I Wish I Was Strong Like Manuel

Up on Cloud Nine

Figure It Out, Henri Weldon

The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S.

Moonpenny Island

Wishing Upon the Same Stars

Uses for Boys

Too Bright to See

When Alice's dad moves out, leaving her with her troubled mother, she does the only thing that feels right: she retreats to her family's old Renaissance tent in the backyard, determined to live there until her dad comes home. In an attempt to keep at least one part of her summer from changing, Alice focuses on her quest to swim freestyle fast enough to get on her swim team's record board. But summers contain multitudes, and soon Alice meets an odd new friend, Harriet, whose obsession with the school's science fair is equal only to her conviction that Alice's best stroke is backstroke, not freestyle. Most unexpected of all is an unusual babysitting charge, Piper, who is mute—until Alice hears her speak. A funny and honest middle-grade novel, this sharply observed depiction of family, friendship, and Alice's determination to prove herself—as a babysitter, as a friend, as a daughter, as a person—rings loud and true.

Ages 10 and up
Grades 5 and up

Discover Your Child's Next Read

I Wish I Was Strong Like Manuel

Kathryn Helig, Bonnie Adamson, Deborah Hembrook, 2008

Up on Cloud Nine

Anne Fine, 2001

Figure It Out, Henri Weldon

Tanita S. Davis, 2023

The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S.

David Levithan, 2021

Moonpenny Island

Gilbert Ford, Tricia Springstubb, 2015

Wishing Upon the Same Stars

Jacquetta Nammar Feldman, 2022

Uses for Boys

Erica Lorraine Scheidt, 2013

Too Bright to See

Kyle Lukoff, 2021