Princess Academy
by Shannon Hale
Middle grade · ages 8–12 · grades 3–7 · 770L · 336 pages · 2015
Why we'd hand it over
A genuinely moving coming-of-age novel disguised as a fish-out-of-water story—Hale uses the academy setting to explore class, belonging, and the courage it takes to be yourself, and the prose is lovely without being flowery.