About This Series

Orca Currents are short high-interest novels with contemporary themes, written expressly for middle-school students reading below grade level. Individual teachers' guides and resource guides are availble on the Orca website. Orca Currents are available with paperback or reinforced library bindings and can be purchased individually or as a collection. Discounts availalble for schools, libraries, retailers, wholesalers and non-profits. View the complete title list of Orca Currents.

Key Features:

Contemporary stories
Compelling characters
Ideal for Lit Circles
Ideal for Independent Reading

Teaching Resources:

Teachers' Guides
Resource Guides
Accelerated Reader selections
Lexile Levels

Bindings: 

Paperback
Reinforced Library

ISBN and Pricing Information:

Paperbacks: $9.95
Library Bound: $16.95
Orca Currents Paperback Collection: $457.70
Orca Currents Paperback Collection with Resource Guide: $502.70
Orca Currents Hardcovers Collection: $426.70
Orca Currents New Titles Pack: $79.60
Orca Currents Go Reader Audiobooks Collections: $49.95
Orca Currents Digital Subscription: $457.70  

Read a sample chapter from the Orca Currents series.

Reviews

"I cannot say enough good things about this line of books.  It is everything I have been looking for, for my struggling reluctant readers.  I love these books because our middle school students can relate to them." - Tori Jensen, John Glenn Middle School, Maplewood, MN

"The Orca Currents series offers books for 'reluctant' young-adult readers, with straightforward vocabulary, interesting subjects, and fast-paced plots." - Canadian Book Review Annual

"I work with a variety of reluctant readers and the Orca Sounding and Orca Currents are always a big hit!  The stories grab the interests of my students and the covers are great eye-catchers!" - Debbie Fisher, Central Falls High School, Central Falls, RI

"These small, attractively designed titles are high interest/low ability books. They can be used successfully with special-ed students, lower-level readers and ELL students…the books have appealing plots...Teachers and librarians can make good use of them to entice less-skilled readers." - Lynn Evarts, Sauk Prairie High School, Prairie du Sac, WI

"These short, well-constructed books written by best-selling, award-winning authors are a gold mine for reluctant readers in middle school.  It's not simply the short chapters and intelligently controlled vocabulary.  The value of these books is the text's absence of condescension and the authors' inclusion of current vernacular phrases that don't sound contrived. The stories - contemporary in tone and situation - engage the reader from the get-go and maintain their credibility." - Resource Links

Praise for recent Orca Currents titles

Special Edward
"The author deftly weaves subtle clues into Edward's character that will leave readers nodding in agreement with his true condition. The title also refutes the stereotype that special-education students are profoundly disabled, emphasizing that a child can be gifted and still have learning issues, an important identity concept for teens to explore. A refreshing read." - School Library Journal

Explore
"Explore has everything a good teen read needs and would be an especially good selection for reluctant readers who are interested in outdoor sports. Recommended." - CM Magazine

Junkyard Dog
"Orca Currents continues its line of hard-hitting novels for reluctant readers with this brutal yet rewarding moral quagmire…Polak writes with a nervy confidence, and her specificity…lends an authenticity that lives beyond the book's relatively few pages. A powerful story for anyone who has ever looked into the eyes of a dog and accepted the offer: 'Be good to us, and we'll be good to you.'" - Booklist

Struck
"The novel moves quickly with lots of dialogue between Claire and her parents…This helps reluctant readers keep with the flow of the story and not get bogged down with unnecessary details. Recommended." - CM Magazine