Middle School Literature

As Michelle Baron ascends the steps of Magnolia Middle School, her life is about to change forever. The dream of becoming a teacher leads her on an unexpected journey that will challenge her professionally and personally. Although 180 students file through her classroom daily, one demands her attention more than the others. Living in her third foster home in a year, Amber's bitterness and rebellion spark a challenge within Michelle to somehow make a difference in this troubled girl's life.

Rylee Swanson is beginning eighth grade with zero friends. A humiliating moment at the end-of-seventh-grade pool party involving a cannonball, a waterlogged updo, and some disappearing clothes has Rylee halfway convinced she’s better off without any friends—at least friends like those. The one question Rylee can’t shake is . . . why? When a group assignment in journalism pairs Rylee with science geek DeNia Alonso, DeNia’s annoyingly know-it-all, nerdy personality is both frustration and fuel to Rylee’s search for answers.

Before his grandmother moved from India to the island of Mariposa, Muki Krishnan’s life was good. But now? He has to share his bedroom with Paati, his grandmother, who snores like a bulldozer and wakes him up at dawn to do yoga. Paati’s arrival coincides with even bigger changes in Mariposa. The president divides citizens into Butterflies - families who have lived in Mariposa for three generations - and Moths, who, like Muki’s family, are more recent immigrants.

The source has been destroyed. Food is scarce. Tensions are rising. Then the earthquake strikes. Esther and Caleb hit the road, leading a ragtag caravan. Their destination? A mythical city where they hope to find food and shelter - not to mention a way to make it past age 19. On the way, alliances and romances blossom and fracture as the group faces vicious gangs, violent weather, and more variants. Esther must rally to take charge, accepting the help of a blind wilderness guide, Aras.

Her life is a shadow of a life. Her future is not her own to fashion. Her family is a tangle of secrets. She cannot read. She cannot write. But she is Parastrata Ava, the Captain's eldest daughter, the so girl of a long-range crewe - her obligations are grave and many. And when she makes a mistake, in a fragrant orchard of lemons, the consequences are deadly. There are some who would say, "there but for the Mercies go I". There are some who would say Parastrata Ava is just a silly earthstruck girl who got what was coming to her.

When sixteen-year-old Cynda goes to stay with her father and his second wife, Susan, at their remote bed-and-breakfast inn in Maine, everything starts off well despite legends about ghosts and a murder at the inn. But Cynda feels like a visitor in Dad's new life, an outsider. Then intense, handsome stranger Vincent Morthanos arrives at the inn and seems to return Cynda's interest. At first, she is blind to the subtle, insistent signs that Vincent is not what he seems—that he is, in fact, a vampire. Can Cynda free herself—and her family—from Vincent's power before it's too late?

Eleven-year-old Kylie’s friends seem so much more mature than she is. And with middle school just a summer away, she’s worried her friends might leave her behind, especially because she keeps embarrassing them. So Kylie applies her scientific brain to solve the problem and comes up with the Everybody Experiment.

It's Halloween: Candy-snatching time. For the past few years, twelve-year-old Jonas and his friends have competed to see how much candy they can snatch from unsuspecting trick-or-treaters. No one’s supposed to get hurt. So Jonas is taken by surprise when one of his smaller targets fights back against his candy-snatching attempt. He’s even more surprised when he starts to receive anonymous notes from someone who seems to know what happened that night.

This action-packed sequel finds middle school band geeks Dev, Isaiah, Tessa, Maeve, and Lewis trapped in a parallel version of Earth as they fight to save their families—and the entire rest of the multiverse—from the villainous Empyrean One. Far from home and running out of options, it will take everything they have to get back to Earth and preserve humanity once and for all. The startling revelation that they are their own worst enemies forces a painful decision: Will they forsake the lives they once knew for an uncertain future?

When Zack’s younger sister dies in a tragic accident, his family moves to a small town in the Northwest to try and heal from all the pain. Eleven-year-old Zack blames himself for his sister’s death, and he struggles to find any comfort in his new surroundings. Zack, at first, feels lost in Vista Point. Until he meets Ann, a girl who lives in the area and shows Zack all the special places to be discovered. But there’s something that seems a bit strange about Ann - and perhaps a secret she is keeping from him.

Twelve-year-old Tahlia Wilkins is ready to start off her perfect summer when her dreamy crush invited her to his birthday pool party. But the Red Goddess of Panties, a.k.a. her first period, arrives 24 hours before the pool party and completely messes up all her plans. To make matters worse, her mom is out of town, and there’s no way she’s going to ask her awkward dad for help! Thalia was always afraid growing up would be tough, but this is just not fair.

When Brianna Justice's hero, the famous celebrity Chef Miss Delicious, speaks at her school and traces her own success back to being president of her fifth-grade class, Brianna determines she must do the same. She just knows that becoming president of her class is the first step toward her own cupcake-baking empire! But when new student Jasmine Moon announces she is also running for president, Brianna learns that she may have more competition than she expected.

Emma's pug, Cupid, has a hidden talent: He is a master at matchmaking! Her pet seems to have a nose for spotting which two people belong together. With the big school dance coming up, Emma decides to use Cupid's powers to find her best friend, Hallie, a date. But as Emma tries to navigate crushes and secrets, she finds that things are a lot more complicated than they seem. And what if Cupid also has a surprising match in mind...for Emma herself?

Charlotte Andrews is perfectly fine being quiet - in fact, she prefers it. When she doesn't speak, people can't make fun of her stutter. But when she witnesses bullying on the school bus and doesn't say anything, her silence comes between her and her best friend. As if that wasn't bad enough, her parents signed her up for musical theater. Charlotte doesn't want to speak onstage, but at least she doesn't stutter when she sings. Then, just as she starts to find her voice, the arts program is cut. Charlotte can't stay silent anymore.

Every time violence erupts in the Middle East, Ida knows what's coming next. Some of her classmates treat her like it's all her fault—just for being Palestinian! In eighth grade, Ida is forced to move to a different school. But people still treat her like she'll never fit in. Ida wishes she could disappear. One day, dreading a final class project, Ida hunts for food. She discovers a jar of olives that came from a beloved aunt in her family's village near Jerusalem. Ida eats one and finds herself there—as if her parents had never left Palestine!

Cordelia Liu’s first year at Shadow School was a success. She studied hard and made friends. She also sent hundreds of ghosts into the afterlife, because Shadow School isn’t a normal school, and Cordelia Liu isn’t a normal girl. But her second year is already different. Ghosts are refusing to move on, the teachers are acting weird, and Cordelia’s best friends, Benji and Agnes, aren’t as interested in rescuing the ghosts as they used to be.

An urgent phone call from principal/friend Antonio Petrocelli sends retired music teacher Susan Wiles rushing through the doors of Westbrook Middle School, where she discovers a missing bookkeeper and a ransacked office. Eager to keep the break-in quiet, the principal enlists her help.

Charlotte “Charli” Wilson thought Alex Andropov would always be her best BFF in the whole wide world. From crushes to butterfly phobias to secret hidden blankies, there’s never been a secret they couldn’t share. Charli even showed Alex the supersecret hiding spot for her diary. But when school starts and Charli learns that Alex has betrayed her by sharing her biggest, most secretest secret, she realizes that maybe her bestie isn’t so great after all. Meanwhile, Alex has no idea what he's done wrong.

Ken is an EngiNerd: one of a super-smart group of friends - all nerds - who have been close since kindergarten. They may be brainiacs, but they're just like everyone else: They fight with one another, watch too much TV, eat Chinese food, and hate walking their dogs. Well, maybe not just like everyone because Ken's best friend Dan has been building robots. He then secretly sent one to each of the EngiNerds, never letting them know he's the mastermind. At first Ken is awed and delighted: What kid hasn't dreamed of having a robot all their own?

Seventh grader Estefania "Stef" Soto is itching to shake off the onion-and-cilantro embrace of Tia Perla, her family's taco truck. She wants nothing more than for her dad to get a normal job and for Tia Perla to be put out to pasture. It's no fun being known as the "Taco Queen" at school. But just when new city regulations are proposed, and her family's livelihood is threatened, she will have to become the truck's unlikely champion.