The New Kid Code
Maya has rules for surviving a new school. Rule one is don't let anyone get close enough to miss.
Middle Grade · Ages 9–12
The New Kid Code
Maya Reyes has a system for being the new kid. It works right up until it doesn't.
What this is
Maya Reyes has a system for being the new kid. It works right up until it doesn't.
Maya Reyes has moved four times in ten years. Somewhere around the third school she stopped hoping and started engineering: study the room, find the safe table, stay useful, stay friendly, stay invisible. She calls it the Code, and she has written it down.
The Code is a good system. It has never once failed her. It is also, quietly, the reason she has never had a best friend.
Each book tests the Code against a different kind of change: arriving somewhere new, learning how to stay, and returning to a place that is familiar in all the wrong ways. Each asks a slightly harder question than the one before it.
The books are funny and fast and honest about the parts adults tend to smooth over: the lunch table math, the goodbye you don't get to schedule, the strange grief of a place you didn't even like.
In order
Read the series in order
The New Kid Code: Still Here
Maya knows exactly how to be the new kid. What she has no idea how to do is stay.
The New Kid Code: Wrong Kind of Familiar
Maya has already lived in Japan. It turns out that recognizing a place is not the same as knowing it.
Readers
Who these books are for
Written for readers around 9 to 12 — and useful to the adults standing next to them.
Kids facing a move
Readers who already know what a taped box in the hallway means, and readers about to find out.
Military-connected children
Maya's dad is an Air Force Technical Sergeant. The base details are the ones a kid actually notices, not recruitment-poster material.
Anyone starting a new school
PCS, a job change, a new district, a fresh start after a hard year — the first-week problem is the same problem.
Readers working out friendship
Joining a group that already exists, keeping old friends across distance, and the difference between being liked and being known.
Parents, teachers, and librarians
Emotionally honest contemporary realistic fiction for ages 9–12, with a main character whose coping strategy gives parents, teachers, and librarians plenty to talk about.
For Parents & Educators
Practical resources for the adults helping a child through a move, a new school, or a friendship reset.
The New Kid Code
Helping Military Kids Through a PCS Move and School TransitionA PCS is four separate events for a child, and most families put all their energy into the one the kid will barely remember.
The New Kid Code
How to Help a Child Start a New SchoolA practical parent guide to the first two weeks — what children actually worry about, and what genuinely helps.
The New Kid Code
What Kids Actually Worry About Before Starting a New SchoolThe seven real worries, what sits underneath each one, and something you can actually say back.
The New Kid Code
Helping Tweens Make Friends After a MoveJoining a group that already exists is a different skill from making friends. Here is how it actually happens.
The New Kid Code
Books and Resources for Military-Connected KidsWhat makes a book genuinely work for a military kid, how to find them, and the organizations worth knowing.
The New Kid Code
The New Kid Code Teacher's GuideGrades 4–6: objectives, CCSS strands, discussion questions by act, writing prompts, and military vocabulary.
The New Kid Code
The New Kid Code Book Club GuideTwelve questions by act, plus three activities built for a group rather than a worksheet. Ages 9–12.
Newsletter
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New releases, works in progress, and the occasional essay. Pick what you actually want to hear about — you will only get that.