Middle Grades

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  Eyes and the Impossible (2023) by David Eggers

  Peter Shea

  The Eyes and the Impossible joins the genre of talking animal stories, deepening that genre, suggesting new ways that the animal point of view could help humans understand their strivings for limitlessness and their temptations to retreat into a safe world. The dog narrator, Johannes and his animal friends and colleagues are all open to the world beyond their cozy home; they are willing to take great risks to learn something new. The book models the adventure of learning and growing up, without sacrificing the power of a great story.

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  Force of Nature (2024) by Ann E. Burg

  Maughn Rollins Gregory

  Rachel Carson launched the modern environmental movement with books that combined detailed observations of the natural world, scientific research, and philosophical reflection on humanity’s relationship with nature — all conveyed in poetic language. Ann E. Burg’s fictional biography-in-verse Force of Nature shows how these habits of observation, questioning, reflection, and expression began in Carson’s childhood, and invites readers to follow her lines of inquiry. Can we provide for human well-being without sacrificing the well-being of non-human life? Can we provide for the well-being of certain human populations without sacrificing the well-being of others? Can we indulge our wonder about, and need to learn about nature without changing it? What role should ordinary citizens have in shaping the directions and applications of scientific research? What difference can one life, one voice make? Rachel Carson may not have offered definitive answers to these questions, but her life and writing articulated them powerfully.

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  Leak (2021) by Kate Reed Petty

  Maughn Rollins Gregory and Megan Jane Laverty

  Aspiring 12-year-old journalist Ruth is looking for her next big story when she and her friend Jonathan discover dead fish and strange black slime at the lake near their town. Through a frustrating, risky, and sometimes funny journey, she learns about scientific and journalistic objectivity and the importance of both - and of community support - in environmental activism.

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  My Octopus Teacher (2020) directed by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed

  Maughn Gregory

  My Octopus Teacher combines a carefully structured love story with astonishing information about undersea life, documenting a year of encounters between a photographer and an octopus. It is important as a non-standard love story and as a reflection on the possibility of deep connection with non-human creatures.

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  Out of the Fires (2023) by Carrie Lara

  Peter Shea

  After a fire destroys his home and neighborhood, a young boy must learn what it means to be resilient. Things may never be "normal" again, but he discovers that he is strong―even when hard things happen. The book, written as a journal, includes drawings, news clippings, and coping strategies to help children cultivate resilience after a natural disaster.

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  Safiyyah’ s War (2023) by Hiba Noor Khan & The Grand Mosque of Paris (2009) by Karen Gray Ruelle & Deborah Durland DeSaix

  Maughn Rollins Gregory

  Suppose that somebody takes over your city and begins harming your friends and neighbors. How do you respond? When is it your responsibility to act, and what kinds of risks should you take? How do these new moral demands change your relations to your neighbors, people in authority, and even your family? How do you stay sane and resolved when your safety is under constant threat? Telling the story of how the Muslim community in Paris risked their lives to save hundreds of Jews when Germany invaded France in World War II, this middle-grades novel and picture book also tell about how adults and children find their way around and through many ethical and political quandaries.

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  Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence (2023) by Sonja Thomas

  Maughn Rollins Gregory

  When twelve-year-old Mira Williams’s companion and confidant, the cat Sir Fig Newton, contracts diabetes, her parents say she may have to give him to someone who can afford his treatment. The resources Mira will need to save Fig and keep him close include ingenuity, family ties, friendships, and the kind of faith she finds can be compatible with science. Thomas’ novel shows a teenager’s sophisticated engagement with complex questions of race, faith, science, and relationships.

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  Wildful (2024) by Kengo Kurimoto

  Maughn Gregory

  Kengo Kurimoto’s graphic novel Wildful explores the transformative power of nature and deep attention. Poppy is struggling with her mother’s depression after her grandmother’s passing. Initially absorbed in digital distractions, Poppy is drawn into the wilderness when her dog, Pepper, chases a fox. She meets Rob, a boy who teaches her to observe nature with curiosity and respect—tracking animals, noticing patterns, and sitting in silence. Poppy learns that being in nature can assuage generational grief through a renewed sense of wonder and connection.