Category Must Read Middle Grade

Racing in the Rain. My Life as a Dog Garth Stein Ages 9+ In this young readers’ edition of the New York Times bestselling adult novel The Art of Racing in the Rain, meet one funny mutt—Enzo, the lovable dog who…

Pie Sarah Weeks Ages 8-11 When Alice’s Aunt Polly, the Pie Queen of Ipswitch, passes away, she takes with her the secret to her world-famous pie-crust recipe. Or does she? In her will, Polly leaves the recipe to her extraordinarily…

Out Of Darkness: The Story of Louise Braille Russell Freedman Memoir A biography of the modest Frenchman who, after being blinded at the age of three, went on to develop a system of raised dots on paper that enabled blind…

Otherwise Know as Sheila the Great Judy Blume  Ages 7-10 Who is Sheila Tubman? Even Sheila isn’t sure. Sometimesshe feels like confident Sheila the Great, and other timesshe’s secret Sheila, who’s afraid of spiders, swimming,and, most of all, dogs. When…

One Crazy Summer Rita Williams-Garcia Ages 9-11 In One Crazy Summer, eleven-year-old Delphine is like a mother to her two younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern. She’s had to be, ever since their mother, Cecile, left them seven years ago for a…

Nim’s Island Wendy Orr Ages 7-10 A girl. An iguana. An island. And e-mail. Meet Nim–a modern-day Robinson Crusoe! She can chop down bananas with a machete, climb tall palm trees, and start a fire with a piece of glass.…

My Miserable Life F.L. Block Ages 8-12 Ben Hunter has a miserable life — M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-E! His sister will only talk to him through text messages, his mom won’t let him eat sugar or even go for a bike ride unchaperoned,…

Max the Mighty Rodman Philbrick Ages 9-12 Meet Max Kane, the brooding giant-of-a-boy who escaped from his basement hiding place and faced the real world in Freak the Mighty. Still grieving over the loss of his best friend, Kevin, Max…

Matilda Roald Dahl Ages 6-10 Matilda is a sweet, exceptional young girl, but her parents think she’s just a nuisance. She expects school to be different but there she has to face Miss Trunchbull, a kid-hating terror of a headmistress.…

Making Bombs for Hitler Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch Ages 9-11 Lida thought she was safe. Her neighbors wearing the yellow star were all taken away, but Lida is not Jewish. She will be fine, won’t she?But she cannot escape the horrors…