YA Books for Middle Schoolers

Books in the Young Adult Collection that may be appropriate for those in the 6th through 8th grade or ages 10 to 14. The Young Adult Collection is made up of books for a wide range (12-18 years old) and includes a variety of different topics and interests. Not all titles will be appropriate for all readers.

Showing 1 - 19 of 19  There are a total of 87 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "The thing about jellyfish"
Star rating for The thing about jellyfish
Average Rating:
4.9 stars
Description:
Twelve-year-old Suzy Swanson wades through her intense grief over the loss of her best friend by investigating the rare jellyfish she is convinced was responsible for her friend's death.
Book cover for "The benefits of being an octopus"
Star rating for The benefits of being an octopus
Author:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Seventh-grader Zoey Albro focuses on caring for three younger siblings and avoiding rich classmates at school until her fascination with octopuses gets her on the debate team and she begins to speak out.
Book cover for "Like Vanessa"
Star rating for Like Vanessa
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
It is 1983 and Vanessa Martin, a thirteen-year-old African American girl in Newark's public housing, dreams of following in the footsteps of the first black Miss America, Vanessa Williams; but the odds are against her until a new teacher at school organizes a beauty pageant and encourages Vanessa to enter.
Book cover for "The tournament at Gorlan"
Star rating for The tournament at Gorlan
Average Rating:
4.8 stars
Description:
In this prequel to the Ranger's Apprentice series, Halt and Crowley travel north seeking Prince Duncan's royal warrant to stop Morgrath from corrupting the Corps, but if they are to prevent a coup that is nearing success, the young Rangers will have to tread a dangerous path toward the annual tournament at Gorlan.

5. Shug

Book cover for "Shug"
Star rating for Shug
Author:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Twelve-year-old Annemarie "Shug" Wilcox feels that she is freakishly tall, freakishly flat-chested, and freakishly freckled. And now she's starting junior high where her friends all act like complete strangers and her life seems like a blur. A twelve-year-old girl learns about friendship, first loves, and self-worth in a small town in the South.
Book cover for "Raven's gate"
Star rating for Raven's gate
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Sent to live in a foster home in a remote Yorkshire village, Matt, a troubled fourteen-year-old English boy, uncovers an evil plot involving witchcraft and the site of an ancient stone circle.
Book cover for "The great Greene heist"
Star rating for The great Greene heist
Series:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Jackson Greene has a reputation as a prankster at Maplewood Middle School, but after the last disaster he is trying to go straight--but when it looks like Keith Sinclair may steal the election for school president from Jackson's former best friend Gabriela, he assembles a team to make sure Keith does not succeed.
Book cover for "The novice"
Star rating for The novice
Series:
Summoner volume 1.
Average Rating:
4.9 stars
Description:
When Fletcher, a blacksmith's apprentice, learns he can summon demons, he travels with his demon to an academy for adepts where he is to train as a Battlemage in the Empire's war against the orcs, but he discovers that all is not as it seems.
Book cover for "Everything sad is untrue"
Star rating for Everything sad is untrue
Average Rating:
4.8 stars
Description:
"At the front of a middle school classroom in Oklahoma, a boy named Khosrou (whom everyone calls "Daniel") stands, trying to tell a story. His story. But no one believes a word he says. To them he is a dark-skinned, hairy-armed boy with a big butt whose lunch smells funny; who makes things up and talks about poop too much. But Khosrou's stories, stretching back years, and decades, and centuries, are beautiful, and terrifying, from the moment his family...
Book cover for "The new Olympians"
Star rating for The new Olympians
Average Rating:
4.8 stars
Description:
Pegasus and Emily investigate a series of incidents back on Earth, and discover that the CRU has been cloning Olympians. "Pegasus and Emily investigate a series of incidents back on Earth, and discover that the CRU has been cloning Olympians"--
Book cover for "Best nerds forever"
Star rating for Best nerds forever
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"Being "nerdy" in middle school isn't a bad thing--I should know! Me and my friends are nerds. Some of us are geeky but funny, smart but never boring. One is a jock but not jerk. We don't quite fit. But we're funny. We're fun. We're total chaos. And we own it--until one of us is targeted by a maniac. It will take all of our nerdiest skills to Sherlock Holmes our way out of one dangerous mess."--Provided by publisher.
Book cover for "Thornhill"
Star rating for Thornhill
Series:
Hemlock trilogy volume 2.
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:

Thornhill is the second book in a supernatural mystery trilogy perfect for readers who love Richelle Meade and HBO's hit drama True Blood. Kathleen Peacock's extraordinary follow-up to her debut novel, Hemlock, features heart-stopping action and a sizzling romance.

Mackenzie's new love, Kyle, plans to turn himself in to the Lupine Syndrome Registration Bureau and enroll in a rehabilitation camp, where he can live with other werewolves. But

...
Book cover for "The seventh most important thing"
Star rating for The seventh most important thing
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"In 1963, thirteen-year-old Arthur is sentenced to community service helping the neighborhood Junk Man after he throws a brick at the old man's head in a moment of rage, but the junk he collects might be more important than he suspects. Inspired by the work of American folk artist James Hampton"--
Book cover for "Disney after dark"
Star rating for Disney after dark
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Thirteen-year-old Finn Whitman and four other young teens have been transformed into holgorams to be guides for visitors to Disney World. When Finn is unexpectedly transported to the Magic Kingdom in his hologram form, Wayne, an Imagineer, tells him that he and the other guides must save the park from the scheming witch Maleficent and the Overtakers. Thirteen-year-old Finn Whitman and four other young teens have been transformed into holgorams to...
Book cover for "Alanna"
Star rating for Alanna
Series:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Eleven-year-old Alanna, who aspires to be a knight even though she is a girl, disguises herself as a boy to become a royal page, learning many hard lessons along her path to high adventure.
Book cover for "Nikki on the line"
Star rating for Nikki on the line
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Nikki, thirteen, dreams of being a great basketball player but struggles on her new, elite team while also juggling school stress, her non-traditional family, and revelations about her biological father.
Book cover for "Full flight"
Star rating for Full flight
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"Everyone else in the tiny town of Enfield, Texas, calls fall football season, but for the forty-three members of the Fighting Bearcat Marching Band, it's contest season. And for new saxophonist Anna James, it's her first chance to prove herself as the great musician she's trying hard to be.When she's assigned a duet with mellophone player Weston Ryan, the boy her small-minded town thinks of as nothing but trouble, she's equal parts thrilled and intimidated.But...

18. Flygirl

Book cover for "Flygirl"
Star rating for Flygirl
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
During World War II, a light-skinned African American girl "passes" for white in order to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots.
Book cover for "The disappearance of Emily H"
Star rating for The disappearance of Emily H
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Eighth-grader Raine, a new girl at Yielding Middle School, uses her supernatural ability to see other people's memories to solve the disappearance of a teenaged girl.