Middle Grade Action, Adventure and Sports Fiction

This list includes titles from the Harrington Middle School 2026 suggested summer reading list, as well as recommendations from staff at the Mount Laurel Library. Remember, you do not need to choose a title from the list; you can fulfill your summer reading obligations by reading any middle grade book.

Updated May 11, 2026
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Mount Laurel Library
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Concealed
Gonzalez, Christina Diaz
Paper Book
The 2022 Edgar Award Winner for Best Juvenile Mystery! What if you had no name, no past, and no home? Ivette. Joanna. And now: Katrina Whatever her name is, it won't last long. Katrina doesn't know any of the details about her past, but she does know that she...
Greetings from witness protection!
Burt, Jake
Paper Book
Nicki Demere is an orphan and a pickpocket. She also happens to be the U.S. Marshals' best bet to keep a family alive. . . . "Jake Burt is a storytelling magician. Partcoming of age tale and part spy thriller, Greetings from Witness Protection could be a...
The lovely and the lost
Barnes, Jennifer
Paper Book
FROM THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE INHERITANCE GAMES   In this unputdownable standalone mystery from Jennifer Lynn Barnes, a teenage girl, her friends, and their search-and-rescue dogs must uncover long-buried secrets to save a life.<...
Stormbreaker
Horowitz, Anthony
Paper Book
Alex Rider is now an IMDb TV/Amazon Original Series! Meet the orphan turned teen superspy who's saving the world one mission at a time--from #1 New York Times bestselling author!   They said his uncle Ian died in a car accident. But Alex Rider knows...
The raft
Bodeen, S. A.
Paper Book
The Raft is a thrilling novel of survival from award-winning author S.A. Bodeen. Robie is an experienced traveler. She's taken the flight from Honolulu to the Midway Atoll, a group of Pacific islands where her parents live, many times. When she has to get to Midway in a...
Crossover
Alexander, Kwame
Paper Book
Series streaming now on Disney+, with executive producers including NBA great LeBron James! The Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award-winning middle grade bestseller! Basketball and heartache share the court in this slam-dunk novel in verse. "With a bolt of lightning on my...
Coach
Reynolds, Jason
Paper Book
Three starred reviews! In this "beautifully executed victory lap" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) to Jason Reynolds's award-winning and New York Times bestselling Track series, meet Coach as a boy striving to come into...
Running dream
Van Draanen, Wendelin.
Paper Book
The acclaimed author of Flipped delivers a powerful and healing story that's perfect for anyone who's ever thought that something was impossible. Readers will revel in the story of a girl who puts herself back together--and learns to dream bigger than ever before--after she's told she...
Rocket Arm
Green, Tim
Paper Book
#1 New York Times bestselling author and former NFL player Tim Green is back with an action-packed novel about a football player with big dreams whose life changes forever when he attends an athletic boarding school. Zeno Dubois might be young, but he has a remarkable ability...
Hero
Lupica, Mike.
Paper Book
From the #1 New York Times bestseller Mike Lupica comes the story of one unsuspecting boy poised to follow in his superhero father's footsteps Fourteen-year-old Billy Harriman can feel the changes. The sharpening of his senses. The incredible strength. The speed, as though...
Game changer
Greenwald, Tom
Paper Book
A gripping story about the impact of sports culture on young athletes. When high school football star Teddy Youngblood suffers a devastating injury that leaves him in a coma, the entire community is shaken. What begins as a tragic accident quickly unravels...
Curveball
Cartaya, Pablo
Paper Book
Roller Girl meets Cardboard Kingdom in this original, contemporary graphic novel for kids, from the New York Times best-selling and award-winning author of A Hero's Guide to Summer Vacation, Pablo Cartaya, in partnership with New York Times best-selling...
Painting the Game
MacLachlan, Patricia
Paper Book
In this middle grade novel by Newbery Award-winning author Patricia MacLachlan in her "signature lyric language delivered in spare but satisfying prose" (Booklist), a young girl tries to untangle her love of baseball from her complicated relationship with her professional pitcher father.<...
Three Strike Summer
Schrempp, Skyler
Paper Book
Four starred reviews! A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Selection A Horn Book Magazine Best Book of 2022 "Told in a voice that is so real it reeks of filched peaches, this book is a home run." --Amy Sarig King, Printz Award-winning author of...
Fast Pitch
Stone, Nic
Paper Book
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Nic Stone comes a challenging and heartwarming coming-of-age story about a softball player looking to prove herself on and off the field. Shenice Lockwood, captain of the Fulton Firebirds, is hyper-focused when she steps up to the...
We are big time
Khan, Hena
Paper Book
SWISH! Cheer courtside for a Muslim teen in this graphic novel-inspired by a true story-as she joins an all-girls, hijab-wearing basketball team and learns that she's much more than a score. Aliya is new to Wisconsin, and everything feels different than Florida. The Islamic...
Barely floating
Rivera, Lilliam
Paper Book
A dazzling story full of heart about how one twelve-year-old channels her rage into synchronized swimming dreams, from the author of The Education of Margot Sanchez and Never Look Back, Lilliam Rivera. Natalia de la Cruz Rivera y Santiago, also known as Nat, was...
Will's Race for Home
Rhodes, Jewell Parker
Paper Book
★ Winner of the Coretta Scott King Book Award! ★ ★ A New York Times bestseller! ★ ★ "Rhodes deftly captures a unique ­aspect of this historical event, with a perspective...

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