2020-2021 Middle School TAB Nominations

"A lighthearted but informative look at chance discoveries made by ordinary people, of artifacts (and treasures) from the past. Many of these discoveries have led to leaps in our knowledge of history and science. Each short chapter will begin with a dramatic story of discovery, followed by the significance of the artifact that was discovered, followed by a look into the history of the civilization/era from which the artifact originates. The stories...

"During the summer before seventh grade, Kaia, who enjoys living in Southern California, visiting the beach with her family, and creating movie make-up effects, makes a film with her friends to win a contest and hopefully prevent her beloved great-grandfather from moving back to the Philippines." --

"...explores the science and grisly history of U.S. Civil War medicine, using actual medical cases and first-person accounts by soldiers, doctors, and nurses."--

In a witch's house, nothing is as it seems. When a scarecrow climbs over the garden wall, delivering twelve-year-old orphan Zita Brydgeborn a letter saying she has inherited a distant castle, she jumps at the chance of adventure. But little does she know that she is about to be thrust into a centuries-old battle between good and evil. Blackbird Castle was once home to a powerful dynasty of witches, all of them now dead under mysterious circumstances....

"Imagine an America very similar to our own. It's got homework, best friends, and pistachio ice cream. There are some differences. This America has been shaped dramatically by the magic, monsters, knowledge, and legends of its peoples, those Indigenous and those not. Some of these forces are charmingly everyday, like the ability to make an orb of light appear or travel across the world through rings of fungi. But other forces are less charming and...

Twelve-year-old Noura and her family, fleeing war in Syria, have been granted asylum in the United States, but they arrive in Florida to the chaos of the president's Muslim ban; twelve-year-old Jordyn is a member of the Christian church that is sponsoring the Alwan family, and Noura's student ambassador in middle school; their inevitable culture clash is made far worse by the wave of hate crimes unleashed by the Muslim ban, and personal problems of...

"Eleven-year-old Thom Ngho is keeping a secret: she's strong. Like suuuuper strong. Freakishly strong. And it's making it impossible for her to fit in at her new middle school. In a desperate bid to get rid of her super strength, Thom makes a deal with the Monkey King, a powerful deity and legendary trickster she accidentally released from his 500-year prison sentence. Thom agrees to help the Monkey King get back his magical staff if he'll take away...

"Ruth Gruener was a hidden child during the Holocaust. At the end of the war, she and her parents were overjoyed to be free. But their struggles as displaced people had just begun. In war-ravaged Europe, they waited for paperwork for a chance to come to America. Once they arrived in Brooklyn, they began to build a new life, but spoke little English. Ruth started at a new school and tried to make friends -- but continued to fight nightmares and flashbacks...

A magical boy from Mayan mythology faces impossible tasks and a ruthless king to save the people of Mexico.

"After her best friend, JC, has a kidney transplant, Serena feels that they are falling out of touch, especially as JC makes a new best friend in the hospital"--