The Scott Fenwick Diaries by Kristin Nilsen

 Anyone who has ever had a crush on a real live person will see themselves in Millie, a 13-year-old girl who has only experienced love through her celebrity crush, Rory Calhoun (see Worldwide Crush by Kristin Nilsen). This book picks up exactly where the first book left off, with a note passed in social studies class. Could Scott Fenwick with the swoopy hair and beautiful lashes actually have a crush on Millie? She starts a new diary to record all of her fears and feelings and insecurities, as well as her most heartfelt acrostic poems spelling out SCOTT FENWICK. You have to trust me that this book is absolutely hilarious, yet perfectly true to the feelings of a 7th grade girl who thinks everyone else knows all about French kissing. Millie's bulldog Pringle is a big part of this book, as are Millie's friends Shauna, a Filipina girl who feels left behind by Millie's new obsession, and Tibbs, who strategizes to get Millie invited to Hebrew school just to ride in a car with Scott Fenwick. Millie's Sound of Music loving parents and her forthright, funny grandma also play key roles. There is humor on every page, including in Millie's numerous attempts to swear without actually using swear words, but there is also a lot of awkwardness, sweetness, and one tearful moment. Gen X readers, you should absolutely pick up this book. You will find references to Pa Ingalls, Barry Gibb, and Magic 8 Balls, and it will bring you back to a time of life you may have chosen to forget. I cannot recommend this book more for 5th-7th grade readers (and their moms). Don't miss this one! 

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. 

Linked by Gordon Korman

A middle school in Colorado is being defaced with swastikas and the students are faced with the question of who is vandalizing their school with symbols of hate. Three students narrate this story--Michael, the one who finds the first swastika and therefore is a suspect; Link, a popular boy who discovers a family secret about his own connection to the Holocaust; and Dana, the only Jewish girl in this small town. The students tire of the school's mandatory sensitivity training and decide to make a bold move--to create a paper chain with 6 million links representing all the lives lost during the Holocaust of World War II. A nosy blogger intervenes and their project becomes international news. But the question remains...who is continuing to paint swastikas at Chokecherry Middle School? Gordon Korman has a gift for writing books full of humor and suspense, and in this case he adds some deep questions about hate and social media and responsibility and how to attone for mistakes, even big ones. 

The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz

It is 1911 and a 14-year-old girl from rural Pennsylvania dreams of a better life than she will ever have working on her father's farm. Forced to quit school, she treasures the diary given to her by her beloved teacher. Joan is a reader, and she knows from Jane Eyre and other classic stories that there is more to life for a young girl than cooking and cleaning. She runs away to Baltimore, changes her name to Janet, and gets hired by a wealthy Jewish family to be their hired girl. She learns to navigate a new world of wealth and a bewildering world of religious differences. All the while she writes in her diary about her dreams of travel and education the world beyond the station she was born into. My favorite childhood books are the Betsy Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace, and Janet is clearly akin to Betsy Ray, another girl from 1911 who longed to be a writer and see the great world. Young people who like history and coming of age stories will love this, as well as adult readers. In fact, when I purchased my copy of this book, it was in the adult section of my local children's bookstore. Recommended for grades 7-up.