Stonewall and Lambda Literary Award-winning author Kacen Callender brings their contemporary, lyrical style to a middle grade novel about grief and love in King and the Dragonflies.

King’s big brother, Khalid, has died tragically at just 16 years old, and the doctors can give his family no explanation as to why. King’s parents are frozen with sadness, and his friends don’t know what to say to him. But King knows something that all of them don’t: Khalid is not gone. He has simply changed forms. He has become a dragonfly, just like in the dreams Khalid used to tell King about.

King spends his afternoons alone down at the bayou, trying to spot Khalid among the hundreds of glittering wings, but soon he finds he can’t hide away from the world forever. King begins to realize that he will have to face not just the reality of life without his brother but also the truth of his own identity, no matter what anyone else may think.

Callender’s second middle grade novel feels raw and authentic. It doesn’t shy away from addressing weighty themes of grief, identity and racism in a small community. Callender writes with honesty but also with kindness and strikes the difficult but necessary balance between the two perfectly. Readers will root for King on his journey toward accepting both his circumstances and himself. King and the Dragonflies is a story infused with hope that flutters and glitters all around, like so many dragonfly wings.

Everything is going so well. One final audition and Amelia Jones will finally be accepted into the Mystwick School of Musicraft, just like her mother before her. Until Amelia is delayed and finds herself running late for the audition. And then she accidentally sets her dress on fire. And then she misses just a couple of notes in her growth spell and makes the Maestro’s mustache grow down to his waist. In The Mystwick School of Musicraft, the debut middle grade novel by Jessica Khoury, Amelia knows her dream is dead, her last connection to her mother severed—until her acceptance letter arrives.

Khoury builds a world where music and magic are intertwined, in which a well-played song can charm a chicken and a professional orchestra can dissipate a tornado. Anyone can learn simple songs and tiny charms, but it takes a special school like Mystwick to train musicians to be Maestros, to teach them the music that can mold, shape and change the world, and to understand just how dangerous, even deadly, musical spells can be. Despite this extraordinary environment, Amelia experiences the same uncertainties and insecurities as anyone who has ever stretched outside of their comfort zone.

Written in the tradition of other magical school stories such as Harry Potter and The School for Good and Evil, The Mystwick School of Musicraft quickly finds its own melody as it deals with family relationships, loss, unlikely friendships and even more unlikely allies. Through her fast-paced and effortless writing, Khoury has created an imaginary world that readers will want to revisit.

Life isn’t easy for anyone on a farm in the nation’s heartland in the 1940s, but it’s especially hard for Pixie, the spunky heroine of Tamara Bundy’s Pixie Pushes On. Pixie’s mother has died, and her sister has contracted polio and been taken to a hospital. Pixie blames herself for these tragedies and struggles to cope with her family’s losses. 

Unfortunately, Pixie’s school life isn’t much better than what waits for her at home, and she finds it hard to feel thankful—even on Thanksgiving, when she’s not allowed to visit her beloved sister in the hospital. Life seems to have handed Pixie a raw deal.

Things come into perspective, though, when a baby lamb, Buster, joins the farm, and Pixie is charged with his care. As her Granddaddy says, “Every day’s a lesson in beginnings and endings.” Pixie learns compassion and understanding as she pushes on through her pain and learns to laugh and find joy again.

Amid the tough farm work, Pixie’s family is her guiding force, and neighbors who’ve also experienced loss help open her heart. Glimpses into life during wartime—iron lungs, back-breaking work, war rations and doing without—make this a poignant piece of historical fiction for young readers.

Pixie Pushes On is a touching story of love, loss and learning about the world beyond your own backyard. 

Middle schoolers have a lot to deal with, from bullies to burgeoning hormones, on top of their homework. Throw in a supernatural ability to detect monsters, and you’ve got a real recipe for mayhem.

As though seventh grader Nizhoni Begay’s strange reality couldn’t get any weirder, her dad’s new boss, Mr. Charles, has started to show unsettling interest in her and her brother, Mac—and in their family’s Navajo heritage. After their father suddenly disappears, Mac and Nizhoni, along with her best friend, Davery, find themselves on the run. It will take all of their knowledge of Navajo legends, not to mention every ounce of their courage, to find Nizhoni’s father and save their world from the ancient creatures Mr. Charles has unleashed.

Nebula and Hugo Award-winning author Rebecca Roanhorse (Trail of Lightning) adds to the increasingly diverse roster of Rick Riordan’s eponymous imprint with Race to the Sun. Native American myth and lore take center stage in this story, supported by action and adventure that will keep readers turning pages as they anxiously anticipate the outcome of Nizhoni’s thrilling quest. It’s populated with quirky characters reminiscent of Riordan’s own stories, so every reader will find someone to connect with in this novel.

Through its incorporation of important aspects of Native American beliefs and culture, including protecting the natural world and honoring family, Race to the Sun adds vital and long-overdue positive representation of contemporary Native Americans to young readers’ shelves.

On her 12th birthday, just after her “dream birthday party” at a local bakery, Zoe Washington gets an unexpected letter from the father she’s never met. Marcus Johnson has long been in prison for the murder of a young woman who had been a friend of his. Zoe knows her mother and stepfather wouldn’t approve, but she secretly begins writing back in From the Desk of Zoe Washington, Janae Marks’ engaging debut.

Zoe’s instincts prove right, because it turns out that Marcus has been writing to Zoe for years, and her mother has been intercepting his communications. Immediately intrigued, Zoe is surprised at how kind, smart and concerned her father seems; he calls her “Little Tomato” after a jazz song and sends her a playlist of his favorite songs. Eventually, Zoe inquires about his crime, and Marcus declares his innocence, claiming that his public defender never bothered to track down an alibi that would have exonerated him.

Zoe finds a helpful ally in her maternal grandmother, who remembers Marcus and thinks “he is a good person at heart.” Grandma believes that Marcus and Zoe have a right to communicate, so she offers to serve as an adult intermediary. Their allegiance is warm and believable; it’s particularly touching when Grandma facilitates Zoe’s first phone conversation with her father.

Unbeknownst to her grandmother, Zoe is determined to track down Marcus’ alibi, and the uncertainty of her quest—along with Marks’ crisp writing and Zoe’s likable first-person narration—makes for page-turning reading. The resolution of Zoe’s investigation comes a bit too easily, but her gradual awakening to the problem of racial injustice for black people like Marcus serves as an excellent introduction for young readers to the pervasive issue.

Marks also includes parallel narratives that help round out the plot, such as Zoe’s desire to enter a “Kids Bake Challenge!” on the Food Network and a misunderstanding between Zoe and her next-door neighbor, Trevor, who aids Zoe in her sleuthing. Zoe and Trevor’s friendship troubles offer valuable insights into how easily relationships can be unintentionally damaged.

Never heavy-handed, Marks’ prose is as sweet as one of Zoe’s confections. And as the icing on the cake, From the Desk of Zoe Washington imparts important lessons about judging other people, whether by the color of their skin or by their presumed guilt or innocence.

“I have always wanted to write a book from a dog’s perspective, because dogs have always been my closest friends,” writes author Carlie Sorosiak about I, Cosmo, her heartfelt new novel about a year in the life of a golden retriever named Cosmo and his family. 

As the story opens, the family prepares for Halloween, Cosmo’s least favorite holiday. Not only does Halloween involve a lot of chocolate, which he’s not allowed to eat, but Cosmo is also at the mercy of little Emmeline, who wants Cosmo to go dressed as a turtle this year. Says Cosmo, “I do not want to be a turtle.”

But 13-year-old Cosmo’s unhappiness runs deeper than being forced into an uncomfortable, embarrassing costume. His boy, Max, is sad. Sometimes Cosmo hears raised voices, family dance nights are no more, and the word “divorce” is in the air. The greatest worry of all is that Max and Cosmo might be separated.

Can dance bring the family together again? When Uncle Reggio, a canine specialist, returns from a tour of duty in Afghanistan, he takes Cosmo and Max to a special dance club for dogs. There, Cosmo discovers a love for his new movements as he and Max train for a competition. Although it becomes clear that dancing will not fix Max’s parents’ marriage, by the time Halloween rolls around again, both boy and dog have come to accept that even when families change, love remains.

The inclusion of Max’s Uncle Reggio, an African American veteran, brings depth to Sorosiak’s story. Uncle Reggio clearly senses Max’s anxieties and intercedes in a positive fashion, becoming a guide and role model. When Max and Cosmo falter on the dance floor, he’s there with sage advice: “Don’t focus on anyone else but you, though. The best that you can do is more than enough.” As for the dog-dancing competition: Yes, dog freestyle dancing is apparently really a thing!

With Cosmo serving as a humorous and lovable narrator, I, Cosmo’s sensitive handling of divorce in a biracial family will appeal to readers who enjoy realistic fiction and, of course, anyone who loves stories about very good dogs. 

Fourteen-year-old McKenna Barney is running the race of her life. Her younger sister Emma is legally blind because of a condition called Stargardt disease, and McKenna is counting on winning a dogsledding race to raise both publicity and research dollars for a cure. There’s just one problem: McKenna, too, is losing her sight.

Although McKenna and her eight-dog team start out fast, the harsh Canadian terrain, her blurred vision and a blizzard put them in peril. McKenna keeps a cool head and her sense of humor, though, as she and another young musher, Guy, prank each other at rest stops along the race route and befriend Harper, a reluctant musher who’s racing at her parents’ insistence. During a tumultuous storm, the three even end up taking shelter in a cave together.

Along the way, McKenna learns that Guy will have to forfeit his dogs if he loses, and Harper wants to win so that she can finally stop racing all together. McKenna knows her own victory would bring solace to her parents and boost her self-confidence. But as her vision worsens, her terror at the notion of losing her independence along with her sight grows.

In Dog Driven, Terry Lynn Johnson’s love of dogs and the Canadian wilderness shines like a beacon. As in her previous books, including Ice Dogs and the Survivor Diaries series, Johnson’s female characters are relatable, strong and able to meet the challenges in their paths. Readers will respond to this warm tale of adventure and will see in McKenna a hero to emulate.

How do you deal with a beloved parent who repeatedly fails you? That’s the question facing 11-year-old Alice Mistlethwaite in Natasha Farrant’s adventurous tale for middle grade readers, A Talent for Trouble. 

Alice’s adoring mother dies, and her animated but n’er-do-well father is largely absent, prompting her Aunt Patience to sell the family estate and send Alice off to Stormy Loch Academy in the wilds of Scotland. Of her bookish, solitary niece who is always writing stories, Patience says, “She needs a new story—not to write, to live.”

Indeed, Alice finds just that, in a setup reminiscent of Harry Potter, complete with a wee hint of magic. There’s a lonely train ride to a new school; a patient, all-knowing headmaster (a collector of “lost souls” and “waifs”); and a trio of new friends who slowly discover their own talents and power for friendship. Alice is thrown together with athletic Jesse and genius Fergus as they enter the school’s Great Orienteering Challenge, using it as an excuse to embark on their own dangerous mission. The story really takes off when the three students set out on their secret quest to meet Alice’s father, Barney Mistlethwaite, who seems to be in trouble. Their adventure results in a memorable showdown.

British author Farrant keeps the tone jaunty and light, often addressing readers directly with both warnings and reassurances. Amid great danger and excitement, Alice learns to stand up for herself and confront her father’s neglect. An old-fashioned tale that tackles a timeless concern, A Talent for Trouble is full of daring exploits and essential lessons.

Sharelle Byars Moranville, author of the critically acclaimed middle grade novel 27 Magic Words, pens a complicated family story set against an idyllic backdrop.

Rose Lovell adores her life on her family’s farm. Although her mother, Iris, left when Rose was just a baby, Rose has never wanted for anything. All she needs to feel content is her beloved grandmother, Ama; their dog, Myrtle; and the natural wonders of the countryside right outside her door.

So when her mother mysteriously shows back up at Ama’s birthday party, Rose is less than pleased. In fact, she’s terrified that Iris’ presence will anger Ama and fracture the perfect bond she shares with Rose. All Rose wants is for Iris to leave as quickly as she came. But life on the Lovell farm was not as blissful for previous generations as it is for Rose, and Rose’s mother has some family secrets to share with her daughter that may change everything, whether Rose likes it or not.

Equal parts heart-swelling and heartbreaking, Surprise Lily is a multigenerational family saga full of language that perfectly evokes the many wonders of the natural world. The narrative spans decades, allowing readers to form attachments to each of the Lovell girls as they experience their stories firsthand. The story touches on the highs and lows of the Lovells as a family and of each Lovell girl individually, exploring subjects such as parental neglect and mental health with sympathy and care. The relationships between the girls and women of the Lovell family are the novel’s heartbeats, and though some are more whole than others, love and hope connect them all.

Eleven-year-old Carter and his older sister, 13-year-old Grace, arrive for a day hike at Blood Mountain with their father and their dog, Sitka. They seem well prepared, as though they’ve hiked together many times before.

However, the family don’t know that they’re not alone on the mountain. Sharing the terrain is a park ranger named Makayla and a nameless man who’s been living in the wilderness, hiding from society, having withdrawn from human contact for so long that speaking feels unnatural to him. These characters provoke the reader’s curiosity as to when and how their paths will cross.

Meantime, Carter runs ahead of his father on the trail. Grace follows and joins Carter. Father, daughter and son are all heading toward the same destination, but within hours, their lack of knowledge of the route and their limited preparation for the unexpected become clear—and their hike becomes an increasingly dire matter of survival.

Author James Preller’s omniscient narrator alternates perspectives between the siblings, the mountain man and the park ranger with a chillingly spare and rhythmic cadence that keeps readers on edge, wondering what each character’s next move will bring. The setting itself exerts pressure: The mountain, the forest and all of its creatures are unyielding, beautiful and predatory.

Readers who enjoy the outdoors will tear through Blood Mountain and remember its lessons, while readers who prefer to stay inside will enjoy its suspenseful storytelling. Blood Mountain is worth diving into for its believable yet unpredictable characters, its intriguing, realistic details and a predicament that could go miraculously right or disastrously wrong.

Twelve-year-old amateur astronomer Liberty Johansen used to love watching the stars and making up new constellations with her dad. But since her parents decided to separate and her father moved out of the house, spending time with her father and the love shared between them have become relics of the past.

Now Liberty is angry all the time. She’s angry at her depressed father for living with a new girlfriend, at her former friend Leah and her classmates who have “excommunicated” her, at the pressure to find boyfriends and girlfriends and even at her steadfast mother (though Liberty isn’t sure why). The only one who seems to understand Liberty’s pain is a meteorite that fell from space when Liberty’s own sense of normalcy fell down around her, too.

In this searingly realistic novel, author Amy Sarig King explores mental illness, the trauma of divorce and their intertwined relationship. Mingled with Liberty’s anger is an overwhelming sense of loss, making her wonder whether she might be depressed or prone to depression like her father.

As spunky, resilient Liberty meets with counselors, talks (and listens!) to her meteorite and sets boundaries for herself, she learns that divorce is a kind of mourning, complete with its own stages of grief. While full acceptance might still be as far away as the cosmos, she begins to recognize her control, including how to chart her stars—and her new life—again. Through Liberty’s process, King gives young readers who are also struggling with these issues the hope to persevere.

Sometimes characters continue speaking to their creators long after their books have been published, prompting authors to write unplanned follow-ups. Grateful readers will reap ample rewards in Kate DiCamillo’s Beverly, Right Here, the last in what has unexpectedly become a middle grade trilogy, which began with Raymie Nightingale and continued in Louisiana’s Way Home, about three irrepressible girls who meet at baton-twirling lessons in Lister, Florida, in 1975.

This installment, set in 1979, features the tough-as-nails, eye-rolling Beverly Tapinski, who is now 14. Following the death of her beloved dog, Beverly decides she’s had enough of life with her drunken mother and leaves, hitching a ride to nowhere with a good-for-not-much-else cousin. A big-hearted older woman named Iola welcomes Beverly into her trailer. Beverly slowly builds an anchoring friendship not only with Iola but with bullied, brilliant Elmer, who is about to leave for Dartmouth on a full scholarship.

Life with a ragtag bunch of strangers becomes much better but is still hardly perfect as Beverly, who hates fish, ends up working in a fish restaurant and eating tuna melts every day. A tormentor named Jerome lurks on the sidelines, and Beverly desperately misses Raymie and Louisiana.

DiCamillo’s genius is her ability to create such worlds without ever sugarcoating their gritty realities. “People were terrible to other people. That was the truth,” Beverly realizes. Yet amid life’s injustices, a fish restaurant waitress repeatedly urges Beverly to always dream big, and a cook named Doris stages a sit-down strike for better working conditions.

In the end, although Beverly realizes she can’t run away from her past or her neglectful mother, she learns that she doesn’t have to be held back by either one. Instead, she can seek her own springboards to happiness. As Iola says, “Oh, I’m glad I needed you. I’m glad you needed me.”

DiCamillo has described her trilogy as being about “becoming” and “the power of community.” Drawing each girl’s story with subtle yet bold strokes, DiCamillo delivers novels that feel both beautifully spare and deeply rich. With lovely reminders of the angels who help us all find our way in this sometimes unbearable world—as well as the enduring power of stories, kindness, hope and surprising possibilities—Beverly, Right Here completes DiCamillo’s superb trilogy, which is destined to remain a classic.

When the school bell rings and students race for the doors, where do they go? What do they do? In each of the 10 short stories that compose Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks, the reader follows a different student to see what they get up to on their way home. 

In “The Low Cuts Strike Again,” Bit, Francy, John John and Trista are the kids whom teachers talk about in the teachers’ lounge—“at-risk” kids who swipe loose change wherever they might find it. The Low Cuts, as the four call themselves, have something in common: their almost-bald heads, a haircut chosen in solidarity with each other and with their parents, all cancer survivors. And it’s what they do with all that loose change that shows another side of the label of “at-risk.” 

In the lead story, “Water, Booger, Bears,” Jasmine and TJ challenge those who think “boys and girls can’t just be friends.” Other stories portray protagonists dealing with bullying, falling in love and struggling with anxiety. 

Jason Reynolds affords loving attention to each of the characters in his large cast. Despite simple-seeming prose, his language sparkles. He writes of the Low Cuts, “Even though they were tight on time, they were loose on talk” and, “Bit put a pothole in the middle of memory lane.” Along with his previous novels, written in prose, verse and dual voices, these short stories demonstrate Reynolds’ range of superb storytelling.