I recently Skyped with a terrific book club in Massachusetts, and the members asked me to recommend some other middle-grade novels that they might enjoy. I ended up putting a list together and e-mailing it to them, and since this isn’t the first time I’ve had a question like this, I thought that I’d share it here as well so that I can easily refer people to it in the future.
Of course, once I got started, I thought of more and more books I wanted to include, and I had to stop somewhere. So please don’t consider this a comprehensive list by any means…but I do wholeheartedly recommend every single one of these titles and hope you’ll check them out. Here we go!
Mind-bending mysteries:
Nooks & Crannies by Jessica Lawson
Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
Laugh-out-loud funny books:
Hook’s Revenge by Heidi Schulz
The Only Thing Worse than Witches by Lauren Magaziner
Remarkable by Lizzie Foley
The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex
Unputdownable historical fiction:
Katerina’s Wish by Jeannie Mobley
When Audrey Met Alice by Rebecca Behrens (actually a mix of contemporary and historical!)
The Sound of Life and Everything by Krista Van Dolzer
Madcap NYC-set adventures:
At Your Service by Jen Malone
Better Nate than Ever by Tim Federle (which is also LOL funny!)
Tasty foodie books:
Cupcake Cousins (and sequels) by Kate Hannigan
It’s Raining Cupcakes (and sequels) by Lisa Schroeder
Deliciously creepy books:
Mothman’s Curse by Christine Hayes
The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy by Nikki Loftin
Grave Images by Jenny Goebel
Doll Bones by Holly Black
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Fabulous fairy-tales:
Grounded by Megan Morrison
A Nearer Moon by Melanie Crowder
Nightingale’s Nest by Nikki Loftin
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne Valente (best title ever, no?)
Wonderful contemporary stories:
Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Rhyme Schemer by K.A. Holt (an excellent novel in verse)
What are your recent favorite middle-grade reads? Feel free to share more recommendations in the comments.
Wow, thank you, Tara! And I love having new MG titles to add to my reading pile!
Great list, Tara! I also just finished Tamara Smith’s Another Kind of Hurricane. LOVED it!
Next up on my to-read pile is Ammi-Joan Paquette’s Princess Juniper of the Hourglass. Can’t wait to enter a new kingdom. 🙂
Both are in my tbr!
Hey, thanks for all the great recommendations and the shout-out! I’ve recently loved Circus Mirandus and Rules for Stealing Stars.
The Tapper Twins by Geoff Rodkey
The Paper Boy by Vince Vawter. Excellent read based an author’s life.
Two more unputdownable historical fiction:
The War That Saved My Life
Jefferson’s Sons
Both by Kimberley Brubaker Bradley
Three of my recent faves are:
THE TRUTH ABOUT TWINKIE PIE by Kat Yeh
LAST IN A LONG LINE OF REBELS by Lisa Lewis Tyre
and THE THING ABOUT JELLYFISH by Ali Benjamin