Category Archives: Middle Grade 8-12

Review: Paper Wishes by Lois Sepahban

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Paper Wishes by Lois SepahbanPaper Wishes
Lois Sepahban
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux

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Ten year-old Manami loves her home on peaceful Bainbridge Island. Then her family and other Japanese American members of the community are forced to relocate to internment camps. Manami tries to smuggle her family’s dog, Yujiin, into the camp, but is forced to leave him behind. The foreign circumstances and grief over her lost dog cause her to stop speaking. Instead, Manami expresses herself through drawings she creates every night. She draws memories of Yujiin and writes asking him to find her family. She will only find her voice again if she can work through her guilt over losing Yujiin.

This realistic debut … Continue reading →

Top Ten Middle Grade Reads

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TTT

Top Ten Middle Grade Reads (2015-2016)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Today, my spin on the topic is this: middle grade reads. As the parent of an enthusiastic middle grade reader, I’m always looking for books that will spark conversations, explore interesting ideas, or generate all those deep emotions as only a well-written book can. Here are the best of the middle grade books I’ve read in the last couple of years.

The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

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I loved the way the author used information … Continue reading →

Review: Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes

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towersfallingTowers Falling
Jewell Parker Rhodes
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Available July 12, 2016

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When Deja’s family loses their home and are forced to move to a shelter, she starts fifth grade at a new school. She’s embarrassed by her family’s situation and braced for judgment from the other kids. Instead, Ben, also a new kid, and Sabeen, a sweet girl who covers her hair with a scarf, become Deja’s new friends. As their teacher, Miss Garcia, begins a unit about history connecting to the present, the class learns about the World Trade Center towers falling on September 11, 2001. The material covered in the classroom is gentle and oblique, but Deja … Continue reading →

Review: The Queen’s Poisoner by Jeff Wheeler

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The Queens Poisoner coverThe Queen’s Poisoner
Jeff Wheeler
47North

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When his father betrays a dangerous king, Owen is forced to leave his family and live in the castle as a hostage to ensure his family’s loyalty. If his father’s loyalty falters again, Owen will be cast into the river to die, as his eldest brother was. As the youngest son of the Duke of Kiskaddon, Owen is alone in a castle full of spies. To survive, he must discover allies and prove himself valuable to the king.

The storyworld in The Queen’s Poisoner was simple yet vivid and believable. I loved the way water factored into the lore and traditions of the kingdom. … Continue reading →

Review: Grayling’s Song by Karen Cushman

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Grayling's SongGrayling’s Song
Karen Cushman
Clarion Books

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When a dark force transforms Grayling’s mother into a tree, she must track the evil and free her mother’s stolen spell book. Grayling has never been far from home, and she has no skills with which to battle a sorcerer, so along her journey, she gathers a team of companions with various magical inclination, including a shapeshifting mouse and a witch who can control the weather. Together they follow the call of Grayling’s mother’s book to the source of the evil that’s taken it, and there, Grayling will have to fight to free the grimoire.

It might be impossible not to enjoy a book with a shapeshifting … Continue reading →

Review: Of Secrets and Sorcery by Chris Solaas

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Of Secrets and Sorcery by Chris SolaasOf Secrets and Sorcery
Chris Solaas

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As Kyne settles into his new home and new school, he begins to notice strange things happening around him. He wakes with strange bruises that seem to match up with bumps he must have gotten in his dreams. In those dreams, he’s a prince of a faraway realm, on the run for his life, whose only friend seems to be an irritable red dragon. With each night the dreams become more vivid, and Kyne realizes they may in fact be as real as his waking life.

The dragon was probably my favorite character – because, seriously, who can resist a snappy dragon? I … Continue reading →