SLJ Best Middle School Books 2024Unpublished

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From the best-selling author of A Monster Calls, this funny, wise middle-grade series explodes every stereotype--including what it means to be a hero--in a brilliant reptilian take on surviving school. When Principal Wombat makes monitor lizards Zeke, Daniel, and Alicia...

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...

Laurie Morrison's Keeping Pace is a poignant middle-grade novel about friends-turned-rivals training for a half-marathon--and rethinking what it means to win and what they mean to each other. Grace has been working for years to beat her former friend Jonah Perkins's GPA...

It's 1935, and tuberculosis is ravaging the nation. Everyone is afraid of this deadly respiratory illness. But what happens when you actually have it? When Halle and her mother both come down with TB, they are shunned--and then they are sent to the J.N. Adam Tuberculosis...

A hot-headed cynic befriends the new kid--a shy trans boy--when she takes on a bet to get him elected student body president in this new middle grade contemporary novel from Caroline Huntoon, author of Skating on Mars. Linus is the new boy at school, and he's trying to...

An instant New York Times bestseller! "Every so often a book comes along that is so brave and necessary, it extends a lifeline when it's needed most. This is one of those books." --Katherine Applegate, author of the Newbery Medal-winning, The One and Only Ivan

Most Anticipated Middle Grade Reads of 2024: Teen Librarian Toolbox, School Library Journal For fans of Donna Barba Higuera''s Lupe Wong Won''t Dance and Aida Salazar''s The Moon Within comes Mani Semilla Finds Her Quetzal Voice - a contemporary...

An acclaimed Best Book of 2024! Instant New York Times bestseller * Wall Street Journal Best Books of the Year * Booklist Editors' Choice * Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year * School Library Journal Best Books of the Year * Common Sense Best Books...

"You won't be able to stop turning pages . . . it is so stinking good!" --Colby Sharp, author of The Creativity Project: An Awesometastic Story Collection From National Book Award finalist Katherine Marsh: Percy Jackson meets Wednesday Addams in this fantastical adventure about...

Longlisted for the National Book Award A tender-souled boy reeling from the death of his best friend struggles to fit into a world that wants him to grow up tough and unfeeling in this stunning illustrated middle grade novel in verse "full of vulnerability and hope" (...

A heartfelt novel praised by Tom Hanks in the New York Times as including "a conclusion nearly impossible to divine and yet so perfect it includes that most tactile of memories..." Being a typewriter is not as easy as it looks. Surrounded by books (notorious attention...

With lyrical verse and powerful emotion, Dawn Quigley (Ojibwe) tells the story of urban Native kids who find strength in connection with those who came before and in the hope that lets them take flight. Ariel and Tomah have lived in the city's intertribal housing complex all...

From National Book Award longlisted author Sherri Winston comes an important middle grade novel about a girl's tumultuous journey to keep her family together, even when she's falling apart. Kirkus Prize Finalist Lone Star Reading List Selection ...

From Newbery Honor and Walter Award-winning author Rajani LaRocca comes a gripping middle grade fantasy perfect for fans of The Serpent's Secret and The Last Mapmaker. Though music is outlawed in the land of Devia, Sona hears it everywhere. Sona is a Malech, a member of the...

From the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of A Rover's Story and Other Words for Home comes an extraordinary story about two friends, a ghost, a missing painting, and a turtle named Agatha. The perfect next read for fans of The Swifts, Kate DiCamillo, and Erin...

Sometimes life explodes in technicolor. In the spirit of Judy Blume, award-winning author Aida Salazar tells it like it is about puberty, hormones, and first love in this hilarious, heartwarming, and highly relatable coming-of-age story. Perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds, Kwame...

Narrated by twelve-year-old Cato, this intense and evocative story of racial unrest in prewar North Carolina ends with a dramatic match between white and Black little league teams. 1935. Twelve-year-old Cato wants nothing more than to play baseball, perfect his pitch, and meet Mr...