It’s officially August and if you’re looking for some middle grade books to read, I’ve got you covered! So today, I’m sharing a list of 25 middle grade books to read in August 2020!
Whether you’re a teacher, a parent or simply just love to read middle grade books, than this list is for you! With fantasy, contemporary and everything in between, you’ll find the best middle grade books to read in August 2020 and beyond!
And in case you missed it, yesterday, I shared a list of 40 new young adult and adult fiction releases for August!
August 4th Releases
Mystery • Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Twelve-year-old Epic McDade isn’t ready for middle school. He’d rather help out at his family’s dog-friendly bed n’ breakfast all summer, or return to his alternative elementary school in the fall, where learning feels safe. But change comes in all shapes and fur colors. When Carmelito, California is named America’s #1 Dog-Friendly Town, all the top dogs and their owners pour into Epic’s sleepy seaside neighborhood for a week of celebration.
The McDades are in dog heaven with all the new business until a famous dog’s jewel-encrusted collar goes missing. Every guest is a suspect, and Epic will have to embrace new friends and new ideas to sniff out the culprit before the week is through.
Fantasy • HMH Books for Young Readers
A spellbinding middle grade fantasy about three sisters — adventurous Betty, curious Charlie, and proper Fliss — who go on a quest to break the curse that’s haunted their family for generations.
All Betty Widdershins wants is an adventure — one that takes her far away from Crowstone, the gloomy island where she’s always lived. But instead of an adventure, Betty and her sisters, Fliss and Charlie, are given of a set of magical objects, each with its own powers: a scruffy carpet bag, a set of wooden nesting dolls, and a gilt-framed mirror. And these magical objects come with their own terrible secret: the sisters’ family is haunted by a generations-long curse that prevents them from ever leaving their island — at the cost of death.
The sisters set out to break the curse and free their family forever. But after stumbling upon a mysterious prisoner who claims to be able to help them, they find themselves in great danger. And in order to break the curse — and stay alive — they must unravel a mystery that goes back centuries, one that involves shipwrecks, smugglers, and sorcery of the most perilous kind.
Fantasy, Graphic Novel • Atheneum Books for Young Readers
An enchanting, riotous, and playfully illustrated debut graphic novel following a young goblin trying to save her best friend from the haunted mall—perfect for fans of Steven Universe and Adventure Time.
In the eerie town of ‘Allows, some people get to be magical sorceresses, while other people have their spirits trapped in the mall for all ghastly eternity.
Then there’s twelve-year-old goblin-witch Beetle, who’s caught in between. She’d rather skip being homeschooled completely and spend time with her best friend, Blob Glost. But the mall is getting boring, and B.G. is cursed to haunt it, tethered there by some unseen force. And now Beetle’s old best friend, Kat, is back in town for a sorcery apprenticeship with her Aunt Hollowbone. Kat is everything Beetle wants to be: beautiful, cool, great at magic, and kind of famous online. Beetle’s quickly being left in the dust.
But Kat’s mentor has set her own vile scheme in motion. If Blob Ghost doesn’t escape the mall soon, their afterlife might be coming to a very sticky end. Now, Beetle has less than a week to rescue her best ghost, encourage Kat to stand up for herself, and confront the magic she’s been avoiding for far too long. And hopefully ride a broom without crashing.
Fantasy, LGBTQ+ • Scholastic Press
The magical story of a hex that goes haywire, and the power of friendship to set things right!
In the town of Howler’s Hollow, conjuring magic is strictly off-limits. Only nothing makes Delpha McGill’s skin crawl more than rules. So when she finds her family’s secret book of hexes, she’s itching to use it to banish her mama’s money troubles. She just has to keep it quieter than a church mouse — not exactly Delpha’s specialty.
Trouble is, Katybird Hearn is hankering to get her hands on the spell book, too. The daughter of a rival witching family, Katy has reasons of her own for wanting to learn forbidden magic, and she’s not going to let an age-old feud or Delpha’s contrary ways stop her. But their quarrel accidentally unleashes a hex so heinous it resurrects a graveyard full of angry Hearn and McGill ancestors bent on total destruction. If Delpha and Katy want to reverse the spell in time to save everyone in the Hollow from rampaging zombies, they’ll need to mend fences and work together.
Fans of A Snicker of Magic and The Witch Boy will love this funny, folksy, fresh debut from Ash Van Otterloo that proves sometimes it takes two witches to make the strongest magic happen.
Fantasy • Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
A charming new middle-grade fantasy adventure, about a young witch whose pinch of magic just might be more than enough, perfect for fans of Kiki’s Delivery Service and Aru Shah and the End of Time.
Sometimes all you need is a pinch of magic …
Eva Evergreen is determined to earn the rank of Novice Witch before she turns thirteen years old. If she doesn’t, she’ll lose her magic forever. For most young witches and wizards, it’s a simple enough test:
ONE: Help your town, do good all around.
TWO: Live there for one moon, don’t leave too soon.
THREE: Fly home by broomstick, the easiest of tricks.
The only problem? Eva only has a pinch of magic. She summons heads of cabbage instead of flowers and gets a sunburn instead of calling down rain. And to add insult to injury, whenever she overuses her magic, she falls asleep.
When she lands on the tranquil coastal town of Auteri, the residents expect a powerful witch, not a semi-magical girl. So Eva comes up with a plan: set up a magical repair shop to aid Auteri and prove she’s worthy. She may have more blood than magic, but her “semi-magical fixes” repair the lives of the townspeople in ways they never could have imagined. Only, Eva’s bit of magic may not be enough when the biggest magical storm in history threatens the town she’s grown to love. Eva must conjure up all of the magic, bravery, and cleverness she can muster or Auteri and her dreams of becoming a witch will wash away with the storm.
Non-fiction • Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Learn about seven groundbreaking women in math and science in this gorgeously written biographical novel-in-verse, a companion to the “original and memorable” (Booklist, starred review) Finding Wonders: Three Girls Who Changed Science.
After a childhood spent looking up at the stars, Caroline Herschel was the first woman to discover a comet and to earn a salary for scientific research. Florence Nightingale was a trailblazing nurse whose work reformed hospitals and one of the founders of the field of medical statistics. The first female electrical engineer, Hertha Marks Ayrton registered twenty-six patents for her inventions.
Marie Tharp helped create the first map of the entire ocean floor, which helped scientists understand our subaquatic world and suggested how the continents shifted. A mathematical prodigy, Katherine Johnson calculated trajectories and launch windows for many NASA projects including the Apollo 11 mission. Edna Lee Paisano, a citizen of the Nez Perce Nation, was the first Native American to work full time for the Census Bureau, overseeing a large increase in American Indian and Alaskan Native representation. And Vera Rubin studied more than two hundred galaxies and found the first strong evidence for dark matter.
Told in vibrant, evocative poems, this stunning novel celebrates seven remarkable women who used math as their key to explore the mysteries of the universe and grew up to do innovative work that changed the world.
A heart-expanding story of hope, friendship, and the power that comes with realizing that magic, like family, doesn’t always look the way you expect it to.
Eleven-year-old June is a problem-solver. Some people might call her a busybody, but that’s okay. Just look at all the couples she helped find love! (Grateful newlyweds Marlene and Big Vic have even promised June free hot chocolate for life at their café.)
However, when June learns that her parents are getting divorced, she has to face the fact that there are some problems too big even for her. At least, that’s what the adults in her life keep saying.
But June’s convinced there’s a way to make her parents fall back in love. While brainstorming ideas on her new secondhand laptop — purchased from a mysterious store in town called The Shop of Last Resort — June gets a strange IM from someone named JuniePie28 … someone who claims to be an older version of June messaging her from the future.
At first, she assumes it’s a prank. But JuniePie28 knows too much about June’s life to be a fraud, and future June warns her against interfering with her parents’ marriage. But June can’t just sit around and watch her parents’ marriage dissolve, not when there’s a magical shop in town that could be the answer to all her problems! Will June prove her older self wrong and stop the divorce? Or will she have to accept that there are some things she can’t control?
Fantasy, Mythology • Rick Riordan Presents
Space-obsessed 12-year-old Paola Santiago and her two best friends, Emma and Dante, know the rule: Stay away from the river. It’s all they’ve heard since a schoolmate of theirs drowned a year ago. Pao is embarrassed to admit that she has been told to stay away for even longer than that, because her mother is constantly warning her about La Llorona, the wailing ghost woman who wanders the banks of the Gila at night, looking for young people to drag into its murky depths.
Hating her mother’s humiliating superstitions and knowing that she and her friends would never venture into the water, Pao organizes a meet-up to test out her new telescope near the Gila, since it’s the best stargazing spot. But when Emma never arrives and Pao sees a shadowy figure in the reeds, it seems like maybe her mom was right …
Pao has always relied on hard science to make sense of the world, but to find her friend she will have to enter the world of her nightmares, which includes unnatural mist, mind-bending monsters, and relentless spirits controlled by a terrifying force that defies both logic and legend.
Left all alone after her mother passes away, twelve-year-old Louisa LaRoche watches the sky for her father. Long ago, a powerful gust of wind swept through town, stealing him away on the wings of his untamed magic — the same magic that stirs within Louisa. As if she is made of hollow bones and too much air, her feet never quite touch the ground.
But for all her sky gazing, Louisa finds her fortune on the leaf-strewn street when she spots a gleaming black-and-gold invitation — a ticket to the Carnival Beneath the Stars. If her father fits in nowhere else, maybe she’ll find him there, dazzling crowds alongside the other strange and wonderful feats. Only, soon after she arrives, a tightrope act ends disastrously — and suspiciously. As fate tugs Louisa closer to the stars, she must decide if she’s willing to slip into the injured performer’s role, despite the darkness plucking at the carnival’s magical threads.
A Malaysian folk tale comes to life in this emotionally layered, chilling middle grade debut, perfect for fans of The Book of Boy and The Jumbies.
I am a dark spirit, the ghost announced grandly. I am your inheritance, your grandmother’s legacy. I am yours to command.
Suraya is delighted when her witch grandmother gifts her a pelesit. She names her ghostly companion Pink, and the two quickly become inseparable.
But Suraya doesn’t know that pelesits have a dark side — and when Pink’s shadows threaten to consume them both, they must find enough light to survive … before they are both lost to the darkness.
Fans of Holly Black’s Doll Bones and Tahereh Mafi’s Furthermore series will love this ghostly middle grade debut that explores jealousy, love, and the extraordinary power of friendship.
This heart-pounding mystery-adventure follows three kids who get lost in the woods at night and experience something they cannot quite explain.
Secrets, spies, or maybe even a monster … what lies in the heart of the woods? Charlie Noon and Dizzy Heron are determined to find out. When their nemesis, Johnny Baines, plays a prank on them and night falls without warning, all three end up lost in the woods, trapped in a nightmare. Unforeseen dangers and impossible puzzles lurk in the shadows. Like it or not, Charlie and Dizzy must work with Johnny if they are to find a way out. But time can be tricky … What if the night never ends?
Historical Fiction • Candlewick Press
Set during World War II, this poignant, briskly paced historical novel relays the events of one extraordinary summer from three engaging points of view.
On the morning of the dedication of the new children’s library in Belle Beach, Long Island, eleven-year-old Julie Sweet and her six-year-old sister, Martha, find a baby in a basket on the library steps. At the same time, twelve-year-old Bruno Ben-Eli is on his way to the train station to catch the 9:15 train into New York City. He is on an important errand for his brother, who is a soldier overseas in World War II. But when Bruno spies Julie, the same Julie who hasn’t spoken to him for sixteen days, heading away from the library with a baby in her arms, he has to follow her. Holy everything, he thinks. Julie Sweet is a kidnapper.
Of course, the truth is much more complicated than the children know in this heartwarming and beautifully textured family story by award-winning author Amy Hest. Told in three distinct voices, each with a different take on events, the novel captures the moments and emotions of a life-changing summer — a summer in which a baby gives a family hope and brings a community together.
August 11th Releases
Sixth-graders Sara, a Pakistani American, and Elizabeth, a white, Jewish girl meet when they take a South Asian cooking class taught by Sara’s mom.
Sixth-graders Sara and Elizabeth could not be more different. Sara is at a new school that is huge and completely unlike the small Islamic school she used to attend. Elizabeth has her own problems: her British mum has been struggling with depression. The girls meet in an after-school South Asian cooking class, which Elizabeth takes because her mom has stopped cooking, and which Sara, who hates to cook, is forced to attend because her mother is the teacher. The girls form a shaky alliance that gradually deepens, and they make plans to create the most amazing, mouth-watering cross-cultural dish together and win a spot on a local food show. They make good cooking partners … but can they learn to trust each other enough to become true friends?
Historical Fiction • Farrar, Straus and Giroux
A novel in verse about a young deaf boy during World War II, the sister who loves him, and the conscientious objector who helps him. Inspired by true events.
Henry has been deaf from an early age — he is intelligent and aware of langauge, but by age six, he has decided it’s not safe to speak to strangers. When the time comes for him to start school, he is labeled “unteachable.” Becasue his family has very little money, his parents and older sister, Molly, feel powerless to help him. Henry is sent to Riverview, a bleak institution where he is misunderstood, underestimated, and harshly treated.
Victor, a conscientious objector to World War II, is part of a Civilian Public Service program offered as an alternative to the draft. In 1942, he arrives at Riverview to serve as an attendant and quickly sees that Henry is far from unteachable—he is brave, clever, and sometimes mischievous. In Victor’s care, Henry begins to see how things can change for the better.
Contemporary • Quill Tree Books
From the critically acclaimed author of the ALA Notable and Charlotte Huck Honor Book Forever, or a Long, Long Time comes a poignant coming-of-age novel about the complicated parts of growing up, finding your voice, and claiming your space. Perfect for fans of Rebecca Stead, Laurel Snyder, or Ali Benjamin!
Lydia hasn’t felt comfortable in her own skin since the boys at her school started commenting on the way she looks in her uniform. Her cousin and friends think she should be flattered, but the boys — and sometimes her mom’s boyfriend, Jeremy — make Lydia uncomfortable and confused. Even more confusing is when Jeremy hovers too close and hugs a little too long.
Then her mom surprises her by buying a dilapidated house in their neighborhood. Lydia hopes to find a little bit of magic in their new home. But just like the adults in her life, and God, and her friends, the magic Lydia deeply believes in eventually loses its power to keep her safe.
And as seventh grade begins, Lydia wonders: Is there a secret to figuring out how to be a girl in the world?
Driftwood Harbor may seem like an ordinarily boring, small New England town, but there’s something extremely strange and downright creepy happening within town limits.
Twins Beacon and Everleigh McCullough are moving from their home in sunny L.A. to Driftwood Harbor, a rainy fishing village in New England. If that wasn’t bad enough, there’s something strange about this town and the mysterious group of too-perfect students called The Gold Stars. After Everleigh is recruited into their ranks, Beacon must uncover Driftwood Harbor’s frightening secret before he loses his sister forever.
This Town Is Not All Right is the middle-grade horror debut from M.K. Kyrs (YA author Michelle Krys). Be prepared for a thrilling page-turner with a major mystery because the residents of Driftwood Harbor will do whatever it takes to keep their dark secrets from rising to the surface.
August 18th Releases
A trio of young superheroes try to thwart a spy!
After defeating The Hissler — and discovering their power as a team — The League of Secret Heroes are ready for their next adventure. When Akiko, Mae, and Josie learn that a spy is betraying secrets to the Japanese military, they join Room Twelve in San Francisco for important work with other code-cracking experts.
But soon there is another very personal code to crack: Akiko is shocked to see her mom walking with the suspected spy, where Akiko’s family used to live. San Francisco had been their home until Executive Order No. 9066, which sent Akiko and all Japanese Americans on the West Coast into internment camps.
Akiko fears her mother has become tangled up with something sinister, and soon, more evil forces are menacing the very camp where Akiko’s family is supposed to be. With the help of her fellow Secret Heroes, can Akiko solve the most important puzzle of all?
Silver Batal and her beloved water dragon Hiyyan continue their adventures across the sea and skies in Silver Batal: Race for the Dragon Heartstone, a middle-grade fantasy adventure from K.D. Halbrook with illustrations by Ilse Gort.
Silver Batal and her best friend, Hiyyan, have narrowly escaped the greedy clutches of Queen Imea. With the queen’s trackers hot on their tails, Silver and Hiyyan head into an exciting frozen world filled with ferocious ice dragons, new friends, and new foes.
But when Hiyyan suffers a poisonous bite from a deadly dragon, Silver must find a legendary dragon heartstone to heal him. Their search leads to the mysterious Keep, the home of the reclusive and mysterious Watchers, where nothing is quite as it appears …
Perfect for fans of Roshani Chokshi and Sayantani DasGupta, this thrilling follow-up to Silver Batal and the Water Dragon Races will capture your heart.
Historical Fiction • Feiwel & Friends
Nellie’s dad had planned on having four boys to name after the presidents on Mt. Rushmore. He got George, Nellie, Tom, and Teddy. No Abe. It’s the summer of 1974: Nelli’s turned 13; her best friend, Maya, has a crush on a boy; President Nixon might get impeached; and her mom’s run off. The money for their family road trip to see Mt. Rushmore is missing and her dad’s crawled into bed and won’t get up. Nellie’s sure the trip out West will fix her family, and she’ll do almost anything to come up with the cash. But she begins to wonder why it’s always her, the girl, who’s stuck with the dishes and everything else. And how can a mom just up and leave with no note, no forwarding address, no nothing?
Daphne Kalmar brings to life the social and political upheaval of the 1970s. She reveals the heart of a family on the verge of falling apart and the courage of a young girl who does all she can to bring them back together.
Contemporary • Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
A feisty girl from a family of ranchers lands a job as a daredevil stunt girl in the early days of silent film in this adventurous and funny cross between Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken and Ramona.
Pearl lives on a ranch where her chores include collecting eggs and feeding ornery ostriches. She has three older brothers, who don’t coddle her at all. And she knows a thing or two about horses, too.
One day, Pearl’s brothers get cushy jobs doing stunts for this new form of entertainment called “moving pictures.” They’re the Daredevil Donnelly Brothers, a Death-Defying Cowboy Trio. Before she knows it, Pearl has stumbled into being a stunt girl herself — and dreams of becoming a star. The only problem is, her mother has no idea what she’s up to. And let’s just say she wouldn’t be too happy to find out that Pearl’s been jumping out of burning buildings in her spare time.
Filled with action, humor, and heart — not to mention those pesky ostriches — The Nerviest Girl in the World introduces a spunky heroine whose adventures will have kids on the edge of their seats and whose sense of humor will have them laughing until the very last line.
Horror, Mystery • Amulet Books
The start of a spine-chilling new horror series about the eerie happenings in a small town
Something strange is happening on Goodie Lane . . .
Thirteen-year-old Quinn Parker knows that there’s something off about her neighbors. She calls them “the Oldies” because they’ve lived on Goodie Lane for as long as anyone can remember, but they never seem to age. Are they vampires? Or aliens? Or getting secret experimental surgeries? Or is Quinn’s imagination just running wild again?
If her dad were still around, he’d believe her. When he was alive, they’d come up with all sorts of theories about the Oldies. Now, Quinn’s determined to keep the investigation going with the help of Mike, her neighbor and maybe-crush. They’ll have to search for clues and follow the mystery wherever it leads — even if it’s to the eerie pond at the end of the street that’s said to have its own sinister secrets. But the Oldies are on to them. And the closer Quinn and Mike get to uncovering the answers, the more they realize just how terrifying the truth may be.
This Dance Is Doomed, Holly Kowitt’s sequel to The Principal’s Underwear is Missing, the second in her middle-grade illustrated series, explores friendship and the high cost of Prom-Mania — with hilarious results!
Can a 6th grade nobody solve a diva’s dating problems?
Selfie St. Clair is the most popular, glamorous 8th grader the school has ever seen. Everyone’s sure she’ll go to Prom with a teen TV star, or even a minor prince.
But Selfie has a terrible secret: no-one has asked her. Too embarrassed to tell her “cool” friends, she turns to the most unlikely dating coach ever: 6th grader Becca, who’s never had a date in her life.
But some people think Prom fever is out of control. In fact, Becca’s closest pals are planning an anti-Prom! Now she’s torn between her besties and her new superstar friend.
Not to mention, an impossible crush of her own …
August 25th Releases
A thrilling, fast-paced middle grade that blends Indiana Jones-style treasure hunting with World War II spies and time travel adventure!
At the height of World War II, Isaac Wolf’s parents send him from his home in Prague to Scotland alone. They give him a pendant in the shape of an eternity knot, and assure him that he will be safe if he can find this symbol in Scotland. The clue leads him to Rookskill Castle and the gifted children of the Special Alternative Intelligence Unit of MI6 who are learning to harness their magical powers to support the Allies’ cause.
With the help of his new friends, Isaac has to unlock his powers and unravel the reason his parents sent him Rookskill Castle. To solve the meaning of the eternity knot, he must hunt down a series of magical artifacts scattered through eras of the past. But he’s not the only artifact hunter, and soon he finds himself in a race against Nazi spies and an even more sinister magical enemy. Can Isaac solve the puzzle, save his parents, and defeat the evil in our world and beyond, all before the clock runs out?
Historical Fiction • Holiday House
A stunning debut novel in verse about a family divided, a country going to war, and a girl desperate to feel at home.
It’s early September 2001, and twelve-year-old Abbey is the new kid at school. Again.
I worry about people speaking to me / and worry just the same / when they don’t.
Tennessee is her family’s latest stop in a series of moves based on her dad’s work in the Army, but this one might be different. Her school is far from Base, and for the first time, Abbey has found a real friend: loyal, courageous, athletic Camille.
And then it’s September 11, 2001. The country is under attack, and Abbey’s first period arrives.
Like a punch to the gut / like a shove in the girls’ room / like a name I won’t repeat.
Abbey’s family falters in the aftermath of the attacks. With her mother grieving, and her father preparing for active duty, Abbey must cope with the tragedy – and her body’s betrayal – on her own.
Written in gorgeous narrative verse, Abbey’s coming-of-age story portrays the military family experience during a tumultuous period in American history. Perfect for fans of sensitive, tender-hearted books like The Thing About Jellyfish.
A family-run haunted hotel’s livelihood is threatened when a bigger haunted hotel opens nearby in this hilarious, spooky story
Twelve-year-old Willow Ivan’s family has run the Hotel Ivan for four hundred years. Through thick and thin, they’ve held on tight to their title as the Best Haunted Hotel on Mercer Street. That is, until the Hauntery — a corporate chain of haunted hotels — moves in down the street. As the Ivan’s business fades, so do their ghostly staff. And Willow begins to worry that The Ivan’s days are numbered.
Then Willow meets Evie, a Hauntery ghost who’s forced to play the part of a Spooky Little Girl even though she longs to be a Terrifying Phantasm. So when Willow offers her a job at The Ivan, Evie accepts — but she doesn’t tell Willow that she’s still working for The Ivan’s competition, for fear of losing her new job and friend.
Together, the girls come up with a plan to save The Ivan. But with The Ivan ghosts already fading and Evie’s secret threatening to come out, will it be too late?
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This is an amazing list! I have already added five to my must-have-quickly pile but I’m loving them all! Thanks for putting this together.
Molly @ SilverButtonBooks
I’m so happy you loved the list!! I hope you love the books you added to your TBR once you read them! 💖
What a brilliant list! I’m looking forward to reading some of these. I reckon my nearly-11-year-old daughter would enjoy ‘Hello Future Me’. I’ve read a Pinch of Magic and heartily recommend – as a standalone or the first in the trilogy (?). I’ve just got the second, ‘A Sprinkle of Sorcery’ out of the library. Current read is ‘Orphans of the Tide’ which, just a couple of chapters in, has already got me gripped.