The Scholastic Gold collection features specially selected books for middle-grade readers in grades 4 to 7. Favorites of teachers, parents, librarians, and readers of all ages, these books span a broad range of genres from historical fiction to fantasy and feature voices like Newbery Honoree Pam Muñoz Ryan, National Book Award winner Kacen Callender, Coretta Scott King Honor Book Award Winner Christopher Paul Curtis, and so many more. Whether your reader is in the mood for realistic fiction, historical adventure, or epic fantasy, this collection has a treasure waiting for them.
Best of all for fans of these authors, many Scholastic Gold titles include bonus material, such as author interviews and back-matter content, to enrich the reading experience.
Here are just a few books to consider picking up:
Respect for Differences
The best books offer windows into other worlds … or insight into ourselves. (Sometimes both!) For middle-grade readers, contemporary fiction often focuses on fitting in, standing out, and learning to get along with peers.
For example, Good Different will resonate with any kid who has ever felt out of place. Selah has rules for being normal, including keeping her feelings locked up tightly inside until she can escape the crowd and calm down. But one day at school, she explodes and hits a student, leading to a cascade of consequences. Can she get her school to understand that different doesn’t mean damaged — before it’s too late?
Friendship features prominently in our next read, Newbery Honor-winning author Cynthia Lord’s Because of the Rabbit. The story follows Emma, who rescues a bunny right before starting public school for the very first time after years of homeschooling. Emma hopes to make a best friend at school, but her new project partner is Jack, a boy who loves animals and doesn’t fit in with the other kids. When they bond over her rescue rabbit, Emma worries that her new friendship will keep her from finding the best friend she’s meant to have.
Friendship and Love
Helen and Gracie are in trouble again. A stinky prank gone awry has landed them in the front office, where the principal comes up with a unique “punishment”: the friends will have to care about something.
When Helen is surprised by an early period, the duo decides to put their efforts into a campaign for maxi pads in the bathroom for every student who needs them. But caring isn’t as easy as it looks, and achieving their goal may put their friendship in jeopardy. Find out what happens in Free Period.
Issues of identity and self-determination resurface again and again in middle-grade books, and for good reason: late elementary and middle-school years are prime time for figuring out who kids are.
Ultraviolet follows eighth grader Elio Solis as he struggles with heartbreak, identity, and stereotypes of how boys are “supposed” to be in the world. The New York Times calls the book “savagely funny and deeply human,” while Kirkus Reviews says it’s “a story that sings to the soul.”
Heroic Journeys
Elijah of Buxton is the first child in his town to be born free in his Canadian settlement of runaway slaves near the American border. He’s best known around town for being “fra-gile” and scared of snakes … but that may be about to change. When someone steals money from Elijah’s friend, it’s up to Elijah to track down the thief, find the money, and help his friend buy his family out of captivity.
In Esperanza Rising, a sudden tragedy forces Esperanza and her family to flee a life of privilege in Mexico to settle in a California farm labor camp. Then, Esperanza’s mama gets sick just as their fellow workers begin striking for better working conditions. Esperanza learns to rise above impossible circumstances to support her family and find her way.
Fantastic Worlds
If your young reader loves The Hunger Games, you’ll want to pick up this book by the same author, Suzanne Collins. The Underland Chronicles #1: Gregor the Overlander features a reluctant protagonist who falls through the grate in the laundry room of his apartment building into the dark Underland, where creepy-crawlies like spiders and rats live alongside humans. As if that weren’t hard enough, a prophecy has foretold that Gregor has a key part to play in Underland’s uncertain future.
Midnight Magic has everything your young fantasy enthusiast could want: a haunted castle, a terrified princess, a magician who doesn’t believe in ghosts, and a king who doesn’t care what magicians believe in, as long as they free his daughter from her fears. Fortunately for the magician, his street-smart assistant is there to solve the mystery with logic, reason … and magic.
Art History, Mystery, and Adventure
Want more mysterious adventures? Try Chasing Vermeer, in which a book of unexplainable occurrences brings together Petra and Calder and throws them into the middle of an international art scandal. Can they find the missing Vermeer when even the FBI doesn’t have a clue?
Me, Frida, and the Secret of the Peacock Ring also features a mystery with art at its center. A mysterious pair of siblings challenges Paloma Marquez to find a valuable peacock ring that once belonged to the beloved Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. If she finds the ring, Paloma will win a big reward (and honor the memory of her father, who loved Kahlo’s art).
Ready to find your middle-grade reader’s next favorite book? Search the Scholastic Store by grade, subject, series, and more — or check out a selection of Scholastic Gold titles below.
