No empire-line dresses, no three-headed aliens, no smug vampires, no goblins, and no talking rabbits. Real characters making tough decisions about life right now.
	Cloud busting by Malorie Blackman (2004)
	The midnight fox by Betsy Byars (1968)
	Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech (2002)
	Matilda by Roald Dahl (1988)
	Out of my mind by Sharon M. Draper (2010)
	Matty forever by Elizabeth Fensham (2009) First book in the Matty and Bill series
	Joey Pigza swallowed the key by Jack Gantos (1998) First book in the Joey Pigza series
	Ban this book by Alan Gratz (2017)
	Refugee  by Alan Gratz (2017)
	Ugly by Robert Hoge (2015)
	My life as an alphabet by Barry Jonsberg (2013)
	The miscalculations of lightning girl by Stacy McAnulty (2018)
	Journey to Jo'burg by Beverley Naidoo (1985) First book in the Journey to Jo'burg series
	The boy at the back of the class by Onjali Q. Rauf (2018)
	Dogs don't tell jokes by Louis Sachar (1991)
	Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan (2013)
	The bad beginning by Lemony Snicket (1999) First book in the A series of unfortunate events series
	Mr Stink by David Walliams (2009)
	Other words for home by Jasmine Warga (2019)
	Being Miss Nobody by Tamsin Winter (2017)
	The eighteenth emergency by Betsy Byars (1973)
	A stone in my hand by Cathryn Clinton (2002)
	The lemonade war by Jacqueline Davies (2007) First book in The lemonade war series
	Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine (2010)
	George by Alex Gino (2015)
	Misery guts by Morris Gleitzman (1991) First book in the Misery guts series
	When friendship followed me home by Paul Griffin (2016)
	Don't pat the wombat by Elizabeth Honey (1996)
	Small as an elephant by Jennifer Richard Jacobson (2011)
	The turbulent term of Tyke Tiler by Gene Kemp (1977) First book in the Cricklepit School series
	Inside out and back again by Thanhha Lai (2011)
	Rules by Cynthia Lord (2006)
	The higher power of lucky by Susan Patron (2006) First book in the Lucky series
	Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick (2011)
	Here in the real world by Sara Pennypacker (2020)
	Liar and spy by Rebecca Stead (2012)