Best Middle-Grade Books of 2020

Find the best middle-grade books from 2020 for kids ages 8 to 12. You’ll find #ownvoices, historical fiction, fantasy, mystery, and more–there’s a book for everyone on this list.

Best Middle-Grade Chapter Books of 2020

OwnVoices Chapter Books from 2020

The Brave by James Bird
OJIBWE INDIGENOUS CULTURE / NEURO DIFFERENCES
Collin is a boy who counts every letter spoken to him and then says the number of letters out loud. He gets kicked out of yet another school and his father sends Collin to live with the Ojibwe mother he’s never met. Living with her is a totally different experience than his previous home — because with his mother, he’s welcomed and not judged. Collin befriends the neighbor girl who teaches him how to be brave. Which he needs. And so does she because she’s going to be a butterfly soon…(I’m intentionally not sharing this part of the plot because you need to discover it for yourself.) This book is one of the BEST middle-grade books of ALL time; you’ll feel all the feelings!
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Brother’s Keeper by Julie Lee

Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
SEXUAL ABUSE / FOSTER CARE
Heartbreaking and hopeful and horrifying and powerful. Della’s drug-addicted, psychotic mom is in jail, and so is Clifton, her mom’s boyfriend with whom she and her sisters lived for years, even when her mom was in jail. Now Della and her older sister Suki are safe in foster care with a woman named Francine. As Della’s story unfolds, we learn that Suki saved her from Clifton. We suspect that Suki was also abused but we don’t know until much later in the story after Suki’s suicide attempt. When both girls start going to therapy, Della learns that she’s not alone (which is why this book needs to be shared with kids) and helpful strategies for her anxiety. Yes, this book is about hard, awful things and suggest that grown-ups read it with kids so they can unpack the big issues.
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Wink by Rob Harrell
HUMOR / CANCER
I highly recommend this funny, standout cancer story based on the author’s own life. When Ross is diagnosed with a rare kind of tumor, he immediately starts radiation treatment. School becomes pretty challenging because his eye drips goop and his hair starts falling out in clumps– among other things he makes comedic with cartoon drawings. A goofy, kind-hearted radiation tech gets Ross interested in alternative punk music, and in order to impress a girl, Ross asks the tech for guitar lessons. Turns out, the guitar and his new music, help Ross express his frustrations and find joy again, leading to some surprising results — like a new, unexpected friend. (Note: There are a few bad words.)
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Get a Grip Vivy Cohen by Sarah Kapit
REALISTIC / AUTISM SPECTRUM / BASEBALL
What a page-turner! The book is written as letters and emails between Vivy, a girl on the autism spectrum who loves baseball,  and her favorite baseball player, VJ Capello. Vivy writes VJ all about getting to play on a team as well as making her first friend, pitching, and getting bullied by the coach’s son. When she gets hit in the head with a ball, her overprotective mom won’t let Vivy play anymore. How can Vivy change her mom’s mind when her mom won’t listen? It’s no surprise that this is an #OwnVoices book because the story feels so genuine. It’s not just for readers who enjoy sports but for anyone who understands dedication to a passion.
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The Ship We Built by Lexie Bean
REALISTIC / GENDER IDENTITY / TRANSGENDER / SEXUAL ABUSE
Rowan is a lonely child who feels confused about his gender identity. Born a girl, Rowan longs to be a boy. He even changes his name frequently. He shares his thoughts in letters attached to balloons, hoping someone will find them and want to be his friend. Even more confusing is that his dad comes into his room at night making him very uncomfortable and prompting unanswerable questions of what it means to be a male. The Ship We Built is a story filled with longing and heartbreak, confusion and questions, abuse and hope. It’s a powerful, emotional story about gender identity, sexual abuse, and survival.
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Realistic Chapter Books from 2020

Tune It Out by Jamie Sumner
POVERTY / Sensory Processing Disorder / FOSTER CARE
I think you’ll love Lou’s story as much as me because of the beautiful character arc, authentic portrayal of SPD, and compelling writing. 12-year-old Lou lives in a truck and doesn’t go to school. During the days, she hangs out where her mom works or sings for money even though performing makes her extremely anxious. A series of events lands Lou in foster care with an aunt she’s never met. Surprisingly, in her new home, Lou finds friends and gets help from an occupational therapist which includes a sensory diet for SPD. Not only that, she learns to trust her kind aunt and uncle. I love that the ending is complicated and imperfect because it feels completely authentic.
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From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks
REALISTIC
On her 12th birthday, Zoe, a girl who loves to bake, discovers a letter to her from her incarcerated biological father, Marcus. She decides to write him back, even daring to ask him if he really committed the murder for which he’s in jail. Marcus writes back to Zoe that he’s innocent and he can prove it. This sets Zoe on a quest to find out the truth for herself, even if her mom and dad forbid it. You won’t be able to put down this winsome middle-grade story with a determined heroine in a story about social justice, family, friendship, and love.
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The List of Things that Will Not Change by Rebecca Stead
REALISTIC / DIVORCE / LGBTQ+

A beautifully written slice-of-life, growing-up chapter book with authentic characters and relatable themes of family and big life changes. When Bea’s parents get divorced, her dad helps her focus on the things that won’t change — like her parents’ love for her — even though many other things will and do change. To help her feel safe, Bea keeps a list of things that WON’T change in a special journal. When she learns that her dad and his boyfriend are getting married and that she’ll get a new sister, she’s excited. But her new stepsister isn’t excited to be sisters, not at all, at least not right away. It’s a bumpy journey that shows the ups and downs of divorce as well as how much easier it is when you have loving parents.
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Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson
REALISTIC / VERSE
Written in verse with precise text, this is an important book to bring awareness to CTE as well as show families in grief. ZJ’s professional football player dad is changing. He’s stopped playing, gets terrible headaches, surprising anger outbursts, and forgets ZJ’s name. ZJ contrasts this with memories of his dad before the ever after; the before dad who played with ZJ made him breakfast and treated his friends like family. Now, there are a lot of doctor’s appointments and not much hope. It’s real, raw, and profoundly sad to watch ZJ slowly lose the dad he once knew. Readers are thankful for ZJ’s friends and family who have his back as he deals with the difficulties of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) that is only recently being researched and seen as a devastating result of too many head injuries.
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Santiago’s Road Home by Alexandra Diaz
REALISTIC / IMMIGRATION
Santiago leaves his cruel tia’s home in rural Mexico with nowhere to go yet unexpectedly meets a kind woman and her daughter who let him join their journey to el Norte. Unfortunately, their group is attacked and must find the way without the coyote’s help. The heat and lack of water almost kill them but Santiago and his adopted little sister are rescued half dead, taken to an internment camp, and separated. He’s confined for endless, hopeless days with guards who treat him like a criminal. Will Santiago get a happy ending? This book is amazing — unflinchingly honest about the situation of illegal immigrants with a heroic main character.
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Coo by Kaela Noel
REALISTIC (ish)
Coo, rescued as a baby by the pigeons, only speaks Pigeon and lives in the bird’s dovecote. She bravely ventures down from the dovecote when her best friend bird Burr breaks his wing. She gives Burr to the healer only wearing plastic bags and looking half-starved from surviving on garbage the pigeons bring her. When a snowstorm hits, the healer returns and brings Coo to her apartment, teaching Coo about the basics of being human including human language. Then, Coo’s beloved pigeons are poisoned. Coo knows she must leave Tully to save the birds. What happens next will change everything for them both. You will love the tender, perfect ending.
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Historical Fiction

Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park
HISTORICAL FICTION

Park writes a wonderfully touching multilayered story about a young half-Asian girl’s life during western expansion frontier times. After Hana’s mother dies, her father moves the two of them to a small midwestern town. Park sets the scene with care and you’ll see a realistic portrayal of life in the 1880s from the point of view of someone who is experiencing overt racism. Despite many unfair things, Hana stays resilient and determined to both graduate from school and help her father in his shop. This book is exceptional.
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Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte 

HISTORICAL FICTION
Set in the Martha’s Vineyard community of Chilmark where a high percentage of Deaf individuals live, Mary’s a smart girl who speaks sign language. But when a researcher arrives with preconceived notations of the “infirmity” of Deaf people, he kidnaps Mary as a “live specimen”. For months she’s imprisoned and forced to work, then locked in a room to be studied with no way to communicate by signing or writing. Not only will you learn about this interesting historical community and life as a Deaf person but you’ll also fall in love with the admirable heroine in this compelling story.
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The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman
HISTORICAL FICTION

This story explores what happens after Chernobyl explodes in 1986; it’s about Russia, friendship, family, and prejudice. When Jewish Valentina and her prejudiced enemy Oksana are forced to leave town together after the Chernobyl meltdown, the girls stay in Leningrad with Valentina’s grandmother and the months there are a healing time filled with unconditional love.  Heartwarming, insightful, and beautiful, this book is impossible to put down with wise life lessons.
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Graphic Novels

Class Act by Jerry Craft 
REALISTIC /  RACISM

I highly recommend this excellent graphic novel, the sequel to New Kid! (This can be read independently.) Drew’s private school is a hot mess of ignorance, racism, institutionalized stereotypes, and microaggressions. With all that he faces at school, Drew’s resentment fuels his decision to ignore his rich white friend, Liam, after visiting his house! But this causes a rift in his friendship with Jordan who is friends with them both. Just like the previous book, Craft develops three-dimensional characters in relatable, realistic, and funny situations about the themes of growing up and racism.
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Primer by Jennifer Muro and Thomas Krajewski, illustrated by Gretel Lusky
GRAPHIC NOVEL / SUPERHERO / ART
16-year-old Ashley hopes her latest foster home will be a fit — and it is! The couple is great– they’re funny, quirky, and accepting. Then, Ashley finds very special lab-created body paint in her foster mom’s closet and learns that when applied to her body, the paint gives her superpowers, different powers for each color like fire, flying, and strength. Meanwhile, her incarcerated dad is giving her trouble and the government’s soldiers hunt for the missing paints. Fast-paced and exciting, this story is perfect for readers who love underdogs, girl power, superheroes, and art!
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When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed, illustrated by Victoria Jamieson and Iman Geddy
REFUGEE MEMOIR / GRAPHIC NOVEL
An emotional true story of a Somali boy and his brother who grow up in a Kenyan refugee camp. Readers are transported into the boys’ day-to-day lives of hunger and boredom. Omar doesn’t attend the dusty camp school until age 11 because he must care for his younger brother Hassan who has special needs. When the brothers get a coveted interview with the UN, Omar hopes they might be approved to go to the U.S….but nothing happens. Years pass with many struggles. Education and the camp friendships continue to be the main bright spots for Omar. The book ends with a bittersweet yet wonderful new beginning.
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Biography

Becoming Muhammad Ali by James Patterson and Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile
BIOGRAPHY / VERSE
Masterfully plotted and beautifully written, Becoming Muhammad Ali, focuses on teenage Cassius with some reflections of his earlier childhood, setting the stage for the man that he will become. When Cassius finds boxing, it becomes a powerful outlet and finally something at which he excels. His personality shines through the pages. He’s a son, friend, and dedicated athlete; he’s cocky but likable…and a gifted master of trash talk. Readers will zip through this page-turning biography; it’s both informative and inviting. I could NOT put it down. 
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Mystery

Tornado Brain by Cat Patrick

Adventure

The Canyon’s Edge by Dusti Bowling
ADVENTURE / HEALING / TRAUMA / CLIMBING

Written in verse, this is a heart-wrenching, heart-stopping, suspenseful adventure with lyrical, figurative language about an intense journey of physical hardship and emotional healing. Nora and her dad climb into a Sonoran Desert canyon, their first outing since her mom died from a shooting. Right when Nora tells her father she hates him, a flash flood careens through the canyon, carrying her father and their supplies away. Alone and terrified, Nora forces herself to find shelter and search for her father with the venom from a scorpion bite slowing her down. As she faces her fears and continues on, she overcomes a metaphorical war with the “beast” who has been giving her nightmares for the past year.
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Whale of the Wild by Rosanne Parry, illustrated by Lindsay Moore
ENVIRONMENT / OCEAN / ADVENTURE

I love this beautifully written story about two orca siblings separated from their families, trying to find food and their seasonal home. Alternating perspectives between the older sister Vega and little earnest, trusting brother Deneb, their voices express a uniquely imagined orca’s perspective. journeying to get safety and food and find their family. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves animals, the writing is wonderfully evocative.
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Fantasy

Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
FANTASY / MYTHOLOGY

The compelling, well-written middle-grade book starts out with a bang when Nizhoni, from the Diné (Navajo) people, sees a monster disguised as a human at her basketball game. Making matters worse, the monster kidnaps her dad and tries to get her little brother, too. Nizhoni escapes with her brother and her best friend to search for the Spider Woman. Along the journey, she faces difficult challenges and learns that she and her brother are the descendants of the mythical Hero Twins. I LOVED this story — it’s a fast-paced hero’s journey with a rich, diverse mythology.
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Sci-Fi

Bloom by Kenneth Oppel
SCI-FI / ADVENTURE

Get ready for a wild ride of suspense, action, adventure, science fiction, and coolness!! Bloom is the story of three kids who are the only ones NOT affected by strange-looking plants from space that are quickly taking over the world, covering houses and streets, swallowing animals and people. Scientists soon realize that the plants are actually the start of an alien invasion…and kidnap the kids to study their unusual reactions to the plant invasion.
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