Middle Grade Contemporary
The Bellwoods Game
- Celia Krampien 
Young adult softcover
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Perfect for fans of Small Spaces and Doll Bones, this spooky, highly illustrated middle grade novel follows a girl who hopes to fix her outcast status through a game in the haunted woods, only to discover that some legends shouldn't be played with.
Everyone knows Fall Hollow is haunted. It has been ever since Abigail Snook went into the woods many years ago, never to be seen again. Since then, it's tradition for the sixth graders at Beckett Elementary to play the Bellwoods Game on Halloween night. Three kids are chosen to go into the woods. Whoever rings the bell there wins the game and saves the town for another year, but if Abigail's ghost captures the players first, the spirit is let loose to wreak havoc on Fall Hollow--or so the story goes.
Now that it's Bailee's year to play, she can finally find out what really happens. And legend has it the game's winner gets a wish. Maybe, just maybe, if Bailee wins, she can go back to the way things used to be before her grandma got sick and everyone at school started hating her. But when the night begins, everything the kids thought they knew about the game--and each other--is challenged. One thing's for sure: something sinister is at play...waiting for them all in the woods.
What Happened to Rachel Riley?
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Children's hardcover
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*NOW A REGIONAL INDIE BESTSELLER*
In this engrossing and inventive contemporary middle grade novel that's Where'd You Go Bernadette? with a #MeToo message, an eighth grader uses social media posts, passed notes, and other clues to find out why a formerly popular girl is now the pariah of her new school.
Anna Hunt may be the new girl at East Middle School, but she can already tell there's something off about her eighth-grade class. Rachel Riley, who just last year was one of the most popular girls in school, has become a social outcast. But no one, including Rachel Riley herself, will tell Anna why.
As a die-hard podcast enthusiast, Anna knows there's always more to a story than meets the eye. So she decides to put her fact-seeking skills to the test and create her own podcast around the question that won't stop running through her head: What happened to Rachel Riley?
With the entire eighth grade working against her, Anna dives headfirst into the evidence. Clue after clue, the mystery widens, painting an even more complex story than Anna could have anticipated. But there's one thing she's certain of: If you're going to ask a complicated question, you better be prepared for the fallout that may come with the answer.
Leeva at Last
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Children's hardcover
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Award-winning, bestselling author Sara Pennypacker and illustrator Matthew Cordell come together in this hilarious absurdist tale about a precocious girl who transforms her community in surprising ways.
What are people for?
That's the burning question on the mind of Leeva Spayce Thornblossom.
Fame! says Leeva's mom, the mayor of Nutsmore.
Money! says her dad, the town treasurer.
With the help of an orphaned badger, a risk-averse boy in a hazmat suit, and the town's librarians, Leeva sets off to discover her own answer--setting off a chain of events that will change Nutsmore forever.
The Islands of Elsewhere
- Heather Fawcett
Children's paperback
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With hints of magic and plenty of adventure, this seaside story of siblings on a hunt for treasure is perfect for fans of The Penderwicks and The Vanderbeekers.
Not many kids have an island in their backyard, but suddenly, the Snolly sisters have three. They're staying at Granddaddy's seaside property for the summer, which includes the mysterious Fairy Islands: Fairy, Little Fairy, and Ghost. The people in Misty Cove call them "in-between places," and say they're full of magic--a magic that gets inside you.
But ten-year-old Bee Snolly doesn't believe in magic--she just wants to help her ill Granddaddy. And if she and her sisters can unravel the mystery of the Fairy Islands in time, they may discover a long-buried secret that could help them all.
We Still Belong
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Children's hardcover
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A thoughtful and heartfelt middle grade novel by American Indian Youth Literature Honor-winning author Christine Day (Upper Skagit), about a girl whose hopeful plans for Indigenous Peoples' Day (and plans to ask her crush to the school dance) go all wrong--until she finds herself surrounded by the love of her Indigenous family and community at an intertribal powwow.
Wesley is proud of the poem she wrote for Indigenous Peoples' Day--but the reaction from a teacher makes her wonder if expressing herself is important enough. And due to the specific tribal laws of her family's Nation, Wesley is unable to enroll in the Upper Skagit tribe and is left feeling "not Native enough." Through the course of the novel, with the help of her family and friends, she comes to embrace her own place within the Native community.
Christine Day's debut, I Can Make This Promise, was an American Indian Library Association Youth Literature Award Honor Book, was named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus, School Library Journal, the Chicago Public Library, and NPR, and was also picked as a Charlotte Huck Honor Book. Her sophomore novel, The Sea in Winter, was an American Indian Library Association Youth Literature Award Honor Book, as well as named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus and School Library Journal.
We Still Belong is an accessible, enjoyable, and important novel from an author who always delivers.
Simon Sort of Says
- Erin Bow
Children's hardcover
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A powerful new novel by Erin Bow, winner of the Governor General's and TD Children's Literature Awards.Ask Simon O'Keeffe why his family moved to tiny Grin And Bear It, Nebraska, and he'll tell you they were driven out of Omaha by alpacas.
In Simon's version of the story, a blessing of the animals went sideways, his dad got fired from his church job, and the whole family moved to the National Quiet Zone, where the internet and cell phones are banned so astronomers can scan the sky for signs of alien life.
But there's another story too -- a story about a locked classroom, an active shooter, and a media cycle that refuses to let Simon go, even years later.
To everyone who knows what happened, Simon is either a miracle or a sob story. But Simon just wants to be Simon: a twelve-year-old in high tops and a Minecraft hoodie. Moving to the last town in America where no one can Google you is a chance for Simon to start fresh. To rewrite the narrative. And with the help of two new friends, a puppy, and a giant radio telescope, he's determined to say something new.
Iceberg
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Children's hardcover
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As disaster looms on the horizon, a young stowaway onboard the Titanic will need all her courage and wits to stay alive. A thrilling tale from New York Times bestselling author Jennifer A. Nielsen!
Hazel Rothbury is traveling all alone from her home in England aboard the celebrated ship Titanic. Following the untimely death of her father, Hazel's mother is sending her to the US to work in a factory, so that she might send money back home to help her family make ends meet.
But Hazel harbors a secret dream: She wants to be a journalist, and she just knows that if she can write and sell a story about the Titanic's maiden voyage, she could earn enough money to support her family and not have to go to a sweatshop. When Hazel discovers that mother didn't send her with enough money for a ticket, she decides she must stow away onboard the storied ship.
With the help of a porter named Charlie and a sweet first-class passenger named Sylvia, Hazel explores the opulent ship in secret, but a haunting mystery quickly finds her. The danger only intensifies when calamity strikes, and readers will be caught up in the terror and suspense alongside Hazel as she fights to save her friends and herself.
Bestselling author Jennifer A. Nielsen weaves an extraordinary tapestry of survival and disaster in this magnificent thriller.
The Book That No One Wanted to Read
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Children's hardcover
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From actor-author-broadcaster-comedian-filmmaker Richard Ayoade comes a book narrated by . . . a book. Quirky, smart, and genre-busting, this is the saga of a book that nobody wants to read--until the day it meets YOU.
The life of a book isn't easy, especially when people judge you by your cover (not every book can be adorned with sparkly unicorns!). And this narrator should know--it's the book itself, and it has a lot of opinions. It gets irritated when readers bend its pages back, and it finds authors quite annoying. But it does have a story to tell. Through witty direct address and charming illustrations, readers meet a book that has never been read, with a cover the boring color of a school lunch table and pages so dry they give bookworms indigestion. But what happens when this book meets you, a curious reader? Multitalented author Richard Ayoade and award-winning illustrator Tor Freeman bring to life a hilariously subversive take on the nature of books and reading, with a heartening theme of finding the courage to tell our own stories. Readers of all ages will be delighted by the myriad bookish references and laughs on every page.
The Probability of Everything
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Children's hardcover
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A heart-wrenching middle grade debut about Kemi, an aspiring scientist who loves statistics and facts, as she navigates grief and loss at a moment when life as she knows it changes forever.
Eleven-year-old Kemi Carter loves scientific facts, specifically probability. It's how she understands the world and her place in it. Kemi knows her odds of being born were 1 in 5.5 trillion, and that the odds of her having the best family ever were even lower. Yet somehow, Kemi lucked out.
But everything Kemi thought she knew changes when she sees an asteroid hover in the sky, casting a purple haze over her world. Amplus-68 has an 84.7% chance of colliding with earth in four days, and with that collision, Kemi's life as she knows it will end.
But over the course of the four days, even facts don't feel true to Kemi anymore. The new town she moved to that was supposed to be "better for her family" isn't very welcoming. And Amplus-68 is taking over her life, but others are still going to school and eating at their favorite diner like nothing has changed. Is Kemi the only one who feels like the world is ending?
With the days numbered, Kemi decides to put together a time capsule that will capture her family's truth: how creative her mother is, how inquisitive her little sister can be, and how much Kemi's whole world revolves around her father. But no time capsule can change the truth behind all of it, that Kemi must face the most inevitable and hardest part of life: saying goodbye.
Apartment 713
- Kevin Sylvester
Children's hardcover
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Secret ballrooms, hidden artwork and unlikely friends--welcome to the Regency, where even time moves in surprising ways!
Jake Simmons hates his new home.
The Regency is nothing more than floor after floor of peeling wallpaper and faded glory. Jake misses his old life. He misses the time when his mother was employed. He misses living in a house where the wind doesn't make the windows whistle.
Loneliness (and a trail of kittens) leads Jake to the apartment of an elderly lady, then to the bowels of the building and then to a part-time job assisting Larry the custodian. With each passing day, the building reveals more of its mysteries to Jake. The occupants grow on him too.
Unfortunately, Jake's feeling of belonging is short-lived: the city plans to demolish the Regency. Jake feels powerless. And then fate throws him a curveball. He's summoned to apartment 713. An apartment he's been told is off-limits. But when he opens the door . . . he travels to the past!
Alongside Beth, his new friend and guide, Jake begins searching for any clue that might help him save the Regency. As their friendship blooms, the mystery around the building's makers deepens. The Regency's own storied past will give Jake the key to saving his own future--if only he knows where to look.
Everything Sad Is Untrue
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Children's paperback
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WINNER, MICHAEL L. PRINTZ AWARD
WINNER, CHRISTOPHER AWARD
WINNER, MIDDLE EAST BOOK AWARD
WALTER AWARD HONOR
National Bestseller
NPR Best of the Year
New York Times Best of the Year
Amazon Best of the Year
Booklist Editors' Choice
BookPage Best of the Year
Publishers Weekly Best of the Year
Wall Street Journal Best of the Year
Today.com Best of the Year
NECBA Windows & Mirrors Selection
"A modern masterpiece."--New York Times
"Supple, sparkling and original."--Wall Street Journal
"Mesmerizing."--TODAY.com
"This book could change the world."--BookPage
"Like nothing else you've read or ever will read."--Linda Sue Park
"It hooks you right from the opening line."-NPR
? "A modern epic."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review
? "A rare treasure of a book." --Publishers Weekly (starred)
? "A story that soars."--The Bulletin (starred)
? "At once beautiful and painful."--School Library Journal (starred)
? "Raises the literary bar in children's lit." --Booklist (starred)
? "Poignant and powerful." --Foreword Reviews (starred)
? "One of the most extraordinary books of the year." --BookPage (starred)
A sprawling, evocative, and groundbreaking autobiographical novel told in the unforgettable and hilarious voice of a young Iranian refugee. It is a powerfully layered novel that poses the questions: Who owns the truth? Who speaks it? Who believes it?
"A patchwork story is the shame of the refugee," Nayeri writes early in the novel. In an Oklahoman middle school, Khosrou (whom everyone calls Daniel) stands in front of a skeptical audience of classmates, telling the tales of his family's history, stretching back years, decades, and centuries. At the core is Daniel's story of how they became refugees--starting with his mother's vocal embrace of Christianity in a country that made such a thing a capital offense, and continuing through their midnight flight from the secret police, bribing their way onto a plane-to-anywhere. Anywhere becomes the sad, cement refugee camps of Italy, and then finally asylum in the U.S.
Implementing a distinct literary style and challenging western narrative structures, Nayeri deftly weaves through stories of the long and beautiful history of his family in Iran, adding a richness of ancient tales and Persian folklore. Like Scheherazade of One Thousand and One Nights, Daniel spins a tale to save his own life: to stake his claim to the truth.
A tale of heartbreak and resilience and urges readers to speak their truth and be heard.
- Daniel is a major force and one of the youngest publishers in the industry.
- He's an #OwnVoices author, public speaker, and storyteller.
- A pulled-from-the headlines immigrant story.
- Thematically relevant as immigration stories take center stage in politics, news, and media in 2020.
- Daniel challenges how we tell stories by using traditional Persian folk tales
- A fantastic literary whirlwind that questions western narrative structures.
Finally Seen
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Children's hardcover
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From the New York Times bestselling author of Front Desk comes a "involving, realistic" (Booklist, starred review) middle grade novel about a young girl who leaves China to live with her parents and sister, after five years apart, and learns about family, friendship, and the power of being finally seen.
My sister got to grow up with my parents. Me? I grew up with postcards from my parents.
When ten-year-old Lina Gao steps off the plane in Los Angeles, it's her first time in America and the first time seeing her parents and her little sister in five years! She's been waiting for this moment every day while she lived with her grandmother in Beijing, getting teased by kids at school who called her "left behind girl." Finally, her parents are ready for her to join their fabulous life in America! Except, it's not exactly like in the postcards:
1. School's a lot harder than she thought. When she mispronounces some words in English on the first day, she decides she simply won't talk. Ever again.
2. Her chatty little sister has no problem with English. And seems to do everything better than Lina, including knowing exactly the way to her parents' hearts.
3. They live in an apartment, not a house like in Mom's letters, and they owe a lot of back rent from the pandemic. And Mom's plan to pay it back sounds more like a hobby than a moneymaker.
As she reckons with her hurt, Lina tries to keep a lid on her feelings, both at home and at school. When her teacher starts facing challenges for her latest book selection, a book that deeply resonates with Lina, it will take all of Lina's courage and resilience to get over her fear and choose a future where she's finally seen.
Odder
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Children's hardcover
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Now a #1 New York Times bestseller! A touching and lyrical tale about a remarkable sea otter, from Newbery Medalist Katherine Applegate, author of Wishtree.
Meet Odder, the Queen of Play:
Nobody has her moves.
She doesn't just swim to the bottom,
she dive-bombs.
She doesn't just somersault,
she triple-doughnuts.
She doesn't just ride the waves,
she makes them.
Odder spends her days off the coast of central California, practicing her underwater acrobatics and spinning the quirky stories for which she's known. She's a fearless daredevil, curious to a fault. But when Odder comes face-to-face with a hungry great white shark, her life takes a dramatic turn, one that will challenge everything she believes about herself--and about the humans who hope to save her.
Inspired by the true story of a Monterey Bay Aquarium program that pairs orphaned otter pups with surrogate mothers, this poignant and humorous tale told in free verse examines bravery and healing through the eyes of one of nature's most beloved and charming animals.
Out of Range
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Children's paperback
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Hatchet meets Raina Telgemeier's Sisters in this "realistic, riveting" (Kirkus Reviews) middle grade tale of three warring sisters who find themselves lost in the wilderness and must learn to trust each other if they want to survive.
Sisters Abby, Emma, and Ollie have gone from being best friends forever to mortal enemies.
Thanks to their months-long feud, they are sent to Camp Unplugged, a girls' camp deep in the heart of the Idaho mountains where they will go "back to nature"--which means no cell phones, no internet, and no communicating with the outside world. For two whole weeks. During that time, they had better learn to get along again, their parents tell them. Or else.
The sisters don't see any way they can ever forgive each other for what they've done, no matter how many hikes and campfire songs they're forced to participate in. But then disaster strikes, and they find themselves lost and alone in the wilderness. They will have to outrun a raging wildfire, make it through a turbulent river, escape bears and mountain lions and ticks. They don't have training, or food, or enough supplies. All they have is each other.
And maybe, just maybe, it will be enough to survive.
P.S. Tell No One
- Vikki VanSickle
Children's paperback
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A funny, frank contemporary story about navigating the physical and emotional realities of growing up.When four friends have their phones confiscated in class, Sunny (not her real name) comes up with the idea of a secret shared journal, where they can communicate, share thoughts and pass them on. The pages of the book they jokingly refer to as the P.A.D. (pass-around diary) become filled with sweet, funny, sharp and important insights that speak to navigating middle grade life--friendships, crushes, consent, bodies, parents, siblings, periods, sports and student life.
What began as a lighthearted way of passing notes becomes a poignant and heartfelt way to explore and share big and small feelings and events--a safe way for Sunny, Twix, Hoops and MP to find themselves, and support one another, through all the transitions of a grade seven year.
In the tradition of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, this novel is a fearless exploration of the lives of tween girls, and how they find answers to questions that continue to feel impossible to ask.
This is a selection of our current Middle Grade Contemporary titles. To find other titles or authors, or just to browse, please use the search box.
