Realistic Fiction (Middle Grade)
You won't find dragons, superheroes, or dystopian futures in the texts gathered in this study guide collection. What you will find are stories that reflect life authentically, in all its (varied, marvelous, and sometimes messed up) forms. The texts in this collection are ideal for middle-grade readers.
The 2010 novel 90 Miles to Havana by Cuban-American author Enrique Flores-Galbis is the coming-of-age tale of Julian, a young Cuban boy who, along with his two older brothers, travels to Miami as part of Operation Pedro Pan in the 1960s. The operation was a covert mission between Cuban and American authorities, with the help of the children’s parents, to evacuate Cuban children from the country during a time of political turmoil under new dictator Fidel... Read 90 Miles to Havana Summary
Hattie Owen’s life changes the summer she turns 12 and meets the young uncle she never knew existed in Ann M. Martin’s middle-grade novel, A Corner of the Universe (2002). Uncle Adam has been kept a secret because of his mental problems. Adults have trouble handling his emotional extremes, but shy Hattie finds a true friend in her exuberant uncle. Adam teaches Hattie to explore life beyond the safety of her front porch. As Hattie... Read A Corner of the Universe Summary
First published in 2006, Alabama Moon by Watt Key is a realistic middle grade novel set in 1980 in rural Alabama. After being raised by his survivalist father, 10-year-old Moon Blake knows he can acquire anything he needs from the forest. When his father dies, Moon sets out for Alaska as Pap instructed. On his journey, Moon finds conflict with authorities, peers, “the system,” and a constable intent on breaking his spirit. Alabama Moon was... Read Alabama Moon Summary
Gennifer Choldenko’s Al Capone Does My Shirts (2006) is a work of historical fiction aimed at middle grade readers. The novel is about a family who moves to Alcatraz Island, a small, unprotected island in the middle of San Francisco Bay, in 1935, in the middle of the Great Depression, because the protagonist’s father gets a job at Alcatraz prison. This real life prison formerly housed America’s most infamous, dangerous and ruthless convicts, including historical... Read Al Capone Does My Shirts Summary
All the Broken Pieces is a novel in verse by Ann E. Burg, first published in 2009 and geared toward middle grade readers. The novel won the Jefferson Cup Award for children’s historical fiction and was named an IRA Notable Book for a Global Society, as well as a Booklist Editors’ Choice and YALSA Best Book for Young Adults. Burg was also nominated for a NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work. With a sparse... Read All the Broken Pieces Summary
The middle-grade novel A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park follows the life of one of the Lost Boys from South Sudan during the Second Sudanese Civil War. Based on a true story, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt published the bestselling novel in 2010, and Park later wrote a companion picture book, Nya’s Long Walk. The story follows Salva Dut, based on a family friend of Park’s, who is chased from his village and family... Read A Long Walk to Water Summary
Twelve-year-old Amal’s dreams of becoming a teacher are shattered when she disrespects the powerful landlord of her Pakistani village and is forced into a life of servitude in the New York Times bestselling Amal Unbound (2018). Author Aisha Saeed is a Pakistani-American teacher, writer, and attorney as well as a founder of the We Need Diverse Books organization. In Amal Unbound, Saeed calls attention to contemporary global inequities, exploring themes of social injustice, education, and... Read Amal Unbound Summary
A Mango-Shaped Space is a 2003 middle-grade novel by American author Wendy Mass. It tells the story of Mia Winchell, a 13-year-old girl living in Illinois in the early 2000s. Mia has a secret. She associates all letters and numbers with distinct colors, and when she hears sounds, she sees bursts of color across her field of vision. It turns out that Mia has synesthesia, an uncommon but harmless neurological condition where an individual’s senses... Read A Mango-Shaped Space Summary
Eleven-year-old Pakistani-American Amina Khokar lives in Milwaukee with her mother, father, and brother, Mustafa. At school, a Korean girl named Soojin Kim is her best friend. Amina is distressed when Soojin befriends Emily, a girl who has historically joined in on racially-motivated taunts against Soojin and Amina. The situation is complicated when Amina, Emily, and Soojin—along with the class oddball, Bradley—are assigned to the same group for an Oregon Trail project in their social studies... Read Amina's Voice Summary
A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen dramatizes the experiences of the division of Germany after World War II and tells a tale of family separation from a child’s perspective. The novel explores the effects of repressive government on intimate relationships as the main character, 12-year-old Gerta, watches friendships and partnerships dissolve due to the Cold War. It is a story of individual heroism and family devotion. The novel became an ILA-CBC Children’s Choices Reading... Read A Night Divided Summary
Nora Raleigh Baskin won the Schneider Family Book Award for the young adult novel Anything But Typical, published in 2009. Anything But Typical tells the first-person fictional story of a 12-year-old boy diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Jason Blake struggles with adolescence in the same ways most 12-year-old boys do, but his disorder makes it more difficult for him to verbally express his experience. Instead, he turns to writing to share his inner world... Read Anything But Typical Summary
As Brave as You is a middle grade novel written by American author Jason Reynolds and published in 2016. It won several awards, including the Kirkus Award, the NCAAP Image award for children’s literature, and the Schneider Family Book Award, which recognizes superior depictions of disability in children’s literature. It was also chosen as a Coretta Scott King Honor book, awarded to African-American writers and illustrators for excellence in conveying the African-American experience in children’s... Read As Brave As You Summary
Ashes (2016), a young adult historical novel by American author Laurie Halse Anderson, is the third and final book in the Seeds of America series. This guide refers to the 2016 Atheneum eBook edition.Plot SummaryIsabel Gardener and Curzon Smith, two black teenagers who escaped slavery during the American Revolution, have been on the run together for five years. After serving at Valley Forge, they’re travelling through the Eastern states, looking for Isabel’s little sister Ruth... Read Ashes Summary
A Single Shard (2001) is an award-winning, middle-grade historical novel by Korean American author Linda Sue Park. Park has written multiple children’s books, picture books, and volumes of poetry. Some of her better-known titles include A Long Walk to Water (2010), The Thirty-Nine Clues series in nine volumes (2010), and Prairie Lotus (2020). Much of her historical fiction is based on Korean history.A Single Shard is intended for readers in grades 5 to 7, though... Read A Single Shard Summary
Because of Mr. Terupt (2010) is a middle-grade novel that takes place in Mr. Terupt’s fifth-grade class at Snow Hill School in Connecticut. The story is told from the perspectives of seven individual students in Mr. Terupt’s class. Mr. Terupt himself is a new teacher who attempts to teach lessons about personal responsibility, but his good intentions backfire when he falls victim to a tragic schoolyard accident that leaves him in a coma. The novel... Read Because of Mr. Terupt Summary
Because of Winn-Dixie is a middle-grade novel by Kate DiCamillo published in 2000 by Candlewick Books. It follows main character Opal as she learns to love her new home in Naomi, Florida with the help of a stray dog named Winn-Dixie. Steeped in the traditions of Southern literature, the book won a Newbery Honor distinction and a Parents’ Choice Gold Award, among other awards. DiCamillo has been a beloved children's author since publication of Because of... Read Because of Winn-Dixie Summary
Content Warning: Better Nate Than Ever contains sensitive material, such as bullying and LGBTQ-related slurs.Better Nate Than Ever (2013) is the first book in a trilogy about Broadway hopeful Nate Foster; the next two titles in the series are Five, Six, Seven, Nate! (2014) and Nate Expectations (2018). The novel is intended for middle grade and young adult readers but may also appeal to adult fans of theater-related fiction. Author Tim Federle and the fictional... Read Better Nate Than Ever Summary
Blended is a 2018 novel by veteran young adult fiction writer and lifelong educator Sharon M. Draper. In it, she invokes elements of magical realism and explores the impact of both racism and divorce on adolescents through the vehicle of a precocious and talented 11-year-old, Isabella Badia Thornton, who narrates the novel. Izzy struggles with her sense of identity; her father is Black, her mother white. That struggle deepens as she experiences first the impact... Read Blended Summary
Kwame Alexander’s Booked is a young adult novel in verse about the life of Nick Hall, an eighth-grader and soccer aficionado who struggles to meet his parents’ expectations and honor his own self-identity in the wake of his parents’ separation. The book is both a sports novel and a reflection on Nick’s experiences struggling with an injury and major changes in his home life. The book is geared toward 10- to 12-year-old readers and includes... Read Booked Summary
Brian's Return (1999) is a young adult fiction novel and the fourth book in author Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet series. Paulsen draws on his personal experiences from the wilderness to create Brian’s outdoor adventure and survival narrative throughout the series, stating in the author note, “Virtually all that happens to Brian in these books has happened to me at some point in my life” (112). Paulsen was awarded the Newberry Honor in 1988 for Hatchet, the first... Read Brian's Return Summary
Brian’s Winter (1996), a young adult novel by Gary Paulsen, is the third book in the Hatchet series of survival stories. Brian’s Winter chronologically follows Hatchet, acting as an alternate ending to Hatchet in which Brian is not rescued, and must continue to survive in the woods through the winter. Paulsen uses his own firsthand knowledge of winter survival skills to create a vivid and realistic portrayal of winter in the Canadian woods.Other works by... Read Brian's Winter Summary
Bud, Not Buddy is a 1999 children’s realistic historical novel by American author Christopher Paul Curtis. Ten-year-old protagonist Bud Caldwell is an orphan living in Flint, Michigan in 1936. Four years after the death of his mother and after a series of abusive and neglectful foster homes, Bud sets out to find his father, whom he believes is the locally famous jazz musician Herman E. Calloway of Grand Rapids. Bud encounters a host of characters... Read Bud, Not Buddy Summary
Bystander (2011) is a teen/young adult novel by James Preller that explores middle school bullying and the factors that enable it. Griffin Connelly, a two-faced bully, uses his charisma and good looks to keep members of his school clique in line as he perpetrates acts of cruelty against weaker classmates. No one stands up to Griffin until Eric Hayes, a newcomer, disrupts the status quo—questioning Griffin’s bullying and the silent complicity of the other students.The... Read Bystander Summary
Chasing Vermeer is the debut novel of children’s author Blue Balliett. First published in 2004, the book is a children’s art mystery novel. The novel won several awards, including the Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Novel, the Agatha Award for Best YA Novel, and the Chicago Tribune Prize for Young Adult Fiction. An interactive experience, the novel uses maps, pentominoes (or Tetris-like puzzles), and coded graphics by illustrator Brett Helquist, to hide secret messages.The novel’s... Read Chasing Vermeer Summary
Sara Pennypacker’s Clementine is a short chapter book for elementary-aged readers. Marla Frazee’s black and white illustrations bring the text to life. Clementine and the subsequent books in the series have won numerous awards; notably, Clementine is a New York Times bestseller and the winner of the 2007 Boston Globe/Horn Book Award. Little, Brown and Company published Clementine in 2006. This study guide refers to the 2008 first trade paperback edition of the book.Plot SummaryClementine... Read Clementine Summary
Mary Downing Hahn published her 29th book for young readers, Closed for the Season, in 2010. Closed for the Season is a young adult mystery novel that received the coveted Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award. Hahn, an American author, has received a great number of accolades for her work in young adult fiction, among which includes the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction and a series of state awards.Logan Forbes is the 13 year... Read Closed for the Season Summary
Counting by 7s is Holly Goldberg Sloan's first middle-grade novel, published in 2013. A New York Times bestseller, this contemporary story draws upon themes relevant to Sloan's own life. The novel is set in present-day Bakersfield, California, which Sloan says is “emblematic of the characters,” in the sense that it is “often overlooked.” Sloan's subsequent novels include Short (2017) and The Elephant in the Room (2021).Plot SummaryThe novel's protagonist is 12-year-old Willow Chance, a “highly... Read Counting by 7s Summary
Crenshaw is Katherine Applegate’s 2015 middle grade novel about Jackson, a young boy whose family is struggling with financial instability, and his imaginary friend, Crenshaw, a human-sized cat with a fondness for bubble baths and doing cartwheels. Narrated by Jackson in the first person, the story explores the impact of poverty on family and community, the need to reconcile fact and fancy, and how to face the unknown and unpreventable productively.Other works by this author... Read Crenshaw Summary
Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue is a young adult book of historical fiction written by Julius Lester and published in 2005. It was the 2006 winner of the Coretta Scott King Award as well as numerous other YA awards. The book concerns the largest slave auction in American history, which took place on March 2 and 3, 1859, in Savannah, Georgia. Plantation owner Pierce Butler sells more than 400 persons to repay his... Read Day of Tears Summary
Published in 1983 and winner of the 1984 Newberry Award, Beverly Cleary’s Dear Mr. Henshaw marks a departure for the novelist known for her books that celebrate the whimsy and adventurousness of childhood. Dear Mr. Henshaw is an epistolary novel, in which protagonist and aspiring author Leigh Botts narrates his story through letters and diary entries addressed to his favorite author, Mr. Henshaw. Leigh begins writing yearly letters to Mr. Henshaw in second grade but... Read Dear Mr. Henshaw Summary
Dogsong, first published in 1985, is a young adult novel by American author Gary Paulsen, who wrote Dogsong while he was training his dog sled team for his first Iditarod run. It was awarded the Newbery Honor Award in 1986. Paulsen, who was a popular author of young adult and children’s contemporary literature, is best known for books in the coming-of-age genre, often dealing with surviving the wilderness and embracing nature. He authored more than... Read Dogsong Summary
Drama is a young adult graphic novel by Raina Telgemeier published in 2012. It is Telgemeier’s third book and her first fiction graphic novel—her first two were autobiographical. Drama is critically acclaimed and spent 240 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. This guide refers to the 2012 edition by Scholastic/Graphix.Plot SummaryCallie Marin is a seventh-grader at Eucalyptus Middle School. She has long, purple-dyed hair and likes to wear the color green. She also... Read Drama Summary
