2026 Middle School Nutmeg Nominees

Updated April 25, 2025
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
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 /
Hanna Alkaf
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
Había una vez ... A girl named Petra Peña, who wanted nothing more than to be a storyteller, like her abuelita. But Petra's world is ending. Earth has been destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children--among them Petra and her family--have been chosen...
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...
Team Chu and the battle of Blackwood Arena /
Dao, Julie C.
Paper Book
A rollicking, action-packed adventure of laser tag and fierce sibling rivalries, Team Chu and the Battle of Blackwood Arena is the first book in a commercial middle grade fantasy series by Julie C. Dao. Clip and Sadie Chu couldn't be more different. Popular, athletic...
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...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.