I’ve been promising this booklist for longer than I care to admit. As soon as I shared 20 Middle Grade Books: Black Girls Living Life, I started working on this one because I wanted my kids to have wonderful middle grade books with Black boys as the main characters as well. The books have been selected and photographed for many months, but they got pushed to the side while I was working on my new book, A PLACE TO BELONG. I’m so excited to finally be able to share this awesome list of middle grade books featuring Black boys and their everyday lives, and I hope it was worth the wait!

Middle grade fiction is generally targeted at ages 8-12, and these books all fall within that range. However, I’d place some into the higher end of the range and they’re marked with an asterisk.

And though these books are featuring middle grade Black boys, please know that my girls have read more of them than my son has. In fact, we listened to several of these as audiobooks in the car during long family road trips. These books are about boys but they’re not only for boys.

I’ve read a lot of these, but I relied on my kids for feedback on some and there are a few that we own but haven’t gotten to quite yet. Generally speaking, most of these books are what I would call “free reads.” They’re not usually the books that I assign for school lessons (though some could be!), but we either read them as a family or my kids enjoy them for their personal reading time during the day and in bed at night.

As I said in Chapter Books: Black Boys Having Fun, these are not older, traditional classics with Black boys thrown on the cover. These are contemporary, fun, life-giving books written about the everyday lives of Black boys. They’re not Black knock-offs of Where the Red Fern Grows or Johnny Tremain, so please don’t approach them with that expectation. They are their own thing. And, like a lot of other modern middle grade fiction, occasionally the boys in some of these books might call someone an idiot or they might say that something is stupid. If things like that bother you enough that you don’t want your kids to read the books, then consider this a heads up. Otherwise, carry on, and HAVE FUN!

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Dragons in a Bag series by Zetta Elliot (3 books): We’re reading this series in the book club that I lead for 3rd-5th grade boys, and it’s very imaginative. In the beginning of the series, Jaxon finds out that “Ma” is not really his grandmother but a witch who needs his help delivering baby dragons to a magical world where they’ll be safe. This starred review from Kirkus Reviews says it all: “What a breath of fresh air: a chapter-book fantasy with an urban setting, an array of brown-skinned magic wielders, and a lovable black protagonist readers will root for and sympathize with… Good, solid fantasy fun.”

Legendary Alston Boys series by Lamar Giles (3 books): This was another one of our book club selections (I wrote about it here), and my kids loved it. “When two adventurous cousins [Otto and Sheed] accidentally extend the last day of summer by freezing time, they find the secrets hidden between the unmoving seconds, minutes, and hours are not the endless fun they expected.” That description sounds serious, but the secrets aren’t heavy, and this book is a perfect fun fantasy with flavor!

Tristan Strong series by Kwame Mbalia (3 books): Yep, this was another book club selection. This one was for our middle school group, and I filled in for the leader the month that the kids read this book. My oldest was not interested in this book AT ALL, so we listened to it as an audiobook while we sewed, and guess what? She LOVED it! In this epic fantasy, the author weaves in several legendary Black folk heroes and characters (John Henry, Brer Rabbit, Anansi, etc.) who need to team up to seal a hole in the sky. Being familiar with these characters from Black folk tales is certainly not a requirement for enjoying the series, but I do feel like the background connections gave my kids an extra burst of happiness while listening/reading.

Finding Langston series by Lisa Cline-Ransome (3 books): This series is rich in historical details, and I give it 5 stars! It deals with serious topics like the death of a family member, bullying, and grieving, but it handles them realistically and age-appropriately. The first book is about eleven-year-old Langston, a young boy from Alabama who moves with his father to Chicago in 1946 after the death of his mother. The author “takes the reader into the heart of the Second Great Migration and details some of the conditions that African Americans faced in the South and the North in this post-war period. The book doesn’t shy away from the topics of segregation and discrimination as Langston encounters it in the libraries in the South, in the passenger cars on the railway to the North, and in the neighborhoods of Chicago.”

Track series by Jason Reynolds (4 books): Like Tristan Strong above, my middle school daughter wasn’t interested in reading Ghost for her book club. Quite honestly, I made her listen to the audiobook (because it’s weird if my own kids don’t participate in the book club that I started), and predictably, she LOVED it. She couldn’t stop listening, and she went on to quickly gobble up hard copies of the rest of the series. Each book in the series focuses on a different kid from an elite middle school track team. Ghost, Lu, Patina, and Sunny all have totally different personalities and stories, so each book can stand alone without reading the others, but the fullness of the series is best absorbed when read in order.

New Kid series by Jerry Craft (2 books): This is one of the books that helped me embrace graphic novels. New Kid is about 7th grader Jordan Banks and his experience at the prestigious private school that his parents enroll him in instead of his dream art school. He’s one of the only Black kids there, and he’s honest about his struggles to fit in. My kids read these the same weekend that I brought them home. I’m not sure that I could give a better review than that.

The Crossover series by Kwame Alexander (3 books): I was first introduced to this series by my dear friend Leslie Martino when she shared plans for enjoying The Crossover with a group in Wild and Free Book Club (I shared plans for Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry in the same book). The main series consists of The Crossover, Booked, and Rebound, but there’s also a graphic novel version of The Crossover along with The Playbook, “an inspirational book full of poetry and inspiring lessons about the rules of life with uplifting quotes from all-star athletes like Stephen Curry and Venus Williams and other wonderfully influential figures like Sonia Sotomayor and Michelle Obama.” The novels are written in verse, so this series is a great opportunity to turn your kids onto contemporary poetry. In the first book, 12-year-twins, Josh and Jordan, are star basketball players for their school, and they want to follow in their dad’s footsteps, but they encounter conflict and hardship that tests their relationship.

These are all middle grade books featuring Black boys that my son picked right off our shelves within one week of me getting them. He didn’t read them right away, but he moved them up into his bedroom bookshelf which is a territorial sign of desired ownership. He hasn’t finished all of them, but between my boy and my friend’s son, all of these have been given a thumbs up. I grouped these titles together because I’m filing them all under F-U-N. They’re clean and creative stories that place Black boys in the center of the action, and the world needs more of that!

Stunt Boy by Jason Reynolds: This highly illustrated novel features Portico Reeves as a regular superhero boy who saves the people in his apartment building and wishes he could save his parents who are constantly arguing.

Marcus Makes a Movie by Kevin Hart: “Marcus is NOT happy to be stuck in after-school film class . . . until he realizes he can turn the story of the cartoon superhero he’s been drawing for years into an actual movie!”

Simon B. Rhymin’ by Dwayne Reed: “Eleven-year-old Simon Barnes dreams of becoming a world-famous rapper that everyone calls Notorious D.O.G. But for now, he’s just a Chicago fifth-grader who’s small for his age and afraid to use his voice.”

Miles Morales Spider-Man by Jason Reynolds: This one doesn’t even really need a description but: “Miles Morales is just your average teenager. Dinner every Sunday with his parents, chilling out playing old-school video games with his best friend, Ganke, crushing on brainy, beautiful poet Alicia. He’s even got a scholarship spot at the prestigious Brooklyn Visions Academy. Oh yeah, and he’s Spider Man.” This is a great option for a Pages & Popcorn family event! That’s what I call it when we read the book and then watch the movie together.

* The Season of Styx Malone by Kekla Magoon – We listened to this one in the car on a family trip to Florida last year, and we were all disappointed that there’s no sequel. It’s about two brothers who are excited to have adventures in the woods behind their house, but the adventure is amped up when they meet their new 16-year-old neighbor, Styx Malone. The three boys try to pull off the Great Escalator Trade–exchanging one small thing for something better until they achieve their wildest dream. “But as the trades get bigger, the brothers soon find themselves in over their heads. Styx has secrets–secrets so big they could ruin everything.” Read a review on Redeemed Reader, one of my favorite book review sites.

This grouping features books that are well within the target age range but have more relational or internal conflict than the group above. They’re still just as fun, but I’d say that the storylines are a bit more complex or mature, in a nice way.

8th Grade Super Zero by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich: Written by the same author as one of our family faves, Operation Sisterhood, this book focuses on a boy named Reggie who inherits the nickname “Pukey” after a bit of a mishap on the first day of school. After that, he tries to just blend in until he realizes that he has a real passion for community activism. He then surprises himself and everyone else when he runs for class president.

Clayton Byrd Goes Underground by Rita Williams-Garcia: This is another great story from the author that brought us the One Crazy Summer trilogy. In this book,
Clayton runs away from home in search of the Bluesman after his grandfather, Cool Papa Byrd, dies. After leaving home, he journeys through NYC to Washington Square Park, learning some surprising things along the way.

The Magic in Changing Your Stars by Leah Henderson: This review from Kirkus Reviews is what led me to this book: “Black excellence, Black fantastic, and Black family combine for a transformational story of passion and persistence.” Yes, yes, and yes! In this story, 11-year-old Ailey is a gifted dancer who almost gives up on his dreams when he has a bad audition. But after trying on his grandpa’s special tap shoes, he’s transported to 1930s Harlem where he meets amazing people (real and imagined) while determining just how much he can change without altering too much of his future.

Sauerkraut by Kelly Jones: While trying to earn some money by cleaning his uncle’s basement, HD finds out that his great-great-grandmother is haunting an old pickling crock. And guess what? She wants HD to help make her famous recipe for sauerkraut and enter it in the county fair so that she can be declared pickle queen. This “goofy ghost tale” is such a hoot!

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Young Reader’s Edition by William Kamkwamba: This is another candidate for a great Pages & Popcorn family night (or a middle school movie night that you could host in your home). You could also watch the excellent documentary drama of this true story, William and the Windmill. “When a terrible drought struck William Kamkwamba’s tiny village in Malawi, his family lost all of the season’s crops, leaving them with nothing to eat and nothing to sell. William began to explore science books in his village library, looking for a solution. There, he came up with the idea that would change his family’s life forever: he could build a windmill to bring electricity to his home.”

Last Gate of the Emperor by Kwame Mbalia and Prince Joel Makonnen: This is a super rare find from the same author as the Tristan Strong series above. I say rare because it’s a middle grade afrofuturist adventure about a mythical Ethiopian empire. The authors combine sci-fi and fantasy in an epic journey to the stars, and this type of story is not easy to find with Black characters. Especially for younger readers (as in, not older teens or adults).

These six books are all completely different, but I grouped them together because they tackle various degrees of serious issues. They’re important reads because they allow our children to explore real-world scenarios from a safe distance as they learn about the world around them.

Courage by Barbara Binns: This book tells the story of a boy named T’Shawn who is given a scholarship and a spot on a prestigious diving team at a local private swim club. His mom is a widow, and they struggle financially. He also deals with relational issues with his brother when he unexpectedly gets released early from prison.

Garvey’s Choice by Nikki Grimes: “Garvey is kind, funny, smart, a loyal friend, and he is also overweight, teased by bullies, and lonely. When his only friend encourages him to join the school chorus, Garvey’s life changes. He finds a way to accept himself, and a way to finally reach his distant father.”

Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson: Written by the author of Brown Girl Dreaming, this book is about a boy named ZJ who is struggling immensely because his charismatic father is changing due to head injuries sustained during his professional football career. ZJ begins to question whether any of their old family traditions and memories even really matter if his dad can no longer remember them.

One Shadow on the Wall by Leah Henderson: 11-year-old Mor promises his dad that he’ll take care of his sisters and keep the family together, but after his father dies, he finds the promise increasingly difficult to keep. At 450 pages, this is the longest book on my list, but not a single page is wasted.

Clean Getaway by Nic Stone: This is a “timely middle-grade road-trip story through landmarks of the Civil Rights movement and the map they lay for contemporary race relations.” 11-year-old Scoob ends up on a long RV trip with his white grandmother, and they have some candid conversations about some of the things that she experienced in the past.

The Journey of Little Charlie by Christopher Paul Curtis: This is another compelling read from the author of Bud Not Buddy, The Mighty Miss Malone, Elijah of Buxton, and The Watsons Go to Birmingham – all books that I recommend. In this one, 12-year-old Charlie (a white boy) makes a deal with the sharecropper that his deceased father owed. All seems fine until he realizes that the fugitives that he agrees to track down are runaway enslaved people, and then he has some big decisions to make. I went back and forth about whether I should include this book on the list because the protagonist is not Black, and ultimately I decided to do so because the book is written by a Black man and it shines such a light on the Black experience. And it’s so good!

The Rwendigo Tales series by J.A. Myhre: A Chameleon, a Boy, and a Quest is the first book in the fictional Rwendigo Tales Series, and I think this series would be enjoyed most by older middle grade readers (11-14 years). It’s written for children and younger teens who love reading and learning about different parts of the world while relating to characters and issues that seem much closer to home. “Ten-year-old Mu, orphaned as a toddler, has lived his entire life in the heart of Africa. For as long as he can remember, he has served in the household of a great-uncle where he is unloved and ignored. In his drudgery-filled life, Mu has little hope of happiness and little hope that anything will ever change. But one day everything does change. On his way to draw water one morning, Mu is astonished when a chameleon greets him by name and announces that they will embark on a quest together.” Highly recommend!

My family has not read most of the books in this section. I’m including them because they’ve come highly recommended from multiple people who usually never steer me wrong. Some of these are above my kids’ pay-grade at the moment, but I can see us growing into them at some point.

* Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds: This book contains ten short stories (one per block) about what happens after the dismissal bell rings, and brilliantly weaves them into one wickedly funny, piercingly poignant look at the detours we face on the walk home, and in life. One of the stories features a boy standing up against homophobia. Trigger warning that it contains homophobic violence.

* The Stars Beneath Our Feet by David Barclay Moore: This book has a lot going on. There is death, gangs, an absent dad, a girl with autism, and multiple queer characters. It’s about a boy who “tries to steer a safe path through the projects in Harlem in the wake of his brother’s death,” and there’s a movie in the works. It has SIX starred reviews (That’s a lot!).

Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes: We have five other books from this author on our shelves, so I’m confident that we’re going to enjoy this one. It’s a “careful examination of the school-to-prison pipeline and follows one boy’s fight against racism and his empowering path to finding his voice.” The other books we’ve read and enjoyed from Rhodes are Ninth Ward, Ghost Boys, Towers Falling, Sugar, and Bayou Magic.

Gloom Town by Ronald L. Smith: In this creepy novel, “12-year-old Rory applies for a job at a spooky old mansion in his gloomy seaside town, he finds the owner, Lord Foxglove, odd and unpleasant. But he and his mom need the money, so he takes the job anyway. Rory soon finds out that his new boss is not just strange, he’s not even human—and he’s trying to steal the townspeople’s shadows.” I won’t suggest this to my oldest because these kinds of stories are disturbing for her, but I fully expect my middle kiddos to gravitate to this one.

* As Brave As You by Jason Reynolds: Most of Jason Reynolds’ books have an urban setting, so I love that he’s also written this story with a rural setting. In this one, two brothers leave Brooklyn to spend the summer in the country with their grandparents. One of them figures out that their grandfather is blind while the other resists the expectation that he participate in a rite of passage that he is not at all interested in. I read most of this one (last year), but I need to finish up! Please note: This book has multiple curse words.

* The Usual Suspects by Maurice Broaddus: “Thelonius Mitchell is tired of being labeled. He’s in special ed, separated from the “normal” kids at school who don’t have any “issues.” That’s enough to make all the teachers and students look at him and his friends with a constant side-eye. (Although his disruptive antics and pranks have given him a rep too.) When a gun is found at a neighborhood hangout, Thelonius and his pals become instant suspects. Thelonius may be guilty of pulling crazy stunts at school, but a criminal? T isn’t about to let that label stick.”

* I think these books are best for older students within the range. It’s hard to give an exact age because children and their maturity levels are different, but I’d say ages 11+ for these titles.

I hope you see some books on this list that your children will enjoy! Please leave your recommendations for this age group in the comments. I’d love to see them.

You can find me hanging out on Instagram @heritagemomblog. I hope to see you there!

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