Middle School Summer Reads

Front Desk New Kid Hello, Universe Kelly Lang Jerry Craft Erin Entrada Kelly

After emigrating from China, Mia Graphic novel. After his parents The lives of four misfits are Tang's parents take a job managing send him to a prestigious private intertwined when a bully's prank a rundown motel, despite the school known for its academics, lands shy Virgil at the bottom of a nasty owner, Mr. Yao, while she Jordan Banks finds himself torn well. Valencia, Kaori, and Gen band works the front desk and tries to between two worlds. together in an epic quest to find cope with fitting in at her school. and rescue him.

Alabama Moon The Crossover How to (almost) Ruin Your Watt Key Kwame Alexander Summer Taryn Souders

After the death of his father, Moon Twin basketball stars Josh and Chloe wants to earn money for a leaves their forest shelter home Jordan wrestle with highs and lows new bicycle, so when she is sent to and is sent to an Alabama on and off the court as their father career camp, she decides to learn institution, becoming entangled in ignores his declining health. cake decorating but nothing goes the outside world he has never according to plan. known and making good friends, a relentless enemy, and finally a new life.

Camp Amina’s Voice Spirit Hunters Kayla Miller Hena Khan Ellen Oh

Graphic Novel. When Willow and Amina, a Pakistani-American Feeling uncomfortable from the Olive go off to summer camp, Olive Muslim girl, struggles to stay true moment she arrives in her new makes quick friends with the other to her family's culture while home, Harper is dismayed by local campers while Willow struggles to dealing with the vandalism of the rumors that her house is haunted form connections and latches on to local Islamic Center and mosque and that every family that has ever the only person she knows, leaving and her best friend Soojin's new lived there has suffered terrible Olive stretched thin. friendship with their former tragedies, a situation that turns nemesis. sinister when her cheerful little brother begins acting in alarming ways.

House Arrest Ghost Shouting at the Rain K.A. Holt Jason Reynolds Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Timothy is sentenced to house Ghost, a naturally talented runner Delsie loves tracking the weather, arrest after impulsively stealing a and troublemaker, is recruited for living with her grandmother, and wallet, and he is forced to keep a an elite middle school track team. the support of friends and journal into which he pours all his He must stay on track, literally and neighbors, but misses having a thoughts, fears, and frustrations. figuratively, to reach his full "regular family," especially after

potential. her best friend outgrows her.

The Season of Styx Malone Merci Suarez Changes Gears Pinned Kekla Magoon Meg Medina Sharon Flake

Caleb Franklin and his younger Thoughtful, strong-willed sixth- Adonis is smart, intellectually brother, Bobby Gene, spend an grader Merci Suarez navigates gifted, and born without legs; extraordinary summer with their difficult changes with friends, Autumn is strong, a great wrestler, new, older neighbor, Styx Malone, family, and everyone in between. and barely able to read in ninth a foster boy from the city. grade--but Autumn is attracted to Adonis and determined to make him a part of her life whatever he or her best friend thinks.

Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak The Unteachables Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy Spanish Gordon Korman Rey Terciero Pablo Cartaya

After a fight at school leaves The Unteachables never thought Graphic Novel. An adaptation of Marcus facing suspension, they’d find a teacher who had a the coming-of-age novel features Marcus's mother takes him and his worse attitude than they did. And the four March sisters as they younger brother, who has Down Mr. Kermit never thought he struggle with school woes, health syndrome, to Puerto Rico to visit would actually care about teaching issues, boy troubles, and personal relatives they do not remember or again. Over the course of a school identity. have never met. While there, year, though, room 117 will Marcus starts searching for his experience mayhem, destruction— father who left their family ten and maybe even a shot at years ago and is somewhere on the redemption. island.

We Are All Made of To Night Owl From Dog Fish Tight Molecules Holly Goldberg Sloan & Meg Torrey Maldonado Susin Nielsen Wolitzer

Brilliant but socially-challenged Unhappy about being sent to the After his quick-tempered father Stewart and mean-girl Ashley must same summer camp after their gets in a fight and is sent back to find common ground when, two fathers start dating, Bett and jail, sixth-grader Bryan, known for years after Stewart's mother died, Avery, eventually begin scheming being quiet and thoughtful, snaps his father moves in with his new to get the couple back together and follows new friend Mike into girlfriend--Ashley's mother, whose after a break-up. Told entirely trouble. gay ex-husband lives in their guest through emails. house.

The Miscalculations of No Slam Dunk Other Words for Home Lightning Girl Mike Lupica Jasmine Warga Stacy McAnulty

Lucy Callahan was struck by In Annapolis, Maryland, seventh- Sent with her mother to the safety lightning. She doesn't remember it, grader Wes is a good teammate of a relative's home in Cincinnati but it changed her life forever. The but this basketball season has been when her Syrian community is zap gave her genius-level math challenging because of his ball hog overshadowed by violence, Jude skills, and ever since, Lucy has teammate Dinero, who is worries for the beloved family been homeschooled. Now, at age determined to steal the spotlight, members who were left behind 12, she's technically ready for and Wes's army veteran father and forges a new sense of identity college. She just has to pass 1 who is suffering from PTSD. shaped by friends and changing more test--middle school! perspectives.

Surrounded By Sharks Scythe Small Spaces Michael Northrop Neal Shusterman Catherine Arden

On the first day of vacation Davey In a world where disease has been After Ollie's school bus Tsering wakes up early, slips out of eliminated, the only way to die is mysteriously breaks down on a his family's hotel room without to be randomly killed (“gleaned”) field trip, she has to take a trip telling anyone, and heads for the by professional reapers through scary woods, and must beach and a swim in the warm (“scythes”). Two teens must use all of her wits to survive. Floridian waters--and a fateful compete with each other to meeting with a shark. become a scythe - a position neither of them wants. The one who becomes a scythe must kill the one who doesn't.

Lizzie Legend I Am Alfonso Jones The Wrong Train Matthew Ross Smith Tony Medina Jeremy De Quidt

Unhappy at not being allowed to Graphic Novel. The ghost of 15 A treasury of scary stories about play on the boys' basketball team, year old Alfonso Jones travels in a the experiences of a train Lizzy Trudeau, age 13, wishes to New York subway car full of the passenger who becomes subject to never miss another shot and soon living and the dead, watching his the nightmarish elements in stories finds herself playing in the NBA family and friends fight for justice told by a mysterious stranger, who against her hero, the greatest after he is killed by an off-duty demands a terrible price to make player of all time. police officer while buying a suit in the stories end. a Midtown department store.

Doll Bones The Agony House The Unfortunates Holly Black Cherie Priest Kim Liggett

In the attic of the old house her After getting away with murder, Zach, Alice, and Poppy, friends mother plans on turning into a Grant Tavish plans his own form of from a Pennsylvania middle school bed-and-breakfast, high schooler justice, but before he can act upon who have long enjoyed acting out Denise finds a mysterious comic it a cave system collapse traps him imaginary adventures with dolls book that may hold the answer to and four other teenagers miles and action figures, embark on a why terrifying things are below the surface, where they real-life quest to Ohio to bury a happening in the house. soon discover that they aren't doll made from the ashes of a dead alone. girl.

Dorothy Must Die Grenade Rot & Ruin Danielle Page Alan Gratz Jonathan Maberry

Whisked to Oz by a Kansas twister, On April 1, 1945 with the Battle of After the zombie apocalypse, teens Amy Gumm discovers that the Okinawa beginning, Hideki, drafted must find work by the age of 15 if magical land has been destroyed into the Blood and Iron Student Corps, they want to keep their food by Dorothy's tyrannical rule, a is handed two grenades and told to go ration. And that’s why Benny situation that compels Amy to kill American soldiers. Small for his reluctantly leaves the safety of join an order of deposed age, Hideki does not really want to kill home and joins his bounty-hunting magic-wielders who seek to put an anyone, he just wants to find his brother Tom in the zombie-riddled family. His struggle across the island end to Dorothy's reign. wilds of the Rot and Ruin. Benny will finally bring him face-to-face with

Ray, a marine in his very first battle-- begins to question his

and the choice he makes then will understanding not only of Tom, change his life forever. but also of life, death, and what bravery really means.

The Unwanteds The School for Good and Evil Where the Heart Is Lisa McMann Soman Chainani Jo Knowles

In a society that purges thirteen- Best friends Sophie (princess An unexpectedly challenging year-olds who are creative, wannabe) and Agatha (witchy summer job and her parents' identical twins Aaron and Alex are loner) are headed (via kidnapping) financial difficulties are further separated, one to attend to the School for Good and Evil, complicated by 13-year-old University while the other, but their assumed destinies are Rachel's best friend's changing supposedly Eliminated, finds reversed. himself in a wondrous place where feelings and her own uncertainty youths hone their abilities and about whether she even likes boys. learn magic.

No Fixed Address It Wasn’t Me Pie in the Sky Susin Nielsen Dana Alison Levy Remy Lai

Felix's appearance on a television A middle-grade Breakfast Club tale Knowing very little English, game show reveals that he and his finds six very different students Jingwen feels like an alien when his mother have been homeless for a transcending stereotypes to work family immigrates to Australia, but while, but also restores some of his together during a mandated copes with loneliness and the loss faith in other people. detention when they are wrongly of his father by baking elaborate blamed for a vandalism incident. cakes.

A Babysitter’s Guide to The Remarkable Journey of Gamer Army Monster Hunting Coyote Sunrise Trent Reedy Joe Ballerini Dan Gemeinhart

Coyote and her father rush to Rogan Weber is an obsessed When middle schooler Kelly Poplin Springs, Washington, in gamer, whose motto, ego sum Ferguson's Halloween plans switch their old school bus to save a maximus, declares his confidence from party-going to babysitting, memory box buried in a park that in his own abilities, and whose she thinks the scariest part of her will soon be demolished. parents are also deeply involved in night will be the death of her social ultra high tech (a little too deeply life. But then Baby Jacob gets sometimes. Naturally he is thrilled kidnapped by the Boogeyman's to receive an invitation to join a minions and Kelly learns there's a tech giant's virtual reality TV whole lot more to childcare than gaming contest--but as the games free snacks and Netflix. become more intense and

dangerous, he and his fellow

gamers realize that something sinister is behind this particular game.

Breakout Greystone Secrets #1: The Two Roads Kate Messner Strangers Joseph Bruchac Margaret Peterson Haddix

From multiple perspectives, tells of Told from separate viewpoints, In 1932, Cal must stop being a a time capsule project and the Chess, Emma, and Finn Greystone, hobo with his father and go to a middle schoolers who contribute, investigate why their mother went Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding including future journalist Nora missing and uncover their ties to school, where he begins learning Tucker and newcomer Elidee an alternate world. about his history and heritage as a Jones, whose brother is in the local Creek Indian. prison.

The Girl in the Well is Me Lockwood & Co, Vol 1: The A Long Walk to Water Karen Rivers Screaming Staircase Linda Sue Park Jonathan Stroud

When the Sudanese civil war Kammie reflects on her life as she When London is overrun by malevolent spirits, a talented reaches his village in 1985, Salva fights claustrophobia while waiting becomes separated from his family to be rescued from a well she fell group of young psychic detectives compete against other and must walk with other Dinka into while trying to impress some tribe members through southern mean girls. ghostbusting agencies in the debut of a new series that finds three Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya in

intrepid colleagues investigating search of safe haven. one of England's most haunted houses.

The Hunger Games Uglies Deep Water Scott Westerfeld Watt Key Suzanne Collins

In a future North America, where Just before their sixteenth When a dive off the coast of the rulers of Panem maintain birthdays, when they will be Alabama goes horribly wrong, Julie control through an annual transformed into beauties whose and one of her father's scuba televised survival competition only job is to have a great time, clients struggle to survive after pitting young people from each of Tally's best friend runs away and reaching an abandoned oil rig. the twelve districts against one Tally must find her and turn her in, another, Katniss's skills are put to or never become pretty at all. the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place.

Like Vanessa The Mystery of Black Hollow Scat Tami Charles Lane Carl Hiaasen Julia Nobel

It is 1983 and Vanessa Martin, a 13 Emmy investigates the connection Nick and his friend Marta decide to year old African American girl in between her father's investigate when a mysterious fire Newark's public housing, dreams disappearance and a secret society starts near a Florida wildlife of following in the footsteps of the at her prestigious English boarding preserve and an unpopular teacher first black Miss America, Vanessa school. goes missing. Williams; but the odds are against her until a new teacher at school organizes a beauty pageant and encourages Vanessa to enter.

The Secret Sheriff of Sixth Far Away The Night Diary Grade Lisa Graff Veera Hiranandani

Jordan Sonnenblick CJ's Aunt Nic is a psychic medium Shy Nisha, forced to flee her home

who tours the country passing on with her Hindu family during the Maverick Falconer wishes that he messages from the dearly 1947 partition of India, tries to find could deal with school bullies and departed. And CJ knows firsthand her voice and make sense of the his mother's issues, but he starts to how comforting those messages world falling apart around her by realize that others kids in his class can be - Aunt Nic's Gift is the only writing to her deceased Muslim have problems too and things way CJ can talk to her mom, who mother in the pages of her diary. might get better if they just survive died just hours after she was born. sixth grade. So when CJ learns that she won't be able to speak to her mother anymore, she sets off on road trip to locate the one object that she believes will tether her mother's spirit back to Earth . . . but what she finds along the way challenges every truth she's ever known.

Planet Earth is Blue As Brave As You Double Identity Nicole Panteleakos Jason Reynolds Margaret Peterson Haddix

Autistic and nearly nonverbal, When two brothers decide to Bethany's parents have always Nova is happy in her new foster prove how brave they are, been overprotective, but when home and school, but eagerly everything backfires—literally. they suddenly drop out of sight with no explanation, leaving her anticipates the 1986 Challenger with an aunt she never knew launch, for which her sister, existed, Bethany uncovers Bridget, promised to return. shocking secrets that make her question everything she thought she knew about herself and her family.

Game Changer Harbor Me The Vanderbeekers of 141st Tommy Greenwald Jacqueline Woodson Street Karina Yan Glaser

While Teddy fights for his life after When six students are chosen to Told that they will have to move a football injury at training camp, participate in a weekly talk with no out of their Harlem brownstone his friends and family gather to adults allowed, they discover that just after Christmas, the five support him and discuss events when they're together, it's safe to Vanderbeeker children, ages four leading to his coma. share the hopes and fears they to twelve, decide to change their have to hide from the rest of the reclusive landlord's mind. world.