The BEST Middle Grade Authors for Middle Grade March!

Middle Grade books are some of my favorite to read, both as an adult and, of course, with my kids. One of my favorite things is reading a middle grade book that I love and turning around to share it with my kids—and having them love it!

Today I am sharing some of my favorite middle grade authors!

Jennifer A. Neilsen

Jennifer A. Neilsen is such a fun author for both kids and adults! We listened to her new release last year as a family on a roadtrip. My husband had to run into a store and was so invested, he had us pause the book so he woudn't miss anything. Despite it being a year since we listened, my kids still talk about that book (it was One Wrong Step).

She writes mostly middle grade historical fiction, covering topics from the world wars to Mount Everest to the Titanic. She also has a few different middle grade fantasy series. Her most famous might be A Night Divided. Her most recent release is Magnitude, a story set during the Great San Fransisco Earthquke of 1906. My favorite historical fiction by her is Resistance and my favorite fantasy is The False Prince (I haven't read everything by her yet).

Shannon Hale

Shannon Hale wrote some of my own favorite childhood books, though some of her newer books have been hit and miss for me. I still love many of her books (old and new) and love to share them with my kids. Some of her books are between middle grade and YA and she has also written some books geared toward adults (though all her content is clean).

She has a chapter book series, The Princess in Black, that is very cute and very much for kids. She has written a few graphic novel middle grade contemporary series (Best Friends and Dream On) that are great for both kids and adults. Dream On is the first book, but the sequel hasn't been released yet. I cried during both and as soon as I finished Dream On, I took it to my 9 year old because I knew she would love it.

Shannon Hale also has some graphic novel retellings, including Rapunzel's Revenge, Diana: Princess of the Amazons, and Amethyst. She's written a middle grade fairy tale series called Ever After High with quite a few books in the series, a super hero duology about Squirrel Girl, and some fantasy books (Princess Academy, Goose Girl, Book of a Thousand Days) that are great for older middle grade and adults—these were my favorite growing up!

She is probably most famous for Princess Academy or Goose Girl (I love both of them!). Her newest release, Dream Big, will be the sequal to a middle grade contemporary graphic novel, Dream On, and is coming out in September. My favorite book by her is Book of a Thousand Days, though I love her contemporary graphic novels as well. My kids have loved everything they've read by her.

Brandon Sanderson

Brandon Sanderson is mainly an adult author, but he has some great middle grade books that my kids and I have both loved. His main middle grade series is Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians. It has some mild violence, but is lighthearted and silly, my kids couldn't stop laughing when we listened to them. His other middle grade is a stand alone (with plans to write it into a series later on) called The Rithmatist. This one has some scarier parts, so it's better for older middle grade, but has a fun friendship, great mystery, and a wonderful character arc.

Brandon Sanderson also has his Skyward series, which is a science fantasy for young adults. I've seen other families who have listened to it together with their middle grade-aged kids and loved it (we haven't done that yet). He also has his superhero series, Steelheart, which is YA but an older middle grade could read.

James Ponti

James Ponti writes really fun adventure mystery books for middle grade kids. His most famous is probably City Spies, an ongoing series following a group of kids who work for the CIA and his most recent release is the newest book in the series. My favorites by him are his Framed! books, a series that follows a kid who works as a consultant for the FBI.

Gary D Schmidt

I've only read a few books by Gary D Schmidt so far, but the ones I've read make me want to read every book he's written. He writes contemporary middle grade books that deal with heavier topics in the best way possible, and his books have always made me cry.

He's probably most famous for his book The Wednesday Wars, following a teenage boy in the sixties. His most recent release is A Day at the Beach, a contemporary he cowrote with Ron Koertge (I haven't read it yet). My favorite by him has been Okay for Now.

Kate DiCamillo

Kate DiCamillo is a very famous middle grade author, for good reason. She writes contemporary books, sometimes with magical realism, and fantasy books. She's probably most famous for The Tale of Despereaux or Because of Winn Dixie. Her most recent release was Ferris, a contemporary following a girl whose grandmother is sick and seeing a ghost. My favorite book by her is Because of Winn Dixie, though my kids also love her Mercy Watson chapter books.

LM Montgomery

LM Montgomery has such lovely books, both middle grade and adult. She is probably most famous for Anne of Green Gables (one of my favorite middle grade books of all time!) but also has Emily of New Moon (some peope like Emily more than Anne; I am not one of those people, but I do love Emily still). She's written so many others that I haven't read yet (but plan to!) including a more episodic story called The Story Girl, Jane of Lantern Hill, Magic for Marigold, Pat of Silver Bush, and many short stories.

Wendelin Van Draanen

Wendelin Van Draanen has written many middle grade books, spanning contemporary, historical fiction, and mystery. I always fly through her books and then wish I hadn't gotten through them so fast so I could keep reading.

Her contemporary books include ones like Flipped, a middle grade about crushes and growing up, and The Running Dream, following a girl on the track team who has to get a prosthetic leg. In historical fiction, she has The Peach Rebellion, following a friend group of three girls post-WWII, and How I Survived Being a Girl, about a girl who wishes she could do the "tomboy" activities her brothers get to rather than being ladylike. Her mysteries include the Sammy Keyes series, about a girl named Sammy who grows up a lot while always getting herself mixed up in some sort of mystery; Mr. Whiskers and the Shennanigan sisters, where the main character is a stray dog who helps his human friends when their father is dad-napped; and The Steps, a middle grade thriller with family politics.

She's probably most famous for Flipped. Her newest release is The Steps, coming out at the end of 2025. It's really hard to pick a favorite by her, because I love so many of her books, but I would either pick Sammy Keyes or The Peach Rebellion.

Karina Van Glaser

Karina Van Glaser writes contemporary books with amazing characters. She often incorporates music into her books and portrays family in a way that I love. She is probably most famous for her Vanderbeekers of 131st Street series, the first book of which follows a large family who are told they need to move right at Christmas and the kids hatch a plan to keep that from happening. Her most recent release is The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli, a historical fiction set in 731 China and 1931 Chinatown. My favorite book by her so far has been A Duet for Home, following two children living in a homeless shelter.

Lisa Fipps

Lisa Fipps has two books released so far, and they are amazing reads. Both are written in verse and both have all the feels. Her debut novel Starfish follows a girl who has been bullied about her weight all her life and has to figure out how to stop the bullying and accept herself. Her most recent release And Then, Boom! follows a boy in poverty whose mother can't be depended on for anything and he often has to figure things out himself--even in the middle of an actual tornado. I cried and cried during the book and loved the ending. Both of Lisa Fipp's books cover serious topics that are important for kids to learn about, in a way that is appropriate for kids and could help them to understand people in circumstances different from their own.

Katherine Arden

Katherine Arden's series Small Spaces is a great one if you have a child wanting to read horror. This middle grade series has four books in it. It follows a girl and her new friends who discover "the smiling man" on a field trip, and the only advice they have to get away from him is to "avoid large spaces, keep to the small." The first book can be read as a standalone, but of course, the smiling man comes back in the sequels to haunt their lives. I am not a big horror fan (I'm wimpy when it comes to that kind of stuff), but middle grade horror is something I can usually handle okay and I ended up really enjoying the series.

Gail Carson Levine

Gail Carson Levine has written so many different books over the years, many fantasy and a few historical fiction. My kids love her fantasy short story collection, The Princess Tales. She also has many fantasy novels, including The Two Princesses of Bamaare, Ever, and A Tale of Two Castles, all of which she's turned into series. Her historical fiction are stand alones and include Dave at Night, A Ceiling Made of Eggshells, and Sparrows in the Wind. She has another historical fiction scheduled for release this year called The Unusuals. She's probably most famous for Ella Enchanted, which is also my favorite book by her (and has been since I was 8!).

Brandon Mull

Brandon Mull is a middle grade fantasy author. He has a lot of series out, including The Candy Shop War, Fablehaven, Beyonders, and Five Kingdoms. He's probably most famous for Fablehaven, where two kids visit their grandparents only to learn that their grandparents are caretakers on a secret preserve for magical creatures. He recently announced they are making a Fablehaven movie. My favorite book by Brandon Mull is The Candy Shop War.

Christina Soontornvat

Christina Soontornvat's writing is beautiful. She has some middle grade fantasy, including A Wish in the Dark, which is a retelling of Les Miserables, and The Last Mapmaker, which had a historical fiction feel to it. She's probably most famous for her nonfiction book All Thirteen, in which she tells the incredible rescue of a soccer team who get stranded in a cave flooding with water. Her most recent release was a soccer memior graphic novel duology called The Tryout. My favorite by her so far has been A Wish in the Dark.

Ben Hatke

Ben Hatke writes middle grade fantasy graphic novels. My kids and I both love his Zita the Spacegirl series and his Mighty Jack series (which crossover on the final books, which is fun). His most recent release is one I haven't read yet, Things in the Basement. My kids love graphic novels, so I really appreciate when I can find quality ones like what Ben Hatke writes.

Those are my favorite middle grade authors! I love reading middle grade and I love finding new authors so I can read their backlist. What are some of your favorite middle grade books or authors?