100 books like Walk Two Moons

This book is an unusual, magical story about differences and how we often react to those who don’t conform to the norms in society.

The plot is tremendously intertwined with suspense, the type that unexpectedly creeps up on you and surprises you every time. You are instantly hooked from start to finish.

Unputdownable. I was totally immersed from the first page. It's an unforgettable book. If you believe in non-conformity, then this book is for you.

Matilda—both in prose and musical form—is one of my favorite stories about bullies getting what’s coming to them, and the victim emerging with a better life.

Matilda’s parents and older brother are terrible people; her schoolmates and headmistress are not any better. But Matilda has a champion—an ally—in her corner: her teacher Miss Honey. With the confidence and support that just one friend brings, Matilda stands up to all the others.

She speaks up for herself and won’t let the bullies get away with their bad behavior. In doing so, she charts a happier course for her life—an end result to which anyone who’s being bullied can aspire.

I immediately fell in love with Cassie Logan, the spunky, resourceful main character in this classic novel. But by the end of the book, I had as much affection for her courageous mother, Mrs. Logan, a teacher who, in depression-era Mississippi, runs a school for African-American kids.

Among her pupils are some her own children, which I know from personal experience can be complicated. Of all the powerful themes in this book, an important, but often overlooked one is the power of teachers and schools to build community and respect for self and others.

Readers should know this book, written by a Black woman based on her childhood experiences, uses strong racial epithets, and young readers could benefit from thoughtful discussion with an adult.

I love anything written by Katherine Paterson. This book introduces Giladriel Hopkins (Gilly), a young girl waiting for her mom to come and rescue her from foster care.

Gilly’s horrendously disrespectful behavior is hard to take sometimes, and yet because we know her living situation, we quietly read along, offering her our sympathy. Paterson highlights a child’s ability to mentally clean up their parents and offer them undeserved trust, despite the fact they have neglected or abandoned their children.

Gilly’s plight increased my awareness about the constant pains some kids live with daily. Her longing for a mother’s love would resonate even with adults who longed for their own mother’s love.

I am a total space nerd. A shortcut to NASA’s exoplanet site is pinned to my toolbar.

I also vividly remember hearing the news of the Challenger disaster in my elementary school cafeteria. (It happened to be my best friend’s birthday. Not a fun coincidence for her.) So it wouldn’t have taken much to hook me on this book about three siblings whose school is following the historic mission.

Ms. Salonga, the middle school science teacher whose enthusiasm sparks both curiosity and courage in her students, is an added bonus. She reminded me of a teacher who inspired my love of physics (in which I eventually earned a master’s degree.)

Told from the perspectives of all three kids, this novel kept me turning pages even though I knew what was coming.

Unlike the sensitive, bullied, internally or externally wounded protagonist common in today’s mid-grade novels, Harriet the Spy is tenacious and smart and fights fire with fire. What a hero! 

She sneaks into buildings to spy on unsuspecting grownups; she keeps a notebook to record her uncomfortably truth-filled observations of her schoolmates; and when she is ostracized because of it, she first retaliates with ferocity and then lies through her teeth, which effectively rehabilitates her.

Harriet the Spy is a refreshingly honest look at social hypocrisy, with an admirable hero who won’t back down and won’t stop being herself. If it were published now, it would probably be banned. 

Besides well written non-fiction and sapphic romance, my favorite type of book is always going to be middle grade fiction.

In AfterMath, 12-year-old Lucy is struggling with the death of her younger brother from heart failure. When she changes school, she comes into the aftermath of a school shooting where her classmates struggle with grief of a different kind. Chock full of character development and with a solid plot, this takes a gentle look at grief, trauma, gun violence, terminal illness, and the real-life things that we have to face, no matter our age.

I love a story where children are resilient, though I wish they didn’t have to be so resilient all the time. 

I loved the language in this novel-in-verse and the valuable insights from an “outsider” experiencing American culture.

As a refugee fleeing war-torn Syria, Jude, the main character, finds one of the only places she feels safe and accepted is in her class for English learners. The example of her teacher, Mrs. Ravenswood, shows how sometimes one person can’t change the world, but they might change the world for one person. It made me think about how small things I do and say impact people around me. 

Despite cerebral palsy preventing her from speaking, Melody Brooks, the main character of this novel, loves language and aptly describes the teachers who have taught her in both her special needs and general education classrooms – the good, the bad, and ugly.

But the character who really spoke to me was her educational aide. So I’m bending the rules of my list a bit to give a shout out for the aide, Catherine, who quietly advocated for respect and inclusion for all students through her example.

As a parent of a child with special needs I’m grateful for all the Catherines that come into my child’s life.

Joy might not be the first thing you think of when considering grief, but then maybe you haven’t read Ross Gay.

Gay understands that joy exists because of grief, not as a counterbalance, but in a deeply reciprocal relationship. As his father is dying, he presses their faces together, and in his father’s freckles, he sees seeds, a garden. It is just one instance in this book where Gay recognizes that what grows from loss is love.

His book clarifies what I know to be true: that when we fall into the hole of loss, we find ourselves in a deep well of love.