by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@ashley_dicksonellison)
*I'm updating this post for 2025, and new recommendations are starred with an asterisk, but there are a lot of amazing recs in our original post as well!
We loved sharing some favorite middle-grade recommendations in episode 178, and Jen shared some great historical fiction middle-grade picks in her bookish fave last week. We also discussed the screen adaptation of Jennifer Matthieu's Moxie, which has a strong message supporting feminism and the empowerment of young women. A fun discovery that was shared in our buddy read group related to that book and adaptation is this video highlighting the amazing middle-school band featured in the film! While it was sad to hear some of the struggles the band members have been experiencing, it's awesome to see them channel those experiences into such creative music.
Today I'm sharing some of my favorite middle-grade reads that center strong female protagonists and strong relationships between the girls and women in the books. I'm also sharing a couple that are currently on my TBR stack that Jen recommends!
Kelly Barnhill's The Girl Who Drank the Moon (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) - This is one of my all-time favorites. This fantasy book features Luna, a curious and happy child who was spared as a baby by the witch of the woods, Xan, and then raised as her adopted daughter. I love the way that this story shows that things are not always what they seem and that it's good to question why traditions are the way they are, and the relationship between Xan and Luna is so amazing.
*Jen and I discussed this one as a book club pick on episode 242 of the podcast. You can check out our discussion here!
*Sharon M. Draper's Out of My Mind (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) - This brilliant book was one of my favorite reads in 2024, and the whole series if my fifth grade daughter's favorite book series. So powerful and so well done. I absolutely love Melody's relationship with her mom, which is such a central part of this book, as is her beautiful bond with her neighbor, Mrs. Violet Valencia.
This is what I said in my end-of-year faves post: "I have enjoyed reading the same books as my ten year old recently, and she shared this one with me when she finished it. I love Sharon M. Draper but hadn't read this one yet, and I'm so glad I got to it! This centers Melody, an eleven year old with cerebral palsy who is nonverbal and in a wheelchair. Despite Melody's physical limitations, she has a vibrant, brilliant mind, and she lets the reader into her world throughout the novel. Melody's resilience, sense of humor, and compassion shine through as she shares her unique perspective. I absolutely adored this novel, which I finished right before the movie adaptation came out. My daughter and I are looking forward to watching that together!"
*Lisa Fipps' Starfish (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) - I absolutely loved this beautiful middle grade novel in verse. I wrote a review on it and shared my thoughts about why it was so brilliant.
From my review: "We meet Ellie, a twelve-year-old girl who loves spending time in the pool and hanging out with friends. But Ellie is also plagued by bullying and judgment because of her body size. From the time she jumped into the pool at her fifth birthday party and was called "Splash," she's been marked by that cruel nickname and has been bullied both at school and at home...
"I love the modeling in this book about the ways that we can adjust our perspective so that we can treat ourselves with kindness and compassion. That's such an important and powerful message for all of us to remember, but most especially our middle grade kids."
Hena Khan's Amina's Voice (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) and Amina's Song (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) - Hena Khan is definitely one of my favorite go-to middle grade authors. I've shared about these two amazing books multiple times. I absolutely love Hena Khan's work, and what I love about Amina's character is the way that she reflects on her own actions and the world around her. She is a good friend, a conscientious thinker, and a strong young woman. Her relationships with her friends are at the center of both books, and the first book especially explores how relationships between girls can be complex but are worth the challenge. I particularly love the way that Amina explores sharing about Pakistan with her American classmates in Amina's Song. Check out my review of Amina's Voice here, and see Jen's review of the series here.
*Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead's Bob (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) - My daughters and I read this lovely book together, and we all really enjoyed it. This one centers Livy as she visits her grandmother in Australia for the first time in five years. When she and her mom and baby sister arrive, she has the overwhelming feeling that she'd forgotten something important, and it turns out that she is right - her mysterious little green friend, Bob, has been waiting for her since she left five years earlier. She and Bob have quite a mystery to solve as she struggles to remember what they'd discovered together five years earlier. This is a beautiful, magical story centering Livy as a strong and kind protagonist.
Aisha Saeed's Amal Unbound (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) - We shared about Amal Unbound way back in episode 39. This story features the courageous Amal, who finds herself forced into indentured servitude after an altercation with a powerful local landlord. Through her perseverance and determination, she finds a way to fight against the landlord and to bring about positive change.
*Sarah Ward's Victory Gallop - I loved this book and the way we get to know protagonist Harper Hayes and her passion for horses and riding. Harper shows so much courage and determination as she learns to navigate the panic attacks she's been experiencing. Between her own mental health struggles and the bullying that's happening at the barn, Harper has her hands full as she suffers largely alone and in silence, but she finds her way forward and discovers the power of letting others in as she navigates the twists and turns of life in middle school and at the barn.
Jen and I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with author Sarah Ward in episode 269 - you can check out our conversation here!
Kelly Yang's Front Desk (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) - This book was a Global Read Aloud pick in 2019, and we all thoroughly enjoyed this story. Mia Tang, the protagonist, is hard working, kind, and determined to help others. She strives to find solutions and to use her words to bring about change. We discussed our thoughts in episode 85; you cannot go wrong with this one! I look forward to reading the other books in the series.
BONUS RECS! Check out these reviews featuring middle-grade recommendations from Jen (@jen.loves.books). I'll be reading both of these soon!
Joan Bauer's Tell Me (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) - "I picked up Joan Bauer's middle-grade novel Tell Me after hearing about it from @definitelyra. What a powerful novel. Twelve-year-old Anna, an aspiring actress, is trying to weather her parents' horrible arguments and potential separation. To give them some space to work things out (and to remove her from the source of great anxiety), her parents send her to stay with her grandmother, Mim, just in time for her small town's Flower Festival. Early in her stay, Anna witnesses a strange interaction between a girl her age in a van and the adults she's with. Worried for the girl's safety, Anna takes action to draw attention to her plight.
"Tell Me is the first book I've read by Bauer, and it is such a strong read for this age group. The narrative is honest and real--Anna is a believable protagonist whose decision to speak up about what she saw provides an excellent model for readers this age. Through the book, we see how hard it can be to speak up, particularly when others dismiss our concerns, but also how important it is to move past their dismissal to take the actions that we can. The book is realistic, as well, about what Anna can do: she can't single-handedly rescue the girl. Instead, her voice and her confidence are the weapons she can wield against something wrong in her world."
Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer's To Night Owl, from Dogfish (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) - "I absolutely loved To Night Owl from Dogfish, an epistolary, middle-grade novel from Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer. Told entirely through emails and letters, the book is about the friendship between Averly and Bett. When their fathers' romance culminates in a plot to make the girls friends by sending them to the CIGI camp for the summer. When the girls uncover the plot, a flurry of emails begin, and the girls team up in an attempt to defy their fathers' plans. The unexpected, of course, ensues.
"Sloan and Wolitzer broaden the girls' correspondence with accents from their dads, Bett's grandma Gaga, Avery's biological mother, and a sprinkling of other characters. We come to understand Avery's anxiety, Bett's commitment to adventure, and the ways that relationships can rise and fall. Gorgeous, resonant, and emotional novel."
*Updating in 2025 to say that my daughters and I read To Night Owl, from Dogfish together after hearing such great things about it, and it was a wonderful read-aloud pick that has continued to be a favorite for us of all the ones we've read together!
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