The Reckless Club: a modern-day Breakfast Club

The Reckless Club by Beth Vrabel is a middle grade novel that examines the labels that teens place on themselves and one another.  Five soon-to-be high school freshmen are brought together to a nursing home for one day as a punishment for something they did wrong on the last day of school.  There's an athlete, a drama queen, a flirt, a nobody and a rebel.  Over the course of the day they learn more about each other's struggles and come away with more empathy than when they first started.  

I would recommend this book for 5th graders and up as Vrabel touches on issues of depression, self-harm and bullying.  This is a good book to use with readers to share what they would do if they were in the positions of the characters or as their friends.  Readers can also learn more about what Vrabel wanted to accomplish with telling this story by reading her interview on the MG Book Village post.