New realistic middle grade fiction September 2026

 Now that school is in full swing, it's time for some realistic middle grade fiction!  Check out these two books by favorite middle grade authors.

The first one is called "Absent" by Rex Ogle.  You might remember some of Rex's other works like "Free Lunch" or his series "The Supernatural Society".  This one is an excellent combination of graphic novel and searing social commentary.  It's told from three points of view, Manny, Calvin and Liam and on the surface, they could not be more different.  Manny is angry at the world-his dad is in jail, his mom left when he was small, he lives with his grandparents, and he feels like the teachers at school don't see him.  Manny loves to write and writes rap lyrics, which he finds out are actually poetry.  His story is written in verse. Calvin lives with his dad and two little brothers.  Calvin's mom is not in the picture and Calvin's dad expects Calvin to co-parent with him.  Calvin wants to do the right thing and help out, but he also loves to draw.  Calvin's story is told in a graphic novel format.  Liam loves school but he's been having panic attacks because some of the other boys are bullying him.  Liam writes his story in prose in a journal.  Each of them ends up in detention for missing school.  Manny skips school because he thinks no one cares if he's there or not when his favorite English teacher leaves the school.  Calvin misses class because his bike is stolen and it's hard to catch the city bus from his little brothers' school.  Liam misses classes hiding from the bullies.  The three boys end up bonding in detention and becoming friends, and they all end up helping each to work through some of the worst parts of problems.  This is a wonderful story.  There are themes of friendship, of recognizing when to ask for help, being seen (especially by teachers and parents), and finding your own voice.  I loved this one so much I wrote a set of comprehension questions for it that's available on TPT.  (Here's the link if you're interested) I think kids and their teachers are going to love this one too.  

Here's the cover. 

And here's the book trailer.

The second one is also by a well known middle grade author, Rob Buyea.  He started with a book called "Because of Mr. Terupt" which I adored.  This is one is equally wonderful.  Like Mr. Terupt, this told from multiple points of view and each point of view gives you a slightly different version of events, leaving the reader to draw conclusions about what's really happening.  This one is called "Because of our Student Teacher".  It opens with a fifth grade class starting school.  Most of the voices are fairly happy to start school, especially with the teacher they have, Mr. Dwyer.  Except that Mr. Dwyer is kind of off his game this year and the kids have started to call him "Don't Care Dwyer".  Then Mr. Jacobs shows up.  He's the new student teacher and he bonds with the kids and helps the kids bond with each other.  As the story unfolds, the reader finds out why Mr. Dwyer is off his game and how the kids help him to get back to being the amazing teacher he once was, not only for the fifth graders, but also for Mr. Jacobs.  This is a fun story to read, with tons of humor and warmth as well as social issues.  This is would make a terrific read aloud for middle grade readers.  There are themes of frienship and trust, about telling the truth and doing the right thing, about showing up and being there.  I loved this one and I hope you will too.