25 Books To Get Your Tween Talking

If you’ve ever wanted to reach past the one-word answers in response to your questions to tweens, try books! Books are a great way to open up a discussion about interesting or difficult topics. With so many things changing in their own bodies and minds, tweens tend to not want to focus on how their changing. Rather, tweens might even be more inclined to talk when it’s not focused on their own lives. They might have questions about current events or opinions that you weren’t even aware they had. Here are 25 books to get your tween talking.

Where Do You Begin?

So, how do you get them to pick up a book in the first place, let alone talk to you about it? Honestly, reading aloud to kids shouldn’t stop when they start reading on their own. My own parents read aloud to us all the way through high school and while I expect this isn’t the norm, having parents that read does help the situation a little. It’s also about access, providing books that your tween will stumble across rather than you forcing them to read something. Maybe you’re talking about what’s on the news… and a book happens to show up on the coffee table. You can also start a book club with your tween and their friends – read books you know they’ll like and grab some snacks to host a book club. But the most important part? Try and read the book too – show interest in your tween’s interests, it’ll get you a lot farther.

With tweens finding interests in a variety of places, I wanted to give you a few suggestions that are fresh, new titles that aren’t those classic titles that feel so out of touch for today’s tweens. I’ve broken down my list of 25 books into five different areas in the hopes that you’ll find something you and your tween will both like!

Humor

All books don’t have to have a lesson or be “heavy” books filled with discussion points. Maybe your tween isn’t ready for something that serious. Start here, these books are sure to get your tween laughing out loud, they’re a little kooky, and will show your tween just how fun reading can be. I selected two anthologies because kids will be introduced to a number of authors and may find a favorite among them.

• Fake Mustache by Tom Angleberger
• Funny Girl: Funniest. Stories. EVER. edited by Betsy Bird
• Guys Read: Funny Business edited by Jon Scieszka
• The Mortification of Fovea Munson by Mary Winn Heider
• The Terrible Two by Jory Jon

Novels In Verse

What I love about novels in verse is that they’re easy to read. With fewer words on the page, each word counts, but it’s not too intimidating. Authors who write in verse have learned how powerful words can be and your tween will enjoy learning the rhythm and flow of each author’s work. I love books that can be “mirrors and windows.” Mirrors to share your own experience and windows to learn how it might be to live in someone else’s shoes. Middle grade novels are creating opportunities for kids to learn empathy and kindness for people who are different than themselves.

• All of Me by Chris Baron
• Crossover by Kwame Alexander
• Emmy in the Key of Code by Aimee Lucido
• Forget Me Not by Ellie Terry
• Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga

Social Justice

Tweens are not clueless about what’s going on in the world around them. They’ve heard/read the news, they see the injustice at their school in the form of bullying and they have opinions. Check out these titles to talk about the world beyond your front door and learn your tween’s perspective. It’ll probably be more insightful than you realize and you might be able to help clear up some confusion on their part.

• Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed
• Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes
• Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee
• Me and Marvin Gardens by Amy Sarig King
• Refugee by Alan Gratz

Multiple Points-of-View

Books that have multiple points-of-view are great for kids looking for more. Maybe they want to better understand more of the characters or the storyline and that’s what these types of books do. They can also help reading comprehension, often reviewing the same event from different perspectives. While some kids might find multiple points-of-view difficult to follow, your tween is more likely to connect with at least one of the characters when you learn more about them.

• Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan
• Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson
• The Inquisitor’s Tale: Or the Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz
• Ms. Bixby’s Last Day by John David Anderson
• Strange Birds: A Field Guide to Ruffling Feathers by Celia C. Pérez

Nonfiction

Not every kid is a fiction reader. My brother loved sports growing up and had statistics about all his favorite players memorized, but he didn’t read a ton of fiction. Now he reads non-stop. My mom fed him a diet rich in the sports page of the newspaper, Sports Illustrated for Kids, and he regularly listened to her read aloud – all of which made him a reader. Nonfiction titles today are accessible, narrative stories with interesting facts and information that kids can’t help but share. Many of these titles are young reader’s editions of adult nonfiction. What’s great is they keep all the really interesting parts of the story and get rid of more of the minute detail, leaving the facts for kids to absorb.

• Disaster Strikes!: The Most Dangerous Space Missions of All Time by Jeffrey Kluger
• I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World (Young Readers Edition) by Malala Yousafzai and Patricia McCormick
• Never Caught, the Story of Ona Judge: George and Martha Washington’s Courageous Slave Who Dared to Run Away (Young Readers Edition) by Erica Armstrong Dunbar and Kathleen Van Cleve
• Spooked!: How a Radio Broadcast and the War of the Worlds Sparked the 1938 Invasion of America by Gail Jarrow
• Torpedoed: The True Story of the World War II Sinking of “The Children’s Ship” by Deborah Heiligman

Are you looking for even more great middle grade titles? Check out my 20 Most Anticipated Middle Grade Books of 2020 and 30 Modern, Middle Grade Classics.

What middle grade books to your tweens love?