Journal-Style Middle School Book Recommendations from the Ottawa Public Library
/The Ottawa Public Library is back to share a list books perfect for middle schoolers. This month’s post is by Sarah Godding, CPPSA at the Alta Vista Branch of the Ottawa Public Library. The selection is inspired by the joys of journaling!
It’s November and after ongoing COVID-19 constraints in Ottawa, many of us are reaching a point of fatigue. SIGH. Yet, with these limits placed on our proximity to others comes an opportunity to increase our proximity to ourselves!
Getting to know oneself is a beautiful pursuit at any age. Keeping a diary, daily log or journal is a wonderful way to grow our understanding, appreciation and acceptance of ourselves. Encouraging the kids in our lives to let it all out onto a page can prove to be a great release. We cannot fix what we do not acknowledge no matter how big or small.
Here are middle school reads which incorporate the diary/journal style of writing and, in doing so, allow the reader to feel closer to the characters.
Just Jaime by Terry Libenson
https://ottawa.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1168825026
Just Jaime follows two childhood best friends as they begin to cross the threshold from child to teen. The conflict is delicate as Jamie feels her best friend Maya is pulling away - but why? The chapters alternate narration of the last day of grade 7, with Jamie’s chapters taking a more intimate, handwritten diary approach, and Maya’s chapters laid out in a classic comic book style. This book allows the reader to navigate, along with the two friends, the turbulent dance of growing in and out of friendship and the importance and challenge of expressing hurt feelings. Through Jaime’s handwritten entries we are provided a wonderfully honest snapshot of the middle grade drama.
The Year I Didn’t Eat by Samuel Pollen
https://ottawa.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1149054026
We meet 14-year-old Max just before a Christmas dinner feast with his family. Tensions are high for the young bird enthusiast with anorexia. Lately Max feels no one understands him, no one but Ana. Max has been keeping a journal, upon his therapist’s request, and addresses his entries to “Ana”- his eating disorder. Ana is not a kind influence, to say the least. The story alternates between narration and diary entries to Ana. It’s through these entries to Ana that the audience gains insight into tough emotions Max has no other way to express. Max’s battle with anorexia affects his relationships big time! When his brother moves out and his parents get quiet, a new classmate named Evie might just be the gust of fresh air needed to help Max turn his ship around.
Can You See Me? by Libby Scott and Rebecca Westcott
https://ottawa.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1205782026
The next middle school diary style read stars Tally as she begins the sixth grade at a new school. She is really hoping to find her place, to be accepted, and to belong. Unfortunately, she believes that the only way she can make this happen is to hide parts of herself - like the fact that she has autism. We follow Tally through a combination of present-tense, third person writing and short diary entries. It’s through the diary entries, that the audience gains an honest understanding of Tally’s experience as a person with autism. In her entries she explains her exceptionality frankly and even provides the reader with definitions and eye-opening descriptions. This book was coauthored by a young girl with autism and the audience is better for it.
The Length of a String by Elissa Brent Weissman
https://ottawa.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1215230026
Imani is another middle schooler whose feelings of being separate and other are weighing her down. She is the only person of colour in her white Baltimore neighbourhood and she’s adopted. Then her great-grandmother dies, and leaves Imani the diary she kept as a 12-year-old fleeing the Nazis in Luxembourg. It’s through reading her journal entries and her own curiosity fuelled research that Imani gets to know her Grandma Anna. Though they may not be connected by blood, they share something some special similarities. A beautiful story of the power of connection!
Isaiah Dunn is my Hero by Kelly J. Baptist
https://ottawa.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1225423026
Our next character with a pension for reflection is the young Isaiah Dunn. He is 10 years old and loves writing poetry. Unfortunately, after his father passes the words stop flowing. The lose leaves Isaiah and his family feeling lost and uprooted. As many humans do when experiencing big feelings, he starts acting out and lands himself in an after-school meditation class with the class bully. Things get worse before they get better as Isaiah's mom’s depression takes a nosedive. The story lifts as the young boy finds journals full of stories about "Isaiah Dunn, superhero" that his dad left. The words on the page are so much more than that for young Isaiah and this connection to his father takes the story to the next level.
The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani
https://ottawa.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1085600026
Finally, we meet Nisha, a quiet, sensitive half Hindu, half Muslim girl trying to find her place in the world. Finding her place and her voice is complicated by her geography and the time. Nisha is part of the forced migration of the Hindu people from Pakistan to India due to the countries separation in 1947. 12-year-old Nisha turns to her diary every night to help her process her feelings of loss and alienation. In her diary she writes to her mother who passed away when she was a baby. Nisha builds a relationship with the mother she never knew through these entries and uses her words as a tool to bring her complicated thoughts and feelings into focus. It’s a beautiful tale of the challenging experience of forced migration from Pakistan to India, of being caught between two worlds and belief systems and of accepting these hurdles with grace.
