Listen Up: Five New Middle Grade Audio Books for Your Winter Road Trip

Blended, by Sharon M. Draper
As the mother of a biracial daughter who faced the challenge of finding books with protagonists who looked like my daughter when she was in middle school. I was so excited to hear about this audio book! Eleven-year-old Isabella is an amazing pianist who’s struggling to define herself after her parents’ divorce. She goes back and forth between her white mother and black father’s homes, where her parents live with new partners. Isabella’s mom lives in a small, modest home while her dad has a fancy house, which adds to her struggle to define her identity. Even worse, her mom and dad won’t stop arguing! This is a story about family, identity, standing up for yourself, and feeling pulled between two worlds.

Louisiana’s Way Home, by Kate DiCamillo
You might remember Louisiana Elefante from DiCamillo’s Raymie Nightingale: Raymie’s orphaned friend who’s incredibly insightful, resilient, and optimistic. Set in the mid-1970s in Florida, 12-year-old Louisiana is woken up at 3 a.m. by her grandmother, who tells her they have to leave home right away. The duo sets off on a journey that lands them in a small town in Georgia in this story about longing and connection, secrets and the strength to survive.

Astrid the Unstoppable, by Maria Parr
Astrid Glimmerdal, a nine-year-old living in a small Norwegian town, loves to sing when she’s skiing around town, where her best friend is her seventy-four-year-old godfather, Gunnvald. When Astrid finds out that Gunnvald has a secret: a daughter she never heard about, everything changes. But Astrid finds the resilience to face the past, and ask some tough questions.

HerStory: 50 Women and Girls Who Shook Up the World, by Katherine Halligan, Sarah Walsh (Illustrator)
Herstory is a celebration what girls and women can do, including the incredible feats many have already accomplished, from astronauts to activists to musicians to mathematicians. The message here is positive and encouraging, as readers follows the stories of fifty amazing women from around the world who faced challenges they faced and succeeded.

I Am Malala, by Malala Yousafzai
In her memoir, Malala describes the day of October 9, 2012, when she was riding the bus home from school in Pakistan and someone in the Taliban shot her in the head at point-blank range. Malala was 15 years old and she refused to be silenced for wanting an education. People say her recovery was a miracle, and at age 16, she became youngest nominee ever for the Nobel Peace Prize. This is a story about the struggle for girls to get an education, as well as this inspirational girl and her father, who fought for his daughter to attend school.