Comments on: 50 Upper Middle Grade Books for ages 11-15

By: Kathleen Patrick

Kathleen Patrick — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 11:22:53 +0000

I’m new to books on Pinterest, but love this list and distinction of upper middle grade. I was a 7th grade LA teacher for 20 years and published Mercy, my first young adult book, this year. It made it to #1 on Amazon in historical fiction. If you have any interest in checking it out, I would be happy to send you a review copy. Or, check it out on Amazon: Mercy, by Kathleen Patrick. Adults are enjoying it as well.

By: Amy Bryan

Amy Bryan — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 22:59:22 +0000

I stumbled across your list while doing some research for my self-published book. I actually wrote a book because we struggled with the exact thing you outlined above: my daughter is an avid reader with an advanced vocabulary, but not ready for themes that are too far above her age level. I'm definitely going to share this list with her!

By: Erica

Erica — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 00:05:50 +0000

In reply to Ginger. That's great to hear! Happy reading.

By: Ginger

Ginger — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 21:34:24 +0000

Thank you for this list! My young teen is so stinking picky about books. Your sci-fi/fantasy section has several she has not yet read. And I will be using the first sections as read-alouds. Appreciate how thorough you were with the descriptions 🙂

By: Godivan

Godivan — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 23:55:40 +0000

Thank you very much for this informative list!

I wonder...What do you think about the upper bounds of protagonist ages for upper-MG? I can't find much information about it online, but I notice that some of these books in the list have protag ages at 14 and 15, and Hattie Big Sky has a 16yr old main character.

In other places online I find people who assert that a 16yr old protag would make a book YA, which worries me as I feel my book is perhaps more MG than YA, but has 16yr old heroes.

Is this x-age protag= YA/MG starting to relax a little as YA starts to skew older?

By: Erica

Erica — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 12:37:27 +0000

In reply to Leah Picanco. I'm so glad you noticed that! It is one of the things I specifically try to do with my lists. No one needs another recommendation to read Harry Potter. ;)

By: Leah Picanco

Leah Picanco — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 06:05:10 +0000

I am a 6th grade language arts teacher, and I pride myself on being familiar with and owning lots of books for this age group in my classroom library. I usually look at book lists and find the same books I've already heard of, but this list has quite a few I haven't heard of! Love it! Thank you for sharing!

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 20:40:48 +0000

Great suggestions!! Another one that we found to be a great read also historically based was Little Tut and the March to Thebes. Easy read and very adventurous.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 21 Jan 2020 17:00:07 +0000

I love the lists you make. Any chance you can do graphic novels for 14year olds who don't like romance?

By: Erica

Erica — Thu, 07 Nov 2019 16:07:31 +0000

In reply to Linnie Flores. Glad you found some books from the list!