Middle grade is a term that refers to books written for readers between the ages of eight and twelve. In this column, Erica will recommend great books for children in this age group!

Simon is probably the only tween in existence to be actually sort of excited to be moving into a town where technology and Internet access is limited – but then again, he and his family are hoping for a fresh start. Simon relaxes into making friends out of the shadows of his past and figuring out how to cope with what happened…but when it all comes crashing down, when the past comes back to haunt the present, can Simon figure out how to balance them both so that he can look forward to the future?

This is a book that made me cry and laugh in equal measure. I loved all the characters, I loved the way the author handled discussing a topic as serious and looming as a school shooting, and most of all, I can’t believe how much I want to visit a fictional town without any real Internet access, netizen that I am; but Bow created such a wonderful, three-dimensional town to want to visit.

Check out the book that Kirkus Reviews called “an uproarious small-town comedy with a devastating tragedy at its core played out by a cast as memorable for its animals as its people” and “adroit, sensitive, horrifying, yet hilarious”, SLJ Reviews praised as “funny and heartfelt in equal measure…a solid purchase for all libraries that serve middle grade readers” and PW Annex Reviews described as “a compassionate and refreshingly hopeful novel about a tween navigating the aftermath of a school shooting.”