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Fiction for Middle Grade Readers

A variety of fiction titles that are great reads for middle grade readers.

Cover of Thirst
Varsha
Bajaj
2022

Minni lives in the poorest part of Mumbai, where access to water is limited to a few hours a day and the communal taps have long lines.  Meanwhile, in the high-rise building where she just started to work, she discovers that water streams out of every faucet and there's even a rooftop swimming pool. Minni also discovers one of the water mafia bosses and now she must decide whether to expose him and risk her job and maybe her life.

Cover of The Vanquishers
Kaylynn
Bayron
2022

In an alternate San Antonio, there have been no known cases of vampirism since a group of masked vampire hunters called the Vanquishers wiped out the last horde of the undead twenty years ago, but twelve-year-old Malika "Boog" Wilson's parents are not taking any chances, especially when Boog's new classmate Aaron goes missing.

Cover of A Duet for Home
Karina Yan
Glaser
2022

This is a tale of friendship, healing, and the power of believing in ourselves told from the perspective of biracial sixth-graders June and Tyrell, two children living in a homeless shelter. As their friendship grows over a shared love of classical music, June and Tyrell confront a new housing policy that puts homeless families in danger.

Cover of The Star That Always Stays
Anna Rose
Johnson
2022

When fourteen-year-old Norvia moves from Beaver Island to Boyne City in 1914, she has to contend with a new school, a first crush, and a blended family, but she also must keep secret her parents' divorce and her Ojibwe heritage.

Cover of Nura and the Immortal Pala
M.T.
Khan
2022

Searching for her buried friend after the mines collapse, twelve-year-old Pakistani mica miner Nura finds herself at the Sijj Palace, a luxury hotel for the dangerous and deceitful jinn, where she must discover the truth beneath the glitter or be trapped.

Cover of Attack of the Black Rectan
A.S.
King
2022

When sixth-grader Mac discovers several words of his classroom copy of Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic are blacked out he is outraged, so he, his friends, and his eccentric family set out to do something about the censorship imposed by one teacher and the school board.

Cover of Honestly Elliott
Gillian
McDunn
2022

Struggling with ADHD, loneliness, and connecting with his divorced father who would rather see him embrace sports instead of cooking, sixth-grader Elliott finds an unlikely friend in popular, perfect Maribel when the two are paired in a school-wide contest.

Cover of Tumble
Celia C.
Pérez
2022

Before she decides whether to accept her stepfather's proposal of adoption, twelve-year-old Adela Ramâirez reaches out to her estranged biological father--who is in the midst of a career comeback as a luchador--and the eccentric extended family of wrestlers she has never met, bringing Adela closer to understanding the expansive definition of family.

Cover of Small Town Pride
Phil
Stamper
2022

Jake is just starting to enjoy life as his school's first openly gay kid. While his family and friends are accepting and supportive, the same can't be said about everyone in their small town of Barton Springs, Ohio.  Jake and his friends try to find a way to bring Pride to Barton Springs, but knows he and his friends will have to get approval from the town council and the mayor won’t be on this side.

Cover of A Rover’s Story
Jasmine
Warga
2022

Built to explore Mars, Resilience begins to develop human-like feelings as he learns from the NASA scientists who assembled him, and as he blasts off and explores Mars, Resilience must overcome different obstacles as he explores the red planet.

Cover of Maizy Chen’s Last Chance
Lisa
Yee
2022

Eleven-year-old Maizy Chen visits her estranged grandparents, who own and run a Chinese restaurant in Last Chance, Minnesota; as her visit lengthens, she makes unexpected discoveries about her family's history and herself.

Cover of Zachary Ying and the Drago
Xiran Jay
Zhao
2022

After his augmented reality gaming headset is possessed by the spirit of the First Emperor of China, twelve-year-old Chinese American Zack Ying is compelled to travel across China to steal an ancient artifact, fight figures from Chinese history and myth, and seal a portal to prevent malicious spirits from destroying the human realm.