15 Great Middle Grade Books About Friendship

Sixth graders Sara and Elizabeth come from different backgrounds to team up as cooking buddies in this delicious foodie story. Sara is nervous at her new school, having just left her Islamic school. Elizabeth, a Jewish girl, searches for anything that could help her mother overcome depression, including signing up for an after school class in a South Asian cooking course taught by Sara’s mom. Together, the girls form a bond and work to try to land a spot on a local food TV show. But will their alliance transfer to a real friendship outside class?

It’s 1880 in heartland America, and Hanna feels out of place with her half-Asian roots in her new small town suspicious of outsiders. Hanna tries to make the best of her situation by pursuing an education, going after her dream of being a dress maker for her father’s shop, and making friends, but she faces baked-in prejudice to Asians. Award-winning author Linda Sue Park has said she aspired to write a more diverse Little House on the Prairie in this spirited historical novel about family bonds, discrimination, and unlikely friendships on the frontier.

1970. Red Grove, Alabama. Lu Olivera’s 6th grade year is not going great. For one, her most trusted friends seem to only care about boys and view her new talent in track and field with disdain. Lu longs to befriend her teammate Belinda, but the racial divides in her school and in her state make the friendship hard to foster. When Alabama politicians create tinderbox dynamics in the state, Lu faces big choices about keeping quiet vs. speaking out and finding friends with the same values.

This award-winning graphic novel by Jerry Craft stars 7th grader Jordan Banks, an aspiring artist who loves to draw. While Jordan hopes to attend an art school, his parents send him to an elite private school where Jordan and his friends are some of the few children of color in his grade. Jordan finds himself town between two worlds: the prestigious culture at school and the more diverse neighborhood he returns to at night. New Kid is a great children’s book about friendships that resonates with many marginalized kids caught between the cultures of home and school and the friendships they both forge and maintain.

Katherine Applegate’s heart wrenching, soul affirming novel The One and Only Ivan is an award-winning middle grade friendship novel. The book centers Ivan, an artistic gorilla at a zoo housed in a mall. When a new animal moves into the zoo, a cute baby elephant named Stella, Ivan takes it upon himself to help them both escape from their cruel master and give them — and their little dog friend Bob — hope for a better future.

This adorable book for middle grade readers is filled with the restorative power of kindness and self-love. In Matthew Gray Gubler’s tale, Rumple Buttercup is a banana-loving creature who lives in the sewer. Self-conscious Rumple Buttercup only feels safe to leave his home once a year when a celebration on the streets distracts people from seeing him. Will he ever accept himself for his quirky self and brave it to leave his home and enter the larger community? You’ll have to read to find out.

A multi award-winner, Kekla Magoon’s The Season of Styx Malone resonates with any reader who has ever had a special friendship blossom during the course of a summer. In this novel, Caleb and Bobby Jean beat summertime boredom when they meet seemingly fearless, unstoppable Styx Malone, a new neighbor who widens their world and brings infinite fun to the doldrums of the season. But flashy, confident Styx harbors secrets that could change everything.

In Small Spaces, a creepy ghost story for kids, 11-year-old Ollie is grieving the loss of her mother and struggling to make friends at school. Ollie find a mysterious book that speaks of a rivalry for romantic attention between two brothers and a girl, a conflict that ended in a bargain with the wicked Smiling Man. When Ollie and her classmates go on a field trip to a local farm, the supernatural tale come to life, forcing Ollie to make new friends and do what’s hardest: to let people in.

At first glance, Christine and her new neighbor Moon seem to have nothing in common. But their close proximity helps their friendship flourish as the two unlikely buddies become besties. Moon even shares with Christine her secret, that she has visions of celestial beings who call out to her from the galaxy of stars. When Moon falls ill, Christine tries to help save her. This poignant tale tells what many kids learn: when it comes to friendships, sometimes opposites attract best!