Hummingbird

At twelve years old, Olive has never been to school with other kids.  She has osteogenesis imperfecta, OI for short.   That just must her bones are fragile and break easily.  Because of this, she's always been homeschooled, but she's finally convinced her parents to let her go to school with everyone else.  Olive desperately wants a BFF.  She loves her family, but it's not the same as having someone her own age.  She has her stepbrother, Hatch, but he barely looks at her.  

It doesn't take long for Olive to find a potential best friend in Grace, who is kind, creative, and who is making sets and costumes for the upcoming play.  Olive's true dream is to be an actress, and she's arrived just in time to try out.  Movies would be just as good if the actors used wheelchairs and had disabilities!

She also hears a strange story about a magical golden hummingbird who grants wishes.  Everyone knows the hummingbird is coming when magical white feathers that melt like snow fall from the sky in the weeks leading up to May Day.  Olive already has so many great things, and she loves herself as she is, but what if she didn't have OI?  What if her parents didn't have to constantly worry she might break a bone?

What if she could wish away the hardest thing in her life?

Natalie Lloyd's new book isn't set to come out until August, but it should definitely be on your TBR pile.  Lloyd and Olive have the same disability, and the author's personal struggles and triumphs shine through the story.  This is not one of those books where the "normal" kids learn to be better people because of a magical experience with a disabled person.  This is a story that centers a character with a disability whose family and friends rally around her because they love her as a person regardless of her physical abilities and disabilities.  The story is also filled with Lloyd's delightful touches of magical realism and her love of the Tennessee mountains where she grew up.  Highly recommended!

Jennifer Chan Is Not Alone

Mallory Moss knows how middle school works.  Wear the right clothes, say the right things, and don't stand out.  When Reagan, who is obviously cool, moved to town in elementary school and chose Mallory for her best friend, life was perfect.  She is on the right side of the social divide, and she has a best friend to share secrets with.

Then Jennifer Chan moves in across the street.  Jennifer is unlike anyone Mallory has ever known.  She's so...herself.  Jennifer is obsessed with aliens, and she's not embarrassed or shy about it all.  The way she talks about aliens almost makes Mallory want to believe herself.  

Then summer is over, and Mallory moves back into her role as best friend of the class queen.  If only Jennifer would just try to fit in, dress like a normal person, not talk about aliens, maybe things could be different.

Then Jennifer goes missing, and Mallory feels compelled to find her, partly because of the connection they had back in the summer...and partly because of the incident.  But she's not even really ready to admit the truth of that to herself.

Tae Keller's first book after winning the Newberry is a beautiful and painful story about friendship and fitting in.  The social interactions and power dynamics of middle school are realistically and brutally displayed.  Be sure to read the author's note at the end for extra insight into the characters and the author herself.  Nearly everyone will relate to this story of bullying and the struggle to be your authentic self.  Highly recommended.

The Patron Thief of Bread

Duck was saved from the river as a baby by the Crowns, a group of child thieves who band together for survival.  At eight years old, Duck knows they saved her life, but she also feels resentment and fear for the group's leader, Gnat.  She mostly tries to stay quiet and out of the way, but when the Crowns move into a new town, Gnat has a plan to keep them in coin and bread for the foreseeable future.  One of them will pose as the baker's apprentice and slip bread and money to the Crowns right under the baker's nose.  And he's decided Duck will take on this job.

Despite her nerves, getting a position as Griselde Baker's assistant is not a problem.  Despite the fact that her assistant doesn't trust Duck, the plan continues to work perfectly.  But it doesn't take long for Duck's heart to be pulled in two directions.  The Crowns saved her and kept her alive all these years, but the blind baker gives her a taste of warmth, comfort, and love she's never known before.

Meanwhile, a grouchy gargoyle sits atop an uncompleted cathedral.  He watches everything that happens, but he is unable to perform his duties as a protector because the cathedral was never completed.  For almost one hundred years, he has only been able to watch and complain.

Linsday Eagar is one of my favorites because her books are always unusual and creative.  This one is no exception.  It's a beautiful story about found family and the things we do for the ones we love.  The last few chapters of the book take various characters on a journey of seeking and granting forgiveness that really take this story to a deeper level.  Highly recommended.