It's the usual thing. Greyson and his older brother Trevor riding in the truck with Dad to middle school and Trevor pinching and punching Greyson in the arm - and this is okay - nobody thinks anything of it. It's the usual thing. Dorothy is sitting in the back of her middle school classroom - in the middle of all the kids she has seen every school day of her life and feeling invisible.
It's not the usual though when Greyson and Dorothy are sitting in their seats at school that same day and the door opens. In walks a breath of fresh air. In walks a girl with a flower in her hair. In walks something new and something different and somewhere inside Greyson and Dorothy something wakes up and that something is hope.
The new girl is Orchid and she has stories to tell of her life in Thailand with the monkeys and Paris with the kiss under the Eiffel Tower. Greyson and Dorothy make friends with her and their lives start to change.
The other kids in the class aren't so quick to open to Orchid especially Janie - the queen bee. In the hands of Janie and her lieutenant, Abby, jealousy, insecurity, fear, all the usual suspects, will begin to swirl around Orchid and will try to bring her down and to bring down hope for anyone else too. Will they succeed? Will it be the usual - forever? Is there something or someone who can stop the darkness and the hatred?
The Kids from Fawn Creek know their place in the social hierarchy at school. They have chosen their identities and their safe spaces. But for some of them - maybe even for most of them- something needs to break the walls of the spaces they live in and give them room to breathe and be themselves - and to accept themselves.
It's time for them to see that the rules around them aren't the only rules and don't have to be the "real" rules. That's a message that so, so many of our kids need to hear. There is a safe space for you and it can be as big as you want to make it. Now the question is .... what or who can make that happen?
THOSE KIDS FROM FAWN CREEK - a book that sees inside us...not just what we show on the outside.
Perfect for Champions and Teamplayers... Jokesters may say nothing happens in this book... Investigators might read for the social concepts.
336 pages 9780062970374 Ages 9-13
Keywords: middle school, identity, finding yourself, believing in yourself, gender roles, family, family life, friends, friendship, acceptance, accepting others, Middle School Book Club 7th Grade, 9 year old, 10 year old, 11 year old, 12 year old, 13 year old, Middle School Book Club 7th grade, friends, friendship, courage, risk, fitting in
Recommended by: Barb Langridge, abookandahug.com
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Every day in Fawn Creek, Louisiana, is exactly the same—until Orchid Mason arrives. From Erin Entrada Kelly, the winner of the Newbery Medal for Hello, Universe and a Newbery Honor for We Dream of Space, this contemporary school story set in small-town Louisiana is about friendship, family, deception, and being true to yourself and your dreams.
There are twelve kids in the seventh grade at Fawn Creek Middle School. They’ve been together all their lives. And in this small factory town where everyone knows everything about everyone, that’s not necessarily a great thing.
There are thirteen desks in the seventh-grade classroom. That’s because Renni Dean’s father got a promotion, and the family moved to Grand Saintlodge, the nearest big town. Renni’s desk is empty, but Renni still knows their secrets; is still pulling their strings.
When Orchid Mason arrives and slips gracefully into Renni’s chair, the other seventh graders don’t know what to think. Orchid—who was born in New York City but just moved to Fawn Creek from Paris—seems to float. Her dress skims the floor. She’s wearing a flower behind her ear.
Fawn Creek Middle might be small, but it has its tightly knit groups—the self-proclaimed “God Squad,” the jocks, the outsiders—just like anyplace else. Who will claim Orchid Mason? Who will save Orchid Mason? Or will Orchid Mason save them?
Newbery Medal and Newbery Honor winner Erin Entrada Kelly explores complex themes centered on family, friendships, and staying true to yourself. Those Kids from Fawn Creek will enchant fans of Thanhhà Lai’s Inside Out & Back Again and Rebecca Stead’s The List of Things That Will Not Change. ---from the publisher
