Plots Based on True Stories Bundle
Define Beauty
by Bithja Pierre
With her dark skin and coiled hair, Alicia doesn't look like the woman on the magazine cover. This leads her to question beauty: what does it mean to be beautiful? Is she? Can she ever be?
- Reading Level: 4.7
- Interest Level: Middle School
Diary of a Not Normal Child
by YuBin Park
Twelve-year-old Itanya works in a Kenyan factory with her mother in order to scrape by. Her dream is to eat and learn and live like a "normal child," but that dream feels so far from reach.
- Reading Level: 3.3
- Interest Level: Middle School
Hmong New Year When Grandma Was Alive
by Kao Kalia Yang
Some New Years traditions center around watching the ball drop or staying up until midnight. This celebration focuses on the connections between food, family, and memory.
- Reading Level: 5.4
- Interest Level: Middle School
I Want to Be a Writer
by Anya Ivan
Alex knows he wants to be a writer but doesn't know how to write very well. With the help of his English teacher, Alex learns how to improve his writing and how to use it to cope with family issues.
- Reading Level: 3.1
- Interest Level: Middle School
Instructions for My 5th-Grade Self
by Lisa Zhang
Yijia's fifth-grade self has a knack for attracting attention from Mrs. Lou... but not the good kind of attention. One moment stands out in particular, one that she just can't ever forget.
- Reading Level: 4.4
- Interest Level: Middle School
Muhammad Ali: In His Own Words
by Ruth Chasek
Muhammad Ali is known for being one of the greatest boxers ever. But he didn't just fight matches in the boxing ring. He also fought to defend his beliefs and religion.
- Reading Level: 5.8
- Interest Level: High School
Pathways to Ancestors
by M. R. Cain
Most of the graves here belong to Jessie's ancestors, but there is one, right at the beginning of the first line, that she knows nothing about. Who were Kimi and Pierre Lascaux?
- Reading Level: 2.4
- Interest Level: Post High School, High School
Sabbath
by Susan Solomon
Susan's Friday night plans had looked so different before her parents force her to attend her grandparents' Sabbath dinner. Ugh.
- Reading Level: 3.8
- Interest Level: High School
Sucker Stick
by Stephen Leitschuh
I was five years old when I discovered that I am invincible, but it's a secret that I'll have to keep for as long as I live.
- Reading Level: 5.0
- Interest Level: All Ages
The Fires
by Emily Sherwood
It's 1863. There are draft riots in New York City, and Ivory finds herself stuck in a basement fire. Will she survive?
- Reading Level: 1.7
- Interest Level: Middle School