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Amari and the Night Brothers
by B.B. Alston
Amari Peters has spunk, knows how to stand up to bullies, and is forging her path forward–both before and after she finds out that she has supernatural powers, as an “illegal magician” and goes on a quest to discover what has happened to her missing brother, Quinton. People in her hometown and family are convinced that he is not alive anymore, but Amari ventures to the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, where nothing is easy or as it seems. With a loyal and equally outcast sidekick, she takes on supernatural creatures, self-doubt, and public scrutiny, risking it all in hopes of finding out the truth about her brother in this unreal world.
Find Layla
by Meg Elison
14-year-old Layla is bullied at school and neglected at home. She tries to avoid her unstable mother and the mean girls who pick on her clothes and appearance. Her love of science keeps her going, and she enters a science competition where she is to explore a biome. Mostly, she tries to stay under the radar, survive each day, and protect her brother, until she submits her biome video. Layla has recorded her own hostile home biome full of mold, filth, and decline, which goes viral and draws the attention of Child Protective Services and the bullies. Under the radar is now out of the question as she finds a new home, a new visibility, and a new self, with surprising glimmers of help and hope along the way.
Hazard
by Frances O'Roark Dowell
Hazard has anger issues. To the reader, that’s pretty obvious and an understatement. Pretty obvious to the therapist he is required to see and “graduate from” before he can return to the football field. But not so obvious to Hazard. To get back on the field and past some tough stuff, Hazard is going to have to deal with those anger issues, a bad case of denial, and the heavy burden of his father’s military injuries and PTSD. Through letters, emails, texts, and therapy notes and workbooks, the reader follows along as Hazard pieces together a different kind of path forward.
Rez Dogs
by Joseph Bruchac
Malian is visiting her grandparents on the Wabanaki reservation when the COVID-19 pandemic hits and the country goes into lockdown. When she can’t return to her parents in Boston, Malian embraces this time with her grandparents (and Malsum, one of the dogs on the rez) as they all care for and learn from each other. Malian is a smart and savvy main character who challenges others and herself to confront hidden biases and beliefs to embrace the differences and beauty in others. Inspired by oral storytelling, Rez Dogs is a novel in verse that weaves multiple aspects of indigenous history and experience while demonstrating the way the indigenous community cared for one another through the plagues of the past, and how they continue to care for one another today.
Shark Summer
by Ira Marcks
When a Hollywood film crew arrives on Martha’s Vineyard with a mechanical shark in tow, the island's residents take notice. When the crew announces a youth film contest that includes a huge cash prize, Gayle Briar sees her chance to turn her summer around. She recruits aspiring cinematographer Elijah Jones and director Maddie Grey as they set out to discover the truth of the island’s phantom shark to win the prize money. Follow the tale in this graphic novel with vibrant and expressive art to see what these friends discover when you turn your camera toward the bad things lurking below the surface.
Smaller Sister
by Maggie Edkins Willis
Smaller Sister is a debut middle-grade graphic novel about body image, confidence, and the bond of sisterhood. Lucy has always looked up to her big sister, Olivia. But Lucy notices Olivie start to change—she’s unhappy with the way she looks and she’s refusing to eat her dinner. She discovers her sister is struggling with an eating disorder. As their parents focus on Olivia’s illness and make every opportunity for recovery, Lucy feels alone and begins to shrink herself. Maggie Edkins Willis wrote this graphic novel from personal experience, and it is presented in a thoughtful and sensitive way for younger readers.
Snapdragon
by Kay Leyh
Snap’s town has a witch–or so they say. Jacks is really an internet-savvy, Crocs-wearing old lady who sells roadkill skeletons online… after doing a little ritual to put their souls at rest. But Snap thinks it’s kind of cool. When Snap rescues some baby opossums, she doesn’t know what to do. Jacks offers a deal: Snap will help Jacks with her work, and she’ll teach Snap how to care for the opossums. Over the course of this new partnership, Snap discovers that Jacks might actually be magic–and she has a connection to her own family’s past. This tale of intergenerational friendship, identity, and found community is told in a beautifully illustrated graphic novel that will capture all readers.
Swim Team
by Johnnie Christmas
Bree can’t wait to start at her new middle school. However, her excitement fades when the only elective she can get into is her biggest fear: Swim 101. Luckily, her elderly neighbor, Etta, was once a swim team captain at the same middle school! Etta teaches Bree how to swim, and along the way educates Bree about the discrimination she faced in her youth as a Black swimmer. Bree’s swim team is depending on her to turn the team around and lead them to a state championship. Can Bree beat the prestigious Holyoke Prep with her newfound friends, or will they lose the swim team for good?
This Light Between Us
by Andrew Fekuda
This is a historical novel about World War II. But it is unlike any that you have read before because it has new viewpoints to offer to the narrative. Alex Maki is 10 years old and lives on an island in Washington. He ends up with a pen pal, Charlie Levy from Paris, France, who he is disgusted to find out is a girl. Their letters and relationship become more complicated as their letters cross the Atlantic. Alex is sent to the internment camp, Manzanar, while Charlie is sent to Auschwitz. All they have left is their letters, their memories, and hope beyond the horrors. Nothing can dispel the light between them.
What About Will
by Ellen Hopkins
Trace has always looked up to his older brother, Will. When Will sustains a brain injury during a football game, everything changes. Now, their family lives under the burden of “the incident,” which left Will with a facial tic, anger issues, and depression. Will is a whole new person, and not in a good way. Trace covers for Will when he discovers that he is addicted to pain pills, but when Will starts ditching school and stealing money to fuel his addiction, Trace realizes that some secrets are better out in the open. This novel-in-verse explores heavy topics such as depression and addiction in an easily digestible way for middle-grade readers.
Worser
by Jennifer Ziegler
A bullied 12-year-old boy must find a new normal after his widowed mother has a stroke and his eccentric, artist aunt moves in, turning his life upside down. William Wyatt Orser, a socially awkward middle schooler, is a lover of logic, words, and grammar, who, much to his annoyance, acquired the ironically ungrammatical nickname of “Worser” so long ago that few people at school know to call him anything else. In his search for acceptance, Worser discovers that the members of the Literary Club at his school share his love of words. The club is in need of a place to meet, and Worser finds a used bookstore which opens its doors to them. Worser, in turn, finds himself a member of a group of friends he can finally open up to. He begins to share his thoughts, feelings, and even his Masterwork- an epic lexicon of words collected over many years. However, when change threatens Worser’s new reprieve from his troubles, his destructive response forces him to reckon with the inevitability of change.
Worst-Case Collin
By Rebecca Caprara
This novel-in-verse follows twelve-year-old Collin who manages his anxiety by mapping out survival plans for any disaster he may encounter—avalanches, riptides, even a bad case of halitosis. He lost his mother in a car accident, and both him and his father struggle in the aftermath of their grief. Collin with his anxiety and his father by hoarding. No one knows what is happening in Collin’s home, and he’s determined to keep it that way. Luckily for him, he has two great friends, Liam and Georgia who help him navigate middle school, but will they stick by him when they learn his big secret? Worst-Case Collin explores the complexities of family relationships, the challenges of mental health and grief, as well as the transformational power of friendship.