Alright, I know, it's embarrassing how long it has been since I put a post on here. But, instead of letting that continue to derail me (what will I say to explain myself? How do I transition back into posting?) I am going to instead just continue on with my regularly scheduled programming. And at the end of the year, that means a top 10 (or in my case, 20) books that I read this year. Note: not all of them PUBLISHED in 2018-some are coming out next year, and some published earlier. I just happened to read them in 2018. All of them got a 5 star review from me on Goodreads, and all of them are books I still think about, recommend, and would enjoy rereading. I am going to divide this up in to 2 posts: Middle Grade and YA.
Middle Grade Titles (grades 5-8)
Here are my top 10 (or so) for middle grade readers (grades 5-8). These are in no particular order:
Realistic Fiction![]() My rating: 5 of 5 stars I loved this one so so much. This is an early front runner for my favorite book of 2018. Mason Buttle is a kid who might seem hard to like: he doesn't always know what to say, he lives in a crumbledown house, and he regularly sweats through his shirt by lunch. But he does have friends. Ms. Blinney in the SWOOF (Social Work Office) and Calvin, the new kid in school. And he used to have a best friend, Benny. But Benny died. And now the police officer keeps asking Mason to tell him what happened. Mason has gone over and over it with him, but the police officer thinks there must be more to the story. Asks Mason to write it down for him. Not that that will help Mason keep it all straight. So, with the death of his old friend hanging over his head, and an accident that happens to his new friend, Mason thinks there might be some sort of bad luck following him around. And he might just deserve it. This is a fantastic story about what it means to be a good friend and a good person. Mason is a character you will want to root for even when he doesn't know how to root for himself. His family is a collection of misfits who still love each other, in spite of and because of their downfalls. Highly recommend. Suitable for grades 5-8. View all my reviews ![]() My rating: 5 of 5 stars Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this title for review. All opinions are my own. This was AMAZING. There's really no other way to say it. I have been a fan of Gemeinhart since I first read The Honest Truth a few years ago, and have enjoyed many of other books. His writing style is so fantastic for middle grade readers. The stories are poignant, the characters are interesting, and the books always, always, tug on your heart-strings. I loved this. It could easily be one of my favorite reads so far this year. I would call this a first purchase, must-buy kind of book. Highly recommend, for all the reasons, for all the readers. Coyote and Rodeo (don't call him her DAD, that's not what they do anymore) have been on the road in Yager, a big yellow school bus, for five years. It's been that long since the accident that took Coyote's mom and her two sisters. That long since they stayed in any one place. That long since they allowed themselves to look back and remember the past. Because as Rodeo says, it's a "no-go." And his no-gos are non-negotiable. But now, Coyote has found out that their old hometown is going to tear down a local park, the park where she and her sisters and her mother buried a memory box. One they were going to dig up in 10 years. One they would come back to and open together. So now Coyote is on a mission to get back to Washington State (she gets the news in Florida) and she has a strict deadline. And she has to do it without her dad figuring it out. No big deal, right? Along the way, Coyote and Rodeo pick up some other travelers, all carrying their own baggage and their own stories. And as they travel across the country, Coyote has to figure out what she is willing to risk in order to make her own rules. To make her own "no-gos." This is an incredible story of how one deals with grief and what it means to let go of the past. I cannot recommend this story enough and am so glad I got to read it. View all my reviews ![]() My rating: 5 of 5 stars I burned through this book in an afternoon. I loved it-the characters, the storyline, the writing. I can't wait to get a copy for my library and start handing it off to kids. It is a great Middle Grade appropriate book about some very YA issues. I would say this is a definite first purchase for middle school libraries. Quinn is actually a little relieved when her family up and moves across country from Boulder Colorado to Massachusetts. Her 8th grade year was a major suckfest (according to her) and she hopes that starting 9th grade someplace new will make all the difference. Well, not just starting someplace new, but starting somewhere where people don't already know her and finally feeling OK with using Guinevere. Her long, red-haired wig. Of course, she could also use Sasha, but she thinks that Guinevere is the better choice. This way no one has to know about her alopecia. And she won't have to worry about bothering her parents with her absurdly normal problems when they have more important things to deal with, like her brother Julius, who is on the spectrum. In fact, he's the real reason they moved-so they could send him to a better school. But Quinn isn't sure she likes not telling her new friends the truth about herself. Of if she even likes Guinevere all that much. And, she also doesn't want to screw things up with her new friends by being friends with one of their ex-boyfriends, even if that is all she is with Nick. The boy in the wheelchair. With no legs. He was in an accident earlier and nothing has been the same for him since. Quinn knows what that is like, but she doesn't really want to share too much about herself. Not yet, anyway. But, making friends and starting relationships requires trust. Something she has to figure out. Again, highly recommend. This was a great story and it cements Friend as one of my "go-to" authors. View all my reviews ![]() My rating: 5 of 5 stars Holy cow, I loved this book. It was so, so good. There were so many things to love within it: the characters, the struggles, the writing, the beautiful way that Braden is able to take the complex issues (poverty, domestic abuse, gun control) and write about them in ways that are totally accessible for middle grade readers and in ways that allow for multiple points of view and perspectives. There were so many times reading this that I stopped and paused, savoring over a turn of phrase or a way an idea was presented. Highly recommend. A first purchase type of book for all school and classroom libraries. Zoey doesn't have time to worry about homework, or debate club, or even having friends. She worries about picking up her younger siblings from the Head Start bus, making it to her mom's shift at work on time to get the baby home, and making sure they all have dinner and stay out of Frank and Lenny's way at the trailer. She loves octopuses (you don't have to say "octopi" you know), and uses their many adaptations and skills to try to figure out how to maneuver her own life. Camouflage? Check. Multiple tentacles to wrangle kids? Check. The ability to scrunch up so small you aren't even noticed? Check. But when her Social Studies teacher tells her that sometimes you just have to suck it up, Zoey begins to realize that maybe she can make some other choices. And while they aren't easy, at least they're hers. View all my reviews Historical Fiction![]() My rating: 5 of 5 stars I managed to snag an early copy of this from my Scholastic Book Fair rep and I am so, so, so glad I did. This was amazing. All of Gratz's books are incredibly popular in my middle school (grades 6-8) library and this one will be no different. I can't keep them on the shelves and my only question now is how many copies of this I should order. I know it will be a huge hit at the upcoming book fair and I am glad to have another stellar book to offer my readers. Grenade tells the story of the Battle of Okinawa from two perspectives: Ray, a young marine from Nebraska who is on his first tour, and Hideki, a 14 year old boy in Okinawa who has been conscripted to join a young branch of the military. These two characters are on a collision course with each other across this small island, and when they meet, their actions will change everything. With alternating chapters and points of view, Gratz does what he always does so well with historical fiction: he takes characters and places and makes the reader realize that there aren't just two sides to every story. There isn't just a victor and a victim. There ins't a right and a wrong. There is always a middle ground, a place of understanding, and a place of compassion. Plus, his author's note at the end includes great information on the history of the battle, the island itself, how it rebuilt, and the language choices he made. Highly recommend. This is a first purchase for all library collections that serve middle grade readers. View all my reviews Horror![]() My rating: 5 of 5 stars This was fantastic. I had heard from a couple of my "bookish" friends on Twitter that it was one to check out, and I am SO GLAD I listened to them. This was classic middle grade gold: strong storyline, great characters, a bit of spookiness, some humor, some tension, NO romance and NO language. Loved it. Can't wait to get it in the library and hand it off to some readers. Cassidy Blake can see ghosts. Her best friend is a ghost, so that works out. Her parents are ghost hunters, even though they don't really know about her ability to cross the Veil and they aren't sure how much they believe about Jacob the ghost. He's more of an imaginary friend to them. Cassidy is ready for a summer free of ghosts, traveling to the beach, but then her parents change their mind and share their new plans with her: they are traveling to Scotland to shoot the first episode of their new TV series about the most haunted places on earth. Once there, Cassidy has to try to keep herself in the land of the living (for the most part). She also meets Lara, a fellow "in-betweener" who can cross the Veil. Lara tells her their purpose is to send the ghosts on, which Cassidy didn't realize was part of the deal. And, the Red Raven, a soul-stealer of sorts, is after Cassidy. All of this leads to a city-wide adventure with life or death stakes. Highly recommend. Appropriate for grades 5-8. View all my reviews ![]() My rating: 5 of 5 stars This was a fantastically spooky read. While it is written for middle school readers (I'd say grades 5-8) it was still one that left me creeped out at times. Highly recommend. Ollie doesn't want to have any friends, she doesn't want to have any interests, and she doesn't want to go with her class on the trip to the local farm. What she does want to do is read; it's the only thing that has made her escape reality in the year and a half since her mother passed away. It is this love of books that makes her blindly reach out and stop a strange woman at the river who is trying to throw an old book away. Instead, Ollie grabs it and is immediately sucked into the old, strange story of the Webster family and the deal they made with the Smiling Man. So imagine Ollie's surprise when she gets to the farm, sees the current Ms. Webster, and realizes she is the woman from the river. Something isn't right, and when the bus breaks down on the way home, Ollie, Coco, and Brian are the only three who try to escape. Now, it's up to them to figure out a way to save their classmates and find a way home out of the Shadow World. This was a great story-spooky, fantastical, and a stirring look at the reality of grief. Highly recommend. View all my reviews Sports![]() My rating: 5 of 5 stars OK, I RARELY read sports books. And when I do, I NEVER give them 5 star reviews. Usually because in order for it to be a true sports book, and not just a realistic fiction book with a team in it, the plays have to be pretty heavy handed, the dialogue and the storyline suffer (in my opinion), and the characters are flat outside of their athletic ability. This was not that type of sports book. Yes, there were plays. Yes the main character was good at sports. Yes, there were plenty of team dynamics. But this was more than just about winning a championship. This was about what it means to be part of a team and what you have to do to earn a spot as a teammate, and more importantly, as a friend. I can not wait to get back to school and recommend this to my students and staff. I am already planning on ordering extra copies. Highly recommend. Adam Reed wasn't always Reed. Before he was Adam Sobieski, a Polish kid abandoned by his father in Warsaw. Now, he has been adopted by Renata and has figured out that he is actually pretty good at basketball. Especially since he's only been playing two years. Even with all of his skills on the court, he still isn't completely accepted at school. But all of that is about to change when Carli, the local college's coaches' daughter takes note of him and decides to help him improve his game. This leads to a spot on an elite traveling team with a group of guys who have been playing together forever. The D1 Fury is all about responsibility and the players have to sign an extensive conduct agreement. When one of the key players is kicked out due to a misunderstanding with the police, social media blows up. And Adam has to figure out what he is willing to risk in order to stand up for what is right. Like I said, this is a highly recommended, first purchase book in my opinion. Give it to kids who like sports books. Give it to kids who want to read about someone learning to stand up for what is right. Give it to kids to get them ready for All American Boys & The Hate U Give . View all my reviews ![]() My rating: 5 of 5 stars This was a fantastic read. I picked it up because I am always trying to read a few of the sports books we have on the shelves in my library (they aren't what I normally gravitate towards) and this one had a blurb on the back from Jason Reynolds. That was more than enough for me to choose this one for my Thanksgiving weekend read in the car. Connor is a hockey kid. He lives for hockey, practicing multiple times a week and getting ready for tryouts for a new AAA team. His dad has sacrificed a lot for him to be able to play, to practice, to take lessons, etc. Besides hockey, the only thing Connor really has in his life is his dog Sinbad. But now, Sinbad has cancer. And his cop dad cries at night. And money is super tight. Connor knows he will have to make some hard choices, and that things might not turn out the way he wants, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't work hard and give it his all. Highly recommend. This is a great sports book, but it is also a great realistic fiction book about a family and the choices we have to make to support one another. View all my reviews Adventure![]() My rating: 5 of 5 stars Many thanks to Edelweiss Plus and the publisher for providing me with an advance eARC of this for review. All opinions are my own. This was so good everyone. Sooooooo good. I had really high hopes for it after reading and loving Bowling's first novel Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus and this completely exceeded them. I loved that while it is still a MG novel that focuses on the power of friendship and what happens when you stick up for yourself and your friends, this one was even more. It was a feel good story wrapped up in an exciting adventure that takes a group of kids, who aren't even friends at first, into an abandoned mine in a mountain that has seen the deaths of multiple people. These kids survive a cave-in and then have to try to find their way out, all while also looking for gold (that they think is just a rumor) to try to bribe the town bully. Kids are going to love this. So will the adults in their lives. I can't recommend it enough. Bowling has taken the idea of adventure literature, infused it with heart and oomph, without tarnishing any of the recklessness of adventure. View all my reviews
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