10 Excellent New Middle Grade Books, October 2024

Last Dragon on Mars written by Scott Reintgen
FANTASY SCI FI
384 pages
This is one of my favorite books of 2024, I loved the cool world-building in a universe where every star, planet, and moon has a dragon! And those dragons can travel through space, connecting planets and moons by carrying humans in their dragon-tech ships. Lunar Jones is an orphan on Mars, where humans are dying after the former planet dragon Ares cursed the planet when the Mars moon dragons and humans killed him. Lunar is a scrappy survivor who stumbles upon the biggest secret of the planet–a new dragon and a military crew training in secret. That dragon picks Lunar as his human bonded, saving Lunar and his scrapper friend’s lives. Now, they must train together to save their home planet of Mars. Brilliant character development and an exciting plot filled with betrayal, twists, and surprises make this an enthralling must-read novel.

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Onyx and Beyond written by Amber McBride
HISTORICAL FICTION / DEMENTIA
224 pages
Onyx is a solitary Black boy in the 1960s clinging to the two most important things in his life– the meaning of his treasured rocks and hiding his mom’s deteriorated brain condition from the world. So, he takes care of himself when his mom forgets to get up during the day. And he tries to do what his grandma “in the sky” told him to do — fly. He even tries literal wings, which, not surprisingly, doesn’t work. Then, he decides to steal a moon rock. But when he’s caught, he’s even more surprised to discover that he has more support than he knew, and maybe it’s his community that gives him wings. This is a moving first-person historical fiction story of perseverance and hope.
Note: includes the word ass.

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Lifeboat 5 written by Susan Hood (Companion to Lifeboat 12)
HISTORICAL FICTION VERSE
272 pages
Beautiful poetic writing in verse narrates the incredible story of Bess, who is happy to escape the bullies and bombs in London on a ship evacuating kids like she and her brother Louis to Canada during World War II. Bess meets her first friend on the ship and has fun…and good food. It’s great until the ship is hit by a torpedo. Bess and her best friend Beth cling to an overturned lifeboat in the brutal Atlantic, battered by wind and waves as one person after another dies. She spends a harrowing night in the ocean, holding on for her friend’s sake. Hood includes extensive back matter about her research, the facts, and photos as well as information about the poetic forms she used in the book. Because this book includes death, this book may disturb sensitive readers. A memorable true story of friendship, survival, and history!

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Find Her written by Ginger Reno
CONTEMPORARY / NATIVE AMERICAN
224 pages
The story’s themes of kindness and protecting others revolve around the heartbreaking mystery and loneliness of a missing mom. This is an exceptionally written story about Wren, a half-Cherlkee 12-year-old who lives with her grandma and police chief dad and whose mom has been missing for five years. Even though she wants to find her mom, most of all, Wren is good at finding lost pets. But lately, she finds the missing pets, and they’ve been severely abused. A new friend at school helps with her pet finding, but Wren begins to suspect that he’s being abused, too –and it’s all tied together.
Note: The animal abuse could bother sensitive readers, and the book includes the words badass and crap.

Wildflower Emily: A Story About Emily Dickinson written and illustrated by Lydia Corry
POET BIOGRAPHY GRAPHIC NOVEL
112 pages
Lovely artwork accompanies a story about a time when Emily studied flowers at school. Then she and her new dog go wandering to search for flowers, having quite an adventure together. The book is mixed with inspiration for poems and Dickinson’s poems themselves. If your readers are looking for a biography, this would be a good choice for readers interested in the lives of writers.

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Monster Locker written by Jorge Aguirre, illustrated by Andrés Vera Martinez
MYTHOLOGICAL ADVENTURE / GRAPHIC NOVEL
256 pages
In this exciting, funny, and clever graphic novel, Pablo gets a locker in the basement that comes WITH A MONSTER (eek!) who wants Pablo to open a portal. But when Pablo refuses, the monster turns the summoning book into the cell phone to trick Pablo. Using it, Pablo accidentally summons an angry Aztec goddess named Coatlicue. She isn’t happy with how people are treating the earth, so she invites her monster minions to come through the portal and turn people into animals. Pablo’s new friends, a new skateboarding weird Jewish kid and a tall advocate girl, help him fight the goddess and her minions, but Caotlicue is winning. How can Pablo and his friends convince her to stop?
Note: Includes the word crap.

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Dear Dad written by Jay Jay Patton, Antoine Patton, and Kiara Valdez, illustrated by Markia Jenai
MEMOIR / GRAPHIC NOVEL
128 pages
This short memoir (true story of the author’s life) is well-written, important, and inspirational. Jay Jay’s dad is getting out of prison finally. In prison, he learned coding and graduated top of his class, and to help himself be successful, he moves their family to Florida. There, he asks for Jay Jay’s help to build a website and app called Photo Patch that connects incarcerated people with their children.

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They Saved the Stallions written by Deborah Hopkinson
NONFICTION HISTORY
224 pages
Animal lovers, especially horse lovers and history buffs will devour this fascinating book about the fate of the esteemed Lippizzaner stallions in Vienna during World War II. We learn the history of the man who became the (Vienna) Spanish Riding School’s director and how he became involved with these impressive stallions, leading to how he saves them from certain deaths, also organizing a rescue of the mares in a separate location. Meticulously researched with primarily source quotations and photographs, this is a compelling history interspersed with “Virtual Field Trips” and informational sections that will mesmerize readers.

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The Haunted Mask Goosebumps The Graphic Novel written by R.L. Stine, adapted by Maddi Gonzalez
SCARY GRAPHIC NOVEL
160 pages
I am not a fan of scary books, but I can see that this well-done adaptation will appeal to readers who like to be scared. This particular story is about a girl who is teased at school for being a scaredy cat, even by her best friend. She buys a scary mask to get back at her bullies — and becomes mean, not to mention, the mast won’t come off!

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The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien written and illustrated by John Hendrix
BIOGRAPHY GRAPHIC NOVEL
224 pages
This book is on my to-read list still but my husband stole it from me before I could read it. (There’s no way I can read it now with my current vision problems because the text is too small.) My husband said it started out slowly, but after it got going, he LOVED it. He loved that it not only shared the history of these two writers but it was about a male friendship that was supportive and encouraging despite their ups and downs. It starts with their lives as soldiers and continues on when they are professors and writers in the Inklings group. The two main characters are portrayed as a Wizard and a Lion– can you guess why? The book also explores their world-building, the effects of their books on the world, the connection of their faith to their writing, and much more.

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