Rebellion 1776 by Laurie Halse Anderson (Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, 416 pages, grades 5-9). With its setting in Boston from March 1776 when the British evacuated to the end of the year, this historical fiction novel is a compelling read with some timely themes and subplots, like vaccine controversy and living through times of revolutionary upheaval.

The Trouble with Heroes by Kate Messner (Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 368 pages, grades 4-7). After vandalizing a gravestone, Finn’s consequence is an assignment to hike the highest 46 peaks in the Adirondack Mountains. Drawing on her own experiences in the Adirondacks, Kate Messner’s novel in verse traces Finn’s journey from grief and anger at his father’s death to healing and connecting with community.

Radiant by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson (Dutton Books for Young Readers, 320 pages, grades 4-7). Another novel in verse, this explores fifth-grader Cooper’s efforts to live up to her parents’ expectations to be “radiant” against the backdrop of the racism she experiences as one of the few Black students in her 1963 elementary school.

Will’s Race for Home by Jewell Parker Rhodes (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 208 pages, grades 4-7). Will and his father leave sharecropping in Texas for a dangerous and adventurous journey to try to get a farm for their family in Oklahoma during the 1889 Land Rush.

All the Blues in the Sky by Renée Watson (Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 208 pages, grades 5-8). Sage processes the grief of losing her best friend in a hit-and-run accident on her birthday to slowly moving toward new friendships and a romance in another novel in verse.