Middle Grades Books about Belonging and Not Fitting In
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“Hey, Mrs. Gold! This book is about not fitting in, and the last book you read us was about fitting in too. Did you do that on purpose?”
“Of course she did that on purpose.”
Friends, I had not done that on purpose.
Yes, I had chosen books that I felt would benefit my middle school students as readers and as empathetic human beings. No, I had not intentionally chosen books specifically about belonging and fitting in.
But as I reflected on the books that I read aloud to my seventh graders throughout the year, I realized that ALL of my fiction read-alouds reflect this theme.
Full Cicada Moon, by Marilyn Hilton
I always start the school year with this historical fiction novel in verse. Set in Vermont in the 1960s, a seventh-grade girl who is both Black and Japanese begins life in a new town and a new school. The “traditional” New England families don’t know quite what to make of her, but she pushes against gender inequality and racial stereotypes until she finds joy and acceptance in her new community.
My students always get super invested in this book, even pounding on their desks and jumping out of their chairs.
It’s a crowd favorite for sure, but it’s so much more.
I never push my students to share their personal struggles, but when we read this novel, I always have to allow for extra time because I usually have multiple students who want to talk about times they have faced discrimination and what that felt like for them.
It’s the perfect book to open up our class theme (that I didn’t even realize was our theme but would choose all over again).
Ungifted, by Gordon Korman
OK, at first glance, this book is just silly.
A regular Joe with poor impulse control smacks a statue on the butt, causing a chain of events that mistakenly lands him in an academy for gifted students.
It’s hilariously unlikely in exactly the way you would expect a Gordon Korman book to be.
But as the book progresses, we see how the characters’ attitudes about each other shift and how they become more accepting of those with IQ’s vastly different from their own.
While Full Cicada Moon promotes racial and gender equality, Ungifted helps kids see that all IQ’s have a place at the table too.
Garvey’s Choice, by Nikki Grimes
We read this book in less than a week, but I will never skip it because it hits on an aspect of fitting in that many middle schoolers can relate to: body image.
Garvey’s dad wants him to be a muscular jock, but Garvey prefers reading and sci-fi and drowning his shame in his dinner.
Kids at school make fun of Garvey for his weight, and Garvey has to learn how to accept himself instead of relying on his classmates’ or dad’s approval.
When I was young, it seems like everyone wanted to be as skinny as possible, and even though body acceptance has come a long way since then, I like to do my part in promoting body positivity by reading this book aloud with my students. It’s a book that really sticks with me!
Out of My Mind, by Sharon M. Draper
Don’t let the page count scare you.
This realistic fiction novel is absolutely beautiful, and it destroys so many stigmas about people with physical disabilities.
Melody has cerebral palsy, and her school decides to start including her in “regular” classes with her able-bodied peers.
Her teachers and classmates underestimate her time and time again, but throughout the school year, Melody proves that she is a force to be reckoned with—and that people with disabilities are worthy of acceptance.
Even though Melody is in fifth grade, my seventh-grade students get super invested in her story, and I hope it truly impacts their outlook on people in their lives who are differently abled.
Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus, by Dusti Bowling
This book is just as long as Out of My Mind, but I read it to myself in a single afternoon because it was just. so. good.
The narration is witty.
The characters are fun.
I wish more books were like this one!
Aven moves into a western theme park in a new-to-her town. She’s nervous about fitting in at her new school because everyone at this school seems to have arms—and Aven doesn’t.
Thankfully, Aven becomes fast friends with a boy who has Tourettes and another who is embarrassed about his BMI. Together, they learn to embrace their differences and solve a puzzling mystery while they’re at it.
I put this book in my library for independent reading because we ran out of time to read it aloud, but my students who read it loved it almost as much as I did.
I can’t believe I didn’t read it sooner!
The Superteacher Project, by Gordon Korman
I know, I know. TWO Gordon Korman books? But what other books deal with a robot not fitting in because of its differences?
It’s true that our students are not robots and do not deal with this specific challenge.
BUT.
This book is incredibly powerful. Here’s why.
The students at Brightling Middle School have noticed that something is just a little “off” about their newest teacher.
He’s super smart and devoted to his “pupils,” as he calls them, but he knows too much. He reacts too quickly. He has zero sense of humor. He’s unnaturally strong. He weighs . . . five hundred pounds?
Eventually, the students figure out that their teacher is a robot created by the department of education as an experiment.
As soon as word gets out, the once beloved teacher is suddenly ostracized and rejected by the students and their families.
When the principal of the middle school asks this robot teacher if he knows why everyone is suddenly hostile toward him, he replies, “It’s because I’m—different. . . I accessed a database of books and movies. It’s a common theme among humans.”
Wow.
And that is why I read this book to my students.
Sure, they laugh and practically fall out of their chairs and beg me to read more because it’s so funny and engaging.
But this book really encapsulates the theme that is apparently my favorite: belonging, fitting in, and accepting others’ differences and your own.
Now that I know more concretely how much this theme means to me, I will be focusing more than ever on how the characters in these middle-grades books learn how to belong while standing out—something every middle schooler needs to hear over and over again.
