Posts

Fun and Games in Middle Grade Fiction

-
Image
 These two brand new middle grade books are all about games- and you know that since it's middle grade fiction, it's really about way more than the game.  Bigger stakes and bigger rewards!  Both of these books are high reward books!   The first one is called The Mystery of Locked Rooms by Lindsay Currie.  I was lucky enough to get to talk to her at our librarians conference (FAME) back in November and I was super excited to read it.  It did NOT disappoint.  The story is told by Sarah, a 12 year who loves doing puzzles, especially locked room puzzles with her two best friends-West and Hannah.  Sarah compares their friendship to a triangle-each one of the friends has different strengths that make them good at solving the puzzles to get out of an escape room, which is how they get their name for their threesome-The Deltas.  But Sarah is working on a different problem-her dad has been sick and her mom is working extra hard to make ends meet. It also feels a bit isolating since she
Post a Comment
Read more

Missing Mom - middle grade fiction 2024

-
Image
 It's funny how sometimes there's kind of a "thing" in middle grade literature.  This week, I read two different books that were published in the same week and both were about kids who were dealing with a missing mom.  It's fairly often that children are left to their own devices, particularly in middle grade literature-think James and the Giant Peach, Harry Potter, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, to name a few, so it's not really surprising to find missing parents, but these two books both showed the emotional toll this can take on kids, particularly if the leaving hasn't been explained to them.  Let me show you what I mean. The first one is called Olivetti.  It's written by Allie Millington and it appears that this is her first book but she has several that are coming out in the next year or so.  Here's a link to her website if you want to find out more.  This story is told from two perspectives, one is Ernest, who is 12 and is having a ha
Post a Comment
Read more

New realistic middle grade books! 2024

-
Image
And the hits just keep coming!  Boy, have I read some great books lately!  Here are two of my favorites. The first one is "Max in the House of Spies" by Adam Gidwitz.  I haven't read all of Gidwitz's works, but I loved "The Inquisitors" so I was excited to see this one come up in my Netgalley feed.  It did NOT disappoint.  It's about Max, an 11 year old living with his parents in Berlin in 1939.  The family is trying to figure out how to cope with the limitations on their lives that the Nazis are putting in place.  After Kristallnacht, Max's parents insist that he go on the Kindertransport to London.  He doesn't want to leave his parents, but they don't give him a choice, so he goes.  As he's traveling on the ship, he finds he's picked up two immortal beings, Stein and Berg (who sound a bit like tiny vaudevillians) that are now sitting on his shoulders, simultaneously trying to throw him under the bus and help him get through all this
Post a Comment
Read more

New middle grade realistic fiction 2024

-
Image
 I'm branching out from all the speculative fiction I've been reading to catch up on some realistic fiction.  Here are two of my new favorites! The first one is called "The Partition Project" by Saadia Faruqi.   She also wrote this one that I liked a lot too called "A Place at the Table"  It's about Maha (short for Mahnoor) who lives in Texas with her loving parents and her older brother.  The story opens with the family at the airport getting ready to pick up Dadi, who is Maha's dad's adoptive mother.  Dadi is going to come and live with the family and Maha is meant to act as a kind of a baby-sitter to Dadi.  Maha is not happy about losing her bedroom (she gets her own room, but it's up in the attic) to Dadi and she's struggling to connect to Dadi, who is often abrupt and and kind of cranky.  Maha's deepest passion is journalism and she's very excited when her teacher assigns them a documentary project.  Except she has no idea w
Post a Comment
Read more

Middle grade speculative fiction 2024

-
Image
 Middle grade speculative fiction is SO MUCH FUN.  The characters are always interesting, the problems are often rooted in social issues, which those middle graders are just beginning to notice, and the fantastical situations that authors put these characters in is just a blast.  Here are two new ones that I really enjoyed. The first one is called the Princess Protection Program and it's written by Alex London.  He's written several other books and this is a link to his website .  I thought the title was intriguing and I wasn't wrong!  The story starts with a prince who is about to kiss Sleeping Beauty, except that Alex brings up some of the details that other authors might have missed.  Like, if this prince has been out scouring the countryside for the princess, is he really going to smell all that great?  When was the last time he bathed?  Or shaved?  Or even brushed his teeth?  And if you've been asleep for 100 years, are you really going to be delighted that a stink
Post a Comment
Read more

New middle grade realistic fiction 2024

-
Image
 Need some great new middle grade books with relatable characters?  Wait till you hear about these! The first one is called Shark Teeth by Sherri Winston.  I've loved Sherri Winston's writing since I first discovered her when she wrote a column for the Sun Sentinel.  She has such a terrific voice in her writing and her latest story is no exception.  Shark Teeth is about a 12 year old named Sharkita.  She is the primary caregiver for her 5 year old sister, Lily and her 8 year old brother Lamar, who has fetal alcohol syndrome.  She's the primary caregiver because her mom is unreliable as a parent.  Kita loves Lily and Lamar and would do anything to protect them.  But awhile back, things were pretty terrible.  Their mom disappeared for 9 days and Lamar had a giant melt down and knocked Kita out.  Kita called 911 to get some help and all three kids ended up in different foster homes and their mom wound up in jail.  Kita is determined not to let that happen again, but she wonder
Post a Comment
Read more

New graphic novels to warm you up!

-
Image
 I might have mentioned before that I'm not typically a fan of graphic novels.  I like creating my own mental images of characters and settings and so I don't usually choose graphic novels. BUT, holy cow, these two new ones have such interesting story lines and the art work is SO compelling, you have to look for them! The first one is called Atana and the Firebird by Vivian Zhou .  This is her first book, but it better not be her last!  The cover is stunning and that's exactly what made me want to read it.   All the art work has this magical, glowing quality to it, which is perfect because it's about Atana, a mermaid, who is living alone on an island.   One day, a Firebird comes to earth.  Her name is Ren and she has been hearing stories all her life about how wonderful Earth is and so even though it's been hundreds of years since a Firebird has come to earth, Ren has come to experience Earth life.  But there are evil forces afoot and it's not safe for Ren and s
Post a Comment
Read more