Readers' Advisory: Middle Grade

Eleven-year-old Chester and his classmate Skye, tasked with a complex puzzle-solving mission, discover the key to their spy assignment is to stop a heist, but cracking the code could mean finding out things are not always what they seem.

Eleven-year-old Gina Sparks, aspiring journalist, and her fellow GEEKs, Edgar, Elena, and Kevin, live in Elmwood, New Hampshire, a small town in serious danger of vanishing completely--unless the four friends can find the Van Houten fortune, which was supposedly promised to the town by Maxine Van Houten, a famous toymaker who loved complicated puzzles.

Link, Michael, and Dana live in a quiet town. But it's woken up very quickly when someone sneaks into school and vandalizes it with a swastika. Nobody can believe it. How could such a symbol of hate end up in the middle of their school? Who would do such a thing?

Following little Shannon's life from kindergarten through fifth grade, Real Friends captures the emotional roller coaster ride of friendship, from navigating the tricky waters of cliques and bullies to her never-ending struggle to stay in "The Group."

A new friend could be sitting right next to you.Joe and Ravi might be from very different places, but they're both stuck in the same place: SCHOOL.

For seventh-grader Mila, it starts with some boys giving her an unwanted hug on the school blacktop. A few days later, at recess, one of the boys (and fellow trumpet player) Callum tells Mila it's his birthday, and asks her for a "birthday hug." He's just being friendly, isn't he? And how can she say no?

Felicity's sure she's going to do something big. Exactly what is still a mystery, but she'll figure it out. Her sister, Letty, teases Felicity that she never finishes stuff, but that's just because Letty is so perfect. Still, life is good with plenty of friends--drawing with the art club and playing games with her buddies keep her busy. But when she decides to join a contest to show Letty that she can get things done, Felicity begins to wonder if friends becoming enemies is easier than she thought.

In this newest collection of comics, Nate tries his hand at coaching after he is sidelined by a soccer injury, comes to the rescue of his friend Chad, and supports Gina when she takes over the student lounge.

Jessi recently moved to Stoneybrook and is one of the newest members of The Baby-sitters Club. She's getting ready to start regularly sitting for the BSC's newest charge, Matt Braddock. Matt has been Deaf since birth and uses sign language to communicate, so Jessi has to use it, too. It's a secret language! Soon all the neighborhood kids want to learn how to sign, which keeps the BSC busy. Jessi's the busiest of all -- she's preparing for her dance school's big show, plus working on another secret, just for Matt. Will Jessi be able to keep the secret and pull off her special event?

t's about a girl who's been homeschooled all her life but decides to go to public school for sixth grade. Themes include friendship, family, how to handle your emotions, fitting in, and how to make amends when you make mistakes.

A David Fleming book called The Saturday Boy is about a kid named Derek. His dad is stationed over in Afghanistan while Derek has to deal with his so-called friend, Bugie. When Derek is having a hard time he goes and reads his comics that he once read when he was younger with his dad.

Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality is the fifth and final book of the Pandava Quintet, written by Roshani Chokshi. The story follows fifteen-year-old Aru Shah and her friends in their last adventure as they attempt to keep the Sleeper from taking the nectar of immortality from the labyrinth where it is contained.

As the first openly gay kid at his school, Jake is just learning how to settle into his life. After all, in the small town of Barton Springs, Ohio, not everyone is supportive of him. Especially when Jake's dad hangs a huge pride flag in their front yard. Which the town defintiely has opinions about.

Percy Jackson meets Tristan Strong in this hilarious, action-packed middle grade contemporary fantasy that follows a young boy as he journeys across China to seal the underworld shut and save the mortal realm. Zachary Ying never had many opportunities to learn about his Chinese heritage.

Amari is dealing with the fallout of her magical ability being discovered. As she and her friends try to keep the magicians and the rest of the world from a real war, she is forced to participate in a crazy game designed to see who will lead the magicians and who will be the enemy.

WITCHLINGS is a charming and enthralling middle grade fantasy that follows 12-year-old Seven, a witchling who aspires to join the most powerful coven. When everything goes wrong, and Seven is designated as a Spare, it feels like things can't get any worse - until she and other Spares are unable to seal their coven.

Her friends are divided and scattered, and the Black Swan wants Sophie to focus on their projects. But her instincts are leading her somewhere else. Stellarlune - and the mysterious Elysian—might be the key to everything. But finding truth in the Lost Cities always requires sacrifice.

Twelve-year-old homeschooled Olive is tired of being seen as “fragile” just because she has osteogenesis imperfecta (otherwise known as brittle bone disease) so she's thrilled when she finally convinces her overprotective parents to let her attend Macklemore Elementary.

Can five overlooked kids make one big difference? And they're stuck together when they're forced to complete their school's community service hours. Although they're sure they have nothing in common with one another, some people see them as all the same . . . just five Spanish-speaking kids.

A farm working girl with big dreams meets activist Dolores Huerta and joins the 1965 protest for migrant workers' rights in this tender-hearted middle grade novel in verse, perfect for fans of Rita Williams-Garcia and Pam Mu oz Ryan.

Twelve-year-old Adela “Addie” Ramírez has a big decision to make when her stepfather proposes adoption. Addie loves Alex, the only father figure she’s ever known, but with a new half brother due in a few months and a big school theater performance on her mind, everything suddenly feels like it’s moving too fast. She has a million questions, and the first is about the young man in the photo she found hidden away in her mother’s things.