Published by Aladdin (Released September 15)

Summary:  Zinnia (Zinny) has a pretty normal life with her three siblings and two best friends until her brother is involved in a car accident at college.  The hospital staff notices erratic behavior, and Gabriel is diagnosed with bipolar disorder and sent to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation and counseling.  Zinny’s family is thrown into turmoil–her mother takes a leave of absence from her job, her father starts working longer hours, and neither parent is doing much for Zinny or her other brother and sister.  The kids are told to keep Gabriel’s issues “private”.  Zinny finds herself drifting away from her friends and not sure what to tell the caring adults who reach out to her.  Her interest in science attracts the notice of her favorite teacher, who offers Zinny an amazing summer opportunity, but Zinny’s not sure she should be away from her family.  Zinny is finally forced to confront her own emotions and to learn that loving her brother doesn’t preclude taking care of herself.  320 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  As I read this book, it occurred to me that Barbara Dee is becoming kind of a Judy Blume of the 21st century.  Her recent books have taken on the issues of sexual harassment, eating disorders, childhood cancer, and now mental illness, but she does it with a light touch and with characters that middle-grade readers readily identify with.  I always find her books easy to book talk with upper elementary and middle school readers, yet they could also serve as bibliotherapy for kids who have experienced the challenges she writes about.

Cons:  The title made me think I was getting a first-person narration, which I wasn’t.

If you would like to buy this book on Amazon, click here.

Published by Scholastic

Summary:  Rick and his best friend Jeff (from Gino’s 2015 book George) take the center stage in this book as they start middle school.  Rick is starting to be more aware of the fact that Jeff is kind of a jerk, and also that kids around him are starting to be interested in dating.  Rick’s not sure if he’s straight or gay, since he doesn’t feel particularly attracted to either boys or girls.  Although he feels uncomfortable and worried that Jeff might find out, Rick attends a Rainbow Spectrum meeting for kids exploring their genders and sexualities.  When he learns about asexuality, he thinks that might be the right identity for him.  He finds support through new relationships with kids in the group and a closer bond with his grandfather who turns out to have some secrets of his own.  Rick’s newfound confidence helps him to stand up to Jeff and feel more comfortable about expressing himself in public.  240 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  Rick’s search for an identity he feels comfortable with feels like an authentic middle school experience.  The Rainbow Spectrum cast of characters provides a vehicle to introduce readers to different genders, sexualities, and pronouns.  Kids who have read George will enjoy catching up with the kids from that story a few years later, and will be happy to find out that George is entering middle school as Melissa.

Cons:  Like another book of Alex’s, You Don’t Know Everything, Jilly P., this one felt very agenda-driven.  Too often the characters tell instead of show, and appear unusually “woke” for middle school kids as young as 11, e.g., this from a sixth grade boy: “Rick, if we’re gonna be friends, you’ve got to share how you’re feeling.  Otherwise I’ll never know you.”  

If you would like to buy this book on Amazon, click here.

Published by Roaring Brook Press

Summary:  A shock wave travels through the eighth grade when an anonymous list appears on social media ranking the top 50 prettiest girls in the class.  The story is told from alternating points of view of three characters:  Eve, a shy introvert who’s uncomfortable with her body’s sudden changes and is in the #1 spot; Eve’s best friend Nessa, a theater kid who doesn’t make the list and has been teased about her weight; and Sophie, a girl from the wrong side of town striving to be best at everything who is dismayed to be ranked #2.  Although Sophie’s never hung around with Eve and Nessa, the fallout from the list brings them together, and they plot to bring down the boy they think created the list.  Several plot twists reveal to the girls that appearances can be deceiving, especially in middle school, and that everyone, including the three of them, has something to hide.  320 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  This seems to be the year of the middle school sexual harassment book, and this has been one of my favorites.  Too often, stories that take place in middle school have the good kids versus the mean kids, but this showed that all kids are struggling with their identities as they enter adolescence.  The question of who created the list creates a page turner that will keep readers engaged to the very end.

Cons:  Trying not to make this a spoiler, but after learning so much about many of the characters, we never really get to know the one who actually created the list.

If you would like to buy this book on Amazon, click here.

Published by Scholastic

Summary:  King and his parents are barely able to function as they try to deal with the grief over the sudden death of King’s older brother Khalid.  King is also starting to recognize his feelings for Sandy, a boy he used to be friends with until they had a fight.  Sandy had confided in King that he is gay, and King told him he might be too.  Khalid overheard the conversation, and told King that he couldn’t be gay, that dealing with being Black was enough.  When Sandy runs away from his abusive father, King is the only one who knows where he is, and ends up lying to his friends and family to protect him.  As King slowly works through his anger, grief, and shame, he realizes that it’s time to speak the truth about Sandy, Khalid, and himself, even if it means risking losing the people he loves.  272 pages; grades 4-8.

Pros:  In the acknowledgements, Kacen Callender writes of a conversation they had with their editor, Andrea Davis Pinkney, about the fact that Pinkney had never seen a middle-grade novel about a gay Black boy.  Well, now she has, and it is beautifully written, with a dreamy quality appropriate for the Louisiana bayou in which it’s set.  This book just won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for fiction, and I’m sure it will be a contender for other awards.

Cons:  That dreamy quality made the beginning kind of slow, and it took me awhile to get into the story.

If you would like to buy this book on Amazon, click here.

Published by Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Summary:  Donte wishes he could be less visible, like his lighter-skinned older brother, Trey, but his dark skin makes him stand out at the elite Middlefield Prep in the suburbs of Boston.  After being unjustly accused by a teacher, Donte winds up being arrested and sent to jail before being suspended for a week.  It’s during this suspension that he finds out about a former Olympic fencer who works at a Boys and Girls Club in Boston.  Donte’s worst enemy at Middlefield is the star of the fencing team, so he decides to seek out the coach to train him.  To his surprise, he ends up excelling at fencing, and his love of the sport eventually eclipses his desire for revenge.  Trey, Donte, and a brother and sister from the club form a fencing team, and their participation in the Massachusetts regional championships bring the story to a satisfying conclusion.  240 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  While last year’s The New Kid brought to light microaggressions against kids of color at an elite mostly-white prep school, this book features much more blatant racism from students, teachers, and administrators.  Fans of Kwame Alexander and Jason Reynolds will enjoy this fast-paced sports story, and readers everywhere will learn the importance of seeing othersand being seen by others.

Cons:  As is so often the case in stories about school bullying, educators came across by and large as clueless chuckleheads.

If you would like to buy this book on Amazon, click here.

Published by Wendy Lamb Books

Summary:  12-year-old Bea looks back over the last few years of her life, starting when she is 8 and her parents are getting a divorce.  They give her a notebook with the beginnings of “A List of Things That Will Not Change”, which starts with her parents’ love for her.  Two years later, her father and his boyfriend Jesse announce their engagement.  She’s thrilled, especially when she learns that Jesse’s daughter, Sonia, is also 10.  Bea will be getting the sister she’s always wanted, even if Sonia spends most of her time in California.  But the road to the wedding proves to be a bumpy one, as Bea has to deal with the fact that Sonia doesn’t seem quite as happy about being sisters; that Jesse has a brother who can’t accept him and has stopped speaking to him; and most of all, that she is carrying a terrible secret from the previous summer that she worries is about to come back to haunt her.  As the wedding day draws near, Bea must learn to trust her friends and family enough to tell them what is going on so that she can embrace the changes happening in her family.  224 pages; grades 3-7.

Pros:  Rebecca Stead once again proves her mastery at writing an absorbing middle-grade novel.  The plot could be nothing special in the hands of another writer, but Stead’s characters and attention to detail are what really make the magic happen.  This is sure to get some Newbery consideration.

Cons:  I enjoyed this more than Liar & Spy (I wasn’t much of a fan), but not quite as engaging and emotionally complex as Goodbye, Stranger.  And will anything ever match When You Reach Me? 

If you would like to buy this book on Amazon, click here.

Published by Dial Books (Released August 11)

Summary:  Della and her older sister Suki have just been placed in foster care with Francine.  It’s pretty clear from page 1 that some horrible things have happened to them.  Early on, Della tells how her mother got sent to jail several years before for setting fire to a hotel room while cooking meth with both girls in the hotel with her.  But, Della continues, that’s not the hard part of the story.  It’s not until many pages later that the reader learns how Clifton, the mother’s boyfriend that the girls ended up living with, tried to molest Della.  How Suki caught him and took a picture.  And how, slowly, Della realizes with horror what has been happening to Suki for years.  The unremittingly grim trajectory of their lives, though, begins to change.  Francine turns out to be an unlikely, no-nonsense heroine.  A girl named Nevaeh reaches out to Della and becomes a friend.  And when Suki finally finds her pain unbearable, doctors and therapists are available to help her.  Della decides the wolf is her favorite animal, and as the days with Francine go by, she learns to be strong like the wolf, but also to lean on the strengths of the rest of her pack.  272 pages; grades 5-8.

Pros:  This book is tough to read, but I couldn’t put it down and read it in less than a day.  You’ll recognize some of the elements that made The War That Saved My Life so memorable.  The flawed, but unforgettable young narrator.  The unlikely guardian who ends up creating a family.  The traumatized sibling.  The unlikely humor.  Kimberly Brubaker Bradley has created another masterpiece, as well as shining light on an issue that often stays in the shadows, especially for the intended audience.  A Newbery contender for sure.

Cons:  Fans of The War That Saved My Life will undoubtedly be clamoring for Bradley’s latest book., but the subject matter may raise a few parental eyebrows., so be ready for some potentially difficult questions.  On a lighter note, if you have parents who object to language, Suki tells Della to use the words snow, snowman, or snowflake instead of curse words.  That’s how the words appear on the printed page, but it’s usually pretty easy to guess what she’s really saying by how other characters react.

If you would like to buy this book on Amazon, click here.