Realistic Fiction

When I Was the Greatest by Jason Reynolds

Ali lives in Brooklyn and is friends with Noodles and Needles, the brothers who live next door. Noodles thinks he’s tough and Needles has Tourette syndrome, but the block looks out for them. One day though, the friends go to the wrong party, somewhere they never should've been, where the people aren't so friendly, and even less forgiving.

Losing It by Erin Fry

Bennett Robinson loves baseball, especially watching Dodgers games with his dad while munching on burgers and fries. Baseball even helped Bennett and his dad cope with his mom's death from cancer. But on one perfect, baseball-watching day, Bennett's overweight dad has a stroke and ends up in the hospital. Bennett has to move in with his Aunt Laura and she makes it her personal mission to Get Bennett Healthy, even if that means taking over his life.  It’s time for Bennett to step up to the plate and learn that there are some things he can do after all . . . like talk to a girl, run a mile, and maybe even save his own life.



Straight Punch by Monique Polak

Tessa’s tagging lands her at New Directions, an alternative school in Montreal's toughest neighborhood. The school is far from Tessa's home and full of troubled kids. To make matters worse, half of every school day is devoted to boxing. The other students think boxing is cool. Not Tessa, who cannot handle violence of any kind. But when a neighbor starts a petition to have New Directions closed down, Tessa discovers something worth fighting for, both in and out of the ring.


Alabama Moon by Watt Key

After the death of his father, ten-year-old Moon leaves their forest shelter home and is sent to an Alabama institution, becoming entangled in the outside world he has never known making good friends, a relentless enemy and finally a new life.




Blackbird Fly by Erin Entrada Kelly

Future rock star or friendless misfit?  Apple Yengko moved from the Philippines to Louisiana when she was little, and now that she is in middle school, she grapples with being different, with friends and backstabbers, and with following her dreams. When the boys in Apple's class put her name on the Dog Log, the list of the most unpopular girls in school, her friends turn on her and everything about her life starts to seem weird and embarrassing. Apple turns to music. If she can just save enough to buy a guitar and learn to play, maybe she can change herself. It might be the music that saves her . . . or it might be her two new friends, who show how special she really is.

Dear Hank Williams by Kimberly Willis Holt

In Rippling Creek, Louisiana, in 1948, eleven-year-old Tate writes letters to her favorite country singer, sharing her dreams of becoming a singer and revealing that her mother is in prison.

After Iris by Natasha Farrant

Twelve-year-old Bluebell Gadsby's written and video diary chronicles life in a rowdy London family, and how Zoran, the new au pair, and Joss, the troublemaking boy next door, help to pull her out of her shell and cope with the loss of her twin three years before.




Rocket Man by Jan L. Coates

Bob has got by pretending to be Mr. Invisible.But with his dad's cancer getting worse and not making the D1 basketball team again, it might be time to step up and take action. He starts working with his older brother and maybe-more-than friend, Maria, to organize a charity game for cancer. And suddenly Bob isn't so invisible anymore.




The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen

Jessica was a star track athlete, her life revolved around running.  All this comes to an end when she loses a leg after a tragic car accident.  As she struggles to cope with crutches and a first cyborg-like prosthetic, Jessica feels oddly both in the spotlight and invisible. People who don't know what to say, act like she's not there. Which she could handle better if she weren't now keenly aware that she'd done the same thing herself 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.


Wonder by R. J. Palacio

August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He's about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances?



Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff

Ten-year-old Albie has never been the smartest, tallest, best at gym, greatest artist, or most musical in his class--as his parents keep reminding him--but new nanny Calista helps him uncover his strengths and take pride in himself.






Binny for Short by Hilary McKay

When she was eight, Binny's life was perfect: She had her father's wonderful stories and Max, the best dog ever. But after her father's sudden death, money is tight, and Aunty Violet decides to give Max away- he is just too big for their cramped new life. Binny knows she cant get her dad back, but she never stops missing Max, or trying to find him. Then, when she's eleven, everything changes again. Aunty Violet has died, and left Binny and her family an old house in a seaside town. Binny is faced with a new crush, a new frenemy, and...a ghost?



* We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

A beautiful and distinguished family. A revolution. An accident. A secret. Lies upon lies. True love. The truth. Spending the summers on her family's private island off the coast of Massachusetts with her cousins and a special boy named Gat, teenaged Cadence struggles to remember what happened during her fifteenth summer.

*For a mature reader


Swim That Rock by John Rocco & Jay Primiano

When his dad goes missing in a fishing-boat accident, 14-year-old Jake refuses to think he may have lost his father forever. And nothing else seems certain in Jake's future, either, as his mother struggles with depression and loan sharks threaten to repossess the family diner.





Sisters by Raina Telgemeier

 Raina can't wait to be a big sister. But once Amara is born, things aren't quite how she expected them to be. Amara is cute, but she's also a cranky, grouchy baby, and mostly prefers to play by herself. Their relationship doesn't improve much over the years, but when a baby brother enters the picture and later, something doesn't seem right between their parents, they realize they must figure out how to get along. They are sisters, after all.