Category: Award Winners

Bright yellow cover with red words POPCORN, half of a face of a boy in glasses and a collared shirt
Posted in Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Popcorn

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Popcorn (Dial Books for Young Readers, 2024) by Rob Harrell is such a good book–full of humor and heart! And it only covers one day in the of the main character. Well worth a read.

Seventh-grader Andrew has problems. His grandmother, G, is living with them and has Alzheimer’s, he has to hide his odd behaviors at school, there’s always the threat of Mean Gene, and it’s school picture day. If that’s not enough to provoke anxiety in anyone, it’s worse for Andrew who struggles with anxiety. His biggest fear is to explode into a panic attack at school.

Andrew was inspired by the author’s own experiences with anxiety, so comes across as very real. I had such sympathy for Andrew and for others in the book. I loved his relationship with his best friend, Jonesy. I enjoyed all the mishaps during his day.

Popcorn received a Schneider Family Book Award for Middle Grades (2025) and has been nominated for others this year. Inside are sketches “by” Andrew of what his life is like.

Read about Rob here and see his other books here.

cover of City Spies - three kids under the base of the Eiffel Tower.
Posted in Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

City Spies

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

City Spies, Book 1 of 7, (Aladdin, 2020) by James Ponti is a fun romp with kid spies. It’s also an award winner: Florida Sunshine State Young Readers Award 2021.

12-year-old Sara Martinez hacked into the New York City foster care system to expose her abusive foster parents, but she’s the one arrested in jail. Ready to be convicted a man shows up saying he’s her new lawyer, but really he’s recruiting her for his MI6 spy team in Scotland. Sara says yes and is flown to meet the other four kids on the team with a mission only three weeks away. Can she fit in and learn the ropes before they go to Paris?

It’s very fun that the kids in the story are mostly from different countries.

The author has several other series–see them here. Read about James here.

cover of Greenglass House - a drawing of fantastical house in a forest with snow
Posted in Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Greenglass House

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

I love when a book does something unexpected that makes me wonder if I should read the whole thing again to see what hints I missed. Greenglass House (Clarion Books, 2014) by Kate Milford is one of those.

In a fascinating old inn that smugglers use and his parents run, twelve-year-old Milo Pine expects to get to relax for Christmas vacation. But then these people keep showing up (and getting to this inn is not easy in winter) and they all seem to want something connected to the old house. Milo, and Meddy, the cook’s daughter, plan to figure out what is going on.

This Roaming World book is a New York Times Bestseller, National Book Award Nominee, Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery, and Nebula/Andre Norton Award Nominee.

There’s a sequel, The Ghosts of Greenglass House, a companion book that Milo is reading in Greenglass House—The Raconteur’s Commonplace Book, and more. Check them all out here. The newest one, Rialto, comes out next month.

cover of Across So Many Seas
Posted in Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Across So Many Seas

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Across So Many Seas (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2024) by Ruth Behar is about immigrants–it covers four time periods and explores a variety of reasons why people leave their country.

We start in Spain in 1492 when Jews are forced to leave or face death. Twelve-year-old Benvenida’s family goes to Turkey where they are allowed to live freely. Of course, it wasn’t an easy journey. Next, we meet twelve-year-old Reina whose father ships her off to Cuba because of a small act of disobedience–there she is promised to marry a stranger. The story picks up in 1961 Cuba with Reina’s daughter, twelve-year-old Alegra, who becomes a brigadista teaching country people how to read. Again, the family has to leave their home–this time for the United States. In 2003 Miami, we meet Alegra’s twelve-year-old daughter Paloma, who with her family makes an amazing trip back to Spain.

Ruth was inspired by her two grandmothers, a Polish Jew, and a Turkish Jew, both who sailed on different ships to Cuba. She obviously had to do a lot of research into the times and places for this story, and makes them each feel real.

Read her fascinating bio here and check out all her books here–it also shows all the awards this book has won.

Previously, I recommended Ruth’s Lucky Broken Girl, another immigrant story.

cover of Restart
Posted in Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Restart

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Restart (Scholastic Press, 2017) by Gordon Korman is a great read!

Eighth grader Chase Ambrose fell off the roof, woke up in the hospital 4 days later, and doesn’t remember ANYTHING from before. Not his name, family, or friends. And definitely not school and who he was. As Chase says, “It’s like I’ve been parachuted into the middle of someone else’s life–someone who looks exactly like me, yet isn’t me.” Finding out who he was before the retrograde amnesia is different depending on who Chase talks to–he’s either a hero or someone to fear. Snippets of his old life return to his memory in bits and pieces. Will he return to who he was before or be someone new?

I missed this when it came out, but am very happy to discover it now. The book is on 49 state lists!

Gordon Korman is an award-winning author. Read the 10 ten questions kids ask and check out his 80 books.