2026 Middle School Nutmeg Nominees

Updated April 25, 2025
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Alone
Freeman, Megan E.
Paper Book
A New York Times bestseller! Perfect for fans of Hatchet and the I Survived series, this harrowing middle grade debut novel in verse from a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet tells the story of a young girl who wakes up one day to find herself utterly alone in her...
Concealed
Gonzalez, Christina Diaz
Paper Book
The 2022 Edgar Award Winner for Best Juvenile Mystery! What if you had no name, no past, and no home? Ivette. Joanna. And now: Katrina Whatever her name is, it won't last long. Katrina doesn't know any of the details about her past, but she does know that she...
The Door of No Return
Alexander, Kwame.
Paper Book
From the Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award winning author Kwame Alexander, comes the first book in a searing, breathtaking trilogy that tells the story of a boy, a village, and the epic odyssey of an African family. In his village in Upper...
Hamra and the Jungle of Memories
Alkaf, Hanna
Paper Book
A Malaysian spin on Little Red Riding Hood from the critically acclaimed author of The Girl and the Ghost, Hanna Alkaf. Courage is the strongest magic there is. On Hamra's thirteenth birthday, she receives nothing but endless nagging and yet another errand to run in...
The last cuentista /
Higuera, Donna Barba,
Paper Book
Winner of the John Newbery Medal Winner of the Pura Belpré Award From Pura Belpré Award winner and Newbery Medalist, Donna Barba Higuera--a brilliant journey through the stars, to the very heart of what makes us...
The lost year /
Marsh, Katherine.
Paper Book
*A National Book Award Finalist* From the author of Nowhere Boy - called "a resistance novel for our times" by The New York Times - comes a brilliant middle-grade survival story that traces a harrowing family secret back to the Holodomor, a terrible famine that...
Simon Sort of Says
Bow, Erin.
Paper Book
NEWBERY HONOR AWARD . LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD . SCHNEIDER FAMILY BOOK AWARD HONOR . FINALIST FOR THE AUDIE AWARD FOR BEST MIDDLE GRADE AUDIOBOOK OF THE YEAR "Funny, poignant and-most important-hopeful." -New York Times Simon O'Keeffe's biggest...
What Happened to Rachel Riley?
Swinarski, Claire.
Paper Book
ALA Notable Children's Book Regional Indie Bestseller Audie Award Winner Edgar Award Nominee Cybils Award Nominee YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults New York Public Library Best Book of the Year Chicago Public Library Best of...

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