Intergenerational relationships can have a powerful impact on young people, including the six main characters in these middle-grade and middle-school novels. Grandparents Day is September 8; for slightly younger readers, see the Guide/Reviews Database’s Grandmother Picture Books and Grandfather Picture Books lists.

Black Star [Door of No Return]
by Kwame Alexander
Intermediate, Middle School    Little, Brown    384 pp.
9/24    9780316442596    $17.99
e-book ed.  9780316442794    $9.99

Continuing the story of a Black family’s trials, from Ghana to the United States, Alexander (The Door of No Return, rev. 9/22) sets this installment in Jim Crow–era Virginia. Charlene “Charley” Cuffey is an avid follower of baseball’s Negro Leagues and aims to be the first female player in the sport. Her grandfather, the supportive Nana Kofi, listens to Charley’s triumphs on the diamond and tells her about the skill he showed as a swimmer in Ghana. He also teaches her Twi, his native language, and shares his favorite sayings and stories — some stories, anyway. Charley’s parents have decided she’s too young to hear about how Nana Kofi was captured and brought to America, or why “the wonderfuls” (as Nana Kofi ironically calls white people) seem so uneasy around them. When Charley and her best friend, “Cool” Willie Green, challenge the neighborhood bully to a baseball game, it only makes sense that they use the new field in town — but this decision could cost Charley and Willie more than they ever thought possible. Alexander has created a world that fully immerses readers in the time period and keeps them riveted by this family’s continuing story. Charley’s first-person verse narrative (with Nana Kofi’s recollections interspersed in prose poems) incorporates institutions and notable figures from the era, including Marcus Garvey and Mary McLeod Bethune. A memorable and moving second book in the trilogy. EBONI NJOKU

Buffalo Dreamer
by Violet Duncan
Intermediate, Middle School    Paulsen/Penguin    128 pp.
8/24    9780593624814    $17.99
e-book ed.  9780593624821    $10.99

Twelve-year-old Summer is excited for her annual visit to her maternal grandparents and extended family on a Cree reservation in Canada. After crossing the border, Summer falls asleep in the car and dreams that she is a young Cree girl trying to escape a residential school. Shortly after she wakes up, she and her mother pass the residential school the government once forced her mosom (grandfather) to attend. The strange dreams continue while she’s on the rez; Summer learns that the young Cree girl’s name is Buffalo Dreamer, but the school calls her Mary. When Summer tells her cousin Autumn about her dreams, the two decide to investigate what became of Buffalo Dreamer. Along with providing a glimpse into life on a Cree reservation today, Duncan’s middle grade–friendly narrative introduces readers to the devastating impact of residential schools. For example, readers learn that Mosom had to learn Cree customs from his wife because the school prohibited him from engaging in them. The chapters that follow Buffalo Dreamer reveal the dangers of trying to escape from the school. An author’s note adds personal context; a glossary (unseen) is appended. NICHOLL DENICE MONTGOMERY

And Then, Boom!
by Lisa Fipps
Intermediate, Middle School    Paulsen/Penguin    260 pp.
5/24    9780593406328    $17.99
e-book ed.  9780593406335    $10.99

Sixth grader Joseph Oaks claims he isn’t a superhero (even if he did fly like Superman once): “I don’t have any special powers — unless / you count my ability to be invisible, / and to survive.” Joe’s mother gets what he calls “The Itch” and disappears for “days. / Weeks. / Months. / You never know when she’ll take off / or when she’ll come back.” Thus, Joe “know[s] a lot of things / kids shouldn’t / have / to know,” including housing insecurity (Joe and Grandmum live in her car), poverty, and hunger. Things start to look up when they find “The Overripe Banana,” a mobile home in King of the Castle Mobile Home Park. Once settled in, Joe considers his favorite possession, the quilt Grandmum made years ago: he understands that “Grandmum’s the thread / holding her, Mom, and me, / separate pieces so different from each other, / together / as a family.” Supporting characters, including Joe’s teacher, his friends Nick and Hakeem, and the mobile home park’s compassionate owner, are well drawn and vividly portrayed. As in Starfish (rev. 5/21), Fipps uses short lines, lots of white space, and an engaging first-person voice to carry the story. A fine example of how a novel in verse can be the perfect vehicle for getting inside the head of a character and creating empathy for what it’s like to be him. DEAN SCHNEIDER

Not Nothing
by Gayle Forman
Middle School    Aladdin/Simon    288 pp.
8/24    9781665943277    $17.99
e-book ed.  9781665943291    $10.99

Readers learn two things at the beginning of this novel: twelve-year-old Alex did something terrible, and he hates the word opportunity. The word has only come up in the worst moments of Alex’s life, most recently when his court-mandated social worker arranges for him to volunteer over the summer at the local retirement home full of old people whom Alex thinks are “gross.” At Shady Glen, Alex meets bossy kid volunteer Maya-Jade as well as 107-year-old Holocaust survivor Jozef Kravitz, who serves as the story’s narrator, though he has an omniscient perspective. Jozef, who has been silent for five years, begins to share with Alex the story of Olka, the love of his life, and the hardships they endured in Nazi-occupied Poland. As Jozef opens up, so does Alex’s world; he befriends other residents and Maya-Jade and learns to look beyond the pain, anger, and self-loathing that have been churning inside him ever since his mother’s disappearance and his kinship foster care placement. Forman crafts a unique story, told in the voice of a wiser, older character; everything feels close and personal, from Alex’s present to Jozef’s past. She captures the quietly powerful moments of feeling seen and known, how friendships can make a bleak life feel fresh with possibilities, and how a person’s worst moments need not shape their future. AMANDA R. TOLEDO

Clairboyance
by Kristiana Kahakauwila
Intermediate, Middle School    Harper/HarperCollins    288 pp.
5/24    9780063045354    $19.99
e-book ed.  9780063045378    $8.99

In this novel set in O‘ahu, Hawai‘i, Clara is having a rough start to sixth grade and wishes she could move to Arizona to live with her dad. Her best friend, Leo, has not spoken to her since the beginning of the school year, and Clara, confused and hurt, wishes she knew why. One night, she asks the ‘umeke, a wooden bowl that her family has passed down for generations, “What are boys thinking?” The next day, Clara can hear the thoughts of all the boys around her. Clara tries to use her new abilities in helpful ways but ends up causing more trouble. When her Tūtū (grandmother in ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i, or the Hawaiian language) has a serious asthma attack, Dad wants to move both Clara and Tūtū to Arizona, and Clara finds herself using her Clairboyance (Tūtū’s name for the ability) to convince her dad to move back to Hawai‘i instead. Kahakauwila’s middle-grade debut introduces readers to the history, culture, and language of Hawai‘i. Characters smoothly switch among English, Creole English, and ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i, and Tūtū teaches Clara how to care for the land (flora and fauna are vividly described) and the ancestors. Readers are reminded of the importance of family, history, and culture in the context of an entertaining tween narrative. A welcome addition to Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander literature for young people. NICHOLL DENICE MONTGOMERY

 Tree. Table. Book.
by Lois Lowry
Intermediate    Clarion/HarperCollins    208 pp.
4/24    9780063299504    $18.99
e-book ed.  9780063299528    $9.99

At the start of the story, eleven-year-old Sophia Henry Winslow presents three words to remember. “Listen carefully. This will be important…I’ll explain later.” Sophia is a keen observer, and readers benefit from her straightforward descriptions of her small-town New Hampshire community, a running commentary on how to write a story, and — most of all — the things she notices, or willfully does not notice, about others, most specifically her very best friend and next-door neighbor, Sophie Gershowitz, age eighty-eight. The impending visit of Sophie’s adult son (“Aaron the Accountant from Akron is an Annoyance”), along with upsetting overheard conversations between her parents about her friend’s medical condition, inspire the girl to do a little armchair-diagnosing via a borrowed Merck Manual. While covertly testing Sophie’s memory (“Ask the patient to recall three objects after a three-minute delay”), she learns even more about her friend’s past and eventually comes to terms with the inevitable regarding her living situation. The best solution is not hiding Sophie in the abandoned house across the street, one of many amusing, and poignant, details that prevent the story from turning maudlin by staying true to one idiosyncratic and well-drawn child’s voice and perspective — and through Lowry-esque observations on the equally well-rounded, well-meaning, and imperfect secondary cast of characters around her. ELISSA GERSHOWITZ

From the August 2024 issue of Notes from the Horn Book.