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Are you ready to get the scoop on my favorite middle grade books from February and a few from January 2024? You’ll find thrilling adventures, historical fiction, realistic stories, paranormal conspiracies, and kid spies! These are all EXCELLENT books. As usual, I starred the contenders for my best books of 2024 list.
Middle Grade Books, February 2024
The Liar’s Society written by Alyson Gerber
THRILLER / MYSTERY
Wetherby is a girl whose sailing skills land her a scholarship at the prestigious Boston School, the school her deceased father attended Boston School. But she gets in on a lie. At the school, Jack is a rich kid whose driven, perfectionist father owns everything, including an island. He and Weatherby get paired up in a sailing team. Both kids are invited to be part of a secret society, which turns out to be made up of other kids who’ve lied, cheated, and stolen, like Jack and Wetherby. Is it the school’s infamous secret society? Excellent pacing, a compelling story, and rising tension make this a page-turner filled with secrets, truths, and danger. A must-read!
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Unstuck written Barbara Dee
REALISTIC
7th grade Lyla is a writer who is excited to write her complicated fantasy novel, but she can’t seem to get anything on paper. And the more she tries, the more stuck she feels. Her supportive teacher encourages her with strategies like changing locations, eating cookies, and deep breathing. (And there is a long list in the back of the book.) Her stuckness parallels her changing relationship with her best friend from elementary school. Once Lyla starts to write her feelings, things begin to shift. She becomes better friends with someone at school named Journey. She helps her sister solve her not-wanting-to-go-to-college dilemma. And she writes a lot of her story, even letting herself not enter the pressure-filled contest when she knows she’s not ready. This story about friendship, writer’s block, and self-awareness zips along with heart and relatability.
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Across So Many Seas written by Ruth Behar
HISTORICAL FICTION
I love this profoundly moving, gorgeous generational story that begins with a 12-year-old girl’s Sephardic Jewish family forcibly leaving Spain. It continues with another generation in Turkey, where this 12-year-old girl is disowned and sent to Cuba for an arranged marriage. When the next generation of 12-year-old girls faces Fidel’s revolutionary violence, the daughter is sent to the United States for safety. The thread uniting this family is one of faith, music, Ladino language, and love. Do not miss this gem!
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Medusa (The Myth of Monsters, 1) written by Katherine Marsh
FANTASY / MYTHOLOGY
Ava and her brother are forced to attend a special boarding school, Accademia del Forte, for descendants of the Greek monsters meant to reform them and the other monstrous students. When the school takes away Ava’s new friend Fia’s voice, Ava, a descendant of Medusa, starts to question who the monsters really are…and if the stories of the gods and goddesses are true. To help her friend Fia get back her voice, Ava and their fury friend Arnold travel to meet Medusa, then Hecate, Hestia, and Metis. They learn that Zeus retold the stories to favor him and to oppress powerful women. Get ready for a twisty, exciting feminist mythological adventure that will make you think twice about accepting the stories you are told.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR MEDUSA.
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Max in the House of Spies: A Tale of World War II written by Adam Gitwitz
HISTORICAL FANTASY SPY ADVENTURE
This is my current favorite book! Max in the House of Spies is exceptional, with suspense, excitement, danger, and a dash of humor plus the story is meaningful and important. Max is a super-smart Jewish boy living in Germany during World War II. He loves his family and tinkering with radios. Then, his parents send Max to safety on the Kindertransport. He’s joined by two personality-filled (grumpy) mythical creatures, a dybbuk and a kobold, living on his shoulders. Once in England, Max’s sole focus is returning to Germany to help his parents.
But first, he must stand up to the antisemitic bullies at school and then convince his foster family uncle to train him as a spy. His clever tactics impress the British spies, and the government agrees to recruit Max if he can pass their rigorous spy training. But the mythical creatures DON’T want to return to Germany, so they try to thwart Max’s spy training efforts. The story’s ending is the perfect setup for book two. I’ll let you discover what it is for yourself. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! ALL THE STARS!!!
INTERVIEW WITH ADAM GIDWITZ
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City Spies Mission Manhattan written by James Ponti
SPY ADVENTURE
Who else has readers who love this series? Every book is just as strong as the first. The writing is compelling and interesting, plus who doesn’t want to read about kid spies who save the world? In this fifth book, Rio is featured as the team leader. They start in Venice, where they save a teen activist from a bombing, and then their mission takes them to New York City, where the activist is scheduled to speak at the United Nations. Also, why is Cairo’s traitorous mom contacting him, and whose side is he on? Adventure, secrets, and problems, this book has it all!
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The Thirteenth Circle written by Marcykate Connolly and Kathryn Holmes
PARANORMAL
Get ready for a suspenseful story of mystery and friendship about two unlikely friends paired up for a big science fair. Both girls want to win… Dani wants to go to ScienceU camp to get out of dance class, and Cat wants to impress her dad. The only problem is that both girls have completely different hypotheses except Cat doesn’t know that Dani doesn’t believe in her hypothesis of aliens making the crop circles. As the girls continue researching, the suspense builds. Men in Black kick them out of the farmer’s fields, their research is stolen, and an arsonist burns Cat’s room with their experiments. Yikes! What is going on and who is trying to sabotage them from learning the truth? You won’t be able to stop reading as the suspense builds!
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Drawing Deena written by Hena Khan
REALISTIC
Every morning before and at school, art-loving Deena has stomach aches and a racing heart. She’s stressed out about her parents fighting about money but tries to help her mom with her business, including getting her mom’s Pakistani American clothing business on social media. As an artist, she loves Van Gogh until she realizes she can move on from copying someone else to finding her own style. When she finally talks to the school counselor after many days of severe stomach aches, even throwing up, they suggest that Deena has anxiety…and that support and tools could help her cope. This is a warmhearted growing-up story of anxiety, art, and family.
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The Selkie’s Daughter written by Linda Crotta Brennan
FANTASY / MYTHOLOGY
If you like mythology and heartfelt stories, you’ll love this story about a girl named Brigit, who is a half-selkie with a selkie mom living on land with their family. When two horrible village men start clubbing selkie cubs to death, the selkie king’s rage arrives with storms and sickness. After losing her little brother to illness, Brigit’s father gets lost at sea. It’s up to Brigit to save him…and stop the men from hurting any more selkies. It is a magical story about a brave girl fighting for her family and stepping into what it means to be different.
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The Five Impossible Tasks of Eden Smith written by Tom Llewellyn
REALISTIC
Eden leaves foster care to live with her estranged grandfather Vulcan in a mansion of metalworkers, last-named Smiths, and support staff, last-named Jones. But Eden arrives at a terrible moment for Vulcan, who has been banished to the basement for disobeying the guild rules. Two kind, elderly women let Eden live with them and help her learn about smithing. Then, Eden accepts the deadly “Five Impossible Tasks” challenge to save her grandfather and restore him to his smithing duties. She’s a problem-solver and boundary-breaker with an outsider experience, which will make the difference in her survival and success in finding a forever home. I loved the unique world of silversmiths, machinists, blacksmiths, arrowsmiths, and swordmakers –and I loved Eden!
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Eowulf of Monsters & Middle School written and illustrated by Mike Cavallaro
FANTASY GRAPHIC NOVEL
Eowulf comes from a family of monster hunters, but lately, she’s learned that some monsters aren’t actually monstrous. So, she decides to apply her not-a-monster knowledge to a weird kid at school named Amadeus Hornburg. Her D&D friends are annoyed that she’s talking to him. And Amadeus is still weird and kind of suspicious. When a destructive gigantic worm and horrible rat king appear, Amadeus proves he’s not behind it, and they learn several big, gigantic, surprising secrets about the past, the superheroes team, and the villain trying to destroy their town. This is a fun fantasy and superhero good vs. evil story!
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