LibGuides: Paideia Junior High School Summer Reading 2025: Award Winners of 2025

Georgia Children's Book Award 2025-2026

The 2025-2026 Georgia Children's Book Award finalists for Grades 6-8. The winner and honor books will be announced in Spring 2026. Previous years' winner lists can be found here.

Across So Many Seas by Ruth Behar
ISBN: 9780593323403
Free Throws, Friendship, and Other Things We Fouled Up by Jenn Bishop
ISBN: 9781797215617
And Then, Boom! by Lisa Fipps
ISBN: 9780593406328
Not Nothing by Gayle Forman
ISBN: 9781665943277
Alebrijes: Cuentista Book II by Donna Barba Higuera
ISBN: 9781646142637
The School for Invisible Boys by Shaun David Hutchinson
ISBN: 9780593646328
Bye Forever, I Guess by Jodi Meadows
ISBN: 9780823456383
Mabuhay!: a Graphic Novel by Zachary Sterling (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9781338738605
Black Girl You Are Atlas by Renée Watson; Ekua Holmes (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9780593461709
Mid-Air by Alicia D. Williams; Danica Novgorodoff (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9781481465847

Best Middle Grade Books of 2024 (SLJ)

At the end of each year, School Library Journal names its Best Books books for readers of different ages. The 2024 Best Middle Grade Books are below. This list, with descriptions of each book plus a downloadable spreadsheet, is online here. Previous year's lists, plus lists for other ages, are online here.

The Songbird and the Rambutan Tree by Lucille Abendanon
ISBN: 9781631638206
The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko
ISBN: 9781524718923
Max in the House of Spies by Adam Gidwitz
ISBN: 9780593112083
Gooseberry by Robin Gow
ISBN: 9781419764424
Island of Whispers by Frances Hardinge; Emily Gravett (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9781419774331
Warrior on the Mound by Sandra W. Headen
ISBN: 9780823453788
Linus and Etta Could Use a Win by Caroline Huntoon
ISBN: 9781250897466
Mani Semilla Finds Her Quetzal Voice by Anna Lapera
ISBN: 9781646143719
Sona and the Golden Beasts by Rajani LaRocca
ISBN: 9780063295407
Mallory in Full Color by Elisa Stone Leahy
ISBN: 9780063255531
The Last Rhee Witch by Jenna Lee-Yun
ISBN: 9781368099073
Medusa by Katherine Marsh
ISBN: 9780063303744
Winnie Nash Is Not Your Sunshine by Nicole Melleby
ISBN: 9781643753133
Olivetti by Allie Millington
ISBN: 9781250326935
Keeping Pace by Laurie Morrison
ISBN: 9781419768750
Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody by Patrick Ness; Tim Miller (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9781536235937
Red Bird Danced by Dawn Quigley
ISBN: 9780063223622
The Last Dragon on Mars by Scott Reintgen
ISBN: 9781665946513
Kareem Between by Shifa Saltagi Safadi
ISBN: 9780593699263
Ultraviolet by Aida Salazar
ISBN: 9781338775655
Louder Than Hunger by John Schu
ISBN: 9781536229097
Murray Out of Water by Taylor Tracy
ISBN: 9780063326811
A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall by Jasmine Warga
ISBN: 9780062956705
Light and Air by Mindy Nichols Wendell
ISBN: 9780823454433
Mid-Air by Alicia D. Williams; Danica Novgorodoff (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9781481465830
Shark Teeth by Sherri Winston
ISBN: 9781547608508

Books All Young Georgians Should Read (Middle Grades)

Each year, the Georgia Center for the Book selects noteworthy titles for adults and young readers. The "young reader" list includes picture books up to Young Adult titles. These books were tagged for Middle Grade readers (generally grades 6th-8th) in the 2024 "Books All Young Georgians Should Read" list. Full lists for 2024 and previous years are online here.