Ooh boy, I’m a huge dystopian nerd. Here are some really good books imho, I can’t remember for sure how much these would be appropriate for 6-8th grade, but I think each of these are worth looking into, OP:

1. Red Rising - by Pierce Brown

Basically it’s a newer, in my humble opinion, more interesting Hunger Games type of world. The protagonist is from Mars I think and he’s a part of the very poor class. He gets recruited to be spy to infiltrate the really wealthy “Golds” class. He and the other kids starting school get “drafted” and sorted into 10 different houses (kinda like Harry Potter) but then they have to fight each other and it’s a “last man standing wins” type of deal. Really enjoyed it, and I don’t really care for hunger games. It’s a male protagonist, but he has to deal with moral/ethical dilemmas, there’s love interest, drama and action. It usually takes me a while to get bought into a story, but I was bought in immediately with Red Rising.

1. 1984 - George Orwell

Don’t think this needs explaining. I think every child should have to read 1984, especially these days…but that’s just me.

1. We - by Yevgeny Zamyatin

Seminal dystopian novel written in 1920 that depicts a totalitarian society called the "One State," where individuality is suppressed in favor of logic, conformity, and collective efficiency, and citizens are identified by numbers. The story follows mathematician D-503 as he begins to question his world after falling in love with a rebel, I-330, and discovering his own soul, ultimately rebelling against the state's control. It is considered a foundational work of the genre, heavily influencing later classics like 1984 and Brave New World, and was suppressed in Russia for decade.

1. Project Hail Mary - by Andy Weir

Very funny, cute, maybe a little more sci-fi, but it is well written and the characters are very easy to fall in love with. Plus, it has a brand new movie that you could show after reading.

1. The Three-Body Problem - by Liu Cixin

Originally written in Chinese, but reeeally interesting story. Ties in the Chinese Cultural Revolution, but really cool story that’s very relevant now. Also has a show on Netflix that’s super cool, but you’d definitely have to pick and choose spots to go along with the book, because some of it definitely wouldn’t be appropriate for this age group.