Welcome to the BELS Book Club!
To reserve any of the books below, fill out this Google form to complete your reservation. Reservations are taken on a first-come, first-served basis – please check the reservation calendar below before placing your request. The books may be borrowed for 6 weeks at a time and they come in sets of 10. If you need additional copies that are not available from other member libraries, contact Abigail to place a JerseyCat request. Please remind your students to take care of these shared resources!
El Deafo by Cece Bell
(Grades 3 & up) Starting at a new school is scary, even more so with a giant hearing aid strapped to your chest! At her old school, everyone in Cece's class was deaf. Here she is different. She is sure the kids are staring at the Phonic Ear, the powerful aid that will help her hear her teacher. Too bad it also seems certain to repel potential friends. [see more]
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
(Grades 3-5) Ivan is an easygoing gorilla. Living at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, he has grown accustomed to humans watching him through the glass walls of his domain. He rarely misses his life in the jungle. In fact, he hardly ever thinks about it at all.[see more]
Clementine by Sara Pennypacker
(Grades 3-5) Clementine is having not so good of a week. On Monday she's sent to the principal’s office for cutting off Margaret’s hair. Tuesday, Margaret's mother is mad at her. Wednesday, she's sent to the principal... again. Thursday, Margaret stops speaking to her. Friday starts with yucky eggs and gets worse. And by Saturday, even her mother is mad at her. [see more]
Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo
(Grades 4-6) It begins, as the best superhero stories do, with a tragic accident that has unexpected consequences. The squirrel never saw the vacuum cleaner coming, but self-described cynic Flora Belle Buckman, who has read every issue of the comic book Terrible Things Can Happen to You!, is the just the right person to step in and save him. What neither can predict is that Ulysses [see more]
Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen
(Grades 5-8) Flipped is a romance told in two voices. The first time Juli Baker saw Bryce Loski, she flipped. The first time Bryce saw Juli, he ran. That’s pretty much the pattern for these two neighbors until the eighth grade, when, just as Juli is realizing Bryce isn’t as wonderful as she thought, Bryce is starting to see that Juli is pretty amazing. How these two teens manage to see [see more]
Lost in the Sun by Lisa Graff
(Grades 5-8) Everyone says that middle school is awful, but Trent knows nothing could be worse than the year he had in fifth grade, when a freak accident on Cedar Lake left one kid dead, and Trent with a brain full of terrible thoughts he can't get rid of. Trent’s pretty positive the entire disaster was his fault, so for him middle school feels like a fresh start, a chance to prove to [see more]
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
(Grades 8 & up) The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child "unwound," whereby all of the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life [see more]
All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
(Grades 9 & up) Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.
Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death. [see more]
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
(Grades 9 & up) Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later[see more]
