2024 Summer Reading Guide: Tweens & Young Teens (Ages 10-16)
July 3, 2024 Comments Off on 2024 Summer Reading Guide: Tweens & Young Teens (Ages 10-16)
I may have made you wait for the final installment of this year’s Summer Reading Guide far longer than I had planned (apologies!), but at least I made sure it delivered. Today’s roundup includes a fantastically diverse list of new releases that span upper middle grade (ages 10-14) to young YA (ages 12+), making it the perfect resource for those getting ready to embark on middle school, those already well into it, and those on their way out. (Not that high schoolers won’t like the YA recs—they will—just that with YA encompassing such a broad range of ages and topics these days, I’m finding it increasingly helpful to curate some that aren’t quite as heavy or risque.)
If you’ve got teens who are ready for more mature content, I won’t have time to do a separate post, but I’ll list a few here that we chose for our Teen Summer Reading Guide at Old Town Books and that I enjoyed. These are all categorized by the publisher for 14 and up, which means they include more graphic language, violence, or heavier themes. That said, I’ve been comfortable letting my thirteen-year-old daughter read them, and they’ve been big hits. They are Holly Jackson’s The Reappearance of Rachel Price (same author as the perennial 12+ favorite, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, though heavier on the violence); Monica Hesse’s The Brightwood Code (gripping historical fiction about a telephone operator back from the frontlines of WW1, though heads up about an attempted sexual assault); Jas Hammonds’ Thirsty (a “cautionary tale”—my daughter’s words—about a girl who descends into alcoholism after rushing a sorority); and two edgy, dark, unique graphic novels: The Worst Ronin and The Deep Dark.
And now for the Main Event! The books below are presented in order of target ages, with the 12+ picks towards the second half.
« Read the rest of this entry »2024 Summer Reading Guide: Elementary Readers (ages 7-12)
June 6, 2024 Comments Off on 2024 Summer Reading Guide: Elementary Readers (ages 7-12)
Welcome to the second of three installments of my Summer Reading Guide! This round-up includes a whopping seventeen brand new middle-grade books for a range of readers, from animal lovers to Dog Man aficionados, fantasy seekers to summer camp dreamers, mystery solvers to history buffs, and everything in between. There’s even a touch of elementary-appropriate romance! The list spans a mix of traditional novels and graphic novels, and I’ve included an example of an interior spread where illustration factors into the enjoyment of the story.
Nearly all of these have been published in just the past few weeks or months. THAT SAID, I must encourage you to take a look at my Spring Break Reading Round-Up from earlier in the year, with what will undoubtedly end up being some of my very favorite middle grade of the entire year. If your kiddos haven’t found their way into the likes of The Liars Society, Max in the House of Spies, The First State of Being, or Not Quite a Ghost, consider them musts. Likewise, Katherine Marsh’s Medusa, an action-packed, thought-provoking story about a group of kids descended from Greek Monsters, is being met with such enthusiasm by my readers at the shop (and me!) that I’ve chosen it for Old Town Book’s inaugural Camp Bookworm. If you’re local, encourage your kids to read the book, then join us in person to discuss and meet Katherine Marsh herself (!) on Tuesday, August 27, at 6pm at the bookshop.
Now, a quick word for my fantasy lovers. There are two fantasies on the below list, but there should be more. One of my colleagues with a deep love of fantasy and a great eye for kid lit read and loved two additional fantasies that made it onto our shop’s Summer Reading Guide but are not included here, simply because I haven’t had time to read them yet. They are: Julie Kagawa’s Lightningborn: Storm Dragons, a series starter about a boy who finds a wild baby dragon, believed to be extinct, and becomes the focus of an evil sky pirate’s vengeance; and Ryan Graudin’s The Girl Who Kept the Castle, another series starter about a girl who must save her home from destruction when a not-totally-dead wizard’s inheritance competition goes awry (think Nevermoor meets Howl’s Moving Castle). It should also be said that every single fantasy on last year’s Summer Reading Guide—and there were some fabulous ones—now have sequels out (hello, Greenwild!).
OK, let’s gooooo! As always, the list is organized in ascending order of target ages.
« Read the rest of this entry »2023 Summer Reading Guide: For the Middle (& Early High) Schoolers (Ages 10-16)
June 8, 2023 § 1 Comment
The final installment of this year’s Summer Reading Guide is here, and it’s mostly targeted at middle schoolers, although the last few suggestions will be great for early high schoolers, too. (Before you ask, YES, graphic novels are included here as well!) For those with 10-12 year olds, I highly recommend you also peruse my list for Elementary Readers, with titles for 8-12 years.
All the books below are newly published! But, a reminder that if you missed my Spring Break Reading Round-Up earlier this year—traditional books here and graphic novels here—there are some fabulous middle-school titles on there. For instance, I’ve now had three middle schoolers tell me that What Happened to Rachel Riley? is the best book they’ve EVER read. Dan Santat’s graphic memoir, A First Time for Everything, is a must for summer reading, especially for those getting ready to head off to high school. The graphic novel adaptation of Bomb is perfect for your history buffs. And Simon Sort of Says, if your kiddo can handle some heavier themes (overlaid with lots of humor and beautiful friendships and parental relationships), is likely to garner gazillions of accolades come awards season.
Then there are all the books still on my to-read pile, so you’ll have to stay tuned to Instagram for updates on those. (Including what my high schooler will be reading in the UK for the next few weeks!)
Here we go! Books below are presented from YOUNGEST to OLDEST. Links, as always, support Old Town Books. (View and shop all our Summer Reading Guides—for adults, too!—right here!)
« Read the rest of this entry »2022 Gift Guide: The Middle-Grade Books (Ages 7-14)
November 22, 2022 Comments Off on 2022 Gift Guide: The Middle-Grade Books (Ages 7-14)
Ask me what installment of the Gift Guide is my favorite to write, and the answer will always be the middle-grade one. These are the stories that have my heart, the same types of books that once made a reader out of me. As an adult, even if it wasn’t my job to do so, I’d still read them, because they’re that good. If you don’t believe me, I encourage you to try some of the titles below as family read alouds, or simply read them before or after your children finish them (which, by the way, your kids will love you for).
Whereas “middle-grade books” used to mean stories exclusively targeted at ages 8-12, today’s category is increasingly broadening to encompass young teens as well. The result is a kind of Venn diagram of stories. There are stories intended for kids in the middle years of elementary school, which tend to be lighter and faster paced. And then there are heavier, more nuanced stories written for readers who are entering or already tackling the middle-school years. In today’s post, you’ll find plentiful recommendations in both these younger and older middle-grade categories, and they’re presented here in ascending order.
Regardless of where on the spectrum these stories fall, they are exceptional examples of storytelling, with rich language, complex characters, and original twists and turns. For as much as they entertain us, they also make us think about the world around us in new and interesting ways.
2022 has been another banner year for middle-grade books—so much so that the titles below were all published in the second half of the year, many in just the last few weeks. In other words, this is not a “best of 2022” list, because if it was, it would include A Duet for Home, The Last Mapmaker, The Marvellers, Those Kids From Fawn Creek, Zachary Ying and the Last Emperor, Cress Watercress, and Jennifer Chan is Not Alone—all of which were featured in my Summer Reading Guide earlier this year.
« Read the rest of this entry »Moving Through Uncertainty (A Book Club Post)
March 20, 2020 Comments Off on Moving Through Uncertainty (A Book Club Post)
It feels unfathomable that only a single week has passed since I was in my daughter’s Montessori classroom for book club with the third graders. It feels more like a lifetime, so frequently and relentlessly has the rug been pulled out from beneath our Normalcy since then. With schools shuttered and social distancing mandated, we’re all scrambling to find some semblance of routine, to cling to optimism about our loved ones and our community, to keep from sinking into the couch and staying there for good.
Last Thursday concluded seven weeks of discussing Katherine Applegate’s Crenshaw (Ages 9-12), our second pick of the year (click here for my Instagram post on our first book), and we celebrated the way we do: with a party. Only this time the popcorn was complemented with purple jelly beans: a favorite of the oversized, outspoken, outlandish cat named Crenshaw, once Jackson’s imaginary friend, who unexpectedly (and awkwardly) reappears during his fifth-grade year.
When I chose the book, I could not have known how apt it would turn out to be for the ordeal we’re now living through. I had chosen it for three reasons. Firstly, Applegate’s short chapters and direct sentences are accessible to a variety of readers, while the nuance, maturity, and visual acuity she packs into her words create rich fodder for discussion. Secondly, if reading fiction is linked to building empathy, Crenshaw represents a rare opportunity in middle-grade fiction to step into the shoes of someone living in poverty—and to discover he isn’t that different from us. Thirdly, the humor in this story, employed to balance out the sadness, is infectious: it’s unexpected; it’s absurd; it’s cinematic. (A giant cat who enjoys making bubble beards in the bath? Yes, please.) The light in the kids’ eyes as they begged to read aloud favorite passages each week only confirmed this.
But it turns out the most powerful reason to read Crenshaw—and why you may want to read it at home right now—may be its theme of uncertainty. How do we keep going when the world stops making sense?
2019 Gift Guide: Middle-Grade Fiction for Ages 8-14
December 15, 2019 § 2 Comments
The category of middle-grade fiction is rapidly broadening. On the one side are novels accessible to 8-12 year olds, while on the other are heavier, more mature stories aimed at the 10-14 crowd. As always, I’ve indicated age ranges after each title. Those with kids on the older end: don’t be in a hurry to move your kids to young-adult fiction. There’s still plenty of richness for the taking here.
The first five novels are new to this bog; the others are ones I’ve reviewed earlier in the year but couldn’t resist repeating, because they have mad gift potential. Or maybe it’s just that I’m madly in love with all of them. 2019: what a year. (And I can’t wait to see you in 2020. This wraps my Gift Guide, and I wish all of you a very Happy Holidays.)
Fall is Looking Good: Middle-Grade Round Up
November 7, 2019 Comments Off on Fall is Looking Good: Middle-Grade Round Up
Of the dozens of middle-grade books I’ve read so far this fall (and I see no reason to stop anytime soon), here are the ones that have risen to the top. All except one I’ve featured on Instagram in recent weeks, but it seemed like a good time to round them up here. Publishers often save their best titles for fall, and this fall is proving pretty spectacular. May your children take advantage of the dwindling daylight to curl up with one of these gems. Perhaps they’ll find their people. Perhaps they’ll re-frame what it means to be an American. Perhaps they’ll even get closer to answering the question on the back of Jason Reynolds’ newest contribution to the tween psyche: How you gon’ change the world?
(Oh, and should you need something for yourself or your older teen, you’ll just have to get on the ‘gram to see this review. It’s only my favorite read of the fall.)
Gift Guide 2018: Getting Something Out of Nothing
December 9, 2018 § 1 Comment
I wasn’t initially going to include Alyssa Hollingsworth’s immensely moving debut novel, The Eleventh Trade (Ages 11-14), in my Gift Guide, because it has some preeeeettttyyyy heavy flashback scenes. In other words, it’s not all Ho Ho Ho. But then I couldn’t stop thinking about it, couldn’t stop recommending it to my son and to some of his friends during carpool (a few who have just devoured Nowhere Boy, which tackles a similar subject). And then it hit me: this story is actually very much in the spirit of the holidays. It is about giving. It is about going to great lengths, making great sacrifices, in order to give someone you love something he desperately misses. And it is about what happens when you pour yourself into the act of giving. How the act itself becomes a gift—for both of you. « Read the rest of this entry »
The Best Problem Solving of Our Summer
August 2, 2018 § 2 Comments
In my ongoing challenge to tempt my ten year old into inserting more literature into his self-chosen deluge of graphic novels, comics, and (understandably addictive) action-packed series by the likes of Dan Gutman, Stuart Gibbs, and Rick Riordan, I announced at the beginning of the summer that I would read Stacy McAnulty’s debut novel, The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl, aloud to him. He seemed generally unenthused with this proclamation (“Is this going to be a slow book?” he asked over furrowed brows, after he gleaned from the inside flap that there would be no spies, time travel, or epic battle scenes); but I was undeterred. You see, I’m not just used to this reaction. I’m also used to how well my plan works. « Read the rest of this entry »
Reading Without Walls (Summer Reading Challenge)
June 29, 2017 Comments Off on Reading Without Walls (Summer Reading Challenge)
You never know what’s going to get through to a child.
Earlier this year, when I was leading a book club with my son’s class on Linda Sue Park’s A Long Walk to Water, the subject of refugee camps came up. Salva, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan and the main character in the book, flees from South Sudan during the war and spends several years in refugee camps across Ethiopia and Kenya. Because his perilous journey on foot through violence and wild animals before reaching the camps is so graphic, the camps at first seem like a welcome respite—at least they did to my readers—despite the narrator’s insistence on their overcrowding and the loneliness Salva felt as an orphan there.
“I mean, at least they were safe there,” one of my students remarked. “Plus, a lot of them are wearing clothes without holes, so that’s good,” said another, when I brought in photos of refugee camps to help them visualize what they were reading. “Yeah, and they teach the kids stuff and let them play sports,” said another. They looked at me and shrugged. As if to say, This doesn’t seem too bad.
I was taken aback by their cavalier attitudes. Have even our youngest become desensitized to the horrors of this world? « Read the rest of this entry »
Activism Born on the Page (A Book Club Post)
March 9, 2017 Comments Off on Activism Born on the Page (A Book Club Post)
“We read to practice at life.” So proclaims award-winning children’s author, Linda Sue Park, in her must-watch Ted Talk, “Can a Children’s Book Change the World?” Speaking from a childhood spent in and around libraries, Park argues that stories offer children a unique “superpower”: the chance to “practice facing life’s unfairness with hope, with righteous anger, and with determination.” Great works of literature do more than shape us: they become part of who we are.
Hope, anger and determination were present in spades over the past two months, as my son and his third-grade classmates gathered for “literature circle,” a book club of sorts which I’m lucky enough to lead at their school each Wednesday. Selecting A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story, Linda Sue Park’s short but tremendously powerful 2010 middle-grade novel set in and around Africa’s South Sudan, was hardly unique. Part refugee story, part war story, and part exposé on contemporary life in one of the poorest corners of the world, A Long Walk to Water (ages 10-16) has long been hailed as a story which begs to be discussed in the classroom, not only for the meaningful context which teachers (or parents!) can provide to Park’s intentionally sparse writing, but also for way this particular story inspires children to want to learn—and do—more. « Read the rest of this entry »
Facing the Past to Better the Future (A Book Club Post)
June 23, 2016 § 1 Comment
Like many of you, I am appalled, heartsick, and deeply concerned by some of the rhetoric surrounding this election—particularly by the latent racism and bigotry that appear to be awakening in pockets of our country. Each time I check my news feed, my own powerlessness in the face of what seems like a funnel cloud of hate threatens to consume me.
But then I am reminded of our children. Of how good and true and fiercely righteous they are. Of how doing the right thing is of paramount importance to them at their young age.
“Right” can be subjective. People can act in a way that they justify as right, but which others would judge as cruel and hateful.
How do we teach our children the right “right”? Or, perhaps more critically, how do we inspire our children’s conscience to make those distinctions for themselves? « Read the rest of this entry »
What to Read to Your Kids 