New Middle Childhood and YA Books

The Manatee Scientists: Saving Valuable Species - Peter Lourie
Scientists in Florida, West Africa, and the Amazon Basin share information with the goal of protecting the docile and sometimes elusive manatee.


Can I See Your I.D.?: True Stories of False Identities - Chris Barton
Contains ten stories of true crime, fraud, and adventure, including accounts of a fake Asian princess, master thief Frank Abagnale, and a teen who "stole" a subway in 1993.


Recovery Road - Blake Nelson
While she is in a rehabilitation facility for drug and alcohol abuse, seventeen-year-old Maddie meets Stewart, who is also in treatment, and they begin a relationship, which they try to maintain after they both get out.

The Fitzosbornes in Exile - Michelle Cooper
In January 1937, as Sophia FitzOsborne continues to record in her journal, the members of Montmaray's royal family are living in luxurious exile in England but, even as they participate in the social whirl of London parties and balls, they remain determined to free their island home from the occupying Germans despite growing rumors of a coming war that might doom their country forever.


The Piper's Son - Melina Marchetta
After his favorite uncle's violent death, Tom Mackee watches his family implode, quits school, and turns his back on music and everyone who matters, and while he is in no shape to mend what is broken, he fears that no one else is, either.


Music Was It: Young Leonard Bernstein - Susan Goldman Rubin
Biography of composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein.


Tom Thumb: The Remarkable True Story of a Man in Miniature - George Sullivan
Chronicles the life of Charles S. Stratton, who stopped growing about six months after his birth in 1838 and began performing as a curiosity named Tom Thumb, including discussion regarding ethical questions about exploitation.


Flesh & Blood: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy - Albert Marrin
Provides a detailed account of the disastrous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City, which claimed the lives of 146 garment workers in 1911, and examines the impact of this event on the nation's working conditions and labor laws.


The Adventures of Sir Gawain the True - Gilbert Morris
Relates the adventures of Sir Gawain, the only undefeated knight in King Arthur's court, who eventually learns the value of friendship, courtliness, and courtesy after a challenge from the Green Knight.


The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic - Jennifer Trafton
Ten-year-old Persimmony Smudge, who longs for heroic adventures, overhears a secret that thrusts her into the middle of a dangerous mission that could destroy the island on which she lives.


Jasper Jones - Craig Silvey
In small-town Australia, teens Jasper and Charlie form an unlikely friendship when one asks the other to help him cover up a murder until they can prove who is responsible.


The Trouble with May Amelia - Jennifer L. Holm
Living with seven brothers and her father, who thinks girls are useless, a thirteen-year-old Finnish American farm girl is determined to prove her worth when a enterprising gentleman tries to purchase their cash-strapped family settlement in Washington State in 1900.


We All Fall Down: Living with Addiction - Nic Sheff
Sheff writes candidly about stints at in-patient rehab facilities, devastating relapses, and hard-won realizations about what it means to be a young person living with addiction.