Black Experiences for Middle Grade ReadersLike this list

12 items

• New Kid

  Craft, Jerry,

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  As he makes the daily trip from his Washington Heights apartment to the upscale Riverdale Academy Day School, Jordan soon finds himself torn between two worlds—and not really fitting into either one. Can Jordan learn to navigate his new…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Blended

  Draper, Sharon M. (Sharon Mills),

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  Isabella doesn’t just feel divided, she feels ripped in two. What does it mean to be half white or half black? To belong to half mom and half dad? And if you’re only seen as half of this and half of that, how can you ever feel whole?

• The Season of Styx Malone

  Magoon, Kekla,

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  Meet Caleb and Bobby Gene, two brothers embarking on a heartwarming, one-thing-leads-to-another adventure in which friendships are forged, loyalties are tested . . . and miracles just might happen.

• Betty Before X

  Shabazz, Ilyasah,

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  In Detroit, 1945, eleven-year-old Betty’s house doesn’t quite feel like home. Betty quickly finds confidence and purpose in volunteering for the Housewives League, an organization that supports black-owned businesses. Soon, the American…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Harbor Me

  Woodson, Jacqueline,

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  It all starts when six kids have to meet for a weekly chat--by themselves. With no adults to listen in, they discover it's safe to talk about what's bothering them--everything from Esteban's father's deportation and Haley's father's…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Parker Inheritance

  Johnson, Varian,

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  When Candice finds a letter in an old attic in South Carolina, she isn't sure she should read it. With the help of Brandon, the quiet boy across the street, she begins to decipher the clues. The challenge will lead them deep into Lambert's…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Dragons in a Bag

  Elliott, Zetta,

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  There are two rules when it comes to the dragons: don't let them out of the bag and don't feed them anything sweet. Before he knows it, Jax and his friends Vikram and Kavita have broken both rules! Will Jax get the baby dragons delivered…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• From the Desk of Zoe Washington

  Marks, Janae,

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  Avid baker Zoe Washington receives a letter on her twelfth birthday from her biological father, who is in prison for a terrible crime.

• Brown Girl Dreaming

  Woodson, Jacqueline,

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  "Jacqueline, tells the moving story of her childhood in mesmerizing verse. Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Ghost Boys

  Rhodes, Jewell Parker,

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  Only the living can make the world better. Live and make it better. Twelve-year-old Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat. As a ghost, he observes the devastation that's been unleashed on his family,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Look Both Ways

  a Tale Told in Ten Blocks

  Reynolds, Jason,

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  Jason Reynolds conjures ten tales (one per block) about what happens after the dismissal bell rings, and weaves them into one funny, poignant look at the detours we face on the walk home, and in life.

• Walking With Miss Millie

  Bundy, Tamara,

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  After moving with her mother and deaf brother to Grandma's small Georgia town in the 1960s, Alice copes with feelings of isolation by befriending the elderly black woman who lives next door.