Middle School Literature

Twelve-year-old Oliver Watson's got the IQ of a grilled cheese sandwich. Or so everyone in Omaha thinks. In reality, Oliver's a mad evil genius on his way to world domination, and he's used his great brain to make himself the third-richest person on earth! Then Oliver's father - and archnemesis - makes a crack about the upcoming middle school election, and Oliver takes it as a personal challenge. He'll run, and he'll win!

When the baddest of bad guys threatens the world with a giant black hole, Ben Braver is the only one who can stop it. Ready or not, he's about to learn what it really means to be a hero.

Amina has never been comfortable in the spotlight. She is happy just hanging out with her best friend, Soojin. Except now that she's in middle school everything feels different. Soojin is suddenly hanging out with Emily, one of the "cool" girls in the class, and even talking about changing her name to something more "American." Does Amina need to start changing too? Or hiding who she is to fit in? While Amina grapples with these questions, she is devastated when her local mosque is vandalized.

Here are 35 stories of life’s ups and downs, and family, mentors and doing what’s right for younger teens. Topics include "Tough Times", "That's My Family", "The People Who Are There for Us" and "Doing What's Right".

Eric is the new kid in seventh grade. Griffin wants to be his friend. When you're new in town, it's hard to know who to hang out with - and who to avoid. Griffin seems cool, confident, and popular. But something isn't right about Griffin. He always seems to be in the middle of bad things. And if Griffin doesn't like you, you'd better watch your back. There might be a target on it. As Eric gets drawn deeper into Griffin's dark world, he begins to see the truth about Griffin: He's a liar, a bully, a thief.

Nadia's school is choosing a new mascot, and her idea is totally going to win! She’s also going to kick butt writing for the school newspaper this term.... Maybe. A couple of weeks in, the newspaper is a big mess. The mascot contest is mayhem, too. (Who knew choosing a costumed character could cause such controversy?) Then Nadia and Titi discover that the hippo amulet holds a second secret, one that’s super powerful - and super scary. Too bad they have no idea how to stop it. But Nadia is on the case!

Max and Sofia's summer vacation gets wild when they stumble upon an abandoned sailboat in the mangrove forest. They’re given the chance to make a real impact when the boat magically transports them to a different corner of the world to help other kids save their environment!

Eleven-year-old David Greenberg dreams of becoming a YouTube sensation and spends all of his time making hilarious Top 6½ Lists and Talk Time videos. But when David's new best friend, Sophie, starts sending out the links to everyone she knows and her friends tell their friends, thousands of people start viewing his videos.

After noticing that A.J. and his friends’ geography knowledge could use some work, Mr. Cooper invites to class just the person to help. Globetrotter Mrs. Barr speaks seven languages and has visited nearly 200 countries! But why does she carry a suitcasfe everywhere she goes? And why does she open a window whenever she walks into a room? Perhaps Mrs. Barr has something to hide!

It’s your faith, why not own it. The Middle School Survival Series will help you answer all the new questions that you have as you journey through middle school.

It’s Halloween, and you know what that means! Candy! Costumes! More candy! What would happen if a kid ate a million hundred pounds of chocolate in one night? One thing’s for sure - when A. J. and his friends from Ella Mentry School go trick-or-treating, it will be a Halloween to remember.

When Mia arrives at her new school, her motto is to be open and friendly with everyone. However, not everyone at Park Street School believes in mixing with different groups of friends. When the Popular Girls Club takes interest in Mia's awesome fashion style and wants to recruit her, Mia has to decide between them and her great new Cupcake Club friends. It's like choosing between her divorced mom and dad and her old house and new house. Is it always going to be Mia in the middle, or can she mix it up?

No one knows hard work and dedication like Valentina Camacho. And Vale’s thing is fencing. She’s the top athlete at her fencing gym. Or she was...until the accident. After months away, Vale is finally cleared to fence again, but it’s much harder than before. Her body doesn’t move the way it used to, and worst of all is the new number one: Myrka.

Every time violence erupts in the Middle East, Ida knows what's coming next. Some of her classmates treat her like it's all her fault—just for being Palestinian! In eighth grade, Ida is forced to move to a different school. But people still treat her like she'll never fit in. Ida wishes she could disappear. One day, dreading a final class project, Ida hunts for food. She discovers a jar of olives that came from a beloved aunt in her family's village near Jerusalem. Ida eats one and finds herself there—as if her parents had never left Palestine!

Toby is a beagle who doesn't seem to have a purpose. While all of his littermates are adopted right away, Toby is left behind because he's not as energetic as they are. But because he is so quiet, he is adopted by a girl named Mona and her mother, who works at a nursing home. As Toby comforts the residents of the home, he discovers that his purpose may be the most important of all!

My name is Danny Day, and I live every day twice. The first time, it's a "discard day". It's kind of like a practice run. At the end of the day, I go to bed, wake up, and poof everything gets reset, everything except my memory, that is. The second time, everything is normal, just like it is for everyone else. That's when everything counts and my actions stick. As you could probably guess, "Sticky Day" Danny is very different from "Discard Day" Danny.

Cordelia Liu’s first year at Shadow School was a success. She studied hard and made friends. She also sent hundreds of ghosts into the afterlife, because Shadow School isn’t a normal school, and Cordelia Liu isn’t a normal girl. But her second year is already different. Ghosts are refusing to move on, the teachers are acting weird, and Cordelia’s best friends, Benji and Agnes, aren’t as interested in rescuing the ghosts as they used to be.

GAVIN's days of football glory have arrived, but an accident on the home front upends his family. Ever enterprising, NATALIE anchors a morning news broadcast at school - where she's unafraid to tackle big issues. Being on the outs with his best friend sucks, but the more TREVOR tries to patch things up, the worse things get. Sidelined with a gymnastics injury, RANDI develops a bad attitude and worries that her mom's new boyfriend means changes she won't like. SCOTT discovers hidden talents...and becomes a secret weapon on and off the football field.

Grayson Sender has been holding onto a secret for what seems like forever: "He" is a girl on the inside, stuck in the wrong gender's body. The weight of this secret is crushing, but sharing it would mean facing ridicule, scorn, rejection, or worse. Despite the risks, Grayson's true self itches to break free. Will new strength from an unexpected friendship and a caring teacher's wisdom be enough to help Grayson step into the spotlight she was born to inhabit?

Abby and her classmates have all been invited to Briar Academy to participate in the Challenge, a prep-school competition where teams compete for prizes and the glory of being the best of the best. While there, they figure out their nemesis, the Ghost, is using Briar as headquarters to plan a devastating attack on his enemies (a.k.a. pretty much everyone) using a brand-new invention Toby developed. And this time, the Center and Mrs. Smith will be of no help as Abby suspects there is someone working for the Ghost on the inside - and they can trust no one.