Tag: Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

cover of Light-and-Air
Posted in Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Light and Air

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Light and Air (Holiday House, 2024) by Mindy Nichols Wendell is fascinating historical novel from 1935 about a disease we don’t worry about much–tuberculosis.

First, Halle’s mother comes down with TB and even though Halle doesn’t have it, classmates are shunning her. When she gets it too, she joins her mother at J. N. Adam Tuberculosis Hospital in upstate New York–although they are in separate buildings and can’t see each other. There Halle makes friends and risks sneaking out to see her mother. But when her mother has a lung hemorrhage, could it be Halle’s fault?

This book is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and is the author’s debut novel.

Read about Mindy here. And here’s a link to the inspiration for the book.

cover of Tree. Table. Book.
Posted in MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Tree. Table. Book.

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Tree. Table. Book. (Clarion Books, 2024) by Lois Lowry is such a sweet book of loss and hope.

Eleven-year-old Sophie’s best friend is her eighty-eight-year-old neighbor also named Sophie. Young Sophie’s worrying her best friend is increasingly forgetful and comes up with a plan to keep the old woman from being taken from her own home and put in assisted living.

I love the connection between the two Sophies and how the aide the younger offers reveals stories of the older one’s past.

Lois is an award-winning author and two times Newbery winner. Read about her many books here and learn more about her here.

cover of Drawing Deena
Posted in MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Drawing Deena

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

I love books that introduce me to cultures other than my own, and especially when they show a character growing as in Drawing Deena (Salaam Reads/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2024) by Hena Khan. This story is a good reminder of how people are also so much the same.

Thirteen-year-old Deena is stressed. It starts out with a visit to the dentist–enough to stress many of us–then she finds out she needs an expensive night guard. And money is definitely a stressor in her family. She’d love to go on a school art field trip to see her favorite artist and take art classes to make her art better, but her parents, especially her mom, don’t think art is that important. Maybe Deena can show the value of her art by helping her mother with selling her Pakistani clothes. Maybe if the business is doing better, her parents will fight less. And maybe Deena won’t feel so anxious and so sick in the mornings.

This book deals so well with the fears and growing pains of being a middle school kid. Through the story Deena gets help and learns to be open and honest with her parents about her worries and what is important to her.

Bonus material in this story is Deena’s reaction to Van Gogh, the Immersive Experience. I recently attended this too, and along with Deena wish I could have seen one original Van Gogh.

Hena is an award-winning author of picture books and middle grade fiction. Read more about her here and check out her many other books here. (She’s one prolific writer!)

cover of Gut Reaction
Posted in MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Gut Reaction

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Gut Reaction (Scholastic Press, 2024) by Kirby Larson and Quinn Wyatt was an inspirational read.

After the loss of her father, 8th grader Tess Medina is starting a new school and when she gets her new schedule, it shows a SEL class. What’s that? The counselor explains it is “Social Emotional Learning. Talking about feelings and stuff.” No way is she going to share feelings with strangers! Especially how baking is what still ties her to her dad. Or that she’s got this pain in her stomach that makes her rush for the bathroom. She has a goal of winning the Jubilee Flour Junior Baker West Coast competition, but how is she going to raise the money for the entry fees?

This is Quinn’s debut book, written with her mom, Kirby, and inspired by her own experience with Crohn’s disease. Read this interview about how the book nearly didn’t happen. This is Kirby’s first contemporary middle grade book. Read about the award winning author here and check out all her other books here.

This is the book’s website.

cover of Painting the Game
Posted in MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Painting the Game

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Painting the Game (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2024) by Patricia MacLachlan is a tender and wonderful book.

It’s baseball time and 11-year-old Lucy thinks the pitcher’s mound is scary. But her father is a great pitcher for a minor league team and she wants to “paint the game” just like he does. She starts practicing in secret. However, she’s not the only one who has a secret.

The characters in this book are so great.

Patricia MacLahlan was the Newbery Medal winner for Sarah, Plain and Tall, which has also been made into a movie. (If you missed these, you really should check them out!) This was her last book. Read about her and all her books here.