Reading Matters Blog

The votes are in and the winners have been chosen.  The 7th and 8th grade students at Rodney Thompson Middle School have chosen their favorite titles for this year's Cafe Book program.

Top Picks:

Cold Cereal by Adam Rex
A boy who may be part changeling, twins involved in a bizarre secret experiment, and a clurichaun in a red tracksuit try to save the world from an evil cereal company whose ultimate goal is world domination.

Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans

Michael Vey seems like an ordinary teenager, but he has a unique power. After his mother is kidnapped he and his friends have to find his mother and fight the hunters to save other kids with the same powers.

Other Favorites:

Starters by Lissa Price

Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs

This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein by Kenneth Oppel

Apothecary by Maile Meloy

Curveball: The Year I Lost My Grip by Jordan Sonnenblick

Seventh and eighth graders at Dixon-Smith Middle School have chosen their favorite titles from this year's Cafe Book program. Check 'em out!

The Top Pick:

Starters by Lissa Price

In a future Beverly Hills, biological warfare has made sixteen year-old Callie and her younger brother orphans. In order to survive, Callie agrees to the newest fad – body renting – where seniors use her body to re-live their youth, but she ends up caught in a web of lies and assassins. 

Other Favorites:

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans

Outlaw by Stephen Davies

Shelter by Harlan Coben

Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein by Kenneth Oppel

Ultraviolet by R. J. Anderson

Wonder by R. J. Palacio

Cafe Book is supported by a generous donation from the Carver family in memory of their mother Ruth---middle school librarian, literacy advocate, and lover of reading.

"Irish businessman will pay large amount of U.S. dollars to meet a fairy, sprite, leprechaun, or pixie."

The ad was posted on the Internet. Indeed, it generated numerous fraudulent responses, but the person who placed it only needed one true lead for his purposes. He had studied all he could in the mundane world he inhabited, but he knew the important secrets of the Fairy would only be known by others of their kind. However, in Artemis Fowl, by Eoin Colfer, the Irish businessman posting the ad did not mention that he was stupendously rich—and rather young. In his mind, the latter certainly did not signify.

Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong is author Prudence Shen's laser-guided, satirical commentary on a clash of the cliques that has the potential to destroy friendships, dreams, and dozens of deadly, armored robots. 

Hollow Ridge High School is dealing with the fight of the century. In this corner we have the cheerleadering squad. Popular, gorgeous and fierce, these ladies are looking for some brand-new uniforms. Looking for funds throughout the school, merciless head cheerleader Holly has set her sights on one club's unused budget.

In the other corner is the robotics club. Led by their neurotic but clever president Nate, these geeks are not going down without a fight. 

Stuck in the middle of this struggle is poor Charlie, captain of the basketball team. His only crime is being the ex-boyfriend of Holly and Nate's best friend.