Tween Reads

Discover recent releases for tweens.
Updated May 7, 2024
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Four Eyes: A Graphic Novel (Four Eyes #1)
Rex Ogle
A humorous and heartwarming middle-grade graphic memoir about fitting in, facing bullies, and finding the right pair of glasses. Sixth grade isn't as great as Rex thought it would be. He's the only kid who hasn't had a growth spurt, and the bullies won't let him forget it. His...
Stamped (For Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You
Jason Reynolds
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  
Out of my heart
Draper, Sharon M.
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
A Printz Honor winner! Ellie is tired of being fat-shamed and does something about it in this poignant debut novel-in-verse. Ever since Ellie wore a whale swimsuit and made a big splash at her fifth birthday party, she's been bullied about her weight. To cope, she...
Totally Psychic
Brigid Martin
Pony
R. J. Palacio
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...
Recognize!: An Anthology Honoring and Amplifying Black Life
Wade Hudson
In the stunning follow-up to The Talk- Conversations About Race, Love & Truth, award-winning Black authors and artists come together to create a moving anthology collection celebrating Black love, Black creativity, Black resistance, and Black life. "A multifaceted,...
From the desk of Zoe Washington
Marks, Janae
#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...
Don't Trust the Cat
Kristen Tracy
What if you switched places with your cat? Mean Girls meets Freaky Friday in this laugh-out-loud story about self-acceptance, learning who your friends are, and coming of age . . . as a cat. Fifth-grader Poppy McBean likes rules and order. She's a follower, and...
This is our rainbow : 16 stories of her, him, them, and us
Locke, Katherine
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...
Paradise on fire
Rhodes, Jewell Parker
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...
Attack of the black rectangles
King, A. S.
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...
The Talk: Conversations about Race, Love, and Truth
Wade Hudson
Thirty diverse, award-winning authors and illustrators invite you intotheir homes to witnesstheconversationsthey have withtheir children about race in America today in this powerful call-to-action that invites all families to be anti-racists and advocates for change. "Project s love...
Uncomfortable conversations with a Black boy
Acho, Emmanuel
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...
The only black girls in town
Colbert, Brandy
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...
Yusuf Azeem is not a hero
Faruqi, Saadia
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 how it still...
How to Stay Invisible
Maggie C. Rudd
My Side of the Mountain meets How to Steal a Dog in this high-stakes and heartfelt middle-grade story of a young boy and his dog surviving on their own in the woods. Being alone is something Raymond is used to. Twelve-year-old Raymond Hurley...
Return of the thief
Turner, Megan Whalen
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 acclaimed novel...
The Beautiful Something Else
Ash Van Otterloo
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...
Defiant: Growing Up in the Jim Crow South
Wade Hudson
As the fight for equal rights continues, Defiant takes a critical look at the strides and struggles of the past in this revelatory and moving memoir about a young Black man growing up in the South during the heart of the Civil Rights Movement. For fans of It's Trevor Noah- Born a Crime,...
The night diary
Hiranandani, Veera
A 2019 NEWBERY HONOR BOOK "A gripping, nuanced story of the human cost of conflict appropriate for both children and adults." -Kirkus, starred review In the vein of Inside Out and Back Again and The War That Saved My Life comes a...
The girl and the ghost
Hanna Alkaf
* Chosen as a 2020 Kirkus Prize Finalist for Young Readers' Literature! * A Malaysian folk tale comes to life in this emotionally layered, chilling middle grade debut, perfect for fans of The Book of Boy and The Jumbies. I am a dark spirit, the ghost announced grandly....
Traitors Among Us
Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
World War II may be over. But two sisters are far from safe. Inspired by true events, this is the latest gripping and powerful novel from the acclaimed author of Making Bombs for Hitler. Sisters Krystia and Maria have been through the worst -- or so they think....
Bridge of Souls
V. E. Schwab
Victoria ("V. E.") Schwab, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, invites readers to haunted New Orleans in this third installment of her thrillingly spooky City of Ghosts series! Where there are ghosts, Cassidy Blake follows . . . ...
In the key of us
Lockington, Mariama
Stonewall Book Awards--Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children's & Young Adult Literature Honor Book From the author of the critically acclaimed novel For Black Girls Like Me and the Schneider Family Book Award Winner Forever Is Now, comes a coming-of-age story...
Abeni's Song
P. Djèlí Clark
Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown
Steve Sheinkin
New York Times bestselling author Steve Sheinkin presents a follow up to his award-winning book Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon, taking readers on a terrifying journey into the Cold War and our mutual...
African Town
Charles Waters
Chronicling the story of the last Africans brought illegally to America in 1860, African Town is a powerful and stunning novel-in-verse. Cover may vary. In 1860, long after the United States outlawed the importation of enslaved laborers, 110 men, women and...
Rabbit chase
LaPensée, Elizabeth
A BookRiot Don't-Miss 2022 Queer Graphic Novels & Memoirs * "Rabbit Chase is a welcome intersectional work for today's youth."--Traci Sorell, award-winning author of We Are Still Here! and At the Mountain's Base Anishinaabe culture and storytelling meet Alice in...
The Last Fallen Realm
Graci Kim
Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents the thrilling conclusion to Graci Kim's best-selling Gifted Clans trilogy. Riley Oh wasn't born into her family. Instead, as she recently discovered, she tumbled down to the earth many years ago as the last fallen star. Riley Oh also wasn...
Like a Hurricane
Jonathan Becotte
★"Immediately takes one's breath away with its poetry and power...Deeply affecting. An ideal tool to illustrate poetic elements or emphasize stories of sharing scary yet necessary truths."--School Library Journal, starred review A young teen's secret is tearing him apart. He...
Efrén divided : a novel
Cisneros, Ernesto
Winner of the Pura Belpré Award! "We need books to break open our hearts, so that we might feel more deeply, so that we might be more human in these unkind times. This is a book doing work of the spirit in a time of darkness." --Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on...
Tunnel of bones
Schwab, Victoria
The thrilling sequel to Victoria Schwab's New York Times bestselling City of Ghosts!Trouble is haunting Cassidy Blake . . . even more than usual.She (plus her ghost best friend, Jacob, of course) are in Paris, where Cass's parents are filming their TV show about the world's most...
Dress coded
Firestone, Carrie
In this debut middle-grade girl-power friendship story, perfect for fans of Moxie, an eighth grader starts a podcast to protest the unfair dress code enforcement at her middle school and sparks a rebellion.   Molly Frost is FED UP... Because Olivia...
This is your brain on stereotypes : how science is tackling unconscious bias
Kyi, Tanya Lloyd
From the time we're babies, our brains constantly sort and label the world around us - a skill that's crucial for our survival. But, as adolescents are all too aware, there's a tremendous downside: when we do this to groups of people it can cause great harm. Here's a comprehensive introduction to...
Moonwalking
Zetta Elliott
"This novel in verse, alternately narrated by two boys in 1980s Greenpoint, Brooklyn, one channeled by Elliott and one by Miller-Lachmann, eloquently tackles race, culture and life on the spectrum." -- The New York Times For fans of Jason Reynolds and Jacqueline Woodson,...
Troublemaker
Cho, John
An instant New York Times bestseller! An Indiebound bestseller! An Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Honor Book! Troublemaker follows the events of the LA Riots through the eyes of 12-year-old Jordan...
White bird : a wonder story
Palacio, R. J.
Soon to be a major motion picture, starring Helen Mirren and Gillian Anderson! R. J. Palacio's unforgettable graphic novel debut is a story about the power of kindness and unrelenting courage in a time of war. SYDNEY TAYLOR AWARD WINNER * A NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST BOOK OF...
When Stars Are Scattered
Victoria Jamieson
A National Book Award Finalist, this remarkable graphic novel is about growing up in a refugee camp, as told by a former Somali refugee to the Newbery Honor-winning creator of Roller Girl. Omar and his younger brother, Hassan, have spent most of their lives in Dadaab,...
Allies
Gratz, Alan
A New York Times bestseller!Alan Gratz, bestselling author of Refugee, weaves a stunning array of voices and stories into an epic tale of teamwork in the face of tyranny -- and how just one day can change the world.June 6, 1944: The Nazis are terrorizing Europe, on their evil quest to...
The shape of thunder
Warga, Jasmine
An extraordinary new novel from Jasmine Warga, Newbery Honor-winning author of Other Words for Home, about loss and healing--and how friendship can be magical. Cora hasn't spoken to her best friend, Quinn, in a year. Despite living next door to each other, they exist...
Finding Junie Kim
Ellen Oh
For fans of Inside Out and Back Again and Amina's Voice comes a breathtaking story of family, hope, and survival from Ellen Oh, cofounder of We Need Diverse Books. When Junie Kim is faced with middle school racism, she learns of her grandparents' extraordinary...
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