The weekly list: middle kid books

With the younger kids back at school and the older kids able to (responsibly, social distantly) socialise a little again, the house may be quiet enough for those middling (10-13-year-old?) kids to maybe read a book or two…? We live in hope.

Here are five recommendations from an 11-year-old in the know:

‘A beautiful mystery about a growing friendship.’

Evie would never have met Lucy and Jemma if the accident hadn’t happened. But here they are sharing a hospital ward. When the three girls witness a crime in the park below their window, it sets off a chain of events that will change each of them forever.

‘This is a heartwarming book which looks into the life of a young girl with cerebral palsy.’

Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. And there’s no delete button. She’s the smartest kid in her whole school - but NO ONE knows it.

‘A Warm book about a girl looking for her mother.’

Everyone tells Sophie that she was orphaned in a shipwreck, but Sophie is convinced her mother also survived. When no one believes her, Sophie sets out to prove them wrong…

‘This is a hilarious, magical book which gives unforgetable characters and worlds.’

Morrigan Crow is cursed…Born on an unlucky day, she is blamed for all local misfortunes, from hailstorms to heart attacks - and, worst of all, the curse means that Morrigan is doomed to die at midnight on Eventide…

‘A mysterious book that will keep you on your toes.’

Miranda’s world is turning upside down. Her best friend Sal shuts her out of his life when he’s punched by a new kid for no apparent reason. Her mum is about to be a contestant on a TV game show. A key goes missing, then a pair of shoes. And Miranda finds a mysterious note scrawled on a tiny piece of paper: “I am coming to save your friend’s life, and my own. I ask two favours. First you must write me a letter….”