BookTrust Represents: Middle Grade
BookTrust Represents is our programme created to promote children’s authors and illustrators of colour.
Books play an important role as mirrors for children: these stories and characters will affect how they see themselves and the world around them, their motivation to read, and their aspirations to become authors and illustrators of the future.
However, finding books that truly reflect the diversity of families in the UK is challenging. Over the past 11 years, fewer than 2% of all authors and/or illustrators of children's books published in the UK were British people of colour.
As part of the project we have put together this booklist highlighting some of our favourite middle grade books by authors and illustrators of colour.
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A Dangerous Game
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A Dangerous Game
Sam’s sickle-cell anaemia means he has trouble keeping up with the other boys in his class, but a school trip into the wild gives …
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Anisha, Accidental Detective
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Anisha, Accidental Detective
Anisha's ultra-dramatic Aunty Bindi is getting married tomorrow and the groom, Uncle Tony, has been kidnapped! Can Anisha and her …
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Ash Mistry and the Savage Fortress
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Ash Mistry and the Savage Fortress
Covering themes of reincarnation, destiny, family, friendship, loyalty and a host of characters from Hindu belief and mythology, t…
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The Star Outside My Window
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The Star Outside My Window
A heartbreaking but sensitively-told story of domestic abuse, loss and friendship from the author behind The Boy at the Back of th…
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Corey’s Rock
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Corey’s Rock
Isla and her family move to the Orkney Islands from Edinburgh after Isla’s five-year-old brother Corey passes away. Soon, she lear…
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Cosmic Disco
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Cosmic Disco
A poetry collection from the Guyana-born poet Grace Nichols that cover themes of seasons, planets and the cosmos for younger …
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Chips, Beans and Limousines: The Fantastic Diary of Baths...
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Chips, Beans and Limousines: The Fantastic Diary of Baths...
Bathsheba Clarice de Trop learns the lesson that money doesn’t always bring happiness, but friends and family can. A lovely, …
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Cyborg Cat: Rise of the Parsons Road Gang
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Cyborg Cat: Rise of the Parsons Road Gang
This first book by Paralympian and TV presenter Ade Adepitan offers a fascinating picture of his childhood. With a light touch and…
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Dara Palmer's Major Drama
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Dara Palmer's Major Drama
Fresh, funny, fizzy and indomitable, Dara learns through acting to face challenging home truths about what she calls the 'insidey …
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Dave Pigeon
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Dave Pigeon
Dave Pigeon, the brilliant pigeon mastermind, is determined to find and eat all of your biscuits. The expressive illustrations com…
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High-Rise Mystery
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High-Rise Mystery
High-Rise Mystery is the perfect ‘whodunnit’. As the two girls sift through red herrings and reveal a series of tower block secret…
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Hot Like Fire and Other Poems
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Hot Like Fire and Other Poems
A book of poetry filled with humour and covering so many childhood themes that children of any culture and background will find so…
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Iguana Boy Saves the World with a Triple Cheese Pizza
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Iguana Boy Saves the World with a Triple Cheese Pizza
Dylan Spencer has a rubbish superpower: he can talk to iguanas. But when all the rest of the world’s superheroes are kidnapped, he…
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The Night Bus Hero
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The Night Bus Hero
Hector is a bully who reports an innocent homeless man to the police because he thinks he's probably responsible for a spate of th…
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Little Badman and the Invasion of the Killer Aunties
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Little Badman and the Invasion of the Killer Aunties
Humza Khan is an 11-year-old who devotes most of his energy into trying to be a cool rapper, AKA Little Badman. A perfect rea…
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Look Both Ways
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Look Both Ways
Ten short stories about that strange time when school finishes and children of a certain age (usually around ten years old) get to…
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No. 1 Car Spotter
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No. 1 Car Spotter
No. 1 comes to the rescue each and every time his family or the village are in trouble!
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Nina and the Travelling Spice Shed
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Nina and the Travelling Spice Shed
When Nina goes in search of some turmeric, in eccentric Aunt Nishi’s spice shed, she doesn’t expect the shed to take o…
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Planet Omar: Unexpected Super Spy
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Planet Omar: Unexpected Super Spy
Omar's mosque is in danger of being closed down, so quick-thinking Omar holds a school talent show to raise the money needed for t…
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Sam Wu is Not Afraid of the Dark
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Sam Wu is Not Afraid of the Dark
The quest continues for Sam Wu to prove that he is not afraid of anything. This time he is out to prove that he is not by any mean…
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Shona, Word Detective
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Shona, Word Detective
A delightful celebration of lexicography in a dyslexia-friendly layout, this is a book that will surely inspire all children to fi…
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Tales from the Caribbean
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Tales from the Caribbean
Here’s a brilliant collection of tales from all over the Caribbean, perfect for children to read to themselves, but best of all to…
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Tall Story
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Tall Story
Engagingly told in alternate chapters by four-foot, thirteen year-old Andi, in the UK, and her eight-foot, sixteen year-old half b…
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Toad Attack!
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Toad Attack!
Leo is astounded when he is hit on the head by a flying toad on his way to school. His best friend Rosa is excited because one of …
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The Boy at the Back of the Class
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The Boy at the Back of the Class
This is the story about how four classmates have a massive impact on the life of Ahmet, a boy that comes to their school as a refu…
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The Boy in the Tower
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The Boy in the Tower
Taking place in a believable urban, multicultural environment that will be familiar to many young readers, Polly Ho-Yen's debut is…
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A Double Detectives Medical Mystery: The Cure for a Crime
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A Double Detectives Medical Mystery: The Cure for a Crime
When Ali and Tulip's surgeon mum starts acting strangely, it's up to the Double Detectives to solve the mystery.
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The Girl of Ink and Stars
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The Girl of Ink and Stars
When her closest friend disappears into the island's Forgotten Territories, Isabella Riosse volunteers to guide the search. A stun…
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The Young Magicians and the Thieves’ Almanac
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The Young Magicians and the Thieves’ Almanac
Comedian and real-life magician Nick Mohammed weaves together an action-packed and laugh-filled adventure, while at the same writi…
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