I’m trying out a few tweaks to my schedule in the new year, and this has led to more reading! So instead of my usual practice of taking a few weeks off at the beginning of January, waiting for new books to pile up, I have a few more 2024 posts to share. To start, here are three books that would be perfect for middle school or early high school readers, a demographic that often gets neglected, as they’re often feeling too old for middle grade but not quite ready for many young adult books.
Boy 2.0 by Tracy Baptiste (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 304 pages, grades 5-9). The story opens with Coal going to live with a new foster family after his long-term foster father had a mental breakdown. When Coal sneaks off to do a chalk drawing commemorating a woman shot by the police, he’s confronted by a man with a rifle. He runs off, trying to evade the police, and is amazed when they surround him but don’t seem to see him. Looking down at his body, he realizes he has become invisible, a condition that gradually reverses itself when the crisis is over. The rest of the story details his search for answers about this new power he had, leading him to new realizations about his birth mother as well as a deep conspiracy that includes both of his foster families. Although there’s a certain necessity to suspend disbelief, readers will love this page-turning science fiction adventure.
Bye Forever, I Guess by Jodi Meadows (Holiday House, 288 pages, grades 5-9). Awkward, shy Ingrid has a secret–she’s Anony Mouse on Scrollr, where she has a popular scroll called Bye Forever, I Guess, posting wrong-number texts that she’s received. The only people who know about her scroll are her online gaming friend Lorren, her grandmother who’s raised her since her parents died, and her best friend Rachel. When Rachel betrays her, Ingrid is afraid her secret will get out, but she’s soon distracted by a mysterious boy who sent her a wrong-number text. They start texting and gaming, and before long she finds herself with a huge crush–even though she only knows him by his gaming name, Traveler. As things unravel in Ingrid’s real life, she starts to wish she could meet Traveler in person, a wish that’s granted when they agree to meet at a bookstore where their favorite author is signing a long-awaited book. Their meeting provides a shocking surprise to Ingrid–and an extremely surprising and romantic ending to their story. While Traveler’s identity seemed glaringly obvious to me by about halfway through the book, Ingrid remains clueless. Just as I was getting completely frustrated by this, the bookstore meeting proved so sweet that I forgave Ingrid and the author everything. Fans of the genre will undoubtedly enjoy this nerdy tech-infused romance.
Keeping Pace by Laurie Morrison (Harry N. Abrams, 304 pages, grades 5-9). Grace’s focus throughout middle school has been on academic achievement, specifically to win the top student award at eighth grade graduation and to beat her rival and former best friend Jonah. When Jonah bests her by half a point, Grace is devastated and faces a depressing summer. Her more laid-back sister and cousin help her come up with a list of goals for the summer that include making a new friend, taking a baby-sitting job to help her dad’s new girlfriend, taking a class just for fun, and running a half marathon. Grace secretly plots to beat Jonah, who is also running the half marathon, but as the summer unfolds, an injury derails her plans. Meanwhile, shifting relationships cause Grace to begin to question her single-minded ambitions: a new friend that she meets who’s recently given up competitive gymnastics to pursue other interests; her dad’s career ambitions that get in the way of his relationships, and most of all, her former friendship with Jonah that’s rekindled as they train for the race. As with Bye Forever, I Guess, I got kind of frustrated by the drawn-out will-they-or-won’t-they romance between Grace and Jonah, but it would undoubtedly speak to a younger teen reader, and I really liked the message about the importance of living a balanced life.
Boy 2.0 by Tracy Baptiste (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 304 pages, grades 5-9). The story opens with Coal going to live with a new foster family after his long-term foster father had a mental breakdown. When Coal sneaks off to do a chalk drawing commemorating a woman shot by the police, he’s confronted by a man with a rifle. He runs off, trying to evade the police, and is amazed when they surround him but don’t seem to see him. Looking down at his body, he realizes he has become invisible, a condition that gradually reverses itself when the crisis is over. The rest of the story details his search for answers about this new power he had, leading him to new realizations about his birth mother as well as a deep conspiracy that includes both of his foster families. Although there’s a certain necessity to suspend disbelief, readers will love this page-turning science fiction adventure.
Bye Forever, I Guess by Jodi Meadows (Holiday House, 288 pages, grades 5-9). Awkward, shy Ingrid has a secret–she’s Anony Mouse on Scrollr, where she has a popular scroll called Bye Forever, I Guess, posting wrong-number texts that she’s received. The only people who know about her scroll are her online gaming friend Lorren, her grandmother who’s raised her since her parents died, and her best friend Rachel. When Rachel betrays her, Ingrid is afraid her secret will get out, but she’s soon distracted by a mysterious boy who sent her a wrong-number text. They start texting and gaming, and before long she finds herself with a huge crush–even though she only knows him by his gaming name, Traveler. As things unravel in Ingrid’s real life, she starts to wish she could meet Traveler in person, a wish that’s granted when they agree to meet at a bookstore where their favorite author is signing a long-awaited book. Their meeting provides a shocking surprise to Ingrid–and an extremely surprising and romantic ending to their story. While Traveler’s identity seemed glaringly obvious to me by about halfway through the book, Ingrid remains clueless. Just as I was getting completely frustrated by this, the bookstore meeting proved so sweet that I forgave Ingrid and the author everything. Fans of the genre will undoubtedly enjoy this nerdy tech-infused romance.
Keeping Pace by Laurie Morrison (Harry N. Abrams, 304 pages, grades 5-9). Grace’s focus throughout middle school has been on academic achievement, specifically to win the top student award at eighth grade graduation and to beat her rival and former best friend Jonah. When Jonah bests her by half a point, Grace is devastated and faces a depressing summer. Her more laid-back sister and cousin help her come up with a list of goals for the summer that include making a new friend, taking a baby-sitting job to help her dad’s new girlfriend, taking a class just for fun, and running a half marathon. Grace secretly plots to beat Jonah, who is also running the half marathon, but as the summer unfolds, an injury derails her plans. Meanwhile, shifting relationships cause Grace to begin to question her single-minded ambitions: a new friend that she meets who’s recently given up competitive gymnastics to pursue other interests; her dad’s career ambitions that get in the way of his relationships, and most of all, her former friendship with Jonah that’s rekindled as they train for the race. As with Bye Forever, I Guess, I got kind of frustrated by the drawn-out will-they-or-won’t-they romance between Grace and Jonah, but it would undoubtedly speak to a younger teen reader, and I really liked the message about the importance of living a balanced life.