Week 1: Your Story Starts Here
📚 A list for every kind of reader — curated by Leah T. Williams
One of the best things about this challenge is that you get to choose your own book. But sometimes too many choices is its own kind of problem.
If your child is still searching for the right book — or finished one and wants another — this list is for you. Pick the mood that fits and go from there. Ages are listed next to each title so you can find what's right for your reader.
📍 I want something exciting. Something that moves.
King and Kayla and the Case of the Lost Tooth — Dori Hillestad Butler. A girl and her clever dog solve a neighborhood mystery together. Short chapters, fast pace, impossible to put down. Ages 6+
Sarai and the Meaning of Awesome — Sarai Gonzalez and Monica Brown. A girl with a can-do attitude finds a creative way to save her grandparents' house. Ages 7+
Clean Getaway — Nic Stone. A grandmother, a grandson, a Winnebago, and a road trip through the South that turns into a history lesson neither of them expected. Ages 10+
Neither Out Far Nor in Deep — Leah T. Williams. A teenage boy gets sent from Florida to a small island in St. Kitts and discovers that home might be somewhere he never expected. Rich with Caribbean culture and sharp dialogue. Ages 12+
Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish — Pablo Cartaya. A boy travels to Puerto Rico to find the father who abandoned him and discovers a whole family he never knew existed. Ages 10+
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky — Kwame Mbalia. A boy from Chicago tears open a hole into a world built from African and African American mythology. Ages 10+
📍 I want a book where the kid looks like mine.
The Amazing Life of Azaleah Lane — Nikki Shannon Smith. An eight-year-old juggles a school project and helping her little sister find a lost stuffed animal. Warm, funny, and easy to read. Ages 7+
Juana and Lucas — Juana Medina. A girl in Bogotá who loves drawing and comic books and definitely does not love learning English. Ages 6+
Where the Guava Tree Stands — Leah T. Williams. A girl leaves St. Kitts for Orlando and has to figure out who she is when everything she knows is gone. Told in verse — reads faster than it looks. Ages 10-15
The Nine Night Mystery — Sharna Jackson. Three friends at a Caribbean Nine Night celebration stumble into a mystery that pulls them deeper than any of them expected. Ages 9+
Stef Soto, Taco Queen — Jennifer Torres. A girl embarrassed by her dad's taco truck learns to take pride in her family and her culture when the truck is threatened. Ages 9+
My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich — Ibi Zoboi. A science fiction obsessed girl moves to Harlem in the 1980s and finds a world more vivid and strange than anything she ever imagined. Ages 10+
When Life Gives You Mangoes — Kerry Millard. A girl in a small Caribbean village can't remember anything from the past year and slowly uncovers a secret that changes everything. Ages 9+
Merci Suárez Changes Gears — Meg Medina. A scholarship student navigates middle school, a complicated family, and the things that are starting to change at home. Newbery Medal winner. Ages 10+
📍 I want something suspenseful. A mystery. A puzzle.
Meet Yasmin — Saadia Faruqui. A curious, creative girl solves everyday problems in four short, funny stories. Perfect for younger readers. Ages 6+
The Case of the Lighthouse Intruder — Kereen Getten. A book-loving girl visiting Jamaica gets pulled into a mystery her cousins have been sitting on all summer. Ages 9+
Charlie Hernandez and the League of Shadows — Ryan Calejo. A boy's parents go missing and he discovers Hispanic mythology is completely real. Ages 9+
Kaylani and the Case of the Martha's Vineyard Murder — Tiffany D. Jackson. A girl new to Martha's Vineyard teams up with friends to solve a real murder. Gripping, not scary. Ages 9+
Where Is Noemi? — Leah T. Williams. When her sister vanishes without a trace, Jasmin has to untangle a web of secrets and lies to bring her home. Ages 12+
Nightmare Island — Shakirah Bourne. A fearless Barbadian girl follows her family to a strange island retreat and slowly realizes something is very wrong. Rooted in Caribbean folklore. Ages 10+
Monti and Leo: A Mystery in Pocketville — Sylvie Kantorovitz. A graphic novel mystery about a stolen figurine and a friendship put to the test. Ages 7+
📍 I want magic. Another world. Something that doesn't exist yet.
Dominguita and the Mountain of Books — Terry Catasus Jennings. A book-loving girl inspired by Don Quixote proves that girls can be knights too. Ages 7+
The Jumbies — Tracey Baptiste. A girl on a Caribbean island goes up against the spirits from the old stories — the ones the adults always said weren't real. Ages 9+
Amari and the Night Brothers — B.B. Alston. A girl discovers a secret government agency for supernatural agents and fights her way in to find her missing brother. Ages 10+
Black Girls Day Off — Leah T. Williams. Three best friends skip school, walk into a mysterious bookstore, and get pulled back through the most important moments of Black American history. Ages 12+
Clairboyance — Kekla Magoon. A girl finds a secret library where every book is a portal to a different point in time. She steps in and the adventure begins. Ages 9+
Ikenga — Nnedi Okorafor. A twelve-year-old boy in Nigeria receives a magical object after his father is killed and must decide what to do with the power it gives him. Ages 10+
Way Off Track — Carl Brundtland and Claudia Dávila. A graphic novel adapting the West African folktale character Anansi to modern day. A young track star schemes and outsmarts at every turn. Ages 8+
📍 I want something funny. Something light.
Juana and Lucas — Juana Medina. Quirky, hilarious, and completely its own thing. Ages 6+
The First Rule of Punk — Celia C. Pérez. A girl with a punk rock dad and a strict mom starts a band with fellow misfits at her new school. Ages 9+
My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich — Ibi Zoboi. A science fiction obsessed girl in 1980s Harlem with one of the most entertaining voices in middle grade fiction. Ages 10+
Sarai and the Meaning of Awesome — Sarai Gonzalez and Monica Brown. Funny, warm, and full of girl-power energy. Ages 7+
Clean Getaway — Nic Stone. Funny and heartfelt in equal measure. Ages 10+
📍 I want sports, action, and something for boys.
Falling Short — Ernesto Cisneros. Two best friends — one a gifted basketball player, one a bookworm — support each other through middle school in ways neither expected. Ages 9+
Ghost — Jason Reynolds. A boy with a complicated past finds purpose and discipline on a track team. Fast-paced and impossible to put down. Ages 12+
Ice — Crystal Allen. Two brothers navigate a family tragedy and what it really means to show up for each other. Ages 10+
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky — Kwame Mbalia. Action-packed, fast, and genuinely funny. Ages 10+
📍 I want something that feels real. Like actual life.
Land of the Cranes — Aida Salazar. A nine-year-old girl and her family face separation and detention in this powerful verse novel about immigration. Ages 10+
Words Were the Enemy — Leah T. Williams. A seventh grader spends a school year fighting the words that trip her up and learns that her biggest fears were the very things that helped her grow. Ages 10+
Blended — Sharon M. Draper. A biracial girl splits her time between two very different parents and tries to figure out where she actually fits. Ages 10+
Styx Malone — Kekla Magoon. Two brothers meet a magnetic older kid who pulls them into a summer of big plans and real consequences. Ages 9+
Front Desk — Kelly Yang. A Chinese American girl navigating injustice, friendship, and survival while her family runs a motel. Ages 10+
Sing It Like Celia — Mónica Mancillas. A girl spends a summer at a campground while her dad reports on a story that changes everything she understands about her world. Ages 8+
📍 I want a graphic novel. Pictures and words together.
Graphic novels are real reading. They build vocabulary, comprehension, and — most importantly — the habit of reaching for a book. Perfect for reluctant readers.
Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus — Barbara Park, adapted by Colleen AF Venable. A beloved series in graphic novel form. A kindergartner faces the terror of the school bus. Ages 6+
New Kid — Jerry Craft. A Black boy navigates code-switching and identity at a mostly white private school. Award-winning and beloved by reluctant readers everywhere. Ages 9+
Way Off Track — Carl Brundtland and Claudia Dávila. West African folklore meets modern day in this fast-moving graphic novel. Ages 8+
Monti and Leo: A Mystery in Pocketville — Sylvie Kantorovitz. A short, accessible mystery graphic novel perfect for younger readers. Ages 7+
Free Lunch — Rex Ogle. A poignant, honest graphic novel about growing up in poverty and starting middle school. Ages 10+
The Squad — Christina Soontornvat. An eighth grader navigates cheerleading tryouts, friendship drama, and figuring out who she is. Ages 9+
📍 For older and teen readers.
Ghost — Jason Reynolds. A boy running from his past finds a reason to run toward something. Ages 12+
Jazz Owls — Margarita Engle. A novel in verse set during the Zoot Suit riots, following two sisters navigating racism, love, and ambition in 1940s Los Angeles. Ages 13+
Sweet Like Sugar Cane — Leah T. Williams. Set in 1980s St. Kitts, sixteen-year-old Gwendolyn navigates first love, family expectations, and the courage it takes to choose her own path. Ages 16+
Iron River — Daniel Acosta. Life from the perspective of a twelve-year-old boy in a diverse 1958 neighborhood in California. Ages 12+
The Last Beekeeper — Pablo Cartaya. Set in the future after climate disasters have altered everything, a girl fights to become a surgeon instead of the farmer her exiled parents need her to be. Ages 13+
📚 How to find these and other books without spending a dollar:
Go to your public library. Free books, no device needed, no waitlist for most titles. If your child doesn't have a library card yet — go this week. It takes five minutes. Tell the librarian what your child is into and let them do the rest. This is one of the most underused free resources available.
Download Libby. Free with your library card. Thousands of ebooks and audiobooks available instantly.
Download Hoopla. Free with your library card. No wait times ever.
Check your child's school. Many schools give students free access to reading apps like Sora, MyOn, or Reading Plus. Ask before you spend a single dollar.
Audiobooks count. Listening is reading. Both Libby and Hoopla have strong audiobook collections. If your child is a reluctant reader or struggles with print, an audiobook might be exactly the right door in.
Graphic novels count too. They are real reading and often the perfect bridge for kids who think they don't like books.
Browse more titles at smashwords.com/profile/view/Leah_T._Williams — including ebooks available for immediate download.
For even more diverse book recommendations visit diversebooks.org — We Need Diverse Books is a nonprofit dedicated to getting diverse books into the hands of every child.
Need help finding the right book for your child? Reach out — I'm happy to help. Email me at kittiwriter1@gmail.com or find me on Instagram at @kittiwriter1. Finding the right book for the right reader is one of my favorite things to do.
Keep reading. 📚 — Leah