BookDragon Middle Grade Readers
The Last Cherry Blossom by Kathleen Burkinshaw [in Shelf Awareness]
20 Jul, by in Fiction, Japanese, Japanese American, Middle Grade Readers, Repost
Descended from a noble samurai family, 12-year-old Yuriko Ishikawa enjoys a privileged life in Hiroshima, Japan. While World War II rages on multiple continents, for now the seventh-grader exists in relative peace. Even when she's at school, with U.S. B-29s flying overhead, her legs wobbling...
Pax by Sara Pennypacker [in School Library Journal]
13 Jul, by in Audio, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Young Adult Readers
*STARRED REVIEW Somewhere close, sometime soon, war is coming. Twelve-year-old Peter and his fox, Pax, are forced apart by a father whose noble intentions have devastating results. When Peter's father enlists in the military, he pressures Peter to return Pax to the wild, while Peter is sent...
The Green Bicycle by Haifaa Al Mansour
06 Jul, by in Arab, Audio, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers
“Girls don’t ride bicycles,” Wadja hears repeatedly. Being an 11-year-old in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, she finds herself constantly at odds with the societal limitations of her gender, from being forced to wear the all-covering abaya to adjusting her feisty behavior in too many restrictive ways. When...
Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart
19 Jun, by in Audio, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific
Six days before eighth grade starts, Lily and Dunkin meet for the first time. Lily is still known mostly as Timothy, the boy name he was given at birth – but he's practicing being his true self: a girl named Lily. Dressed in her mother's dress and sandals,...
The Key to Extraordinary by Natalie Lloyd [in School Library Journal]
05 Jun, by in Audio, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Repost
*STARRED REVIEW Emma Casey, her brother Topher, and their Granny Blue call the Boneyard Café home. On weekends, Emma conducts tours of the haunted graveyard next door, while Topher warms visitors with his irresistible peach-lavender muffins and famous Boneyard Brew (aka hot chocolate). When their cozy haven...
Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo [in School Library Journal]
02 Jun, by in Audio, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Repost
*STARRED REVIEW Before they became the Three Rancheros, the Little Miss Central Florida Tire competition brought Raymie Clarke, Louisiana Elefante, and Beverly Tapinski together – each for wildly different reasons. Raymie is convinced that when her philandering father, who's run off with the dental hygienist, sees a...
The Land of Forgotten Girls by Erin Entrada Kelly [in School Library Journal]
01 Jun, by in Audio, Fiction, Filipina/o American, Middle Grade Readers, Repost
*STARRED REVIEW Once upon a time, Soledad had two sisters and two loving parents. But tragedy can happen to anyone at any time, and suddenly, Sol and her younger sister, Ming, are transplanted to the other side of the world in a run-down apartment in Louisiana,...
Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel Savit
25 May, by in Absolute Favorites, Audio, European, Fiction, Jewish, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers
Anna is 7 when her father disappears. In 1939 Krakow, Poland, being Jewish is enough to condemn people to death. When the Swallow Man appears – so named for his ability to conjure and communicate with birds – the unlikely pair reluctantly recognize in each other not...
Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan [in Shelf Awareness]
20 May, by in Fiction, Indian, Indian American, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, South Asian, South Asian American
Award-winning writer Sarah Weeks (Pie; So B. It) and India-born debut author Gita Varadarajan present a poignant, comical cultural exchange in the alternating voices of two fifth-grade boys. Joe Sylvester has been living in the same New Jersey town, going to the same school and hanging...
Nameless City (Book 1) by Faith Erin Hicks
06 May, by in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Pan-Asian, Young Adult Readers
Okay, so I'm warning you right up front: This is just the first of a trilogy. And YES, it's fabulous, stupendous FUN. Which means you're going to immediately want more. Since the first installment just hit shelves last month, who knows when the next will be...