Project LIT Middle Grade Book Club

From the Desk of Zoe Washington

Zoe Washington

By: Janae Marks
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
Length: 6 hours 9 minutes

“An absolutely charming and inspirational read or listen about family, growing up and second chances. Social justice issues and experiences of racism are appropriately handled with grace and realism for this age. I enjoyed spending a bit of my summer experiencing her summer adventures and mishaps. Zoe is portrayed as a bright, ambitious 12... Read more

Efren Divided

By: Ernesto Cisneros
Narrated by: Anthony Rey Perez
Length: 4 hours 32 minutes

Winner of the Pura Belpré Award!“We need books to break open our hearts, so that we might feel more deeply, so that we might be more human in these unkind times. This is a book doing work of the spirit in a time of darkness.” —Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street Efrén Nava’s Amá is his Superwoman—or Soperwoman, named after the... Read more

Clean Getaway

By: Nic Stone
Narrated by: Dion Graham
Length: 3 hours 56 minutes

“William "Scoob" Lamar's white G'ma fell in love with his black G'pa at a time when a mixed-race relationship between adult Americans was illegal in many parts of the country. It was especially difficult for them in the conservative south where they lived. Now G'ma is on a mission to revisit places she and G'pa traveled and to take Scoob along... Read more

Prairie Lotus

By: Linda Sue Park
Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
Length: 5 hours 17 minutes

Prairie Lotus is a powerful, touching, multilayered book about a girl determined to fit in and realize her dreams: getting an education, becoming a dressmaker in her father's shop, and making at least one friend.

Acclaimed, award-winning author Linda Sue Park has placed a young half-Asian girl, Hanna, in a small town in America's heartland, in... Read more

Maybe He Just Likes You

By: Barbara Dee
Narrated by: Emily Rankin
Length: 5 hours 21 minutes

Barbara Dee explores the subject of #MeToo for the middle grade audience in this heart-wrenching--and ultimately uplifting--novel about experiencing harassment and unwanted attention from classmates.

For seventh-grader Mila, it starts with some boys giving her an unwanted hug on the school blacktop. A few days later, at recess, one of the boys... Read more

Free Lunch

By: Rex Ogle
Narrated by: Ramón De Ocampo
Length: 5 hours 52 minutes

Instead of giving him lunch money, Rex’s mom has signed him up for free meals.

As a poor kid in a wealthy school district, better-off kids crowd impatiently behind him as he tries to explain to the cashier that he’s on the free meal program. The lunch lady is hard of hearing, so Rex has to shout.

Free Lunch is the story of Rex’s efforts to... Read more

Ghost Squad

By: Claribel A. Ortega
Length: 5 hours 31 minutes

Coco meets Stranger Things with a hint of Ghostbusters in this action-packed supernatural fantasy.For Lucely Luna, ghosts are more than just the family business.Shortly before Halloween, Lucely and her best friend, Syd, cast a spell that accidentally awakens malicious spirits, wreaking havoc throughout St. Augustine. Together, they must join... Read more

Tristan Strong Punches A Hole In The Sky

Tristan Strong: Book #1

By: Kwame Mbalia
Narrated by: Amir Abdullah
Length: 10 hours 56 minutes

Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents Kwame Mbalia's epic fantasy, a middle grade American Gods set in a richly-imagined world populated with African American folk heroes and West African gods.

Seventh grader Tristan Strong feels anything but strong ever since he failed to save his best friend when they were in a bus accident together. All he... Read more

Genesis Begins Again

By: Alicia D. Williams
Narrated by: Alicia D. Williams
Length: 8 hours 48 minutes

“Reminiscent of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.” —The New York Times

“One of the best books I have ever read…will live in the hearts of readers for the rest of their lives.” —Colby Sharp, founder of Nerdy Book Club

“An emotional, painful, yet still hopeful adolescent journey…one that needed telling.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“I really... Read more