Category Archives: Middle Grade & Children’s

Halfway Normal by Barbara Dee

Norah Levy has just completed two years of treatment for leukemia and is ready to go back to the “real world” of middle school. She knows it’ll be tricky—but like the Greek mythological characters she read about while she was sick, Norah’s up for any challenge. But seventh grade turns out to be harder than she thought. Norah’s classmates don’t know what to make of her. Her best friend, Harper, tries to be there for her, but she doesn’t get it, really—and is hanging out with a new group of girls. Norah’s other good friend, Silas, is avoiding her. What’s that about, anyway? When Norah… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental divorce
  • Protagonist is in remission for leukemia
  • Discussions of past hospitalisation & medical treatment

Violets Are Blue by Barbara Dee

Twelve-year-old Wren loves makeup—special effect makeup, to be exact. When she is experimenting with new looks, Wren can create a different version of herself. A girl who isn’t in a sort-of-best friendship with someone who seems like she hates her. A girl whose parents aren’t divorced and doesn’t have to learn to like her new stepmom. So, when Wren and her mom move to a new town for a fresh start, she is cautiously optimistic. And things seem to fall into place when Wren meets potential friends and gets selected as the makeup artist for her school’s upcoming production of Wicked. Only, Wren’s mom isn’t doing so well. She’s… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental divorce

Hurricane Heist by James Ponti

When a category three hurricane hits Miami Beach, it uncovers a body buried at the renowned Moroccan Hotel. The body is identified as the man who served as the hotel’s bell captain sixty years ago…and the presumed culprit of the million-dollar jewel heist that took place just before his disappearance. Since the bell captain clearly didn’t take off with the goods as had been long believed, the Sherlock Society sets their sights on uncovering the real culprit of the theft. But when the thief may also be implicated in the bell captain’s murder, even sixty years later, there are people who want the truth to stay buried.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Dead body uncovered during a hurricane (theme)

Wish by Barbara O’Connor

Eleven-year-old Charlie Reese has been making the same secret wish every day since fourth grade. She even has a list of all the ways there are to make the wish, such as cutting off the pointed end of a slice of pie and wishing on it as she takes the last bite. But when she is sent to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina to live with family she barely knows, it seems unlikely that her wish will ever come true. That is until she meets Wishbone, a skinny stray dog who captures her heart, and Howard, a neighbor boy who proves surprising in lots of ways. Suddenly…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parent in jail (protagonist)
  • Bullying & minor fistfights (on-page)

Dream by Barbara O’Connor

Idalee Lovett is content with her life in small-town Colby, North Carolina, living in her family’s huge house with rooms for rent. But she has big dreams, just like her mama. While Mama is on tour for the summer with her cover band, Lovey Lovett and the Junkyard Dogs, Idalee decides to hone her craft as a songwriter—since her truest wish is to hear her country songs on the radio one day. When the local radio station announces a songwriting contest with the winning song being recorded by an up-and-coming singer, Idalee is determined to win. It would definitely be possible if only she could buy the shiny blue guitar in… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption mentioned
  • Amputation mentioned, including a secondary character who lost toes in an axe incident and a cousin who lost a finger in a fireworks incident
  • Parent in jail for assault (secondary character)
  • Fistfight mentioned

The Miracle on Ebenezer Street by Catherine Doyle

When George stumbles across Marley’s Curiosity Shop at the Christmas fair he finds a mysterious snow globe. The scene it contains is just the first in a series of impossibilities . . . George and his Scrooge of a dad are soon swept on a hilarious adventure to Christmases past, present and future. With help from an enthusiastic elf, a rather grumpy purple reindeer and a very mischievous Nan, can George find a way to bring the joy of Christmas home once again?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a parent in a car accident

When Rain Turns to Snow by Jane Godwin

Lissa is home on her own after school one afternoon when a stranger turns up on the doorstep carrying a baby. Reed is on the run – surely people are looking for him? He’s trying to find out who he really is and thinks Lissa’s mum might have some answers. But how could he be connected to Lissa’s family – and why has he been left in charge of a baby? A baby who is sick, and getting sicker… Reed’s appearance stirs up untold histories in Lissa’s family, and suddenly she is having to make sense of her past in a way she would never have imagined. Meanwhile, her brother is dealing with a devastating secret of his own.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexism
  • Substance addiction mentioned
  • Bullying & cyberbullying

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

A diary, written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall. What it unveils is a slow massacre, a chain of events that go back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow. Told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar life over a series of confessional visits.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape (on-page)
  • Graphic animal death

Forbidden Passage by Jeff Probst and Christ Tebbetts

It happened to them once. It could never happen again, right? Two months ago, Vanessa and Buzz’s dad married Jane and Carter’s mom and they became a family. But their adventure really started just two weeks ago when the four siblings were shipwrecked and stranded on a deserted tropical island for thirteen days. Alone. They thought it was over, but now, they find themselves on a whole new island, and this time, they’re not alone. Getting here was a nightmare. Leaving just might be impossible. Because this time, it’s forbidden.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Physical assault
  • Death from a fall
  • Kidnapping

Trial by Fire by Jeff Probst and Christ Tebbetts

Being shipwrecked on a jungle island in the middle of the South Pacific was bad enough. But now that Carter, Vanessa, Buzz and Jane have lost their boat – and almost everything on board – to another violent storm, it’s like starting over. That means finding food and shelter, making fire for the first time, dealing with the wild boars that roam the island – and of course, figuring out how to get along (and not kill each other in the process). Survival is no individual sport in a place like this, but there’s only one way to learn that. The hard way.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Physical illness & injury
  • Dead body
  • Water & food scarcity
  • Shipwreck
  • Animal attack