Riot Recommendation

Riot Recommendation: What Are Your Favorite Middle Grade Books About Friendship?

Vanessa Diaz

Managing Editor

Book Riot Managing Editor Vanessa Diaz is a writer and former bookseller from San Diego, CA whose Spanish is even faster than her English. When not reading or writing, she enjoys dreaming up travel itineraries and drinking entirely too much tea. She is a regular co-host on the All the Books podcast who especially loves mysteries, gothic lit, mythology/folklore, and all things witchy. Vanessa can be found on Instagram at @BuenosDiazSD or taking pictures of pretty trees in Portland, OR, where she now resides.

This Riot Recommendation of middle grade books about friendship is sponsored by Best Friends by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham with First Second Books.

Bestselling creators of Real Friends Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham are back with a true story about popularity, first crushes, and finding your own path. Sixth grade is supposed to be perfect. Shannon’s got a sure spot in the in-crowd and her best friend is their leader, the most popular girl in school. But the rules are always changing, and Shannon has to scramble to keep up.

Follow your heart. Find your people.


We all need somebody to lean on and books to get our read on (that works, right?). That’s why we want to know: What are your favorite Middle Grade Books about friendship? Find us on Facebook and Twitter and shout those titles at us; we’ll round up your responses and be back next week to share them with your fellow Riot readers. That’s what friends are for!