Ages 8 to 12, Grades 3 to 7
In these hilarious stories by some of the top authors of middle grade fiction today, each young character is coping with a minor superpower—while also discovering their power to change themselves and their community, find their voice, and celebrate what makes them unique.
The kids in these humorous short stories each have a minor superpower they’re learning to live with. One can shape-shift—but only part of her body, and only on Mondays. Another can always tell whether an avocado is perfectly ripe. One can even hear the thoughts of the animals in the pet store! But what these stories are really about is their young protagonists “owning” a power that contributes to their individuality, that allows them to find their place in the world, that shows them a potential they might not have imagined.Because if you really think about it, we all have something special and unique about ourselves that makes us a little bit super. We all have the power to change as an individual, to change our communities for the better, to have a voice and to speak up. These playful, thought-provoking tales from some of today’s top middle grade authors prompt readers to consider what their own superpower might be, and how they can use it.Written by Pablo Cartaya, Nikki Grimes, Leah Henderson, Jarrett Krosoczka, Remy Lai, Kyle Lukoff, Meg Medina, Daniel Nayeri, Linda Sue Park, Mitali Perkins, Pam Muñoz Ryan, Gary D. Schmidt, Brian Young, and Ibi Zoboi; coedited by Leah Henderson and Gary D. Schmidt.
About the Author
Gary D. Schmidt is the bestselling author of The Labors of Hercules Beal; Just Like That; National Book Award finalist Okay for Now; Pay Attention, Carter Jones; Orbiting Jupiter; the Newbery Honor and Printz Honor Book Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy; and the Newbery Honor Book The Wednesday Wars. He lives in rural Michigan.Leah Henderson is the author of many critically acclaimed books for young readers, including The Courage of the Little Hummingbird and Together We March. When she is not scribbling down her characters’ adventures, she is off in search of her own, exploring new spaces and places around the world. Many of the hopes, struggles, and traditions she witnessed find a home in her work. Leah holds an MFA in writing and teaches in Spalding University’s graduate writing program. She currently calls Washington, DC, home. Visit her at leahhendersonbooks.com.Pablo Cartaya is an award-winning author, screenwriter, speaker, and occasional actor. He is the Pura Belpré Honor Book Award winner for The Epic Fail for Arturo Zamora; an Audie finalist for Audiobook of the Year in the middle grade category (for which he narrated); an ALSC notable book of the year for Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish; and the 2020 Schneider Family Book Award Honor winner for his middle grade novel Each Tiny Spark. His newest title, The Last Beekeeper, contemplates a future where bees are central to a rebuilding world. His novels focus on the themes of family, community, culture, and the environment. He lives in the hyphens between his Cuban and American identities and with his familia in Miami. Visit him at pablocartaya.com Nikki Grimes is a New York Times bestselling author and recipient of the Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, the ALAN Award for significant contributions to young adult literature, the Children’s Literature Legacy Medal, and the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. She is the author of Coretta Scott King Award winner Bronx Masquerade and the recipient of five Coretta Scott King Author Honors. Her recent books include Printz Honor and Sibert Honor Book Ordinary Hazards; Between the Lines, a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults title; the much-acclaimed Garvey’s Choice; ALA Notables Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance and Southwest Sunrise; Kamala Harris: Rooted in Justice; and Garvey in the Dark. Nikki lives in Corona, California. Jarrett J. Krosoczka, known since boyhood as “JJK,” is the New York Times bestselling author-illustrator behind more than forty books for young readers, including his wildly popular Lunch Lady graphic novels, select volumes of the Star Wars: Jedi Academy series, and Hey, Kiddo, which was a National Book Award finalist. In addition to his work in print, Krosoczka produced, directed, and performed in the award-winning, full-cast audiobook adaptations of his graphic novels. Krosoczka has delivered three TED Talks, which have accrued millions of views online. Krosoczka has garnered millions more views online via the comics tutorials he has produced for YouTube and TikTok. As well as working on his books’ film and television adaptations, Krosoczka has written for The Snoopy Show (Apple TV+) and served as a consultant for Creative Galaxy (Prime Video). Krosoczka lives in western Massachusetts.Remy Lai is a winner of the Sid Fleischman Humor Award and Golden Kite Honor. She was born in Indonesia, grew up in Singapore, and now lives in Brisbane, Australia. Remy writes illustrated prose and graphic novels, including Pawcasso, Pie in the Sky, and Fly on the Wall. She is also the author-illustrator of a young reader graphic novel adventure series, Surviving the Wild: Star the Elephant, Rainbow the Koala, and Sunny the Shark. Her most recent graphic novel, Ghost Book, is inspired by Chinese mythology. Kyle Lukoff is the author of the Stonewall Award–winning When Aidan Became a Brother, the middle grade novel Too Bright to See, and many other books for young readers. A former school librarian, he lives and writes in Brooklyn.Meg Medina is the current National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. She was born in Alexandria, Virginia, and grew up in Queens, New York. An author of Cuban descent, Meg writes stories that celebrate Latino culture, as in The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind, Mango, Abuela, and Me, Burn Baby Burn, and Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away. Her teen novel Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass won the Pura Belpré Award and was published as a graphic novel in 2023. Her middle grade novel Merci Suárez Changes Gears won the Newbery Medal—and led to two additional Merci Suárez novels: Merci Suárez Can’t Dance and Merci Suárez Plays It Cool. Her nonfiction titles include She Persisted: Sonia Sotomayor and She Persisted: Pura Belpré.Daniel Nayeri likes to read things backward even when it doesn't make sense to do so. He is the author of Everything Sad Is Untrue (A True Story), winner of the Printz Award, the Christopher Medal, and the Middle Eastern Book Award. He loves letter-unit palindromes, like "toot" and "God's dog," and word-unit palindromes, like, "Never say never," and "Fall leaves after leaves fall," and if he didn't say how much he likes and loves his wife and son, he wouldn't be Daniel Nayeri. Linda Sue Park, Newbery Medal winner for A Single Shard and #1 New York Times bestseller for A Long Walk to Water, is the renowned author of many books for young readers, including picture books, poetry, and historical and contemporary fiction. Born in Illinois, Ms. Park has also lived in California, England, and Ireland. She now lives in Western New York. Learn more at lindasuepark.com.Mitali Perkins was born in Kolkata, India, and before middle school in California she had lived in Ghana, Cameroon, London, New York City, and Mexico. As she says, in all those places, she navigated the culture of where she was living and the Bengali culture of her family. So, she writes, “When I began to write fiction, my protagonists were often—not surprisingly—strong characters crossing all kinds of borders, seeking community, and promoting justice.” These types of characters appear in her novels, including Rickshaw Girl, Bamboo People, Tiger Boy, You Bring the Distant Near, which was nominated for a National Book Award, Between Us and Abuela: A Family Story from the Border, Forward Me Back to You, Home Is in Between, and The Story of Us, as well as the picture book Bare Tree and Little Wind: A Story for Holy Week. Her most recent middle grade novel is Hope in the Valley.Author and filmmaker Brian Young is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. He grew up on the Navajo reservation in Arizona. Brian earned his BA in film studies at Yale University and his MFA in creative writing at Columbia University. Brian currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.
