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Trail Challenge 2023-2024

Middle grade books featured on the 2023-2024 school year Trail Challenge. The Trail Challenge is a book bracket of 16 new middle grade books selected by students and Olathe School District Librarians. Olathe middle school students read these books and vote on head-to-head pairings until there is only one winner left in the bracket. Check out these books to get a head-start on your Trail Challenge reading list! WH 4/23

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16 items

  • During a massive blackout in rural Nevada, two brothers struggle to survive without their self-reliance-obsessed dad and without enough water cross the desert for help.
    Book, 2020New York : Starscape, 2020. — J FICTION Esplin J.L.
  • To protect his friends and family, Abel must figure out what is worth fighting for when he partners with a stolen dragon, an action that has him riding in kin battles and keeping more secrets than a dragon has scales.
    Book, 2021New York : Scholastic Press, 2021. — J FICTION London Alex 09/2021
  • Twelve-year-old Lulu, burdened with caring for her sister, Serena, since their father disappeared, must learn to trust her new friends and community when secrets and lies catch up with her.
    Book, 2021New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, [2021] — J FICTION Fox Janet 08/2021
  • To rescue her aunt from the ghost of a serial killer, twelve-year-old Evie Von Rathe embarks on a journey into a strange world filled with hungry witches, ghosts, and a story thief, all while trying to fulfill her deal with the Clackity.
    Book, 2022New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, [2022] — J FICTION Senf Lora 06/2022
  • A historical thriller chronicling one family's desperate bid to escape the deadly Chernobyl disaster.
    Book, 2021New York : Scholastic Inc., 2021 — J FICTION Marino Andy 12/2021
  • Marlene loves three things: books, her cool Tía Ruby and hanging out with her best friend Camila. But according to her mother, Paola, the only thing she needs to focus on is school and "growing up." That means straightening her hair every weekend so…
    Graphic Novel, 2022New York : First Second Books, 2022. — J GRAPHIC Ortega Claribel 10/2022
  • Oceans 11 goes to the arcade in this wildly entertaining heist adventure. We do this my way. No one gets hurt. And if I call it off, it's off. Got it? My name's Darius James--but everyone calls me DJ. At my old school, I was the go-to guy for all…
    Book, 2022New York : Scholastic Press, [2022] — J FICTION Howell Destiny 06/2022
  • Seventh graders Owen, Gemma, Ally, and Todd, who have nothing in common and barely know each other, must work together and follow the instructions of an anonymous blackmailer. None of them want to go along with the blackmailer's instructions, but…
    Book, 2021New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., [2021] — J FICTION BenedisG Daphne 12/2021
  • A girl named Petra Pena, who wanted nothing more than to be a storyteller, like her abuelita. But Petra's world is ending. Earth has been destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children - among them Petra and her family -…
    Book, 2021Montclair [Cailfornia] : Levine Querido, 2021. — J FICTION Higuera Donna
  • Eleven-year-old Ella Durand is the first Conjuror to attend the Arcanum Training Institute, a magic school in the clouds where Marvellers from around the world practice their cultural arts. Despite her excitement, Ella discovers that being the first…
    Book, 2022New York : Henry Holt and Company, 2022. — J FICTION Clayton Dhoniell 05/2022
  • When he is magically transported back to the seventh grade before he and his best friend had a falling out, science nerd Mason gets a chance to stop the chain of events that made his previous life implode.
    Book, 2022New York, NY : Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2022] — J FICTION Korman Gordon 01/2022
  • Abby, Emma, and Ollie are squabbling sisters on a punishment hike up a mountain with their camp counselor, Dana, when they suddenly find themselves completely on their own, and spot the smoke of a forest fire above them; in order to survive they…
    Book, 2022New York : Margaret K. McElderry Books, [2022] — J FICTION Lang Heidi 05/2022
  • In World War II England, orphaned siblings William, Edmund, and Anna are evacuated from London to live in the countryside, where they bounce from home to home in search of someone willing to adopt them permanently.
    Book, 2021New York : Margaret Ferguson Books/Holiday House, [2021] — J FICTION Albus Kate 01/2021
  • Thirteen-year-old Skandar Smith has always wanted to be a Unicorn rider, but when the mysterious Weaver steals the most powerful unicorn in the world, Skandar must face sky battles, ancient secrets, and bloodthirsty unicorns in order to save his…
    Book, 2022New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, [2022] — J FICTION Steadman A.F. 05/2022
  • Will Hunter thought his life couldn't get any worse - his parents just got divorced ; his best (and only) friend now is his dog, Fitz ; and his Mom moved them from New York city to a middle-of-nowhere town called East Emerson. But Will was wrong -…
    Book, 2022Toronto : Inkyard Press, published by arrangement with Harlequin Books, S.A.. 2022. — J FICTION Ogle Rex 01/2022
  • Fourteen-year-old Andrea Hernandez-Baldoquin hails from a family of spies working for the factory, an international organization dedicated to protecting people of color. Andrea has dreamed about getting her first solo mission, but she never imagined…
    Book, 2022Somerville, Massachusetts : Candlewick Press, 2022. — J FICTION DeLeon Ava 10/2022