An honest, uplifting story about learning to live in the body you're born with.When seventeen-year-old Marcella Boucher asks Lou Duncan to her high school's "reverse prom" she expects a few snickers. After all, no one else knows that outside school the star football player has a thing for the girl everyone calls Moocella. However, she could never have anticipated the splashy aftermath of her very public display of affection. Or how it would send her to the edge of despair. But life has a way of putting exactly what, and who, you need in front of you at the right time...you just need to be brave enough to accept them.

Friendship, heartbreak, and defining what family means are rarely as sensitively, beautifully portrayed in middle-grade fiction. Shaunta Grimes is an extraordinary new talent. Gideon hates the idea of moving to Nevada from the East Coast. It's so empty and hot in his new neighborhood. Only one person his age lives nearby: the girl next door, Roona.Gid notices right away that Roona is . . . different. She wears roller skates and a blanket as a cape when she needs to feel strong. What he doesn't bargain for, however, is how far outside his comfort zone Roona will take him as she enlists his help in finding her long-gone father. For a kid who's not allowed to ride his bike more than a few blocks from home, this will be the adventure of a lifetime.

In Shaunta Grimes' middle-grade novel Center of Gravity, a girl loses her mom, and her dad remarries quickly, so she must rebuild her life and friendships.Tessa is an anxious person, but it's become worse since her mother died a few months ago. To calm herself down she cuts out photos of missing kids—from milk cartons—and keeps them in a file. It helps her feel like she's not alone. When her dad announces suddenly that he's getting married—and that they're moving, Tessa must navigate new friendships and a new stepmother. She knows she should let go of old habits, but that's easier said than done. Her struggle is one that many readers will understand.

Sixteen years ago, a plague wiped out nearly all of humanity. The Company's vaccine stopped the virus's spread, but society was irrevocably changed. Those remaining live behind impenetrable city walls, taking daily doses of virus suppressant and relying on The Company for continued protection. They don't realize that everything they've been told is a lie... Clover Donovan didn't set out to start a revolution—quiet, autistic, and brilliant, she's always followed the rules. But that was before they forced her into service for the Time Mariners. Before they condemned her brother to death, compelling him to flee the city to survive. Before she discovered terrifying secrets about The Company. Clover and the Freaks, her ragtag resistance group, are doing their best to spread the rebellion and stay under The Company's radar. But when their hideout is discovered, they are forced, once again, to run. Only this time, The Company has special plans for...