Kira-Kira
by Cynthia Kadohata
Middle grade · ages 9–12 · grades 4–7 · 760L
A Newbery Medal winner that earns it—luminous, unsentimental, and genuinely about how love and small moments sustain a family facing real hardship and loss.
For a reader who just finished
Books like A Little Spoonful of Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul (Chicken Soup for the Soul)
after A Little Spoonful of Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul (Chicken Soup for the Soul) by Mark Victor Hansen · ages 13–18
Nonfiction · grades 8–12 · 800L
A straightforward anthology of peer testimonies that works best as a conversation starter for teens navigating identity, friendship, and belonging—effective if your teen resonates with personal narrative, less so if they find the format earnest-to-cheesy.
Same style
Peace Like a River
by Leif Enger
Middle grade · ages 10–14 · grades 5–9 · 780L
A luminous, underrated novel where a fragile boy's interior life and his family's faith become the whole story—haunting prose, genuine peril, and a refusal to sentimentalize either miracles or grief.
To Be a Slave
by Julius Lester
Nonfiction · age 10+ · grade 5+ · 780L
A harrowing, unflinching introduction to slavery through the voices of the enslaved themselves—essential reading for understanding American history, but only with a mature child and ideally a parent nearby to process.
Complementing on empathy
The Underneath
by Kathi Appelt
Middle grade · ages 8–12 · grades 3–7 · 720L
A quiet masterpiece about unlikely friendship and loyalty set in the Louisiana bayou—lyrical prose, real stakes, and two protagonists whose relationship genuinely transforms both of them.
Wolf in the Snow
by Matthew Cordell
Picture book · ages 4–8 · grades K–3
Nearly wordless, entirely propelled by Cordell's spare, evocative illustrations—a quiet masterpiece about recognizing pain in the other and acting on compassion even when afraid.
Endangered
by Eliot Schrefer
Middle grade · ages 10–14 · grades 5–9 · 780L
A rare middle-grade novel that earns its dual perspective and environmental stakes — Okapi's voice is genuinely unsettling, and Sophie's moral reckoning with her complicity feels urgent rather than preachy.