Grades 6 and 7
Emma and the Love Spell by Meredith Ireland
To keep her best friend — and secret crush — Evangeline from moving away, 12-year-old Korean-American adoptee Emma Davidson casts a love spell on Evangeline’s parents so they won’t get divorced, which backfires spectacularly.
In the Key of Us by Mariama Lockington
While twelve-year-old Andi has suffered from anxiety attacks ever since her mother died ten months ago, Zora starting hurting herself whenever she feels out of control; they are both at Camp Harmony, an elite summer music camp, trying to deal with their problems and also the stress of competition--but as the summer passes they find themselves increasingly drawn to each other, and maybe not just as friends.
Pizza My Heart by Rhiannon Richardson
Maya Reynolds has practically grown up in her family's Brooklyn pizza shop, Soul Slice, and is a true city girl. When her family moves to a small town in Pennsylvania to open another pizza place, everything changes. Being the new girl is hard enough. At Soul Slice 2.0, Maya is assigned delivery duty. And her first delivery is a disaster. Can you make a worse impression than tripping... and falling face-first into a rude boy's pizza order? When that same rude--and, okay, cute--boy shows up at her school, Maya's convinced nothing can go right. But she may be in for some surprises. Could good friends, secret crushes, and creative pizza toppings turn Maya's new home into her own slice of heaven?
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
In this story about the perils of popularity, the courage of nonconformity, and the thrill of first love, an eccentric student named Stargirl changes Mica High School forever.
Shug by Jenny Han
A twelve-year-old girl learns about friendship, first loves, and self-worth in a small town in the South.
Grades 7 and 8
A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey
Seventeen-year-old Lila Reyes, furious when her parents send her to the English countryside to recover from grief and heartbreak, unexpectedly falls in love with a teashop clerk--and England, itself.
The Darkness OUtside of Us by Eliot Schrefer
Ambrose wakes up on the Coordinated Endeavor with no memory of a launch. There's more that doesn't add up: evidence indicates strangers have been on board, the ship's operating system is voiced by his mother, and his handsome, brooding shipmate has barricaded himself away. But nothing will stop Ambrose from making his mission succeed--not when he's rescuing his own sister. In order to survive the ship's secrets, Ambrose and Kodiak will need to work together and learn to trust each other...especially oncethey discover what they are truly up against. Love might be the only way to survive.
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
Tells the story of the friendship between half-Korean sophomore Park Sheridan and the new girl Eleanor. Tall, with bright red hair and a dress code all her own, Eleanor is an instant target. Too nice not to let her sit next to him, Park is alternately resentful and guilty for not being kinder to her. When he realizes she's reading his comics over his shoulder, a silent friendship is born that will become something more.
Felix Ever After by Kasen Callender
Felix Love has never been in love, painful irony that it is. He desperately wants to know why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. He is proud of his identity, but fears that he's one marginalization too many-- Black, queer, and transgender. When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages-- after publicly posting Felix's deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned-- Felix comes up with a plan for revenge. He didn't count on his catfish scenario landing him in a quasi-love triangle.
Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemain
It's 1989 in New York City, and for three teens, the world is changing. Reza is an Iranian boy who has just moved to the city with his mother to live with his stepfather and stepbrother. He's terrified that someone will guess the truth he can barely acknowledge about himself. Reza knows he's gay, but all he knows of gay life are the media's images of men dying of AIDS. Judy is an aspiring fashion designer who worships her uncle Stephen, a gay man with AIDS who devotes his time to activism as a member of ACT UP. Judy has never imagined finding romance... until she falls for Reza and they start dating. Art is Judy's best friend, their school's only out and proud teen. He'll never be who his conservative parents want him to be, so he rebels by documenting the AIDS crisis through his photographs. As Reza and Art grow closer, Reza struggles to find a way out of his deception that won't break Judy's heart -- and destroy the most meaningful friendship he's ever known.
Well, That Was Unexpected by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Sharlot Citra is whisked from Los Angeles to her mother's native Indonesia, where she finds herself fake dating the son of one of the wealthiest families in Indonesia, and she is surprised when she actually starts to fall in love with the boy, the country, and the big family she never knew before.