Realistic Fiction for Kids

Sixth-grader Carter must adjust to the unwelcome presence of a know-it-all butler who is determined to help him become a gentleman, and also to deal with burdens from the past.

Even though his classmates from first grade on have considered him strange and a loser, Daniel Zinkoff's optimism and exuberance and the support of his loving family do not allow him to feel that way about himself.

Twelve-year-old Lou Montgomery's life has been centered on her mother's terrifying plan to make her a singing star, but a crisis reveals Lou's sensory processing disorder and people determined to help her address it.

Young Joe and Ravi think they have nothing in common. Joe has lived in the same little town his whole life, but recently his best friends moved away, leaving him alone. Ravi and his family just moved there from India, and he just wants to fit in. When the two boys run afoul of the same bully, they discover they do have something in common after all, and scheme together to take control of their lives.

Frustrated at life with an autistic brother, twelve-year-old Catherine longs for a normal existence but her world is further complicated by a friendship with an young paraplegic.

"'The Unteachables' never thought they'd find a teacher who had a worse attitude than they did. And Mr. Kermit never thought he would actually care about teaching again. Over the course of a school year, though, room 117 will experience mayhem, destruction--and maybe even a shot at redemption"--Publisher.

Roy, who is new to his small Florida community, becomes involved in another boy's attempt to save a colony of burrowing owls from a proposed construction site.

Ok Lee knows it's his responsibility to help pay the bills. With his father gone and his mother working three jobs and still barely making ends meet, there's really no other choice. If only he could win the cash prize at the school talent contest! But he can't sing or dance, and has no magic up his sleeves, so he tries the next best thing: a hair braiding business. It's too bad the girls at school can't pay him much, and he's being befriended against...

A young student, who comes to love poetry through a personal understanding of what different famous poems mean to him, surprises himself by writing his own inspired poem.

Ten-year-old India Opal Buloni describes her first summer in the town of Naomi, Florida, and all the good things that happen to her because of her big ugly dog Winn-Dixie.