National Network for Equitable Library Service

Up until now, middle school hasn't exactly been a joyride for Greg Heffley. So when the town threatens to close the crumbling building, he's not too broken up about it. But when Greg realizes this means he's going to be sent to a different school than his best friend, Rowley Jefferson, he changes his tune. Can Greg and his classmates save their school before it's shuttered for good? Or is this the start of a whole new chapter for Greg?

Never doubt your own strength. Emily has always excelled at sports, and her athletic abilities have given her confidence on and off the courts. So when she starts to drag during her middle-school volleyball season, she assumes it must be the flu. But after a particularly intense game, she finds herself riding in the back of an ambulance, a paramedic telling her that her life will never be the same. Adjusting to life with type 1 diabetes isn't easy.

A long-ago "accident." An isolated girl named Aviva. A community that wants to help, but doesn’t know how. And a ghostly dybbuk that only Aviva can see—causing mayhem and mischief that everyone blames on her. That is the setting for this suspenseful novel of a girl who seems to have lost everything, including her best friend Kayla, and a mother who once sparkled but now can’t always get out of bed.

Everything is changing for eleven-year-old Alex, and as an autistic person, change can be terrifying. With the first day of middle school only a few months away, Alex is sure that having a friend by his side will help. So he's devised a plan: impress the kids at school by winning a trophy at the PAWS Dog Show with his trusty sidekick, Kevin. This should be a walk in the park ... right? If only. For Alex, finding a friend is harder than he ever expected. But maybe friendship isn't one size fits all—maybe it's found in the small things where you least expect it.

Tall. High as the clouds. Strong as a horse's back. Like a cowboy. In the early hours before dawn, a young girl and her father greet their horses and ride together through the waking city streets. As they trot along, Daddy tells cowboy stories filled with fun and community, friendship, discovery, and pride. Seeing her city from a new vantage point and feeling seen in a new way, the child discovers that she too is a cowboy—strong and confident in who she is.

From Emmy Award–winning actor Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver comes a new out-of-this-world middle-grade series. No one is shocked by the six-eyed alien strolling around the Universal back lot. The tourists just think he's part of the show. It doesn't take long for Buddy to land a role on a popular TV show, playing (of course) an alien. He becomes an overnight heartthrob and is suddenly faced with legions of adoring fans, rides in glamorous limos, and appearances at "all-the-shrimp-you-can-eat" red carpet parties.

In Hot Mess, book 19 of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series from #1 international bestselling author Jeff Kinney, Greg Heffley is in for a particularly awkward summer with his whole family. The pressure is building for Greg Heffley, who discovers that when you mix heaps of family, a tiny beach house, and sweltering heat, it's a recipe for disaster. Speaking of recipes—the secret ingredients behind Gramma's famous meatballs have been closely guarded for years. Can Greg unpack all of his family's mysteries before their vacation is over? Or will he just stir the pot?

"Narrators Anna Fikhman, Christopher Gebauer, and Jesse Vilinsky combine talents in this compelling historical fiction, which takes place during the Ukrainian famine of the 1930s." —AudioFile. Author's note read by the author. From the author of Nowhere Boy—called "a resistance novel for our times" by The New York Times—comes a brilliant middle-grade survival story that traces a harrowing family secret back to the Holodomor, a terrible famine that devastated Soviet Ukraine in the 1930s. Thirteen-year-old Matthew is miserable.

This program features multicast narration. "This audiobook, written by two experts in middle-grade fiction, is a perfect family listen." —AudioFile. The New York Times bestselling authors of Bob, Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass, introduce young listeners to a little free library guarded by a cat and a boy who takes on the mystery it keeps. When a mysterious little free library (guarded by a large orange cat) appears overnight in the small town of Martinville, eleven-year-old Evan plucks two weathered books from its shelves, never suspecting that his life is about to change.

In this first of a charming series about a little mouse and her forest friends, Sophie Mouse must convince her classmates—and herself—that a new student is nothing to fear. Even if he is a snake! Listeners will delight in The Adventures of Sophie Mouse. Springtime has arrived at Silverlake Forest! Buds are blooming on trees and the air smells of honeysuckles. Sophie Mouse can't wait to go back to school after the long winter break. But she and her friends are in for a surprise when they learn that they're getting a new classmate . . . and he's a snake!