"They used to tell kids to chant 'sticks and stones' or 'just ignore it.' It didn't work. This book helps kids find the opposite approach: don't ignore it; understand it.—Tom Angleberger, Origami Yoda

How to Navigate Middle School shows readers how to handle the increasing academic demands of middle school, how to be organized and manage time, how to be self-determined, and how to have grit and a sense of agency. Whether you are just starting middle school or getting ready for the next grade, you probably have ideas about what the school year will be like—or should be like.

Maybe you imagine that perfect day in middle school, where you are picked class president, made tons of new friends, became the captain of the soccer team, or crushed your Spanish vocab test. Or maybe you imagine more a disastrous day. . . where you can't get your locker open, don't have anywhere to sit in the cafeteria, or trip while walking down the hallway. Or maybe you have heard from a friend or older sibling that middle school teachers are strict or you will have 10 hours of homework a night!

This book will help you separate fact from fiction and give you the tools and strategies you will need to find your place and be your best self in middle school.

How to Navigate Middle School is part of an awesome book series developed with expert psychologist and series editor, Bonnie Zucker, PsyD, that authentically captures the middle school experience. These nonfiction books skillfully guide middle schoolers through those tricky years between elementary and high school with a supporting voice of a trusted big sister or a favorite aunt, stealthily offering life lessons and evidence-based coping skills. Readers of Telgemeir's Guts will recognize similar mental health and wellness strategies, and fans of Patterson's Middle School series will appreciate the honest look at uncertainty and chaos that middle graders can bring. Kid Confident offers what kids need to have fun with it all and navigate middle school with confidence, humor, perspective, and feel our mad respect for being the amazing humans they already are.