Middle-Grade Novels
by Avi
Seeking adventure and a life of his own, 4-month-old country mouse, Ragweed hops on a train bound for the city. He is ill-prepared for the sights, sounds, and cats of big metro living. F.E.A.R (Felines Enraged About Rodents), a gang of outraged cats has taken over one end of town and is determined to rid the streets of mice. Fortunately, Clutch, a worldly-wise guitar-playing mouse, and her bandmates of the Cheese Squeeze Club take Ragweed under their wing and teach him how to stay alive. But is survival enough? Ragweed is forced to decide between staying in the bustling city or returning to the slow pace of country living.
This is the first in a 7-part series about the mice of Dimwood Forest.
by Jean Craighead George
Armed with a penknife, a length of cord, an ax, flint and steel, and a small handful of cash, young Sam Gribley leaves his posh New York City life and heads to his family's ancestral land in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. He has no experience "roughing it" in the woods but is determined to live independently off the land. He finds a hollowed-out tree and settles in with a falcon and a weasel. Over days and months, it's Sam against the world. Despite his lack of skills, tools, and even mentorship, will he endure?
This survival story is the first in a three-part series set in the late 1950s, which explains some of Sam's outdated and slightly unethical wilderness practices. Please note: The subsequent titles were written three decades after the original and have a slightly different tone. After reading the book, middle graders might enjoy watching the 1969 movie adaptation.
by Marian Halahmy
Jack is a Messenger tasked with running important papers around London during the Blitz of 1940. Deaf in one ear, Jack has always felt like an outsider. This job has given him purpose. While on a route one day, he finds a stray dog. Like Jack, the mutt has an injured ear, earning him the name Rip. The two make an instant connection and become inseparable. Jack soon learns that Rip is not just any dog, he's a rescue hero and can find lost people under the rubble and ash of bombed-out buildings.
The pair become a useful team to the Warden and begin to make friends with kids around the neighborhood. There are only three problems:
1. Jack is not old enough to be a Messenger. He lied on his application in order to get the job.
2. Jack's parents don't know that he's been roaming the streets each day helping with the recovery effort.
3. As the bombing continues for months, Jack's dad, an amputee vet of The Great War, becomes increasingly angry. All that anger seems to be pointed at Jack.
When a bomb rips through their home, Jack has a chance to prove what he and Rip can do.
Please note: There are a handful of replacement swear words like "bloomin'," "flippin'," and "hellhole," and crass name callings like "twerp" and "jerk" throughout the story. Jack gets into confrontations with a pair of bullies, and there is a subtle crush between a young boy and a girl. Most noteworthy, Jack's dad is not kind to him in the first three-fourths of the book. Although he's never diagnosed, he is clearly suffering from PTSD and is masking his fear with anger. He becomes verbally abusive at times to Jack, even yelling that he wishes Jack had never been born. That said, the story is otherwise quite clean and full of redemption, forgiveness, and the kind of raw honesty that older middle-grade readers are craving. While the publisher has deemed this book appropriate for kids ages 8-12, I recommend it for 10+.
by Kathryn Butler
Can life get any harder for 12-year-old Lily? Her father has just died, her grandmother is losing her memory, her mother is forced to work long hours at the hospital, and the class bully, Adam, is more relentless than ever. It's a good thing she has such a vivid imagination to divert her attention from her current circumstances.
One day, however, she finds herself transported to another world where the images she's only dreamed of seem to have come to life, including a small, albeit courageous, dragon named Cedric. Lily has been brought to this new realm to help rescue it from the evil clutches of a dark dragon named Eymah. She's surprised to learn that, like her father before her, she is a member of a long line of keepers charged with protecting special pendants that can turn dreams and nightmares into reality.
First in a fantastic four-part fantasy series with faith-based themes, this book incorporates characters from the classic tales of King Arthur.
Parents, Be Aware
by Linda Sue Park
Fascinated with the craft of pottery, Tree-ear, a young 12th-century Korean orphan, takes a job doing menial tasks for once-famed potter Min. Min is aged and quite curmudgeonly, but Tree-ear faithfully serves him with no complaint, hoping to learn what it takes to be a master craftsman someday.
Min wants to earn a royal commission and sends Tree-ear to the palace with a Celadon vase. Along the way, the pot is shattered, and Tree-ear can only present a single shard of the completed masterpiece at the palace court.
Things to know: This compelling, coming-of-age novel will introduce tween readers to a different time and a different place. That said, it does mention the afterlife beliefs of the Buddhist faith. Additionally, Tree-ear recalls a tale of many women jumping off a cliff together to avoid being taken captive by an invading army. The story, which is obviously about a mass suicide, receives only a minor mention and may not be fully understood by some readers.
Just for you, Mom
by Cathy LaGrow
In 1928, while at a church picnic in the woods, 16-year-old Minka is brutally attacked. She later discovers that she's pregnant. To protect her from public shame, her mother sends her to a group home many states away. Minka delivers a healthy baby girl but is forced to give it up for adoption. She then spends the next eight decades pining for her child. With only a black-and-white photo and a few memories to go on, she begins to pray that God would allow her to meet her daughter before she dies.
This is a haunting but true account of a mother's unrelenting love for her long-lost child and how God finally brings them together.