Categories

For Grades 3-5

A collection of longer-format novels for readers ready to move beyond chapter books. These stories emphasize fun while beginning to explore deeper themes. With engaging plots and relatable characters, this category helps keep readers excited as they take the next step into longer, more immersive stories.

For Grades 5-7

This collection features fiction titles selected for upper elementary and early middle school readers who are ready for stories with greater emotional depth and nuance. Selections highlight character-driven stories across contemporary, realistic, and approachable genre fiction, offering accessible narratives that reflect a wide range of experiences through thoughtful, engaging storytelling. Some selections may explore identity, relationships, and real-world challenges, including LGBTQIA+ themes, moderate language, social issues, and other sensitive topics.

For Grades 5-8

This collection features Spanish language and bilingual titles selected for middle school readers. Selections include original Spanish-language works and translated editions of widely read titles, offering engaging stories and real-world topics across a range of genres and formats. Selections are primarily fiction with occasional nonfiction, mostly biographies and memoirs.

For Grades 6-8

This collection features fiction titles selected for older middle school readers who are ready for deeper, more complex stories that mirror a shift toward independence and broader viewpoints. Selections include character-driven narratives that explore identity, relationships, and change with greater emotional and thematic nuance, offering space for reflection as readers begin to see themselves in a wider world beyond their immediate experience. Some selections may explore identity, relationships, and real-world challenges, including LGBTQIA+ themes, moderate language, social issues, and other sensitive topics.

For Grades 9 & Up

This collection features fiction titles set in urban environments, where the city itself plays a central role in the story. Selections reflect life in cities through realistic and genre-influenced narratives, exploring relationships, ambition, community, and everyday experiences shaped by dense, dynamic settings and diverse communities. Some selections may explore identity, relationships, and real-world challenges, including LGBTQIA+ themes, strong language, social issues, and sensitive topics such as sexual abuse and suicide.

For Grades 9 & Up

This collection features high-interest, low-reading-level titles appropriate for teens who need accessible text without sacrificing age-appropriate themes or engagement. Selections include both fiction and nonfiction, ranging from branded hi-lo titles to carefully chosen YA books written at a lower reading level. The collection emphasizes fast-moving stories, clear language, and strong hooks, meeting teens where they are as readers while still reflecting real-world experiences and issues. Some selections may explore identity, relationships, and real-world challenges, including LGBTQIA+ themes, strong language, social issues, and sensitive topics such as sexual abuse and suicide.

For Grades 9 & Up

This collection features general young adult fiction titles that capture a wide range of teen experiences and perspectives. Selections include contemporary, realistic, and coming-of-age stories centered on relationships, personal growth, and everyday teen life, alongside books that invite deeper reflection or incorporate light genre elements—offering room for both lightness and depth. Some selections may explore identity, relationships, and real-world challenges, including LGBTQIA+ themes, strong language, social issues, and sensitive topics such as sexual abuse and suicide.