2019 Greene Summer Reading List
Books with links below them are available from the Palo Alto Public Library as books and/or ebooks, or from the PAUSD Middle School Overdrive ebook collection. You will need your PAUSD library card number, printed on your student ID card, to access these books.
Contemporary / Realistic Fiction
Acevedo, Elizabeth
The Poet X (YA)
Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.
Bowman, Akemi Dawn
Summer Bird Blue (YA)
After her sister and songwriting partner, Lea, dies in an automobile accident, seventeen-year-old Rumi is sent to Hawaii with an aunt she barely knows while she and her mother grieve separately.
Davis, Dana
Tiffany Sly Lives Here Now (YA)
Tiffany has a secret. Another man claims he’s Tiffany’s real dad–and she has only seven days before he shows up to demand a paternity test. With her life about to fall apart all over again, Tiffany finds herself discovering unexpected truths about her father, her mother and herself, and realizing that maybe family is in the bonds you make–and that life means sometimes taking risks.
Friend, Natasha
How we Roll (YA)
After developing alopecia Quinn lost her friends along with her hair and former football player Jake lost his legs and confidence after an accident, but the two help each other believe in themselves and the possibility of love.
Gino, Alex
You don’t know everything, Jilly P!
When Jilly’s sister, Emma, is born deaf, she realizes the world is going to treat Jilly, who is white and hearing, differently from Emma, just as it will treat them both differently from their Black cousins.
Goo, Maureen
I Believe in a Thing Called Love (YA)
A disaster in romance, high school senior Desi Lee decides to tackle her flirting failures by watching Korean television dramas, where the hapless heroine always seems to end up in the arms of her true love by episode ten.
Khorram, Adib
Darius the Great is not okay (YA)
Clinically-depressed Darius Kellner, a high school sophomore, travels to Iran to meet his grandparents, but it is their next-door neighbor, Sohrab, who changes his life.
Kirby, Jessi
The other side of lost (YA)
Mari Turner’s life is perfect. That is, at least, to her thousands of followers who have helped her become an internet starlet. But when she breaks down and posts a video confessing she’s been living a lie–that she isn’t the happy, in love, inspirational online personality she’s been trying so hard to portray–it goes viral and she receives a major backlash. To get away from it all, she makes an impulsive decision: to hike the entire John Muir Trail. Mari and her late cousin Bri were supposed to do it together, to celebrate their shared eighteenth birthday.
Marsh, Katherine
Nowhere Boy
Fourteen-year-old Ahmed, a Syrian refugee, and thirteen-year-old Max, an American boy, are bound by a secret that sets them on the adventure of a lifetime.
Medina, Meg
Merci Suárez Changes Gears
Thoughtful, strong-willed sixth-grader Merci Suarez navigates difficult changes with friends, family, and everyone in between in a resonant new novel from Meg Medina. 2019 Newbery winner!
Menon, Sandhya
From Twinkle, With Love (YA)
Told through letters, aspiring filmmaker and wallflower Twinkle Mehra learns a lesson about love while directing a movie for the Midsummer Night arts festival, in which her longtime crush and his twin brother are also participating.
Oshiro, Mark
Anger is a Gift
High schooler Moss is a survivor. He’s witnessed his father’s death at the hands of the police and has anxiety, but his friends and mother help him through panic attacks. He struggles with self-consciousness and body image, and his dating life as a large, gay, African American male teen has been nonexistent-until he meets Javier, an undocumented immigrant from a different school, and begins to fall in love.
Pérez, Celia C.
The first rule of punk
Twelve-year-old Maria Luisa O’Neill-Morales (who really prefers to be called Malu) reluctantly moves with her Mexican-American mother to Chicago and starts seventh grade with a bang–violating the dress code with her punk rock aesthetic and spurning the middle school’s most popular girl in favor of starting a band with a group of like-minded weirdos.
Thorne, Jenn Marie
The Inside of Out (YA)
When her best friend comes out as a lesbian, Daisy leads the charge to end their school’s ban on same-sex dates for the homecoming dance, but a local story goes viral and now everyone–including a cute college journalist–bhttps://paloalto.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1701469136elieves Daisy is gay, too.
Welch, Jenna Evans
Love & Luck (YA)
Addie hopes that the road trip of a lifetime through the rolling hills of Ireland will not only bring the romance and adventure she so desperately seeks but also help fix the shattered relationship she has with her brother after secrets come to the surface
Woods, Brenda
The blossoming universe of Violet Diamond
Violet is a smart, funny, brown-eyed, brown-haired girl in a family of blonds. Her mom is white, and her dad, who died before she was born, was black. She attends a mostly white school where she sometimes feels like a brown leaf on a pile of snow. She’s tired of people asking if she’s adopted. Now that Violet’s eleven, she decides it’s time to learn about her African American heritage.
Woodson, Jacqueline
Harbor me
When six students are chosen to participate in a weekly talk with no adults allowed, they discover that when they’re together, it’s safe to share the hopes and fears they have to hide from the rest of the world.
Zoboi, Ibi Aanu
Pride (YA)
When the wealthy Darcy family moves in across the street, Zuri wants nothing to do with their two teenage sons, even as her older sister, Janae, starts to fall for the charming Ainsley. She especially can’t stand the judgmental and arrogant Darius. Yet as Zuri and Darius are forced to find common ground, their initial dislike shifts into an unexpected understanding. But with four wild sisters pulling her in different directions, cute boy Warren vying for her attention, and college applications hovering on the horizon, Zuri fights to find her place in Bushwick’s changing landscape, or lose it all.
Fantasy
Adeyemi, Tomi
Children of blood and bone (Legacy of Orisha #1) (YA)
Seventeen-year-old Zelie, her older brother Tzain, and rogue princess Amari fight to restore magic to the land and activate a new generation of magi, but they are ruthlessly pursued by the crown prince, who believes the return of magic will mean the end of the monarchy.
Asebedo, Miranda
The Deepest Roots (YA)
Cottonwood Hollow, Kansas, is a strange place. For the past century, every girl has been born with a special talent, like the ability to Fix any object, Heal any wound, or Find what is missing. To best friends Rome, Lux, and Mercy, their abilities often feel more like a curse.
Bardugo, Leigh
King of Scars (Nikolai duology #1)
Nikolai Lantsov has always had a gift for the impossible. No one knows what he endured in his country’s bloody civil war — and he intends to keep it that way. Now, as enemies gather at his weakened borders, the young king must find a way to refill Ravka’s coffers, forge new alliances, and stop a rising threat to the once-great Grisha Army. Yet with every day a dark magic within him grows stronger, threatening to destroy all he has built. With the help of a young monk and a legendary Grisha Squaller, Nikolai will journey to the places in Ravka where the deepest magic survives to vanquish the terrible legacy inside him.
Cervantes, J.C.
The storm runner
To prevent the Mayan gods from battling each other and destroying the world, thirteen-year-old Zane must unravel an ancient prophecy, stop an evil god, and discover how the physical disability that makes him reliant on a cane also connects him to his father and his ancestry.
Chima, Cinda Williams
Flamecaster (a Shattered Realms novel #1)
A thrilling new fantasy series from New York Times bestselling author Cinda Williams Chima, set in the same world as her beloved Seven Realms series, a generation later. Starring the teenage children of original Seven Realms characters, this series introduces a whole new generation of mages, assassins, villains, and heroes..
Garber, Stephanie
Caraval (YA)
Two sisters, Scarlett and Tella, leave their cruel father to attend Caraval–a faraway once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show–and, along the way, Tella is kidnapped and Scarlett is aided by a mysterious sailor and finds herself enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic.
Henning, Sarah
Sea Witch
Ever since her best friend Anna died, Evie has been an outcast in her small fishing town. Hiding her talents, mourning her loss, drowning in her guilt. Then a girl with an uncanny resemblance to Anna appears on the shore, and the two girls catch the eyes of two charming princes. Suddenly Evie feels like she might finally have a chance at her own happily ever after. But magic isn’t kind, and her new friend harbors secrets of her own. She can’t stay in Havnestad–or on two legs–without Evie’s help. And when Evie reaches deep into the power of her magic to save her friend’s humanity–and her prince’s heart–she discovers, too late, what she’s bargained away.
Islington, James
An echo of things to come (Licanius trilogy #2) (YA)
In the wake of a devastating attack, an amnesty has been declared for all Augurs-finally allowing them to emerge from hiding and openly oppose the dark forces massing against the land of Andarra. As the Augur Davian and his new allies hurry north toward the ever-weakening Boundary, however, fresh horrors along their path suggest that their reprieve may have come far too late.
Lerangis, Peter
Max Tilt: Fire the depths
When thirteen-year-old Max Tilt happens upon his great-great-great-grandfather Jules Verne’s unfinished, unpublished manuscript, The Lost Treasures, he doesn’t realize that he’s found the answers to all his problems. And Max has a lot of problems: his mother is sick, his father is out of work, and his home is about to be foreclosed on. But when Max and his cousin Alex discover that Verne’s last work reveals everything he wrote was fact, not fiction, they realize that the book holds the key to something incredibly valuable.
Lu, Marie
Batman: Nightwalker (DC Icons)
The Nightwalkers are terrorizing Gotham City, and Bruce Wayne is next on their list…. Bruce will walk the dark line between trust and betrayal as the Nightwalkers circle closer.
Maas, Wendy
Bob
Ten-year-old Livy, who lives in Massachusetts, hasn’t visited her Gran Nicholas’s house in Australia for five years. When she returns for a visit, Livy is struck by the feeling that something very important is waiting for her.
Pattou, Edith
West (YA)
A young woman journeys to a distant castle on the back of a great white bear who is the victim of a cruel enchantment.
Pullman, Phillip
La Belle Sauvage (Book of Dust v.1)
When Malcolm finds a secret message inquiring about a dangerous substance called Dust, he finds himself embroiled in a tale of intrigue featuring enforcement agents from the Magisterium, a woman with an evil monkey daemon, and a baby named Lyra.
Stroud, Jonathan
The empty grave (Lockwood & co. #5)
With the help of some unexpected, and rather ghostly, allies, Lockwood & Co. must battle their greatest enemy yet, as they move ever closer to the moment when the earth-shattering secret of ‘the problem’ will finally be revealed.
Historical Fiction
Cornwell, Betsy
The Forest Queen
From a New York Times bestselling author, a fresh, female-centered take on “Robin Hood” in which a young noblewoman, like the legendary hero, becomes an outlaw fighting for social justice. Perfect for fans of Marissa Meyer and Sarah J. Maas.
Curtis, Christopher Paul
The journey of little Charlie
When his poor sharecropper father is killed in an accident and leaves the family in debt, twelve-year-old Little Charlie agrees to accompany fearsome plantation overseer Cap’n Buck north in pursuit of people who have stolen from him. Cap’n Buck tells Little Charlie that his father’s debt will be cleared when the fugitives are captured, which seems like a good deal until Little Charlie comes face-to-face with the people he is chasing.
Gratz, Alan
Projekt 1065
Includes bibliographical references. It is 1943, and thirteen-year-old Michael O’Shaunessey, son of the Irish ambassador to Nazi Germany in Berlin, is also a spy for the British Secret Service, so he has joined the Hitler Youth, and pretending that he agrees with their violence and book-burning is hard enough–but when he is asked to find out more about “Projekt 1065” both his and his parents’ lives get a lot more dangerous.
Hiranandani, Veera
The Night Diary
Shy twelve-year-old Nisha, forced to flee her home with her Hindu family during the 1947 partition of India, tries to find her voice and make sense of the world falling apart around her by writing to her deceased Muslim mother in the pages of her diary.
Jackson, Linda Williams
Midnight without a moon
Rose Lee Carter, a thirteen-year-old African-American girl, dreams of life beyond the Mississippi cotton fields during the summer of 1955, but when Emmett Till is murdered and his killers are unjustly acquitted, Rose is torn between seeking her destiny outside of Mississippi or staying and being a part of an important movement.
Stamper, Vesper
What the Night Sings
Liberated from Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp in 1945, sixteen-year-old Gerta tries to make a new life for herself, aided by Lev, a fellow survivor, and Michah, who helps Jews reach Palestine.
Powell, Patricia Hruby
Loving vs. Virginia (YA)
Written in blank verse, the story of Mildred Loving, an African American girl, and Richard Loving, a Caucasian boy, who challenge the Virginia law forbidding interracial marriages in the 1950s.
Horror / Supernatural
Schwab, Victoria
City of ghosts (Cassidy Blake #1)
Ever since her near-fatal drowning, Cassidy has been able to pull back the “Veil” that separates the living from the dead and see ghosts, not that she wants to, and she was really looking forward to a ghost-free summer at the beach; however her parents are going to start filming a TV series about the world’s most haunted places, starting with Edinburgh with its graveyards, castles, and restless phantoms–and Cass and her personal ghost companion, Jacob, are about to find out that a city of old ghosts can be a very dangerous place indeed.
Smy, Pam
Thornhill
Parallel plotlines set in different times, one told in text and one in art, inform each other as a young girl unravels the mystery of a ghost next door
Humor
Kaplan, A. E
Grendel’s Guide to Love and War
When a local bully upsets the senior community by throwing wild parties, an effort that is complicated by Aarons PTSD and Toms unrequited feelings for the bully’s sister, misfit Tom and his friend Ed take matters into their own hands.
Korman, Gordon
Supergifted (Ungifted #2)
Donovan Curtis has never been what anyone would call ‘gifted.’ But his genius friend Noah Youkilis is actually supergifted, with one of the highest IQs around. After years at the Academy for Scholastic Distinction, all Noah dreams of is the opportunity to fail if he wants to. And he’s landed in the perfect place to do it–Donovan’s school. Almost immediately, Noah finds himself on the wrong side of cheerleading captain Megan Mercury and alpha jock Hash ‘Hashtag’ Taggart. Sticking up for Noah lands Donovan in the middle of a huge feud with Hashtag. He’s told to stay away from the sports star–or else. That should be the end of it, but when a freak incident suddenly makes Donovan a hero, he can’t tell anyone about it since Hashtag is involved. So Noah steps in and becomes ‘Superkid’.
Krosoczka, Jarrett J.
The principal strikes back (Jedi Academy #6)
Returning to the Jedi Academy for his third year, Victor Starspeeder must navigate a strict new droid principal’s regulations and other school changes that are tied to a mysterious secret.
Mystery / Suspense / Adventure
Brailler, Max
The last kids on Earth and the cosmic beyond (Last kids on earth #4)
During the first winter after the Monster Apocalypse, Jack and his buddies prepare for a monstrous Christmas celebration, but a supervillainess steals Jack’s prized monster-slaying weapon, his Louisville Slicer, and he vows to get it back.
Bowling, Dusti
24 Hours in Nowhere
Thirteen-year-old Gus, having been saved from the bullying of Bo Taylor by Rossi Scott who agreed to trade her dirt bike in exchange for Gus being left alone, agrees to go into Dead Frenchman Mine with Rossi and two other kids to find a piece of gold to buy the bike back; and, while on their adventure, the four bond over how hard life is in their small town of Nowhere, Arizona.
Carter, Ally
Not if I save you first
Six years ago Maddie lived in Washington D.C. with her father, a Secret Service agent assigned to the President’s family, and her best friend was Logan, the President’s son; but after her father was wounded in an attempted kidnapping the two of them moved to a remote cabin in Alaska and Logan never replied to her letters–but now he has suddenly turned up on her doorstep, and, while she has no intention of forgiving him for his silence, she soon realizes that first she has to save him from the winter wilderness and the men who are pursuing him.
Johnson, Varian
The Parker Inheritance
Twelve-year-old Candice Miller is spending the summer in Lambert, South Carolina, in the old house that belonged to her grandmother, who died after being dismissed as city manager for having the city tennis courts dug up looking for buried treasure–but when she finds the letter that sent her grandmother on the treasure hunt, she finds herself caught up in the mystery and, with the help of her new friend and fellow book-worm, Brandon, she sets out to find the inheritance, exonerate her grandmother, and expose an injustice once committed against an African American family in Lambert.
Lerangis, Peter
Max Tilt: Fire the Depths
When thirteen-year-old Max Tilt happens upon his great-great-great-grandfather Jules Verne’s unfinished, unpublished manuscript, The Lost Treasures, he doesn’t realize that he’s found the answers to all his problems. And Max has a lot of problems: his mother is sick, his father is out of work, and his home is about to be foreclosed on. But when Max and his cousin Alex discover that Verne’s last work reveals everything he wrote was fact, not fiction, they realize that the book holds the key to something incredibly valuable.
Ryan, Carrie
Daughter of Deep Silence (YA)
In the wake of the devastating destruction of the luxury yacht Persephone, just three souls remain to tell its story—and two of them are lying. Only Frances Mace knows the terrifying truth, and she’ll stop at nothing to avenge the murders of everyone she held dear. Even if it means taking down the boy she loves and possibly losing herself in the process.
Wegelius, Jakob
The Murderer’s Ape (YA)
When her best friend, the sailor Henry Koskela, is falsely accused of murder, a gorilla named Sally Jones visits the run-down docks of Lisbon, embarks on a dizzying journey across the seven seas, and calls on the Maharaja of Bhapur’s magnificent court–all in an attempt to clear Henry’s name.
Nonfiction
Bagieu, Pénélope
Brazen: Rebel ladies who rocked the world
In graphic novel format looks at the lives of twenty-nine charismatic women in history, including Josephine Baker, Betty Davis, Cheryl Bridges, and many others.
Carmon, Irin
Notorious RBG : the life and times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg never asked for fame—she was just trying to make the world a little better and a little freer. But along the way, the feminist pioneer’s searing dissents and steely strength have inspired millions.
Hudson, Wade, editor
We rise, we resist, we raise our voices
Fifty of the foremost diverse children’s authors and illustrators–including Jason Reynolds, Jacqueline Woodson, and Kwame Alexander–share answers to the question, “In this divisive world, what shall we tell our children?” in this beautiful, full-color keepsake collection, published in partnership with Just Us Books.
Judge, Lita
Mary’s monster: love, madness, and how Mary Shelley created Frankenstein
Legend is correct that Mary Shelley began penning Frankenstein in answer to a dare to write a ghost story. What most people don’t know, however, is that the seeds of her novel had been planted long before that night. By age nineteen, she had been disowned by her family, was living in scandal with a married man, and had lost her baby daughter just days after her birth. Mary poured her grief, pain, and passion into the powerful book still revered two hundred years later, and in Mary’s Monster, author/illustrator Lita Judge has poured her own passion into a gorgeous book that pays tribute to the life of this incredible author.
Stevenson, Bryan
Just Mercy (Adapted for Young Adults): A True Story of the Fight for Justice
In this young adult adaptation of the acclaimed bestselling Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson delves deep into the broken U.S. justice system, detailing from his personal experience his many challenges and efforts as a lawyer and social advocate, especially on behalf of America’s most rejected and marginalized people.
Sotomayor, Sonia
The Beloved World of Sonia Sotomayor
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Sonia Sotomayor’s details her achievements, which serve as a true testament to the fact that no matter the obstacles, dreams can come true.
Science Fiction / Dystopian
Hernandez, Carlos
Sal and Gabi Break the Universe
How did a raw chicken get inside Yasmany’s locker? When Sal Vidon meets Gabi Real for the first time, it isn’t under the best of circumstances. Sal is in the principal’s office for the third time in three days, and it’s still the first week of school. Gabi, student council president and editor of the school paper, is there to support her friend Yasmany, who just picked a fight with Sal. She is determined to prove that somehow, Sal planted a raw chicken in Yasmany’s locker, even though nobody saw him do it and the bloody poultry has since mysteriously disappeared. Sal prides himself on being an excellent magician, but for this sleight of hand, he relied on a talent no one would guess . . . except maybe Gabi, whose sharp eyes never miss a trick. When Gabi learns that he’s capable of conjuring things much bigger than a chicken–including his dead mother–and she takes it all in stride, Sal knows that she is someone he can work with. There’s only one slight problem: their manipulation of time and space could put the entire universe at risk.
Lee, Yoon Ha
Dragon Pearl
Thirteen-year-old Min comes from a long line of fox spirits. But you’d never know it by looking at her. To keep the family safe, Min’s mother insists that none of them use any fox-magic, such as Charm or shape-shifting. They must appear human at all times. Min feels hemmed in by the household rules and resents the endless chores, the cousins who crowd her, and the aunties who judge her. She would like nothing more than to escape Jinju, her neglected, dust-ridden, and impoverished planet. She’s counting the days until she can follow her older brother, Jun, into the Space Forces and see more of the Thousand Worlds.
Sanderson, Brandon
Skyward (Skyward #1) (YA)
Defeated, crushed, and driven almost to extinction, the remnants of the human race are trapped on a planet that is constantly attacked by mysterious alien starfighters. Spensa, a teenage girl living among them, longs to be a pilot. When she discovers the wreckage of an ancient ship, she realizes this dream might be possible—assuming she can repair the ship, navigate flight school, and (perhaps most importantly) persuade the strange machine to help her. Because this ship, uniquely, appears to have a soul.
Shusterman, Neal
Dry (YA)
In a world where disease has been eliminated, the only way to die is to be randomly killed (‘gleaned’) by professional reapers (‘scythes’). Two teens must compete with each other to become a scythe–a position neither of them wants. The one who becomes a scythe must kill the one who doesn’t.
Westerfeld, Scott
Impostors (Impostors #1) (YA)
In a world that is rapidly descending into chaos, Frey and Rafi are twin sisters, but few people know of Frey’s existence, because she has been raised to be her sister’s body double and lethal bodyguard, while Rafi has been raised to further the family’s political power–but when their father sends Frey in her sister’s place as collateral in a tricky deal, Col, the son of a rival leader, gets close enough to begin to suspect something, and Frey must decide whether to deal with him violently or finally assume her own identity.
Sports
Lupica, Mike
Team players (Home team #4)
A girl with Asperger’s joins Cassie’s softball team but not everyone on the team welcomes her, creating a rift between Cassie and her teammates.
Reynolds, Jason
Lu (Track #4)
Lu knows he can lead Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and the team to victory at the championships, but it might not be as easy as it seems. Suddenly, there are hurdles in Lu’s way–literally and not-so-literally–and Lu needs to figure out, fast, what winning the gold really means.
Graphic Novels
Hicks, Faith Erin
Nameless City
Every time it is invaded the City gets a new name, but to the natives it is the Nameless City, and they survive by not letting themselves get involved–but now the fate of the City rests in the hands of Rat, a native, and Kaidu, one of the Dao, the latest occupiers, and the two must somehow work together if the City is to survive.
Hinds, Gareth
Poe: stories and poems: A graphic novel adaptation
A collection of stories and poems by Edgar Allan Poe presented in graphic novel format.
Koroczka, Jarrett
Hey, Kiddo
In graphic novel format author and illustrator Jarrett J. Krosoczka discusses growing up in a family grappling with addiction.
Larson, Hope
All Summer Long
Thirteen-year-old Bina has a long summer ahead of her. She and her best friend, Austin, usually do everything together, but he’s off to soccer camp for a month, and he’s been acting kind of weird lately anyway. So it’s up Bina to see how much fun she can have on her own.
Meyer, Marissa
Wires and nerve (Wires and nerve #1)
When rogue packs of wolf-hybrid soldiers threaten the tenuous peace alliance between Earth and Luna, Iko takes it upon herself to hunt down the soldiers’ leader. She is soon working with a handsome royal guard who forces her to question everything she knows about love, loyalty, and her own humanity. With appearances by Cinder, Cress, Scarlet, Winter, and the rest of the Rampion crew.
Wang, Jen
The Prince and the Dressmaker
Prince Sebastian is looking for a bride–or rather, his parents are looking for one for him. Sebastian is too busy hiding his secret life from everyone. At night he puts on daring dresses and takes Paris by storm as the fabulous Lady Crystallia–the hottest fashion icon in the world capital of fashion! Sebastian’s secret weapon (and best friend) is the brilliant dressmaker Frances–one of only two people who know the truth: sometimes this boy wears dresses.
Becky Albertalli, Adam Silvera What if it’s us? (YA)
Told in two voices, when Arthur, a summer intern from Georgia, and Ben, a native New Yorker, meet it seems like fate, but after three attempts at dating fail they wonder if the universe is pushing them together or apart.
Braden, Ann The Benefits of being an Octopus
Seventh-grader Zoey Albro focuses on caring for three younger siblings and avoiding rich classmates at school until her fascination with octopuses gets her on the debate team and she begins to speak out.
Braden, Ann The Benefits of being an Octopus Seventh-grader Zoey Albro focuses on caring for three younger siblings and avoiding rich classmates at school until her fascination with octopuses gets her on the debate team and she begins to speak out.