The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers

This Newbery-winning novel is unlike anything I’ve read before. It’s narrated by a dog who lives on an island and roams freely, patrolling with the birds, talking with the bison, and generally keeping his eyes on the whole island, which is a public park. Johannes loves to run, and exaggerates just about everything about his speed and prowess. Humans are building something new and intriguing on the island, and he longs to see what is inside the new building. He and his friends (a seagull, raccoons, squirrels, and a new pack of goats) know that humans are to be avoided—but they are encroaching on the animals’ space and it may be necessary to plan a great escape. This book, with its first-person dog narration, has the tone of an old classic of children’s literature. However the story is original, and full of humor and sadness and relationships in which to invest. I can imagine this being an unforgettable read-aloud for elementary children. It may be on the young side for middle schoolers, but it is a delightful book and I will absolutely put it in my library and recommend it to animal lovers. 

 

Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

 

I finally read this book at the urging of a well-read eighth grade girl who considers it her favorite book of all time. I was immediately wrapped up in Becky Albertalli’s realistic world of high school friend groups and all the relationships within them. Leah and her friends are seniors in high school and many of them are theatre kids. Leah herself is a drummer in a girl band, but the bonds in that group are being tested. We met her best friend and his boyfriend in Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, and they are going strong as a couple and enjoying being out to all of their friends. All the while that Leah supported Simon in his coming out journey, she never had the nerve to tell him that she thinks she may be bisexual. This is her story of figuring that out and dealing with a major crush on a girl who is in a messy breakup with a boy in their social circle. This is a solidly delightful realistic fiction book with scintillating dialogue. I do have it in my middle school collection for the more mature eighth grade readers, but like with most YA books these days, it is geared for older teens and I recommend it to grades 9-up. 

Displacement by Kiku Hughes

 

In this time travel graphic novel a modern teenage girl finds herself transported (or “displaced”) back in time to a World War II internment camp for Japanese Americans. Kiki knows that her grandmother spent time in a camp, but knows very little about her experiences. After a few brief displacements, Kiki becomes stuck in the past, which gives her the  opportunity to observe her relatives and maybe even get to know them. She fully lives the life of one of the captive Japanese citizens, but longs to return to her mother in the present day. It can be hard to get kids interested in nonfiction books about this time period, and this story is an excellent gateway to learning about hard history and gaining some empathy for the Japanese people who were so callously displaced. I wished that she had actually gotten to know her grandmother better in the past, but that wasn’t the direction the story took. The art is perfectly suited to the story and will draw readers in. Highly recommended for grades 7-up. 

Every Day by David Levithan, illustrated by Dion MBD (graphic novel)

 

I have long loved the novel Every Day by David Levithan with its highly unique premise. This graphic novel version brought new life to the story and got me excited about it all over again. The protagonist is A, a teen who wakes up in a different body every day. Because A only inhabits other teens’ bodies, A has no gender and no real identity. But A longs to make connections. In one incarnation, A is in the body of a teenage boy and he skips school with his girlfriend, Rhiannon. They have a lovely day at the beach together, and Rhiannon is shocked at how well her boyfriend (really A in her boyfriend’s body) treats her.  The next day A moves onto another body, but A does not forget Rhiannon. In fact, A has her email address and is able to contact her via an email that A uses in spite of all his different incarnations. A manages to meet up with Rhiannon in various bodies and convinces her of A’s changing identity. It is such an intriguing conundrum—they love each other but how can they ever be together? One major advantage of the graphic novel is seeing A in all of the different bodies—male, female, as well as different races. It is a highly effective way to bring the 2013 novel to new readers. Recommended for 8th-up. 

Just Jaime by Terri Libenson

 

This is part of a series of novels called Emma & Friends. The books are somewhere between a novel and a graphic novel. I shelve them in graphic novels in my library, but they have more text than most graphic novels. Jaime is the main character in this story and it is the last day of seventh grade. She has sensed something "off" about her best friend Maya and their other two friends, but she just can't believe that her long-time BFF would really be ending their friendship. In fact, Jaime comes to school ready to confront Maya and find out why she has been excluding her. And Maya comes to school ready to break off the friendship. The story takes place all in one day--when Jaime finds out that she's not invited to the end-of-year party and she realizes that as a newly friendless person, she's not entirely blameless in treating others poorly. It's cute and sweet and realistic...definitely a series that is enjoyed by elementary students up through sixth or seventh grade. 

Ferris by Kate DiCamillo

 

Ferris is going into 5th grade and is having a weird summer that includes a sick grandma, a possible ghost, a younger sibling running wild, and adults acting strangely (and sometimes selfishly). It's an offbeat, quirky story grounded in family relationships and the love of a grandmother and granddaughter. As you can probably tell from this description, it's hard to describe the plot of this story, because it's not really about the plot. Suffice it to say, it's very much in the Kate DiCamillo style, and I love her books. The writing has moments of pure beautiful simplicity. This book is solidly for younger kids, however, and I don't see a lot of crossover appeal for middle schoolers, even though it is beautifully written. 

Chronically Dolores by Maya Van Wagenen

 

Breaking news--we need middle school books and this is one! 

Dolores has a chronic bladder condition called interstitial cystitis. It can be painful, and it can cause bladder leakage. At the end of eighth grade she suffers a humiliating incident in a classroom--she pees on the floor then slips and falls in it, giving herself a concussion. In her mind, and probably in reality, she has become a "contagious loser." It's the summer before high school and her best friend, Shae, has ghosted her. Dolores wants her friend back. And when she meets a homeschooled girl who wants to attend high school in spite of her autism and her mother's objections, she realizes that the two new friends might be able to help each other achieve their goals. 

I love many things about this book, with the number one thing being that it is truly a book for teens ages 13-15, which is a rare thing in the publishing world today. Dolores is going into 9th grade and she thinks about topics such as whether her bladder condition will one day keep her from ever having sex. She connects with (and betrays) her new autistic friend and she wrestles with the end of her friendship with Shae. Her older brother, Mateo, is gay and it's not a problem for anyone. Her parents and aunt are key players in the story as well, and their Latinx family is a big part of the story. Dolores has also got a snarky sense of humor--she rates and reviews every bathroom she ever uses, she secretly goes to Catholic confession and questions everything the priest says, and her inner dialogue is just plain hilarious. She's also not always a perfectly reliable narrator, which makes things interesting. 

Bottom line--it's poignant and real, funny at times, and is solidly written for the largely forgotten 7th-9th grade age range. Highly recommended!

This Book Won't Burn by Samira Ahmed

 

Noor Khan is reeling from her father's desertion of her family and her mother's sudden move from Chicago to a small town in Illinois. Noor has one semester left of high school, and she intends to lay low and focus on graduating and getting into college. She and her sister find themselves in a conservative community that has very few Black and brown people, and only a handful of Muslim students--so the two new students attract attention at their high school. Noor finds refuge in her school library, only to find out that books are being surreptitiously removed from the shelves. Against her better judgment, Noor decides to fight back against the book censorship that is happening. 

Romantic relationships and book banning and racism all come into play in this excellent YA novel. I will definitely be recommending this to students 8th grade-up. 

Two Tribes by Emily Bowen Cohen

 

Mia is a middle schooler with two identities--her mother is Jewish and her father is a member of the Muscogee Nation. She lives with her mom and stepfather in California and attends a Jewish school. She doesn't have a lot of contact with her father, who now lives far away in Oklahoma with a new wife and children. Mia begins to have questions about her heritage and realizes that she doesn't know anything about being Muscogee. After some insensitive comments from classmates and the school's rabbi about her background, Mia hatches a plan to visit her father in Oklahoma without her mother knowing (her mom harbors a lot of resentment toward her ex-husband). The plan involves pretending to go on a school trip, but taking a taxi to a bus station and riding a bus across the country to Oklahoma. She gets away with it for a short time and makes valuable connections with her father and her relatives there, including meeting her grandmother and going to a powwow. This could have been a preachy book about a girl learning about her two identities, but in reality it's a compelling story that beautifully shows Jewish traditions and native traditions and makes connections between them. I especially liked that the adults in Mia's life are not perfect--they make mistakes and have regrets and do their best to make things right. Essential reading for middle schoolers--and it's a graphic novel which means kids will be drawn to it. 

Louder Than Hunger by John Schu

 

Jake is an 8th grader with a Voice (with a capital V) in his head that tells him he is repulsive, he is worthless, he doesn't deserve to take up space. The Voice has taken over his life--and the Voice tells Jake not to eat. Jake weighs himself over and over and over and the lower the number on the scale the better he feels about himself. Jake exercises constantly, lies about his eating, and deals with almost constant bullying at school. Early on in this novel in verse, Jake is taken to Whispering Pines, a residential treatment center, to help him deal with his eating disorder. This is the story of his recovery, his love for his grandma, and his dream of seeing a Broadway show someday. It gives readers an inside look at group therapy and counseling and the long process of healing. This is a rare book that is written right at the middle school level and I think it will be devoured by 6th-8th graders whether they are curious about eating disorders or dealing with mental health issues of their own or their friends. It deals with hard topics and there is deep sadness, but it is ultimately a story of survival and hope. Readers will empathize with Jake and some lives may even be saved by this honest and direct story. It is a novel, but closely based on author John Schu's life experience, and it rings true. Highly recommended for middle schoolers. 

The Lost Year: A Survival Story of the Ukrainian Famine by Katherine Marsh

 

Have you ever heard of the Holodomor? I hadn't until I read this book. And a good children's historical fiction novel is one of my favorite ways to learn something new. This story has a dual timeline--Matthew is a 13-year-old living with his mother and grandmother during the 2020 pandemic. An old photo starts him on a journey of discovering her secret past. The 1930s story is one of cousins from Ukraine who are living through a horrific famine that is being deliberately covered up by the Soviet Union. One cousin is a city girl who is well fed, but when a starving girl claiming to be her cousin shows up on her doorstep she discovers family secrets as well as the high cost of speaking truth under the communist regime. It has a lot of similarities to Code Name Kingfisher by Liz Kessler, and also connects to Blackbird Girls by Anne Blackman and I Must Betray You by Ruth Sepetys. A great book for 4th-8th graders but also can be enjoyed by adults. 

Becoming RBG: Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Journey to Justice by Debbie Levy and Whitney Gardner

 

This outstanding biographical graphic novel not only illuminated the life of feminist legal pioneer Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but it also showed how she systematically used the law to open up opportunities for women. I was fascinated by the step-by-step progression of cases that she took on that led the courts to make decisions that bolstered the idea of gender equality. While accessible to 6th graders and older students, the graphic novel format is an ideal way for readers of any age to understand the genius of this woman who has had an affect on every American's life. Highly recommended for middle and high schoolers and adults--a great addition to nonfiction graphic novel collections and biography collections. Also should be required reading for aspiring law students. 

Almost American Girl by Robin Ha

 

Robin relocates from South Korea to Huntsville, Alabama in this autobiographical graphic memoir of her teen years. In South Korea it was Robin and her mom against the world (single parent families were not well accepted there at the time), but when a trip to Alabama turns into a permanent move including a surprise marriage for her mom, Robin is hurt and angry, and school is not going well. Any middle schooler will relate to losing friends, feeling alone, and the bullying and the feeling of being an outsider that Robin experiences. Fortunately, her love of art and anime help her find a place in America, but not without years of struggle. I read several immigration memoirs this year and this was one of the best. Recommended for 7th-10th graders (and adults, too).   

The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson

 

Bel's mother disappeared from her car on the highway many years ago when Bel was just a toddler. No one knows if she was abducted, murdered, or simply ran away, but she has not been seen since and Bel has grown up with her father in the same small town. In order to pay for the care of her aging grandfather, Bel and her father agree to be filmed for a documentary about the disappearance of Rachel Price. In the midst of filming, a woman in a tattered red shirt and black pants shows up in town claiming to be Rachel Price and saying she was kidnapped and held in a basement for 16 years. She moves into their house and agrees to be filmed for the documentary. She wants to resume being "mom" to Bel, but Bel has doubts about her motives and her story. This super-compelling mystery is great for teenagers. It is full of F-bombs, but other than that language there is nothing inappropriate for 8th graders looking for a twisty mystery. I will definitely be recommending this to my older middle school readers. 

Code Name Kingfisher by Liz Kessler

 

This World War II story set in Holland features two sisters, Hannie and Mila. It is 1942 and the danger to Jewish people is rapidly increasing. The girls' parents find a non-Jewish family that will take the sisters, so the book begins with Mila and Hannie saying goodbye to their parents, possibly never to see them again. It's a dual timeline story, and in the modern day, a girl named Liv is trying to get to know her grandmother "Bubbe" better when she finds a box of papers in her attic. The story goes from past to present, and in the past we see the older sister Hannie get involved in the resistance by saving Jewish children from certain death. Mila is 12 years old, and the book has a solidly middle grade feel, but traumatic things happen and the brutality of the Nazis is evident. It's a compelling story that will appeal to historical fiction readers from 4th-7th grades. It has a lot of similarities to The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh, and readers who enjoyed Blackbird Girls and The War that Saved My Life will definitely want to read it.