As a career school librarian, I have experienced many exhilarating (and exhausting) first days of middle school. All summer long, it seems like that fabled first day will never come: Then, in a rush of hugs, high fives and assemblies, it’s over before you’ve even had a chance to stop and smell the cafeteria pizza. These 15 titles that range from the sublime to the ridiculous aptly convey those nerve-racking first days of junior high — and all the wonderful and terrible days that follow.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.

by Judy Blume

For many current and former middle schoolers, reading AYTGIMM is a rite of passage. This classic bildungsroman for the prepubescent pack is also an exceptional starting-school story: Who can forget Margaret’s argument with her mother about not wearing socks with her brown loafers because “Nancy says nobody in the sixth grade wears socks on the first day of school!” Fortunately, Gen Z doesn’t have that problem.

Same Page

by Elly Swartz

In a story pulled straight from recent headlines, Bess, a firebrand sixth-grade class president, teams up with her school librarian and local book lovers to fight a censorship challenge. What makes the touchy issue even more contentious is that the complainant is the mother of Bess’s friend June, the class vice president.