Category: MG Novels

middle grade novels (for 8-12 yo)

cover of Moongarden
Posted in MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Moongarden

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

I enjoyed Plotting the Stars 1: Moongarden (Pixel+Ink, 2022) by Michelle A. Barry very much. A girl who doesn’t fit in, a hidden room, unexpected friends including an old robot, shortsighted adults, and magic. All on the moon. (And isn’t the cover gorgeous?)

Myra Hodger is attending The Scientific Lunar Academy of Magic, but is not the Number Whisperer her parents expect. The tattoos aren’t developing, so she hides her forearms with long sleeves. Then she stumbles across a hidden lab with a secret garden. As she learns about the plants, Myra wonders if her newfound magical gift could help solve the food shortage problem the government is trying to hide. But will anyone let her?

Just out this month is the sequel, Seagarden. I’m looking forward to it, too.

This book was the author’s debut and has been called an update to the book The Secret Garden. Read about Michelle here.

cover of Finally Seen
Posted in MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Finally Seen

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Finally Seen (Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2023) by Kelly Yang is so so goood!! It’s hard to tell you how much I like it. 😉

Ten-year-old Lina Gao has been living in China with her grandmother, Lao Lao, and finally gets to go live in America with her parents and younger sister who left five years ago. But all is not well in Los Angeles. Things are definitely not what she expected. Like her English being good enough. And her sister in all the family pictures, but none of her. Have her parents even missed her? Plus, Lina feels guilty about leaving Lao Lao behind.

This character and her situation felt so real. I loved seeing how Lina grew and changed and how she changed things around her.

Kelly Yang is an award winning and bestselling author. On her Finally Seen page, she asks kids what books make them feel seen. Check out her books here and scroll to the bottom to read the FAQs.

(Previously I recommended her book Front Desk here.)

cover of Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe
Posted in Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe (‎Random House Books for Young Readers, 2018) by Jo Watson Hackl is very compelling. I missed this book when it first came out but am so glad to have read it now. Such voice! So fun to follow the clues along with the character. And who doesn’t love a secret room!

Her mama has run off and Cricket thinks finding the secret room that an artist painted will help bring Mama back. But Cricket too has to run away to search…to a ghost town. This girl’s only companion in the wilds is a live cricket. And Cricket has a deadline to solve the mystery that everyone else says isn’t real.

The book has won the following awards: 2020 Mississippi Library Association Children’s Author Award, 2019 Southern Book Award Winner–Children’s Category, and was a 2020-2021 Young Hoosier Book Award Nominee.

Read about Jo here. And if you like, check out the book trailer here.

cover of That Smudge of Smoke
Posted in MG Novels, So Many Good Books

That Smudge of Smoke

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

That Smudge of Smoke (Bealu Books, October 1, 2023*) by Edith M. Hemingway is such a good historical read. This story connects two different time periods, 1929 and 2015–via a diary hidden in a door salvaged from an old Chesapeake Bay steamboat–and two twelve-year-olds dealing with life changes.

In 1929, Penelope Sinclair (Piper) has tragically lost her mother and has to go live aboard the steamboat, S.S. City of Atlanta, with her father, the busy captain of the ship. Her teacher gives her the diary to encourage her to keep writing. We get to be with Piper through all her grief and experiences on board until there’s a collision with another steamer.

Eighty-six years later, we pick up with Garrett Stevens, whose injured Army Sergeant dad is in a coma. Garrett and his mother have had to move in with his grandparents. When Garrett slams a door in anger, a panel pops off and there’s the hidden diary. Somehow, reading Piper’s experiences helps him through his own.

The story shares events and books from Piper’s life in 1929 as well. The salvaged door from an old Chesapeake Bay steamboat is real, which is very cool in itself. Plus, this book gives readers hope.

You can check out the author’s other books here and read about her and the real door here.
UPDATE: Book trailer link and the making of the book trailer.

(*I got to read an arc–the book is officially out next week.)

cover of We Dream of Space
Posted in Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

We Dream of Space

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

The 2021 Newbery honor, We Dream of Space (Greenwillow Books, 2020) by Erin Entrada Kelly is such a sad and hopeful book.

Set during the excitement and disaster of the Challenger in 1986, we’re involved with the Thomas family kids. There’s Cash who is in danger of failing seventh grade for the second time and can’t play basketball due to a broken wrist. The twelve-year-old twins, Fitch and Bird. He’s only into video games and is struggling with anger. She wants to be NASA’s first female shuttle commander and feels invisible.

The journeys these three take are fascinating. I love how they figure things out. You won’t regret reading this book or her others.

Read about the award winning author and check out all her books here.