Best Classic Middle Grade Outcasts Who Are, You Know, Actually Heroes

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, by Gary D. Schmidt
The Newbery Honor-winning Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy sheds light on a more complex Maine world than the idyllic one many children grew up with in (admittedly lovely) books like Blueberries for Sal. In Schmidt’s historical novel, Turner Buckminster is the new boy in a small coastal town where his father is the new minister. He is immediately an outcast, disliked by the children, mistrusted by adults, and reprimanded by his father. His life is lonely until he meets Lizzie Bright, granddaughter of the minister on the nearby island of Malaga, an impoverished community of slave descendants. Turner feels at home with her and her community in a way he doesn’t with his own family. When the town threatens to eliminate the community, Turner must learn to stand up for what is right and become his own person.

The Hundred Dresses, by Eleanor Estes
In The Hundred Dresses, Wanda wears the same faded blue dress to school every day—yet she says she has one hundred beautiful dresses at home, “all lined up.” The other girls don’t believe it, and when Peggy starts a daily game of teasing Wanda about the hundred dresses, everyone joins in. Maddie, Peggy’s best friend, goes along with the game, but she secretly wonders whether she can find the courage to speak up in Wanda’s defense. It’s not until Wanda fails to come to school one day that her classmates learn the truth about the hundred dresses. Eleanor Estes’s Newbery Honor Book offers readers of all ages a timeless message of compassion and understanding.

The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton
You may remember The Outsiders from your own youth. S.E. Hinton’s novel has been a popular book among teens and preteens since it came out in 1967. This story of peer pressure, rebellion, and identity centers on two rival groups of teens, the lower-class “outsider” Greasers and the more well-heeled, popular Socs (short for Socials). The Greaser Ponyboy is an outcast in a world where roles are supposed to be clearly defined along socio-economic lines. Based on the author’s own high school experience in Tulsa, The Outsiders beautifully captures what it’s like to be in the midst of teen angst, perhaps because she was only 16 at the time of writing.

Wonder, by R.J. Palacio
The protagonist in R.J. Palacio’s Wonder, August Pullman, has a severe congenital facial abnormality. After being homeschooled for elementary school and shielded from outsiders’ responses to his facial deformity, he enters school for the first time in fifth grade. He faces not only the typical middle school issues but also reactions—from name-calling to hateful comments—to his unusual appearance. Some students are accepting and kind, others are disgusted by him and others are just plain cruel. Pullman learns not only how insensitive people can be but also just how much good there is in the world, too, as he begins to make friends and people start to accept him for who he is.

Counting by 7s, by Holly Goldberg Sloan
In Counting by 7s, Holly Goldberg Sloan explores the issue of fitting in and family. Twelve-year-old Willow Chance is a self-described “person of color” who’s obsessed with gardening, rare skin conditions and other medical oddities, teaches herself Vietnamese, and counts by sevens to relax. Her white parents are the only people who really understand her—her teachers never do, and her only friend moved away. The school counselor takes an interest in her and two other misfit students. When Willow loses her parents in a tragic car accident, the kind single mother of the two other teens willingly helps her out in spite of her own struggles. And the bright outsider overcomes her loss and grief with the help of her new “family”—a Mexican taxi driver, a white school counselor, two Vietnamese-American teens and their Vietnamese mom.

Out of My Mind, by Sharon M. Draper
Sharon M. Draper’s Out of My Mind takes the reader inside the mind of Melody, an intelligent girl with cerebral palsy. The condition limits her ability to express herself in words and actions and to share with her family all that’s running through her mind. When Melody is placed out of her special classroom and into a classroom with normal children for part of the day, peers and teachers greet her with a range of reactions and falsely assume she can’t understand them. With the aid of a machine, she learns to communicate better and change some opinions but also learns that her differences will always set her apart.