THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR

Romance, Immigration, Emigration, Poetry, Middle-High School



My Comments
A favorite! 5 Stars! This is more than romance and heartbreak; it portrays people who fight for their dreams in the face of obstacles completely out of their control, the importance of enduring self belief and love. This is high school, but appropriate for mature middle schoolers. The message is positive, the characters human and inspiring.

"Natasha is a girl who believes in science and facts. Daniel has always been a good son and good student. But when he sees Natasha he forgets all that and believes there is something extraordinary in store for both of them"--OCLC.

From the Publisher

Natasha: I'm a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I'm definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won't be my story.

Daniel:I've always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents' high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store--for both of us.

The Universe:Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?

***

A 2016 National Book AwardFinalist
A New York Times Notable Book
A BuzzFeed Best YA Book of the Year
A POPSUGAR Best Book of the Year
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
A Booklist Editor's Choice
A New York Public Library Best Book for Teens
An Amazon Best Book of the Year

"Beautifully crafted."--People Magazine

"A book that is very much about the many factors that affect falling in love, as much as it is about the very act itself . . . fans of Yoon's first novel, Everything Everything, will find much to love--if not, more--in what is easily an even stronger follow up." --Entertainment Weekly
"Transcends the limits of YA as a human story about falling in love and seeking out our futures."--POPSUGAR.com

★"An exhilarating, hopeful novel exploring identity, family, the love of science and the science of love, dark matter and interconnectedness--is about seeing and being seen and the possibility of love... and it shines."--Shelf Awareness, starred review 

★"Moving and suspenseful." --Publishers Weekly, starred review 

★ "Fans of Eleanor & Park and The Fault in Our Stars are destined to fall for Daniel and Natasha." --The Horn Book, starred review

★ "Lyrical and sweeping, full of hope, heartbreak, fate. . . and the universal beating of the human heart." --Booklist, starred review

★"Profound . . . both deeply moving and satisfying."--Kirkus, starred review

THE UNDERNEATH by Kathi Appelt

Animal Tales, Fantasy, Survival, Dogs, Cats, Bayou

Newbery Honor 2009, ALA Notable, Starred Reviews

320 pages. 

From the Publisher (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
There is nothing lonelier than a cat who has been loved, at least for a while, and then abandoned on the side of the road.
A calico cat, about to have kittens, hears the lonely howl of a chained-up hound deep in the backwaters of the bayou. She dares to find him in the forest, and the hound dares to befriend this cat, this feline, this creature he is supposed to hate. They are an unlikely pair, about to become an unlikely family. Ranger urges the cat to hide underneath the porch, to raise her kittens there because Gar-Face, the man living inside the house, will surely use them as alligator bait should he find them. But they are safe in the Underneath...as long as they stay in the Underneath.

Kittens, however, are notoriously curious creatures. And one kitten's one moment of curiosity sets off a chain of events that is astonishing, remarkable, and enormous in its meaning. For everyone who loves Sounder, Shiloh, and The Yearling, for everyone who loves the haunting beauty of writers such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Flannery O'Connor, and Carson McCullers, Kathi Appelt spins a harrowing yet keenly sweet tale about the power of love -- and its opposite, hate -- the fragility of happiness and the importance of making good on your promises. (the publisher)

My Comments
An intriguing book. Gar-Face is terrifying so consider the reader. A lot of story threads that do manage to come together. Not an easy read. Give to kids who love old folk-tales with magic interwoven. A good read aloud.

MORE CHALLENGING CHOICES

An Every Growing List!

KNOW YOUR READER!
Caveat: Always preview books to see if they are appropriate for your reader.

For outside links to reading lists:

https://sites.google.com/a/eufsdk12.org/eastchester-middle-high-school-reading/book-lover-lists

Please make sure to check out nonfiction books listed below.

BEFORE YOU DESPAIR, CHECK OUT THESE POPULAR MIDDLE SCHOOL CHOICES

How Oscar Indigo Broke the Universe and Put it Back

By David Teague

http://middleschoolreadingblog.blogspot.com/2018/03/how-oscar-indigo-broke-universe-and-put.html

Nancy Farmer - Sea of Trolls and her other books

https://www.nancyfarmerwebsite.com/trolls-trilogy.html

The Ranger’s Apprentice

http://middleschoolreadingblog.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-rangers-apprentice-ruins-of-gorlan.html

The Alchemyst by Michael Scott (also on audio) Page turner! (for those who love Rick Riordan books)

http://middleschoolreadingblog.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-alchemyst-by-michael-scott.html

FABULOUS FANTASY BOOKS
http://middleschoolreadingblog.blogspot.com/2016/06/fabulous-fantasy-books.html

SCIENCE FICTION

• House of Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (pair this with Cells Up Close by Maria Nelson)
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and other Jules Verne books
• James Dashner books: The Eye of Minds (series) and others
• Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
• Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
• I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
• The Hunger Games
• Legend by Marie Lu
• The Testing by Charbonneau
• Foundation by Isaac Asimov (difficult)

MYSTERY

• The Mysterious Benedict Society

FANTASY

• The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
• The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials) by Philip PullmanThe Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan (not high level but good through grade 8 for interest)

HISTORICAL FICTION

• Refugee by Alan Gratz
• Forgotten Fire by David Bagdasarian
• Countdown by Deborah Wiles
• Johnny Tremain
• The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages
• Call of the Wild by Jack London
• Old Yeller
• The Sounder
• The Yearling
• Where the Red Fern Grows

ANIMAL FICTION

• Redwall (wonderful! Available on audio)
• The Incredible Journey
• Watership Down

NONFICTION

• Phillip Hoose
• The Race to Save the Lord God Bird
• Moonbird and others
• Steve Sheinkin
• Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon
• Marc Aronson
• Master of Deceit: J. Edgar Hoover and America in the Age of Lies  (Pair this with Bomb by Sheinkin)
• If Stones Could Speak

http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/aronson

Author, editor, publisher, and speaker Marc Aronson believes passionately in the power of great nonfiction — in building background knowledge, nourishing children's interest in the real world, and helping young people become critical readers and thinkers. He has written history and biography books for middle school children and young adults, including books about the secrets of Stonehenge, the sugar trade (Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science), and the life of John Henry (Ain't Nothing but a Man). His biography of Sir Walter Raleigh (Sir Walter Raleigh and the Quest for El Dorado won the ALA's first Robert L. Sibert Information Book Award for nonfiction and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award.

You can watch the interview below, view the interview transcript, read a short biography of Marc Aronson, or see a selected list of his children's books.

(This video is also available on YouTube and iTunes.)

For an extended interview with Aronson and a list of his YA books, visit our sister site, AdLit.org.