Gail Shepherd’s colorful debut novel The True History of Lyndie B. Hawkins takes place in 1985 in the town of Love’s Forge, Tennessee. As the story opens, 11-year-old Lyndie and her parents have lost their home and have had to move in with her grandparents.

Lyndie is an outspoken, curious girl who loves research, history and getting to the bottom of things, but her quest to discover the truth about her father’s job loss and her parents’ strained relationship isn’t easy. One thing Lyndie does know is that it’s best to keep her daddy’s habit of hiding George Dickel Tennessee Whiskey in his glove box a secret from her opinionated grandma, who isn’t so sure that her son, a wounded Vietnam vet, quite knows how to raise Lyndie into a proper young lady. As for Lyndie’s mom who’s moved into a small room alone: “When she’s not at her new job at Miller’s Department she stays holed up in that room chewing on Bayer aspirins.”

In addition to Lyndie’s troubled family situation, her best friend Dawn is dealing with the outcome of her own issues; Dawn’s family is taking in a boy named D.B. who’s just come from a reform school. Eventually, both Lyndie’s father and D.B. realize they cannot outrun their past, and that they instead must undertake the long, hard work of trying to recover.

This richly voiced story explores themes of PTSD, the hope of redemption and the importance of friends and family. Full of humor and insights, The True History of Lyndie B. Hawkins will give middle school readers much to think and talk about.

In the follow-up to her acclaimed debut, The Secret of Nightingale Wood, author Lucy Strange explores the harrowing history of England at the start of World War II through the eyes of a young, fearful girl.

Eleven-year-old Pet has grown up on the southeast coast of England with her mother, father and older sister, Mags. Her tight-knit family tends to their village’s lighthouse and has always led a quiet, happy life. But as the 1940s begin and the war moves ever closer, Pet’s beloved cliff tops turn from an idyllic place for a child to roam and play to a battleground of barbed wire and a target for bombings. As the war rages, everyone in her family seems to have a secret to hide, which strains their bonds when they need connection the most. Pet, a girl prone to freezing up in times of fear, will have to learn to be braver than she’s ever been if she hopes to untangle the mysteries shrouding her family. 

Set during one of the most momentous periods of world history, Our Castle by the Sea is a powerful novel, and the steady pace of the narrative will keep readers engrossed. Strange’s incorporation of coastal English folklore and legend adds a layer of depth to both the narrative and characters, making for a rich and immersive reading experience. At the heart of the story is Strange’s heroine, however unlikely, as well as her journey of growth and change during a time that absolutely necessitated it.

Reminiscent of both Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time and Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events, bestselling children’s author Margaret Peterson Haddix’s Greystone Secrets: The Strangers is the first installment in the author’s latest intricately written and emotionally resonant sci-fi series.

When the three young Greystone siblings—Chess, Emma and Finn—hear the news that three siblings on the other side of the country who share their exact first and middle names, as well as their birthdays, were kidnapped, they can’t help but find it odd. Then, when their mom goes on a “work trip” out of town the very next day, they become even more suspicious and take the investigation into their own hands.

As they dig around the house for clues, they soon discover a coded message from their mom that leads them to a hidden room in their basement. But as they’re padding around for answers to the mysteries, the Greystone siblings accidentally find themselves in a whole different, parallel world—one that’s eerily similar to their own but strange enough to be dangerous if they don’t stay smart and stick together.

Adventures, mysteries and puzzles abound, and Haddix’s high-concept middle grade novel deftly uses her understanding of young readers’ innermost thoughts and emotions to bring her characters to life as they learn the importance of trusting themselves—and each other—in order to survive.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our Q&A with Margaret Peterson Haddix.

In The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James, author Ashley Herring Blake (Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World  ) once again sensitively explores the intense emotions of adolescence.

In the aftermath of her heart transplant, 12-year-old Sunny decides to seize this second chance at life with gusto. But Sunny never could have imagined the adventures this new heart would afford her. First, there’s the reappearance of her missing biological mother, Lena, who left Sunny in the care of Lena’s friend Kate eight years earlier. But Lena exhibits little of the vigilant love that pours from Kate, and many of Sunny’s big questions about Lena remain unanswered. Then there’s the heartache lingering from Sunny’s former best friend’s betrayal. But this particular problem may be assuaged by the arrival of Quinn, a bright girl who cheerfully signs on as Sunny’s new BFF. 

This leads to the third big issue in Sunny’s life: kissing. Sunny is keen to have her first kiss. The problem is, she doesn’t like any of the boys she knows. When she dreams of that first kiss, Sunny dreams of kissing a girl.

Sunny is deeply reflective on the pain of parental abandonment and the taboo surrounding same-sex attraction, and she expresses her thoughts through song lyrics that she scatters about town. Her journey of self-discovery is authentic, peppered with fear and daring, mistakes and triumphs. This is a lovely novel for young readers who are exploring their own sexual orientations, as it honestly examines both the social risks and the happy potential for self-acceptance and romance. 

Debut author Aida Salazar’s The Moon Within is an important coming-of-age tale of a girl learning about her changing body and all of the questions and revelations that come along with it. 

Celi Rivera is a mixed-race girl with black, Puerto Rican and Mexican heritage, and she’s on the brink of womanhood. She’s dealing with her first attraction to a boy, her best friend’s questions about gender identity and, most infuriatingly, her mother’s insistence that she participate in a moon ceremony when her first period arrives. Celi prefers to keep her journey private, but her mother can’t understand why Celi doesn’t want to celebrate these exciting changes with her community. Soon, a rift forms between mother and daughter, but can the two find some common ground and mark this event in a way that honors both of their wishes?

Salazar’s use of verse in this story adds a layer of raw emotion and honesty that makes the reading experience all the more poignant. The Moon Within is both unique and universal, relatable to women and girls everywhere and singular in its context within Latinx culture. Salazar handles this story with beauty and grace, giving young girls a picture of what it means to stand in your own power and reclaim your own story. 

Actor Thomas Lennon—who has appeared in TV’s “Reno 911!” and films such as Memento—and acclaimed illustrator John Hendrix (The Faithful Spy) have teamed up for a rollicking new fantasy adventure series.

Ronan Boyle and the Bridge of Riddles follows 14-year-old Ronan, a new recruit in a secret unit of the Irish police focused on the crimes of leprechauns. Ronan’s parents have been jailed for theft, but Ronan is convinced they were framed by the faerie folk. Overcoming his own shortcomings (severe food allergies, social awkwardness), Ronan sets out to prove his parents are indeed the innocent, bookish curators they claim to be.

Humor wins out over drama here, and Hendrix’s detailed maps and full-page illustrations of Ronan’s exploits contribute to the tongue-in-cheek nature of the tale. Footnotes that define Irish terms also add to the hilarity, but along with its high spirits and high jinks, Lennon’s debut novel is clearly rooted in an authentic love and appreciation of his Irish heritage. And best of all? Ronan survives to win a promotion just in time for his next adventure, which is sure to delight fantasy fans eager for a new hero.

National Book Award nominee Lisa Graff (A Tangle of Knots) deftly captures that brief moment in childhood when you’re young enough to believe in magic while also coping with very real, serious life concerns in her latest novel, Far Away, about a girl must decide what to believe in—and whom to trust.

CJ Ames has been on the road for pretty much all of her 12 years. She’s traveled to all 48 contiguous states on a huge tour bus with her Aunt Nic, who has developed a growing reputation as a medium. Nic’s ability to communicate with the spirit world comes in handy for CJ since her mother, Aunt Nic’s sister, died when CJ was a newborn. Fortunately for CJ, she’s been able to maintain a closeness with her mother thanks to Aunt Nic’s gifts.

But when Aunt Nic reveals that her mother is being drawn “Far Away” and will no longer be able to communicate with the living, CJ is distraught. Along with a new friend, she follows a series of mysterious signs that, she hopes, will help her find a tether that can draw her mother’s spirit back to her. But what she finds is something even more profound—and more devastating.

Far Away is a novel about learning to appreciate the truth, even when it’s not pretty, and knowing when to trust in portents—and when to trust the knowledge in your own heart.

In author Lindsey Stoddard’s brimming-with-life novel, Right as Rain, white sixth-grader Rain Andrews’ mother is a neuroscientist who studies the brain, but she can’t fix her family’s broken hearts after Rain’s beloved older brother, Guthrie, is killed in a car accident. Stoddard tackles grief head-on in her moving, uplifting portrayal of learning to live and embrace life amid loss.

Determined to make a fresh start, Rain’s mom takes a new research job at Columbia University, moving the family to an apartment in Hamilton Heights and leaving behind virtually all of their belongings in the Vermont town that Rain adores. Rain’s grief-stricken dad is seriously depressed and stays in bed for much of the day, while Rain feels responsible for Guthrie’s death because she helped him sneak out of the house on that fateful night―the details of which are gradually revealed in short chapters intertwined with the main narrative. But Rain’s dad, who works in construction, has taught her that “If you take down a weight-bearing wall without setting up a system of support beams, the whole weight of the house will collapse down on you. But if you build up a strong system of support beams, you can take the weight right off.”

While Stoddard set her equally sensitive first novel, Just Like Jackie, in a small Vermont town, she excels at portraying the rich diversity of Rain’s new Latinx neighborhood, where she realizes that “even though my skin doesn’t match any skin here . . . I’m not sticking out.” Rain’s teacher is quietly understanding, and she befriends Nestor, a homeless man. She also finds support at Ms. Dacie’s place, an afterschool program that welcomes all. Rain’s main salvation is running, and before long, she becomes part of a championship relay team that brings new friendships with Amelia, who has a stutter; Ana, who has lived in poverty; and her Dominican neighbor, Frankie.

Stoddard has woven a rich cityscape and plot, and while a few threads feel a bit predictable, she doesn’t settle for easy answers as Rain and her family navigate the complexities of rebuilding a life in the midst of grief. 

We often speak of history as a thing with a particular size and shape, as if it were concrete, like a textbook you could grasp in your hands. But history is amorphous. With every story told, it expands and with every story forgotten it recedes.

In the popular imagination, the struggle to end racial segregation in American schooling revolves around one event—the Supreme Court’s historic 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, which outlawed segregation in public schooling.

But if you’ve studied American history, you might remember the story of Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas, who, three years after Brown was decided, ordered the Arkansas National Guard to prevent African-American students from attending Little Rock Central High School. And even fewer people will remember the story of 12 African-American students who first integrated the all-white Clinton High School in Clinton, Tennessee, in 1956.

Though Clinton High was the first public high school in Tennessee to be integrated (and according to most accounts, the first public school in the South to be integrated), its story has been all but forgotten. This is even more ironic given that, in 1956, when it was occurring, the integration of Clinton High made national headlines.

But This Promise of Change is the story of Clinton High’s integration, written by one of the students who lived through it, Jo Ann Allen Boyce, and Debbie Levy. Written in a variety of verse forms and interspersed with clippings from historic newspaper articles and TV shows, This Promise of Change will grip young readers and reveal a part of the American civil rights story that has been neglected for too long. This is amust-read for Black History Month.

Alastair is an African grey parrot with dreams of a life beyond the pet shop he calls home. Fiercely dedicated to his sister, Aggie, he sometimes fails to notice how his protective instincts can be suffocating, or worse. When the two siblings are separated, Alastair must learn to adapt to change without plucking himself bald. Suddenly, for Alastair, The Simple Art of Flying never seemed so complex.

Debut author Cory Leonardo weaves together multiple character perspectives seamlessly. The widow who buys Alastair can’t understand why he keeps trying to escape when it’s clear some part of him likes her. Young Fritz, who buys Aggie, has his own complicated reasons for wanting to keep something precious alive. The animals at the pet shop have distinct voices and personalities, not unlike the farm animals in Babe, and while some are wise, others are less trustworthy.

There’s a fair amount of heartbreak in this story, but it’s balanced with bursts of slapstick humor, from escaped tarantulas to wild dance breaks with feathered boas. There’s also a clever twist where Alastair, who enjoys tearing paper, discovers poetry and begins composing his own verses based on what he’s currently “reading.” When this angry parrot learns to reconsider his rigid ideas, a new world opens up to him: One where he can finally be happy in the realization that wherever he is, he’s home.

“Don’t you let how nobody treats you in this world make you think that you ain’t worthy,” 12-year-old Henry’s grandfather tells him. It’s one of the many valuable lessons waiting to be discovered in Karyn Parson’s absorbing middle grade debut, How High the Moon, about a trio of African-American cousins trying to find their place in Alcolu, South Carolina, amid the turmoil of 1944 America and the Jim Crow South. Henry, 11-year-old Ella and 14-year-old Myrna all live with their Poppy and Granny. The standout narrator here is biracial Ella, who yearns to know her father’s identity and worries about the colorism she experiences as a result of her light skin tone. Ella soon joins her mother in Boston, where she’s working in the Naval Yard as a shipfitter while trying to make it as a jazz singer. Ella is excited by the prospect of living with her mom, and she’s eager because “Up there, colored folks could go anywhere they wanted.”

Parsons sensitively tackles important issues by weaving in real historical figures and details throughout this story. For example, Myrna has a crush on George Stinney, the 14-year-old African-American boy who was executed in Alcolu after being wrongfully convicted in the murder of two young white girls.

You may recognize Parsons as the actress who portrayed Hilary Banks opposite Will Smith on the 1990s sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” but with How High the Moon, she proves her talent as an author, adroitly packing plenty of plot, characterization and feeling into this story. Begging worthy comparisons to One Crazy Summer and Brown Girl Dreaming, How High the Moon heralds an exciting new voice in historical fiction for young readers.

Twelve-year-old Nisha and her twin, Amil, know little about their mother, who died while giving birth. But Nisha yearns for her nonetheless, and at night, Nisha pours her feelings into her diary entries, which are written as letters to her mother. At first, she writes of daily events such as Amil’s etchings and their father’s long days working as a doctor. But it’s 1947, and India has just won its independence from Britain, and soon Nisha’s life will change in ways she never could have imagined.

India is about to be partitioned into two countries based on religion. India will be for Hindus, while Muslims will live in the new country known as Pakistan. Nisha’s home will be part of Pakistan, and because her father is Hindu, their small family must travel cross-country to India by foot. The toll of the arduous journey is most eloquently expressed through Amil’s physical deterioration rather than an impersonal accounting of miles and terrain, and this process is particularly wrenching for Nisha as her mother was Muslim. Nisha is by nature quiet and reflective, and her diary reveals her deep emotional attunement to her family.

Overall, the important historical and political events that drive The Night Diary are believably muted through the lens of a girl with little exposure to the larger world, making this uniquely personal story similar to other portrayals of young refugees such as Andrea Davis Pinkney’s The Red Pencil.

Sixth grade at Seaward Pines Academy means dealing with homeroom, lockers, switching classes and trying out for sports. For Merci Suárez, the start of the sixth grade means even bigger changes—not only school dynamics but friendship, boys, family and an eye that strays to the side, especially when Merci’s stressed. Because her father is a paint contractor (and not a podiatrist like popular girl Edna’s dad is), Merci attends the prestigious Florida private school on a scholarship. This year, to assist with tuition costs, the tween must serve as a Sunshine Buddy to a new student named Michael. And instead of spending time saving up for a new bike and showing off her soccer skills on the school team, she’s forced to act as the afternoon nanny for her younger twin nephews after the usual babysitter, their grandfather Lolo, becomes increasingly forgetful.

Author Meg Medina balances Merci’s tears and frustrations with middle school cliques—and the harsh reality of Lolo’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis—by highlighting the unwavering support of Merci’s Latinx family, who shares meals, stories and love in their row of three little pink houses. Merci draws on this support when an accidental mishap with Edna threatens to land her in trouble, and the spunky, resilient tween develops a deeper understanding of both herself and the differences between popularity and friendship. Although the changes in her life are uncertain, Merci also discovers that change can bring new opportunities. Medina expertly captures what it feels like to be in sixth grade, and readers will cheer on Merci as she rides through her adventure.