Middle-ish Novels: A list to nurture inclusive, affirming, #ownvoices reading lives

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Sarah J. Donovan, PhD (s/her) on January 26, 2020

JASON REYNOLDS: Imagine if we were just to make space for young people to express their stories as they stand today – at 11 years old and 12 years old and 15 years old. What we do intrinsically and implicitly, it validates their humanity at a young age by saying that who you are matters, what you’ve been through matters, how you feel matters.

NPR, “Next National Ambassador For Young People’s Literature Is Named”

A colleague posted a question on Facebook: “What are your favorite middle grade books (suitable for 10-year-olds) featuring POC main characters? Bonus points for books written in letters/email/social media format. Also bonus points for books with themes about friendship/relationships.”

I am so fortunate to work with amazing, well-read children and young adult literature advocates, so they shared links to websites and awards along with some of their favorite titles. In that instant, I had a flood of book cover and audiobook images fill my mind, and then, almost instantly, moments of where I was when I read or listened to the books. The street that had construction was where I walked with Merci Suarez Changes Gears by Meg Medina. The track by my house is where I ran with PET by Akweke Emezi. The sunset I felt from my favorite chair where I read First Rule of Punk by Celia C. Pérez, and later again in a DePaul University classroom with my students on a chilly evening. The “nap” I took in between chapters of Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes to process when Jerome met Emmett Till.

To remember more of my favorites and to review some of the book awards my colleagues suggested, I figured I would gather some of my favorite middle-ish books that are inclusive and affirming of people of color and #ownvoices authors (authors who are of the community about which they write). While most of these titles are from the past year, I have included others that are among my students’ favorites because the books validate “their humanity at a young age by saying that who you are matters, what you’ve been through matters, how you feel matters” (Reynolds).

A note about novels: I lean toward realistic novel reading, so these titles reflect that. I pledge to read more nonfiction, sci-fi, and fantasy in 2020.

Middle Means

First, my colleague, Rebecca Weber, reminds us that middle grade is defined differently in different places. It may mean grades 4-6, and it may mean grades 6-8. Some advance reader copies state ages 12 and above or grades 3 through 7. What is appropriate for every reader differs depending on readiness, experience reading, familiarity, life experience, interest, and overall willingness. So I will just say here that I have taught 7th and 8th grade for over 15 years, and no one book has ever been just right for everyone.

Middle grade is a publishing category. It is a shorthand for where the book would or could be shelved in a library or book store (or classroom). Generally, this means the book is intended for readers eight to twelve. There are still a range of lexiles, topics, genres, and forms. Some can be graphic novels and others may be in verse. Realistic, mystery, science fiction, fantasy — the variety is important as readers experiment with what they like, the reader they are and are becoming.

“To my mind, there’s a little more nuance, especially at the older end of the age range, where some kids could certainly read YA if they chose but prefer middle grade books because those more closely mirror their own experiences or emotions,” says Reka Simonsen, executive editor at Atheneum Books for Young Readers. “Middle grade fiction deals with the things kids are going through at those ages: friendships made and lost, family relationships changing, physical changes, a wide range of school experiences, and a growing awareness of the wide world outside of oneself and the injustices it often contains.”

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/76625-navigating-middle-grade.html

Middle school is how schools are divided by grades. Some are grades 5 and 6, some are 6-8, and so on. You can have students reading at high levels (if you rely on MAP testing) or in advanced reading classes who can still find complexity in a middle-ish text; still, they may be ready for some young adult literature, too.

Another way to think about matching books is to consider the age of the reader and the age of the protagonist. Knowing that the main character is slightly younger than the reader sets up the reading experience for a sense of nostalgia and even bearing witness to back then for the reader but with more perspective, consider the time period, geography, and identity intersections represented. If the character is the same age or slightly older, then the reader may be looking for validation, affirmation, or some insight into what the future holds.

I can and will share here the books that don’t have any (or much) swearing, though some may have a few because some youth do, in fact, swear. These books don’t have explicitly intimate romantic scenes, though some may have romance because some middle-grade students think about that stuff. And some of these books do have violence because that is the world youth are live in.

I have listed the books by award categories because many of these awards offer a seal of approval, which indicates a degree of trust for readers (and parents and teachers) in the quality or importance of the content and writing. Still, not all authors have access to publicists to submit their books for awards or reviews; in fact, many award nominations require a fee. Thus, I have included an “Ethical ELA” category to include more titles. Below, I share titles, covers, and links to Goodreads summaries and reviews. Here we go, in no particular order:

Newbery Award

The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberymedal

Printz Award

This is an important award, but, in my view, they are more young adults and would be great for upper middle school students who are ready for more mature content throughout the text. For example, the 2019 Printz Award (and Pura Belpré Award) winner is The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. This is a powerful novel in verse that several of my junior high students loved. The main character, Xiomara Batista, is fifteen, and she shares observations about her curvy body and a boy in her bio class and laws of the church in her leather notebook.

Whippoorwill Award

The whippoorwill is a bird known for its distinct song that fills many remote spaces. The Whippoorwill Award takes on this bird’s name as a way to honor young adult literature that sings the authentic stories of rural people and places. ​The Whippoorwill Award’s mission is to advocate for books that portray the complexity of rural living by dispelling stereotypes and demonstrating diversity among rural people.

https://whippoorwillaward.weebly.com/

Coretta Scott King Award and Honors

The Coretta Scott King Book Awards are given annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values. 

http://www.ala.org/rt/emiert/cskbookawards

Pura Belpré Award

The award is named after Pura Belpré, the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library. The Pura Belpré Award, established in 1996, is presented annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth. 

http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/belpremedal

National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature

The position of National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature was created to raise national awareness of the importance of young people’s literature as it relates to lifelong literacy, education, and the development and betterment of the lives of young people.

http://www.read.gov/cfb/ambassador/about.html

Jason Reynolds

Jacqueline Woodson

  • Harbor Me (NAACP Image Award Nominee, 2019)
  • Brown Girl Dreaming (Newbery Medal Nominee, 2015; National Book Award, 2014; Coretta Scott King Award for Author, 2015; YALSO Award Nominee for Excellence in Nonfiction, 2015)
  • Locomotion (Coretta Scott King Award, 2004; National Book Award Finalists, 2003; Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Award, 2007)
  • Feathers (also above)
  • Miracle’s Boys (Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award Nominee, 2002; Coretta Scott King Award for Author, 2001)

Walter Award

Inaugurated in 2016, the annual Walter Dean Myers Awards for Outstanding Children’s Literature recognize diverse authors (or co-authors) whose works feature diverse main characters and address diversity in a meaningful way. Two to four Honor Books are also named annually. We Need Diverse Books defines “diverse” to be one or more of the following: a person of color, Native American, LGBTQIA, a person with a disability, and/or a member of a marginalized religious or cultural minority in the United States.

https://diversebooks.org/our-programs/walter-award/

2020 Notable Children’s Books Midwinter Discussion List

The Notable Children’s Books meetings are open to ALSC members and other ALA Midwinter attendees. The committee looks for books of especially commendable quality, books that exhibit venturesome creativity, and books of fiction, information, poetry, and pictures for all age levels (birth through age 14) that reflect and encourage children’s interests in exemplary ways.

https://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/2020/01/2020-notable-childrens-books/

There are many promising titles on this website that I have not read, but are on my to-read list! Also, this is the first year that the American Indian Library Association’s Youth Literature Awards will be announced at ALA along with the Caldecott, Newbery and all the other awards.

Ethical ELA Favs

There are so many books that I can recommend in this post to put on your bookshelves and into the hands of your students. Below are some of my favorites. Some of these have, indeed, been nominated and won awards and some have not (that I am aware of). I just know that my students have appreciated these titles for a variety of reasons.

Please Share Your Favs

I would love to hear what books you have shared with students who are in this “constructed middle range” that include affirming representations of people of color by #ownvoices authors. To reiterate, these are the books that I have read and shared with youth. These are the books that, in my experience, resonate with a wide range of ages and interests without pushing “too far” into sexual content, language, or violent imagery, which I realize is subjective. With the varying descriptions of middle grade and middle school –third through eighth grade, ten through fourteen — what I do know is that all their hearts are tender, and we want to do right by them when making recommendations. Let the stories do the work. Students will know if it is a good fit within the first few pages.

A Word of Thanks to the Authors:

I would not have been able to teach close to 200 students each year for the past nearly 20 years if it was not for all, and I mean all, the authors who write books for youth. It is impossible for me to choose one book to meet the needs, interests, minds, and hearts of so many individuals, and so I have depended on you, book stores, librarians, and other readers to help me make a variety of books accessible to students over the years. Thank you!

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Sara

When I taught 6th grade, I always loved reading Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. I taught the students about Japanese culture and the Hiroshima bombing. They always enjoyed it. I also love teaching Seedfolks, which is about a diverse community that comes together around a community garden. Both great for inclusion and studying other cultures.

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