, and, most of all, school. He’s so afraid of school that, while he’ s there, he never, ever, says a word. But at home, Alvin is a very loud superhero named Firecracker Man, a brother to Calvin and Anibelly, and a gentleman-in-training, just like his dad. With the help of his family, can Alvin take on the outside world without letting his fears get the best of him?

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Awkward

By: Svetlana Chmakova

Cardinal rule #1 for surviving school: Don’t get noticed by the mean kids.
Cardinal rule #2 for surviving school: Seek out groups with similar interests and join them.

On her first day at her new school, Penelope-Peppi-Torres reminds herself of these basics. But when she trips into a quiet boy in the hall, Jaime Thompson, she’s already broken the first rule, and the mean kids start calling her the “nerder girlfriend.” How does she handle this crisis? By shoving poor Jaime and running away! Falling back on rule two and surrounding herself with new friends in the art club, Peppi still can’t help feeling ashamed about the way she treated Jaime. Things are already awkward enough between the two, but to make matters worse, he’s a member of her own club’s archrivals–the science club! And when the two clubs go to war, Peppi realizes that sometimes you have to break the rules to survive middle school!

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New Kid

By: Jerry Craft

Seventh grader Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan is one of the few kids of color in his entire grade. As he makes the daily trip from his Washington Heights apartment to the upscale Riverdale Academy Day School, Jordan soon finds himself torn between two worlds—and not really fitting into either one. Can Jordan learn to navigate his new school culture while keeping his neighborhood friends and staying true to himself?

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Allie, First At Last

By: Angela Cervantes

Born into a family of over-achievers, Allie has never finished first in anything, but she is determined to win the Trailblazer contest with an entry about her great grandfather, her town’s first Congressional Medal of Honor winner.

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Harry Versus the First 100 Days of School

By: Emily Jenkins

Harry Bergen-Murphy does not feel ready when he starts first grade, but by day 100 he has become an expert on several important things, including being a first-grader

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How Do Dinosaurs Go to School?

By: Jane Yolen

Everyone’s favorite dinosaurs are back – and this time they are going to school. Come along and join the fun as dinosaurs ride the bus, read their favorite books, and have fun on the playground with all their friends.

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The Day You Begin

By: Jacqueline Woodson

There will be times when you walk into a room and no one there is quite like you. It’s not easy to take those first steps into a place where nobody really knows you yet, but somehow you do it. This story reminds us that we all feel like outsiders sometimes-and how brave it is that we go forth anyway.

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All Are Welcome

By: Alexandra Penfold

Follow a group of children through a day in their school, where everyone is welcomed with open arms. A school where students from all backgrounds learn from and celebrate each other’s traditions. A school that shows the world as we will make it to be.

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The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family

By: Ibtihaj Muhammad

Faizah relates how she feels on the first day her sister, sixth-grader Asiya, wears a hijab to school.

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I Will Be Fierce!

By: Bea Birdsong

It’s a brand new day, and a young girl decides to take on the world like a brave explorer heading off on an epic fairytale quest. From home to school and back again, our hero conquers the Mountain of Knowledge (the library), forges new bridges (friendships), and leads the victorious charge home on her steed (the school bus).

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