Runaway by Wendelin Van Draanen

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This is the journal of a 12 year old girl, named Holly, who has no parents and has run away from an abusing foster family.  Her English teacher has given her a journal to help her to write down her feelings.  She takes the journal with her and writes in it about the problems she faces as she runs.  She makes it to California, but finds it very hard to live on the streets without food, clothing, a home, family, or friends.  She finally is befriended by another young girl who is living with her grandmother and has similar experiences.  They find a loving family for Holly and she is hopeful for a new future with Vera and Meg.  She discovers that Meg has also used journaling as a way to survive hard times.  They share their journals and Holly realizes that the journal has allowed her to turn the next page.

Possible read-aloud sections - Beginning and ending

p. 11 - May 22nd nighttime - books

p. 136 - 4:30 pm - how they became homeless

p 164-166 - I have no idea what day it is + 7 pm

p. 216 - last 2 paragraphs about family

p. 244-245 - how the journal helped her

Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate

Kek is a new immigrant from Africa whose family was killed in a raid on their village.  He comes to stay with relatives in Minnesota where he learns about snow, school, grocery stores, and buses.  He goes to an ESL class where he meets a girl named Hannah.  They become friends and Hannah helps him learn about America.  Kek has been a herder of cows in his country.  As he comes to Minnesota he sees a cow in the country and later goes to the farm and gets a job taking care of the cow.  When the lady who owns the farm decides she must sell, Kek and his friends take the cow to the petting zoo.  The book is written in free verse and has wonderful examples of similies, metaphors and other figures of speech.  Metaphors and similes pp. 34-35, p. 127.  Washing dishes story on p. 95 is very funny.

Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages

Dewey Kerrigan's father is a scientist working on a secret project in Los Alamos, New Mexico during World War II.  When she goes out to live with him, she meets a new friend Suze, whose mother and father are also working on the project.  They start out as enemies, but when Dewey's father has to go to Washington, D.C. for a conference, Dewey is left to live with Suze and they become friends.  When Dewey's father is killed in a traffic accident, she becomes part of their family.  "The Project" is finally completed and tested.  When it is detonated it creates a green glass sea as the heat from the explosion melts the sand in the desert.  Their "Project" is the creation of the first atomic bomb which is dropped on Hiroshima to end World War II.