Summer of Reading

By Hena Khan, Illustrated by Safiya Zerrougui (Knopf Books for Young Readers)

A few weeks into the school year, Aliya’s family moves to Milwaukee to live closer to her grandparents. Her new all-Muslim high school is much bigger than the one she attended in Florida. On the first day, her gym teacher asks her to shoot a basketball layup. Aliya does it perfectly, and her classmates realize she’s an experienced player. They encourage her to try out for the school’s team, which has had a losing record. Aliya makes the team and is named co-captain. At first, the team isn’t in sync, and Aliya has a hard time balancing practice and homework. The coach helps the team regroup and comes up with the motto “We Are More Than the Score.” As their game improves, the players are thrust into the spotlight and mocked by some opponents because they wear hijabs (head coverings). They also face discrimination in other ways. This graphic novel is loosely based on a real-life all-Muslim girls’ basketball team. You’ll root for the close-knit team through their setbacks and triumphs.

By Johnnie Christmas (HarperAlley)

After spending nearly all his free time playing his favorite video game, Max levels up his skills and receives an invitation to compete in the prestigious Gamerville tournament. Two classmates volunteer to coach him to boost his chance of winning the competition, which takes place a week after school ends. But his parents have other summer plans: They’re sending him to a month-long sleepaway camp where no technology is allowed. Max is devastated that he’ll miss the tournament and has a hard time adjusting to camp life. When he gets lost in the woods, he realizes the tournament is on the other side of the lake from his camp. He tries to figure out a way to make it to the tournament without his counselors finding out. Max receives help from a few fellow campers, including Zanzi, who is upset that the camp plans to modernize its program next year. Will Max make it to the video game competition without anyone realizing? There’s never a dull moment in this graphic novel adventure. You may especially enjoy the comic
 pages that portray what’s happening in the video game.

By Kekla Magoon (Candlewick Press)

Since Dally’s fun-loving grandfather died, she’s been lonely. Her wealthy mom spends all her time working on the family business. When Dally learns of a mysterious envelope that her grandfather left for her, she opens it even though she was supposed to wait until her 21st birthday. The envelope contains a map to a magical library. It’s filled with books that allow Dally to travel back in time. As she checks out each book, she has surprising encounters with her mom, dad, and grandfather when they were younger, as well as ancestors, including pirates, from hundreds of years ago. Dally, who is biracial, learns more about her Black roots and even experiences the Underground Railroad, the network of secret routes that allowed people to escape slavery in the 1800s. As Dally grapples with understanding her family’s secretive past, she has to make a decision that will change her life forever. This fast-paced story is primarily a fantasy but also contains historical fiction elements. Ages 10 and up.

By Katherine Applegate, illustrated by Patricia Castelao (Harper)

When an angry customer storms into the laundromat owned by Magnolia’s parents, a bulletin board falls to the ground. Upset that the customer yelled at her Chinese American parents and told them they need to “understand English,” 10-year-old Magnolia discards the board, which had socks hanging from it that were missing their mates. The next day, she sees her new friend Iris. Iris cheers up Magnolia by telling her they should retrieve the socks and become “sock detectives” to figure out who the owners are. Day after day, they make matches and have fun doing it. Magnolia runs into a classmate and asks if she wants to help. Iris is jealous that Magnolia asked the classmate, and they have a fight. Later, a racist message is left at Iris’ family business, and she needs a friend more than ever. Will Magnolia and Iris be able to patch things up? At less than 150 pages, this friendship story is both short and heartfelt.

By Chris Colfer, illustrated by Godwin Akpan (Little, Brown and Company)

Roswell wants to prove that aliens exist. He thinks his science fair project on the topic will be convincing, but a racist judge doesn’t give him a chance to present his findings or explain how his father once encountered aliens. After school, Roswell is at home when he hears his grandfather’s prized chicken clucking. The chicken is being beamed onto a UFO, and Roswell jumps in. Nerp and Bleep, part of a friendly alien race called the Grays, are conducting experiments on life-forms. They don’t realize Roswell is on board until they’re practically to Pluto. Before Nerp and Bleep can return Roswell to Earth, they all get abducted by an evil alien species. Will they all be able to escape? Time is of the essence because the evildoers are planning to take over Earth. Your mind will be blown by the twist ending of the first book in a new sci-fi series.