It’s been a while since I’ve read any of books that fall in the critical range between early chapter books and full-on middle grade books, which I often call “not quite middle grade”, a term I got from Charlotte of Charlotte’s Library. These are often books for kids of about nine, but of course it will vary from kid to kid. In any case, when I was offered the opportunity to read the new American Girl of the Year’s story, I jumped on the opportunity and then had a chat with my library’s youth fiction librarian to pick over his new book cart for more books written for a similar age range. Here are my favorites.

The Mighty Macy by Kwame Alexander. Illustrated by Kitt Thomas. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2026. ISBN 978-0316442169. Read from a library copy.

Beloved and award-winning author Kwame Alexander takes on a chapter book in verse, inspired by his own daughter. Macy is an elementary school student at Sugar Hill Elementary who reluctantly practices her violin for a recital, even though she’d rather be playing with her bestie or reading about the Mighty Zora in the book her parents just gave her for her birthday. Her father, a poet, is out of town for most of the book, so she misses him but looks forward to finding the little poems he’s left hidden for her. Most horribly, though, Macy and the other Sugar Hill students come back to school to find that the school board has decided to cut library funding so that the library will only be open twice a week. How will Macy get the next Mighty Zora book? And can she learn to speak up for herself and her classmates to bring their beloved librarian back?

Macy’s voice is charming and relatable, with mostly single-page poems divided into larger chapters with dynamics markings from piano to forte as Macy gains resolve and confidence. Besides finding her own voice, she also comes to have some more sympathy for her mother – realizing for the first time that they both miss Macy’s father – and does more interesting things with her brother. The black-and-white illustrations by Kitt Thomas read as watercolor and ink and convey everything from tender family moments to Macy’s frustration with having to practice violin or get out of bed for school. It’s also a glimpse of a kid who isn’t the sassy, always-in-trouble Ramona or Junie B. Jones type.

Raquel Reyes Saves the Wedding by Angela Cervantes. American Girl Publishing, 2025. ISBN 9781683372431. Read from a review copy.

Things ten-year-old Raquel Reyes loves includes her little Pomeranian Luzita, her family’s paleta shop, DJing (with interests in both standard pop and Latin music), and her cousins Harper and Sloan. The story opens with Raquel DJing a party at the paleta shop, establishing her family and interests before the family minus Abuela flies to the east coast for a family reunion followed by cousin Harper’s wedding. Raquel’s father is Mexican-American, while her mother is white and directly related to Samantha Parkington, one of the most popular of the original trio of American Girl dolls. Harper and her fiance, Jordan, who is Black, are both marine biologists and therefore teach Raquel and her closest cousin Sloan how to treat the dolphins they see on a boat tour respectfully. The dolphins lead to some adventure later on, but a lot of the story is about Raquel trying to re-eastablish her relationship with Sloan, who isn’t being as open with Raquel as she has in the past, as well as learning more about Samantha from exploring her diaries and in her attic.

I adored the American Girl dolls as a girl myself, and saved up my babysitting money to buy one for myself. Despite my nostalgia for the line, I have read only a few of the books that come with them and wasn’t sure what to expect here. These are books that have a lot to accomplish – as well as being entertaining to read, they need to be at least somewhat educational and stay short enough for developing readers while also having scenes with marketable outfits and accessories for the dolls. This book has the added pressure of needing to tie into the original Samantha books as well. With such a long checklist, it would be easy for plot or characters to get lost in the shuffle. I was really impressed, then, with the character development here, and how genuinely concerned I was that Raquel get out of her own head enough to realize that her cousin Sloan has other issues going on – namely, worrying about her identity as an adopted child and whether or not to take up her birth mom’s offer of getting together. I also appreciated that Raquel doesn’t stress about her identity, even as she enjoys both sides of her family. With dolphins, pickleball, music, delicious paletas, and a dive into classic AG history, this book is fun to read, with leads to many other topics for interested readers to explore. I also recommend Angela Cervantes’ first chapter book, Stella Diaz Has Something to Say.

Snowy Owl Rescue: Raptor Recovery. Avian Adventurers 1 by Heidi E. Y. Stemple. Illustrated by Natasha Donovan. Charlesbridge, 2026. ISBN 9781623544706. Read from a library copy.

Heidi E.Y. Stemple opens a new series where a soccer-loving boy gets caught up in the “Junior Birdwatching Club” with two existing members when he is startled by a snowy owl on the soccer field where he’s gone to practice over winter break. Michael finds the name deeply uncool, but he’s impressed with the younger Jet’s confidence in their facts, and when the owl turns up dangerously ill in a snowstorm, Jet and Michael head out on a dangerous journey with dubious transportation provided by Martine, the third member. Michael is shown as dark-skinned and cued Jewish by dint of wearing clothes he’s gotten for Hannukah. He also works on understanding Jet, who is pale-skinned, as they are the first nonbinary person he’s met, while Martine struggles with social anxiety and is homeschooled. Michael’s suggestions for better names for the club form a running joke through the story, and facts about how to care for injured wild birds are sprinkled through the story. There is a lot of adventure, though, making this a good story to appeal to fans of fast-paced books as well as nature enthusiasts. Digital illustrations show the characters and their actions, as well as more scientific drawings of the owl. This is a solid choice for kids interested in books about nature or realistic adventures.

A True Home. Heartwood Hotel 1 by Kallie George. Illustrated by Stephani Graegin. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2017. ISBN 978-1484746387. Read from a library copy.

I was mostly looking for realistic chapter books here, but when I was looking at the cart of new books, I saw the latest book in this series and the youth librarian told me it was one of the most popular ones. Since I also remembered a favorite bookseller telling me how much she loved this book when it was new, I decided to let my arm be twisted and read the adorable mouse book.

Mona is a young, orphaned mouse with no possessions except a small wooden suitcase with a heart carved in it. When her home is flooded in a storm and she herself is washed out down the river, she finds a secret hotel for small animals – the Heartwood Hotel, currently celebrating the First Acorn Festival. Though she can’t pay for a room, the owner offers her a job as a maid. Mona finds most of the guests and staff welcoming, except for her fellow maid Tilly, a squirrel who seems to resent her from the very beginning. Can Mona win Tilly over? Will Heartwood Hotel be the true home that Mona has been looking for? As Mona works, the hotel prepares for many things – the annual, dicey visit of a skunk couple, the First Snow Festival, rumors of wolves in the woods, and more. Despite her nervousness, Mona is a kind and resourceful mouse who is able to befriend most people so that, working together, they can solve their problems. This really is a darling series, with sweet pencil illustrations that showcase the wooden hotel and things like acorn laterns and the various species of small animals who live and work in the hotel. As another coworker told me, they are strucrtured around the year and so make for perfect seasonal reading. I definitely want to look for more of them now!

Here are some other not-quite-middle-grade books I recommend:

• Ben Yokoyama series by Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr
• The Button Box  by Bridget Hodder and Fawzia Gilani-William
• Dragons in a Bag series by Zetta Elliott
• Planet Omar series by Zanib Mian
• Unicorn Island series by by Donna Galanti
• Unicorn Rescue Society series by Adam Gidwitz and Hatem Aly