realistic fiction | Daddy Mojo

Coming Up Short is catch-all realistic fiction for the mglit set

One reason why mglit realistic fiction is challenging for some middle school readers is that life is not always 100% happy. There are sad, chaotic, confusing, and disappointing moments that everyone lives through. On the surface, those feelings don’t exactly roll out the reading red carpet to those 12-year-olds who are juggling their own personal issues, locker combinations, family issues, school work or sports. However, dig just a bit past the surface and those readers will discover that their issues, despite how unique and utterly end-of-world they might seem, actually have commonalities with realistic fiction characters. Coming Up Short easily falls into that category. It’s mglit that seems unique, end-of-world, and happens in a place where it could never really happen, but again, dig just a bit past the surface.

Coming Up Short is mglit that middle school readers will reach for, combining sports, family, competition, stress and poor decisions.

Mglit realistic fiction that stretches past the usual suspects

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

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

AfterMath, mglit on loss, tragedy, growing up, family, and some math puns

Middle-grade books about tragedy don’t need to be a drag. Some topics and some characters certainly need to have their story presented in a book that’s clearly dramatic and mglit readers can still learn from them. Take for example the topic of school shootings. It’s an event that happens at schools and students have drills to prepare for them. However, because they happen, they occur too often, and when it does happen it impacts the kids in that particular school in ways that others can’t fathom. AfterMath is mglit that deftly walks the line of drama, feelings of melancholy, school shooting, coming-of-age, and death of a family member in a way that readers can empathize with and learn from.

great Realistic fiction that you wish it wasn’t

Birdie’s Billions, realistic fiction ages 9 and up already think about

You need to read this book. I love it when our 12 year-old says something like that. When he does, he usually follows it up with some sort of qualifier like, it’s really good, the chapters are funny or some other attribute before going off to find his phone. He read Birdie’s Billions in just under a week before saying that to me. My inner-dad voice was telling me to be wary of his recommendation.

Birdie’s Billions is realistic fiction that will hook in readers who normally don’t dig this genre. It’s fun, real and centers on something they all think about.

MGLIT that makes kids think, even if they don’t admit it