Children's Literature : Middle Grade and YA Books

Star-crossed by Barbara Dee When Mattie is cast as Romeo in an eighth-grade play, she is confused to find herself increasingly attracted to Gemma, a new classmate who is playing Julie

Amina's Voice by Hena Khan A Pakistani-American Muslim girl struggles to stay true to her family's vibrant culture while simultaneously blending in at school after tragedy strikes her community"-- Provided by publisher. A Pakistani-American Muslim girl struggles to stay true to her family's vibrant culture while simultaneously blending in at school. After her local mosque is vandalized, she is devastated. Her friend Soojin is talking about changing her name. Does Amina need to become more "American" and hide who she really is?

Mary Anning's Curiosity by Monica Kulling A fictionalized retelling of the childhood of Mary Anning, one of the world's greatest fossilists.

Noteworthy by Riley Redgate After learning that her deep voice is keeping her from being cast in plays at her exclusive performing arts school, Jordan Sun, junior, auditions for an all-male octet hoping for a chance to perform internationally.

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan rilliant Egyptologist Dr. Julius Kane accidentally unleashes the Egyptian god Set, who banishes the doctor to oblivion and forces his two children to embark on a dangerous journey, bringing them closer to the truth about their family and its links to a secret order that has existed since the time of the pharaohs.

The Ethan I Was Before by Ali Standish Before: Ethan was always up for a laugh, always willing to accept a dare, always ready for a baseball game with his big brother, Roddie, or an adventure with his best friend, Kacey. Now: Ethan's family is escaping Boston for the small town of Palm Knot, Georgia. But Ethan's not sure he'll ever escape the memories of the accident that cost him everything. When Ethan meets Coralee, a girl with a big personality and even bigger stories, he starts to wonder if it's possible to become the boy he used to be again. But Ethan soon discovers that he's not the only one with secrets, and Coralee's are catching up with her. And what she's hiding just might be putting both their lives in danger.

Stormy Seas by Mary Beth Leatherdale "A desperate last hope for safety and freedom. The plight of refugees risking their lives at sea has, unfortunately, made the headlines all too often in the past few years. This book presents five true stories, from 1939 to today, about young people who lived through the harrowing experience of setting sail in search of asylum: Ruth and her family board the St. Louis to escape Nazism; Phu sets out alone from war-torn Vietnam; José tries to reach the United States from Cuba; Najeeba flees Afghanistan and the Taliban; and after losing his family, Mohamed abandons his village on the Ivory Coast in search of a new life. Stormy Seas combines a vivid and contemporary collage-based design with dramatic storytelling to produce a book that makes for riveting reading as well as a source of timely information. These remarkable accounts will give readers a keen appreciation of the devastating effects of war and poverty on youth like themselves, and helps put the mounting current refugee crisis into stark context."

A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 by Claire Hartfield This book examines the events and forces leading up to the 1919 race riots in Chicago. "A white man threw a stone that hit and killed a teenage black boy, and a day at the beach--July 27, 1919--exploded into an urban nightmare. The ensuing race riot that took over Chicago's South Side streets killed and wounded many and left their neighborhoods in ruins."

By the dawn's early light : the Story of the Star Spangled Banner by Steven Kroll An account of the writing of the "Star-Spangled Banner," detailing how Key was actually behind enemy lines at the time seeking release of a captured friend from the British, who would not allow their departure until the bombardment of Baltimore was completed.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child's soul as she searches for her place in the world. Woodson's poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the fact that she struggled with reading as a child. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become.

We Will Not Be Silent: The White Rose Student Resistance Movement that Defied Adolf Hitlar by Russell Freedman In his signature eloquent prose, backed up by thorough research, Russell Freedman tells the story of Austrian-born Hans Scholl and his sister Sophie. They belonged to Hitler Youth as young children, but began to doubt the Nazi regime. As older students, the Scholls and a few friends formed the White Rose, a campaign of active resistance to Hitler and the Nazis. Risking imprisonment or even execution, the White Rose members distributed leaflets urging Germans to defy the Nazi government. Their belief that freedom was worth dying for will inspire young readers to stand up for what they believe in. Archival photographs and prints, source notes, bibliography, index

Bomb by Steve Sheinkin Recounts the scientific discoveries that enabled atom splitting, the military intelligence operations that occurred in rival countries, and the work of brilliant scientists hidden at Los Alamos.

Saints and Misfits by S. K. Ali Fifteen-year-old Janna Yusuf, a Flannery O'Connor-obsessed book nerd and the daughter of the only divorced mother at their mosque, tries to make sense of the events that follow when her best friend's cousin--a holy star in the Muslim community--attempts to assault her at the end of sophomore year.

With Malice by Eileen Cook Eighteen-year-old Jill Charron wakes up in a hospital, unable to remember the past six weeks, including the accident that killed her best friend, if it was, in fact, an accident.

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova Alex is a bruja and the most powerful witch in her family. But she's hated magic ever since it made her father disappear into thin air. When a curse she performs to rid herself of magic backfires and her family vanishes, she must travel to Los Lagos, a land in-between as dark as Limbo and as strange as Wonderland, to get her family back

The Great American Whatever by Tim Federle Quinn Roberts is a sixteen-year-old smart aleck and Hollywood hopeful whose only worry used to be writing convincing dialogue for the movies he made with his sister Annabeth. Of course, that was all before -- before Quinn stopped going to school, before his mom started sleeping on the sofa ... and before the car accident that changed everything. Enter: Geoff, Quinn's best friend who insists it's time that Quinn came out -- at least from hibernation. One haircut later, Geoff drags Quinn to his first college party, where instead of nursing his pain, he meets a guy -- okay, a hot guy -- and falls, hard. What follows is an upside-down week in which Quinn begins imagining his future as a screenplay that might actually have a happily-ever-after ending -- if, that is, he can finally step back into the starring role of his own life story.

Looking For Alaska by John Green Sixteen-year-old Miles' first year at Culver Creek Preparatory School in Alabama includes good friends and great pranks, but is defined by the search for answers about life and death after a fatal car crash.

Dumplin' by Julie Murphey Sixteen-year-old Willowdean wants to prove to everyone in her small Texas town that she is more than just a fat girl, so, while grappling with her feelings for a co-worker who is clearly attracted to her, Will and some other misfits prepare to compete in the beauty pageant her mother runs.

A Queer History of the United States for Young People by Michael Bronski "Through engrossing narratives, letters, drawings, poems, and more, the book encourages young readers, of all identities, to feel pride at the accomplishments of the LGBTQ people who came before them and to use history as a guide to the future. The stories he shares include those of: Thomas Morton, who celebrated same-sex love in Boston's Puritan community in the 1620s; Albert D.J. Cashier, an Irish immigrant and Civil War hero, who was born in the body of a woman but lived as a man for over a half century; Gladys Bentley, an African American blues singer who challenged cross-dressing laws in 1920s Harlem; Bayard Rustin, Martin Luther King Jr.'s close friend, civil rights organizer, and an openly gay man; Sylvia Rivera, who along with Marsha P. Johnson, founded the first transgender political group in the United States in 1970; Harvey Milk, a community organizer and the first openly gay politician to win an election in California; Jamie Nabozny, a teen who brought national attention to the issue of LGBTQ bullying by bringing his case to the Supreme Court in the 1990s. With over 60 illustrations and photos, a glossary, and a corresponding curriculum, A Queer History of the United States for Young People will be vital for teachers who want to introduce a new perspective to America's story"

All Boys Aren't Blue by George M Johnson In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys

Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson When she was thirteen years old, Anderson was a shy, bookish girl who was raped by a boy she trusted. She has since become known for the unflinching way she writes about, and advocates for, survivors of sexual assault. Inspired by her fans and enraged by how little in our culture has changed in the years since, she has written a poetry memoir that shares reflections, rants, and calls to action woven between deeply personal stories from her life that she's never written about before.

Every Falling Star: the True Story of How I Survived and Escaped North Korea by Sungju Lee Every Falling Star, the first book to portray contemporary North Korea to a young audience, is the intense memoir of a North Korean boy named Sungju who is forced at age twelve to live on the streets and fend for himself. To survive, Sungju creates a gang and lives by thieving, fighting, begging, and stealing rides on cargo trains. Sungju richly re-creates his scabrous story, depicting what it was like for a boy alone to create a new family with his gang, his 'brothers'; to be hungry and to fear arrest, imprisonment, and even execution. This riveting memoir allows young readers to learn about other cultures where freedoms they take for granted do not exist

Here We Are: Feminism For the Real World by Kelly Jensen A scrapbook-style teen guide to understanding what it really means to be a feminist packed with contributions from a diverse range of voices, including celebrities and public figures, and featuring more than forty-four pieces, including an eight-page insert of full-color illustrations

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds A history of racist and antiracist ideas in America, from their roots in Europe until today, adapted from the National Book Award winner Stamped from the Beginning