This exciting list represents only some of the new chapter & middle-grade books releasing in 2021. The fiction and nonfiction books include a wide-range of topics by well-known and debut authors. Some titles are not featured because the cover image or release date has not been provided yet. The titles are listed according to their release date. Sometimes, however, publishers may move a release date up or back. If you know of any chapter or middle-grade books that have been assigned a release date and cover image but are not listed, please leave us a comment below. Also, leave your thoughts on which books you’re excited to pre-order now. Coming up next, “2021 Preview (Part 3): YA Books.”
Go here for “2021 Preview (Part 1): 35 Picture Books.”
Root Magic
Eden Royce | Walden Pond Press | January 5 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance
Nikki Grimes | Bloomsbury Children’s Books | January 5 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
Have I Ever Told You Black Lives Matter
Shani King | Bobby C. Martin Jr. | Tilbury House Publishers | January 5 | MG | Amazon | IndieBound
Star Wars The High Republic: A Test of Courage
Justina Ireland | Petur Antonsson | Disney Lucasfilm Press | January 5 | MG | Amazon | IndieBound
Lewis Latimer: Engineering Wizard
Denise Lewis Patrick | Daniel Duncan | HarperCollins | January 5 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
She Persisted : Harriet Tubman
Andrea Davis Pinkney | Gillian Flint | Philomel Books | January 5 | ChpBk | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
Baseball’s Leading Lady: Effa Manley and the Rise and Fall of the Negro Leagues
Andrea Williams | Roaring Brook Press | January 5 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
Amari and the Night Brothers
B. B. Alston | Balzer + Bray | January 19 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
Take Back the Block
Chrystal D. Giles | Random House BYR | January 26 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
The Year I Flew Away
Marie Arnold | Versify | February 2 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
She Persisted: Claudette Colvin
Lesa Cline-Ransome | Gillian Flint | Philomel Books | February 2 | ChpBk | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
J.D. and the Great Barber Battle
J. Dillard | Akeem S. Roberts | Kokila | February 23 | ChBk | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
Simon B. Rhymin’
Dwayne Reed | Little, Brown BYR | March 2 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
Wonder Women of Science: How 12 Geniuses Are Rocking Science, Technology, and the World
Tiera Guinn Fletcher | Ginger Rue | Sally Wern Comport | Candlewick | March 23 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
Squad Goals
Erika J. Kendrick | Little, Brown BYR | April 6 | MG | Amazon | IndieBound
It Doesn’t Take a Genius
Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich | Six Foot Press | MG | April 13 | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
Last Gate of the Emperor
Kwame Mbalia | Prince Joel Makonnen | Scholastic | May 4 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
Forever This Summer (Love Like Sky #2)
Leslie C. Youngblood | Little, Brown BYR | May 25 | MG | Amazon
Miles Morales: Shock Waves
Justin A. Reynolds | Pablo Leon | Scholastic Inc | June 1 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
Josephine Against the Sea
Shakirah Bourne | Scholastic Inc. | July 6 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
She Persisted: Florence Griffith Joyner
Rita Williams-Garcia | Gillian Flint | Philomel Books | July 6 | ChpBk | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
Pax Samson Vol 1: The Cookout
Rashad Doucet | Jason Reeves | Oni Press | August 3 | MG | Amazon | IndieBound
Being Clem (The Finding Langston Trilogy)
Lesa Cline-Ransome | Holiday House | August 3 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
She Persisted: Ruby Bridges
Kekla Magoon | Gillian Flint | Philomel | August 3 | ChpBk | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
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