Tween Reads

Discover recent releases for tweens.
Updated February 27, 2026
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Tween Reads

Discover recent releases for tweens.
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Candle Island
Lauren Wolk
A moving portrait of loss and the restorative power of art from Lauren Wolk, the Newbery Honor-winning author of Beyond the Bright Sea. Lucretia Sanderson has a secret. Lucretia and her mother have come to tiny Candle Island, Maine (Population: Summer,...
The Poisoned King
Katherine Rundell
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * THE SECOND BOOK IN THE LANDMARK NEW FANTASY SERIES THAT BEGAN WITH IMPOSSIBLE CREATURES "Rundell is back with a sequel . . . which offers magical thrills for young readers and adults alike."--The New York Times
The Cartoonists Club: A Graphic Novel
Raina Telgemeier
Paper Book
#1 New York Times bestselling cartoonists Raina Telgemeier and Scott McCloud team up for a one-of-a-kind friendship story about creativity and self-expression that blends how-to and comics magic. Welcome to the club! Makayla is bursting with ideas but doesn't know how to make...
The Trouble with Heroes
Kate Messner
Paper Book
An instant New York Times bestseller! A USA Today bestseller! Read with Jenna Jr. Summer Reading List Pick! "Genuinely moving." --The New York Times Book Review "Explores the healing power of...
Out of My Heart
Sharon M. Draper
Paper Book
A New York Times bestseller! Melody faces her fears to follow her passion in this stunning sequel to the acclaimed, New York Times bestselling middle grade novel Out of My Mind. Melody, the huge-hearted heroine of Out of My Mind, is...
Starfish
Lisa Fipps
Paper Book
A PRINTZ HONOR BOOK . Ellie is tired of being fat-shamed and does something about it in this poignant novel-in-verse. "In her debut novel, Starfish, Lisa Fipps confronts diet culture and fat phobia head-on. . . . The book reads as if Ellie herself is writing these poems, which...
Stamped (For Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You
Jason Reynolds
Paper Book
THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER This chapter book edition of the groundbreaking #1 bestseller by luminaries Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds is an essential introduction to the history of racism and antiracism in America  
Isle of Ever
Jen Calonita
Paper Book
Winner of a 2025 Good Housekeeping Best Kids' Books Award! A New York Times Bestseller Read with Jenna Jr. Summer Reading List Pick! "[An] atmospheric fantasy ride."--Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW "Fast-paced and satisfying."--School Library Journal,...
Pony
R. J. Palacio
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NAMED ONE OF THE BEST CHILDREN'S BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WALL STREET JOURNAL "Perfection." -The Wall Street Journal The bestselling author of Wonder returns with an enthralling adventure about a boy...
Free Piano (Not Haunted)
Whitney Gardner
From beloved graphic novelist Whitney Gardner comes a big-hearted, touching, and spooky coming-of-age story about a young aspiring songwriter who forms a ghostly partnership with the pop star who haunts her secondhand piano. The piano is free, but fame has a price. ...
Please Pay Attention
Jamie Sumner
Paper Book
Three starred reviews! A girl with cerebral palsy navigates loss, grief, and the aftermath of trauma following a school shooting in a world that wasn't built for her in this "intimate, lyrical" (Publishers Weekly, starred review) novel in verse from Jamie Sumner, the...
From the Desk of Zoe Washington
Janae Marks
Paper Book
#1 Kids Indie Next List * Parents Magazine Best Book of the Year * Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Book of the Year * SLJ Best Book of the Year * Kirkus Best Book of the Year * Junior Library Guild Selection * Edgar Award Nominee * Four Starred Reviews * Bank Street Best...
Sea legs
Bakes, Jules
Paper Book
Set sail for adventure! Dive in to this hilarious and moving middle grade graphic memoir about friendship, growing up, and life at sea. Janey's family is about to set sail for the adventure of a lifetime! The only problem? Janey must leave her school, her life, her best friend, the entire...
This Is Our Rainbow: 16 Stories of Her, Him, Them, and Us
Katherine Locke
Paper Book
The first LGBTQA+ anthology for middle-graders featuring stories for every letter of the acronym, including realistic, fantasy, and sci-fi stories by authors like Justina Ireland, Marieke Nijkamp, Alex Gino, and more! A boyband fandom becomes a conduit to coming out. A former...
Finding the Lost One
Samantha van Leer
Paper Book
A middle grade debut by New York Times bestselling co-author of Between the Lines stars 13 year old Ava, who helps run her family's refuge for extraterrestrials. But a sudden attack on the zoo leads to her discovering a government conspiracy that upends everything she believed to be...
Vanya and the wild hunt
Mandanna, Sangu
Paper Book
*Winner of the Good Housekeeping Kids' Book Awards* *A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year* From the bestselling author of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches comes an action-packed, enchanting middle grade fantasy about a...
Paradise on Fire
Jewell Parker Rhodes
Paper Book
From award-winning and bestselling author Jewell Parker Rhodes comes a powerful coming-of-age survival tale exploring issues of race, class, and climate change.​   Addy is haunted by the tragic fire that killed her parents, leaving her to be raised by her...
All the blues in the sky
Watson, Reně
Paper Book
Winner of the Newbery Medal A New York Times bestseller | A USA Today bestseller | A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year | A Kirkus Best Book of the Year | A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year | A Chicago Public Library...
The strongest heart
Faruqi, Saadia
Paper Book
A Schneider Family Book Award Honoree From beloved middle grade author Saadia Faruqi comes a poignant exploration of the impact of mental illness on families--and the love and hope that it takes to begin telling a different tale. Mo is used to his father's fits of rage. When Abbu's...
Attack of the Black Rectangles
A. S. King
Paper Book
Award-winning author Amy Sarig King takes on censorship and intolerance in a novel she was born to write. When Mac first opens his classroom copy of Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic and finds some words blacked out, he thinks it must be a mistake. But then when he and his friends...
Bye Forever, I Guess
Jodi Meadows
Paper Book
Can a guarded gamer girl lower her shield for a new friend... or more-than-friend? "EARNEST AND LAUGH-OUT-LOUD... PITCH PERFECT."--Publishers Weekly, starred review Thirteen-year-old Ingrid's been living a double life. At school, she's her popular...
The Talk: Conversations about Race, Love, and Truth
Wade Hudson
Paper Book
Thirty diverse, award-winning authors and illustrators invite you into their homes to witness the conversations they have with their children about race in America today in this powerful call-to-action that invites all families to be anti-racists and advocates for change....
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Boy
Emmanuel Acho
Paper Book
Adapted from Emmanuel Acho's New York Times bestseller Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man, comes an essential young readers edition aimed at opening a dialogue about systemic racism with our youngest generation. Young people have the power to affect...
Return to Sender: A Novel
Vera Brosgol
Paper Book
*An Instant New York Times Bestseller* Magic, mystery, and a marvelous mailbox take two kids on an incredible journey in this middle grade adventure novel from bestselling comics creator Vera Brosgol. Perfect for fans of Greenwild and The Lost...
The Only Black Girls in Town
Brandy Colbert
Paper Book
A Bank Street Best Book of 2021! From award-winning YA author Brandy Colbert comes a debut middle-grade novel about the only two Black girls in town who discover a collection of hidden journals revealing shocking secrets of the past. Beach...
Graciela in the abyss
Medina, Meg
Paper Book
"A thrilling, action-packed journey filled with heart, bravery, and ghostly exploits." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) A sea ghost, a mortal boy, and a dangerous enchanted harpoon . . . A Newbery Medalist takes us far beneath the waves in this extraordinary foray into...
Yusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero
Saadia Faruqi
Paper Book
At a time when we are all asking questions about identity, grief, and how to stand up for what is right, this book by the author of A Thousand Questions will hit home with young readers who love Hena Khan and Varian Johnson--or anyone struggling to understand recent U.S. history and...
Return of the Thief
Megan Whalen Turner
Paper Book
The thrilling, twenty-years-in-the-making conclusion to the New York Times-bestselling Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner. The epic novels set in the world of the Queen's Thief can be read in any order. This beloved and award-winning series began with the...
What Is Black Lives Matter?
Lakita Wilson
Paper Book
From the #1 New York Times bestselling series comes the latest title in the Who HQ Now format for trending topics. It tells the history of a political and social movement that advocates for non-violent civil disobedience and protests against incidents of police brutality--and all racially...
The Beautiful Something Else
Ash Van Otterloo
Paper Book
Full of humor and heartbreak, this story about a nonbinary character navigating a binary world is perfect for fans of Alex Gino and Kyle Lukoff. It's exhausting trying to be the perfect daughter. Still, getting good grades without making any waves may be the only way to distract from the...
The Court of the Dead
Rick Riordan
New York Times #1 best-selling authors Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro collaborate again on a new adventure in which Nico di Angelo teams up with his half-sister Hazel Levesque to protect . . . monsters? A few months after returning from the depths of Tartarus, demigods Nico...
The Night Diary
Veera Hiranandani
Paper Book
NEWBERY HONOR BOOK . A poignant, personal, and hopeful tale of India's partition-and of one girl's journey to find a new home in a divided country. " The Night Diary is a sensitive portrayal of the universal search for identity and the need for a place to call home....
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