Category Archives: Middle Grade 8-12

MMGM Review: Holidays at the Castle by Jessica Day George

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , , , ,
Holidays at the Castle by Jessica Day George

Holidays at the Castle (Tuesdays at the Castle #5.5)
Jessica Day George
Bloomsbury Children’s Books
Published September 22, 2026

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Holidays at the Castle

In a special holiday addition to New York Times bestselling author Jessica Day George’s magical series, Celie celebrates winter in her beloved Castle!

After traveling to new lands and across seas, Celie is thrilled to be home at her beloved Castle for the winter holidays. From the delicious feasts and beautiful decorations to the gift exchanges and amazing magical displays, the holidays are the best time of the year! Celie can’t wait to celebrate with the rest of the Glower family and their special guests, the royals of Grath.

But the night before the festivities begin, the griffins start acting out, chasing the other animals and snapping at anyone who approaches. The holidays are meant to bring everyone together, but with all the chaos and a blizzard rolling in, will they still be able to celebrate?

My Review

I remember reading the first book in this series with my older daughter years ago. It was fun to revisit Celie and her family as they celebrate winter holidays in this book.

Fans of the series will have lots to love here. The beloved castle still finds ways to help when Celie needs it most. The large cast of family members, in-laws, and visitors makes the holiday celebration feel full and inclusive. Though the celebration isn’t called Christmas, it has many similarities, including feasting and a gift exchange that Celie especially looks forward to. The celebration also has a connection to Celie’s personal spiritual belief in a Creator God.

At 131 pages, Holidays at the Castle is a very quick read. The mystery surrounding the griffins’ wild behavior drives the story forward pretty quickly. Some of the earlier pages fill readers in on the Castle’s history and Celie’s family’s adventures from other books in the series. Though this book will be enjoyed more as part of a series, I think it could be read and enjoyed alone as well.

All in all, this is a nice winter adventure that will be perfect on a chilly evening.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 11.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to her older siblings’ wedding plans or relationship intentions.

Spiritual Content
The story contains mythical creatures like griffins and unicorns. The castle has some magical abilities. References to a Creator God and celebration of faith.

Violent Content
Griffins start attacking one another and other animals.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday

I’m sharing this post as part of a weekly round-up of middle-grade posts called Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday. Check out other blogs with posts about middle-grade books today on Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays at Always in the Middle.

Review: Revenants Return by James Riley

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Middle Grade 8-12, ,

Revenants Return (The Dragon’s Apprentice #2)
James Riley
Labyrinth Road
Published February 23, 2026

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Revenants Return

The fate of magic rests in the hands (and claws) of a cranky dragon, a feisty apprentice…and a prince who may not be all he seems? Get ready for the sequel to the New York Times bestselling hilarious fantasy adventure in the new series from the author of the Story Thieves.

You were warned to stay away from THE DRAGON’S APPRENTICE. It was forbidden for a good reason, as it told the story of a village girl named Ciara finding her own book of magic and learning spells from a dragon of all things. These are dangerous ideas, and no one should be allowed to see them.

Fortunately, Ciara’s story didn’t end there, or she might have doomed us all. No, thankfully, a true hero to the Draconic Empire, Prince Aiden, has come to Ciara’s village to stop her and her teacher, Scorch the dragon. The prince, like his father the Emperor, is a powerful magic-user. And Aiden uses his power to keep us safe from strange, forbidden books. If anyone can stop Ciara from teaching others magic and therefore summoning the horrible Revenants that once defeated the Dragon Mage herself, it’s the Empire’s beloved prince.

Let’s just hope that Ciara can’t spread her knowledge of magic before the prince can find her and put an end to her evil deeds once and for all…

My Review

Ciara and her magic teacher, Scorch, continue their adventure in this second installment of the series. The story begins very close to where the first book ended, with Ciara’s village still recovering from the machinations of the Warden’s rule. Like the first book, the chapters in this one open with a quote from Bianca’s journal hinting at the scenes to come. Ciara remains impulsive and quick to (humorously) insult anyone she perceives is trying to hurt the people she loves.

One interesting plot element emerges when Ciara supercharges a truth spell, which leads to unplanned results. Scorch reminds Ciara that the spell will only highlight when someone repeats something they know is a lie. If someone believes in what they’re saying, the truth spell won’t flag it as false, even if the statement is factually untrue. Scorch tells Ciara that sometimes people believe a lie because it’s less painful than facing the truth. Ciara learns an awful lot about what that means before the story concludes.

The plot is fairly fast-paced, keeping readers moving from one obstacle to the next. At 240 pages, it’s a pretty quick read, too.

All in all, this is a nice continuation of a series that will interest fantasy fans. My youngest reader is absolutely hooked on the series and already anxious for the third book, which doesn’t come out until November 2026.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Some characters can use magic. One character is a dragon.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. One character uses magic to threaten or control others.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I borrowed a copy of this book from the library. All opinions are my own.

Review: Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

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Walk Two Moons
Sharon Creech
HarperCollins
Published October 6, 2009

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Walk Two Moons

“How about a story? Spin us a yarn.”
Instantly, Phoebe Winterbottom came to mind. “I could tell you an extensively strange story,” I warned.
“Oh, good!” Gram said. “Delicious!”
And that is how I happened to tell them about Phoebe, her disappearing mother, and the lunatic.

As Sal entertains her grandparents with Phoebe’s outrageous story, her own story begins to unfold — the story of a thirteen-year-old girl whose only wish is to be reunited with her missing mother.

In her own award-winning style, Sharon Creech intricately weaves together two tales, one funny, one bittersweet, to create a heartwarming, compelling, and utterly moving story of love, loss, and the complexity of human emotion.

My Review

This book has been on my reading list for YEARS. I’ve heard so many great things about it, and wanted to read it for so long. I recently went through some drama with my Amazon account, and couldn’t access any of my Kindle books, but I had this one as a Nook ebook, so I figured it must be time to read it.

The story starts very much in the middle of Sal’s life. After her mom’s death nearly a year earlier, she and her dad moved to a new town, and now she’s on a road trip with her paternal grandparents to visit her mom’s grave. It’s a long car trip, so she tells her grandparents the story of her best friend in her new town to pass the time.

Setting up the story this way means juggling a lot of different timelines and revealing a lot of information quickly. I thought the pacing of these reveals and the control of the different timelines (the car trip, Sal’s year in the new town, and her memories of her mom) was really nicely done. I didn’t feel confused or overwhelmed by the information, and it felt pretty close to how a kid of Sal’s age might talk about things.

It’s also kind of a weird story, which I loved. Sal’s grandparents are funny. They have their rituals and ways of doing things, which sometimes Sal finds endearing. Sometimes it’s clear their habits annoy her.

I also liked the way that the stories come full circle and connect. Sal begins to see beyond her grief over her mom’s death. She starts to see her father’s grief, and starts to understand her friend Phoebe’s feelings about her mom, too. I loved how the story pulled all those threads together. The story balances the humor and grief elements really well.

I will definitely be reading more books by Sharon Creech, and I do recommend this one for readers who enjoy emotional books.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 to 14.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Sal has a crush on a boy from her class. They have a few near misses with kissing.

Spiritual Content
Sal prays to the trees. Her logic is that sometimes God might be far away, but there’s always a tree nearby.

Violent Content
References to the death of a parent. (Death not shown on scene.)

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I purchased a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

MMGM Review: The Sherlock Society: Art Attacky by James Ponti

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The Sherlock Society: Art Attack
James Ponti
Publisher
Published September 8, 2026

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Sherlock Society: Art Attack

The Sherlock Society goes undercover in the Miami street art scene to find an anonymous graffiti artist in this third book in the hilarious, New York Times bestselling Sherlock Society middle grade series from Edgar Award–winning author James Ponti!

The Sherlock Society’s latest case is tracking down stealth graffiti artist Funky Munky—well-known for their artistic statements calling out local politicians—on behalf of a developer who wants them to create a mural for a new hotel. Their investigation leads Alex, Zoe, Lina, and Yadi deep into the very colorful south Florida art scene.

But finding someone who doesn’t want to be found is challenging, and it doesn’t help that Miami Art Week is coming up, bringing lots of attention—and lots of new artists—to the area. The Sherlock Society’s best bet is an elaborate sting operation, which involves them picking up spray cans themselves. Can they trap their quarry without exposing themselves?

My Review

The investigation team is back in this third installment in The Sherlock Society series. I like that this book revolves around the art scene and actually doesn’t involve investigating any murders for a change. Ha! Ponti still delivers a wild mystery that requires the whole team to unravel.

I think I started reading this series before checking out City Spies. I like both, but this series is probably my favorite. Both have a team of kids handling some sort of task or investigation with adult supervision. There’s a great balance between the adult and child characters. The kids do some of the real heavy lifting plot-wise, but adults are on hand to offer support or rein them in if they get overeager.

This is a great series for young mystery readers, especially those at the younger end of the middle grade market. Each book can be read as a standalone, though a few minor plot threads make reading them in order rewarding.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Characters encounter graffiti artists who sometimes tag buildings without permission. The group investigates a series of arson crimes.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday

I’m sharing this post as part of a weekly round-up of middle-grade posts called Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday. Check out other blogs with posts about middle-grade books today on Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays at Always in the Middle.

Review: Let’s Get Together by Brandy Colbert

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Let’s Get Together
Brandy Colbert
Clarion Books
Published September 9, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Let’s Get Together

Boston Globe–Horn Book Award–winning author Brandy Colbert gives The Parent Trap a fresh, funny, and delightfully unexpected update in this story of two girls—one raised by her single father, the other in the foster care system—who meet by chance . . . only to discover they’re identical twins.

Kenya Norwood likes things just the way they are. She’s lived all her life in Pasadena with her dad and grandmother, she’s attended the same school with the same friends since pre-K, and whether it’s at outdoor club or her own lunch table, she loves being the center of attention. Even as she’s about to start middle school, she knows one thing for sure: none of that is going to change.

For Liberty Perry, change is all she’s ever known. Her mother disappeared when she was a toddler, and ever since, she’s never stayed in one place for very long. But her new foster mother, Joey, seems different. Maybe in this home, in this school, change won’t come so quickly.

Except everything changes the day the girls meet—and Kenya and Liberty discover they are identical.

Neither Kenya nor Liberty is ready to find out she has a twin sister (in fact, they’re both unsure if they even want one), and when the girls learn the truth of how they were separated, it’s clear that no one else in their lives was ready for this, either. But soon, they realize that the connection they share might be even stronger than the things that kept them apart—and that teaming up might be the only way to set everything right.

My Review

I must be especially vulnerable to earworms because all it takes is seeing this title to get the song from the 1961 movie, which I haven’t seen since elementary school. The power of music.

This novel is based on that original idea: twins separated as babies, with no memory of one another, who reconnect unexpectedly and decide to set their parents up to fall in love. Some elements have been updated to be more modern and more believable. For example, Liberty lives with a foster mom. Kenya lives with her dad and grandmother. Neither girl knows where her biological mother is. (They find out in the course of the story.)

While the truth about the girls’ mom comes out, the story doesn’t center her experiences. Their grandmother and father tell the girls that their mother was sick and that the illness led her to make very painful choices. They acknowledge her drug addiction as part of her illness, but the explanation stays fairly neutral. They tell Liberty that they tried very hard to find her and her mom. The girls ask some questions and briefly discuss feeling angry at their mom, but again, it’s not a central focus of the story, and the narrative moves forward pretty quickly.

While Liberty hasn’t always had a positive experience with foster care, she loves her new foster mom, Joey (short for Josephine), and it’s easy to see why. The two have a great rapport. Joey offers stability and emotional support at a time when Liberty really needs them. I really appreciated that even though foster care wasn’t a focus of the book, Colbert made space for nuance and didn’t oversimplify or overly demonize the foster care experience.

Fans of the original story will note that these identical twins do not switch places as the characters in the earlier work did. I actually like that the story sidestepped what I imagine actual identical twins get tired of seeing/being asked about. A character jokes that the girls could swap places, and that’s about as far as that idea goes.

All in all, this is a charming, upbeat, family-focused story celebrating both biological bonds and bonds made purely from love.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Vague reference to the romantic status of adults.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Reference to kidnapping and abandonment of a young child. (Happens long before the story begins.)

Drug Content
Mention of a character with drug addiction issues. Nothing shown on scene.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

MMGM Review: When You’re Brave Enough by Rebecca Bendheim

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When You’re Brave Enough
Rebecca Bendheim
Viking Books for Young Readers
Published April 7, 2026

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About When You’re Brave Enough

A heartfelt, gorgeously written debut middle grade novel about best friends, first crushes, and coming out—perfect for fans of Kyle Lukoff and Jake Maia Arlow.

Before she moved from Austin to Rhode Island, everybody knew Lacey as one half of an inseparable duo: Lacey-and-Grace, best friends since they were toddlers. Grace and her moms were practically family. But at school, being lumped together with overeager, worm-obsessed, crushes-on-everyone Grace meant Lacey never quite fit in—and that’s why at her new middle school, Lacey plans to reinvent herself. This time, she’s going to be cool. She’s going to be normal.

At first, everything seems to go as planned. Lacey makes new friends right away, she finds a rabbi to help her prepare for the bat mitzvah that got deprioritized by her parents in the chaos of the move, and she even gets cast in the lead role of the eighth-grade musical. Which is when things start to get stressful, because it turns out the students at her new school have a long-standing, unofficial tradition: No matter what the show is, in the final performance, the leads always kiss for real.

Lacey’s never kissed anyone before—she’s not even sure she’s ever had a crush. And in Bye, Bye, Birdie, there are a few different co-lead kiss possibilities for Lacey to choose from. There’s confident, cocky Andre. There’s sweet, friendly Jaden. And then there’s the other new girl at school: dryly funny, impossibly cool Violet.

But while her new friends and older sister create whiteboard wall charts and botched field trip schemes to help her decide, suddenly Lacey can’t stop thinking about Grace, who she was so sure she wanted to leave behind. When Grace comes back into her life, Lacey needs to decide if she’s brave enough to be who she really is, in front of the person who matters most.

My Review

I enjoyed so many things about this book. Lacey’s quest to reinvent herself was nicely done. I’ve seen a lot more middle grade books that focus on the friend who is being left behind instead of the friend who is plunging ahead, wanting to embrace a new middle school identity.

Bendheim allows readers to realize Lacey’s feelings gradually, almost as if we figure things out right along with Lacey. I also like that Lacey is at a different school, far from Grace. This creates a buffer between the girls and gives Lacey space to try out her new identity without hurting or rejecting Grace. I think it might have been harder to admire Lacey and root for her if she was unkind to Grace in order to fit in with new friends.

Lacey also has to navigate her feelings about her role in the family. Sometimes her family feels like too much. Sometimes what she wants gets pushed to the side. Part of reinventing herself involves figuring out how to support and celebrate her family while speaking up when they hurt her, too.

I also enjoyed that the story explores Lacey’s preparation for her bat mitzvah and what that means to her. Lacey reads Anne Frank’s diary as she tries to figure out what she believes and who she is. She lingers on certain passages and rereads sections that stand out to her. I liked the way that the author included this experience and related it to Lacey’s faith journey.

All in all, I absolutely agree with the comparison between this book and books by Kyle Lukoff. I also think readers who enjoy books by Claire Swinarski will enjoy this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 to 14.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
Lacey prepares to celebrate her bat mitzvah. She memorizes a part of the Torah and writes a speech about what the passage means to her.

Violent Content
Brief homophobic comments. Some brief bullying or meanness.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.