Kirkus Best Books of the Year - Middle-Grade Family Stories (Awarded by Kirkus)

Awards List

2025

One Crazy Summer
(*)
Rita Williams-Garcia

Chickenpox
(*)
Remy Lai

Okchundang Candy
(*)
Jung-soon Go

The Strongest Heart
(*)
Saadia Faruqi

Maggie Lou Meets Her Match
(*)
Arnolda Dufour Bowes

How to Say Goodbye in Cuban
(*)
Daniel Miyares

Partypooper
(*)
Jeff Kinney

2024

Shark Teeth
(*)
Sherri Winston

Across So Many Seas
(*)
Ruth Behar

Ferris
(*)
Kate DiCamillo

Kyra, Just for Today
(*)
Sara Zarr

The Partition Project
(*)
Saadia Faruqi

The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman
(*)
Gennifer Choldenko

Puppet
(*)
David Almond

Quagmire Tiarello Couldn't Be Better
(*)
Mylisa Larsen

My So-Called Family
(*)
Gia Gordon

2023

A Pocketful of Stars
(*)
Aisha Bushby

Julia and the Shark
(*)
Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Keep Dancing, Lizzie Chu
(*)
Maisie Chan

Aniana Del Mar Jumps In
(*)
Jasminne Mendez

The Firefly Summer
(*)
Morgan Matson

The Labors of Hercules Beal
(*)
Gary D. Schmidt

Ruby Lost and Found
(*)
Christina Li

Ginny Off the Map
(*)
Caroline Hickey

The House of the Lost on the Cape
(*)
Sachiko Kashiwaba

Maggie Lou, Firefox
(*)
Arnolda Dufour Bowes

2022

Just Harriet
(*)
Elana K. Arnold

Aviva vs the Dybbuk
(*)
Mari Lowe

Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence
(*)
Sonja Thomas

The Turtle of Michigan
(*)
Naomi Shihab Nye

Cress Watercress
(*)
Gregory Maguire

Different Kinds of Fruit
(*)
Kyle Lukoff

Caprice
(*)
Coe Booth

Tumble
(*)
Celia C. Perez

2021

Summer of Brave
(*)
Amy Noelle Parks

Treasure of the World
(*)
Tara Sullivan

Unsettled
(*)
Reem Faruqi

Rez Dogs
(*)
Joseph Bruchac

Sisters of the Neversea
(*)
Cynthia Leitich Smith

Bad Sister
(*)
Charise Mericle Harper

Born Behind Bars
(*)
Padma Venkatraman

How to Find What You're Not Looking For
(*)
Veera Hiranandani

Playing the Cards You're Dealt
(*)
Varian Johnson

Stuntboy, in the Meantime
(*)
Jason Reynolds

Award Categories

Affirming Picture Books

Bedtime Books

Beginning Readers

Board Books

Book Club Fiction

Books for Beginning Readers

Debut Fiction

Dystopian Fiction

Empowering Picture Books

Environmental Fiction

Fiction

Fiction in Translation

Fictional Families

Fictional Voices

Funniest Picture Books

Historical Fiction

Informational Picture Books

Joyous Picture Books

Middle Grade Exploring Social Themes

Middle-Grade About Speaking Up

Middle-Grade Activist

Middle-Grade Adventures

Middle-Grade Family Stories

Middle-Grade Fantasy and SF

Middle-Grade Fiction

Award Years

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019