The Amelia Six: An Amelia Earhart Mystery
by Kristin L. Gray
published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2020

Eleven-year-old Millie and five other girls, snowed in at Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum in Atchison, Kansas, are on a scavenger hunt when the lights go out and Amelia’s aviator goggles go missing.

Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery

Becoming Muhammad Ali
by James Patterson & Kwame Alexander, Dawud Anyabwile (Illustrator)
published by Jimmy Patterson Books, Little, Brown and Company, 2020

A biographical novel tells the story of Cassius Clay, the determined boy who would one day become Muhammad Ali, one of the greatest boxers of all time.

Genre: Nonfiction, Biography, Poetry

Caterpillar Summer
by Gillian McDunn
published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2019

Cat and her brother Chicken have always had a very special bond–Cat is one of the few people who can keep Chicken happy. When he has a “meltdown” she’s the one who scratches his back and reads his favorite story. She’s the one who knows what Chicken needs. Since their mom has had to work double-hard to keep their family afloat after their father passed away, Cat has been the glue holding her family together. But even the strongest glue sometimes struggles to hold. When a summer trip doesn’t go according to plan, Cat and Chicken end up spending three weeks with grandparents they never knew. For the first time in years, Cat has the opportunity to be a kid again, and the journey she takes shows that even the most broken or strained relationships can be healed if people take the time to walk in one another’s shoes.

Genre: Realistic Fiction, Neurodiversity

Eva Evergreen: Semi-Magical Witch
by Julie Abe
published by Little, Brown and Company, 2020

Eva must travel to a seaside town to complete her training and earn the rank of Adept Witch before her thirteenth birthday, or be banned from using magic forever.

Genre: Fantasy, Adventure

Glitch
by Laura Martin
published by HarperCollins Publishers, 2020

Regan Fitz and Elliot Mason have been enemies since they started training to become Glitchers–people who travel through time to preserve important historical events. But everything changes when they find a letter from Regan’s future self, warning them about an impending disaster that threatens them and everyone they know. Will they be able to set aside their past in order to save the future?

Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure

The Great Chicago Fire: Rising from the Ashes (History Comics)
by Kate Hannigan, Alex Graudins (Illustrator)
published by First Second, 2020

In History Comics: The Great Chicago Fire, writer Kate Hannigan and illustrator Alex Graudins tell the true story of how a city rose up from one of the worst catastrophes in American history, and how this disaster forever changed how homes, buildings, and communities are constructed. A deadly blaze engulfs Chicago for two terrifying days! A brother, a sister, and a helpless puppy must race through the city to stay one step ahead of the devilish inferno. But can they reunite with their lost family before it’s too late?

Genre: Graphic Novels, Nonfiction

The Last Human
by Lee Bacon
published by Amulet Books, 2019

After machines take control of Earth, following the extinction of humans, twelve-year-old robot XR 935A confronts its prejudices about humans and begins to reconsider its own existence within robot society after discovering and befriending a twelve-year-old human girl.

Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure

The Lion of Mars
by Jennifer L. Holm
published by Penguin Random House, 2021

Bell has spent his whole life–all eleven years of it–on Mars. But he’s still just a regular kid–he loves cats, any kind of cake, and is curious about the secrets the adults in the US colony are keeping. Like, why don’t they have contact with anyone on the other Mars colonies? Why are they so isolated? When a virus breaks out and the grown-ups all fall ill, Bell and the other children are the only ones who can help. It’s up to Bell–a regular kid in a very different world–to uncover the truth and save his family …and possibly unite an entire planet.

Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure

The Losers Club
by Andrew Clements
published by Penguin Random House, 2017

Alec, a sixth-grade bookworm always in trouble for reading instead of listening and participating in class, starts a book club, solely to have a place to read, and discovers that real life, although messy, can be as exciting as the stories in his favorite books.

Genre: Realistic Fiction, Humor

Mac B. Kid Spy: Mac Undercover
by Mac Barnett, Mike Lowery (Illustrator)
published by Orchard Books, an imprint of Scholastic, Inc., 2018

One day, Mac (smartest boy in his class in a small town in California) receives a telephone call from the Queen of England, recruiting him to find the crown jewels (well, actually just the Coronation Spoon) and so Mac embarks on his first adventure as a secret agent–with the assurance that the Queen will give him a note excusing him from school.

Genre: Graphic Novel, Mystery, Humor

Measuring Up
by Lily LaMotte, Ann Xu (Illustrator)
published by Harper Alley, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2020

Having just moved to Seattle from Taiwan, twelve-year-old Cici enters a cooking competition to win the chance to see her grandmother again, but she only knows how to cook Taiwanese food.

Genre: Graphic Novel, Realistic Fiction

Shirley Chisholm is a Verb!
by Veronica Chambers, Rachelle Baker (Illustrator)
published by Dial Books for Young Readers, 2020

A picture book biography celebrating the life and contributions of Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman in Congress, who sought the Democratic nomination to be the president of the United States.

Genre: Nonfiction, Biography

Song for a Whale
by Lynne Kelly
published by Delacorte Press, 2019

Twelve-year-old Iris and her grandmother, both deaf, fly from Texas to California and then take a cruise ship to Alaska– armed with Iris’s plan to help Blue-55, a whale unable to communicate with other whales.

Genre: Realistic Fiction, Disability

The Spirit of Springer: The Real-Life Rescue of an Orphaned Orca
by Amanda Abler, Levi Hastings (Illustrator)
published by Little Bigfoot, an imprint of Sasquatch Books, 2020

A heart-warming and true story about an orphaned orca named Springer who was found swimming alone in the Puget Sound in 2002. The book takes us on Springer’s journey from being near starvation to rescued to then the challenges of her release, eventual adoption, and the start of her own family.

Genre: Nonfiction, Animals & Nature

A Thousand Questions
by Saadia Faruqi
published by Quill Tree Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2020

Told in two voices, eleven-year-olds Mimi, who is visiting her wealthy grandparents in Karachi, Pakistan, for the first time and Sakina, daughter of the grandparents’ cook, form an unexpected friendship.

Genre: Realistic Fiction, Cultural

Tune It Out
by Jamie Sumner
published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2020

Twelve-year-old Lou Montgomery’s life has been centered on her mother’s terrifying plan to make her a singing star, but a crisis reveals Lou’s sensory processing disorder and people determined to help her address it.

Genre: Realistic Fiction, Disability

Twins
by Varian Johnson, Shannon Wright (Illustrator)
published by Graphix, an imprint of Scholastic, Inc., 2020

Maureen and Francine Carter are twins and best friends. They participate in the same clubs, enjoy the same foods, and are partners on all their school projects. But just before the girls start sixth grade, Francine becomes Fran — a girl who wants to join the chorus, run for class president, and dress in fashionable outfits that set her apart from Maureen. A girl who seems happy to share only two classes with her sister! Maureen and Francine are growing apart and there’s nothing Maureen can do to stop it. Are sisters really forever? Or will middle school change things for good?

Genre: Graphic Novel, Realistic Fiction

Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre
by Carole Boston Weatherford, Floyd Cooper (illustrator)
published by Carolrhoda Books, 2021

Celebrated author Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrator Floyd Cooper provide a powerful look at the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, one of the worst incidents of racial violence in our nation’s history.

Genre: Nonfiction, History

Winterborne Home for Vengeance and Valor
by Ally Carter
published by Little, Brown and Company, 2020

After years in foster care, April gets to live in a mansion where she and four other children are caught up in a mystery related to a missing heir, a lost legacy, and the Phantom.

Genre: Mystery, Adventure