middle grade humor – Susan Uhlig

Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Wish

Posted on March 20, 2023May 21, 2025 by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Wish (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2016) by Barbara O’Connor pulls on the heart strings!

Charlie Reese has been sent away from her home in Raleigh to live with an aunt and uncle she doesn’t know in a “sorry excuse for a town” called Colby. And as her best friend, Alvina, told her, she’s going to school with hillbilly kids. Charlie doesn’t want to be here, doesn’t want to stay here, and definitely isn’t going to like it here. She wishes on everything. But an unexpected friend, a stray dog, and love make her change her wish.

This book was a New York Times Bestseller, Junior Library Guild Selection, American Booksellers Association Best Books of the Year, 2016 Parents Choice Gold Award, Nerdy Book Club Award 2016, and SCBWI Crystal Kite Award 2017 winner.

Read about this award-winning author here and check out her current books here. I recommended her How to Steal a Dog book here.

MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Fetching

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

8th grade Olivia has been comparing the groups of kids at her middle school to the dog breeds she’s familiar with. And it’s hysterical. But when the tormentors go too far and the assistant to the assistant principal won’t even listen to her complaint, Olivia has to serve her own justice. But will she go too far herself?
Fetching (Disney – Hyperion, 2011) by Kiera Stewart is a very well written, very funny book. I love the extra text on the cover: Middle School. Unleashed. It’s so appropriate. Any kid going in to middle school, in middle school, or who has been in middle school will recognize the setting of this book.
This is author Kiera Stewart’s first book, but she has another she sold this March. It’s titled: How To Break a Heart. I can’t wait. You should really check out her website–I love the middle school hall look to it. Plus, you’ll enjoy reading Kiera’s bio–she’s even funny there!

MG Novels, So Many Good Books

The Grand Plan to Fix Everything

Posted on September 10, 2012June 5, 2019 by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
GrandPlan 11-year-old Dini and her best friend, Maddie, love watching Bollywood movies and are big fans of movie star Dolly Singh. When Dini’s mother drops the big news that the family is moving to India for two years, the girls are heartbroken at being separated. If Dini and her family were at least going to Bombai where the filmi people are, she might get to see her favorite movie star. But, no, they are going to a little town called Swapnagiri. However, fate has something surreal in mind for Dini. Of course, fate does get some help from Dini herself.
The Grand Plan to Fix Everything (Atheneum, 2011) by Uma Krishnaswami and illustrated by Abigail Halpin is a fun read. I liked a look into a world I know nothing about. I especially like how all the threads of the different people and their stories come together in this novel.
Go to Uma’s website to see other books by this prolific author. She also teaches for the Vermont College MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults.
And if you, like me, enjoy the cover of this book go to Abigail’s website and see what else she is up to and see some of her art.

MG Novels, So Many Good Books

The Quest of the Warrior Sheep

Posted on September 13, 2011June 17, 2019 by Susan Uhlig

Okay, here’s another funny animal story–The Quest of the Warrior Sheep (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, 2011) by Christine & Christopher Russell. The title almost says it all. I mean, warrior and sheep together in the same sentence is pretty funny.
But, of course, you want to know more. The story starts with 5 rare breed sheep, who are on a mission to save the great Lord Aries (king of Sheepdom) from Lambad, the bad. Mix in a dropped cell phone by bank robbers, the sheeps’ owners–an old lady and her grandson, a farmer who thinks he saw aliens pick up the sheep, news reporters, and multiple means of transportation for a fun ride throughout the English countryside.
I love the sheep language. How can you not enjoy things like “Oh my grass!”? Each sheep has a unique personality, but you’ll have to read it to see who says “omg.” Colin Stimpson has done fun illustrations to go along with the text.
Check out the author site.