In Their Own Words! The Class by Frances O'Roark Dowell

Ellie closed her notebook with a satisfied pat. Complete.

Hermione Granger, Fifth-Grade Muggle was ready for publication. She'd have to figure out how to publish a book, of course. Mrs. Herrera would know what to do, Ellie thought.

It's early in the school year, Mrs. Herrera is an ace teacher, and the literary Ellie thinks she's got it made in sixth grade. Except... the kids in her class are hopelessly boring.

Maybe school wasn't the place where people could be interesting, Ellie thought. Maybe it squashed the interesting right out of people.

But Ellie is wrong, sooo wrong. All the kids she thought she knew seem to have become strangers this year, behaving out of character, but fascinatingly so. For example, why was Becca, would-be teacher's pet, dumping ants and sugar in Mrs. Herrera's desk drawer? Interesting....

A trip to the library for Becca and Petra becomes an official "art room shenanigan" when they are caught giving each other pixie haircuts. Becca looks sophisticated, a bit exotic, but former social leader Petra looks like a plucked chicken, and the Vice-Principal mutters something sinister to Mrs. Herrera about being already "on thin ice." Carson suddenly invites Cami over to his house to study. Sam Hawkins, a kid who transferred in fifth grade, appears, concealed by his hoodie in the halls, on the playground, and sometimes in the classroom when the others are at lunch. Ellie's notebook disappears, with all her observations about her classmates. Kind but chubby Steffan asks Elizabeth to the dance, and she says yes. And the really arresting development--someone or someones--take three of Mrs. Herrera's "Precious Objects" from her DO NOT TOUCH shelf.

Sixth grade is anything but boring.

It's an interpersonal mystery in an semi-epistolary format, as told by each students' own accounts, in Frances O'Rourk Dowell's latest middle-grade story, The Class (Atheneum Books, 2019). Sixth grade is a time when everything seems to change, as personalities are remade and relationships re-negotiated, and the not-so-boring-after-all kids in Mrs. Herrera's class coalesce to help the quintessential outsider, homeless Sam Hawkins.

Dowell's insightful and engaging novel captures the confusing challenges of early adolescence with a variety of personalities and changing interactions, perfect for middle readers puzzled by the social scene."Read-aloud possibilities are endless for this fun mystery, which is a must for every sixth-grade classroom library," says Booklist.  And Publishers Weekly adds, "A complex, thought-provoking, and entertaining view of middle school."

Wrong-Way Alex: Soccer Surprise by Emma Carlson Berne

Moving is hard.

Alex had lots of friends back in Florida, and she was the star forward for her soccer team. Now she's halfway across the country in Texas. She has one possible friend, Lin, but the other girls on the Strikers team have known each other forever, and her new coach puts her on defense where she has no chance to score. Still Alex tries hard. Then in her first game, something happens.

Without thinking, Alex fell back into the role of a forward. She intercepted the ball. In A quick, one-two dribble. Alex ran for the goal.

The net was wide open. Alex booted the ball into the goal.

SMACK! Nothing was as satisfying as that sound of her foot against the ball.

The ref's whistle blared. "Offsides, penalty! Goal for the Hornets!

"I guess you forgot which team you were playing for," Brooke said to Alex.

She had really screwed up. Alex had scored a goal--for the other team. It happens to everybody, she knows, but Alex is new in Jacksonville, Texas, new to playing defense, new to not being the star forward on her old team, and she is almost speechless. She stammers out a few words about being new to her position after the game, but her teammates stare out the ground and turn away silently.

The fact that her teammates, even Lin, won't even look at her, makes her feel even worse. And the cold-shoulder treatment continues at practice the next day, and at the next game no one passes the ball to her, not even her only new friend. Lin. On the bench, Alex almost loses it. Stifling her tears, she gets up and runs from the field and halfway across town before she stops.

Finally, her sobs slowed. In the reflection of a store window she sees Coach Mike approach. He sits down beside her.

"Alex, I bet it wasn't easy, moving here in the middle of the year and leaving your friends. It may be selfish of me, but I was glad you joined the Strikers. You're a great midfielder. Tall, strong, and quick. I need you at defense."

"But Coach, I don't know if I can play if everyone hates me! And isn't it too late to apologize to the team?" Alex confesses.

"It's never too late. Mistakes happen. But it would make everyone feel better if you just said those two magic words."

It's hard for Alex to face the hostility of her team, but Coach is right. Saying "I'm sorry," breaks the ice, in Emma Carlson Berne's Soccer Surprise (Jake Maddox Girl Sports Stories) (Capstone Press). The author takes one sports event, a common but serious mistake that affects the whole team, and skillfully explores the social situation and the feeling experienced by all involved. Everyone screws up sometime, and being a team member requires a particular set of skills outside playing ability itself--not hogging the ball, admitting failures, and forgiving mistakes by others. This book, part of the Jake Maddox Sports Stories series, ably explains the emotions experienced by a new player and by the rest of the team when a significant mistake is made. Kids who love soccer--or basketball or baseball or other such sports--will find this beginning chapter book easy reading and will probably find themselves sometime on both sides of that situation, making this book good vicarious experience for sports lovers.