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Amari and the Night Brothers
By B.B. Alston
J ALS / Also available in large print, on CD and Playaway, and as an Ebook and an Eaudiobook
Thirteen-year-old Amari, a poor African American girl from the projects, gets an invitation from her missing brother to join the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs and join in the fight against an evil magician.
Small Spaces
By Katherine Arden
J ARD / Also available in large print, on CD, and as an Ebook and an Eaudiobook
After suffering a tragic loss, eleven-year-old Ollie only finds solace in books. So when she happens upon a crazed woman at the river threatening to throw a book into the water, Ollie doesn’t think—she just acts, stealing the book and running away. As she begins to read, Ollie discovers a chilling story about a girl named Beth, the two brothers who both loved her, and a peculiar deal made with “the smiling man,” a sinister specter who grants your most tightly held wish, but only for the ultimate price. Ollie is captivated by the tale until her school trip the next day to Smoke Hollow, a local farm with a haunting history all its own. There she stumbles on the graves of the very people she’s been reading about. Could it be the story about the smiling man is true? On the way home, the school bus breaks down, sending their teacher back to the farm for help. But the strange bus driver has some advice for the kids left behind in his care: “Best get moving. At nightfall the’ll come for the rest of you.” Nightfall is, indeed, fast descending when Ollie’s previously broken digital wristwatch, a keepsake reminder of better times, begins a startling countdown and delivers a terrifying message: RUN.
Eb & Flow
By Kelly Baptist
J BAP / Also available as an Ebook and an Eaudiobook
In this dual-POV novel in verse, Black seventh graders Ebony “Eb” Wilson and De’Kari “Flow” Flood contemplate the conflict that sees them both suspended from school. A ten-day suspension has the tweens seeing the world with a fresh perspective.
Maya and the Rising Dark
By Rene Barron
J BAR / Also available on CD and as an Ebook and an Eaudiobook
A twelve-year-old girl discovers her father is the keeper of the gateway between our world and The Dark, and when he goes missing, she’ll need to unlock her own powers and fight a horde of spooky creatures set on starting a war.
The Canyon’s Edge
By Dusti Bowling
J BOW / Also available on Playaway and as an Ebook and an Eaudiobook
A year after the death of her mother in a restaurant shooting, Nora is left struggling to stay alive when a climbing trip with her father goes terribly wrong.
Cosmic
By Frank Cottrell Boyce
J BOY / Also available as an Ebook and an Eaudiobook
Twelve year old Liam looks like he’s thirty. Sometimes it’s not bad; for example on the first day of school the principal mistakes Liam for a teacher or when he convinces a car dealer to let him test drive a Porsche. So feeling like he’s stuck between two worlds, Liam cons his way into being the adult chaperone on the first space ship to take civilians into space. But when the ship is stuck 230,000 miles from home, being mistaken for an adult is not good.
Tenmile
By Sandra Dallas
J DAL / Also available as an Ebook
A thirteen-year-old girl living in an 1880 Colorado gold-mining town witnesses the hardships of her community as she assists her father, the town doctor.
The Probability of Everything
By Sarah Everett
J EVE / Also available as an Ebook and an Eaudiobook
When an asteroid has an 84.7% chance of colliding with the Earth in four days, eleven-year-old Kemi, who loves scientific facts and probability, assembles a time capsule to capture her family’s truth as she tries to come to terms with saying goodbye.
Voyage of the Sparrowhawk
By Natasha Farrant
J FAR / Also available as an Eaudiobook
In the aftermath of World War I, two orphaned friends set off in a narrowboat from England as each hopes to find a missing part of themselves in France.
Starfish
By Lisa Fipps
J FIP / Also available as an Ebook and an Eaudiobook
In this poignant debut novel-in-verse, ever since Ellie wore a whale swimsuit and made a big splash at her fifth birthday party, she’s been bullied about her weight. To cope, she tries to live by the Fat Girl Rules—like “no making waves,” “avoid eating in public,” and “don’t move so fast that your body jiggles.” And she’s found her safe space—her swimming pool—where she feels weightless in a fat-obsessed world. In the water, she can stretch herself out like a starfish and take up all the room she wants. It’s also where she can get away from her pushy mom, who thinks criticizing Ellie’s weight will motivate her to diet. Fortunately, Ellie has allies in her dad, her therapist, and her new neighbor, who loves Ellie for who she is. With this support buoying her, Ellie might finally be able to cast aside the Fat Girl Rules and starfish in real life—by unapologetically being her fabulous self.
Rewind
By Lisa Graff
J GRA / Also available as an Ebook and an Eaudiobook
As far as twelve-year-old McKinley O’Dair is concerned, the best thing about living in Gap Bend, Pennsylvania, is the Time Hop—the giant party the town throws every June to celebrate a single year in history. And when McKinley learns that this year’s theme is 1993, she can’t wait to enter the Time Hop fashion show with a killer ’90s outfit she’s designed and sewn all on her own. But when the Time Hop rolls around, it’s the biggest disaster of McKinley’s life. Before she knows what’s hit her, McKinley somehow finds herself in the real 1993—and it’s not all kitschy parachute pants and Jurassic Park. All McKinley wants is to return to the present, but before she can, she’s going to have to make a big change—but which change is the right one?
Hoot
By Carl Hiaasen
J HIA / Also available on Playaway, CD and DVD, and as an Ebook, Eaudiobook and streaming movie
Roy, who is new to his small Florida community, becomes involved in another boy’s attempt to save a colony of burrowing owls from a proposed construction site.
The Van Gogh Deception
By Deron R. Hicks
J HIC / Also available on Playaway and as an Ebook and an Eaudiobook
When a young boy is discovered in Washington, DC’s National Gallery of Art without any recollection of who he is, he must piece together the disjointed clues of his origins while using his limited knowledge to stop one of the greatest art frauds ever attempted.
Penny from Heaven
By Jennifer Holm
J HOL / Also available as an Ebook and an Eaudiobook
As Penny turns 12, she gains new insights into herself and her family while also learning a secret about her father’s death.
Stand Up, Yumi Chung!
By Jessica Kim
J KIM / Also available in large print, on Playaway, and as an Ebook and an Eaudiobook
When eleven-year-old Yumi Chung stumbles into a kids’ comedy camp, she is mistaken for another student, so she plays the part.
Inside Out & Back Again
By Thanhha Lai
J LAI / Also available on CD and as an Ebook and an Eaudiobook
Through a series of poems, a young girl chronicles the life-changing year of 1975, when she, her mother, and her brothers leave Vietnam and resettle in Alabama.
A Work in Progress
By Jarrett Lerner
J LER / Also available as an Ebook and an Eaudiobook
Will is the only round kid in a school full of string beans. So he hides in baggy jeans and oversized hoodies, in the back row during class, and anywhere but the cafeteria during lunch. But shame isn’t the only feeling that dominates Will’s life. He’s also got a crush on a girl named Jules who he knows he doesn’t have a chance with—string beans only date string beans—but he can’t help wondering what if? Will’s best shot at attracting Jules’s attention is by slaying the Will Monster inside him by changing his eating habits and getting more exercise. But the results are either frustratingly slow or infuriatingly unsuccessful, and Will’s shame begins to morph into self-loathing. As he resorts to increasingly drastic measures to transform his appearance, Will meets skateboarder Markus, who helps him see his body and all it contains as an ever-evolving work in progress.
Strangeville School is Totally Normal
By Darcy Miller
J MIL
Harvey Hill’s first day at Strangeville Middle School doesn’t go quite as expected when he discovers it’s full of various creatures and odd happenings, including a particularly nefarious supply closet.
Camp Sylvania
By Julie Murphy
J MUR / Also available as an Ebook and an Eaudiobook
Magnolia “Maggie” Hagen is determined to be in the spotlight … if she can just get over her stage fright. This summer, though, she has big plans to finally attend Camp Rising Star, the famous performing arts camp she’s been dying to go to for three whole summers. But on the last day of school, her parents break the news: Maggie isn’t going to Camp Rising Star. She’s being shipped off to fat camp, and not just any fat camp. She’s going to Camp Sylvania, run by world-famous wellness influencer Sylvia Sylvania, who is known for her soon-to-be-patented Scarlet Diet. When Maggie arrives at camp, things are … weird. There are the humiliating weigh-ins and grueling workouts, as expected. But the campers are also encouraged to donate blood, at their age! The cafeteria serves only red foods, and the oddly specific rules change every day. There are even rumors of a camp ghost. Soon campers start going missing and other suspicious things begin happening, especially after dark.
Wonder
By R. J. Palacio
J PAL / Also available in large print, on Playaway, CD, DVD and Blu-ray, and as an Ebook and Eaudiobook
Ten-year-old Auggie Pullman, who was born with extreme facial abnormalities and was not expected to survive, goes from being home-schooled to entering fifth grade at a private middle school in Manhattan, which entails enduring the taunting and fear of his classmates as he struggles to be seen as just another student.
The One Thing You’d Save
By Linda Sue Park
J PAR
If your house were on fire, what one thing would you save? Newbery Medalist Linda Sue Park explores different answers to this provocative question in linked poems that capture the diverse voices of a middle school class.
The Westing Game
By Ellen Raskin
J RAS / Also available on CD and as an Ebook and Eaudiobook
The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance.
The Mysterious Benedict Society
By Trenton Lee Stewart
J STE / Also available on CD and as an Ebook and an Eaudiobook
After passing a series of mind-bending tests, four children are selected for a secret mission that requires them to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules.
Fast Pitch
By Nic Stone
J STO / Also available in large print, on Playaway and as an Ebook and an Eaudiobook
Shenice Lockwood dreams of leading the Fulton Firebirds to the U12 softball regional championship. But Shenice’s focus gets shaken when her great-uncle Jack reveals that a career-ending-and family-name-ruining-crime may have been a setup. It’s up to Shenice to discover the truth about her family’s past-and fast-before secrets take the Firebirds out of the game forever.
The Bridge to Home
By Padma Venkatraman
J VEN / Also available as an Eaudiobook
Life is harsh in Chennai’s teeming streets, so when runaway sisters Viji and Rukku arrive, their prospects look grim. Very quickly, eleven-year-old Viji discovers how vulnerable they are in this uncaring, dangerous world. Fortunately, the girls find shelter—and friendship—on an abandoned bridge. With two homeless boys, Muthi and Arul, the group forms a family of sorts. And while making a living scavenging the city’s trash heaps is the pits, the kids find plenty to laugh about and take pride in too. After all, they are now the bosses of themselves and no longer dependent on untrustworthy adults. But when illness strikes, Viji must decide whether to risk seeking help from strangers or to keep holding on to their fragile, hard-fought freedom.
Other Words for Home
By Jasmine Warga
J WAR / Also available in large print, on Playaway and as an Ebook and an Eaudiobook
Sent with her mother to the safety of a relative’s home in Cincinnati when her Syrian hometown is overshadowed by violence, Jude worries for the family who were left behind as she adjusts to a new life with unexpected surprises.
GRAPHIC NOVELS
Long Distance
By Whitney Gardner
J GN GAR / Also available as an Ebook
Vega’s summer vacation is not going well. When her parents decide it’s time to pack up and leave her hometown of Portland, Oregon, behind for boring Seattle, Washington, Vega is more than upset—she’s downright miserable. Forced to leave her one and only best friend, Halley, behind, Vega is convinced she’ll never make another friend again. To help her settle into her new life in Seattle, her parents send Vega to summer camp to make new friends. When her cellphone unexpectedly calls it quits and things at camp start getting stranger and stranger, Vega has no choice but to team up with her bunkmates to figure out what’s going on.
Twins
By Varian Johnson
J GN JOH / Also available as an Ebook and an Eaudiobook
Maureen and Francine Carter are twins and best friends. But just before the girls start sixth grade, Francine becomes Fran—a girl who wants to join the chorus, run for class president, and dress in fashionable outfits that set her apart from Maureen. The sisters are growing apart and there’s nothing Maureen can do to stop it. Are sisters really forever? Or will middle school change things for good?
Lo & Behold
By Wendy Mass
J GN MAS / Also available as an Ebook
With her life recently turned upside down, 12-year-old Addie is uncomfortable in her own skin until the world of virtual reality sparks her imagination and leads to an exciting new project, a new friend, and to reconnecting with who she’s always been.
Smile
By Raina Telgemeier
J GN TEL / Also available as an Ebook
From sixth grade through tenth, Raina copes with a variety of dental problems that affect her appearance and how she feels about herself.