Back Best Junior Fiction Books of 2023 | Book List

SelectReads News
Simple News Pro
  Best Junior Fiction Books of 2023  
Elf Dog and Owl Head

M. T. Anderson - Dreamscape Media
Format: Hardcover

Clay has had his fill of home life. A global plague has brought the world to a screeching halt, and with little to look forward to but a summer of video-calling friends, vying with annoying sisters for the family computer, and tuning out his parents' financial worries, he's only...
Read More check catalog
 
 
Simon Sort of Says

Erin Bow - Disney-Hyperion
Format: Hardcover

For fans of Kate DiCamillo and Jack Gantos, a hilarious, wrenching, hopeful novel about finding your friends, healing your heart, and speaking your truth.Simon O'Keeffe's biggest claim to fame should be the time his dad accidentally gave a squirrel a holy sacrament. Or maybe the alpaca...
Read More check catalog
 
 
The Eyes and the Impossible

Dave Eggers - Knopf Books for Young Readers
Format: May 9

From the award-winning author of The Every and the illustrator behind the beloved picture book Her Right Foot comes an endearing and beautifully illustrated story of a dog who unwittingly becomes a hero to a park full of animals.. Johannes, a free dog, lives in an urban park by the sea....
Read More check catalog
 
 
The Probability of Everything

Sarah Everett - Clarion Books
Format: Hardcover

A heart-wrenching middle grade debut about Kemi, an aspiring scientist who loves statistics and facts, as she navigates grief and loss at a moment when life as she knows it changes forever.Eleven-year-old Kemi Carter loves scientific facts, specifically probability. It's how she understands...
Read More check catalog
 
 
The Swifts: A Dictionary of Scoundrels

Beth Lincoln - Dutton Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

"An absolutely delightful debut with heartwarming character growth and a clever, genre-savvy country-house mystery." - Kirkus, starred review"The suspenseful denouement is positively writhing with twists." - BOOKLIST , starred reviewOn the day they are born, every...
Read More check catalog
 
 
The Lost Year: A Survival Story of the Ukrainian Famine

Katherine Marsh - Roaring Brook Press
Format: Hardcover

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...
Read More check catalog
 
 
The Labors of Hercules Beal

Gary D. Schmidt - ‎Clarion Books
Format: Hardcover

From award-winning author Gary D. Schmidt, a warm and witty novel in the tradition of The Wednesday Wars,in which a seventh grader has to figure out how to fulfill an assignment to perform the Twelve Labors of Hercules in real life - and makes discoveries about friendship, community, and himself...
Read More check catalog
 
 
Hidden Truths

Elly Swartz - Delacorte Press
Format: Hardcover

How far would you go to keep a promise? Told from alternating points of view, Hidden Truths is a story of changing friendships, the lies we tell, the secrets we keep, and the healing power of forgiveness.. Dani and Eric have been best friends since Dani moved next door in second grade....
Read More check catalog
 
 
Eagle Drums

Nasugraq Rainey Hopson - ‎Roaring Brook Press
Format: Book

A magical realistic middle grade debut about the origin story of the Iñupiaq Messenger Feast, a Native Alaskan tradition.As his family prepares for winter, a young, skilled hunter must travel up the mountain to collect obsidian for knapping -- the same mountain where his two older...

Read More check catalog
 
 
The Firefly Summer

Morgan Matson - Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

The Penderwicks meets The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street in New York Times bestselling author Morgan Matson's middle grade debut about a young girl who gets to know her mom's side of the family and hunts for hidden treasure over the course of one chaotic summer.. For as long as Ryanna...
Read More check catalog
 
 
A Sky Full of Song

Susan Lynn Meyer - Union Square Kids
Format: Hardcover

This heartwarming, beautifully written middle-grade historicalnovel about an untold American frontier story is destined to be a cherished classic. North Dakota, 1905 After fleeing persecution in the Russian Empire, eleven-year-old Shoshana and her family, Jewish immigrants, start a new life...
Read More check catalog
 
 
The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams

Daniel Nayeri - Levine Querido
Format: Hardcover

A new all-ages adventure tale from Printz Medal Winner, Daniel Nayeri. This is the tale of an exciting journey along the Silk Road with a young Monk and his newfound guardian, Samir, a larger than life character and the so-called "Seller of Dreams". The man is a scammer; his biggest...
Read More check catalog
 
 
Iceberg

Jennifer A. Nielsen - Scholastic Press
Format: Hardcover

The thrilling story of a young girl who stows away onboard the Titanicand as she explores, attempting to find answers to her many questions about the ship, suddenly finds herself caught up in the desperate struggle to survive after it strikes an iceberg.Hazel Rothbury is traveling all alone...
Read More check catalog
 
 
Leeva at Last

Sara Pennypacker - Balzer Bray
Format: Hardcover

Award-winning, bestselling author Sara Pennypacker and illustrator Matthew Cordell come together in this hilarious absurdist tale about a precocious girl who transforms her community in surprising ways.What are people for?That's the burning question on the mind of Leeva Spayce Thornblossom.Fame!...
Read More check catalog
 
 
Finally Seen

Kelly Yang - Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

From the New York Times bestselling author of Front Desk comes a gripping middle grade novel about a young girl who leaves China to live with her parents and sister, after five years apart, and learns about sisterhood, family, and the power of community.My sister got to grow up with my parents....
Read More check catalog
 
 
Mexikid

Pedro Martín - Dial Books
Format: Paperback

A poignant, hilarious, and unforgettable graphic memoir about a Mexican-American boy's family and their adventure-filled road trip to bring their abuelito back from Mexico to live with them.. Pedro Martín has grown up hearing stories about his abuelito - his legendary crime-fighting,...
Read More check catalog
 
 
A First Time for Everything

Dan Santat - ‎First Second
Format: Hardcover

A middle grade graphic memoir based on bestselling author and Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat's awkward middle school years and the trip to Europe that changed his life. Dan's always been a good kid. The kind of kid who listens to his teachers, helps his mom with grocery shopping,...
Read More check catalog
 
 
Oliver's Great Big Universe

Jorge Cham - Amulet Books
Format: Hardcover

Cosmos meets Diary of a Wimpy Kid in this new illustrated middle-grade fiction series that blends science with narrative. I know what you're thinking. What makes an average 11-year-old kid qualified to tell you anything about the universe?. Am I famous scientist? No.. Am I a super-genius...
Read More check catalog
 
 
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library: The Graphic Novel

Chris Grabenstein - Random House Graphic
Format: Hardcover

The BESTSELLING book is now a full color, fun packed GRAPHIC NOVEL!. The Lemoncello books have spent over 100 Weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List and are on 44 State Award Lists!. Find out if game loving Kyle Keeley can escape from what James Patterson calls "the coolest library...
Read More check catalog
 
 
Things in the Basement

Ben Hatke - First Second
Format: Hardcover

From New York Times bestselling author Ben Hatke comes Things in the Basement, a young readers graphic novel about Milo, a young boy who discovers a portal to a secret world in his basement.. It was supposed to just be a normal basement -- some storage boxes, dust, you know, the usual basement...
Read More check catalog
 
 
Squished: A Graphic Novel

Megan Wagner Lloyd - Graphix
Format: Hardcover

From the powerhouse duo behind the instant bestseller Allergic comes a spirited new graphic novel about finding your own space ... especially when you're in a family of nine!Eleven-year-old Avery Lee loves living in Hickory Valley, Maryland. She loves her neighborhood, school, and the end-of-summer...
Read More check catalog