Sorted By: Middle Grade
Kacen Callender
MOONFLOWER
Summer 2022, Scholastic, TBD pp
The award-winning author of Hurricane Child and King and the Dragonflies brings another unflinching story of identity and hope to young readers. Every night, twelve-year-old Moon leaves for the spiri...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
OPERATION SISTERHOOD
January 2022, Crown/Random House, 272 pp
ans of the Netflix reboot of The Babysitters Club will delight in this blended-family story about four sisters who band together in the heart of New York City. A jubilant novel about the difficulties ...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Anne Quirk
LARGER THAN LIFE
July 2021, Norton Young Readers/W. W. Norton, 168 pp
An accessible, informed, and timely biography of Lyndon Johnson that centers his life and presidency around the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Keenly known for both his triumphs and his failures,...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Alexis Castellanos
ISLA TO ISLAND
March 2022, Atheneum/S&S, 192 pp
A wordless middle grade graphic novel following a girl growing up in 1960s Cuba and New York City. Marisol loves her colorful island. Cuba is vibrant with flowers and food and people… but things are ...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Gonzalo Alvarez
PIYOMAN: WARRIOR OF THE SUN
Spring 2022, HarperCollins, TBD pp
Stumbling into an Aztec underworld fueled by sacrifice, a timid boy named Emmanuel struggles to fulfill someone else's destiny, discover dormant gods, and vanquish six terrifying Latin American Legen...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Schuyler Bailar
OBIE IS MAN ENOUGH
September 2021, Crown/Random House, 352 pp
A coming-of-age story about transgender tween Obie who didn't think being himself would cause such a splash. For fans of Alex Gino's George and Lisa Bunker's Felix Yz. Obie knew his transition would ...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Lin Thompson
The Best Liars in Riverview
March 2022, Little, Brown/Hachette, 336 pp
In the woods of a small Kentucky town, Aubrey sets off on a journey about growing up, self-discovery, and acceptance while searching for their missing best friend—perfect for fans of KING AND THE DRAG...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Kathryn Ormsbee
The House in Poplar Wood
August 2018, Chronicle Books, 344 pp
Simultaneously heartwarming and delightfully spooky, The House in Poplar Wood is a story about a boy's desire to be free, a girl's desire to make a difference, and a family's desire to be together aga...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Madeline McGrane
THE ACCURSED VAMPIRE
July 2021, HarperCollins, 176pp
A spooky and funny graphic novel debut that’s perfect for fans of Molly Knox Ostertag’s THE WITCH BOY and Kristen Gudsnuk’s MAKING FRIENDS. Dragoslava is a vampire kid. And that’s not even the worst ...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Kathryn Ormsbee
CANDIDLY CLINE
November 2021, HarperCollins, 320pp
Born in Paris, Kentucky and raised on her Gram’s favorite country music, Cline dreams of making it big with her own songs—even if her mother has always told her that music won’t pay the bills. So whe...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Hilary Wagner
NIGHTSHADE CHRONICLES
LORDS OF TRILLIUM
Book 3 – March 2014, Holiday House, 250 pp
Deep beneath a modern metropolis lies the Catacombs, a kingdom of remarkable rats of superior intellect. Following the Bloody Coup, the once peaceful democracy has become a dictatorship, ruled by deca...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Ellen Oh
SPIRIT HUNTERS
SPIRIT HUNTERS: SOMETHING WICKED
Summer 2022, HarperCollins, TBD pp
Harper is dealing with a lot of new changes in her house. Her cousin Leo is now living with them, her sister Kelly has started a new job at a local makeup store, and Harper’s abilities have grown incr...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Ellen Oh
THE DRAGON EGG PRINCESS
March 2020, HarperCollins, 256 pp
A must-have middle grade novel perfect for fans of the Wing & Claw series by Linda Sue Park. In a kingdom filled with magic, Jiho Park and his family are an anomaly—magic doesn’t affect them. Jiho co...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Ellen Oh
FINDING JUNIE KIM
May 2021, HarperCollins, 368pp
From We Need Diverse Books cofounder Ellen Oh comes an extraordinary story about a girl who must understand her family’s past to embrace her present, finding herself along the way. Junie Kim just wan...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Yamile Saied Méndez
ON THESE MAGIC SHORES
April 2020, Tu Books/Lee & Low, 288 pp
Twelve-year-old Minerva Soledad Madrid does not believe in fairies (or peques, as mamá calls them), despite the fact that her family insists peques followed them from Argentina to the US watch over th...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Dana Alison Levy
THE MISADVENTURES OF THE FAMILY FLETCHER
July 2014, Delacorte/Penguin Random House, 260 pp
Modern Family meets modern classics like Beverly Cleary’s Quimbys and Judy Blume’s Hatchers in this heartwarming and hilarious middle grade novel. Four adopted brothers, two dads, and an ever-changing...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Dana Alison Levy
THE FAMILY FLETCHER TAKES ROCK ISLAND
May 2016, Delacorte/Penguin Random House, 272 pp
Fans of The Penderwicks and other summer tales will enjoy this stand-alone companion novel to the acclaimed Misadventures of the Family Fletcher. Set on a fictional New England island, the boys, ages ...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Dana Alison Levy
THIS WOULD MAKE A GOOD STORY SOMEDAY
Spring 2017, Penguin Random House, 260 pp
Fans of Dan Santat’s Are We There Yet and Geoff Rodkey’s The Tapper Twins will enjoy this cross-country train trip of a middle grade novel. Twelve-year-old Sara loves her family, but she’s less than t...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Dana Alison Levy
IT WASN’T ME
November 2018, Delacorte/Penguin Random House, 336 pp
The Breakfast Club meets middle school in this story of six 12-year-old students — five potential perpetrators and Theo, one seriously annoyed victim — forced to spend vacation week together in school...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Aida Salazar
THE MOON WITHIN
Spring 2019, Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic, 250 pp
This free verse middle grade novel tells the story of 11-year-old Cely, whose life swirls with questions about her changing body, her first attraction to a boy, her best friend’s exploration of what i...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Aida Salazar
LAND OF THE CRANES
September 2020, Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic, 256 pp
This free verse middle grade novel, inspired in part by the author’s own childhood as an undocumented immigrant, tells the story of 9-year-old Betita, who believes that she and other migrants follow a...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Megan Jean Sovern
THE MEANING OF MAGGIE
May 2014, Chronicle, 220 pp
Twelve-year-old Maggie lives in a house too small for all the big problems plaguing a shy girl just trying to survive adolescence armed with Little Debbies and deep thoughts. When her father’s legs p...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Jim Murphy
BREAKTHROUGH: HOW THREE PEOPLE SAVED “BLUE BABIES” AND CHANGED MEDICINE FOREVER
December 2016, Clarion/HMH, 144 pp
In 1944 a groundbreaking operation repaired the congenital heart defect known as blue baby syndrome. The operation’s success brought the surgeon Alfred Blalock international fame and paved the way for...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Josanne La Valley
THE VINE BASKET
April 2013, Clarion/HMH, 256 pp
Things aren’t looking good for fourteen-year-old Mehrigul. She yearns to be in school, but she’s needed on the family farm. The longer she’s out of school, the more likely it is that she’ll be sent of...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Kristin Kladstrup
THE BOOK OF STORY BEGINNINGS
March 2006, Candlewick, 368 pp
This wonderfully transporting fantasy - featuring a ship full of orphaned pirate children, a pair of warring royals, and plenty of magic potions - is sure to thrill all those who dare turn its pages....
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Kristin Kladstrup
GARDEN PRINCESS
March 2013, Candlewick, 272 pp
Dig in to this middle-grade fantasy featuring a horticulturally-minded princess, a beautiful but evil witch, and a magpie with a shameful secret....
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Kristin Kladstrup
NUTCRACKER MICE
October 2017, Candlewick, 336 pp
Hidden in Saint Petersburg’s famed Mariinsky Theater are the world’s tiniest ballet fans: the Mariinsky mice, including Esmeralda, a rising dancer in the Russian Mouse Ballet Company. Despite being un...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Carolyn Hennesy
MYTHIC MISADVENTURES SERIES
PANDORA GETS FRIGHTENED
Book 7 – July 2013, Bloomsburg, 288 pp
Mythic Misadventures series in which Pandora tries to recapture all the great evils of the world and return them to the infamous box....
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Stephanie Greene
PRINCESS POSEY SERIES
PRINCESS POSEY
Multiple Dates, Putnam/Penguin, Each 96 pp
In her 12th chapter book, everyone’s favorite first grade friend, Princess Posey, learns that sometimes exciting news comes with big changes. When Posey’s grandpa announces that he’s marrying her nei...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Stephanie Greene
SOPHIE HARTLEY SERIES
SOPHIE HARTLEY AND THE FACTS OF LIFE
Book 4 – November 2013, Clarion/HMH, 144 pp
The indomitable, quirky, passionate Sophie faces challenges and challengers with determination and resourcefulness. She does so with down-to-earth, realistic, humorous take on friendships and family r...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Mary E. Lambert
FAMILY GAME NIGHT AND OTHER CATASTROPHES
February 2017, Scholastic, 256 pp
A novel about throwing things out -- and letting people in. Annabelle has a secret so big she won’t allow friends within five miles of her home. Her mom collects things. Their house is overflowing wi...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Mary E. Lambert
DISTRESS SIGNAL
October 2020, Scholastic, 272 pp
In this edge-of-your-seat survival story, four classmates are stranded in a desert wilderness after a flash flood separates them from the rest of their grade. Can they make it to safety? Lavender’s c...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
David Kreizman
THE UNEXPLAINABLE DISAPPEARANCE OF MARS PATEL
October 2020, Candlewick, 304 pp
When his friends begin disappearing, eleven-year-old Mars Patel uncovers a mystery that will take him to the stars…and beyond.The first novel in a series written by Sheela Chari based on the award-win...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Jessie Haas
RESCUE
April 2018, Boyds Mills, 200 pp
In this coming-of-age story perfect for horse fans, twelve-year-old animal lover Joni clashes with her new neighbor and animal rights activist Chess. Their bumpy friendship reaches a crisis when Chess...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Jessie Haas
THE HUNGRY PLACE
October 2020, Boyds Mills, TBD pp
A middle-grade novel told in 2 points of view. Rae grows up longing for, and working to afford, a pony, until at age twelve she crosses paths with Princess, a show-ring champion left to starve by an u...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Kat Fajardo
MISS QUINCES
April 2022, Graphix/Scholastic, 272 pp
A coming-of-age middle grade graphic novel about a girl forced to celebrate her quinceañera despite hating all things pretty and pink. Suyapa “Sue” Gutierrez was planning a fun summer at camp with he...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Jeanne DuPrau
CITY OF EMBER SERIES
THE CITY OF EMBER
May 2003, Random House, 288 pp
City of Ember Series...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Paige Britt
THE LOST TRACK OF TIME
March 2015, Scholastic, 320 pp
Penelope longs to be a writer, but her mother won’t allow it—scribbling in your notebook all day is a complete waste of time! One morning, a strange hole opens up in her otherwise busy schedule, and s...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Arthur Salm
ANYWAY*
May 2012, Simon & Schuster, TBD pp
Max is a good kid floating in the netherworld of being not quite a teenager. A summertime interlude at a family camp allows him to re-invent himself for a week as Mad Max, a much wilder kid; he’s expe...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Isaiah Campbell
THE STRUGGLES OF JOHNNY CANNON
October 2014, Simon & Schuster, 336 pp
The sequel to TROUBLES finds Johnny embroiled in a Mafia blood feud as he searches for his happy ending....
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Isaiah Campbell
THE TROUBLES OF JOHNNY CANNON
October 2015, Simon & Schuster, 296 pp
In 1961 Alabama, a Superman obsessed 12-year-old, Johnny Cannon, has to dodge the CIA, outwit the Klan, and escape from Cuba to prove his Pa didn’t sabotage the Bay of Pigs invasion. THE TROUBLES OF J...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Isaiah Campbell
ABRAKAPOW
November 2016, Simon & Schuster, 304 pp
Based on a true World War II story, Isaiah Campbell tells a charming mystery about a mishap at a magic show in a POW camp—featuring magic how-to diagrams throughout....
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Pat Cummings
TRACE
December 2018, HarperCollins, 320 pp
Coretta Scott King Award winner Pat Cummings’s debut TRACE, about a boy who stumbles into a ghost story born in the turmoil of New York City’s 1863 Draft Riots. Weighed down by guilt for an accident ...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Victoria J. Coe
FENWAY AND HATTIE SERIES
FENWAY AND HATTIE IN THE WILD
Book 4 – May 2019, Putnam/Penguin Random House, 176 pp
In the fourth book in this adorable middle-grade series, all told from the dog’s point of view, Fenway gets a taste of the wild when he goes on a back-to-school camping trip with his human, Hattie. Th...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Alina Chau
MARSHMALLOW AND JORDAN
October 2021, First Second/Macmillan, 384 pp
Beautiful watercolor illustrations bring to life this middle grade graphic novel about former youth basketball star Jordan, who was paralyzed from the waist down in an accident. She misses playing her...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Kacen Callender
HURRICANE CHILD
March 2018, Scholastic, 224 pp
A lyrical, debut middle grade novel with a touch of magical realism and LGBTQ+ themes, about first friendship, first love, and finding self-acceptance. 12-year-old Caroline Murphy is a Hurricane Chil...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Kacen Callender
KING AND THE DRAGONFLIES
February 2020, Scholastic, 272 pp
From the Stonewall and Lambda Book Award-winning author of Hurricane Child comes a novel about loss, grief, and finding the courage to discover one’s identity. Twelve-year-old Kingston James is sure ...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Shakirah Bourne
JOSEPHINE AGAINST THE SEA
July 2021, Scholastic, 304 pp
The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste meets R.L.Stine’s The Girl Who Cried Monster. 11 year-old Jo discovers that her Dad’s new girlfriend is a powerful sea creature and has to convince everyone of the woma...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Mary Amato
GOOD CROOKS SERIES
GOOD CROOKS: SNIFF A SKUNK!
Book 3 – Spring 2015, Darby Creek/Lerner, 128 pp
A hilarious series for K-4. Billy and Jillian Crook have a big problem. Their parents are crooks, but they want to do good deeds! Sniff a Skunk! brings back our favorite pair of do-gooder crooks in a ...
Sorted By: Middle Grade
Mary Amato
OUR TEACHER IS A VAMPIRE
March 2016, Holiday House, 256 pp
It all begins when Alexander H. Gory Jr. passes around a notebook in which he reveals a tantalizing secret: he has proof that their teacher, Mrs. Penrose, is a vampire. Soon the entire class is specul...