50 Excellent Middle School Books to Recommend on First Chapter Friday

Middle school teachers, we didn’t realize how hard you have it.

Of course, we knew teaching middle school required a unique combination of passion and patience that we didn’t have (it’s one of the reasons we opted to teach high school, after all).

But we didn’t realize how impossible it can be to find high-quality middle school books to recommend to your students.

It’s easy to find books to recommend to high school students: the young adult genre is created just for them and has its own clearly marked shelves in bookstores. But books targeted for young adults aren’t always appropriate middle school books. As engaging as young adult books may be, they often include profanity, sex, violence, and instances of teen partying that we’d feel uncomfortable recommending to a room full of sixth graders. And books about relationship drama or senior year angst over choosing a college aren’t always relatable to students who are just leaving elementary school.

But the next genre down in the marketing world is middle-grade books. Sounds good, right? Middle grade = middle school?

Not so much. Middle-grade books are intended for children ages 8–12, which corresponds to grades 3–7. Many of these books are fantastic, but a book targeted for a third grader can feel childish or too easy to a seventh or eighth grader on the cusp of entering the teenage years. 

This struggle to find appropriate middle school books is far from new, but we didn’t realize just how hard it is until we dove into it ourselves, in part because Steph’s tutoring jobs have required her to work with middle school students, in part because Kate’s son is a middle school student, and in part because we’ve realized many of you teach middle school and need books you can recommend to your students for First Chapter Friday.

But we don’t back down from a challenge, and over the last couple years, we’ve amassed a list of middle school books that we enjoyed and that we think you and your students will enjoy as well.

50 High-Quality Middle School Books We’ve Discovered

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

When Moose’s father gets a job as a prison guard on Alcatraz, Moose and his family have to move to the cold and windy island off San Francisco’s coast, becoming neighbors with dangerous criminals. The novel also compassionately examines Moose’s family’s efforts to care for his sister Natalie, who has autism at a time when the condition was poorly understood and treatment options weren’t great. Read more here.

Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes

We absolutely loved the story of brothers Donte and Trey. Donte resembles his Black mother while Trey resembles the boys’ white father, and the difference in their appearance is compounded by their differing experiences at a private middle school. When Donte turns to fencing in an effort to challenge the school bully, Alan, he finds a community and confidence that he never expected. Read more here.

Bomb by Steve Sheinken

Sheinken relates the history of the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and the Soviet spies determined to steal the secrets of the atomic bomb’s development, but he does so in a narrative that reads like a high-stakes spy novel. We learned a lot about this period of history, but we also couldn’t stop turning pages until we got to the end. Read more here.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba

When a famine hit Malawi in 2002, Kamkwamba’s family could no longer afford to send him to school. But Kamkwamba put his science knowledge to use, building windmills that powered electric lights in his home and a water pump. Read more here.

The Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan

The Percy Jackson books are a perennial favorite, and this first book in Riordan’s trilogy about Percy’s efforts to earn a letter of recommendation for his college application is just as delightful as its predecessors. Read more here.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

The first entry in the Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder tells the story of Linh Cinder, a cyborg trying to survive a deadly pandemic in New Beijing when a chance encounter with Prince Kai draws her into a series of life-changing events. Read more here.

The Circus of Stolen Dreams by Lorelai Savaryn

When Andrea discovers a mysterious circus set up in the middle of the woods, she’s eager to exchange her memory of the night her brother disappeared for a night of escape. But a strange feeling persists, and it’s not long before she realizes the mysterious Sandman who runs the circus may not be what he seems. Read more here.

Come Home Safe by Brian Buckmire

Buckmire’s novel about Olive and Reed and their unjust encounters with police officers in New York City responds to his younger brother’s question amid the racial reckoning that followed George Floyd’s murder: “How do I not become another hashtag?” In addition to highlighting the experience of Black Americans like Olive and Reed, the novel is full of advice and insights about the rights Americans have in any encounter with the police and de-escalating encounters that become confrontational. Read more here.

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

Alexander’s novel in verse tells the story of 12-year-old twins Josh and Jordan Bell, basketball stars in their community. There’s plenty of sports talk, but there are also real life challenges the boys must navigate as Jordan starts dating his first girlfriend and the twins worry about their father’s health. Read more here.

Enchanted Air by Margarita Engle

In this memoir-in-verse, Engle captures her love of both 1950s Los Angeles and her family’s tropical homeland of Cuba, a pair of loves that comes into conflict during the Cold War. While it offers insight into a significant time period in history, it also captures the experience of being caught between two cultures that many of our students can relate to. Read more here.

Everything Sad Is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri

 Nayeri’s creative autobiographical novel is an utter delight. Daniel, the narrator, weaves Persian folklore into the tales he tells his classmates about his family’s experience as Iranian refugees. The story is both laugh-out-loud funny and emotionally moving, reminding us of Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime for a younger audience. Read more here.

Front Desk by Kelly Yang

Mia Tang is the daughter of Chinese immigrant parents who, at much personal risk, use their jobs at the Calivista Motel to hide and house immigrants. Mia runs the hotel’s front desk, developing skills she’ll need to pull her community together in a time of need. Read more here.

Ghost by Jason Reynolds

The first entry in Reynolds’s Track series about the kids who make up a middle school track team, Ghost introduces us to Castle Crenshaw, who learned how to run when his drunk father chased after and shot at Ghost and his mother as they fled their home. Frequently in trouble at school, Castle finds healing and strength through his experiences running track with Lu, Sunny, and Patina. Read more here.

Ghost Roast by Shawneé Gibbs, Shawnelle Gibbs, and Emily Cannon (Illustrator)

It’s hard enough to be a teenager without having a dad who advertises all over town as a “paranormal removal expert.” But when Chelsea gets in trouble for going to a party where teens are drinking, she has to work for her dad, helping him to rid a former plantation of ghosts. Despite the teen partying scene at the beginning, this graphic novel tells an engaging and compelling story that middle school students will enjoy. Read more here.

Girl Stuff by Lisi Harrison

Seventh grade has arrived, and “nesties” (best friends and neighbors) Fonda, Drew, and Ruthie are going to the same school for the first time—everything is perfect! But new boyfriends, honors classes, and popular girls threaten to get in the way in this novel that perfectly captures the drama and awkwardness of seventh grade. Read more here.

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

Xan is a witch who lives in the forest with a Swamp Monster named Glerk and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon named Fyrian. The Protectorate portrays her as a child-kidnapping monster, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. When Xan discovers a girl named Luna abandoned in the forest, a series of events is set in motion that will change the Protectorate forever. Read more here.

Give Me Something Good to Eat by D. W. Gillespie

Halloween is a big deal in the small town of Pearl. The entire town comes out for trick-or-treating, and the night ends with everyone smashing jack-o-lanterns in the middle of the street. But Pearl is hiding a secret: each Halloween, a child goes missing, and after a few moments of panic, their parents forget the child ever existed.

Mason Miller is the only one who knows what’s been happening, and he’s determined to protect his little sister when he’s tasked with taking her out trick-or-treating. But when he’s distracted for a moment, a pumpkin-headed scarecrow steals her away, and it’s up to Mason, his friend Serge, and the two girls who have joined them for trick-or-treating, Becca and Mari, to save Mason’s sister and put an end to the annual disappearances.

As the foursome chases after the scarecrow who kidnapped Mason’s sister, they find themselves in the mysterious world of UnderPearl, where a witch has cast a spell that summons monsters of all sorts to one place on Halloween night. Can Mason and his friends end the spell and save his sister before it’s too late?

Students who loved reading Goosebumps in elementary school will enjoy following these seventh-graders on their creepy-but-not-too-scary Halloween adventure, and in addition to the action, they’ll also enjoy this story of friendship and discovering your own heroic qualities.

Thank you NetGalley, Random House Children’s, and Delacorte Press for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are our own.

Gold Medal Summer by Donna Freitas

Joey Jordan loves gymnastics, but ever since her older sister’s injury, it’s a touchy subject in her family. Despite this, Joey is determined that this summer is when she’ll finally discover how she’ll react to winning a gold medal, a goal that won’t be easy to reach. Read more here.

Gone Wolf by Amber McBride

It’s 2111 in the Bible Boot, which seceded from the rest of the former United States after a pandemic that spread hatred throughout the country. Now, the Bible Boot, led by President Tuba, is imprisoning Blue people, whose blood provides protection for the Clones against another wave of the virus.

When Inmate 11 is paired with the president’s son for a mysterious purpose, she and her dog Ira get to go “outside” for the first time, where she discovers a world that is far darker than she had realized.

Partway through McBride’s not-too-distant dystopia, there is a twist we won’t spoil here that makes the novel far richer as we see our protagonist reckon with a broken and challenging world. The novel tackles the emotional fallout of the COVID pandemic, America’s problems with race, and the pain of mental health struggles, all in a way that is appropriate for middle school students.
We love McBride’s writing and have recommended two of her gorgeous novels in verse for high school students, Me (Moth) and We Are All So Good at Smiling, so we were thrilled to discover she had written a novel for middle school students, which delivered on our expectations in surprising and creative ways.

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

When Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree, is betrayed on a journey to marry the heir to the throne of Bayern, she learns to fend for herself in a world nothing like the royal court in which she grew up. Her ability to speak to animals becomes a valuable skill in this fairy-tale retelling full of action, romance, and adventure. Read more here.

Huda F Are You by Huda Fahmy

Fahmy’s graphic novel, the first in a series, captures the all-too-relatable awkwardness of trying to find your identity and place as a high school freshman with the added component of figuring out what it means to be a Muslim-American young woman in a society that doesn’t quite understand or accept you. Huda and her family are a delight, and we’re confident your students will think so, too. Read more here.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

We know we’re hardly offering groundbreaking recommendations here, but Collins’s dystopian trilogy about Katniss Everdeen’s resistance to the oppression of the Capitol in Panem continues to stand out as a young adult classic. Read more here.

It’s Trevor Noah: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

Noah’s memoir about growing up under apartheid in South Africa is one of the most-recommended titles we see in online teacher groups. And for good reason. The memoir is full of hilarious childhood misadventures, but it also provides thought-provoking insights about racism, the power of language, and South African history. When our students read the memoir, they were particularly drawn to the moving relationship between Trevor and his mother. Read more here.

The Kudo Kids: The Masked Medalist by Maia and Alex Shibutani

Andy and Mika are headed to Tokyo for the Summer Olympics, and they could not be more excited, especially after the launch of an augmented reality game called OlympiFan. But when they start to suspect someone is sabotaging the game, their summer adventures become bigger than they had bargained for. Read more here.

The Last Kids on Earth by Max Brallier and Douglas Holgate (Illustrator)

Jack Sullivan is living through a monster apocalypse, which has forced him to develop his survival skills. In an effort to save June, a “damsel in distress,” he teams up with his best friend and former school bully even though, to be honest, June probably doesn’t need saving. This first in a series makes a great transition book for students who are having trouble giving up the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Read more here.

The Liars Society by Alyson Gerber

Weatherby is a natural at sailing, particularly at her role as the crew, acting as the eyes of the boat and watching for anything unexpected so she can warn her skipper. When she and her “Uncle” Skip win the Northeastern District Championship Regatta, Weatherby catches the attention of the elite prep school community: they’re not pleased to see this “nobody’s” success.

As Weatherby packs up the sails, she’s dismayed to discover a technical mistake that disqualifies her and Skip from the race. Just as she’s about to turn herself in to the judges, a man approaches, offering her a scholarship to the elite Boston School. Her father, whom she’s never met, attended the school, so she’s read about it in his journals, but there’s no way her mother could afford the tuition. When the man tells her that her regatta win is what motivated him to give her the scholarship, she decides no one can ever know about the technicality that should have disqualified her and Skip from the race.

As Weatherby adjusts to her new school, her new classmates, and her new sailing team, she receives an invitation to meet a secret society on the mysterious Hart Isle, which she’s read about in her father’s journals. She must work with several other classmates (including her rival, Jack, who is desperate to win his wealthy father’s approval) to complete the challenges that will win them entry into the society, all while protecting the secret that could get her kicked out of the Boston School if it’s ever discovered.

But it turns out Weatherby’s not the only one with secrets.

Part mystery, part adventure, this novel is the fast-paced entry into a series that will appeal to a broad range of middle school students who have advanced beyond middle-grade novels but aren’t quite ready for young adult hits like The Inheritance Games.

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

Reynolds’ novel-in-verse tells the story of a 60-second elevator ride in which Will, gun tucked into his waistband, must decide whether or not to avenge his brother Shawn’s death. It’s an engaging story, a thought-provoking look at issues of gun violence, and a gorgeous work of poetry worthy of discussion and analysis. Read more here.

Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee

Mila’s got a lot on her plate: she’s navigating challenging friendship dynamics, her mom is struggling to pay the bills, and she’s got to keep practicing her trumpet to stay ahead of Callum, her biggest rival in seventh grade band.

But the “basketball boys” at her school—Callum and his friends Leo, Dante, and Tobias—are acting weird, demanding hugs from her, making comments about her fuzzy green sweater, and seemingly always in her personal space. It makes Mila feel increasingly uncomfortable, but everyone she talks to seems to think she’s overreacting, and with her female guidance counselor on maternity leave and her mom stressed out about paying bills, Mila doesn’t have anyone she feels comfortable turning to for advice.

As Mila tries to navigate the increasingly tricky situation on her own, it starts to impact her friendships and her standing in band, and it starts to feel like Mila’s life is coming apart at the seams. But the opening of a new gym near Mila’s house proves to be a source of hope for her and her family, and she starts to build the confidence and friendships she needs to stand up for herself.

The novel is compelling on its own, and we think students who love realistic fiction will enjoy it on its own merits, but the novel also tackles important issues of consent, harassment, and bodily autonomy in an age-appropriate way for students who are navigating the changes that accompany puberty and new relationship dynamics with their classmates.

May Bird and the Ever After by Jodi Lynn Anderson

When May Bird receives a mysterious letter from the Lady of North Farm, addressed to her long before her birth, she’s drawn into an adventure that takes her to the Ever After, a world where Live Ones like her are not permitted and she’s in great danger from all sorts of horrible creatures. Accompanied by Pumpkin, an unattractive ghost, she must set out on a journey to defeat the evil Bo Cleevil. Read more here.

Mexikid by Pedro Martin

Martin’s graphic memoir about a summer trip to Mexico with his family (he is the seventh of nine children) is an utter delight. Crammed in an RV together, the siblings endure adventures both mundane and completely unexpected, and Pedro grows up a little on the way. Read more here.

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

“Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?” Responding to this ad in the local newspaper brings four young people together at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where they find themselves working together to solve a series of ever-more complicated riddles and mysteries. Read more here.

Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy by Angie Thomas

For her 12th birthday, Nic Blake wants her dad to finally teach her how to use the Gift so she can be a real Manifestor. She’s disappointed that he, once again, refuses to teach her, but she does love the new hellhound puppy he gives her instead (even if it isn’t the dragon she also really wants).

Nic and her father are Remarkables, and they’ve lived in ten different Unremarkable neighborhoods, trying to keep their powers hidden and moving whenever they’re in danger of being discovered. But Nic loves their current home in Jackson, especially her best friend JP, the only other Black kid on her street and an Unremarkable.

When Nic sneaks out with JP to attend a book signing by their favorite JK-Rowling-esque author, they discover that there’s a lot more to Nic’s family than they realized, and Nic’s father is arrested for kidnapping her (what?) and stealing a powerful magical tool (double what?). It’s up to Nic, JP, and Nic’s twin brother Alex (triple what?) to find the magic tool before it’s too late for Nic’s father.

This book was an absolute delight, and we cannot wait for more in the series. While it has serious Harry Potter and Percy Jackson vibes, it also weaves in African folklore, African-American history, and a contemporary setting that makes for a fresh and exciting adventure that we found hard to put down. Thomas, well-known for her young adult classic The Hate U Give, also weaves serious issues into the novel, giving it more depth than a typical fun adventure. We think you and your students will love it.

The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani

It’s 1947, and India is on the verge of gaining independence from Britain, but when Nisha learns that the country is going to be split in two—India and Pakistan—and that she and her family must leave their home to live in the new India because her father is Hindu, her life is turned upside down. She recounts every step of her family’s exhausting and dangerous 100-mile journey to their new home amidst conflict between the many different cultures that call India and Pakistan home. Read more here.

The Rhythm of Time by Questlove and S.A. Cosby

Rahim’s best friend Kasia is super smart, and she’s always inventing new things for Rahim to try out, but they don’t always work right, and her latest invention, a cell phone that transports Rahim back to 1997, is no exception. As Rahim and Kasia work to return Rahim to the present, he ends up befriending a younger version of his father, leading to some meaningful family moments mixed in with the time travel adventures. Read more here.

The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen

Running is everything to Jessica. But when a car accident requires her right leg to be amputated, she’s not sure she’ll ever run again. As she begins what feels like the insurmountable process of recovery, she becomes friends with Rosa, a girl at her school with cerebral palsy, and their friendship, paired with the support of Jessica’s community, gives her a purpose that she desperately needs. Read more here.

Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor’s Story by Caren Stelson

Sachiko Yasui was six years old when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, ending World War II. The bomb has devastating consequences for her family and her country, and Yasui devoted her life to sharing her experiences in an effort to bring a more peaceful future. Full of pictures, the book is sure to appeal to your young history lovers. Read more here.

The Second Chance of Darius Logan by David F. Walker

Walker’s experience as a comic book author has clearly informed his story of Darius Logan, a young man thrown into the foster system when he is orphaned during an alien attack. When the novel opens, Darius is in trouble with the law, but Captain Freedom, the head of the Super Justice Force intervenes, offering Darius a spot in the Second Chance program, aimed at rehabilitating convicted felons (including supervillains, of course). We loved learning about the Super Justice Force world as Darius comes into his own and discovers unexpected powers that his world needs. Read more here.

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

When police officers come to Alex Rider’s door at 3 in the morning to tell him that his uncle is dead, Alex is thrust into the dangerous world of MI-6, where his uncle was apparently working as an intelligence agent. The organization needs Alex to pick up his uncle’s work, investigating a wealthy tech wizard who is donating a massive supply of computers to local schools. Read more here.

Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier

We both ADORED the story of 11-year-old Nan Sparrow, a chimney sweep in Victorian England, who nearly dies in a chimney fire and wakes up next to a golem, who she names Charlie. The pair fend for themselves as they avoid Nan’s abusive former boss and stand up against the unfair child labor practices that characterize her world.  Read more here.

The Swifts: A Dictionary of Scoundrels by Beth Lincoln

Your young mystery fans and puzzle lovers will enjoy the story of Shenanigan Swift, destined by her name to be a mischief-maker in her eccentric family. When family members start dying at their big reunion, she and her cousins must investigate to find the murdered and Grand-Uncle Vile’s long-lost treasure. Read more here.

Tangerine by Edward Bloor

When Paul Fisher’s family moves from Houston, Texas, to Tangerine County, Florida, Paul has to make a lot of adjustments: he’s at a new school, the Florida weather includes regular lightning strikes, his town is built on top of a burning muck fire, and his IEP for his vision problems makes him ineligible to play on his middle school soccer team. But as the novel goes on, Paul discovers some family secrets that make all of those things seem small in comparison. Read more here.

Ten Thousand Tries by Amy Makechnie

Golden Maroni is working on the ten thousand hours of practice he needs to be just like his hero, soccer player Lionel Messi. But it’s hard for him to accept that his father’s ALS can’t be overcome with the same willpower and effort, nor can he prevent his best friend Lucy from moving, and when the weight becomes too much for him to bear, will he have what it takes to cope? Read more here.

Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer by John Grisham

Theodore Boone’s parents are both lawyers, so he knows everyone at the courthouse and gives out legal advice to his classmates. When a big case is tried in town, Theo gets involved when a community member comes to him with information about what happened the night of the murder. Read more here.

To Night Owl From Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer

Bett Devlin and Avery Bloom have very little in common, and when Bett emails Avery out of the blue one day, it is for emergency purposes only, not so that they can become friends. Their dads met recently in Chicago and started dating, and now they’re determined to send Bett and Avery to the same summer camp so the girls can get to know one another.

Neither Bett nor Avery wants to see their dads’ relationship progress, forcing them to become a family, and so the girls begin corresponding in an effort to get to the bottom of what’s happening and put an end to it.

But when they find themselves at camp together while their dads travel to China, they’re in for a world of life-changing surprises. We’d love to tell you more about what happens, but the twists and turns are part of what makes the novel such a delight!

We adored Bett and Avery, and their email exchanges are a delight to read. This Parent-Trap-esque story is about family, friendship, courage, and growing up, and we think your students will love it.

Too Scared to Sleep by Andrew Duplessie

If you have students who love all things scary and are looking for something in between Goosebumps and the gore that fills horror books written for older audiences, Duplessie’s collection of short stories will be a good fit. We found a few of the stories disturbing, but we suppose that’s also the point of horror! Each story comes with a QR code that takes students to a short video related to the story. Read more here.

The Ultimate Middle School Survival Guide by Jonathan and Erica Catherman

The transition from elementary school to middle school is a big one, and while some students excitedly tackle it head on, others find it intimidating. This nonfiction resource is a good introduction to middle school, answering questions students might have about everything from book reports to detention to foot odor to pop quizzes to voice changes.

The guide provides brief mini-chapters that cover 100 topics, some academic in nature, some about personal hygiene, and some about the complicated social aspects of middle school. The mini-chapters offer advice, encouragement, and practical strategies (along with some humor to lighten the mood), all with the goal of making middle school students feel comfortable with this transition and ready to have a successful experience.

While some of the advice is uneven (there are step-by-step directions on how to apply deodorant but only broad overviews of how to deal with gossip and bullying), we think this is a resource that will set many incoming middle schoolers minds at ease, and as teachers, we appreciate the strategies offered to promote academic success! 

Thank you NetGalley and Revell for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are our own.

Unbroken: An Airman’s Journey from Olympian to Castaway to Captive by Laura Hillenbrand

Louis Zamperini lived through multiple lifetimes, all in one, growing from a mischievous kid to an Olympic runner to a member of the Air Force during World War II who is stranded at sea and then taken captive in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. His story is fascinating and inspiring, and this adaptation for young readers tones down some of the more graphic stories while still giving readers a clear sense of Zamperini’s harrowing experiences. Read more here.

We Are Not Free by Traci Chee

Chee narrates the story of 14 Japanese American teenagers forced to move from Japantown in San Francisco to internment camps in Topaz, Utah, and Tule Lake, California, as a result of Executive Order 9066 following the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Our hearts broke for these teenagers, and the novel offers important insights into a shameful moment in American history. Read more here.

We Dream of Space by Erin Entrada Kelly

It’s January 1986, and the science teacher at Cash, Fitch, and Bird Nelson Thomas’s middle school is eagerly preparing students for the launch of the Challenger mission: she did apply to be the teacher sent to space, after all. Bird is captivated, but her brothers are distracted by their own issues, including conflict at home. But when the launch doesn’t go as planned, the siblings come together in unexpected ways. Read more here.

Wonder Woman: The Adventures of Young Diana by Jordie Bellaire and Paulina Gaunucheau (Illustrator)

Fans of Wonder Woman (aka Diana Prince) will enjoy this look back to Diana’s younger years, as she yearns for far more adventures than her mother Hippolyta is willing to allow. A teenage Diana roams the island of Themyscira looking for opportunities to sharpen her heroic skills, whether it’s swimming with megalodons to find lost ancient texts, reuniting with a long-lost aunt, or making her first visit to Mount Olympus.

Students will likely enjoy this more if they already have some familiarity with Wonder Woman, but even if they don’t, the graphic novel tells fun adventure stories with nods to Greek mythology and strong female characters.

Thank you NetGalley and DC Entertainment for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are our own.

Finding good middle school books may feel like an insurmountable challenge, but there are some great middle school books out there. We hope you’ve discovered at least a couple here that you and your students will enjoy. If you’ve discovered top-notch middle school books that we haven’t listed, please share with us at [email protected] or on Instagram @threeheads.works.

If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to our monthly First Chapter Friday Nearpods: we send out FIVE free quick and easy First Chapter Friday activities each month that we think you and your students will love, and we do our best to make sure there’s at least one title on there that’s appropriate for middle school students. Looking for more YA book recommendations to suggest to your students or use for your own FCF activity? Check out the YA book section of our website for all our recommendations.