Hello, jFIC fans,
August is National Back-to-School Month, and many schools have already begun or are about to begin the new school year, so here’s a broad list (alpha by title) of jFIC books (including some graphic novels) about school life, followed by a few personal favorites.
Amelia’s Middle School Graduation Yearbook by Marissa Moss
Anastasia Again! by Lois Lowry
Anna Wang: The Year of the Book by Andrea Cheng
Back to School, Mallory! by Laurie Friedman
The Best Man by Richard Peck
Big Nate in a Class by Himself (Big Nate Series) by Lincoln Peirce
Blackbird Fly by Erin Entrada Kelly
The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q. Rauf (NEW 2019)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series by Jeff Kinney
Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life (Dork Diaries Series) by Rachel Renee Russell
Eighth Grade Is Making Me Sick by Jennifer L. Holm
Ellie McDoodle New Kid in School by Ruth McNally Barshaw
The Fantastic and Terrible Fame of Classroom 13 by Honest Lee and Mathew J. Gilbert
Fire Girl by Tony Abbott
The First Day of School Forever by R. L. Stein
Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
The 47 People You’ll Meet in Middle School by Kristin Mahoney (NEW 2019)
The Friendship Experiment by Erin Teagan
Frindle and other books about school by Andrew Clements
George by Alex Gino
The Great Wall of Lucy Wu by Wendy Wan-Long Shang
The Homework Strike by Greg Pincus
How to Survive Middle School by Donna Gephart
If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period by Gennifer Choldenko
The Kid in the Red Jacket by Barbara Park
Loser, Crash, and other books about school by Jerry Spinelli
Middle School Cool by Maiya Williams
Middle School Is Worse than Meatloaf by Jennifer L. Holm
Middle School Misadventures by Jason Platt
The Middle School Rules of Brian Urlacher by Sean Jensen
Middle School Series and other books about school by James Patterson and partner writers
The Misadventures of Max Crumbly Series by Rachel Renee Russell
My Homework Ate My Homework by Patrick Jennings
New Kid by Jerry Craft
One Tough Chick (from the Annabelle Unleashed Series) by Leslie Margolis
Posted by John David Anderson
Tales from Lovecraft Middle School Series by Charles Gilman
Reformed by Justin Weinberger
Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan
Smile and Drama by Raina Telgemeier
The Strange Case of Origami Yoda Series by Tom Angleberger
The Teacher’s Funeral by Richard Peck
Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made (from the Timmy Failure Series) by Stephan Pastis
Too Cool for This School by Kristen Tracy
Twerp by Mark Goldblatt
The Unteachables and other books about school by Gordon Korman
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
The Worst Class Trip Ever by Dave Barry
And three favorites:
Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Eleven-year-old Langston moves with his father from Alabama to Chicago in 1946 after his mother dies. Langston has to deal with many new experiences: a whole new way of life in the city, a new school, bullying, and different kinds of discrimination. Fortunately he walks into a library and discovers the comforting words of poet Langston Hughes, his namesake.
Merci Suarez Changes Gears by Meg Medina
Cuban American Merci Suárez lives with her mother, father, and older brother. Her grandfather, with whom she has a close relationship and who is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, lives next door. Other relatives live nearby, and the whole extended family helps each other in different ways. Her father doesn’t earn much money, but Merci has earned a scholarship to a private school for rich kids, where she experiences multiple challenges. Merci has to learn to balance the school’s expectations and her family responsibilities. Family comes first, of course.
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
It’s 1967, and seventh grader Holling Hoodhood is being forced to spend each Wednesday afternoon with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, whom he believes hates him. Holling slowly realizes that although Mrs. Baker is strict, she’s also caring and insightful. Through his teacher, his sister, friends, and the works of Shakespeare, Holling opens his eyes to the dangers in the world he’s living in: the Vietnam war and its tragic consequences and the problems of racism and discrimination. The Wednesday Wars is a humorous coming-of-age novel with a lot of heart.
Happy reading!
“Coffee, coffee! It’s our drink! If we don’t get it, we can’t think!” ~Unknown
