While there are particular times of the year where fresh starts are deemed appropriate, like New Years or the start of a new academic year, the truth is, we can make a fresh start whenever we want to.
And that goes for kids, too.
Here’s a collection of middle grade books where characters explore the idea of a fresh start and then actually go out and accomplish that.
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The Other Half of Happy by Rebecca Balcarcel
The Other Half of Happy by Rebecca Barcarcel is everything you could ever want in a middle grade novel: completely relatable characters, situations and experiences that ring true for many and writing that invites you to stay a while. But this book had so much more. Balcarcel introduces us to Quijana, a twelve year old girl who doesn’t know where she fits in at home, at school and in her own skin. She struggles to make friends and fit in at her new school, to connect with her Guatemalan family, to make sense of her new feelings for a boy and to deal with her worry for her brother and grandmother. But most of all, she struggles to express what she feels on the inside to those that matter most and makes regretful choices in the process, something all readers, young and old, can relate to. This is my new favorite middle grade novel.
All the Impossible Things by Lindsay Lackey
Love can do impossible things and this book reminds us of that in a big way. Red, an eleven year old girl, has moved from foster home to foster home as she waits the 397 days left until her mother is released from prison. Armed with her notebook, the wisdom of her grandmother and hope for her mother’s return, she attempts to find her place within her new foster family. Jackon and Celine provide the unconditional love and stability that has been hard to find and give her hope that she’ll be alright until her mother returns. But when things change drastically, Red has to make an important decision about her future, one that is threatened by her raging emotions that seem to impact the literal wind around her. This book will give you a new perspective, will give you hope and will even give you a little bit of magic, too.
When Life Gives You Mangoes by Kereen Getten
Twelve-year-old Clara lives on an island that visitors call exotic. But there’s nothing exotic about it to Clara.
The only thing out of the ordinary for Clara is that something happened to her memory that made her forget everything that happened last summer after a hurricane hit. Sometimes things come back to her in drips like a tap that hasn’t been turned off properly. Other times her Mama fills in the blanks…only she knows those aren’t her memories and it is hard feeling like she is not like everybody else.
But this summer is going to be different for Clara. Everyone is buzzing with excitement over a new girl in the village who is not like other visitors. She is about to make big waves on the island–and give Clara a summer she won’t forget.
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Eleanor is the new girl in town, and with her chaotic family life, her mismatched clothes and unruly red hair, she couldn’t stick out more if she tried.
Park is the boy at the back of the bus. Black T-shirts, headphones, head in a book—he thinks he’s made himself invisible. But not to Eleanor… never to Eleanor.
Slowly, steadily, through late-night conversations and an ever-growing stack of mix tapes, Eleanor and Park fall for each other. They fall in love the way you do the first time, when you’re young, and you feel as if you have nothing and everything to lose.
Finding Perfect by Elly Swartz
Finding Perfect was the perfect name for this book: it’s the perfect middle grade novel and spoke right to my heart. Twelve-year-old Molly is dealing with a lot: her parents recently separated and her mother moved to Canada for a year to work. She’s hoping that winning her school’s poetry slam will bring her mother back home to celebrate at the big banquet. But as time passes, Molly is having a harder time dealing with the stresses in her life and new habits take over: counting, washing, organizing and measuring compete for her attention and start to win. As Molly starts to unravel, she finally realizes that telling someone, somehow, is the only thing left to do. I wish this book was available for my childhood self, but it helped heal the adult version, too.
Rule of Threes by Marcy Campbell
How do you share a parent with a stranger?
Maggie’s accustomed to leading her life perfectly according to her own well-designed plans. But when Maggie learns that she has a half-brother her own age who needs a place to stay, any semblance of a plan is shattered. Tony’s mom struggles with an addiction to opioids, and now she’s called upon Maggie’s dad—who’s also Tony’s dad—to take him in.
As Maggie struggles to reconcile her mom and dad’s almost-divorce, accept the Alzheimer’s afflicting her grandmother, and understand Tony’s own issues—ignorance is no longer an option. While Maggie can strive for—and even succeed in—a perfect design, when it comes to family, nothing is perfect, and tackling its complexities is only possible with an open heart.
The Year of the Dog by Grace Lin
When Pacy’s mom tells her that this is a good year for friends, family, and “finding herself,” Pacy begins searching right away. As the year goes on, she struggles to find her talent, deals with disappointment, makes a new best friend, and discovers just why the Year of the Dog is a lucky one for her after all.
This funny and profound book is a wonderful debut novel by award-winning and bestselling author and illustrator Grace Lin, and young readers will be sure to love and treasure it for years to come.
Short by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Julia is very short for her age, but by the end of the summer run of The Wizard of Oz, she’ll realize how big she is inside, where it counts. She hasn’t ever thought of herself as a performer, but when the wonderful director of Oz casts her as a Munchkin, she begins to see herself in a new way. As Julia becomes friendly with the poised and wise Olive – one of the adults with dwarfism who’ve joined the production’s motley crew of Munchkins – and with her deeply artistic neighbor, Mrs. Chang, Julia’s own sense of self as an artist grows. Soon, she doesn’t want to fade into the background and it’s a good thing, because her director has more big plans for Julia!
There by Marie-Loiuse Fitzpatrick
When will I get There? How will I know?
A little girl ponders what the future holds, steadfast in her determination to find out for herself. Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick’s gorgeous landscapes and the briefest of text speak to the power of imagination. Readers of all ages will find reassurance in this simple, beautiful book of ruminations about a lifelong journey toward tomorrow.
Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes The
The barbershop is where the magic happens. Boys go in as lumps of clay and, with princely robes draped around their shoulders, a dab of cool shaving cream on their foreheads, and a slow, steady cut, they become royalty. That crisp yet subtle line makes boys sharper, more visible, more aware of every great thing that could happen to them when they look good: lesser grades turn into As; girls take notice; even a mother’s hug gets a little tighter. Everyone notices. This rhythmic, read-aloud title is a celebration of the way boys feel when they leave the barber’s chair.
The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
There will be times when you walk into a room
and no one there is quite like you.
There are many reasons to feel different. Maybe it’s how you look or talk, or where you’re from; maybe it’s what you eat, or something just as random. It’s not easy to take those first steps into a place where nobody really knows you yet, but somehow you do it.
Little Tree by Loren Long In
In the middle of a little forest, there lives a Little Tree who loves his life and the splendid leaves that keep him cool in the heat of long summer days. Life is perfect just the way it is.
Autumn arrives, and with it the cool winds that ruffle Little Tree’s leaves. One by one the other trees drop their leaves, facing the cold of winter head on. But not Little Tree—he hugs his leaves as tightly as he can. Year after year Little Tree remains unchanged, despite words of encouragement from a squirrel, a fawn, and a fox, his leaves having long since turned brown and withered. As Little Tree sits in the shadow of the other trees, now grown sturdy and tall as though to touch the sun, he remembers when they were all the same size. And he knows he has an important decision to make.
Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood by F. Isabel Campoy & Theresa Howell
What good can a splash of color do in a community of gray? As Mira and her neighbors discover, more than you might ever imagine! Based on the true story of the Urban Art Trail in San Diego, California, Maybe Something Beautiful reveals how art can inspire transformation and how even the smallest artists can accomplish something big. Pick up a paintbrush and join the celebration!
