Best Fiction for Older Readers of 2025Like this list

25 items

• All the Blues in the Sky

  Watson, Renée,

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  Birthdays are supposed to be filled with fun, laughter, and time spent with your best friends. But Sage’s 13th birthday is now remembered as the day she loses her best friend, Angel, in a tragic hit-and-run. Now she’s struggling through anger,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Almost Sunset

  Algarmi, Wahab,

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  Sunset happens every day--but when you’re fasting for Ramadan and you’re not eating until sundown, it can feel like it takes forever to arrive. In this graphic novel, when seventh-grader Hassan begins fasting with his family, it’s tough, not just…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Band Nerd

  Willis, Sarah Clawson,

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  A new start at Windley School of the Arts has 7th grader Lucy Carver pulling out all the stops. She is determined to make fast friends, challenge first chair and fix her dad's drinking. With all that pressure, it's no wonder that Lucy soon finds…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Bea Mullins Takes a Shot

  Deibert, Emily,

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  12-year-old Bea Mullins would much rather play videogames than sports, so she's happy when the school gym floods and becomes unusable. But then the school makes students join after school sports teams. Bea chooses the school's first all-girl's…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Blood in the Water

  Jackson, Tiffany D.,

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  12-year-old Kaylani's plans to spend her summer in Brooklyn proving her incarcerated father’s innocence are upended when she is invited to stay with the Watsons in their Martha’s Vineyard home. Homesick and struggling to fit in with the Watsons’…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Candace, the Universe, and Everything

  Smith, Sherri L.,

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  Candace's 8th grade year is off to a rocky start. Her best friends went on a camping trip together without her making Candace feel as though she's being excluded from the trio. When a bird flies out of her new locker and she finds a notebook on the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Defanged

  Edgmon, H. E.

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  Fledgling vampire Lux Priddy doesn't know, or like, a lot about being a vampire, the alternative, being human, clearly sucks. On his twelfth birthnight, he escapes from the facility where he is supposed undergo the defanging treatment and runs…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Ink Witch

  Cherrywell, Steph,

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  Becca, 12, doesn’t know why her mother is so fearful and boring until she meets her aunt Malatrice for the first time. Everything changes when she learns her mother is from a family of witches who cast spells with ink. Becca is tasked with restoring…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• It's All or Nothing, Vale

  Arango, Andrea Beatriz,

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  Fiercely competitive Vale was the top fencer at her gym with dreams of going pro until a serious leg injury side-lined her for months. Now she is cleared to fence again, but her leg is not cooporating. Vale must now contend with chronic pain and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Kaya Morgan's Crowning Achievement

  Tew, Jill,

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  12-year-old Kaya Morgan’s dreams of being crowned the first Black queen of the Renaissance Fair’s summer camp, but the camp’s organizers have other plans for her. Will Kaya ever get the role of Queen? Will she be able to make friends? Will the fair…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Lu and Ren's Guide to Geozoology

  Hsieh, Angela,

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  Lirrin is home to amazing creatures: enormous jellyfish clouds that drift through the sky, migrating mountain-sized guinea pigs, and a sunfish eclipse that occurs once every 12 years. Lu longs to become a geozoologist and study these creatures just…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Max in the Land of Lies

  a Tale of World War II

  Gidwitz, Adam,

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  When the Nazi party rises to power, Max Bretzfeld's home country becomes enemy territory for the German and Jewish 12-year-old. After being sent to England for his own safety in, Max and the Land of Lies, this sequel finds radio-whiz Max parachuting…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Midwatch Institute for Wayward Girls

  Rossell, Judith

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  After Maggie gets kicked out of her orphanage for being too much trouble, she’s resigned to live a dreary existence at the Midwatch Institute. But it’s nothing like she thought: the girls at Midwatch are trained to track down mysteries and combat…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Mixed-up

  Garcia, Kami,

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  In this engaging graphic novel, Stella is surprised by how much reading is required when she begins fifth grade, and how difficult it can be for her to get through all of the reading. It’s only when Stella’s teacher suggests that her brain may work…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli

  Glaser, Karina Yan,

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  Han Yu, 11 lives in China in 731. He is known as Tiger Boy, but he has never seen the striped beast that others say follows him. He travels with his father to the city market each morning to sell the steamed buns they make together. A sickness is…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Rainbow Fair

  Ma, Diana,

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  Seventh grader Sophie has always run the Chinese heritage booth with her best friend Katie at their school's Rainbow Fair, an annual cultural heritage showcase. But this year, Katie came out as bisexual and successfully petitioned the school to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Scarlet Morning

  Stevenson, ND,

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  Wilmur and Viola have lived most of their lives in a boring, dreary, salt-filled world waiting for their parents to return and take them away. That is until pirate Captain Cadence Chase brings them along for adventures that are anything but boring.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Smoke & Mirrors

  Ransaw, Rosalyn,

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  Twelve-year-old Andy is sent to stay with his Aunt Nonie in a small town where he’s the only Black kid, all while his dad is in prison. When a barn burns down, Andy is falsely blamed and ordered to help restore the home of a famous magician named…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Strongest Heart

  Faruqi, Saadia,

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  When you view your father who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia as an unpredictable monster, and your mother is continually running off to far away parts of the world to save other children, you might be prone to lashing out a bit, eh? After Mo…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Trouble With Heroes

  Messner, Kate,

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  When Finn angrily kicks a tombstone, he doesn't expect it to fall and break, much less cost $2,600 to repair. Luckily or unluckily, the $2,600 tombstone belongs s to Edna, a famous hiker who everyone knew for climbing all 46 Adirondack high peaks…Read moreRead more of this annotation