Books for Middle Schoolers
Great picks for middle school readers.
(Updated December 2022) (GN= Graphic Novel)
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Six Crimson Cranes
When Shiori’s stepmother discovers her use of forbidden magic, Shiori’s brothers are turned into cranes, and she is banished far from home, cursed never to speak their names, or they will die.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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A Snake Falls to Earth
Nina and Oli are both fifteen, but the similarities end there. She's a Lipan Apache girl from Texas and he's a cottonmouth snake from the Reflecting World. What happens when their paths cross and they must work together to save their families?
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Millionaires for the Month
After Felix and Benji “borrow” $20 from a billionaire’s lost wallet, she challenges them to spend five million dollars in one month in order to win ten million dollars - but there is a catch.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Everything Sad Is Untrue
Khousrou, also known as Daniel, struggles to tell his middle school classmates about his life: his childhood in Iran, his time in a refugee camp in Italy, and the idiosyncrasies of adjusting to life in Oklahoma.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Like Home
Ginger East has always been home for Nelo, despite its unsafe reputation. When her best friend’s family business is vandalized and gentrifying stores start moving in, Nelo must decide how to stand up for her neighborhood.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Button Pusher
Tyler can’t answer the question all the grownups ask him: Why do you do that? His brain makes him do things like hang out of a window and disrupt class. When he gets diagnosed and treated for ADHD, things finally start making more sense. GN
Format: Graphic Novel
Availability: Available
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The Ivory Key
In the Ashokan empire, magic is mined to maintain power and protect against enemies. When the quarries stop producing, four royal siblings with very different goals must come together for all of their sakes.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Ain't Burned All the Bright
A Black family faces the COVID-19 pandemic, racial violence, and the nightly news in this illustrated book for teens.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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The Golden Hour
In the aftermath of an armed shooter at his school, Manuel learns to cope with PTSD and panic attacks through photography and friends. GN
Format: Graphic Novel
Availability: Available
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It Came From the Sky
When a science experiment goes wrong, brothers Gideon and Ishmael cover it up with a simple lie that soon becomes a hoax they cannot control: did aliens crash into their cornfield?
Format: Book
Availability: All copies in use
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