Looking for young adult books with a more realistic story line about what kids face in real life.
My 11 year old just finished her first chapter book by herself (Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret). She read it in under a week and loved it.
It’s a long story but she started reading very late. She’s actually my stepdaughter and she barely knew her alphabet when I met her at age 7 due to severe neglect by her bio-mom. It’s been difficult to find books that interest her because her reading level was so far behind her maturity level that most books she could handle were too “baby-ish” to interest her. But she’s come a LONG way and I’m so proud of her and want to keep helping her learn to love reading.
I find that she’s drawn to books that are more real life stories. She loved Are You There God… and she also really liked The Great Gilly Hopkins when I read it aloud to her. I think she identifies with characters that are going through the same things she is, moving to a new middle school, dealing with bullies, hormones and bodies changing, etc. As well as characters who have to deal with some of the tough stuff like divorce or a family member dealing with addiction or mental illness.
I’m not looking to anything too dark or depressing, hopefully things that have a relatively happy ending where the kids/family is able to overcome the issue. After all, she’s only 11.
Sorry, kinda long, thanks for reading!
by anonymous37383
2 Comments
*Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf* by Jennifer L. Holm is a book I treasured when I was 12-13, and it’s told via notes, letters, doodles, and lists written and kept by the main character, following a difficult year in which her mother remarries and there’s a lot of upheaval in her family.
*The View From Saturday* and *From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler,* both by E.L. Koningsburg, are two classics that I have fond memories of. The former is more relatable and “realistic,” but the latter is more popular from what I can tell.
*When Life Gives You Mangos* by Kereen Getten is a personal favorite; it has a magical realism twist and gets very, very emotional, but there’s a happy ending, and tackles everyday issues such as bullying, family expectations, isolation, and recovering from trauma. The main character loses a large chunk of her memories after an unknown traumatic event, and most of the story is her trying to navigate her life from there.
*Because of Winn-Dixie* by Kate DiCamillo is another classic, about a girl adopting a dog and making friends in her new home, as well as learning more about her absent mother and connecting with her father. It’s sweet and funny, and has some tearjerker moments, but all ends happily.
*Holes* by Louis Sachar is one of my favorite books of all time, following a young boy falsely convicted of a crime and sent to a juvenile detention center, where he uncovers a decades-old mystery. This book has everything: family curses, memorable characters, stolen treasure, poison lizards, a commentary on the US penal system. The movie’s great, too! (Like *Mangos*, this has a touch of magical realism, since it’s ambiguous whether the family curse is real or not.)
For something silly and fun from the same author, *Sideways Stories from Wayside School* by Louis Sachar is absolutely hilarious and sometimes a little spooky, but never goes too far. The sequels are good, too.
Hope this helps! Most middle grade I read tends to be in the fantasy sphere, but I can definitely recommend these.
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett