These Middle Grade Titles Are Full of Heart!

• Dust by DUSTI BOWLING. After Avalyn nearly died from an asthma attack, her parents moved her to the clear, dry air of Clear Canyon City, Arizona. And for the last ten years, she’s been able to breathe. That is, until Adam showed up. Quiet and unkempt, Adam is an instant target for the bullies who have plagued Avalyn and her friends. As Avalyn gets to know him, she begins to suspect that the sudden, strange increase in dust storms around town are somehow connected to his emotions. Will she find a way to stand up for her new friend? Her life may just depend on it.
• Cross My Heart and Never Lie by NORA DÅSNES. Tuva is starting seventh grade, and her checklist of goals is full of fun plans with her best friends!  But when she starts school, nothing is how she hoped it would be. Seventh grade has split her friends into rival factions: TEAM LINNEA and the girls who fall in love and TEAM BAO and the girls who NEVER fall in love. Linnea has a BOYFRIEND, Bao hates everything related to love. Worst of all, Linnea and Bao expect Tuva to choose a side!
• The Labors of Hercules Beal by GARY D. SCHMIDT. Herc Beal is named after a mythical hero, but he's no superhero. He's the smallest kid in his class. So when his homeroom teacher at his new middle school gives him the assignment of duplicating the mythical Hercules's amazing feats in real life, he's skeptical. After all, there's not a single Hydra in sight. Missing his parents and older brother terribly, Herc figures out how to tackle the challenges. Soon, new friends, human and animal, are helping him. And though his mythical role model performed his twelve labors by himself, Herc begins to see that he may not have to go it alone.