I started reading middle grade (MG) books because I wanted to find some modern, enjoyable books to hand/read to my daughter in a few years. Something other than Anne of Green Gables or Where the Red Fern Grows. As much as I love the classics, my daughter’s going to need books that she devours easily along with those that challenge her.
I picked up the first two or three MG titles with the self-sacrificing attitude I have when I pick up Pinkalicious. And I found that the same thing happened reading MG books that happened when I read picture books: a few were painful (but unlike Pinkalicious, instead of telling my kid that I would only read the book once a day, I got to put them down!), but I found I absolutely loved some of them.
The Ever After High Books
I don’t know if these books would have ever been on my radar had they not been written by Shannon Hale. But I love Shannon Hale, so I got the first one from the library…and now own the books and can’t wait for the third to come out.
I’m a sucker for fairy tale re-tellings, anyway, and the idea of Snow White’s daughter going to boarding school with the Evil Queen’s daughter, along with the children of Prince Charming, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, etc., was intriguing. When you add in the concept that these characters are destined to re-live their parents’ stories–but Raven (the future Evil Queen in the Snow White story) wants the freedom of choice–I was sold on the concept.
The series is adorable. It’s light and fluffy, just like a fairy tale should be, but there are many moments of depth. And I simply loved that Shannon Hale quietly pushed against stereotypes throughout the first two books. The pretty, popular girl doesn’t mind being called plump and is good with computers. The “evil” girl is friends with the kids on the fringes, but genuinely likes many of the popular kids, too.
The first two books, The Storybook of Legends and The Unfairest of Them All, are out now, and the third, A Wonderlandiful World, came out August 26th. I believe, from what I can gather on Hachette’s website, that this is the final book written by Hale, and another series called Next Top Villain will start next year written by Suzanne Selfors.
A Snicker of Magic
This was one of those books that I simple fell in love with. It’s so wonderfully weird, combining a quaint, Southern town that lost its magic with a plucky, word-obsessed heroine. Felicity Pickle wants nothing more than to stay in Midnight Gulch, Tennessee, but her mother has a gypsy soul. She has to figure out how to solve a generations-old mystery to get the magic back to Midnight Gulch–magic that might be just what will convince her mother to stay put.
I have a niece named Felicity, and I immediately decided I would have to purchase a copy of this book for her. For myself, I got it on audio, because the narrator sounds exactly like the Felicity Pickle I’d imagined.
The Lions of Little Rock
The Lions of Little Rock by Kristine Levine was one of those books that shocked me, because it never occurred to me how much of a story can take place after the cameras stop recording the “news worthy” drama.
The book takes place in Little Rock, Arkansas the year after the Little Rock Nine won the battle that mandated integration of the public high school. I never learned in history class that the governor of the state, furious that he’d lost the battle over integration, closed all the public high schools the following year. Families either had to send their children away to go to school with relatives elsewhere or kept them home–meaning that their lives were on hold for at least a year, perhaps indefinitely.
The story follows Marlee, who is entering junior high, and who has such severe anxiety that she never speaks to anyone outside her family. At least she doesn’t until the new girl, Liz, helps to bring her out of her shell. It isn’t until Liz stops coming to school, and rumors start going around that Liz was passing as white, that Marlee truly begins to question the racism around her and wonders if she can help to change it.
These are some of my favorite middle grade books. What are yours? Did I pique your interest in any of these?
Hachette provided a copy of THE UNFAIREST OF THEM ALL for TN to review. All the others were checked out of my local library, then purchased by me. Opinions are my own.
