The Rapid Reader

Purchase this book on Amazon here! Slacker is a middle grade fiction novel by New York Times Bestselling Author Gordon Korman. Cameron Boxer is perfectly content to do nothing but play video games. But when he almost accidentally burns his house down, Cameron must come up with a way to convince his parents that there's more to him than meets the eye. He convinces his friends to help him create a fake school club, but instead of it being the "cover" he desires, Cameron finds himself leading nearly the entire school! He just wants to play video games! Getting rid of the club won't be too difficult, will it?  Sex: None. Language: None. Drug/Alcohol Use: None. Violence/Gore/Frightening Scenes/Death: A few physical altercations between students, but nothing too over the top. Final Note: Gordon Korman writes some wonderful books for middle school students. This was a book kids, especially boys, can relate to and it was funny as well!

Anastasia Again! Is a middle grade fiction novel by Newbery Award winning author Lois Lowry. It is the second book in the Anastasia Krupnik series. Twelve-year-old Anastasia is not happy that her family is moving to the suburbs. She’s convinced that everyone there is strange and that she’ll never fit in or find friends. But her new home is a pleasant surprise. Maybe she’ll like the suburbs more than she thought. Sex: Sex isn’t described in detail, but Anastasia mentions that maybe the book she’s writing “needs an explicit sex scene.” (It’s mentioned in a humorous way – like Anastasia doesn’t know what that actually means.) Anastasia explains to her brother what a flasher is, leading to a funny scene near the end of the book. One of Anastasia’s male friends from school finds a Playboy magazine on the ground and puts it in the briefcase he carries around. (She mentions this disdainfully.) Language: Mild. Drug/Alcohol Use: Anastasia often remarks that her dad is drinking a ...

Gooney Bird Greene is a junior fiction series by Newbery Award winning author Lois Lowry. (Number the Stars and The Giver.) Gooney Bird Greene is full of ideas. She loves being a unique individual. This series is all about her adventures in second grade. Sex: None. Language: None. Mild potty humor like you would typically hear from second graders. Drug/Alcohol Use: A classmate remarks that his dad smokes. A wine glass is set out for a display but when a parent complains, it's removed. Violence/Gore/Frightening Scenes/Death: None. Final Note: This series is truly wonderful. It's like an early Junie B. Jones, but with more challenging vocabulary. Gooney Bird is quite smart and her teacher fosters her uniqueness. If you can get your daughters to pick these up, I don't think they'll put them down. ***There are a few other titles in this series, but these are the three I've read most recently.