Outstanding International Books for Middle Grade

Updated November 25, 2024
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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...
Save our forest!
DÃ¥snes, Nora
Paper Book
A Bookshop.org Best Graphic Novel of 2024 ALA Best Graphic Novels for Children Reading List CCBC Choices 2025 A Jane Addams Children's Book Award Finalist A We Are Teachers Best Book The Nature Generation's 2025 Green Earth Book Award Short List This...
Johnny, the sea, and me
Escobar, Melba
Paper Book
A timid ten-year-old boy meets Johnny, a gruff islander who will change his life, in Johnny, the Sea, and Me, a heartwarming middle-grade novel by Melba Escobarabout finding yourself and your place in the world-featuring illustrations by award-winning...
Bone talk
Gourlay, Candy
Audiobook
A boy and a girl in the Philippine jungle must confront what coming of age will mean to their friendship made even morecomplicated when Americans invade their country.Samkad lives deep in the Philippine jungle, and has never encountered anyone from outside his own tribe before. He's about to become...
Island of whispers
Hardinge, Frances
Paper Book
A remarkable and ultimately heartwarming story of grief, family, kindness, and being true to yourself. Multiple starred reviews and a rave from the New York Times Book Review, which praised it as "incredibly hopeful." Part gothic thriller and part seafaring...
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...
Wildful
Kurimoto, Kengo
Paper Book
New York Times Best Children's Books of 2024 Kirkus Best Books of 2024 Shelf Awareness 2024 Best Books of the Year The Globe 100: The Best Books of 2024 Poppy's mother hasn't been the same since Gran passed away. She stays inside and watches TV, unable...
The apartment : a century of Russian history
Litvina, Alexandra
Paper Book
In this picture book from author Alexandra Litvina and illustrator Anna Desnitskaya, 20th-century Russian history comes to life through six generations of a family in their Moscow apartment. The Apartment: A Century of Russian History explains the true...
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...
Our beautiful darkness
Ondjaki
Paper Book
A blackout leads two teens to discover the intimacy and vulnerability that can only be shared in darkness in Our Beautiful Darkness, a fully illustrated YA novella from celebrated Angolan author Ondjaki and illustrator António Jorge Gonç...
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...
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...
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...

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