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If You Like... Chess

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Checkmate! Lots of kids feel a draw towards chess. The strategy and coordination of the pieces can be really interesting for them and playing chess helps them think in a different way. If you like chess, failing to check out these books would be a rook-y blunder. 

By Rebecca Donnelly
New York: Farrar Straus Giroux for Young Readers, 2025. Fiction. 204 pages. 

Halima is tired of only playing chess virtually with her cousin living in Somalia. So when her best friend, Jem, encourages her to start a chess club at their new middle school, she hesitantly agrees. She soon picks up two other members and this book continues showing the four strategizing their way through middle school, each relying on their chess knowledge to help avoid academic and social blunders.

By Chrystal Giles   
New York: Random House, 2023. Fiction. 245 pages.

Following his father going back to jail, Lawrence, his mom, and his sister move to North Carolina to live with his strict grandmother and two cousins. Lawrence feels like all of their bad luck is his fault, and if that's not bad enough, he soon gets kicked out for fighting. With Granny determined that he's not just going to sit on the couch and watch T.V., he joins an after school rec club where under the mentorship of a neighbor, he learns to play chess. Soon enough, the 'game for thinkers' helps him learn tools to manage his emotions.
 
By Kyla Zhou
New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2024. Fiction. 225 pages.

May's school chess team has made it to the national competition. May herself played so well at the state tournament that she won an award as the "top female player," and was featured in a news article. Her success creates tension between her and teammate Ralph, who bitterly justifies that girls can't play chess as well as boys anyway. Her pride wounded, May responds that she's going to outplay Ralph to win the spot as team captain before Nationals, however, will her drive to be the best crush her love for the game?

Written by Laurie Wallmark
Illustrated by Stevie Lewis
New York: Little Bee Books, 2023. Informational.

Judit Polgár was just five when her mother began teaching her how to play chess. She had watched her older sisters play, and now was able to join them playing five to six hours each day. This biographical picture book shows how the Hungarian girl went on to become the youngest player awarded the rank of "Grandmaster" at 15.
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