YA & Middle-Grade Books on Bullying

All The Lovely Bad Ones is a 2008 middle-grade fiction book written by Mary Downing Hahn, a prolific children’s author who has authored several award-winning novels. The book’s title is taken from the poem “Little Orphant Annie” by James Whitcomb Riley, which the author inscribed to all children—including “all the lovely bad ones.” All The Lovely Bad Ones won an Oklahoma Sequoyah Award for Children and the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award.All The Lovely... Read All The Lovely Bad Ones Summary

American Born Chinese is a graphic novel published in 2006 by the American author and illustrator Gene Luen Yang, who also wrote the graphic novel Boxers (2013) and the graphic memoir Dragon Hopes (2020). Through three interweaving stories that span from the 16th century to the present, American Born Chinese explores issues of Chinese American identity, anti-Asian racism, and assimilation. American Born Chinese is the first graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book... Read American Born Chinese Summary

Eleven-year-old Pakistani-American Amina Khokar lives in Milwaukee with her mother, father, and brother, Mustafa. At school, a Korean girl named Soojin Kim is her best friend. Amina is distressed when Soojin befriends Emily, a girl who has historically joined in on racially-motivated taunts against Soojin and Amina. The situation is complicated when Amina, Emily, and Soojin—along with the class oddball, Bradley—are assigned to the same group for an Oregon Trail project in their social studies... Read Amina's Voice Summary

Margaret Peterson Haddix’s Among the Impostors is the second book in the Shadow Children series, following Among the Hidden. The titles published after Among the Impostors are Among the Betrayed, Among the Barons, Among the Brave, Among the Enemy, and Among the Free. Haddix is also the author of several other books for young adults and has won several awards for her work. They include the Reading Association Children’s Book Award, ALA Best Books for... Read Among the Impostors Summary

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz is a young adult fiction novel published in 2012. The novel won a Lambda Literary Award, a Pura Belpre Award, and a Stonewall Book Award. It was also named a Printz Honor Book and has achieved popularity on BookTok. Told from a first-person point of view, the book is a work of realistic fiction set in El Paso, Texas, in the late... Read Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Summary

A Wind in the Door, a science-fiction novel published in 1973, was written by renowned American author Madeleine L’Engle. L’Engle is the author of more than 60 books and winner of numerous awards, including the Margaret A. Edwards award for her lifelong contributions to teen readership. A Wind in the Door is the second novel of the Time Quintet and sequel to the acclaimed A Wrinkle in Time. While A Wind in the Door did... Read A Wind In The Door Summary

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Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life is a 2015 memoir by William Finnegan, a writer for The New Yorker and the author of several social journalism books such as A Complicated War: The Harrowing of Mozambique and Dateline Soweto: Travels with Black South African Reporters. In Barbarian Days, Finnegan reflects on his upbringing in California and Hawaii, as well as his coming of age in the late 1960s. He relays his experience of the surfing counterculture... Read Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life Summary

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver is a young adult novel about redemption, written in 2010. Following her death in a car accident, high school senior Sam Kingston wakes the next morning to find that she’s reliving the same day—February 12, or Cupid Day. She juggles the complexities of bullying, blossoming sexuality, self-confidence, and self-sacrifice after reliving the same day seven times. Through this experience, she reconnects with her family and friends, but mostly with... Read Before I Fall Summary

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Bystander (2011) is a teen/young adult novel by James Preller that explores middle school bullying and the factors that enable it. Griffin Connelly, a two-faced bully, uses his charisma and good looks to keep members of his school clique in line as he perpetrates acts of cruelty against weaker classmates. No one stands up to Griffin until Eric Hayes, a newcomer, disrupts the status quo—questioning Griffin’s bullying and the silent complicity of the other students.The... Read Bystander Summary

Mary Downing Hahn published her 29th book for young readers, Closed for the Season, in 2010. Closed for the Season is a young adult mystery novel that received the coveted Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award. Hahn, an American author, has received a great number of accolades for her work in young adult fiction, among which includes the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction and a series of state awards.Logan Forbes is the 13 year... Read Closed for the Season Summary

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Diary of a Wimpy Kid is the first graphic novel in the titular series by Jeff Kinney. Since its initial publication in 2007, Diary of a Wimpy Kid has become a New York Times bestseller and 16 sequels have followed in the series. Diary of a Wimpy Kid is written in a diary format and documents the misadventures of middle school student Greg Heffley, who longs for popularity and hatches dozens of schemes to achieve... Read Diary of a Wimpy Kid Summary

In Eleanor and Park, we introduced to the young teenager, Park, who is half-Korean and somewhat of an outcast at school. He would prefer to read comics or listen to music than make new friends, and he is bullied from time to time by his peers. One day, Park sees Eleanor Douglas get on his bus, and from that point forward, his life is changed forever.In many ways, Eleanor is a target for bullies. She... Read Eleanor and Park Summary

Ender’s Game (1985) is a best-selling dystopian science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card. The story follows a precocious boy’s fight against space aliens and his own government. The essence of the story first appeared in a small sci-fi journal in 1977 as a short story of the same name. Card expanded the premise into a series that includes 15 novels and 13 related short stories. In addition to winning a Nebula Award in 1985... Read Ender's Game Summary

Every Last Word, by Tamara Ireland Stone, is a young-adult novel published in 2015. Samantha McAllister, the book’s protagonist, is a junior in high school who suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). While Samantha appears like any average teenage girl, underneath the surface she is different from the majority of her peers: dark thoughts, incessant worries, and an obsession with the number three plagues nearly all of her waking moments. Through Samantha’s struggle to navigate... Read Every Last Word Summary

Originally published in 2014, Fake ID is a mystery/thriller novel written by Lamar Giles and intended for young adults. The narrator and main character is Nick Pearson, a 15-year-old who has just moved to Stepton, Virginia, becoming a Black student in a predominantly white setting. Nick and his family are in the Federal Witness Protection Program (WITSEC). Unintentionally, he finds himself involved in a love triangle and a mysterious murder.As a Black author, Giles is... Read Fake ID Summary

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Seventh grade loner Tom Bender’s life is changed by his friendship with Jessica, a severely disfigured burn survivor in Tony Abbott’s moving contemporary middle grade novel, Firegirl (2006). Shy and empathetic, Tom gradually overcomes his fear of Jessica and gets to know his new classmate, causing a rift between Tom and his friend, Jeff. While Jeff spreads malicious talk about Jessica, Tom sees past Jessica’s exterior to the person inside. Abbott sensitively explores themes of... Read Firegirl Summary