How do you make friends in a town when everyone is always moving away and your family stays? “Friend or Fiction” is a beautiful story about what it means to be a good friend as well as showing that there is no such thing as a perfect friend. Cooper explores some extremely heavy topics with …
Middle School is HARD and Pipi’s eighth grade experience made me so glad to be so far away from my experiences. Pipi has had something humiliating happen to her every year since she started kindergarten (and she won’t even talk about what happened in 7th grade) but she has decided that 8th grade is going …
All the Greys on Greene Street by Laura Tucker is a wonderful story about the power of art while also discussing depression in a masterful way, all in the package of a middle grade novel. When Olympia’s dad runs off and her mother falls into a deep depression, she turns to art to keep herself …
I wanted to like this book so much. In fact, my co-worker, when I told her I didn’t like it said, “What? But it seemed right up your alley!” Monstrous Devices is a cool concept but the book is a bit of a mess. There is too much going on and none of it gets fully realized. …
I ignored people telling me to read this for WAY too long! So don’t make the same mistake I did! Pick this up immediately! In Greg’s Chicago, there is an underground world filled with Dwarfs and Elves! But Greg doesn’t know that. All he knows is that he has one best friend and a dad …
Freddie comes from a poor family and never feels like he has a purpose in the world. That is, until he joins the circus. He learns all about the circus and even becomes an understudy for some acts. This was a fun beginning chapter book. I loved the beginning the end but just felt like …
This book is SO MUCH FUN! Magical children, a wizard competition, lots of references to goats. What more could you ask for? This is a true underdog story as well as a great girl power tale. Magaziner’s writing is hilarious and filled with adventure and whimsy. She has created a fully formed world that I …
David Walliams has delivered yet another charming middle grade book. Set in a hospital, The Midnight Gang follows the children from the children’s ward as they go on a series of adventures. Walliams has created a book that is both incredibly entertaining (with fantastic illustrations by Tony Ross) as well as reminding kids that it is important …
I was pulled in to this book by the awesome title and the great cover and the inside of the book didn’t disappoint. Aven is an awesome protagonist. Not only was she born without arms and knows how to do everything people with arms can do, she is a strong-willed and smart girl that makes …
I have to admit, I was nervous going into this book. I’ve read some middle grade children’s books lately that have had some questionable messages in them and having “payback” in the title made me worried. But this book was great. It’s a story about how to be a good person, how to treat other …
I was a fan of Lindsay Eager’s Hour of the Bees and so I was really excited when I was shelving one day and found this one on the shelf. And this one was even better. For starters, I wish that there had been such an awesome young scientist female protagonist like Fidelia when I was growing …
This book is magical and awesome! From the magical changing hotel to traveling by umbrella to a giant butler cat, I loved every part of this book and am so glad that it is finally available to recommend to kids. I have recently discovered (by accident) that I enjoy books with cursed children (I know, …
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