Mid-grade science fiction, or sci-fi as it’s called, is an electric genre that often combines mystery, action, and adventure. As someone who tends to enjoy books with strong female leads, this is a genre sure to feature a lot of kids! Still, it was fun to see more and more girls appear on the covers of middle grade sci-fi stories.
For this list, I’ve stuck to the classic definition of science fiction, especially in terms of “relating to science” and being “futuristic.” If you like books with a lot of action and adventure in the context of solid science, you’ll love these middle grade science fiction books.
You are reading: Science fiction books for 7th graders
Best Middle Grade Science Fiction Books
here are the best middle grade science fiction books:
dragon pearl
Published: January 15, 2019
rick riordan presents yoon ha lee’s space opera about thirteen-year-old min, who comes from a long line of fox spirits. but you would never know by looking at her. To keep the family safe, Min’s mother insists that neither of them use fox magic, such as spells or shapeshifting. they must appear human at all times. min feels hemmed in by the house rules and resents her endless homework, her cousins harassing her and her aunts judging her. she would like nothing more than to escape from jinju, her neglected, dusty and impoverished planet. She is counting down the days until she can follow her older brother Jun into the space forces and see more than a thousand worlds.
When word breaks that Jun is suspected of leaving his post to go in search of the Dragon Pearl, Min knows something is wrong. Jun would never abandon his battlecruiser, not even for a mystical item that he was rumored to have tremendous power. she decides to run away to find him and clear his name. The search for Min will make her meet players, pirates and vengeful ghosts. it will involve deception, lies and sabotage. she will be forced to use more fox magic than ever and rely on all her intelligence and bravery. She may not turn out what she expected, but she has the potential to surpass her wildest dreams. This sci-fi adventure with the basics of Korean mythology will transport you to a world far beyond your imagination.
sal and gabi break the universe
Published: March 5, 2019
How did a raw chicken get into Yasmany’s locker?When Sal Vidon meets Gabi Real for the first time, it’s not under the best of circumstances. Sal is in the principal’s office for the third time in three days, and it’s still the first week of school. Gabi, student council president and editor of the school newspaper, is there to support Ella’s friend Yasmany Ella, who just got into a salt fight. She’s determined to prove that somehow, Sal placed a raw chicken in Yasmany’s locker, even though no one saw him do it and the damn chicken has mysteriously disappeared. Sal prides himself on being an excellent magician, but because of this sleight of hand, it was based on a talent that no one would guess. . . Except maybe Gabi, whose sharp eyes never miss a trick. When Gabi learns that she is able to conjure things much bigger than a chicken, including her dead mother, and she takes it all in stride, Sal knows she is someone she can work with. There’s just one small problem: Her manipulation of time and space could put the entire universe at risk.
the fourteenth goldfish
Published: August 26, 2014
galileo. newton oppenheimer.science sauce can change the world. . . but can you go too far? Ellie, eleven, has never liked change. she misses fifth grade. she misses her old best friend. she even misses her dear goldfish. Then one day a strange boy shows up. is bossy is in a bad mood. and curiously. . . he looks a lot like ellie’s grandfather, a scientist who has always been a bit obsessed with immortality. could this pimply kid really be grandpa melvin? Has he finally found the secret of eternal youth? With a lighthearted twist and plenty of humor, Jennifer Holm celebrates the wonder of science and explores fascinating questions about life and death, family and friendship, immortality. . . and possibility.
when you reach me
Published: July 14, 2009
Shortly after a fight with her best friend, sixth grader Miranda starts receiving mysterious notes and doesn’t know what to do. her notes tell him that she must write a letter, a true story, and that she cannot share her mission with anyone. it would be easy to ignore the strange messages, except whoever leaves them has an uncanny ability to predict the future. If that’s the case, then Miranda has a big problem, because her notes tell her that someone is going to die, and it may be too late to stop it.
last door of the emperor
From Kwame Mbalia and Prince Joel David Makonnen comes an Afro-Futuristic adventure about a mythical Ethiopian empire. sci-fi and fantasy collide in this epic journey to the stars.
yared heywat lives an isolated life in addis prime, a poor city with broken technology, many rules and little to do. His restless uncle Moti and the bionic lioness Besa are his only family…and his only friends.
Often in trouble for his thrill-seeking antics and clever mouth, those same qualities make Yared a star player in the underground augmented reality game, Kaleb’s Obelisk Quest. But when a game rule change prompts Yared to log in with his real name, a city-shaking attack is unleashed. In the chaos, Uncle Moti disappears.
Suddenly, all the stories yared’s uncle told him as a child come to life, about kingdoms in the sky and monsters rampaging through cities. and somehow yared is at the center of them.
Joined by Besa and the Ibis, an in-game rival turned reluctant ally, Yared must search for his uncle…and answer for his place in a forgotten war that spans the galaxy.
related: kwame mbalia & interview with prince joel makonnen (+ giveaway!)
a problematic paradox
Published: January 23, 2018
nikola kross has given up living in harmony with exasperated classmates and professors, dabbling in experimental chemistry rather than fitting in. But when her life is turned axially upside down by a gang of aliens who kidnap her father and attempt to serve him, she discovers that he has been keeping a world of secrets from her, including the school for geniuses where she is sent to take refuge, a place where classes like practical quantum mechanics are the norm and where students use wormholes to get to class. For Nikola, the hard part isn’t school, it’s making friends, especially when the student body isn’t (fully) human. But the most puzzling paradox of all is Nikola herself, that she has certain abilities that no one understands, abilities that put her entire school in greater danger than she could have imagined.
at the bottom of the world: jack and the genies #1
Published: April 4, 2017
jack and his foster siblings, ava and matt, aren’t your typical kids, they’re geniuses. well, ava and matt are. Ava speaks multiple languages and builds robots for fun, and Matt is an expert astronomer and math whiz. As for Jack, it’s hard to stand out when he’s surrounded by geniuses all the time. things get complicated when the trio start working for dr. Hank Witherspoon, one of the world’s leading scientists. They travel to Antarctica with Hank for a prestigious awards ceremony, but they quickly discover that all is not what it seems: a scientist has gone missing. It’s up to Jack, Ava and Matt to find her. . . and find out who is behind it all. In the Jack and the Geniuses series, readers join Jack, Ava, and Matt on adventures around the world to tackle some of science’s biggest challenges, including new ways to create clean drinking water, generate clean, renewable energy, and expand access to information to the entire planet. Each book in the series includes interesting facts about the real-life science found in the story and a fun DIY project.
last day on mars
Published: February 14, 2017
It’s the Earth year 2213, but of course the earth is no more. not since it was burned to ashes by the sun, which has mysteriously begun the process of going supernova. The human race has fled to Mars, but this was only a temporary solution as we prepare for a second voyage: a hundred and fifty year voyage to a distant star, our best estimate of where we might find a new home.
liam saunders-chang is one of the last humans left on Mars. The son of two scientists who have been racing against time to create technology vital to humanity’s survival, Liam, along with his friend Phoebe, will be on the last ocean liner to leave before Mars, like Earth before it, is destroyed. .
or so he thinks. Because before this day is done, Liam and Phoebe will make a series of profound discoveries about the nature of time and space, discovering that the human race is just one of many in our universe locked in a dangerous struggle for survival.
the infinite lives of maisie day
Published: April 9, 2019
It’s the morning of Maisie’s 10th birthday and she can’t wait to open her presents. Maisie is not a typical girl. what she most wants for her birthday are the things she needs to build her own nuclear reactor. she but she wakes up in an empty house, and outside the front door is nothing but an eerie, all-consuming darkness, a changed reality. Even for super-intelligent Maisie, these bewildering circumstances seem to be out of her control. . . or is it them?
the killjoy factor
Published: September 1, 2015
Welcome to flinkwater, iowa, home to the world’s largest manufacturer of articulated computer peripheral devices. if you have a robot, it probably came from flinkwater.
Meet Ginger Crump, the plucky, precocious (and somewhat sarcastic) genius who finds herself in the middle of a national emergency when Flinkwater’s computers start turning people into vegetables. mental vegetables, that is. in ginger’s words, they have been “bonked”.
See Also: 4-places-to-sell-back-your-books-at-the-end-of-the-semester
When ginger’s dad is screwed up, she enlists her self-proclaimed future husband, boy genius billy george, to help her find the origin of hunchbacks. They are soon confronted by a talking dog, a Sasquatch and a zombie, while Flinkwater is overrun by an army of black pickup trucks led by the dimwitted but dangerous Homeland Security Agent Fhelps. Can ginger get to the bottom of the bonkings or will computer chaos reign forever?
the wild robot
Published: April 5, 2016
Can a robot survive in the wild? When Roz the robot opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is all alone on a remote wilderness island. she has no idea how she got there or what her purpose is, but she knows she needs to survive. after battling a violent storm and escaping from a ferocious bear attack, she realizes that her only hope for survival is to adapt to her surroundings and learn from the island’s unwelcoming animal inhabitants. As Ella Roz befriends the animals, the island begins to feel like home. until, one day, the robot’s mysterious past comes back to haunt her.
the lion of mars
Published: January 5, 2021
bell has spent her entire life, age eleven, on mars. but he is still a normal boy: he loves cats, any type of cake, and he is curious about the secrets that the adults of the American colony keep. like, why not have contact with anyone on the other mars colonies? why are they so isolated? When a virus breaks out and all the adults get sick, Bell and the other kids are the only ones who can help. It’s up to Bell, a normal boy in a very different world, to discover the truth and save his family…and possibly unite an entire planet.
seventh grade against the galaxy
Published: March 5, 2019
pss 118 is your typical school, except it’s a rickety old spaceship orbiting Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter. Jack’s dad used to be the science teacher, until he got fired for making minor adjustments to the ship. now jack just wants to get through the last day of school without anything else going wrong.
But when the school is mysteriously attacked, Jack discovers that his father has built humanity’s first light-speed engine and given Jack control of it. To save the ship, jack the catapult hundreds of light years away. . . and right into the clutches of the first aliens humans have ever seen. the school is not just out: it has been cleared throughout the galaxy. And now it’s up to Jack and his friends to get everyone home.
the strangers: the secrets of greystone #1
Published: April 2, 2019
the greystone guys thought they knew. Chess has always been the protector of his younger siblings, Emma loves math, and Finn does what he does best: act silly and be adored. They have been a happy family, just the three of them and their mom.
But that all changes when reports of three kidnapped children reach the children of Greystone, and they are shocked by the striking similarities between themselves and these complete strangers. the other children share his same first and middle names. They are of the same age. they even have identical birthdays. who exactly are these strangers?
Before chess, emma and finn can question their mother about it, she suddenly embarks on a business trip and leaves them in the care of mrs. Morales and her daughter, Natalie. But the puzzling clues left behind lead to complex codes, hidden rooms, and a dangerous secret that will turn her world upside down.
master minds
Published: February 3, 2015
eli frieden has never left serenity, new mexico… why would she ever want to? Then one day he bikes to the edge of the city limits and something so crazy and unexpected happens that it changes everything.
Eli convinces his friends to help him investigate further, and it soon becomes clear that nothing is what it seems in Serenity. Clues pile up to reveal a shocking discovery, connecting your ideal crime-free community with some of the greatest criminal masterminds ever known.
Children realize they can’t trust anyone, least of all their own parents.
long distance
Published: June 29, 2021
summer vacation in vega is not going well.
When her parents decide it’s time to pack up and leave her hometown of portland, oregon behind for boring seattle, washington, vega, she’s beyond upset: she’s downright miserable. Forced to leave behind her only best friend, Halley, Vega, she is convinced that she will never make another friend again.
To help her adjust to her new life in Seattle, her parents send Vega to summer camp to make new friends. Except Vega is determined to get her old life back. But when her cell phone unexpectedly cancels it and things at camp start to get weirder and weirder, Vega has no choice but to team up with her bunkmates to find out what’s going on!
the last last day of summer
Published: April 2, 2019
otto and sheed are the local detectives in their wacky town of virginia, masters at unraveling mischief using their unparalleled powers of deduction. And as summer winds down and the first day of school approaches, kids are craving a little more time to have fun, even as they bicker about what kind of fun they want to have. that is, until a mysterious man shows up with a camera that literally freezes time. Now, with the help of some very strange people and even stranger creatures, Otto and Sheed will have to put their differences aside to save their city – and each other – before time stops forever.
cleo porter and the electric body
Published: October 6, 2020
a woman is dying. Cleo Porter has her medicine. and there is no way to deliver it.
Like everyone else, twelve-year-old Cleo and her parents are locked in an apartment with no windows or doors. they never go away They never receive visitors. their food is dropped off by drones. so that they are safe. safe from the disease that nearly wiped out humans from the earth. safe from everything compensation?
they are alone. So when they receive a package clearly meant for someone else, a package containing a substance critical to the survival of a stranger, Cleo is stuck. as a surgeon in training, she knows that time is ticking. but people don’t leave the drives from it.
never. so far.
maximilian fly
Published: June 11, 2019
maximillian fly wants no trouble. however, because he is six feet tall, with beautiful indigo wings, long antennae, and more arms than you or me, he is feared by many.
is a friendly creature that looks like a giant cockroach. This extraordinary human wants to prove his kindness, so he opens his door to two silver seed children looking for a place to hide.
Instantly, Maximillian’s quiet and lonely life changes. there are dangerous powers behind them and they have eyes everywhere. but in this gray city of hope trapped under the orb, is it possible to escape?
maximillian fly is a masterful story full of suspense, plot twists and phenomenal world building. This gripping novel delves into family dynamics and issues of prejudice, championing tolerance, empathy, and understanding.
beetle boy
Published: February 23, 2016
Darkus Cuttle’s father mysteriously disappears from his job as Director of Science at the Natural History Museum. he disappeared without a trace! from a closed room! So Darkus moves in with his eccentric Uncle Max and Humphrey and Pickering, two lunatic cousins with a massive beetle infestation. Darkus soon discovers that the beetles are anything but ordinary. they are an amazing, intelligent super species and they are in danger of being exterminated. It’s up to Darkus and his friends to save the beetles. But they face an even scarier villain: fashion’s mad scientist, haute couture villain, Lucretia Cutter. Lucretia has an alarming interest in insects and dastardly plans for the insects. She won’t let anyone or anything stop her, including Darkus’ father, whom she has locked up in her dungeon! the beetles and the kids join forces to rescue mr. sepia and frustrate lucrecia.
care and feeding of a pet black hole
Published: September 12, 2017
See Also: Ian McEwan – Book Series In Order
When eleven-year-old stella rodriguez shows up at nasa to apply for her recording to be included on carl sagan’s gold record, something unexpected happens: a black hole follows her home and she sets out to live in your home as a pet. . The black hole swallows everything she touches, which is challenging to say the least, but it also turns out to be a convenient way to dispose of items that Ella Stella doesn’t want near her. Soon, all the ugly sweaters her aunt has made for her disappear into the black hole, as does the smelly class hamster she’s babysitting, and more importantly, all the memories of her dead father that are too painful to bear. keep close.
It’s not until Stella, her little brother, Cosmo, the family pup, and even the bathtub are sucked into the black hole that Stella realizes she’s been letting her own pain consume her. and that’s not the only thing she notices about her when she tries to get back home. this is a surprisingly original and fun adventure with a big heart.
weird boy
Published: July 27, 2021
jake wind tries to go unnoticed. whose radar? anyone who’s too interested in the fact that he has shape-shifting abilities he can’t control. or that his parents found him as a ball of slime when he was a baby.
However, keeping his powers in check is crucial if he wants to live a normal life and go to high school instead of being homeschooled (and if he wants to avoid being kidnapped and experimented on, of course).
He feels things are going his way when he survives his first day of school without transforming and makes a new friend. But when mysterious sinkholes start appearing in town, sinkholes filled with the same alien goo that Jake is, and his neighbors, classmates, and even his family start acting a little, well, weird, Jake will have to learn how to use his powers. in order to save his people.
stowaway
Published: August 3, 2021
When scientists discover a rare and mysterious mineral buried deep in the earth’s crust, they have no idea that it turns out to be the most valuable substance in the entire universe. It’s not long before aliens show up in our little corner of the galaxy and offer a promise of protection, fabulous new technology, and entry into their intergalactic coalition, all in exchange for this precious resource. a material so precious that other alien forces are willing to start a war over it. a war that soon comes to earth.
leo knows very well. His mother was killed in one of those attacks, and soon after, his father, a coalition scientist, decides it would be best for them to leave Earth behind. It is on this expedition that his ship is attacked, Leo’s father is kidnapped, and Leo and his brother are stranded in the middle of space. The only chance they have is for Leo to hide out on a strange mercenary space pirate ship bound for who knows where and beg the captain to help him find his father.
but the road is dangerous and the pirates, of course, only look out for themselves. Leo must decide who to trust as he tries to stay alive and save his family, even as he comes to realize that there aren’t many people, human or alien, he can count on in this brave new universe.
as take flight
Published: November 2, 2021
Eleven-year-old Ace Wells’ dream has finally come true: he’s a new cadet at the B.B.S.T. (bio-enhancement systems technology) program. Until now, he’s been living in the shadow of his superstar brother Finn, but not for long. this is new ace! he knows that he can leave his mark on the world with supersoar wings, but on the first day, nothing goes according to plan. The antagonistic elevator AI Otis wants to eat his belongings, the physical feats set forth by his tough trainer are impossible, and his famous roommates are far from welcoming. it is very clear that the ace is not ready to fly, in any sense of the word. As tensions rise, Ace grows suspicious that something more at best is going on. what it seems like. Will he ever make it to graduation and get the career of his dreams? Join ace and find out as he tests his strength and determination in this exciting middle grade adventure!
finn and the intergalactic lunchbox
Published: April 28, 2020
finn foley has a lunchbox and when he opens it, weird stuff comes out. . . like a seven foot tall robot and a strange flickering device that sticks to her chest. The lunch box also opens wormholes (shortcuts through space) that take Finn to the farthest corners of the galaxy. sounds great, right?
not so much. flying through the cosmos he attracts the attention of the plague, a race of giant bugs. What’s in Finn’s chest belongs to them, it’s the most dangerous weapon in the universe, and they want it back.
To fight off the plague, Finn will need the Lunch Box, as well as an unlikely squad of assistants: Lincoln the Bully; julep, the coolest girl in school; Kate, Finn’s little sister who is obsessed with unicorns; and Highbeam, a spy robot from another galaxy. if they can learn to work together, they just might have a chance, but the bugs are coming and they’ll stop at nothing to get their weapon, even if it means destroying the world.
last player standing
Published: September 21, 2021
In the world of twelve-year-old Reyna Cheng, gaming is everything. professional esports teams are top celebrities. kids start training from a young age, aiming for the big leagues.
reyna is the up-and-coming junior amateur gamer who competes in a virtual reality battle royale against AI monsters and human players. But despite Reyna’s growing popularity and abilities, no one knows who she is. the games are still a boys club, and to protect herself from trolls and bullying her, she plays the mysterious theruinar.
When Reyna qualifies for the junior dayhold tournament, she knows she has what it takes to win the championship title and the $10,000 prize pool. It is an opportunity to step forward towards her professional esports dreams and to help her family with the costs of her mother’s hospital bills.
But when an anonymous troll blackmails her and threatens to set her up, Reyna has to come face to face with the community of toxic gamers.
With his dreams and the cash prize on the line, the game is on!
error
Published: June 9, 2020
regan fitz and elliot mason have been enemies since they began training to become glitchers, people who travel back in time to preserve important historical events. But everything changes when they find a letter from Regan’s future self, warning them of an impending disaster that threatens them and everyone they know.
Will they be able to put aside their past to save the future?
target practice (cleopatra in space #1)
Published: April 29, 2014
When a young Cleopatra (yes, that Cleopatra) finds a mysterious tablet that transports her to a far, far future, she learns of an ancient prophecy that says she is destined to save the galaxy from the tyrannical rule of evil. xius octavian. He enrolls in Yasiro Academy, a high-tech school with classes like algebra, biology, and alien languages (which Cleo could do without) and combat training (which is more Cleo’s style). With the help of her teacher Khensu, Cleo learns what it takes to be a great leader, as she tries to figure out how she’ll do her homework, make friends, and avoid detention! now a tv series on the nbcuniversal streaming service, peacock!
we are not from here
Published: March 5, 2019
When I first heard of the planet Choom, we had been on Mars for almost a year. But life on Mars Station was bleak, and since Earth was no longer an option (we may have blown it up), it was time to find a new home.
that’s how we ended up in choom with the zhuri. they are very smart. they also look like giant mosquitoes. but that’s not why it’s so hard to live here. there are a lot of things zhuri don’t like: singing (just ask my sister, ila), comedy (a prank got me sent to the principal’s office) or any kind of emotion. the biggest problem, though? the zhuri don’t like us. And if humanity is going to survive, it’s up to my family to change their minds. no pressure.
sanity & tallulah
Published: October 16, 2018
It can be pretty boring living in a small, secluded station like Wilnick SS. Best friends Sanity Jones and Tallulah Vega do their best to ease the monotony of everyday space life by finding adventure, solving mysteries, and taking turns getting in and out of trouble. But when the latest scientific sanity project, an extremely illegal but incredibly cute three-headed kitten, escapes from the lab and starts wreaking havoc, the girls will have to circle the station to find her, before the damage is irreversible. . !
there they are: 30 of the best middle grade science fiction books! which of these have you read? And which ones did I miss?
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