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Social Issues

Things affecting society yesterday and today

Unlocked

Author: 
Ryan G. Van Cleave
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Reading Level: Grades 7+

When you're the janitor's kid, you don't have many friends. You don't have any friends. Andy is no different, but when he hears a rumor that the school outcast, Blake, has a gun in his locker, he decides to make friends with Blake. When the boys do become friends, Andy must choose between protecting his only friend and protecting a school full of kids who could care less about him?

Pink

Author: 
Lili Wilkinson
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Reading Level: Grades 7+

What does pink mean to you? Does it mean a little girl’s bedroom, wallpapered with ponies, princesses, ballerinas and unicorns? A color occasionally featured in your wardrobe? A bonafide, lip-glossed, perfect 'Plastic' a la Mean Girls? Or is pink a color you hate with every dark black fiber of your being?

The Unidentified

Author: 
Rae Mariz
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Reading Level: Grade 7-9

15-year-old Kid is a student in the Game, a franchised high school that occupies an old mall. The students at the school spend their days playing "games" that are closely monitored by corporate sponsors. Almost every kid in the Game hopes to stand out enough to get "Branded."

Tutored

Author: 
Whittenberg, Allison
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Reading Level: Grades 8+

"Are you a minority?  Unemployed, underemployed, or economically disadvantaged?  We serve the entire West Side, and we have services that can assist you to a new FUTURE!  Stop by today."

Hakiam didn't believe the lame sign. He just stopped by to get extra credit for his GED class. He went back the second time because of the girl behind the desk. Even with her rich girl clothes and fancy way of talking...there was something about her.

Deadly

Author: 
Julie Chibbaro
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Reading Level: Grades 7-9

16-year-old Prudence Galewski knows she should be grateful to be a scholarship student at Mrs. Browning's School for Girls but she finds her lessons in typing, literature and deportment oppressive. Prudence doesn't want to be a wife and mother or a secretary at a bank. She wants to know what causes diseases and how to prevent them even though girls in the early 19th century were not supposed to be interested in such unladylike things.

The Star Maker

Author: 
Laurence Yep
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Reading Level: Grades 2-4

When Artie promises his mean cousin that he will give everyone firecrackers on the next Chinese New Year celebration, he immediately regrets it. How will he ever come up with enough money to buy all those firecrackers? Sympathetic to Artie's problem is Uncle Chester - a fun loving everyman who is wildly popular in Chinatown where Artie's family lives. Uncle Chester promises Artie that he will help - but when Uncle Chester's seemingly endless money starts to run out, Artie begins to worry.

A Small Free Kiss in the Dark

Author: 
Glenda Millard
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Reading Level: Grades 7+

When you’re a homeless eleven year-old named Skip, there isn’t anywhere for you to go, because all the shelters are either for women with children, or for men, which you aren’t.  When you’re homeless, a runaway, you never sleep in the same place twice, otherwise someone might be able to figure out where you are and take you back to where you ran away from.

Ruth and the Green Book

Author: 
Calvin Alexander Ramsey
Illustrator: 
Floyd Cooper
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Reading Level: Grades K - 4

Ruth and her parents take a road trip during the Jim Crow era and encounter discrimination at every turn, until they are given a copy of The Negro Motorist Green Book which lists the safe places for African-Americans to eat, visit and stay.

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