Breakout by Kate Messner

This book is one of my favorites this summer!! Nora Tucker lives in Wolf Creek, New York which has a population of 3,261...but 2,249 are prison inmates at Wolf Creek Correctional Facility. Nora's dad is the superintendent of the prison (that means he is in charge). She is excited about the upcoming Field Day, where she is pretty sure she will win the Mad Mile race...until the new girl, Elidee, runs faster. Elidee has just moved to town at the end of the school year with her mother because her brother, Troy is an inmate at the prison. Elidee isn't too happy about moving. Nora is also looking forward to the end of the school year and having a fun summer with her best friend, Lizzie--until there is a prison break. Two inmates break out of the prison and all of the summer, everything is different. Nora's dad is always at work, her mom will barely let Nora out of her sight, there are road blocks, no recess and the town is full of the media and police. All of a sudden, everything that made sense and people she has known her whole life seem different to Nora.

This book is written in many different formats--letters, text messages, newspaper articles, poems and comics and different perspectives. We hear from Nora, Nora's brother, Lizzie, and Elidee. This book is exciting and it's about WAY MORE than only a prison break.

If you like this book, check out Capture the Flag, also written by Kate Messner. It's a mystery in an airport that three kids (who are strangers) come together to solve.