Terrific middle grade magical fiction Summer 2026

 Magical mysteries?  Yes please!  And these have a side helping of social issues!  

The first one is called "Raven, Rising".  It's written by Christine Hartman Derr.  I haven't read any of her other books but I really liked this one.  It's about Raven, a 13 year old girl who lives with her aunt because her parents were killed 8 months ago.  Raven and her aunt Coral have relocated to the Cherokee Nation in NC from Oklahoma because of an amazing job opportunity for Coral.  They had been living in the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, and this is an important part of both Coral and Raven's lives.  Raven misses her parents desperately and one of the things Raven used to do with her mom is bake, but the accident that killed her parents was a gas leak and Raven was the last one who used the stove, so she blames herself.  She has vowed to never bake again.  Except that ingredients seem to be following her around, trying to get noticed, and trying to get Raven to bake.  Once school starts, Raven immediately gets on the wrong side of Stella, one of a group of popular girls who enjoy making others' lives miserable.  The mean girls start testing Raven that she is a witch and one day, after a bullying incident, Raven tells Stella she's going to curse her and says a few nonsensical things in Cherokee.  And then bad things start to happen to Stella, she gets a bad grade on a math test, a tree branch falls in a storm and damages her car, and her boyfriend breaks up with her.  Raven meets some other girls who are kind to her and they become friends.  The girls also have to navigate the assistant principal who seems to selectively enforce rules against certain kinds of kids-kids who aren't on the sports team, girls, and kids of color.  As the girls grow closer, it turns out that Raven finds connections there that she never imagined possible.  This is a very compelling story (I couldn't put it down!).  There are themes of regret and guilt, of dealing with grief, of magic and the power of doing the right thing, of family and community connections that hold you no  matter what.  I loved this one and I think the kids are going to love this one too.

Here's the cover.

The Travelers by Greg Howard is another terrific magical mystery.  It's about Ben, who goes to live with his grandmother after his mom dies.  He and his mom haven't been in touch with his grandmother so when Ben gets to Nashville, just about everything there is a surprise-the big mansion, all the clocks in the house, his grandmother.  As Ben is trying to make sense of all these things and make friends in his new town, he finds out about his mom's past as well as his grandmother's time traveling abilities.  There are themes of forgiveness and making things right, about how decisions have long reaching consequences, as well as family and friendship.  I really liked this one a lot and I think kids are going to love it too.

The last one is the start of an epic adventure series by Erin Bow.  She wrote one of my very favorite books "Simon Sort of Says" and has such a gift for dialogue.  This one is no exception.  It's about Butter and Owl.  They are familiars for a witch, who has left their home without telling them why.  When Butter, a cat, and Owl, a Raven, figure out she's gone, they decide they have to go after her.  They do not always get along, as they have very different ways of viewing the world, which is part of what makes the book so much fun.  They get some good advice about where to go as well as make some terrible choices.  They meet fearsome beasts and overcome huge obstacles  but the ending is satisfying and heartwarming.  This would be so much fun to compare to other epic adventures like "The Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell or even "The Odyssey".  I think kids are going to love this one too.