A Whole New Ballgame (Rip and Red)
By Phil Bildner Illustrated by Tim Probert Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Pages: 256 Lexile: 540L Age Range: 8 – 12 Years ABOUT Rip and Red are best friends whose fifth-grade year is nothing like what they expected. They have a crazy new tattooed teacher named Mr. Acevedo, who doesn’t believe in tests or homework and who likes off-the-wall projects, the more “off” the better. And guess who’s also their new basketball coach? Mr. Acevedo! Easy-going Rip is knocked completely out of his comfort zone. And for Red, who has autism and really needs things to be...
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By Elly Swartz Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Pages: 304 Age Range: 8 – 12 Years ABOUT To twelve-year-old Molly Nathans, perfect is: —The number four —The tip of a newly sharpened No. 2 pencil —A crisp white pad of paper —Her neatly aligned glass animal figurines What’s not perfect is Molly’s mother leaving the family to take a faraway job with the promise to return in one year. Molly knows that promises are sometimes broken, so she hatches a plan to bring her mother home: Win the Lakeville Middle School Poetry Slam Contest. The winner is honored at a fancy banquet with white...
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