Drama by Raina Telgemeier
C GN/COMICS TEL
Callie rides an emotional roller coaster while serving on the stage crew for a middle school production of Moon over Mississippi as various relationships start and end, and others never quite get going.
Sisters by Raina Telgemeier
C GN/COMICS TEL
In a semi-autobiographical graphic novel, Raina’s disappointing bond with a cranky, independent younger sister is further challenged by the arrival of a baby brother and an estrangement in their parents’ marriage.
Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke
C GN/COMICS HAT
When young Zita discovers a device that opens a portal to another place, and her best friend is abducted, she is compelled to set out on a strange journey from star to star in order to get back home.
A Wrinkle in Time: the graphic novel by Madeleine L’Engle
C GN/COMICS L’EN
A graphic novel adaptation of the classic tale in which Meg Murry and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for Meg’s father, who has disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government.
Big Nate by Lincoln Peirce
C GN/COMICS PEI
C KIDS GENERAL PEI
A compilation of Big Nate comic strips is presented in a new format and is complemented by quotes from the novels, a special activity in the back, and a sneak peek at Big NateFlips Out.
Dear Dumb Diary by Jim Benton
C TWEEN GENERAL BEN
In her diary, middle school student Jamie Kelly describes her life at home and at school, including her attempts to triumph over her nemesis, the beautiful and popular Angeline.
Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea
C TWEEN GENERAL BUY
It’s the start of fifth grade for seven kids at Snow Hill School. There’s . . . Jessica, the new girl, smart and perceptive, who’s having a hard time fitting in; Alexia, a bully, your friend one second, your enemy the next; Peter, class prankster and troublemaker; Luke, the brain; Danielle, who never stands up for herself; shy Anna, whose home situation makes her an outcast; and Jeffrey, who hates school.
Only Mr. Terupt, their new and energetic teacher, seems to know how to deal with them all. He makes the classroom a fun place, even if he doesn’t let them get away with much . . . until the snowy winter day when an accident changes everything—and everyone.
Frindle by Andrew Clements
C TWEEN GENERAL CLE
When he decides to turn his fifth grade teacher’s love of the dictionary around on her, clever Nick Allen invents a new word and begins a chain of events that quickly moves beyond his control.
Middle School is Worse than Meatloaf by Jennifer Holm
C TWEEN GENERAL HOL
Ginny has ten items on her big to-do list for seventh grade. None of them, however, include accidentally turning her hair pink. Or getting sent to detention for throwing frogs in class. Or losing the lead role in the ballet recital to her ex-best friend. Or the thousand other things that can go wrong between September and June. But it looks like it’s shaping up to be that kind of a year! Here’s the story of one girl’s worst school year ever — told completely through her stuff.
The Popularity Papers by Amy Ignatow
C TWEEN GENERAL IGN
Two best friends embark on a project to study the behavior and taste of the popular girls at their elementary school so that by the time they get to middle school they too will be in the right crowd. Novel appears in the form of a scrapbook.
How I Survived Middle School by Nancy Krulik
C TWEEN GENERAL KRU
After spending the night studying the Joyce Kilmer Middle School Handbook, Jenny McAfee feels totally prepared to start sixth grade. But Jenny has another reason to feel confident. She’ll have her best friend, Addie Wilson, right there by her side.
When Jenny and Addie meet at their lockers the next morning, Jenny finds out that Addie has other plans–and they don’t include her. Could Addie really be ditching her for The Pops–the coolest seventh graders in the school?
Rules by Cynthia Lord
C TWEEN GENERAL LOR
Frustrated at life with an autistic brother, twelve-year-old Catherine longs for a normal existence but her world is further complicated by a friendship with an young paraplegic.
Boys are Dogs by Leslie Margolis
C TWEEN GENERAL MAR
When her mother gets a new boyfriend, sixth-grader Annabelle gets to cope with a new town, a new school, and a new puppy and, while training her puppy, she decides to apply some of the same techniques to tame the unruly boysthat are making her middle-school life miserable.
Amelia’s Notebook by Marissa Moss
C TWEEN GENERAL MOS
The hand-lettered contents of a nine-year-old girl’snotebook, in which she records her thoughts and feelings about moving, starting school, and dealing with her older sister, as well as keeping her old best friend and making a new one.
Agnes Parker by Kathleen O’Dell
C TWEEN GENERAL O’DE
As she starts in the sixth grade, Agnes faces challenges with her old best friend, a longtime bully, a wonderful new classmate and neighbor, and herself.
Wonder by RJ Palacio
C TWEEN GENERAL PAL
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.
Dork Diaries by Rachel Renee Russell
C TWEEN GENERAL RUS
Fourteen-year-old Nikki Maxwell writes in her diary of her struggle to be popular at her exclusive new private school, then of finding her place after she gives up on being part of the elite group.
Capture the Flag by Kate Messner
C TWEEN SPORTS & ADV MES
When the original Star Spangled Banner is stolen, seventh-graders Anne, José, and Henry, all descendants of theSilver Jaguar Society, pursue suspects on airport carts and through baggage handling tunnels while stranded at a Washington, D.C., airport during a snowstorm.
Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead
C TWEEN SPORTS & ADV STEA
Seventh-grader Georges adjusts to moving from a house to an apartment, his father’s efforts to start a new business, his mother’s extra shifts as a nurse, being picked on at school, and Safer, a boy who wants his help spying on another resident of their building.
Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm
C KIDS HISTORICAL HOL
In 1935, when her mother gets a job housekeeping for a woman who does not like children, eleven-year-old Turtle is sent to stay with relatives she has never met in far away Key West, Florida.
Children's Reading Suggestions 