Middle School | Page 2 of 7

The Midnight Children is realistic fiction that crackles with life

The trailer to a book or movie can be a great or horrible thing. If you give too much away then one might as well not see or read the project. The Midnight Children doesn’t have a trailer per se, but it’s a great example of not judging a book by its cover. If one were to do that then you might think that it’s about a teen who hangs out in the forest with lightning bugs while his reclusive friends hide behind the trees. What’s great about The Midnight Children is that even as readers get to the one-third mark of the book, they’re still discovering exactly who the characters are and what they’re trying to accomplish.

The Midnight Children is realistic fiction that’s wonderful enough to make reader’s imaginations stretch past what they’re accustomed to.

MGLit and realistic fiction that grabs readers by hand

Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor, too focused on sequels to be enjoyable

I taught ESL to Chinese students for two years. This is important because it introduced me to more Chinese myths than the average middle-grade reader. Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor by Xiran Jay Zhao has the goal of building a book series that’s aimed at middle school readers.

Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor has lots of potential, but puts too many cooks in the kitchen and fails to keep its eyes on the prize.

One great book, is better than trying to build a world

Consider the Octopus, silly nautical fun with an eco-twist

Consider the Octopus was such a wonderful surprise to read. Having finished the book the clues to what adds up to make it fun are shown on the cover. A casual glance at Consider the Octopus has a teen girl and boy on the cover, while a mid-size ship is cruising through an area of the ocean that’s covered with plastic. The book has elements of all of those things, but its result is far more entertaining and fun, than you’re prepared for.

Consider the Octopus is an upper elementary book that puts the fun in fiction, as well as, a side of STEM, crushing and lots of laughs.

A message book that uses comedy and timing to deliver the (fun) punch

Gabe in the After is mglit that welcomes reluctant readers

I love it when a book that I’m not anticipating anything from utterly blows away expectations. Gabe in the After by Shannon Doleski is a book like that. Books like this feel short and make readers wish that there was more to this particular story that would’ve been told. However, at the same time, you be grateful that the book leaves you wanting more, rather than wearing out its welcome. It’s a tricky line to navigate between the two, but Gabe in the After does it with ease and will entrance even the most reluctant of upper elementary through middle school readers.

Gabe in the After is approachable mglit that’s tailor-made for reluctant realistic fiction middle school reads.

Hopeful dystopia, for mglit and up

Protest!, a book that’s not as divisive as you think, but is too broad

Protest! How People Have Come Together to Change the World takes a wide-angle look at protests over the course of history. It’s by Alice & Emily Haworth-Booth and it’s not as divisive as it could be, but is also not a reference book on what to do if things aren’t going your way or you’re being legitimately repressed. In short, if you’ve protested about more than one topic over the past 25 years then this book will be speaking to the choir, if not, it’ll provide an interesting overview on how discourse started.

Protest! is a middle school book on change through the ages that preaches to the choir and paints too broadly.

Protests, protests, reinforce what you already think here

The Book of Stolen Time, breezy mglit summer reading anytime

After reading The Book of Stolen Time, which is one of the best titles of a book in recent memory BTW, you’ll see many Easter eggs just by looking at its cover. At first glance, a leopard, a snake eating itself, a male teen with a fairy on his arm, a girl holding a goose, and the two of them walking through a lake that they’re parting its waters is the stuff of a middle Earth-esque fairy tale. The Book of Stolen Time is the second book in the Feylawn Chronicles series. The first entry was the equally awesome titled, The Book of Fatal Errors!, and its sequel continues the world that was established in that book. Not having read that book, but jumping into The Book of Stolen Time is OK.

The Book of Stolen Time is just the engaging, taut, fantasy read that upper elementary and middle schoolers will dig.

Summer time and the reading’s easy

Hidden Powers: Lise Meitner’s Call to Science, unexpected power in poetry

Imagine that you love pizza. Granted that’s not a stretch for most people, but let’s establish the fact that you love pizza. Now, you’re given something that has all of the ingredients of pizza, but it’s not circular or square, it’s a rhombus or some other rogue shape that shakes up your otherwise perfect pizza senses. You eat this oddly shaped thing and it tastes great. Then you find out that the crust is made of cauliflower, but it’s great so you keep on eating it. At the end of the pizza, you’re rethinking shapes that previously couldn’t possibly be that greasy wheel that you love so much and are thinking of different shaped food that you could enjoy.

Hidden Powers is the most unlikely of books, one full of narrative poems that add up to a fascinating, non-fiction STEM story.

Pardon us while we ramble-but this excellnet book defies description

Tales of Ancient Worlds, fun history in an archeology wrapper

People of a certain age will credit or blame Indiana Jones for their interest in archeology. For me, I am somewhere in-between the two. Archeology is a subject that I toyed with in college, played with after graduation, and have it littered about in my house. It’s based on that background that I was incredibly surprised by how immersive and varied Tales of Ancient Worlds, Adventures in Archeology was. It’s an illustrated book that’s meant for mid-elementary students but has the breadth on some level to add content to papers or conversations for those much older.

Tales of Ancient Worlds is short, non-fiction blurbs that elementary kids need, in a package that they can handle and want to read.

History wonks unite, gateway for elementary-aged archeologists!