Low-Key Kinda Smart

  I'm wondering what if. What if the football hadn't gone over the wall. What if Hector had never gone looking for it. What if he hadn't kept the dark secret to himself. What if ... Maggot Moon Sally Gardner Illustrated by Julian Crouch  Year Published: 2012 Pages: 278 Genres: YA fiction, middle grade fiction, dystopia, alternative history Topics: Dystopia, dyslexia, authority, authoritarian society, propaganda Recognition     Carnegie Medal for Writing, 2013     Michael L. Printz Honor Book, 2014 Summary  Fifteen-year-old Standish Treadwell can't spell his own name. He struggles to read and write, "imperfections" which, along with his different-colored eyes, make him a target of the ridicule of his classmates. But his friend Hector thinks Standish is a creative thinker, able to see through the propaganda of the Motherland, the totalitarian state that rules Standish's home country. Standish's parents were "made nonexistent" by the state, leav...

  One thing I give 'em, I think as I begin to laugh, they take pain and make it something brand-new every chance. They got every flavor and they keep making more. Chain-Gang All-Stars Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah   Year Published: 2023 Pages: 408 Genres: Science fiction, dystopia, action Topics: Imprisonment, violence, racism, exploitation, forgiveness, love Recognition      Finalist for the National Book Award, 2023      Young Adult Library Services Association Alex Award, 2024      Shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize, 2023      Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Readers' Favorite Science Fiction, 2023      Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Readers' Favorite Debut Novel, 2023 Summary Sometime in America's future, a coalition of powerful private prison corporations establishes Criminal Action Penal Entertainment (CAPE), which operates Chain-Gang All-Stars, a wildly popular bloodsport that p...