Wholesome Middle Grade Chapter Books for Boys

You asked for it. Here it is — a wholesome middle grade chapter book list for boys ages 9 – 12 with nice (not rude) main characters. There’s a lot of subjectivity in a list like this. So my criteria (besides excellent writing) is the following:

• books with main characters you’d want your kids to be friends with
• books with main characters who are kind, helpful, and / or determined
• books with characters who are respectful towards adults and siblings
• no romance
• no swearing

That being said, I did not reread every book I put on this list. IF I got a book wrong, please let me know! Or, if you have a good addition, let me know that as well, please.

Don’t forget that there are so many amazing books with characters who start out troubled yet find their inner peace through life’s struggles. Witnessing this arc of growth is life-changing as a reader. People grow in ways we can always predict. Books like Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen, The Seventh Most Important Thing: One Kid. One Crime. One Chance to Make Things Right. by Shelley Pearsall,  and Ghost by Jason Reynolds come to mind.

But back to this list … the books below can appeal to both boys and girls. You’ll know your own child at what appeals to them. However, I’ve made a separate list specifically for girls here.

Oh, one more quick thing — I’ve tried to list the books in order of difficulty with easier books at the beginning of the list and more challenging at the end. If you want wholesome easy chapter books with no potty humor or sass, I have a list here.

PRINTABLE LIST.

Wholesome Middle Grade Chapter Books for Boys

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
REALISTIC
Narrated by one gorilla named Ivan, this story will immediately grab your heart — it’s sad but keep reading, it’s an amazing story. Making it even more compelling, it’s true! Ivan is kept in a cage in a run-down mall for 27 years without seeing another gorilla, only the stray dog, Bob, who sleeps with him, Stella the Elephant, and Ruby, a newly purchased baby elephant. Before she dies, Stella begs Ivan to find Ruby a home with other elephants. Ivan reluctantly agrees, but it won’t be easy.

Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate
REALISTIC
Crenshaw is the new book from the author of The One and Only Ivan, Katherine Applegate, and it’s another amazing story dealing with poverty. After having lost their home and living in their van for 3 months, the family is now about to lose their apartment. Although Jackson’s parents don’t tell him this, he knows the signs. He knows why they’re having a yard sale. He knows it’s not his dad’s fault for having MS but he’s mad and worried and alone. It isn’t until Crenshaw shows up and pushes Jackson to speak the truth to his parents that Jackson learns that he’s not facing this alone. Oh, and who is Crenshaw? He’s Jackson’s large, imaginary cat friend from when he was little now returned to help Jackson in his time of need. I felt like it was a God metaphor. I wonder what you’ll think?

Holes by Louis Sachar
ADVENTURE
Poor Stanley. He’s got the worst luck of anyone — and is now sent to a youth detention camp in the desert where he has to dig holes all day long. All because of his no-good, pig-stealing great-great-grandfather. This was one of my students’ favorite books (mine, too)! You’ll love the crazy adventures as Stanley and his new friend figure out what’s happening at this supposed detention camp and escape, with only onions to eat. And yes, even that has to do with Stanley’s pig-stealing grandfather.  You’ll love it.

I Survived by Lauren Tarshis
HISTORICAL FICTION / ADVENTURE (series)
Excellent, fast-paced adventures set during significant historical events, these are great for reluctant readers. Your kids will zip through these fascinating adventures. The books always are about a kid trying to survive the historically important, life-changing event.

Hero Rescue Mission by Jennifer Li Shotz

Wonder by R. J. Palacio
REALISTIC
This book is both “a meditation on kindness” and not judging people by how they look on the outside. “I wish every day could be Halloween. We could all wear masks all the time. Then we could walk around and get to know each other before we got to see what we looked like under the masks.” Wonder helps us see compassion, empathy, and acceptance from a variety of character’s points of view. Auggie, a boy with a facial difference, starts public school for the first time in 5th grade. His experience, though often difficult, shows his inner strength. And kindness wins over bullying!

Science Comics: Bats Learning to Fly by Falynn Koch
Factual information is embedded within this graphic novel story about a lost little bat who observes a tour group in the desert learning about bats from a tour guide. When the little bat gets hurt, he’s taken to a wild animal hospital where he meets other species of bats. At the hospital, the bats lively conversations help the little brown bat learn more about bats — what they eat, how they fly, different species, echolocation, and where they live. SO well done!

The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street by Karina Yan Glaser
REALISTIC (will be a series)
Like The Penderwicks, you’ll fall in love with this quirky, close-knit family. The Vanderbeekers’ landlord wants them out by the end of December but the Vanderbeeker kids are determined to change his mind, even though he hates noise, kids, and their family. But it’s almost Christmas and their efforts are only making things worse. What will they do? Charming and heart-warming.

Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
FANTASY (series)
I think you already know about these books but if you don’t, they’re absolutely engaging fantasy adventures that will hook your kids. Start with The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, a story about four siblings who enter a magical world where they must help defeat the evil queen.

The Drawing Lesson: A Graphic Novel That Teaches You How to Draw by Mark Crilley
The lessons within the story will inspire and educate young artists. I especially liked the juxtaposition of the boy, David’s, eagerness and his teacher, Becky’s, reluctance finishing with a cool pay-it-forward ending. The lessons are woven within the larger story of a young boy named David who asks a young woman named Becky to give him drawing lessons. She reluctantly agrees, first asking him to draw her watch. This becomes a lesson in seeing scale, the blank spaces, and the differences between the real watch and the drawing. She declines other lessons saying she’s not a teacher but David bumps into her (even finding her house!) and she continues (reluctantly) to give him lessons on shadowing, loose sketching, negative space, proportions, and more. The Drawing Lesson is marvelous graphic novel that both entertains and teaches.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
SCI-FI (series)
I’ve read this book so many times, I can’t count — many times with my classes as a read aloud — and every time it’s just as fantastic. (That doesn’t always happen with books.) A Wrinkle in Time is a remarkable, well-written adventure in space that deals with the overarching theme of good vs. evil. Meg and her brother, Charles Wallace, and friend, Calvin, set of to find her scientist father who disappeared while researching tesseracts.

Edge of Extinction The Ark Plan by Laura Martin
ADVENTURE / SCI-FI (series)
Action from the first page! This is an awesome story about a dangerous world where cloned dinosaurs have taken over. Now Sky and her fellow humans live below ground in safety with Noah as their supreme ruler. Sky discovers that her missing (maybe traitor?) father left her a secret note with cryptic instructions on how to be found. She decides to leave the underground city in order to find her dad. Barely outside a day, she and her friend Shawn are rescued from hungry dinosaurs by a boy who lives in a treetop enclave. When his enclave is attacked by Noah’s soldiers looking for her, Sky realizes that everything she believed about Noah is wrong and is even more determined to find her father. LOVED it!

All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook by Leslie Connor
REALISTIC
This book hooked me from the first page, taking me on a coming-of-age story that was both heartbreaking and filled with hope. Perry is well-loved by his mother and her friends. . . in prison. That’s where Perry has lived since he was born eleven years ago. But in an unexpected and unpleasant turn of events, his best friend’s stepfather, the new District Attorney, forces Perry to leave the prison. Not only that, the DA tries to stall Perry’s mother’s parole hearing. Perry discovers the stories behind the inmates lives, hoping that they’ll be helpful in reuniting him with his mother. This story will stay with you long after you read the last page.

The Quest for the Truth series (books 1 – 4) by Brock Eastman
SCI-FI / CHRISTIAN (series)
I couldn’t put these books down — which was a very fun surprise because I didn’t know what to expect from a Christian fiction series like this. The writing is fantastic — fast paced and engaging and the story itself is intriguing, a futuristic world in which the four siblings archeologist parents are kidnapped by forces trying to find artifacts which will lead them to eternal life. The kids pursue both the artifacts and their missing parents across different planets where they discover a hidden civilization of blue-colored people, escape a dangerous laboratory with predatory creatures including dinosaurs, learn a friend is really a foe, get captured by pirates, and so much more. I’m looking forward to the final book, book five!

Eddie Red Undercover Mystery in Mayan Mexico by Marcia Wells
MYSTERY (series)
Eddie, his best friend Jonah, and his parents are on vacation in Mexico. When Eddie’s dad becomes the primary suspect in a theft of a stolen Mayan mask so Eddie and Jonah decide to solve the mystery themselves. Only they don’t speak Spanish all that well, and there’s more to this mystery than just a stolen mask. You’ll love the Spanish words throughout, the well-paced action, and the characters.

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien

Podkin One-Ear The Legend Begins by Kieran Larwood
FANTASY (will be a series)

Well-written and enthralling, you’ll love every moment of this middle grade chapter book about a young rabbit who reluctantly grows into his destiny. One cold winter night, the night before Bramblemas, a traveling bard seeks shelter in Thornwood Warren. He’s offered shelter and food in exchange for his stories; stories about the heroic Podkin One-Ear. Alternating between the bard’s present moment experience and the story of Podkin, we learn that young Podkin was a lazy, spoiled prince. When the cruel Gorm who are metal dark magic rabbits arrive at his family’s burrow to kill everyone inside, Podkin escapes with his much braver sister and little brother. No longer able to be spoiled and lazy, Podkin tries his best to be brave and pull his weight, often failing miserably but occasionally succeeding , too. They’re captured more than once and escape both times, once with the loss of his ear. I LOVE this story and can not wait for the rest of the books in the series.

 

The Fog Diver by Joel Ross
SCI-FI (series)
Dystopian middle-grade! The world is covered by a deadly “fog” that kills humans so the humans live only on the highest mountain peaks. Our heroes, a band of scavenging orphans, are trying to find something in the world below that they can sell in order to travel to another city where they can treat the cloud sickness of their beloved mother-figure. I loved the suspense, the fascinating world, the characters, and the happily ever after. I couldn’t tell from the ending if there will be more books because thankfully there was no cliff hanger. I gave this book to a 12-year old boy recently and he LOVED it so much.

See You in the Cosmos by Jack Cheng

REALISTIC
Luminous and heartfelt, 11-year-old Alex Petroski’s story will grab your heart and expand it. His dream is to launch a rocket into space with his iPod of recordings about life on earth. The story is a transcription of what he records on the iPod — his solo journey to the rocket convention, the interesting people he befriends on the way and there, his trip Las Vegas to find information about his deceased father, and his unique, innocent perspective that tries to make sense of the the world. Readers will notice Alex is super naive yet so sweet; this is a good one to read in a book club or with a parent because there’s so much to discuss.

 

The Wonderling by Mira Bartók
FANTASY

The story begins at an orphanage of maltreated groundlings (part human, part animal) orphans. One of the orphans, Number 13, is a fearful, shy foxlike 11-year old. He’s befriended by a fearless bird groundling named Trinket who convinces him to escape with her and renames him Arthur after the famous king. The two manage to escape and Arthur sets off on his own to find more about his origins. He falls in with a group of crooks but through a series of twists and turns finds he has a big destiny — he must stop the wicked orphanage leader from magically removing all the music in the world.

 

The Ruins of Gorlan: Ranger’s Apprentice book 1 by John A. Flanagan
FANTASY / ADVENTURE (series)

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
After his plane crashes in the woods, Brian is stranded in the Canadian wilderness with only a hatchet. His journey of survival is incredible and will captivate readers.

You May Also Like:

Wholesome Early Chapter Books for Boys

Challenging Books for Young Advanced Readers (Lexile 1000+)

FREE Summer Learning Printables 

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