While the winter lingers, the school year carries on and middle graders can get a bit antsy waiting for spring. I know I’m impatiently waiting for the snow to melt, myself. So we’ve compiled a list of middle grade fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novels to soothe the most restless of reader. The irresistible middle grade fiction will charm and delight as the characters experience challenges and joys. The mind-blowing nonfiction will amaze and inspire, while the graphic novels will set imaginations soaring. What are you waiting for? Jump in!
Fiction
Enly and the Buskin’ Blues by Jennie Liu
COMING FEBRUARY 7TH 2023!
Grade Level: 4 – 7 | Age Level 9 – 13
Hoping to earn money for band camp tuition, twelve-year-old Enly Wu Lewis starts busking. His mission quickly turns into a series of misadventures that change how he sees his family, his dreams, and himself.
Praise for Enly and the Buskin’ Blues
“A quick-paced coming-of-age story exploring music and family expectations.”—Kirkus Reviews
“This fast and furious plot will have readers alternately cringing and cheering at Enly’s impulsiveness, fully invested in this protagonist’s success. While the tone is light, some serious issues are gently explored: gentrification, grief, wealth and lack of it, family ties, and friendship.”—School Library Journal
A Long Way From Home by Laura Schaefer
Grade Level 5 – 8 | Age Level 10 – 14
When anxious Abby meets two boys from the future who need her help, she decides to escape the depressing present by traveling to their time with them. But that’s not as simple as it seems.
Praise for A Long Way From Home
“[A] thought-provoking sci-fi novel . . . The tension of the boys’ quest will keep readers invested . . . [b]ut Abby’s situation is equally engrossing.”—The Horn Book Magazine
Hear Me by Kerry O’Malley Cerra
Grade Level 5 – 8 | Age Level 10 – 14
After being diagnosed with progressive hearing loss, Rayne resists her parents’ efforts to “fix” her and rethinks her own assumptions about what her condition means for her.
Praise for Hear Me
“This empathetic, appealing story highlights Rayne’s journey to self-acceptance while also exploring her complicated but loving family relationships, loyal friendships, and a little romance. Discussion questions wrap everything up.” —Booklist
“Asterisks replace unheard words of dialogue in this moving middle grade novel, based on the author’s own life, that follows an adolescent girl’s struggle with both progressive hearing loss and her parents’ insistence that she get cochlear implants.”—The New York Times Book Review
Nonfiction
The Lady and the Octopus: How Jeanne Villepreux-Power Invented Aquariums and Revolutionized Marine Biology by Danna Staaf
Grade Level 5 – 12 | Age Level 10 – 18
Follow the remarkable journey of Jeanne Villepreux-Power from her childhood in a small French village to her life as a naturalist in nineteenth-century Messina, Sicily, where she conducted groundbreaking research and invented aquariums.
Praise for The Lady and the Octopus
★”An illuminating work on a scientist in the same league as Maria Sibylla Merian and Mary Anning.”—starred, Booklist
★”This author is as resourceful and ingenious in relating the story of her subject as Jeanne Villepreux-Power was in her scholarly endeavors. . . . This life story of an important female pioneer in the sciences is highly recommended.”—starred, School Library Journal
“[W]ell researched and expertly explained. A seaworthy bio of a revolutionary scientist.”—Kirkus Reviews
Secrets of the Lost City: A Scientific Adventure in the Honduran Rain Forest by Sandra Markle
Grade Level 4 – 6 | Age Level 9 – 12
Join a real-life, scientific adventure to a remote Honduran rainforest where an ancient city once stood. Learn how scientists located the ruins likely unvisited by humans for 500 years and documented animals—even some believed to be endangered or extinct—flourishing free from human influence.
Praise for Secrets of the Lost City
“Markle provides clear explanations of the lidar mapping process, the camera traps, and the systematic exploration of the conservation team as well as a smoothly flowing story that carries readers along on these adventures. . . . An inviting introduction to an amazing place.”—Kirkus Reviews
“In this well-written text, readers will step into an exciting field of discovery, following in the footsteps of pioneering scientists and archeologists who brought an ancient city to life in the twenty-first century.”—Children’s Literature
Teen Innovators: Nine Young People Engineering a Better World with Creative Inventions by Fred Estes
Grade Level 5 – 9 | Age Level 10 – 15
Celebrate the determination and ingenuity of young inventors. Through profiles that explore the challenges, motivations, and lives of these teen visionaries, readers will see how the science they study today in school relates to these important discoveries.
Praise for Teen Innovators
“The rich variety of individuals and projects highlighted will encourage budding scientists. A compelling read for teens interested in the STEM fields and an inspirational resource for science classrooms.”—Kirkus Reviews
Graphic Novels
The Green Girls by Loïc Nicoloff, illustrated by Antoine Losty, Roberta Pierpaoli, and Alberto Zanon
COMING MARCH 7TH 2023!
Grade Level 4 – 8 | Age Level 9 – 14
Emma, Lily, and Fadila want to save the planet . . . but no one around them seems to care. Frustrated, they name themselves the Green Girls, take to social media, and launch a series of bold protests.
Praise for The Green Girls
“Readers will be drawn in by bright, approachable illustrations and stay for the determination of these young eco-warriors.”—Kirkus Reviews
Timothy Dinoman Saves the Cat by Steve Thueson
Grade Level 4 – 8 | Age Level 9 – 14
Some suspected supervillains have stolen a satellite! To learn why, Timothy Dinoman will visit a mountain fortress, a giant blimp, and diner with excellent pancakes—and run into a really cute cat along the way.
Praise for Timothy Dinoman
“Action-packed, save-the-world drama mixed with humor and heart.”—Kirkus Reviews
Praise for The Green Girls
“Readers will be drawn in by bright, approachable illustrations and stay for the determination of these young eco-warriors.”—Kirkus Reviews
Visit the Lerner blog for more booklists to fill your shelves!