Outstanding International Books for Middle Grade

Updated November 25, 2024
C
CU Catalog Champaign Teen Team
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Caravan to the north : Misael's long walk
Argueta, Jorge
Paper Book
An urgent and eloquent account of a boy traveling in a caravan from his beloved homeland of El Salvador to the US border. This novel in verse is a powerful first-person account of Misael Martínez, a Salvadoran boy whose family joins the caravan heading north to the United States. We learn...
Crossing the Farak River
Aung Thin, Michelle
Paper Book
Fourteen-year-old Hasina is forced to flee everything she knows in this gripping account of the refugee crisis in Myanmar. For Hasina and her younger brother Araf, the constant threat of Sit Tat, the Myanmar Army, is a way of life in Rakhine province--just uttering the name is enough to...
Catherine's war
Billet, Julia
Paper Book
"A shining story of a young girl who struggles to come of age and find her place in a world fraught with danger." --Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Newbery Honor-winning author of Hitler Youth * Winner of the Youth Prize at the Angoulême International Comics Festival (voted by readers) * Winner...
Molly and the mathematical mysteries : ten interactive adventures in mathematical wonderland
Cheng, Eugenia
Paper Book
Find the clues and lift the flaps on this mathematical mystery! Join Molly as she ventures into a curious world where nothing is quite as it seems. A trail of clues leads from scene to scene, presenting Molly with a number of challenges. But who is leaving the clues, and where...
Living with Viola
Fung, Rosena
Paper Book
"unforgettable . . . will shake middle grade readers to the core"--School Library Journal, starred review "Beautifully illustrated, relatable, and genuine." --Molly Brooks, creator of Sanity & Tallulah "Everyone needs to buy this book now. ...
Geo-graphics
Giménez, Regina
Paper Book
Our universe is brimming with secrets, and surprising curiosities. Here readers will learn the answers to all the questions they've asked themselves: What does the Sun look like from different planets in our galaxy? Why doesn't the Moon always appear the same? What is the largest river...
Bone talk
Gourlay, Candy
Paper Book
Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal (UK)Shortlisted for the Costa Prize (UK)Sunday Times Children's Book of the WeekThe Guardian Book of the MonthThe Times Books of the Year"Hotly Anticipated Historical Fiction for Young Adults" Amazon.co.ukIt is 1899. Ten year old Samkad thinks...
Girl of the southern sea
Kadarusman, Michelle
Paper Book
From Governor General's Literary Award finalist Michelle Kadarusman, an empowering novel about a girl from the slums of Jakarta who dreams of an education and the chance at a better life From the time she was a little girl, Nia has dreamed up adventures about the Javanese mythical...
Music for tigers
Kadarusman, Michelle
Paper Book
From Governor General's Literary Award finalist Michelle Kadarusman comes a novel about a young violinist who discovers her mother's family secretly harbor a sanctuary for extinct Tasmanian tigers in the remote Australian rainforest Shipped halfway around the world to spend the...
Soul lanterns
Kuzki, Shaw
Paper Book
The haunting and poignant story of a how a young Japanese girl's understanding of the historic and tragic bombing of Hiroshima is transformed by a memorial lantern-floating ceremony. Twelve-year-old Nozomi lives in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. She wasn't even born when the...
The apartment : a century of Russian history
Litvina, Alexandra
Paper Book
20th-century Russian history comes to life through six generations of a family in their Moscow apartmentThe Apartment: A Century of Russian History explains the true history of 20th-century Russia through the fictitious story of a Moscow family and their apartment. The Muromtsev family have been...
Migrants
Watanabe, Issa
Paper Book
A heartstoppingly beautiful wordless picture book about migration and empathy. The migrants must leave the forest. Borders are crossed, sacrifices made, loved ones are lost. It takes such courage to reach the end. At last the journey is over and the migrants arrive....
The swallows' flight
McKay, Hilary
Paper Book
"A triumph." --Philip Pullman, bestselling author of the His Dark Materials saga Four young lives are forever changed at the dawn of World War II in this "stirring and unforgettable" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) novel from award-winning author Hilary McKay.
Run for your life
Mitchell, Jane
Paper Book
A moving and sensitive children's book exploring a child's experience living in refugee accommodation in Ireland. School Library Journal, "Best Books 2023" Bank Street Best Children's Books 2024 Azari's...
We are wolves
Nannestad, Katrina
Paper Book
This "hauntingly atmospheric" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), heart-stopping middle grade novel follows three of the Wolfskinder, German children left to fend for themselves in the final days of World War II, as they struggle to hold onto themselves and each other while surviving in the...
The Witness Blanket : truth, art and reconciliation
Newman, Carey
Paper Book
For more than 150 years, thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their families and sent to residential schools across Canada. Artist Carey Newman created the Witness Blanket to make sure that history is never forgotten. The Blanket is a living work of art--a collection of...
Plasticus maritimus : an invasive species
Pêgo, Ana (Marine biologist)
Paper Book
"Clever...beguiling....Readers age 11 and older are likely to finish this book feeling both persuaded and uplifted. Beauty has a way of doing that." --Wall Street Journal For young readers comes an imaginative guide to ocean plastics, filled with tips...
Burying the moon
Poulin, Andrée
Paper Book
A beautifully illustrated novel in verse about a young Indian girl who tackles the taboos around sanitation in her village.  In Latika's village in rural India, there are no toilets. No toilets mean that the women have to wait until night to do their business in a field. There are...
The barren grounds
Robertson, David
Paper Book
Morgan and Eli, two Indigenous children forced away from their families and communities, are brought together in a foster home in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They each feel disconnected, from their culture and each other, and struggle to fit in at school and at their new home until they find a secret portal...
How war changed Rondo
Romanyshyn, Romana
Paper Book
A Kirkus Best Book of 2021: A Best Picture Book for Starting ConversationsA USBBY Outstanding International Book of 2022A Bank Street College of Education Best Book of 2022 War has come to the idyllic town of Rondo. Can...
The girl who rode a shark & other stories of daring women
Ross, Ailsa
Paper Book
An inspiring biographical collection celebrating the adventurousness and ingenuity of girls and women around the world. Now more than ever, the world is recognizing how strong women and girls are. How strong? In the early 1920s, Inuit expeditioner Ada Blackjack survived for two...
The Night Raven
Rundberg, Johan
Paper Book
A Kirkus Best Book of the Year Shortlisted for the Global Literature in Libraries YA Translated Book Prize A USBBY Outstanding International Book Mika is not your average twelve-year-old--and she's about to prove it. It's 1880, and in...
Wild poppies
Saleh, Haya
Paper Book
Two brothers fight to reunite amidst the turmoil of the Syrian War. Since the passing of their father, Omar has tried--and in his little brother Sufyan's eyes, failed--to be the man of his family of Syrian refugees. As Omar waits in line for rations, longing...
Weird rules to follow
Spencer, Kim
Paper Book
Winner of a 2024 PNBA Book Award Winner of the 2023 IODE Violet Downey Book Award Winner of the 2023 Jean Little First-Novel Award Winner of the 2023 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People Winner of the 2023 TD Canadian Children's Literature...
The wanderer
Van den Ende, Peter
Paper Book
Society of Illustrators, Dilys Evans Founder's Award Winner A New York Times Best Book of 2020 A Wall Street Journal Best Book of 2020 PRAISE "Electrifying. Extraordinary. Enigmatic and gorgeous." --The Wall Street Journal "An epic dream...
The kaya girl
Wolo, Mamle
Paper Book
An extraordinary tale of two teenagers from vastly different walks of life, this page-turner transports readers to a bustling market in Ghana's capital city where one friendship transforms two lives.  Writing with effortlessly engaging prose, Wolo showcases the...

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