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Winner of the 2020 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award. Instead of giving him lunch money, Rex’s mom has signed him up for free meals. As a poor kid in a wealthy school district, better-off kids crowd impatiently behind him as he tries to explain to the cashier that he’s on the free meal program. The lunch lady is hard of hearing, so Rex has to shout. Free Lunch is the story of Rex’s efforts to navigate his first semester of sixth grade—who to sit with, not being able to join the football team, Halloween in a handmade costume, classmates and a teacher who take one look at him and decide he’s trouble—all while wearing secondhand clothes and being hungry. His mom and her boyfriend...
A New York Public Library Best Book of 2021 The companion to Rex Ogle’s award-winning Free Lunch is a searing account of adolescence in a household torn by domestic violence. Punching Bag is the compelling true story of a high school career defined by poverty and punctuated by outbreaks of domestic abuse. Rex Ogle, who brilliantly mapped his experience of hunger in Free Lunch, here describes his struggle to survive; reflects on his complex, often paradoxical relationship with his passionate, fierce mother; and charts the trajectory of his stepdad’s anger. Hovering over Rex’s story is the talismanic presence of his unborn baby sister. Through it all, Rex threads moments of grace and humor that act as beacons of light in the darkness. Compulsively readable, beautifully crafted, and authentically told, Punching Bag is a remarkable memoir about one teenager’s cycle of violence, blame, and attempts to forgive his parents—and himself.
"Monsters have never been so much fun." –Stuart Gibbs, New York Times bestselling author of the Spy School series "Frightening and fun!" –Neil Patrick Harris, New York Times bestselling author of The Magic Misfits Readers will be scared silly in this spooky and hilarious middle grade series starter about a town chock-full of monsters and the kids who must unravel centuries of secrets to save it. Will Hunter thought his life couldn’t get any worse: His parents just got divorced, His best (and only) friend now is his dog, Fitz, And his mom moved them from New York City to the middle-of-nowhere town called East Emerson. But Will was wrong—things are about to get way worse. Because East ...
Love is in the air again, and DC is here to warm your heart and brighten your soul with eight timeless tales of…strange love? We’ve got stories of a love as old as Jurassic time on Dinosaur Island, a bromance between Peacemaker and his eagle sidekick Eagly, and a first date you never saw coming. Oh wow, these really do sound sweet and heartwarming! So c’mon, let your freak flag fly and get weird this Valentine’s Day.
Little Women with a twist: four sisters from a blended family experience the challenges and triumphs of life in NYC in this beautiful full-color graphic novel perfect for fans of Roller Girl and Smile. Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy are having a really tough year: with their father serving in the military overseas, they must work overtime to make ends meet...and each girl is struggling in her own way. Whether it's school woes, health issues, boy troubles, or simply feeling lost, the March sisters all need the same thing: support from each other. Only by coming together--and sharing lots of laughs and tears--will these four young women find the courage to discover who they truly are as individuals......
Kirkus Best Books of 2019 * Kids’ Indie Next Pick List * Bookpage Best Books of 2019: Middle Grade “Beautiful, mysterious and deeply satisfying.” —Rebecca Stead, Newbery Medal-winning author of When You Reach Me and Goodbye Stranger The world tilted for Elodee this year, and now it’s impossible for her to be the same as she was before. Not when her feelings have such a strong grip on her heart. Not when she and her twin sister, Naomi, seem to be drifting apart. So when Elodee’s mom gets a new job in Eventown, moving seems like it might just fix everything. Indeed, life in Eventown is comforting and exciting all at once. Their kitchen comes with a box of recipes for Elodee to try....
This final, essential chapter in Rex Ogle’s memoir trilogy recounts being forced from his home and living on the streets after his father discovered he was gay. When Rex was outed the summer after he graduated high school, his father gave him a choice: he could stay at home, find a girlfriend, and attend church twice a week, or he could be gay—and leave. Rex left, driving toward the only other gay man he knew and a toxic relationship that would ultimately leave him homeless and desperate on the streets of New Orleans. Here, Rex tells the story of his coming out and his father’s rejection of his identity, navigating abuse and survival on the streets. Road Home is a devastating and incandescent reflection on Rex’s hunger—for food, for love, and for a place to call home—completing the trilogy of memoirs that began with the award-winning Free Lunch.
Because Batman and Superman cannot stop arguing about how they should save the day, Wonder Woman and Batgirl have to save the city from different supervillains.
Rex Ogle explores bonds of loyalty and friendship and how they’re tested by drugs and violence in this propulsive novel-in-verse. Diego Benevides works hard. His single mother encourages him to stay focused on school, on getting into college, on getting out of their crumbling neighborhood. That’s why she gave him her car. Diego’s best friend, Lawson, needs a ride—because Lawson is dealing. As long as Diego’s not carrying, not selling, it’s cool. It’s just weed. But when Lawson starts carrying powder and pills and worse, their friendship is tested and their lives are threatened. As the lines between dealer and driver blur, everything Diego has worked for is jeopardized, and he faces a deadly reckoning with the choices he and his best friend have made. Award-winning memoirist and poet Rex Ogle’s searing first novel-in-verse is an unforgettable story of the power and price of loyalty.
A humorous and heartwarming middle-grade graphic memoir about fitting in, facing bullies, and finding the right pair of glasses. Sixth grade isn't as great as Rex thought it would be. He's the only kid who hasn't had a growth spurt, and the bullies won't let him forget it. His closest friend is unreliable, at best. And there's a cute girl in his class, who may or may not like him back. With so much going on, everything is a blur -- including Rex's vision! So when he discovers that he needs glasses, and his family can only afford the ugliest pair in the store, any hope Rex had of fitting in goes completely out of focus. In this true coming-of-age story, Rex has his sights set on surviving sixth grade, but now he's got to find a way to do it with glasses, no friends, and a family that just doesn't get it!