On the eve of Solimar’s quinceañera and coronation, she ventures to the oyamel fir forest to glimpse the arrival of the majestic monarch butterflies. She is awestruck with the butterflies’ presence when a strange event bestows her a gift, the ability to see the near future.

  Title: The Windeby Puzzle Author: Lois Lowry Publisher: Clarion Books Release Date: February 14, 2023 The Windeby Puzzle by Lois Lowry weaves together nonfiction, fiction, and the process of storytelling into a unique and memorable narrative. Inspired by the peat bog mummy discovered in Germany in 1952, Lowry contemplates the fate of the young person […]

  Title: The Superteacher Project Author: Gordon Korman Publisher: Balzar + Bray Release Date: January 10, 2023 Oliver Zahn is looking forward to another exciting year of rule-wrecking. Yet, his enthusiasm for breaking the rules comes to a screeching halt when the new teacher at Brightling Middle School, Mr. Aidact, stops him in his tracks on […]

With another amazing year for middle grade books coming to a close, we’ve listed our favorites from the past 12 months in one convenient spot. Admittedly, we did not have time to read all the middle grade books published or even a lot this year (thanks to the newest newborn addition to the LIT Lessons team!), but the ones we did were poignant. In no specific order, here they are!

It’s 1989 and seventeen-year old Cristian Florescu and his family live in Bucharest, the heart of Romania’s repressive, tyrannical regime. Cristi desires change like so many others, but to speak about it puts himself and his family in danger. Living amidst the nefarious underbelly of society forces Cristi to write his revolutionary thoughts in a private notebook.

Will has a choice to make. Or maybe he doesn’t. With a gun shoved into the back of his waistband, he heads out to avenge his brother Shawn’s death. But as the elevator stops at the next floor, Buck steps on. Buck is dead, and he wants to know what Will is going to do with that gun. The gun that used to be Shawn’s.