Over the Tracks (Suspended) - Softcover

"This tightly-crafted, five-book series of hi-lo titles with contemporary suburban high school settings, diverse characters, and dramatic situations wherein each protagonist's poor decision results in a week-long school suspension, will enthrall reluctant readers. Characters acting to fight unfairness and injustice must deal with school administrators and work to reestablish family harmony. Satisfying story resolutions will bring readers back for more. In Over the Tracks, Lucy, a white runner in a single-parent household of modest means, is forced to grow up quickly when her mom is debilitated by cancer. Now money is too tight to replace torn sneakers, let alone pay for the long-awaited school trip. When Lucy, with no knowledge of drug culture, attempts to sell her mom's medical marijuana to get new sneakers, she gets caught--and suspended. A Cut Too Far features Chace, a white boy whose family is shattered by divorce and whose deformed face--an over-large jaw and crooked teeth--has earned him years of daily bullying in school. When the bully spots Chace's mom's Iranian boyfriend, the victimization becomes racial. Chace finds himself subscribed to a 'Middle East-themed adult site' that, by the time he manages to unsubscribe, has landed him on numerous similar mailing lists. His mom is disturbed by what she finds on his computer at home, while crude drawings and taunts about Muslim terrorists crowd him at school. A computer geek friend helps Chase retaliate through a social media campaign, but when Chace's Instagram post is perceived as a threat, police intervene and Chace gets punished for finally fighting back. In Testing the Truth, Japanese-American Kai Tamura posts photos of his trigonometry teacher changing answers on standardized tests, taken surreptitiously during Kai's own failed attempt to steal answers to an upcoming trig test, and is suspended for making false accusations. News coverage of the event supports the administration's angle. This smirch on his record will hurt his college applications far more than would a single test score, so Kai must prove his photos are actually originals. This highly engaging series deserves shelf space in classrooms, as well as school and public libraries, and would make a great gift for that special reluctant reader."--starred, VOYA