Starboard

After dedicated soccer player Will is sidelined from the season—and his friend group—due to complications from his newly diagnosed Crohn’s disease, he finds himself figuring out who he really is on the inside in this heartfelt and thoughtful middle grade novel that's perfect for readers who love books by Maulik Pancholy and Christine Day. 

Will loves playing center midfield on his middle school soccer team. This year, though, Will hasn't felt like himself; his stomach has been bothering him, and he has no energy at all. When his new doctor diagnoses him with Crohn's disease, Will hopes that means he’ll start feeling better soon and he can get back to playing with his team before the season ends.
 

But Will's new medicines come with all kinds of side effects, Forced to sit out afternoon practice, Will finds himself hanging out with a kid at school, Griffin. This could be a real problem, seeing as Griffin just asked Will’s best friend to the spring dance. As in, guy friend. What would Will’s teammates say if they knew the whole story? Not to mention Will’s friends at church.
 

With all these changes happening faster than he can process them, Will knows that he has a lot to figure out about who he really is on the inside. 
 

Andrew Eliopulos's novel is a memorable, affecting story that will have wide appeal.

Will on the Inside

Groundhog Day meets Eighth Grade in this time-loop story set on the first day of school, from the critically acclaimed author of Candidly Cline.
 
Vivian Lantz is cursed. Every year, terrible things happen on her first day of school. This year, Vivian has a plan to conquer eighth grade. But eighth grade? Turns out to start with her worst first day yet.
 
Vivian can’t wait to put it all behind her. But instead of waking up to a brand-new day, Vivian somehow gets stuck reliving her catastrophic one. Curse: 9,000 – Vivian: 0. Then she sees her misfortune for what it is: the golden opportunity to get her perfect plan back on track. But when her second chance turns into a third, a fourth, and a fifth, Vivian might have to let go of the perfect day of her dreams… and make a few surprising choices along the way.
 
This delightfully awkward saga of first crushes, mean-girl drama, and unexpected magic is sure to please fans of Mark Oshiro, Lisa Jenn Bigelow, and Julie Murphy—and any reader who’s ever been nervous about their first day of school.

Vivian Lantz’s Second Chances

This stunning debut and wholly original queer middle grade novel-in-verse retelling of “Orpheus and Eurydice” adds a new chorus to the songs of great love, perfect for fans of Other Words for Home and Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World.
 
Love at first sight isn’t a myth. For seventh graders Olivia and Eden, it’s fate. Olivia is a capital-P Poet, and Eden thinks she wants to be a musician one day, but for now she’s just the new girl. And then Eden shows up to Poetry Club and everything changes.
 
Eden isn’t out, and she has rules for dating Olivia: don’t call. Don’t tell her friends. And don’t let anyone know they’re together.
 
But when jealousy creeps in, it’s Olivia’s words that push Eden away. While Eden sets out to find herself, Olivia begins a journey to bring Eden back—using poetry. Both Olivia and Eden will learn just how powerful their words can be to bring them together . . . or tear them apart forever.

The Song of Us

A unique masterpiece about loss, love, and the world’s best bad dog, from award winner Leslie Connor, author of the National Book Award finalist The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle, now available in paperback.
 
This novel sings about loss and love and finding joy in new friendships and a loving family, along with the world’s best bad dog. An uplifting middle grade novel about recovery featuring strong female characters, an adorable dog, and the girl who comes to love him.
 

It’s a life-altering New Year for thirteen-year-old Lydia when she uproots to a Connecticut farm to live with her aunt following her mother’s death.
 

Aunt Brat and her jovial wife, Eileen, and their ancient live-in landlord, Elloroy, are welcoming—and a little quirky. Lydia’s struggle for a sense of belonging in her new family is highlighted when the women adopt a big yellow dog just days after the girl’s arrival.
 

Wasn’t one rescue enough?
 

Lydia is not a dog person—and this one is trouble! He is mistrustful and slinky. He pees in the house, escapes into the woods, and barks at things unseen. His new owners begin to guess about his unknown past.
 

Meanwhile, Lydia doesn’t want to be difficult—and she does not mean to keep secrets—but there are things she’s not telling...
 

Like why the box of “paper stuff” she keeps under her bed is so important...
 

And why that hole in the wall behind a poster in her room is getting bigger...
 

And why something she took from the big yellow dog just might be the key to unraveling his mysterious past—but at what cost?
 

* Junior Library Guild Selection *

A Home for Goddesses and Dogs

From award-winning author Gary D. Schmidt, a warm and witty novel in the tradition of The Wednesday Wars, in which a seventh grader has to figure out how to fulfill an assignment to perform the Twelve Labors of Hercules in real life&#8212;and makes discoveries about friendship, community, and himself along the way.Herc Beal knows who he's named after&#8212;a mythical hero&#8212;but he's no superhero. He's the smallest kid in his class. So when his homeroom teacher at his new middle school gives him the assignment of duplicating the mythical Hercules's amazing feats in real life, he's skeptical. After all, there are no Nemean Lions on Cape Cod&#8212;and not a single Hydra in sight.Missing his parents terribly and wishing his older brother wasn't working all the time, Herc figures out how to take his first steps along the road that the great Hercules himself once walked. Soon, new friends, human and animal, are helping him. And though his mythical role model performed his twelve labors by himself, Herc begins to see that he may not have to go it alone.

Starboard

Nicola Skinner

Starboard

Nicola Skinner