MEETRead Books
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What kinds of books are on the MEETRead Book list? We seek books that help young people learn about people and life circumstances that are different than what they know and experience. The "Bubble Busters" below show you what types of people/circumstances each book portrays. You can filter the list by age, bubble buster, or whether or not EdBoost has reviewed the book.
Yes, it's true, we have not reviewed every book on this list yet. The process of reading each book had taken far longer than we anticipated. So, we decided to include both the books that we've reviewed and books that have been recommended to us.
Here's how we recommend using the list:
1) Sort based on age group and/or bubble buster.
2) If we have read the book, the "EdBoost Summary" cell of the table will contain our notes, which tell you what the book is about, how we feel it exposes students to new situations, and any cautions that we felt important to include (also check the "Heads up" notes to check for topics you might want to discuss with students before or while reading).
3) If you want to limit the list to books that we've reviewed, check "Yes" in the "Has EdBoost reviewed this book yet?" drop down menu.
4) If you want to learn more about a book that we have not reviewed, click the book link. That link will take you to Amazon where you can read the publisher's summary and the reviews there.
We will keep adding books and writing up reviews. We may remove some books from the list if we do not think that they meet MEETReads goals.
Please note, there are many great books that are not included on the list. Although they are great reads, they don't push for MEETReads goals of empathy and understanding. Also, while we have not kept any books on the list that we thought were bad reads, not every book on the list is great literature. We have had some complaints about plots, writing style, and character development, but for every book on the list, we've decided that the benefits of the book outweigh any weaknesses. In our summaries of the books, we try to be honest about strengths and weaknesses of the books we list.
| Book | Cover(s) | EdBoost Summary | Reading Level | Bubble Buster | Discussion Guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maus II by Art Spielelman |
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In this graphic novel/biography sequel, Artie continue Vladek's story, chronicling his time in Auschwitz, and after liberation. The details of Vladek's story not only depict the hard, everyday... More |
Grades 6 and up | Historical Event, Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture, Refugee/ Immigrant, Religion, War/ effects of war | |
| Maus I by Art Spielelman |
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In this graphic novel/biography, Artie learns and tells his father Vladek's story, his life as a Jewish teen and young man in Poland, shortly before and then during WWII. Though they are rendered... More |
Grades 6 and up | Historical Event, Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture, Religion, War/ effects of war | |
| Mama's Nightingale: A Story of Immigration and Seperation by Edwidge Danticat |
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Early Readers (grades 1-2), Grades 3-4 | Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture, Refugee/ Immigrant | ||
| Lost and Found Cat: The True Story of Kunkush's Incredible Journey by Doug Kuntz and Amy Shrodes |
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Early Readers (grades 1-2), Grades 3-4 | Refugee/ Immigrant | ||
| Lord of the Nutcracker Men by Iain Lawrence |
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Grades 5 and up | War/ effects of war | ||
| Looking for Alaska by John Green |
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Grades 9 and up | Social Class | ||
| Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai |
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Grades 5 and up | Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture, War/ effects of war | ||
| Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart |
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Dunkin, birth name Norbert, has just moved to South Florida from New Jersey. He’s tall and gangly and about to start 8th grade. Dunkin also has secrets. He is dealing with bipolar disorder, and... More |
Grades 6 and up | Gender Identity/ Sexual Orientation, Gender/ Gender Stereotypes, Illness, Mental Illness, Physical Appearance, Respecting Differences | |
| Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena |
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Pre-Readers, Early Readers (grades 1-2) | Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture, Urban | ||
| Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell |
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Grades 4 and up | Gender/ Gender Stereotypes, Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture, War/ effects of war | ||
| Ishi: Last of His Tribe by Theodora Kroeber |
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Grades 7 and up | Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture, War/ effects of war | ||
| Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai |
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Grades 5 and up | Refugee/ Immigrant | ||
| Indigo by Alice Hoffman |
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This novel, a work of magical realism, tells the story of thirteen year old Martha Glimmer, her friends the McGills, and their town, Oak Grove (after a terrible flood, the people of Oak Grove... More |
Grades 5 and up | Physical Appearance, Respecting Differences | |
| In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse by Joseph Marshall III |
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Grades 4 and up | Physical Appearance, Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture, Respecting Differences, War/ effects of war | ||
| In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer by Irene Gut Opdyke |
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Grades 7 and up | Historical Event, Religion, War/ effects of war | ||
| I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This by Jacqueline Woodson |
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Grades 7 and up | Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture | ||
| I am the Cheese by Robert Cormier |
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Grades 7 and up | |||
| I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai |
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Narrated by 14-year-old Malala, a young woman who won a Nobel Peace Prize for her work to ensure education for women and girls, this book tells the story of the years leading up to Malala being... More |
Grades 7 and up | Historical Event, Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture, Religion, Social Class | |
| How My Parents Learned to Eat by Ina R. Friedman |
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In this picture book, a little girl explains why her family uses chopsticks on some days and a fork and knife on others. Before the little girl was born, her father, John -an American sailor- was... More |
Early Readers (grades 1-2), Grades 3-4 | Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture, Respecting Differences | |
| How I Became a Ghost: A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story by Tim Tingle |
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Grades 5 and up | |||
| Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan |
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Koly has grown up in a traditional Indian family, not allowed to go to school or learn to read and write. At thirteen, she is married off to a very sick boy -- a boy whose family mostly wants... More |
Grades 3-4, Grades 5 and up | Gender/ Gender Stereotypes, Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture, Social Class | |
| Holes by Louis Sachar |
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Grades 5 and up | |||
| Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson |
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Grades 7 and up | Rural | ||
| Happy in Our Skin by Fran Manushkin |
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Pre-Readers, Early Readers (grades 1-2) | Physical Appearance, Respecting Differences | ||
| Happy in Our Skin by Fran Manushkin |
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Pre-Readers | Physical Appearance, Respecting Differences | ||
| Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry |
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War/ effects of war | |||
| Gone Crazy in Alabama by Rita Williams-Garcia |
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Grades 5 and up | |||
| Going Home by Eve Bunting |
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Carlos and his family live in California, but for Christmas, they are traveling back home to La Perla, Mexico. Carlos’s parents are excited to head back to Mexico, but the children are not too... More |
Pre-Readers, Early Readers (grades 1-2) | ||
| Goblinheart: A Fairy Tale by Brett Axel |
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Grades 2-3, Grades 3-4 | Gender Identity/ Sexual Orientation, Gender/ Gender Stereotypes | ||
| Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok |
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Grades 8 and up | Poverty/Financial Insecurity, Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture, Refugee/ Immigrant | ||
| Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae |
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Pre-Readers, Early Readers (grades 1-2) | |||
| George by Alex Gino |
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When people look at George, they think they see a boy. But George knows she's not a boy. She knows she's Melissa, a girl. George thinks she'll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher... More |
Grades 5 and up | Gender Identity/ Sexual Orientation, Gender/ Gender Stereotypes | |
| Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry |
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Kira is still a young girl when her mother dies suddenly. Living in a dystopian future, in which only the strong are valued, Kira's neighbors see orphaned Kira, with her crippled leg, as a... More |
Grades 5 and up | Disability, Gender/ Gender Stereotypes, Social Class | |
| Full Cicada Moon by Marilyn Hilton |
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Grades 5 and up | Gender/ Gender Stereotypes, Physical Appearance, Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture, Respecting Differences | ||
| Fred Korematsu Speaks Up by Laura Atkins, Stan Yogi |
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This beautifully illustrated book tells the story of Fred Korematsu, a Japanese-American who fought against the U.S. internment orders issued during WWII, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The... More |
Grades 3-4, Grades 5 and up | Historical Event, Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture, Refugee/ Immigrant, War/ effects of war | |
| Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian |
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Grades 7 and up | Historical Event, Homelessness, Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture, War/ effects of war | ||
| Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt |
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Grades 5 and up | Disability, Learning Disability | ||
| Finding Perfect by Elly Swartz |
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Twelve year old Molly, who narrates this story, is having a rough time. Her parents are recently separated and her mom moved away for a job, which is supposed to be temporary, but Molly isn't... More |
Grades 5 and up | Mental Illness | |
| Finding Miracles by Julia Alvarez |
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Grades 6 and up | |||
| Feathers and Fools by Mem Fox |
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This beautifully illustrated tale is simple and a little bit gruesome. It tells the story of two groups of birds, swans and peacocks, who, focusing on the differences between them start to fear... More |
Pre-Readers, Early Readers (grades 1-2) | Physical Appearance, Respecting Differences, War/ effects of war | |
| Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Houston and James D. Houston |
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Grades 7 and up | Historical Event, Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture, War/ effects of war | ||
| Fairest by Gail Carson Levine |
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Grades 5 and up | Physical Appearance | ||
| Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury |
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Grades 7 and up | |||
| Eyes of the Emerpor by Graham Salisbury |
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Grades 7 and up | War/ effects of war | ||
| Evan's Corner by Elizabeth Starr Hill |
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Early Readers (grades 1-2), Grades 3-4 | |||
| Emmanuel's Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah by Laurie Ann Thompson |
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Pre-Readers, Early Readers (grades 1-2) | Disability, Historical Event, Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture | ||
| Elly: My True Story of the Holocaust by Elly Berkovits Gross |
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Elly Gross survived the Holocaust, but lost her entire family to the Nazis. In this book, in very plain language, she tells her story: how her family was removed from its home in Romania, to a... More |
Grades 5 and up | Historical Event, Poverty/Financial Insecurity, Refugee/ Immigrant, War/ effects of war | |
| Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis |
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Grades 5 and up | |||
| El Deafo by Cece Bell |
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Disability, Respecting Differences | |||
| El Chino by Allen Say |
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Grades 3 and up | Historical Event, Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture | ||
| Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan |
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Grades 5 and up | |||
| Dinosaurs Divorce by Laurene Krasny Brown |
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Early Readers (grades 1-2), Grades 3-4 | Divorce | ||
| Dia's Story Cloth by Dia Cha |
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| Day of Tears by Julius Lester |
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Based on a historical event, and told only in the thoughts and words of the main characters, this novel is very personal. The only background information is the information that is critical to... More |
Grades 5 and up | Historical Event, Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture | |
| Cut by Patricia McCormick |
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From the outside, Callie seems like a normal teenager. But behind the scenes, Callie has a dangerous secret- she’s addicted to cutting herself. Callie’s secret is safe until the school nurse sees... More |
Grades 6 and up | Mental Illness | |
| Crow Boy by Taro Yashima |
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When Chibi first starts school, he is afraid of his teacher and the students. Everyone in his class thinks he’s weird. His classmates call him names like “stupid” and “slowpoke.” Although the kids... More |
Early Readers (grades 1-2), Grades 3-4 | Respecting Differences | |
| Cleversticks by Bernard Ashley |
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Ling Sung just started school, and he’s sad because he feels like all the other students can do things that he can’t do. One day at snack time, he uses two paintbrushes like chopsticks, and all of... More |
Pre-Readers, Early Readers (grades 1-2) | Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture | |
| Chinese New Year’s Dragon by Rachel Sing |
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A young Chinese girl and her family prepare for Lunar New Year by cleaning their home, cooking a number of special dishes, and giving out red envelopes (hongbao) filled with money. The coming year... More |
Early Readers (grades 1-2), Grades 3-4 | Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture | |
| Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Curtis |
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Grades 5 and up | |||
| Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson |
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| Boy Overboard by Morris Gleitzman |
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Jamal, an 11 year old Afghan boy, narrates this novel, which tells the story of his family's precarious life in their home country and their dramatic escape in an attempt to emigrate to Austrailia... More |
Grades 3-4, Grades 5 and up | Gender/ Gender Stereotypes, Historical Event, Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture, Refugee/ Immigrant, War/ effects of war | |
| Boundless Grace by Mary Hoffman and Caroline Binch |
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Grace lives with her mother, grandmother, and her cat. Her dad lives in "The Gambia." She loves to read, but it makes her uncomfortable that all the stories she reads are about families different... More |
Pre-Readers, Early Readers (grades 1-2) | Respecting Differences | |
| Bluish by Virginia Hamilton |
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Grades 3-4, Grades 5 and up | |||
| Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys |
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Grades 7 and up | |||
| Behind the Bedroom Wall by Laura E. Williams |
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Grades 6 and up | Historical Event, Respecting Differences, War/ effects of war | ||
| Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez |
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Grades 6 and up | |||
| Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins |
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Grades 7 and up | |||
| Aunt Flossie's Hat (and Crab Cakes Later) by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard |
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Pre-Readers, Early Readers (grades 1-2) | Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture | ||
| And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell |
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Pre-Readers - Grade 3 | Adoption, Gender Identity/ Sexual Orientation, Historical Event, Respecting Differences | ||
| American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang |
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Grades 7 and up | |||
| Ambassador by William Alexander |
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Author William Alexander has a lot of fun with this book playing with the idea of "alien" -- and twining together two narratives: one about a space alien who comes to recruit a new inter-galactic... More |
Grades 4 and up | Physical Appearance, Refugee/ Immigrant | |
| Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman |
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Pre-Readers, Early Readers (grades 1-2) | Gender/ Gender Stereotypes | ||
| Altogether, One at a Time by E.L. Konigsburg |
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Grades 4 and up | Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture, Respecting Differences | ||
| Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher |
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Grades 8 and up | Gender Identity/ Sexual Orientation | ||
| All the Colors of the Earth by Sheila Hamanaka |
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... More |
Pre-Readers | Physical Appearance, Respecting Differences | |
| All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome by Kathy Hoopmann |
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Pre-Readers, Early Readers (grades 1-2) | Disability | ||
| Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce |
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Grades 7 and up | Gender/ Gender Stereotypes, Physical Appearance | ||
| Abuela's Weave by Enrique Sanchez |
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Early Readers (grades 1-2), Grades 3-4 | |||
| A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliott |
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Grades 7 and up | |||
| A Time of Miracles by Anne-Laure Bondoux |
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Grades 8 and up | Adoption, Refugee/ Immigrant, War/ effects of war | ||
| A Step From Heaven by An Na |
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Grades 7 and up | Gender/ Gender Stereotypes, Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture, Refugee/ Immigrant | ||
| A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park |
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Tree-Ear is an orphan boy, living under a bridge in Korea in the 1100s. Although he lives during a time in Korean history when there was almost no homelessness -- because Buddhist monks took in... More |
Grades 5 and up | Disability, Historical Event, Social Class | |
| A Million Shades of Gray by Cynthia Kadohata |
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Y'Tin, the main character in this historical fiction novel, is only thirteen years old, but he already knows what he wants to do with his life: train elephants. He is part of the Rhade tribe,... More |
Grades 5 and up | Historical Event, Race/ Ethnicity/ Culture, Refugee/ Immigrant | |
| A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park |
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Grades 6 and up | |||
| A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck |
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Grades 7 and up | Poverty/Financial Insecurity, Religion, Rural |
