All's Faire in Middle School
Homeschooled by Renaissance Faire enthusiasts, eleven-year-old Imogene has a hard time fitting in when her wish to enroll in public school is granted. You can also check out this title as eBook on Overdrive/Libby.
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh creates an annual booklist encouraging middle school students to read for the fun of it!
The 2018 Awesome Books for Middle Schoolers booklist includes diverse books in a variety of formats and genres selected by CLP Teen Specialists. These books are great for middle schoolers.
Homeschooled by Renaissance Faire enthusiasts, eleven-year-old Imogene has a hard time fitting in when her wish to enroll in public school is granted. You can also check out this title as eBook on Overdrive/Libby.
When Jory transfers to an all-boys private high school, he’s taken in by the only ones who don’t treat him like a new kid, the lowly stage crew known as the Backstagers. Not only does he gain great, lifetime friends, Jory is also introduced to an entire magical world that lives beyond the curtain. You can also check out this title as eBook on Hoopla.
Arturo Zamora is determined to save his family’s Cuban American restaurant, the decades-old hub of their Miami neighborhood, from an unscrupulous developer who seems to have bought city council approval for his land grab. You can also check out this title as eAudio on Overdrive/Libby or as eBook on Overdrive/Libby.
Seventh-grader Lauren begins stealing to help children who, like her brother, are on the autism spectrum, and Sierra, in foster care in Lauren’s neighborhood, fears she will enable Lauren’s lawbreaking. Told half in prose, half in verse. You can also check out this title as eBook on Hoopla.
Jason Reynolds shares this letter-poem, written several years ago, in the hope that it will encourage readers to continue reaching for their own dreams. You can also check out this title as eAudio on OverDrive/Libby or as eBook on OverDrive/Libby.
Astronomy-loving Calliope June has Tourette syndrome, so she sometimes makes faces or noises that she doesn’t mean to make. When she and her mother move yet again, she tries to hide her TS. But it isn’t long before the kids at her new school realize she’s different. You can also check out this title as eAudio on Overdrive/Libby, as eBook on Overdrive/Libby or as eAudio on Hoopla.
Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to Xan, the witch who lives in the forest. Xan rescues the abandoned children and delivers them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey. One year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight, filling the ordinary child with extraordinary magic. You can also check out this title as eAudio on Overdrive/Libby, as eBook on Overdrive/Libby or as eBook on Hoopla.
When an embarrassing note falls into the wrong hands, the lives of two totally different girls collide. You can also check out this title as eAudio on Overdrive/Libby, as eBook on Overdrive/Libby, as eAudio on Hoopla or as eBook on Hoopla.
Lily Jo McGrother, born Timothy McGrother, is a girl–but being a girl is not so easy when you look like a boy. Norbert Dorfman, nicknamed Dunkin Dorfman, is bipolar and has just moved from the town he’s called home for the past thirteen years. One summer morning, Lily Jo McGrother meets Dunkin Dorfman, and their lives forever change. You can also check out this title as eAudio on OverDrive/Libby or as eBook on OverDrive/Libby.
Welcome to Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady-Types. The five scouts of Roanoke cabin–Jo, April, Molly, Mal, and Ripley–hang out with their best friends, earn Lumberjane scout badges, annoy their counselor Jen–and go on supernatural adventures. As the camp gears up for the big Galaxy Wars competition, Jo and thegang get some help from an unexpected visitor–a moon pirate!
When Miss Ellicott mysteriously disappears along with all the other sorceresses in the city, it is up to Chantel and her friends to save the Kingdom. You can also check out this title as eBook on Overdrive/Libby or as eBook on Hoopla.
A new collection of poetry inspired by the Harlem Renaissance. You can also check out this title as eBook on Overdrive/Libby.
One of the longest running manga of all time (and anime) which is still ongoing to this day! This along with Naruto and Bleach makes up the “Big 3” of the classic shonen manga due to their massive worldwide popularity that is still seen today, along with many of the tropes and developments in newer shonen taking inspiration and aspects from these and other series. The simple premise is Monkey D Luffy and his crew are on the hunt for the ultimate treasure, the One Piece! This series is also now a popular live action series on Netflix! You can also check out this title as eBook on Libby.
In Rad Women Worldwide, writer Kate Schatz and artist Miriam Klein Stahl tell tales of perseverance and radical success by pairing biographies with expressive cut-paper portraits. Featuring an array of diverse figures from Hatshepsut (the great female king who ruled Egypt peacefully for two decades) and Malala Yousafzi (the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize) to Poly Styrene (legendary teenage punk and lead singer of X-Ray Spex) and Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft (polar explorers and the first women to cross Antarctica).
Twelve-year-old Jonathan Grisby has been sent to the Slabhenge Reformatory School for Troubled Boys, a former lunatic asylum which is currently run by a sadist who enjoys punishing the boys and setting them against each other. Then, a lightning strike kills all the adults the boys find themselves suddenly free — and trapped on Scar Island which seems to be sinking into the ocean. You can also check out this title as eAudio on Overdrive/Libby, as eBook on Overdrive/Libby or as eAudio on Hoopla.
Eleven-year-old Alex Petroski, along with his dog, Carl Sagan, makes big discoveries about his family on a road trip and he records it all on a golden iPod he intends to launch into space. You can also check out this title as eAudio on Overdrive/Libby or as eBook on Overdrive/Libby.
Up until her twelfth birthday, Kiranmala considered herself an ordinary sixth-grader in Parsippany, New Jersey, but then her parents disappear and a demon shows up in her kitchen, and soon she is swept into another dimension, full of magic, winged horses, talking birds, and cute princes–and somehow Kiranmala needs to sort it all out, find her parents, and basically save the world. You can also check out this title as eAudio on Overdrive/Libby, as eBook on Overdrive/Libby or as eAudio on Hoopla.
Maleeka suffers every day from the taunts of the other kids in her class. If they’re not getting at her about her homemade clothes or her good grades, it’s about her dark, black skin. When a new teacher, whose face is blotched with a startling white patch, starts at their school, Maleeka can see there is bound to be trouble for her too. But the new teacher’s attitude surprises Maleeka. Miss Saunders loves the skin she’s in. Can Maleeka learn to do the same? You can also check out this title as eAudio on Overdrive/Libby or as eBook on Overdrive/Libby.
Unable to celebrate the holidays in the wake of his older brother’s death in a gang-related shooting, Lolly Rachpaul struggles to avoid being forced into a gang himself while constructing a fantastically creative LEGO city at the Harlem community center. You can also check out this title as eAudio on Overdrive/Libby or as eBook on Overdrive/Libby.
There are unexpected consequences when thirteen-year-old Gracie sends texts pretending to be her bashful best friend, Sienna, and their friend Emmett starts texting back pretending to be shy A.J. You can also check out this title as eAudio on Overdrive/Libby or as eBook on Overdrive/Libby.
A red oak tree and a crow help their human neighbors work out their differences. You can also check out this title as eAudio on Overdrive/Libby or as eBook on Overdrive/Libby.