BOOKS TO GIVE TO MIDDLE GRADE READERS- THE LONGER VERSION

Here's the longer version of my earlier post about books for gift-giving.

One of my favorite parts of holiday shopping is buying books for kids. For a couple of weeks in December, I let housework slide in order to catch up on reading.  Stricken by guilt, I often remind myself that --

-- I need to finish this book so I can decide whether to buy it for . . . .


Over the past several weeks, I've had the pleasure of reading terrific books. Here's a list of some of my favorites for middle grade readers:


A MONSTER CALLS by Patrick Ness. Inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd. Illustrated by Jim Kay. Older middle grade and YA- This is a riveting, heart-breaking and brave work of fiction. In the book, thirteen-year-old Conor is dealing with the final days of his mother's illness, fighting the inevitable on the surface and yet, wrestling with darker emotions underneath. At seven minutes past midnight a monster in the form of a Yew tree that has come to life appears at Conor's bedroom window. "I will tell you three stories," the monster informs the boy "and, after that, you will tell me a fourth ... and it will be the truth." Devastating in its power, this is a novel that should appeal to adults as well as upper middle grade and young adult readers. An amazing and daring work of fiction! Not to be missed.  (Candlewick)


OKAY FOR NOW by Gary Schmidt- middle grade and young adult. In the summer of 1968 Doug Swieteck's family moves from Long Island to a small town in the Catskills. Doug's father is an abusive jerk. His mother is long-suffering and supportive of her three sons, one of whom is in Viet Nam. Struggling to fit in, Doug befriends Mr. Powell who works at the local public library.  As part of his job, Mr. Powell "curates" (for lack of a better term) a book of original Audobon prints which someone has given to the library. Doug is fascinated by the artwork and soon begins taking informal art lessons from Mr. Powell.  Doug also befriends Lil, a classmate whose father owns the local deli. Soon he is working as a delivery boy for Lil's father. This job enables Doug to get to know a number of characters around town, including the slightly-eccentric playwright who lives by herself in a large house outside of town. Doug has a knack for getting her to pay her bill on time, a skill which has apparently eluded former delivery boys. Schmidt manages to weave together several subplots, all the while employing the spot-on sense of humor he demonstrated in The Wednesday Wars. Readers will root for Doug as he tries to do the right thing despite the obstacles thrown in his path each step of the way.  (Clarion)


THE APOTHECARY by Maile Meloy.  Illustrated by Ian Schoenherr -Adult readers may already know Meloy's work from her two short-story collections and two novels. Her second story collection, Both Ways Is The Only Way I Want It was one of the New York Times' Best Books of 2009. Now you can read Meloy's first foray into books for young people, a page-turning fantasy adventure set during the early days of the Cold War in England. Fourteen-year-old Janie Scott's family has just moved from Los Angeles to London in order for her television-writer parents seek to escape the threats of what will soon become black-listing in Hollywood. At her new school, Janie befriends Benjamin whose father runs the local Apothecary shop. Benjamin attends school on a scholarship for future pharmacists, but he longs to become a spy.  When Janie discovers a connection between Benjamin's father and the Russian man in the park whom Benjamin suspects is a spy, events take a sudden turn for the unexpected.  Soon Benjamin and Janie are off on an adventure beyond their wildest imagining.  Along the way, they befriend an orphan named Pip who provides life-saving assistance on more than one occasion.  A fast-paced fantasy by a wonderful writer! I especially love the cover.  (Putnam)


BREADCRUMBS by Anne Ursu - A modern-day fantasy inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale "The Snow Queen." A young girl named Hazel witnesses her classmate and best friend Jack being lured into the woods. When Jack fails to appear in school and his parents offer an implausible explanation for his absence, Hazel goes in search of him.  (Walden Pond Press)




MY NAME IS MINA by David Almond-(maybe more YA than MG). Almond's earlier novel Skellig has been on my all-time favorites list since I first read it when it was published a decade ago. This prequel to Skellig is a first person account written in the voice of Mina, the girl who befriended Michael in that earlier work. Mina is a highly-imaginative, home-schooled child who is working her way through the grief and emotional trauma caused by the her father's death some time before the novel begins. Written as a series of journal entries this book explores the disorienting side of adolescence and affirms the importance and value of individuality in the face of the institutionalizing aspects of civilized society.
(Delacorte)

THE TROUBLE WITH MAY AMELIA by Jennifer Holm- I've loved Holm's work since Our Only May Amelia and was delighted to learn she had written a sequel. May is still the brave, spunky girl of the Nasel Valley who endures the hardships of life in a logging community of the nineteenth century. Nobody does historical fiction for middle graders better than Jennifer Holm with her gift for plot and character and creating a satisfying mix of humor and dramatic arc. My only quibble is the cover. What gives? Does this look like a girl living in the 1800's?  Let's hope they change it for the paperback.  (Atheneum)


THE PENDERWICKS AT POINT MOUETTE by Jeanne Birdsall - The third installment in the series by National Book Award winner Jeanne Birdsall. Satisfying in an old-fashioned way, even though I saw the ending coming, I still loved it.  (Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers)






LIESL AND PO by Lauren Oliver. An alchemist and his apprentice, an orphan girl locked away in a cold, attic room by a cruel stepmother and a ghost named Po combine  combine to creat an eerie fantasy.  Victorian in tone and with a lively pace and satisfying plot, this fairy tale adventure is highly entertaining!  (Harper)









THE UNFORGOTTEN COAT by Frank Cottrell Boyce- Carnegie-Medal-winner Frank Cottrell Boyce says he was inspired to write this novel after hearing students at a school he visited in Netherton, England talk about a classmate who had suddenly disappeared after being removed by immigration officials in the middle of the night. Speaking with Catherine Jones for an article in The Liverpool Echo, Boyce said,

"And the kids in Bootle were really distressed her coat was still there. They knew it was a cold country she was going to, and that seems a really powerful emotional starting point for a story."

Read More http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-entertainment/echo-entertainment/2011/02/21/frank-cottrell-boyce-on-how-jackanory-and-school-memories-inspired-his-new-our-reads-story-100252-28204596/3/#ixzz1ghuMUeK3about

In writing his story, Boyce created two refugee boys from Mongolia named Chingis and Nergui. The boys appear one day as students in the Sixth Form at a school in Bootle. The older boy, Chingis picks Julie to be their "Good Guide," the person who will help them find their way in a new country. Julie is the narrator of the book which is told as a sort of lined journal with photographs. This is a magical and heartwarming novella filled with humor and poignancy which will provoke thoughts about immigration.  (Candlewick)