July 1, 2020 | Boydl
Realistic fiction is just like it sounds, fiction that could actually happen or seems plausible. Wonder by R. J. Palacio is a prime example of this genre. Realistic fiction can take place in the current time, or from times past. This type of realistic fiction is referred to as historical. An example of a popular historical fiction novel is The War that Saved my Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. These days books written for Middle-Grade readers are better than ever now, with many authors touching on topics that are timely and could have been borrowed from headlines past and present. Below are some new novels in this genre, as well as some backlist bumps toward the bottom.
Autistic and nearly nonverbal, twelve-year-old Nova is happy in her new foster home and school, but eagerly anticipates the 1986 Challenger launch, for which her sister, Bridget, promised to return
Fourteen-year-old Ahmed, a Syrian refugee living on his own in Brussels, Belgium, meets Max, a thirteen-year-old American boy, and the two form an important friendship
On a spring morning, neighbors Valentina Kaplan and Oksana Savchenko wake up to an angry red sky. A reactor at the nuclear power plant where their fathers work--Chernobyl--has exploded. Before they know it, the two girls, who've always been enemies, find themselves on a train bound for Leningrad.
For the life of him, William "Scoob" Lamar can't seem to stay out of trouble--and now the run-ins at school have led to lockdown at home. So when G'ma, Scoob's favorite person on Earth, asks him to go on an impromptu road trip, he's in the RV faster than he can say FREEDOM. With G'ma's old maps and a strange pamphlet called the 'Travelers' Green Book' at their side, the pair takes off on a journey down G'ma's memory lane. But adventure quickly turns to uncertainty: G'ma keeps changing the license plate, dodging Scoob's questions, and refusing to check Dad's voice mails. And the father they go, the more Scoob realizes that the world hasn't always been a welcoming place for kids like him, and things aren't always what they seem--G'ma included
Recent immigrants from China and desperate for work and money, ten-year-old Mia Tang's parents take a job managing a rundown motel in Southern California, even though the owner, Mr. Yao is a nasty skinflint who exploits them; while her mother (who was an engineer in China) does the cleaning, Mia works the front desk and tries to cope with demanding customers and other recent immigrants--not to mention being only one of two Chinese in her fifth grade class, the other being Mr. Yao's son, Jason
Twelve-year-old Felix's appearance on a television game show reveals that he and his mother have been homeless for a while, but also restores some of his faith in other people
As ten-year-old Gwyn searches for a missing neighbor in her new town in Iowa, she learns much about her mother, who grew up there but has suffered from memory loss since Gwyn was four
Beloved cartoonist Rob Harrell drew inspiration from personal experiences for his upcoming middle grade novel. Ross Maloy wants to fly under the radar and survive middle school, but that's pretty hard to do when you've been diagnosed with eye cancer. Instead of blending in, Ross sticks out in all the wrong ways. This humorous and heartfelt story will have kids laughing, crying, and cheering for the unlucky hero.
Longing for an escape from her extended Filipino family, Lou plans to build a tiny house on land she inherited from her father, but difficulties quickly arise
Twelve-year-old Ellie, who has cerebral palsy, finds her life transformed when she moves with her mother to small-town Oklahoma to help care for her grandfather, who has Alzheimer's Disease
Twelve-year-old Clea wants to do her homework, follow instructions, pay attention in school, and play chess on the school team, but somehow she cannot focus on whatever is in front of her, and the other kids at school are starting to notice and make fun of her; when her worried parents take her to be tested she finds out that she has ADHD (only without the hyperactivity)--and with help from the psychiatrist who seems to really understand her she is determined to learn how to focus
When Maybelle learns that her estranged father will be a judge for a singing competition, she signs up as a contestant. The only problem? Getting to Nashville, where the competition will take place. With the help of her neighbor and a pesky boy, Maybelle makes her way to Tennessee. Along the way, the unlikely trio discovers that friendship can be just as strong as family ties in this touching middle grade novel.
Avid baker Zoe Washington receives a letter on her twelfth birthday from her biological father, who is in prison for a terrible crime
Twelve-year-old Ella has not even started seventh grade yet, but she has already been drawn into the fire of social media, because for some unknown reason "popular" Morgan has designated her as a best friend and has ambitious plans to turn "Morgan and Ella" into an online sensation; but the role of Morgan's best friend comes with a lot of sacrifices, such as dropping her own best friend Sophie and letting Morgan organize Ella's life around their "brand," and soon Ella starts to wonder if popularity is worth it, and if she can be both Morgan's friend and still be true to herself--if she can only figure out who herself really is
Backlist Bump:
Ghost has a crazy natural talent, but no formal training. If he can stay on track, literally and figuratively, he could be the best sprinter in the city. But Ghost has been running for the wrong reasons, all starting with running away from his father, who, when Ghost was a very little boy, chased him and his mother through their apartment, then down the street, with a loaded gun, aiming to kill. Since then, Ghost has been the one causing problems, and running away from them, until he meets Coach, an ex-Olympic Medalist who blew his own shot at success by using drugs, and who is determined to keep other kids from blowing their shots at life
Thirteen-year-old Steven has a totally normal life; he plays drums in the All-Star Jazz band, has a crush on the hottest girl in the school, and is constantly annoyed by his five-year-old brother, Jeffrey. But when Jeffrey is diagnosed with leukemia, Steven's world is turned upside down. He is forced to deal with his brother's illness and his parents' attempts to keep the family in one piece
Bullied at school, eighth-grader Apple, a Filipino American who loves the music of the Beatles, decides to change her life by learning how to play the guitar
New friends and a mystery help Aven, thirteen, adjust to middle school and life at a dying western theme park in a new state, where her being born armless presents many challenges
Set adrift on the ocean in a small skiff as a newborn, twelve-year-old Crow embarks on a quest to find the missing pieces of her history
Arturo's Miami summer is marked by the arrival of poetry enthusiast Carmen, who helps him use the power of protest to fight the plans of a land developer who wants to demolish his Abuela's restaurant
| Lives of four misfits are intertwined when a bully's prank lands shy Virgil at the bottom of a well and Valencia, Kaori, and Gen band together in an epic quest to find and rescue him |
Eleven-year-old Alex Petroski, along with his dog, Carl Sagan, makes big discoveries about his family on a road trip and he records it all on a golden iPod he intends to launch into space