5 top transitional books for teens

When I was growing up in 1970s London, there was very little to read that took me from the world of the children’s stories I’d loved as a little girl to the transitional space of those early teenage years with its very different challenges and preoccupations. 

It seemed to be a choice of either trying to grapple with adult books – or reading nothing much fictional at all. I think that’s one of the reasons I loved children’s classic Little Women so much. But Louisa M. Alcott was writing a hundred years before I was born! Where were the contemporary tales of girls and boys with lives I could properly relate to? 

Fast forward to today and there is a vast array of options for anyone looking to keep reading beyond ​‘middle grade’ (about ages 9–12), though not necessarily ready for the full-on challenge of a YA story. 

Here are a few of my personal choices. Please bear in mind that there is absolutely no way to predict which transitional books will suit individual readers – the following are simply books that seem to me to offer the reader a compelling character and a strong story. 

You may see things differently and believe that some of those I’ve chosen are too young or too unchallenging – while others are the opposite. 

Though in many ways this book is at the middle grade end of things, Jemima herself is as angst-ridden and conversationally confessional as any YA heroine. Her worries and self-doubt – and the journey towards confidence she goes on – are super relatable for anyone who knows they’re no longer a child, but who isn’t yet sure how to be a grown-up. 

Night School is the first of a series from CJ Daughterty set in the enclosed environment of an elite boarding school. It contains all my favourite thriller elements, from a romantic triangle to a sinister mystery and a fast-moving, exciting plot. 

This beautifully written book takes the reader back to 1941 and the inspired-by-real-life story of an angry young teenage boy and a silverback gorilla during the Blitz. This book is subtly layered and raises many thought-provoking and ethical questions for readers. It’s often presented as a middle-grade option, but carries with it a massive emotional punch – and is a great choice for anyone who has aged out of middle grade but isn’t quite yet ready for full-on YA. 

The same is true of mystery story The Bletchley Riddle, also set during the Second World War, in which sibling protagonists Lizzie and Jakob (aged 14 and 19 respectively) crack codes, ponder puzzles and follow clues. While Jakob works at government codebreaking HQ Bletchley Park, Lizzie attempts to solve the mystery of their mother’s death. Written by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin, for me this story lands in the sweet spot between middle grade and young adult. 

And finally, The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes is the first book in a trilogy featuring Avery, who inherits a crazy amount of money from a billionaire she’s never met – and finds herself caught up in a high-stakes treasure hunt. As Avery tries to solve the puzzle she’s been set, she faces hostility from the family whose inheritance she’s ​‘stolen’ – and danger at every turn. The story is as full of twists and turns as the secret-passage-filled house into which Avery is forced to move to claim her fortune. A fab, fun transitional read! 

Lessons in Death by Sophie McKenzie is out now.