6 Middle Grade Novels Featuring (Extra)Ordinary Kids with Chronic Illness

Wonder, by R.J. Palacio Y
ou cannot possibly compile this without including Auggie Pullman. In addition to being born with severe facial deformities, Auggie has battled one medical mystery after another, resulting in 27 surgeries and a lifetime of stares and special attention. His mother has always homeschooled him, but this year Auggie will start fifth grade at Beecher Prep. He’s ready to be a normal kid, with normal friends, and normal classes. But being Auggie Pullman has never been easy, and this year is no different. Told in alternating viewpoints that include Auggie, his family, and his classmates, this is a story that’s raw, honest, and hopeful. If you haven’t yet met Auggie, pick this one up before the movie comes out this fall.

Braced, by Alyson Gerber
Rachel Brooks can’t wait for her seventh grade year. Everything is lined up for this to be her best year yet. She’s a forward on the soccer team, has her best friends Hazel and Frannie, and word on the street is that her crush, Tate, is getting ready to ask her out. She just has one more appointment with her scoliosis doctor to get out of the way, and then it’s smooth sailing. That is, until her doctor informs her that her scoliosis has worsened and she’s going to need to wear a brace—23 hours a day. She’s no longer able to kick the soccer ball the same way. Her classmates whisper, stare, and not-so-subtly make remarks. Even her friends and crush are treating her differently. When indoor soccer tryouts are announced, Rachel decides she has one chance to redeem this awful year and prove to her classmates (and herself) that she’s still the same Rachel Brooks.

The Baking Life of Amelie Day, by Vanessa Curtis
Thirteen-year-old Amelie Day has a passion for baking. She bakes whenever she’s not in school, regularly hands out treats to her friends, and is constantly creating her own unique recipes. So she’s ecstatic when she earns a place in  Best Teen Baker of the Year competition. Oh, and there’s one more thing the reader learns about Amelie; she has cystic fibrosis. No way, her mother says, is she traveling to New York City for the competition. Absolutely not. Out of the question. But nothing is going to keep Amelie from the competition. Not her overprotective mother, not her need for a lung transplant, and not her declining health. Told through Amelie’s point of view, this book offers insight into the realities of living with cystic fibrosis, as well as the consequences that come along with being a feisty, determined, teenager.

Not As We Know It, by Tom Avery
Another book featuring a character living with cystic fibrosis, this one also adds a touch of magic. Eleven-year-old twins Jamie and Ned are best friends who do everything together, at least as much as Ned’s illness will allow. When the twins find a strange half-human, half-fish creature washed up on the shores of the beach, they each respond in their own typical fashion. Curious Ned insists they hide it in their garage and that it will bring them good luck. Cautious Jamie worries the creature may be a sign of something more dark. But as time goes on and the relationship between Ned and the creature they named Leonard deepens, Jamie begins to hope that maybe Leonard will bring the miracle that will save his brother’s life. Grab the tissues for this book. You’re gonna need them.

NERDS series, by Michael Buckley
Formerly a jock and the most popular kid in fifth grade, Jackson Jones finds life flipped upside down after an orthodontist visit results in a new fashion accessory: headgear. Shunned by his friends, and finding himself the object of all the pranks he used to play on others, Jackson takes to spying on everyone else in school. When during one of these spying missions he falls through a hole in the floor of the locker while hiding from the principal, Jackson discovers the secret underground lair of the N.E.R.D.S. (National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society). This group of five kids save the world on a weekly basis—but in everyday life they’re the misfits. Allergies, asthma, a propensity for eating glue, oversized teeth, and hyperactivity are all weaknesses in the world above, but down below, these weaknesses become strengths. And now Jackson has become one of them. This five-book series is comedy/action at its finest.

Out of My Mind, by Sharon Draper
Melody is smart. Really smart. She has a photographic memory and recalls experiences in vivid detail. But very few people know it. Her cerebral palsy binds her to her wheelchair and leaves her unable to talk. But she can think. Oh boy, can she think. Now Melody is determined to let the world know who she really is….somehow. Out of my Mind explores Melody’s duality; the Melody as the world perceives her, and the Melody trapped inside a body she cannot control. Based on the author’s own experiences raising a daughter with cerebral palsy, Draper lends voice to Melody’s inner thoughts and experiences, ranging from frustration and anger to joy and humor.