Science fiction for middle graders Spring 2026

 And in case you thought there was only realistic fiction being published this spring, fear not!  There is also so much speculative fiction!  Here are two of my newest favorites!

The first one is by Erin Entrada Kelly.  It's called "The Second Life of Snap".  It's about Zuzu Santos, middle schooler living in a dystopian world where big companies control virtually everything.  Her dad has been working security at the big corporation and they live in a small trailer that's subsidized by the local community, keeping the workers separated.  She runs with a group of kids that call themselves the Valleycats.  When her dad gets fired, part of his severance package includes a guardian robot that he thinks will be perfect for Zuzu to help keep her safe.  Except Zuzu doesn't trust a guardian robot so her bestie reimages the robot and makes it more like a friend than a guardian.  As she grows to trust the robot, Snap, more, she realizes she would do just about anything to help Snap.  This is such an interesting story to read, the characters are interesting and feel like people you'd like to know better.  The dilemma of whether or not to trust AI is one we're going to be wrestling with for a while, so it's interesting to see how this one plays out.  I thought this was terrific and I think kids are going to like it too.

Here's the book trailer: 

And here's the cover:

The second one is also a dystopian science fiction novel.  It's called "The Delta Codex" by Deva Fagan.  Deva wrote another one of my favorites, "The Game of Noctis" so I was super excited to read this one too, and it did not disappoint.  It's about a girl called Delta.  She was chosen to be a codex, which in her society is a keeper of ancient knowledge which is too valuable to destroy but too dangerous to use.  She leads a lonely life, separated from others and forbidden to speak, lest she accidentally reveal the memories hidden within her.  But there are so many dangers outside, inside the walls seems so much safer.  But one day as Delta is finishing her tasks, she notices a girl and her grandfather as a blood storm develops.  The grandfather is struck down by the storm and Delta breaks her vows and rescues the girl.  As the girl is assimilated into the Tower, Delta starts to have dreams, which she comes to realize are the Echo or memories that have been implanted into her.  Delta has so many questions but the people in the Tower seem to be avoiding her questions or giving her answers that contradict the things she knows to be true, so Delta runs.  She meets up with a scrapper named Drii and things start to come together.  She finds that none of the things the people in the Tower have been true and then she has a lot of choices to make, while the people in the Tower are trying to stop her from telling the secrets she knows.  This is a really exciting book.  The most of the characters are people you'd like to be friends with (except the bad guys) and the situations they find themselves in are compelling and intriguing.    There are themes of telling the truth and lying and the consequences of both, of kindness and compassion, of problem solving in surprising ways.  I loved this one and I can't wait to put it in the hands of my students.  

Check out this gorgeous cover.