The best book I read in December (2023)

[C.J.]

We made it into a new year! Happy 2024, everyone! While we're readying our goals for the months ahead, take a moment to consider December. Did you squeak in with any year-end titles that impressed you?

Some of my favorite middle grade finds from last month were *no* surprise because I knew Myrtle Hardcastle wouldn't disappoint. Fun discoveries included The Boy Who Hit Play by Chloe Daykin in which a boy (and his adoptive father) search for his birth parents and The Case of the Missing Moonstone by Jordan Stratford, which creates a world in which Ada Lovelace & Mary Shelley are friends ... and they decide to set up a detective agency together.



And while we're being all retrospective, let me ask: What were your best reads of 2023? Share a handful of your top middle grade titles. Maybe the rest of us will be adding them to our To Read piles for 2024!

Here are some of mine:

[Elza]

My December favorites were:
~You Only Live Once, David Bravo by Mark Oshiro (magical xolo dog, time travel, adoption)
~Loot by Jude Watson (heists, grief, found family)
~The Exact Location of Home by Kate Messner (geocashing, kid in STEM, title started with X for my A to Z challenge)


Faves of 2023 in general:



Plus I reread Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, which I thoroughly enjoyed since it was my favorite series growing up.

[Elza]

C.J. wrote: "We made it into a new year! Happy 2024, everyone! While we're readying our goals for the months ahead, take a moment to consider December. Did you squeak in with any year-end titles that impressed ..."

Hey! We both read books about adopted kids this month 👀

[C.J.]

Elza wrote: "My December favorites were ..."

Added a few of these to my To Read shelf.