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I have a great love of middle grade books. (Ok, ok, I have a great love of all books!) But seriously, middle grade books are fantastic. They make me feel super accomplished cause I can plow through them pretty quickly, but they often have great messages, heart, and depth. Here are a few I’ve particularly loved lately.
Written by: Chad Morris and Shelly Brown
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Number of Pages: 245
Age Range: 7-11
Rating: 3.5/5
Maddie has an overactive imagination and some trouble with the other girls in her class. As she tries to navigate the mean girl situation and figure out her feelings about boys, things get even more complicated when she learns she has a brain tumor and will have to go through surgery. Full of heart and humor readers will fall in love with Maddie and cheer for her success. Based on a true story.
Written by: Tamara Bundy
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Number of Pages: 227
Age Range: 8-12
Rating: 4.5/5
This one is my favorite of the lot. Alice and her family have moved in with her Grandma who’s begun suffering from dementia. She is not happy to be there and even less happy to have to walk the next-door neighbor’s dog as penance for listening in on her conversation on the party line. Clarence is having none of it so Miss Millie is forced to go too and she and Alice strike up a multi-generational, inter-racial friendship that changes their whole town. This one had all the feels and made me want to hand it to everyone who keeps showing up on the news lobbing slurs and spouting intolerance.
Written by: Kate Beasley
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Number of Pages: 250
Age Range: 8-12
Rating: 4/5
Gertie’s mom abandoned her when she was a baby and now the home she lives in across town is for sale. Gertie is determined to become the best, most awesome fifth-grader in the universe to convince her mom to stay. But the new girl in class is going to ruin everything with her seat stealing and movie star friends. Gertie is spunky and a tad awkward, like my childhood favorite Ramona Quimby. She deals with some tough stuff in a realistic and charming way. Another favorite.
Here are a few more pretty recent releases worth tracking down:
The League of Beastly Dreadfuls
And if you aren’t already following me on Instagram, hop on over and check out the two other MG reads I’ve shared today.
What have you been reading recently? Tell me in the comments below!