First-chapter Friday : The Lion of Mars, by Jennifer L. Holm

Each Friday that school is in session, I share the link to a read-aloud preview of a book from SRCSA library. The “First-chapter Friday” selection for Sept. 1, 2023 is The Lion of Mars, by Jennifer L. Holm.

Bell has spent his whole life — all 11 years of it — on Mars. But he’s still just a regular kid. He loves cats and any kind of cake, and is curious about the secrets the adults in the U.S. colony are keeping. Like, why don’t they have contact with anyone on the other Mars colonies? Why are they so isolated? When a virus breaks out and the grown-ups all fall ill, Bell and the other children are the only ones who can help. It’s up to Bell — a regular kid in a very different world — to uncover the truth and save his family...and possibly unite an entire planet. The Lion of Mars was the winner, in 2023, of the California Young Reader Medal, in the Intermediate category.