3 Middle Grades Fantasy Books I Really Liked
Looking for a middle grades fantasy for your next homeschool readaloud? We review three of our newer faves: The Time of Green Magic, Amari and the Night Brothers, and The Language of Ghosts.
The Time of Green Magic by Hilary McKay
★ ★ ★ ★ ½
I stan Hilary McKay, y’all, and I was so glad to get my greedy little hands on the advance copy of her new book. What I love about Hilary McKay (I think) is the way her big, messy, complicated families are big, messy, and complicated — there's no attempt to simple them up. Some people change and some people don’t, some people get better, some get worse, but everyone is ultimately accepted for who they actually are. I love that.
So in The Time of Green Magic, a new family is forming: When Theo and Polly fall in love, they move their two families together into a rambling old house covered with ivy (and at the very top of their budget). Theo’s daughter Abi is used to being an only child and having her Granny around — but now Granny’s gone back to live with her sister in Jamaica, and Abi’s stuck with two annoying brothers instead: Polly’s sons, grumpy teen Max, who is in the middle of a stupid fight with his best friend (that he knows is stupid but that he can’t bring himself to end), and little Louis, who wants to spend every minute with Abi and Max and can’t understand why they don’t want him around. Voracious reader Abi is the first to discover that there’s something strange happening in their new house — when she drifts deep into a book set on the ocean, she returns to reality with a salt-water-wet book in her hands — but lonely Louis is the one who nurtures the magic, when a mysterious and dangerous creature creeps through his window at night.
In some ways, this reminds me of Edgar Eager and Eva Ibbotsen — there’s magic here, but it’s matter-of-fact, everyday magic that believably flies under the radar of busy parents. Underneath the everyday, though, there’s this wonderful sense of eerie mystery, a reminder that the world is more magical than we assume. But it’s also pure McKay in the way that Abi, Max, and Louis become a family — a big, messy, complicated family, which is a kind of magic all its own.
Oh, I loved it. If you are in the mood for something warm and whimsical, give this one a go.
Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston
★ ★ ★ ★ ½
I can’t wait for the follow-up to Amari and the Night Brothers, and that’s about the highest praise I can offer.
Amari’s big brother Quinton is a legend in the Rosewood low-income housing project where they grew up: Not only did Quinton get into the fanciest prep school in town, he was also accepted to two Ivy League colleges and ended up with a mysterious government job. Amari’s brother is her hero — and so when he suddenly goes missing, she’s devastated. In her search for clues, she finds a ticking suitcase in her brother’s closet (surely it wasn’t always there?) and a nomination for the summer tryouts at the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs.
Quinton’s weird nomination opens up a world Amari never imagined — suddenly, she’s roommates with a weredragon, full of dangerous magic, and learning that there’s a whole magical world to explore. She’s determined to seize this opportunity to find out what happened to Quinton — but to do that, she’s going to have to follow in her brother’s footsteps and ace the summer Junior Agent competition against kids who’ve been training for this their whole lives. But that’s OK: Amari’s never run from a challenge before, and she’s not going to start now.
I loved so many things about this book, but one of the things I loved most was how effortlessly B.B. Alston demonstrates that a book can be a fabulous fantasy and also have strong family relationships, address racism, classism, and feminism, and refuse to settle for easy binaries of good and evil. In a middle grades book, y’all! The story doesn’t miss a beat, but it’s full of good, challenging questions and important discussions. This really may be that middle grades fantasy series you’ve been looking for — it was for me.
The Language of Ghosts by Heather Fawcett
★ ★ ★ ★ ½
The Language of Ghosts is a middle grades charmer, and practical, competent Noa is one of my new favorite heroines. When the novel begins, she’s utterly unmagical, but she’s the one who solves problems through observation and critical thinking. Noa’s always assumed that the magic skipped her, and she’s content to keep life running behind the scenes — which is no small task when your parents have been murdered, your family has been forced into exile, and your big brother is working to retake the throne. This requires him to channel the dark side of his magical abilities, however, and Noa becomes more and more worried that the darkness is overtaking him. She’s also worried because it turns out the magic hasn’t skipped her after all, and she has abilities that have been forgotten from magical lore. Her ability may be exactly what Julian needs to win the war — but it may also be the power that pushes him over to the dark side.
I really loved this book — the family relationships feel real, and I definitely identify with Noa, who is managing everything behind the scenes and not getting much credit for her work! In fact, in a lot of ways, this a family story that just happens to take place in a world where magic is real. This gives the story an emotional heft that plenty of middle grades fantasy don’t have — because we’re invested in Noa and her siblings, we genuinely care how the adventure turns out. Cleverly, the author uses these emotions to push toward a finale that is — if not surprising — pretty satisfying. My only complaint: The pacing is a little weird. It takes a long time for the story to get going, and then the ending feels kind of rushed. I liked it, though, and definitely recommend it for middle grade readers who like their magic with an emotional anchor.
YA Book Reviews: The Inheritance Games, The Stolen Kingdom, The Ivies
Three action-packed YA novels that might just scratch your homeschool reading sweet spot.
We review three action-packed YA novels: The Inheritance Games, The Stolen Kingdom, and The Ivies.
The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
★ ★ ★ ½ ☆
Several people recommended The Inheritance Games to me, and I totally see why: It’s a fun, fast-paced read full of puzzles and surprises. Is it the best book I ever read? No. Did it make the perfect poolside reading pleasure? Totally.
Avery has no idea why she’s named in the will of billionaire Tobias Hawthorne — or why her inheritance depends on her making his enormous Texas estate her home for one year. (This is complicated by the fact that Hawthorne’s family, who have been disinherited by the same will, will be living in the house with Avery.)
Still, after being broke since her mom died a few years ago, Avery is up for the challenge. This inheritance could be her ticket to college and a life where she doesn’t have to wait tables to keep the lights on. But it quickly becomes obvious that Tobias Hawthorne is up to something, and his will is just the beginning of a long game. With help and hinderance from Hawthorne’s four grandsons, the media stalking her every move, and an estate full of secrets, Avery is going to have do some quick thinking and careful strategizing to figure out why a wealthy stranger made her his heir and what secret the Hawthorne estate is hiding. Luckily, Hawthorne picked the right girl for the job. Avery was born for this challenge.
There’s a big mysterious house full of hidden passages and secret codes. There’s a complicated family that is full of people who are Up To Something. There are Mysteries From the Past coming to light in the present. And there’s a reasonably satisfying conclusion. I’ll forgive it the love triangle and occasional plot hole for the sheer fun it was to read. This is a perfect summer book.
The Stolen Kingdom by Jillian Boehme
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
The Stolen Kingdom has a lot going on, and that may have been its downfall. The action happens from two perspectives: Maralyth, a winemaker’s daughter, discovers that she has magical powers and a claim to the throne of the kingdom; and Alac, the kingdom’s spare heir, is beginning to suspect that his father’s rule may be based on some shady sorcery. When their paths cross in an attempted coup, political and romantic sparks fly.
I love a stand-alone fantasy — you all know how I feel about cliffhanger endings! — but this one may have tried to do too much. The seeds of this book are good: There’s a complicated political/magical system, and I learned a lot about winemaking, which was cool (if possibly off-topic?). I think this wanted to be a feminist fantasy, but it fell into so many misogynist fantasy tropes: Maralyth is different from all those other girls, you guys, the ones who are happy to just get married and have babies. (Because of course they have so many choices about their lives in this fantasy world.) She is Special. She is so Special that the moment Alac sees her, he falls in insta-love and sees everything in his world in a whole new way. (Their “romance” is the second-flattest part of the book; the flattest is Maralyth’s relationship with her brother.) This is a real peeve of mine in fantasy literature, the One Special Girl trope, and so I know that people without this peeve might see the book very differently. If there had been a strong sense of world building, if there had been interesting political relationships, if the magic system had been developed, if the characters had more depth — maybe if any of these things had been the case, I could have gotten over my bias, but they didn’t, and I couldn’t. I didn't love this one.
The Ivies by Alexa Donne
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
The Ivies has so many things I love: Boarding school hijinks! Academic rivalries! Murder and mayhem! So it’s fair to say that I was prepared to be obsessed with this book — and that I was a little bummed that it didn’t quite live up to its promise.
First, the good: At super-competitive Claflin Academy, the Ivies are the ultra-elite, the five girls who have their Ivy League futures mapped out for them. Scholarship student Olivia knows she’s lucky to be included in this hotshot group — and she knows she's risking her luck when she applies early admission to Harvard, which is queen bee Avery’s exclusive domain. Avery doesn’t get in, Olivia does — and so does fellow Ivy Emma, who also went behind Avery’s back to apply. When Emma turns up dead, everyone’s a suspect and all kinds of hidden secrets are revealed.
It’s a good set-up! But the bad part is that it doesn’t quite work. Olivia herself is a big problem: A lot happens around her, but she never becomes a fully realized character, and the more the plot hinges on her, the more obvious that flatness becomes. The plot is full of twists and turns, but they feel predictable — though once you’ve read a bunch of YA thrillers, this is maybe inevitable, so it could be a Me Problem not a Book Problem. And the end — well, I didn’t like how things resolved, and I’m not sure what the ending says about all the different narrative threads the book was tugging along. It definitely seemed to contradict itself.
Still, boarding school murders are summer reading classics for a reason! I don’t think you’ll regret picking this one up if that’s your jam, but don’t expect any profundities or surprises.
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Great Homeschool Readalouds: The Hundred and One Dalmatians
In this funny, old-fashioned story, two Dalmatian parents set off to rescue their kidnapped puppies. It's so much more fun than the movie!
THE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIANS by Dodie Smith
Don’t confuse the Disney adaptation with this delightfully old-fashioned story — the book is much funnier and more charming than its animated or live-action cinematic version. And the original book makes a really lovely holiday readaloud.
Pongo and Missis live a dog-gone (sorry — I couldn’t resist) perfect life in London with the Dearlys, who adore their pets and their fifteen Dalmatian puppies. But Mrs. Dearly’s old school mate, the fabulous, Bohemian, and kind of evil Cruella de Vil, has her own ideas about those distinctively spotted puppies’ future. When she kidnaps the Pongo puppies — and a slew of other Dalmatian pups—Pongo and Missis set off on adventure across London to Cruella’s estate to rescue their family, helped along the way by a host of plucky pets.
There’s enough action in this short novel to keep you on the edge of your seat, and Cruella de Vil is an iconic bad guy. (There’s not a sympathetic backstory in sight.) And the animal heroes are delightful — like Beatrix Potter characters raised in the city or the canine characters of some pre-Jeeves Wodehouse story. And the snowy backdrop of the English countryside has a cozy wintry feel that’s just right reading over the winter holidays.
Sure, there are some quibbles: You can definitely argue that there’s more than a little sexist stereotyping in the story, but for a product of its time, it could be a lot worse. (For instance, it’s Mr. Dearly who does the round-the-clock feedings for two days for the new puppies, which seems quite progressive). There’s a also a scene set in a Christmas Eve church that may feel too religious for some secular homeschoolers, but it really seems to be more about kindness and community than any particular kind of religion. I like old-fashioned books, though, so I may have a soft spot for some of their features that might spark more annoyance for other readers.
Ultimately, I think this is a funny, charming children’s story that makes a perfect multi-age readaloud.
Quotable: “Like many other much-loved humans, they believed that they owned their dogs, instead of realizing that their dogs owned them.”
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Great Homeschool Readalouds: The Greenglass House
A wintry middle grades mystery that may remind you a little of The Westing Game.
The Greenglass House by Kate Milford
I’m always updating our winter readalouds list, and The Greenglass House is a terrific addition.
Winter is supposed to be the quiet season at the Greenglass House — even the smugglers who tend to frequent the old inn don’t work over the holiday. But this year is different: Guest after guest turns up at the inn’s front desk, each with an improbable, complicated story, and Milo and his innkeeper parents find themselves rushing around trying to take care of their unexpected guests. Now things are going missing, and Milo teams up with the cook’s daughter Meddy to figure out what’s really going on — and what secrets his adopted family’s old hotel is hiding.
It’s surprisingly hard (The Westing Game excepted) to find really good middle grades mysteries — you know, the kind with actual clues that you can piece together to figure out what’s going — and The Greenglass House really delivers on the count. It feels like a really charming mash-up of classic detective tropes (smugglers, ships, and blackouts!) and more nuanced ideas about family, friendship, and identity. Milo is a genuinely likable 12-year-old — he pretends to be his Dungeons and Dragons-ish alter ego when he needs to feel brave, and he’s totally confident in his parents’ love for him even as he wonders about the parents who gave him up. Milo and Meddy collect information along with the reader, piecing together the mysteries of the Greenglass House as they put together the clues. Whether you guess the twist at the end or you’re totally surprised by it, the solution to the book’s layered mysteries comes together in a satisfying, Agatha Christie-ish way. All the clues really are there for you to put together, if you can.
You could read this any time of year, but it’s murky, chilly, timelessness feels especially appropriate in the lead-up to the winter holidays. Kate Milford does a really lovely job of setting the story just outside of chronological time — Milo watches television, but the story lacks other trappings of modern life, and its old-fashioned keys, smugglers, and plot points give it an almost steampunk, fantasy-ish vibe. And it’s hard to imagine a more atmospheric winter story — this is a perfect book to read snuggled up by the fire with a mug of hot chocolate. Reading The Greenglass House feels like winter in all the best ways.
There are some places where the story gets a little complicated to follow — there are a lot of backstories to keep up with, and Milo and Meddy confuse things a little by referring to themselves by their role-playing identities as well as their real names. But mysteries are supposed to be complicated, aren’t they? And I think the little bumps along the way really do a nice job of making you feel like you’re part of the mystery, too.
Quotable: “It is not merely our adversaries we must investigate. We must always work to know ourselves better, too.”
You might also enjoy: The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Chasing Vermeer, The London Eye Mystery
Great Homeschool Readalouds: The Tomten
In this sweet winter story, a friendly troll reminds a farm full of creatures that spring is coming.
THE TOMTEN by Astrid Lindgren
We always know it’s the holiday season in our homeschool when The Tomten finds its way into the reading basket. Even though my kids are older now and we’ve always inclined toward chapter books for our family readalouds, this sweet winter picture book is essential holiday reading at our house, and I think your family might love it, too.
The Tomten is a kindly Swedish creature who — when winter is at its darkest and chilliest — wakes up from his dreams to remind animals (and any children who happen to be awake) that spring is coming. Busy grown-ups can’t hear the Tomten’s silent language as he quietly makes his way around the farm, but that’s okay: The Tomten is watching over those grown-ups, too, as he keeps his winter vigil. The Tomten is either a troll-ish gnome or a gnome-ish troll; either way, he’s a white-bearded, pointy-capped mythical creature who channels the hope of spring in the chill dark of winter.
And that’s it, really — nothing much happens in this little picture book, with its spare language and dark, dreamy illustrations of a snowbound farm. But there’s something about its magical quietness that captures the way I want the holidays to feel: peaceful, patient, and a little bit enchanted. We read this book and make rice pudding for the Tomten (we eat some, too!), and it feels as though the season of joy and celebration has arrived in the best possible way.
If you’re feeling creative, you could expand on this readaloud with some art projects: Make a snowy farm with cotton wool and (if you’re feeling brave!) a little glitter, and use it to decorate your nature table, or set out gray cardstock and black and white pastel crayons, and let your kids make a winter scene in monochrome. But it’s a lovely readaloud all by itself, snuggled up together right before bedtime, too.
You might also enjoy: The Tomten and the Fox, Winterfrost, Hedgie’s Surprise
Great Homeschool Readalouds: The Hoboken Chicken Emergency
Thanksgiving gets weird when a butcher mishap leads a kid to a 266-pound chicken.
THE HOBOKEN CHICKEN EMERGENCY by Daniel Pinkwater
Arthur’s job is picking up the turkey for the Bobowicz’s Thanksgiving dinner, which should be easy, right?
Except the butcher has lost the Bobowicz’s order, and he doesn’t have any extras. In fact, nobody in Hoboken seems to have a turkey for sale. Or a chicken. Or a duck. Or anything remotely bird-y. Arthur is wandering the streets, getting increasingly panicked — what will everyone say if he comes home without the star of the Thanksgiving table — when he spots a CHICKENS FOR SALE sign on an apartment door. Instead of a shady poultry vendor, Arthur finds a mad scientist looking to get rid of some seriously oversized chickens. Arthur buys a 266-pound chicken, but by the time they get home, he’s decided that he’d rather have a pet than a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Mrs. Bobowicz makes meatloaf for dinner instead, and the chicken — named Henrietta — becomes part of the family.
Of course, life with a 266-pound chicken isn’t always easy, and when Henrietta escapes, the citizens of Hoboken freak out, treating the perfectly nice chicken like a monster until she’s so hurt and angry with their unkindness that she starts acting like a monster. Arthur knows his sweet chicken is still in there, and he’s determined to save the day.
This is such a fun, funny readaloud with a great message about the ways that ignorance can make us act like — well, jerks if we don’t recognize it. Any book that emphasizes kindness and not being afraid of differences feels totally in the spirit of Thanksgiving to me. It’s a quirky, fun tour of Hoboken, and if you’ve been there, you’ll recognize the docks, the park, and other locations where Henrietta and Arthur’s adventures take them. Even though it was written in 1977, the book has a casual diversity that feels refreshing, and I love that it’s a Thanksgiving book that isn’t all about the Pilgrims. (I can’t with the Pilgrims.)
You might also enjoy: Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer, The Enormous Egg, The Qwikpick Papers: Poop Fountain!
Book Review: Down to Earth
A book with a homeschooling scientist as the main character and lots of cool geology facts? We love to see it.
Down to Earth by Betty Culley
Down to Earth is a quirky middle grades gem. Homeschooler Henry is obsessed with rocks, so of course he’s excited when a meteorite lands in his family’s field. He’s practically memorized all the rocks in his R volume of the encyclopedia, but he’s not prepared for this rock’s mysterious powers: It’s got some weird connection to the local water that causes floods and droughts to happen. So Henry does what any good homeschooler does when confronted with a Big Question: He does research, and he connects with experts in the field.
I’m always looking for good books with homeschooled main characters, so I was happy to discover this one, and I really loved that Henry’s curiosity feels authentic — he’s a bright kid with a deep interest in geology, and his homeschool experience felt totally relatable. I always have a soft spot for magical realism, and I liked how gently this book nudges the edges of the scientifically possible, reminding readers that science and magic have been tangled together throughout history. It’s also nice to have a male tween-age character who is intelligent, emotionally adjusted, and has healthy family and social connections — and I loved the scientist (tracking the meteor) who befriends him.
I think this book is just delightful. Recommended for middle grades readers, kids who love science (especially geology), homeschoolers in search of a book with a character who learns like them, and anyone looking for a genre-bending story that blends science and magic.
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Book Review: Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library
Libraries! Puzzles to solve! Witty book references! While you shouldn’t look for nuanced character development, you’ll be so busy running around the library with Kyle and his allies to crack codes and unpuzzle puzzles, you will hardly miss it.
In brief: After years without a library, Kyle’s town is finally getting a library of its own—and not just any library! A library designed by the great game master Luigi Lemoncello. Kyle wins one of the coveted sleepover spots on the library’s opening night, and when the kids wake up after a night of gaming, they discover that the real game is just beginning: Now they’ve got to solve their way to library’s secret exit to win a fabulous prize. As Kyle teams up with friends old, new, and unexpected to puzzle out the clues in the amazingly interactive library, he discovers that the library just might be the coolest place in the entire world.
What makes it a great readaloud: Libraries! Puzzles to solve! Witty book references! While you shouldn’t look for nuanced character development, you’ll be so busy running around the library with Kyle and his allies to crack codes and unpuzzle puzzles, you will hardly miss it.
But be aware: One of the characters says “bro” so many times that it feels like Grabenstein was trying to write a drinking game into the book.
Quotable: “A library doesn’t need windows, Andrew. We have books, which are windows into worlds we never even dreamed possible.”
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Book Review: The Wrong Side of Magic
Hudson’s got a troll curse to break, and if he wants to get back to normal, he’s going to have to team up with hist not-normal-at-all neighbor Charlotte. Charlotte, though, is on a mission of her own: to restore the vanished Princess to the throne and get rid of the evil usurper Prince Varygran once and for all. Along the way, they’ll run into punctuation markets, marauding encyclopedias, unicorns, mermaids, magic, and more.
I feel that I should start out by saying that this book is not like The Phantom Tollbooth. A lot of the advance reviews I read compare The Wrong Side of Magic to Norman Juster’s childhood classic, but I think if you go into this book expecting it to be the next Phantom Tollbooth, you’ll be pretty disappointed. Which would be a shame because The Wrong Side of Magic is actually a charming little book.
Hudson’s neighbor Charlotte is odd. So he’s pretty annoyed when Charlotte convinces his little sister that the only way to cure her sick cat is to use Charlotte’s magical compass to travel to the world of Logos and collect the enchanted catflower that grows there. But when Hudson uses the compass himself, he discovers that Charlotte was telling the truth: Logos is real, and if he’s going to navigate the world of words and get rid of that nasty troll curse he managed to pick up, Hudson’s going to have to team up with Charlotte. Charlotte, though, is on a mission of her own: to restore the vanished Princess to the throne and get rid of the evil usurper Prince Varygran once and for all. Along the way, they’ll run into punctuation markets, marauding encyclopedias, unicorns, mermaids, magic, and more.
This is a fun quest story with lots of playful puns and clever wordplay. The land of Logos obviously owes a little debt to Dictionopolis and The Phantom Tollbooth, but it’s its own place with its own rules and inhabitants. Hudson is a pretty typical male protagonist, determined to fill his deployed father’s shoes by taking care of his mom and sister, while Charlotte has a Luna Lovegood wackiness that balances his seriousness well. They make a good team, putting together clues and braving hazards in their quest to save the kingdom of Logos from its evil ruler, always just a few steps ahead of his relentless army, and the evolution of their relationship — from reluctant allies to firm friends — rings true. Some of the scenes are hilarious word nerd fun (like the market scene where Charlotte and Hudson are looking for a word snack to share, and Charlotte explains they can’t share “to explore” since you can’t split infinitives).
The verdict: The Wrong Side of Magic would be a great family readaloud on its own with the bonus of launching fun conversations about language and grammar.
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Book Review: We Can Be Heroes
I don’t know how we get from where we are to where we want to be, but art and asking hard questions is not a bad start.
We Can Be Heroes is absolutely not a perfect book, and if you have problems with it, I get it, but it was the book I needed right now, and I kind of loved it. It tackles unabashedly hard topics: gun control, abusive relationships, post-traumatic recovery, so trigger warnings left and right. But it uses these topics to construct a story about resilience, friendship, and social change that feels really important. (It’s definitely more appropriate for older/YA readers.)
Beck and Vivan lost their best friend in a school shooting that also permanently injured Vivian: Cassie’s ex-boyfriend, the son of the Bell Firearms CEO, shoots Cassie and then himself in the school cafeteria. Cassie had filed police reports on her ex’s escalating violence, but the police didn’t see the son of the town’s most important man as a real threat. Even now, people talk about “one bad decision” as though murdering your girlfriend is like deciding to drive your car downtown instead of taking the subway.
But Beck and Vivian — with the help of Cassie’s ghost — team up to create a series of public art pieces, highlighting maligned women from mythology, to keep Cassie at the front of people’s minds. A podcaster focused on women’s issues also comes to down to dig into the story behind the killing and the institutions and people who failed Cassie. I don’t know how we get from where we are to where we want to be, but art and asking hard questions is not a bad start.
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Book Review: The Accidental Apprentice
The Accidental Apprentice is a real middle grades charmer, and I’m delighted it’s the first in a series. Kids who love Pokemon, How to Train Your Dragon, Fablehaven will appreciate the secret magical world inhabited by Lore Keepers, who bond with and train the world’s magical creatures. It’s a great magical world with thoughtful organization, peopled with interesting characters and creatures.
All Barclay wants is to be like everybody else. Orphaned in an attack by one of the fantastic beasts that roam the Woods, he knows his only shot at a family and a normal life is to apprentice himself to one of the villagers — and if the only person willing to take him on is a mushroom farmer, well then, Barclay is going to be the best darn mushroom farmer Dullshire's ever seen. When he slips into the woods and accidentally bonds with a magical beast, things get complicated, and Barclay discovers that the only way to get out of this new adventure and get his normal life back is to come in first in the Lore Keepers’ apprentice exhibition. Unfortunately, some of the Lore Keepers are up to no good, and they, too, are pinning their plans on the apprentice exhibition.
The Accidental Apprentice is a real middle grades charmer, and I’m delighted it’s the first in a series. Kids who love Pokemon, How to Train Your Dragon, Fablehaven will appreciate the secret magical world inhabited by Lore Keepers, who bond with and train the world’s magical creatures. It’s a great magical world with thoughtful organization, peopled with interesting characters and creatures. I also like Barclay as a reluctant hero — a kid who’s worked so hard to be “normal” doesn’t let go of that desire easily, even when there are fantastic storm hounds and tiny dragons around. His bond with his Beast feels real — he pushes against it at first, but he can’t help feeling a connection to the magical creature who chose him in the Woods.
If you’re looking for a new magical world to explore, this one’s worth visiting. I really enjoyed it.
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Book Review: Karma Moon, Ghost Hunter
Karma Moon, Ghost Hunter is a middle grades Ghost Hunters, and I’m here for it.
Karma Moon, Ghost Hunter is a middle grades Ghost Hunters, and I’m here for it. After years of trying, her dad’s film crew finally has its first big break: Netflix wants them to shoot a pilot for a ghost hunting docu-series on location at the very spooky Stanley Hotel. If the pilot shoot is a success, the series gets the green light — and Karma and her dad get a major life upgrade. They could use one — life hasn’t been easy since Karma’s mom took off for Florida one day and never came back, leaving Karma with some serious anxiety and her dad with too many bills.
Karma’s convinced this is their big break, though, and with her best friend Mags along for support, she dives into her newly created position as head of research, learning everything she can about the hotel’s haunted history. She’s expecting spooky happenings like she’s seen in “Poltergeist,” “Ghostbusters,” and “The Shining,” and she’s not disappointed — something weird is definitely going on at the Stanley Hotel.
This is a fun, spooky-not-scary book with a likable protagonist coping well with ongoing anxiety. (I love that she has therapist-recommended coping strategies for anxiety that she and other characters refer to matter-of-factly.) The books is also full of haunted history, including lots about Harry Houdini, which has made me want to do a whole Houdini unit study. Don’t let the Scooby Doo vibe fool you — there’s complex character growth happening in this story, as well as madcap haunted house hijinks. It’s definitely going on my middle grades must-read list.
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Book Review: The Door by the Staircase
Life at the orphanage is pretty horrible for 12-year-old Mary, so she’s thrilled when a super-nice lady appears, insisting that Mary is the only girl for her. Mary’s even more thrilled when it seems that the super-nice lady only wants to feed her delicious food, buy her pretty clothes, and give her plenty of time to read and play. It seems almost too good to be true. And, of course, it is. Or, at least, it might be. The Door by the Staircase is an engaging middle grades fantasy book that deeply explores what makes a family.
Life at the orphanage is pretty horrible for 12-year-old Mary, so she’s thrilled when a super-nice lady appears, insisting that Mary is the only girl for her. Mary’s even more thrilled when it seems that the super-nice lady only wants to feed her delicious food, buy her pretty clothes, and give her plenty of time to read and play. It seems almost too good to be true. And, of course, it is. Or, at least, it might be.
With the help of her new friend, a magician’s son, Mary discovers that kindly Madame Z is really the notorious Baba Yaga of Russian folktales — and that Mary is likely to end up on Baba Yaga’s dinner table any day now. Mary knows she should fight back, but she’s torn — Madame Z is the first person to be truly kind to her since her brother and mother died in a terrible fire, and Mary can’t help thinking that Madame Z must love her a little bit, too. Not sure what to do, Mary enlists aid from Jacob and a talking cat to escape from Baba Yaga’s grasp, even though part of her has begun to think of that chicken-legged hut as her home.
The Door by the Staircase is an engaging middle grades fantasy book that deeply explores what makes a family. There are some scary parts — Baba Yaga is, as mentioned, fairly notorious — and some sad parts, especially the story of how Mary’s family died, leaving her in that lonely orphanage. It’s maybe a little spoiler-y to go into it knowing that Madame Z is Baba Yaga in disguise, but it seemed pretty obvious from the get-go, so I don’t think you lose anything knowing it in advance. It’s a little slow to pick up speed, but once the book gets going, it’s hard to put down — and Mary and Jacob are genuinely likable, complicated protagonists whose friendship grows and develops in a realistic way. Marsh does a good job of painting Madame Z so that we can understand both why Mary would want to get as far away from her as humanly possible and why she might want to stay with her forever.
If you want more Russian folk tale-inspired literature, check out Egg and Spoon.
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Readaloud of the Week: The Winged Girl of Knossos
What if the lost civilization of Atlantis was really the ancient Minoan civilization on Crete? That’s the jumping off point for this book, in which an inventor’s daughter gets caught up in a recognizable-but-distinctly-different take on the story of the Minotaur and Daedalus.
In brief: What if the lost civilization of Atlantis was really the ancient Minoan civilization on Crete? That’s the jumping off point for this book, in which an inventor’s daughter gets caught up in a recognizable-but-distinctly-different take on the story of the Minotaur and Daedalus. Tomboy Inas helps her father with his flying-machines and fights to save her father from King Minos’s wrath after Theseus escapes from the Minotaur’s labyrinth with the king’s daughter.
What makes it a great readaloud: Inas is a great heroine—spunky, smart, and talented. (In addition to helping with her dad’s inventions, she’s a skilled bull rider.) And the illustrations are based on actual artwork from ancient Crete.
But be aware: This book was published in the 1930s, when the standard happy ending for girls was getting married.
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Book Review: Across the Pond
Surely I am not the only person who has imagined what it would be like to randomly inherit a castle in Scotland? With bonus birding adventures.
Across the Pond is a low-key middle grades charmer. Surely I am not the only person who has imagined what it would be like to randomly inherit a castle in Scotland? That’s exactly what happens to Callie’s family: Her mom and dad rented a cottage on the palace grounds while they were in college in Edinburgh, and the owner forged such a bond with her then-newlywed tenants that she left the castle to their family in her will. Adjusting to life in Scotland after growing up in San Diego might seem challenging, but Callie can’t wait — middle school has ripped her friend group to shreds, and she’s ready to reinvent herself in a new place. Only, as it turns out, the scenery has changed, but Callie hasn’t, and within a couple of weeks, she’s made enemies with their new handyman’s daughter and gotten kicked out of the local birding club for arguing that female birds should count in the sighting scores. The only thing keeping her going is the journal the former of the lady of the house kept when she was Callie’s age and shipped off to the countryside during the Blitz. Callie can definitely identify with Pippa’s lonely feeling of being always on the outside.
Of course this is all working toward a happier ending: Callie may have gotten kicked out of the birding club, but it helped introduce her to Rajesh, whose unflappable nice-ness is hard to resist. It also inspired her interest in birds, and as she’s trying to identify the swirling flock of tiny birds that settle in a tree across the lake every night (they’re starlings), she ends up befriending the handyman’s daughter, after all, realizing that everything isn’t always about her. Callie becomes an avid birder, making connections between her life and the birds she observes — just as Pippa did, all those years ago. There’s a core of real sweetness in this book that I loved: We all sometimes feel like we don’t belong, and we’re all delighted when we discover that we’ve found a community. For birding enthusiasts, for middle grades readers who enjoy realistic fiction, for anyone who’s ever wished for that castle in Scotland — you’ll want to pick this one up.
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Book Review: The York Trilogy
I read this book at a time when I really needed to believe that one person, or a few people, could make a real difference — could make the world a better place. I would have loved this series for giving me that feeling alone, but it was also a deliciously tangled mystery, full of complicated people and challenging puzzles and the possibility of building community in unexpected ways.
The York Trilogy by Laura Ruby
Maybe it’s cheating to call the York Trilogy one of my favorite books of 2020 since it’s actually a trilogy, but it’s my book review, so I’ll bend the rules if I want to. Anyway, it’s the three books in combination with each other that rang my happy reading bells, so it would be misleading to call any one of them alone my favorite.
The York Trilogy is by Laura Ruby, who I think is one of the great underrated YA/middle grades authors of our time. The story begins with The Shadow Cipher, continues in The Clockwork Ghost, and concludes with The Map of Stars.
The stories are set in an alternate version of New York City that’s just a little bit better than our version — there’s still Hamilton and the Marvel franchise, but there are vegetarian restaurants everywhere. Climate change isn’t a problem. People practice sustainable living as the norm. There’s almost a complete absence of any kind of racism or sexism. And there’s even a sort of Native American United Nations that actively participates in national and international government.
It turns out the big difference between this reality and ours is two people: Theresa and Theodore Morningstarr, twins who emigrated to the United States from Germany in the late 1700s. The Morningstarrs were geniuses, inventors and idea makers, and the totally transformed first Manhattan, then the United States, then the entire world with their technology and philosophy. In this New York, everybody knows the Morningstarrs — they are two of the most important people in human history. They’re also famous because they left behind a secret puzzle — with clues hidden throughout the city they helped build. People have tried for centuries to solve it, but even though some clues have been discovered (and some even solved), no one has even gotten close to the big solution.
Tess and Theo Biederman — named by their grandfather after the famous Morningstarr twins — have been thinking about the Morningstarr puzzle their whole lives. Their grandfather has dedicated his entire life to trying to solve the puzzle, so when they discover a secret clue hidden right in their very apartment building, they realize that there’s more than one version of the puzzle out there.
The Biedermans team up with their neighbor Jaime, a comic book artist whose mom, a theoretical physicist, died in a terrible accident, and the three of them become best friends as they try to solve the cypher. Unraveling the clues takes them all over the city — into the history of New York, the Morningstarrs, and the United States in a series of puzzles that’s really delightful, right up until the surprising — but absolutely pitch perfect — conclusion.
I read this book at a time when I really needed to believe that one person, or a few people, could make a real difference — could make the world a better place. I would have loved this series for giving me that feeling alone, but it was also a deliciously tangled mystery, full of complicated people and challenging puzzles and the possibility of building community in unexpected ways. It is a series rich with big complicated ideas and nuanced distinctions — you have to pay attention if you want to keep up. I was surprised and delighted by it, and I bet you will be, too.
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Book Review: The Mending Summer
This is a tender, nuanced portrait of finding that balance between hope and clear-eyedness that we need in all of our close relationships. Recommended.
The Mending Summer by Ali Standish
The Mending Summer isn’t a perfect book, but it’s a really good one: When Georgia goes to spend the summer at Aunt Marigold's so her mom can finish her degree, she is both relieved and annoyed. Annoyed because being stuck in the middle of nowhere with an aunt she hardly knows is definitely not going to be as much fun as her beloved summer camp. Relieved because things at home have gotten weird with her dad, who is sometimes the wonderful, loving father she has always known and sometimes “The Shadow Man” who is the opposite of the wonderful, loving father she has always known. When Georgia meets Angela in the woods, they vow to be “summer sisters” and discover a magic lake that seems like it can grant their wishes.
Realistic middle grades books often try to wrap up loose ends and “solve the problem,” but I liked that this book treated Georgia’s father’s alcoholism as a problem that she couldn’t solve: not by being the best daughter and not by wishing for a happy ending. The magic in this book is similarly unspectacular — it’s more about learning to see the world (including yourself) in different ways than it is about some big epic wish-come-true. These two things could leave you feeling like this is a ho-hum book, but it’s absolutely not — it’s a tender, nuanced portrait of finding that balance between hope and clear-eyedness that we need in all of our close relationships. Recommended.
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Book Review: Alone Out Here
Here’s the thing: We have put a lot of pressure on this next generation. We have made a mess, and they are going to have to clean it up. That’s a heavy burden to carry before you even have your driver’s license, and I think it’s one that Riley Redgate handles really well in Alone Out Here.
Alone Out Here by Riley Redgate
Here’s the thing: We have put a lot of pressure on this next generation. We have made a mess, and they are going to have to clean it up. That’s a heavy burden to carry before you even have your driver’s license, and I think it’s one that Riley Redgate handles really well in Alone Out Here.
Earth is on the brink of collapse, and the future depends on getting off the planet and into outer space. Politically, this has been a nightmare, with in-fighting and one-upmanship pushing back deadlines, stymying communication, and generally making everybody suspicious of everybody else. That’s an adult problem, even if it’s one that constantly permeates every aspect of teenage life — until a weather disaster strikes earlier than planned, forcing the launch of a prototype spacecraft with a crew of diplomat offspring as humanity’s last hope.
Some of the promos called this “Lord of the Flies in space” (which I would read!), but I think that reduces Alone Out Here in a way that misses the point. These are kids — they’ve been taught to mistrust each other. The protagonist Leigh — First Daughter of the United States — has been trained to put the mission first and herself last. These are smart, committed, caring kids who really can save the world — but no one has ever taught them how to actually work together toward a common goal. As the crew clashes over who should be in charge, what their priorities should be, and how to make their not-ready-for-launch ship support their present and future needs, it’s clear that they have the same goals. Everybody wants to survive, even if they don’t agree what survival should look like
I don’t know, maybe it’s the state for the world, but this book made me surprisingly emotional. Like, can we please stop othering each other so that we have a chance to survive with our humanity intact? I really enjoyed this book and recommend it for your YA reading list.
Book Review: The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy
I am clearly the target audience for a middle grades boarding school novel about taking down the patriarchy through education and fabric crafting, so I am happy to say I really enjoyed this lovely little fantasy. I recommend it.
The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy by Anne Ursu
It’s hard to be a girl in the patriarchal world Marya has grown up in. While her brother Luka is on the fast track to become a sorcerer (and one of the nation’s elite protectors), Marya is constantly in trouble.
Dragomir Academy, hidden away in the distant mountains, is where bad girls go. If they’re lucky (and learn to mind their manners), Dragomir grads can end up working as support staff for important sorcerers. If they’re not — well, at least they can’t cause trouble miles away from civilized society. At first, Marya is determined to follow all the rules and show that she’s not trouble after all. Gradually, though, she realizes that the men in power are hiding dangerous secrets and that sometimes good trouble is worth the risk.
I am clearly the target audience for a middle grades boarding school novel about taking down the patriarchy through education and fabric crafting, so I am happy to say I really enjoyed this lovely little fantasy. I recommend it.
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
Book Review: The Porcupine Year
Omakayas’s adventures continue as she and her family search for a new home.
The Porcupine Year by Louise Erdrich
The Porcupine Year is the third book in the “The Birchbark” series by Louise Erdrich, and while I loved The Birchbark House and The Game of Silence, I think this is my favorite book so far.
The story is set in 1852 and follows the journey of an Ojibwe family as they travel to find a new home. The opening chapters are my favorite as Omakayas, a 12-year-old girl, and her younger brother, Pinch, find themselves hurdling over some treacherous river rapids in their canoe. They are in such peril that they don’t even stop to consider how quickly they are moving away from their family or how they will get back to them once they land on shore, if they land on shore. However, the memegwesi, or water spirits, are there to guide them. On their adventure, Pinch finds a porcupine that will become his pet and change his name forever to Quill.
These opening scenes are only a precursor to the hardships that Omakayas and her family will endure on their journey, including a kidnapping by an enemy tribe, a betrayal by a trusted family member who steals everything they own, and loss of a loved one. Though it may sound bleak, and for awhile, it is, Louise Erdrich manages to balance the heartwrenching moments with beauty, love and humor.
I highly recommend this book to mature young readers, especially those who are interested in American history.
Looking for a middle grades fantasy for your next homeschool readaloud? We review three of our newer faves: The Time of Green Magic, Amari and the Night Brothers, and The Language of Ghosts.