Fiction for Middle Grades

I Kill the Mockingbird - Paul Acampora
When best friends Lucy, Elena, and Michael receive their summer reading list, they are excited to see To Kill A Mockingbird included. But not everyone in their class shares the same enthusiasm. So they hatch a plot to get the entire town talking about the well-known Harper Lee classic.

The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate - Jacqueline Kelly

In rural Texas in 1900, when a storm blows change into town in the form of a visiting veterinarian, twelve-year-old Callie discovers a life and a vocation she desperately wants. But with societal expectations as they are, she will need all her wits and courage to realize her dreams.


Mothman's Curse - Christine Hayes
When Josie and her brother Fox discover the truth behind the legend of the Mothman, they must stop a disaster in order to break the curse that has been afflicting their town.

The Marvels - Brian Selznick
The journey begins on a ship at sea in 1766, with a boy named Billy Marvel. After surviving a shipwreck, he finds work in a London theatre. There, his family flourishes for generations as brilliant actors until 1900, when young Leontes Marvel is banished from the stage. Nearly a century later, Joseph Jervis runs away from school and seeks refuge with a reclusive uncle in London. Albert Nightingale's strange, beautiful house, with its mysterious portraits and ghostly presences, captivates Joseph and leads him on a search for clues about the house, his family, and the past.

Goodbye Stranger - Rebecca Stead
As Bridge makes her way through seventh grade on Manhattan's Upper West Side with her best friends, curvacious Em, crusader Tab, and a curious new friend--or more than friend--Sherm, she finds the answer she has been seeking since she barely survived an accident at age eight: "What is my purpose?"

Young Adult Books

Nonfiction

Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War - Steve Sheinkin
On June 13, 1971, the New York Times announced the existence of a 7,000-page collection of documents containing a secret history of the Vietnam War. Known as The Pentagon Papers, these documents had been commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Chronicling every action the government had taken in the Vietnam War, they revealed a pattern of deception spanning over twenty years and four presidencies, and forever changed the relationship between American citizens and the politicians claiming to represent their interests. Sheinkin tells how Daniel Ellsberg risked everything to expose the government's deceit.

Fiction

The Scorpion Rules - Erin Bow
The teenage princess of a future-world Canadian superpower, where royal children are held hostage to keep their countries from waging war, falls in love with an American prince who rebels against the brutal rules governing their existences.

Manners & Mutiny - Gail Carriger
Alternate England, 1851. Lessons in the art of espionage aboard Mademoiselle Geraldine's floating dirigible have become tedious. Sophronia would much rather be using her skills to thwart the dastardly Picklemen, yet her concerns about their wicked intentions are ignored, and now she's not sure whom to trust. What does the brusque werewolf dewan know? On whose side is the ever-stylish vampire Lord Akeldama? A large-scale plot is under way, and when it comes to fruition, Sophronia must be ready to save her friends, her school, and all of London from disaster-- in decidedly dramatic fashion, of course.

These Shallow Graves - Jennifer Donnelly
A young woman in nineteenth-century New York City must struggle against gender and class boundaries when her father is found dead of a supposed suicide, and she believes there is more than meets the eye, so in order to uncover the truth she will have to decide how much she is willing to risk and lose.


Winter - Marissa Meyer

Princess Winter, admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, teams up with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, to defeat Queen Levana and find their happily ever afters

Orbiting Jupiter - Gary D. Schmidt
Jack, 12, tells the gripping story of Joseph, 14, who joins his family as a foster child. Damaged in prison, Joseph wants nothing more than to find his baby daughter, Jupiter, whom he has never seen. When Joseph has begun to believe he'll have a future, he is confronted by demons from his past that force a tragic sacrifice.

Early Elementary

Shiloh Christmas - Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Marty and his best friend, Shiloh are on another adventure. Marty learns when a secret is too dangerous to keep, and that hate can spread like fire.


The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the Garden - Kevin DeYoung
Short enough to be read in one sitting, this illustrated children's book imaginatively retells the biblical narrative in one continuous story, helping kids connect the dots from Genesis to Revelation.

The Penderwicks in Spring - Jeanne Birdsall
As spring arrives on Gardam Street, there are surprises in store for each Penderwick, from neighbor Nick Geiger's expected return from the war to Batty's new dog-walking business, but her plans to use her profits to surprise her family on her eleventh birthday go astray.

Curiosity - Gary Blackwood
In 1835, when his father is put in a Philadelphia debtor's prison, twelve-year-old chess prodigy Rufus Goodspeed is relieved to be recruited to secretly operate a chess-playing automaton named The Turk, but soon questions the fate of his predecessors and his own safety.

The War That Saved My Life - Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
A young disabled girl and her brother are evacuated from London to the English countryside during World War II, where they find life to be much sweeter away from their abusive mother.

A Nearer Moon - Melanie Crowder
Long ago the dam formed, the lively river turned into a swamp, and the wasting illness came to Luna's village, and now that her little sister is sick Luna will do anything to save her, even offer herself to the creature that lives in the swamp on the day of the nearer moon--a lonely and bitter water sprite who was left behind when her people fled through a door to another world.

The Castle Behind Thorns - Merrie Haskell
When Sand, a blacksmith's apprentice, wakes up in a broken castle, he must find a way to put it back together.

Almost Super - Marion Jensen
Two brothers in a family of superheroes are forced to reexamine everything they knew about being super when the powers they receive are total duds and their enemy is revealed to be just like they are.


Harriet the Invincible - Usurla Vernon
Never a conventional princess, Harriet becomes an adventurer after learning she is cursed to fall into a deep sleep on her twelfth birthday, but after two years of slaying ogres, cliff-diving, and more with her riding quail, Mumfrey, things go awry at home and she must seek a prince to set things right.

New Picture Books

Christmas & Hanukkah Books:
The Nutcracker Comes to America: How Three Ballet-Loving Brothers Created a Holiday Tradition
- Chris Barton
Tells the story of how the Nutcracker Ballet came from Russian immigrants to New York during the early 1900's.


M is for Manger - Crystal Bowman and Teri McKinley
This rhyming alphabet book tells the story of Jesus' birth.


Click, Clack, Ho! Ho! Ho! - Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin
As Farmer Brown prepares the house for Christmas, Duck tries to play Santa--but he gets stuck in the chimney, along with all the other animals who try to help.

Miracle on 133rd Street - Sonia Manzano
The day before Christmas, everyone in Jose's neighborhood seems grumpy, including his mother who is homesick for Puerto Rico, but when he and his parents return from the pizzeria where they borrowed an oven to cook their roast, the heavenly aroma reminds those they pass of all they have to celebrate.

Jingle Bells - James Lord Pierpont
James Lord Pierpont wrote the song "Jingle Bells" for Sunday-school children to perform at a Thanksgiving concert in 1857. It is now an irreplaceable part of Christmas celebrations around the world. This exquisite cut-paper edition, with elegant illustrations by Niroot Puttapipat, captures the thrill of sleigh riding and the magic of the season. The scene transforms with the turn of each page, showing a sleight ride across a snowy landscape. It's the perfect book to share during the holidays and to treasure forever.

Oskar and the Eight Blessings - Richard Simon and Tanya Simon
A young Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany arrives in New York City on the seventh night of Hanukkah and receives small acts of kindness while exploring the city.

Other Picture Books:

Waiting - Kevin Henkes
Five friends sit happily on a windowsill, waiting for something amazing to happen. The owl is waiting for the moon. The pig is waiting for the rain. The bear is waiting for the wind. The puppy is waiting for the snow. And the rabbit is just looking out the window because he likes to wait! What will happen? Will patience win in the end? Or someday will the friends stop waiting and do something unexpected?--Publisher

The Whisper - Pamela Zagarenski
Her magical book of stories is wordless until a whisper in the wind tells a little girl to imagine a story for each page.


 
Nonfiction Picture Books

Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear - Lindsay Mattick
A woman tells her young son the true story of how his great-great-grandfather, Captain Harry Colebourn, rescued and learned to love a bear cub in 1914 as he was on his way to take care of soldiers' horses during World War I, and the bear became the inspiration for A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh.

The House That Jane Built: A Story about Jane Addams - Tanya Lee Stone
"Ever since she was a little girl, Jane Addams hoped to help people in need. She wanted to create a place where people could find food, work, and community. In 1889, she chose a house in a run-down Chicago neighborhood and turned it into Hull House--a settlement home--soon adding a playground, kindergarten, and a public bath, By 1907, Hull House included thirteen buildings. And by the early 1920s, more that nine thousand people visited Hull House each week. The dreams of a smart, caring girl had become a reality. And the lives of hundreds of thousands of people were transformed when they stepped into the house that Jane Addams built."--Jacket

Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement
- Carole Boston Weatherford - Presents a collage-illustrated treasury of poems and spirituals inspired by the life and work of civil rights advocate Fannie Lou Hamer