Middle Grade Reading for June

Hi everyone! Summer is here and I wanted to highlight a few new middle grade books. I interviewed the authors of these books on my blog Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb.

 

First up is Beth Ferry's new novel Growing Home, her first middle grade book after writing many picture books. "Writing a middle-grade novel had been on my to-do list for some time but it wasn’t easy leaving my comfort zone of 500-ish words to jump into the unknown zone of thousands and thousands of words," she said. "But then Covid hit, and it felt like the right time to try." She said, "I found I enjoyed the freedom to explore the characters and setting more deeply. You don’t have room for that in picture books. And I loved the space I had for dialogue. I really enjoyed writing the dialogue."

 

Marcella Pixley's new novel is called Neshama. "I have always believed in ghosts," she said, adding, "My Grandma Anne diedwhen I was a very little girl, and the night before her funeral I had a strangedream that she came to visit me. I had been crying all day. In the dream shewas trying to comfort and assure me that she was okay but she had to leave. Iasked her if I could come with her, but she told me it wasn’t my time." She said, "When I began writing Neshama, I imagined what itwould like for a quiet, imaginative, 11-year-old girl like Anna to discoverthat she could write poetry with the spirits of her ancestors. What would theysay to her about who they were and what they left behind?"

 

And last but not least, there's Meg Eden Kuyatt's new novel, The Girl in the Walls. "All my protagonists start out with one of my wounds, or aside of myself I want to explore, she said, adding, "While Selah in Good Different is discoveringher autism, I wanted V to (at least start) loud and proud about her autism. With V I wanted to explore how I love being autistic, butpeople can make me doubt this, or make me wonder if I am only appreciated whenI’m a high-masking, well-behaved autistic." She said, "I know surely that for those who truly love me, I am lovedas I am. But this doesn’t mean doubt can’t creep in, and hurtful interactionscan make me doubt myself. And when I struggle, I write about it, because I’mlearning alongside my protagonist."

 

Happy summer, and happy reading! 

--Deborah Kalb