Tag: historical middle grade

Posted in MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Code Name Kingfisher

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Code Name Kingfisher (Aladdin, 2023) by Liz Kessler is a remarkable duel timeline novel of present day and 1942. You definitely don’t want to miss this story.

Thirteen-year-old Liv doesn’t understand her ninety-two-year-old grandmother and why all she says about her childhood is that it was hard. How is Liv to do a school assignment of a family tree when she knows nothing and Bubbe won’t answer questions. But while helping clean out Bubbe’s house, Liv finds a box of old letters in Dutch and begins to unravel the past.

Twelve-year-old Mila and her older sister Hannie have to leave their Jewish family behind and go live with strangers during the Nazi occupation of Holland. Will they ever see their parents again? Mila makes new friends in her new home, but her sister is becoming more and more distant.

The contrast of the three girls’ lives and the growth of affection and understanding between Liv and her grandmother is so good. I also love how Liv changes because she was inspired by knowing the truth about her family.

The author writers for children and young adults. Read more about her here and check out all her books here.

cover of The First State of Being
Posted in MG Novels, So Many Good Books

The First State of Being

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

The First State of Being (Greenwillow Books, 2024) by Erin Entrada Kelly is a fun mix of historical fiction—Y2K—and time travel.

It’s 1999 and 11-year-old Michael is hoarding food that he’s stolen for when the world shuts down on January 1, 2000. (He has to help his single Mom who is struggling making ends meet. And she loves peaches, right?) And then he and the apartment maintenance man meet a weird teenager, who appears to be half Filipino like Michael. Ridge doesn’t even know what year it is and is dressed oddly. Something’s off about that kid. Despite all of Michael’s worries, he decides to help Ridge obtain his desire of going to a mall.

This is a story of hope and has great reminders of deciding how we want to be. The book came out in March.

Erin is a Newbery medalist and a NY Times bestselling author. Read about her and check out all her books 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.)

Posted in MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Last of the Name

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

I’m continuing reading historical mg novels with the really good Last of the Name (Carolrhoda Books, 2019) by Rosanne Parry.

Twelve-year-old Daniel O’Carolan and his sixteen-year-old sister Kathleen have lost so much. First their father, then brothers and mother, and now Granny on their way from Ireland to America. To survive, Danny must pretend to be a girl and hire on with Kathleen as housemaids. But he has to be himself sometimes and slips away early mornings in his rightful clothes and sings and dances. Can he keep his secret? And the job? He and Kathleen have to stay together. But it seems their troubles in Ireland have followed them to America.

This book is set in 1863 New York City, during the Civil War, and the terribly sad draft riots. You’ll meet immigrants from Ireland, Italy, Germany, plus black freedmen, and everyone is trying to find or keep a job.

In the back of the book you’ll find book partners–other books from the time period. Read more about that here. I definitely understand some more of the issues than I did before (such as Irish Catholics and English Protestants.)

Go here to see what books Rosanne likes to read.

I’ve recommended several of her other books here as well: a YA and another mg.

Posted in Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Badger Knight

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
badgerkBadger Knight (Scholastic Press, 2014) by Kathryn Erskin may be historical since it is sent in England 1346, but it definitely isn’t boring. I found the book hard to put down as I experienced life with the main character.
13-year-old Adrian isn’t content to be small and sickly–he’s going to be an archer. And help in the war against the Scots, or at least become an apprentice bowyer to his father. But no one–not his father or his friend Hugh and especially Good Aunt–think he’s much use beyond collecting goose feathers to fletch arrows. The village bullies call him Badger since he puts dirt under his eyes to dim the brightness of his white face when shooting arrows. Adrian claims the name Badger himself when he goes to help his friend Hugh in the war.
This book is a 2014 Junior Library Guild Selection–you won’t want to miss reading it! And isn’t the cover gorgeous?
Adrian isn’t the only traveler–so’s Kathryn. See her bio!
I have a review of another of Kathryn’s books here: Mockingbird.