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Why I Love Upper Middle Grade Stories
Natalie Aguirre is an aspiring middle grade and YA fantasy writer. She’s an attorney by day, a wife, and a mother of one child. She blogs at Literary Rambles and interviews mostly debut and/or middle grade authors, spotlighting their books with ARC or book giveaways on Mondays and some Wednesdays. You can also follow her on Twitter @NatalieIAguirre or on Facebook.
I’m a huge fan of upper middle grade stories because they’re usually very plot driven, have great main
characters and voices, move the story along quickly, and often have sweet romances that don’t overtake the plot. And middle grade is such a fantastic time for kids to get excited about reading before the demands of homework, sports, and other activities often sadly make it harder for high school kids to find time to read for pleasure. Good upper grade books help kids make the leap from shorter novels to longer, more in depth ones.
I thought I’d share a few of my favorites and tell you a bit about why I think they work so well.
Like many adults and kids, one of my favorites is the
Harry Potter series. It has such amazing characters, a fantastic world, magic, mysteries, danger, and the typical relationship issues between middle grade kids. This is an amazing series that inspires kids in grade school and middle school to tackle those larger middle grade books.
The Percy Jacksonseries is another favorite of mine that has the same great features as the Harry Potter series. Plus the Greek and Roman mythological add a unique dimension to the story. This is another one that encourages kids to take the plunge on longer books. My daughter and her friends loved this in grade school and she read it multiple times over her middle grade years.
Because both of these series are so popular, the series are much longer than the typical three book trilogy. So the characters grow into YA characters with the readers so kids (and adults) can continue the series. Yet, like most middle grade series, the romance is sweet and complicated, but doesn’t overshadow the plot.
I don’t read much contemporary but there are two contemporary novels with a touch of magical realism that are favorites of mine. First, I love
Seeing Cinderella by Jenny Lundquist. Jenny does an amazing job nailing middle grade life. Callie faces all the issues of middle grade like fitting in, changing friendships, and boy crushes. Then she gets these huge, geeky glasses giving her the power to read peoples’ thoughts. This is a fantastic story that transported me back to middle school. I could so relate to Callie’s issues of not fitting in and wore glasses like her. Wish mine had been magical. And I think lots of kids who aren’t in the popular crowd can relate to it too.
The next one is
A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd that was just released the end of February. Twelve-year-old Felicity moves to Midnight Gulge, a fantastic small Southern town that’s lost its magic, with her roaming mom. She sees words everywhere and with her friend Jonas tries to find her own and the town’s magic in a desperate attempt to get her mother to finally stay in one place. Felicity, Jonah, and all the other characters in the story are so well developed with fantastic voices that you can’t help loving them. And Midnight Gulge is a rich, vivid setting for the story. This is one of my favorite debut stories this year.
Finally, I’m totally in love with The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen. I nominated this for the Cybils last year and was thrilled it won. It so reminded me of Megan Whalen Turner’s The Queen's Thief series with all the political intrigue, deceit, and the main character Sage, a totally self-assured guy who’s resourceful and never afraid to speak his mind. Sage’s voice is fantastic and the story is filled with plenty of action, danger, and plot twists. And there is a bit of romance that begins in this book that continues throughout the series. But again, it’s sweet and low key. The two other books in the series, The Runaway King and The Shadow Throne (just newly released) take the story in great directions and end in a way I found really satisfying. I can’t wait to read Jennifer’s next series.
So these are some of my favorite middle grade books. What are your favorites and why?
2014 is turning out to be a great year for middle grade! Here are even more 2014 middle grade releases to look forward to this year. And if you missed part one, be sure to check out
Middle Grade to Look Forward to in 2014.
-A young restaurant reviewer? Love it!
-It's hard to believe that it's been long enough for September 11th to be the main plot of a novel, but this one sounds intense!
-Haven't you always longed for a middle grade book about band geeks?
-A great cover and I've read some great reviews which have gotten me excited to read this one!
-The tagline "Saving the school one con at a time" sold me.
-Family secrets and a mystery? Yes please!
-Maps, mysteries, and a gorgeous cover-I'm in love!
What other middle grade novels are you looking forward to this year?
Sarah Albee writes nonfiction for middle grade readers. She is the author of Poop Happened and Bugged. You can find her online at: http://www.sarahalbeebooks.com/
I write nonfiction for middle graders, and my mission is to get kids who’ve been traumatized by deadly-dull social studies textbooks to unthink that they hate history. One tactic I use is to select a subject kids will be interested in—be it sanitation, insects, clothing, disease, poison—and trace it chronologically through history. I feel an obligation to entertain them, to astonish them, to make them laugh. After all, they could be reading fiction. I want them to see that history is full of conflict, tension, controversy, emotion, drama.
Humorous writing does not equal unserious writing. Some of my favorite adult writers – Mary Roach, May Berenbaum, Stephen Jay Gould--are serious scholars and hilarious writers. Most of my favorite middle school history writers are that, too. They understand that to snag the interest of a middle school kid, to expect her to pick up a nonfiction book that hasn’t been assigned to her, it’s our job to make it irresistible. How? Through the use of humor, offbeat topics, engrossing stories, and lots of fascinating—or disgusting, or lurid--details.
Here are some of my favorites, new and backlist, that may help change kids’ minds about history.
How They Choked by Georgia Bragg (Walker, May, 2014)
A delightful follow-up to her wickedly-wonderful How They Croaked (Walker, 2011), both of which are enhanced by Kevin O’Malley’s evilly-funny illustrations. Bragg combines humor with impressive research, as she recounts stories of famous flawed figures and their fabulous fiascoes. As she points out in her intro, “sometimes historians lose sight of the fact that their subjects were human beings. Real people make mistakes (even historians).”
The Raucous Royals Test your Royal Wits: Crack Codes, Solve Mysteries, and Deduce Which Royal Rumors are True written and illustrated by Carlyn Beccia (HMH 2008)
Beccia’s biographies of twelve European rulers are funny, fascinating, and thoroughly-researched. She’s a hilarious writer (check out her blog here). http://www.raucousroyals.com/ Her breezy, conversational style engages readers and invites them to be active participants, to recognize that contemporary sources can be unreliable, to learn to interpret biases and sort out facts from rumors. It’s an excellent mentor text for helping kids “identify author’s point of view and purpose.”
Tales of the Cryptids: Mysterious Creatures that May or May Not Existby Kelly Milner Halls, Rick Spears, and Roxyanne Young (Millbrook Press, 2006)
For kids fascinated by cryptozoology (and I know many), this book gives evidence for and against mythical monsters like Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and Champ, as well as examining confirmed real-life monsters like giant squids and the coelacanth. The authors present eyewitness accounts, blurry photos, and speculative reconstructed models. They include interviews with experts on both sides of the argument, and discuss famous hoaxes. “For Further Investigation” provides websites and sources for curious kids interested in following up.
Women of the Frontier: 16 Tales of Trailblazing Homesteaders, Entrepreneurs, and Rabble-Rousers by Brandon Marie Miller (Chicago Review Press, 2013)
Miller profiles 16 women of the western US, and every story sucks you in with electrifying details and masterful storytelling. Kids will love the gritty, gripping accounts of life on the frontier, liberally interspersed with fascinating excerpts from letters and diaries and other primary sources. Miller’s unflinching accounts of the horrors of privation, insects, disease, and, yes, laundry—make every story a page-turner.
And on my to-read list:
Lives of the Explorers by Kathleen Krull (HMH, August 2014)
I am a big fan of all of Krull’s Lives of… books and can’t wait for this one!
Bad Girls: Sirens, Jezebels, Murderesses, and Other Female Villains by Jane Yolen and Heidi E.Y. Stemple (Charlesbridge, 2013)
I love the sound of this book for its approach to the lives of some of the baddest (or possibly just misunderstood or misguided) women in history. As Booklist’s reviewer put it, “ . . . both an introduction and afterword focus on how history changes its opinion on people’s actions, the way history’s winners get the glory, and whether circumstances shape events more than personalities do.” Plus it’s got an awesome cover.
I'm over at
The Nerdy Book Club talking about a few of my favorite middle grade reads! Come check it out!
Why I Love Upper Middle Grade Stories
Natalie Aguirre is an aspiring middle grade and YA fantasy writer. She’s an attorney by day, a wife, and a mother of one child. She blogs at Literary Rambles and interviews mostly debut and/or middle grade authors, spotlighting their books with ARC or book giveaways on Mondays and some Wednesdays. You can also follow her on Twitter @NatalieIAguirre or on Facebook. I’m a huge fan of upper middle grade stories because they’re usually very plot driven, have great main characters and voices, move the story along quickly, and often have sweet romances that don’t overtake the plot. And middle grade is such a fantastic time for kids to get excited about reading before the demands of homework, sports, and other activities often sadly make it harder for high school kids to find time to read for pleasure. Good upper grade books help kids make the leap from shorter novels to longer, more in depth ones.
I thought I’d share a few of my favorites and tell you a bit about why I think they work so well.
Like many adults and kids, one of my favorites is the Harry Potter series. It has such amazing characters, a fantastic world, magic, mysteries, danger, and the typical relationship issues between middle grade kids. This is an amazing series that inspires kids in grade school and middle school to tackle those larger middle grade books.
The Percy Jackson series is another favorite of mine that has the same great features as the Harry Potter series. Plus the Greek and Roman mythological add a unique dimension to the story. This is another one that encourages kids to take the plunge on longer books. My daughter and her friends loved this in grade school and she read it multiple times over her middle grade years.
Because both of these series are so popular, the series are much longer than the typical three book trilogy. So the characters grow into YA characters with the readers so kids (and adults) can continue the series. Yet, like most middle grade series, the romance is sweet and complicated, but doesn’t overshadow the plot.
I don’t read much contemporary but there are two contemporary novels with a touch of magical realism that are favorites of mine. First, I love SEEING CINDERELLA by Jenny Lundquist. Jenny does an amazing job nailing middle grade life. Callie faces all the issues of middle grade like fitting in, changing friendships, and boy crushes. Then she gets these huge, geeky glasses giving her the power to read peoples’ thoughts. This is a fantastic story that transported me back to middle school. I could so relate to Callie’s issues of not fitting in and wore glasses like her. Wish mine had been magical. And I think lots of kids who aren’t in the popular crowd can relate to it too.
The next one is A SNICKER OF MAGIC by Natalie Lloyd that was just released the end of February. Twelve-year-old Felicity moves to Midnight Gulch, a fantastic small Southern town that’s lost its magic, with her roaming mom. She sees words everywhere and with her friend Jonas tries to find her own and the town’s magic in a desperate attempt to get her mother to finally stay in one place. Felicity, Jonah, and all the other characters in the story are so well developed with fantastic voices that you can’t help loving them. And Midnight Gulch is a rich, vivid setting for the story. This is one of my favorite debut stories this year.
Finally, I’m totally in love with THE FALSE PRINCE by Jennifer Nielsen. I nominated this for the Cybils last year and was thrilled it won. It so reminded me of Megan Whalen Turner’s THE QUEEN’S THIEF series with all the political intrigue, deceit, and the main character Sage, a totally self-assured guy who’s resourceful and never afraid to speak his mind. Sage’s voice is fantastic and the story is filled with plenty of action, danger, and plot twists. And there is a bit of romance that begins in this book that continues throughout the series. But again, it’s sweet and low key. The two other books in the series, THE RUNAWAY KING and THE SHADOW THRONE (just newly released) take the story in great directions and end in a way I found really satisfying. I can’t wait to read Jennifer’s next series.
So these are some of my favorite middle grade books. What are your favorites and why?
It's the first day of Spring-hopefully Spring is coming soon! To celebrate, here's a special So You Want to Read Middle Grade post all about natural magic.
Julia Mary Gibson’s novel Copper Magic has grandmothers in it, and a girl who believes she needs magic. Visit juliamarygibson.com to find out more, or follow her on Twitter @juliamarygibson.
NATURAL MAGIC AND THE GRANDMOTHERS
Growing up, my summers were spent in the woods. Our woods weren’t very wild (no bears, no way of getting lost), but there were plenty of fern shadows and shafts of magical sunlight and mossy places that my grandmother said fairies might visit if we left a crumb of sponge cake for them. To me, magic lived in the wind and tangled roots and completely existed. And so my favorite books were about feasible magic, believable magic, the magic of natural law. Of course there could be borrowers like Arrietty Clock beneath our floor. Of course there could be a way into Narnia if one happened to stumble into the right wardrobe.
Maybe because my own grandmother was a gatherer of wild plants with ESP who claimed familiarity with mystical realms, I resonated with the powerful magical females featured in stories about natural magic. Too often in fairy tales, the ancient crone is a destroyer, an eater of children, a feared outcast. Baba Yaga thrilled me, but I got solace and affirmation from the stories where the old lady wisdomkeeper is a conduit to animals, elements, and the departed ancestors.
Some of these books are mainstays, read and reread tens of times as an alienated teenager and into adulthood. Others came into my life more recently. Most of them can be enjoyed by anyone over eight or ten.
The Mary Poppins books by P.L. Travers.
Mary Poppins is a world renewal practitioner who maintains relationships with various sky beings – birds, stars, the Sun. She may look young, but she’s an ageless confederate of the cosmic crones who keep the universe in order: the Bird Woman ministering to the feathered ones, Mrs. Corry keeping plenty of stars in the sky, the Balloon Woman reminding us to know ourselves.
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald.
There are twisted, thwarted beings in the world like goblins, and there are protectors, guides, and healers like the princess Irene’s grandmother, ancient and ageless, with her rose-scented fire and her messenger pigeons. The princess Irene and the miner Curdie are courageous and steadfast like the fairy-tale characters that they are, but they have human weaknesses too. The goblins are both funny and scary, and it stands to reason that they exist – why wouldn’t beings become grotesque after generations underground in the darkness of a mine?
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
Nature is the fixer and unifier in this much-adapted classic. Unloved Mary and Colin create their own magical belief system and healing modality, with the assistance of animal steward Dickon. Dickon’s mother, Susan Sowerby, is the grandmother figure. Though she’s not technically a crone, her magically-numbered twelve children and elemental wisdom qualify her as a stand-in. Magic is in the bracing Yorkshire air, in Mrs. Sowerby’s nourishing buns and milk, in the unfurling leaves of the hidden garden, and in Mary’s brash honesty.
“The Cat that Walked by Himself,” from Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories.
One of the many great things about Kipling’s mythic creation stories is that they’re enjoyable at any age. The language is rich, the unfolding of events is masterful, the characters are simple yet complex. In this tale, the Woman makes the First Singing Magic in the world to tame animals and the slovenly Man. Only the Cat keeps some of his wildness, but he and the Woman both win the contest between them.
Gwinna by Barbara Helen Berger.
This is longer and more complicated than Berger’s wondrous picture books, but in the same transcendent vein. Gwinna is given to a childless couple by the Grandmother of the Owls. When Gwinna sprouts wings, her human foster mother binds them, but Gwinna is tasked with finding a lost song and uses her wings and the music well. Berger’s illustrations are as luminous as the story.
The Birchbark House; The Game of Silence; The Porcupine Year; Chickadee by Louise Erdrich.
Erdrich always leaves me breathless. Her writing for children is only very slightly less intricate and meaty than her books for grownup readers, and in this series she deftly braids family conflict, political and social upheaval, the quest for life purpose, adventure, tragedy, backstory, and cosmology with her trademark lyricism and humor. Young Omakayas is much like Laura in The Little House series – inquisitive, observant, capable - except she’s Anishinabe, not a white settler girl. Seven in the first book and a mother in the fourth, Omakayas is in relationship with earth bears and bear spirits. She learns healing and ceremonial arts from her grandmother Nokomis as the family is challenged by disease and dislocation. She has a second grandmotherly relationship, too – the venerable hunter and trapper Old Tallow, the shadow/yang side of Nokomis.
The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch.
Thirteen-year-old Miles is a Rachel Carson devotee and knows more than most people about the sea and its organisms. His findings of rare wonders might have a scientific explanation or might be messages from the deep. Miles’ compulsive beachcombing and knowledge-gathering is the way he contends with his rifting parents and his anguished crush on his compellingly messed-up former babysitter, a singer in a punkish band. The grandmother archetype is Miles’ crotchety neighbor, a self-proclaimed psychic who is rarely right except when it matters.
Stephanie Smallwood is an Early Literacy Specialist Librarian (and an awesome co-worker of mine!)
Middle grade literature is the equivalent to getting a driver's license to young readers. So much practice for so long leads up to the freedom of finally being able to sit down with a book ALONE and read it. This is a critical moment for children, so much can go wrong at this point: the books can be too hard, too easy, too boring, too far from their comfort zone, too close to their comfort zone, they can fall in love with a book that a friend doesn't like, and so on. Some kids love the freedom, others are overwhelmed and unsure how to choose. So much pressure! What's a librarian/teacher/parent/caring individual to do? Exactly what we've been doing here, talking about different books so when the child that needs that book is in front of us we have something in our head to put in their hands. So, here are a few books that have been important to me, a couple that I remember from my youth, and three that are new.
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry: I read this in fourth grade and remember the story sitting with me for weeks. I had already been reading lots of historical fiction, but this was the first book I read about World War II. Prior to this book, bad and scary things happened to people 'a long time ago,' but this was set in 1943, my mother was alive while events similar to these were taking place. That fact mixed with Lowry's frank style made this book a real eye-opener for me, it was the point where I began to understand that there was much more to the world than I realized and scary things didn't just happen in books.
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin: I remember the exact moment I put my hands on this book, I had just started seventh grade and was learning to use the 'big' library for the junior high and high school. I still didn't know my way around it and wasn't finding much I loved, but a paperback of the Westing Game was on display. I thought it looked strange, and the description didn't really sound like something I would like, but I checked it out anyway. And loved it. I stayed up until 2:00 a.m. reading this book with a flashlight and when I finished promptly started over. I thought the mystery and the puzzles were so smart, but looking back I think it was the character of Turtle that really resonated with my 12 year-old self. Turtle wasn't perfect, her family didn't get her and she was a bit rude at times, but she still had value, and not just because she could solve a mystery. I needed Turtle that year, and I've sometimes wondered if that high school librarian didn't somehow know that and put this book in front of me.
The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes: This book is perfect in it's simplicity. Nothing huge, nothing overwhelming, but lots of things that kids this age think about. Is there something wrong with me? Is my teacher mad at me? Why is that other kid so mean? Henkes nails the average fears of children entering the big world of school and gives them the respect they deserve.
Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place (series) by Maryrose Wood: I have been telling nearly everyone I know that they need to read these books. I haven't quite gotten to the point of putting them in people's hands and standing over them tapping my foot while they read them, but close. Full of smart wit, these books are generally described as a cross between Jane Eyre and Lemony Snicket, but I think they are in a class by themselves. Icing on the cake? 'Incorrigible' is just the beginning of the interesting vocabulary.
Wildwood by Colin Meloy -- Oh how I wish Wildwood had existed when I was ten and desperate to devour longer and more complicated books that were at my interest level! This is a story that a child can completely lose themselves in, the world-building is incredibly detailed and the illustrations (by Carson Ellis) lend just enough. This book is certainly not for everyone, it is long and slowly paced, but is ideal for the reader that wants to really get in to a fantasy.
Stepahnie Whelan is a children's librarian and blogs at http://shanshad1.wordpress.com/
When it comes to science fiction, let’s face it: the genre tends to get lost in amid more prolific genres on the middle grade shelves. Fantasy (which is often lumped together with science fiction) tends to overshadow the genre. There’s still quite a bit out there if you know where to look and what kind of science fiction you’re looking for.
The last few years we’re beginning to see an upswing in SF books for kids. The first half of my list are all titles that have been published within the last year.
1. The Water Castle by Megan Frazer Blakemore (Walker Books, 2013)
This is near-future or contemporary science fiction. One of the better books from last year, it is possible to imagine everything in the story has a fact-based explanation, but for the science fiction crowd, the possibilities also allow for other interpretations. The focus on scientific pursuits and exploration are key themes I love to see for kids. Nonfiction may give the what’s and where’s and how’s, but fiction gives kids the internal story, the why’s, so to speak. Fiction provides the inspiration and the mechanism for thinking about the future in terms of a readers’ own narrative.
2. Sky Jumpers by Peggy Eddleman (Random House, 2013)
Last year also gave us this post apocalyptic futuristic tale. Set in a world where much of civilization has been destroyed by war, surviving communities do their best to invent and improve upon their lives. This isn’t a dystopian future exactly--the community is a positive and nurturing one--but it is one where survival is a lot more chancy and the environment is far from friendly. This is a great stepping stone story for younger science fiction readers to get their feet wet in the genre. Second book in the series will be out this year.
3. Jupiter Pirates: The Hunt for the Hydra by Jason Fry (HarperCollins, 2013)
Just out this past December, this is futuristic space adventure combined with piracy. There’s no reason science fiction can’t be a whole heap of fun! A family of privateers winds up on a mission to track down missing ships in unknown space. There’s battles, there’s treachery, there’s sibling rivalry! Readers who like a good adventure story in an imaginative and fairly positive future setting will enjoy this one.
4. The Neptune Project by Polly Holyoke (Disney/Hyperion, 2013)
From outer space to under the sea. In a dystopian future an oppressive government controls everyone on an increasingly infertile land. The only escape is the ocean. Our protagonists have been genetically altered so that they can survive and live under the water--but they’ll have to escape those hunting them first! A more mature read for those interested in dystopian stories of the future--first in a series.
5. Star Wars: Jedi Academy by Jeffrey Brown (Scholastic, 2013)
Graphic novels also have their share of science fiction stories. One of my two favorites from last year was this school story with a Star Wars setting. Lots of little touches by the creator to bring in elements of the Star Wars universe, but the main characters are entirely new. Fun, funny and inventive, this one’s a real pleasure to read.
6. The Silver Six by A. J. Lieberman, illustrated by Darren Rawlings (Graphix, 2013)
My other favorite in graphics from last year is this dystopian adventure featuring an oppressive corporation and six plucky orphans who are on a mission to bring it down. Great humor woven into the dramatic plotline to make a nicely balanced story.
I also wanted to bring up a handful of older stories--science fiction that was around when I was a grade-school student. Despite the passage of years, these stories remain relevant and powerful.
7.Norby the MIxed-up Robot by Isaac Asimov and Janet Asimov (Walker Books, c1991)
Isaac Asimov is one of the authors who really brought science fiction to younger readers in the 70s and 80s. One of his best series is that of Norby, an extraordinary robot who takes his owner on a series of adventures in space.
8. The White Mountains by John Christopher (Simon & Schuster, c1967)
This alien invasion trilogy has remained in print since it was first published, and it should be available on most library shelves. Our characters are growing up in a world that has been overtaken by aliens and on the run to find the renegade communities still opposing the alien rule. A great adventure and survival tale that captured my imagination when I first read it--I still love to drop it into the hands of a new reader.
9. Interstellar Pig by William Sleator (Puffin, c1984)
This unusual story has our protagonist meet a group of odd neighbors while he’s on summer vacation. These strange adults aren’t at all what they seem--they’re actually aliens, and their engaged in a strange game called interstellar Pig. Humor combined with bizarre aliens and a wild competition to win at all costs!
10.The Girl with the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts (Scholastic, c1980)
One of my favorite plots from the 1980s, Katie is a girl with remarkable silver eyes and startling psychic powers that allow her to move items without touching them. When Katie learns that her powers may be due to an experimental drug she begins to dig into the past to see if she can find other kids like her. Psychic power stories are some of my favorites. This one is still available, with an updated cover.
11. The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron (Little, Brown Books, c1954)
Two boys find a glowing green advertisement in a newspaper. When they answer the ad, they wind up on a wild space adventure to a mysterious planet. Classic alien adventure story from the days before we’d sent humans into space. Still lots of fun to read.
12. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, c1962)
One of my all-time favorites. This 1963 Newbery winner tells the tale of a girl and her brother who go in search of her missing scientist father. They have three strange beings who help them travel across the universe by “tessering”: Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which and Mrs. Whatsit. Still one of the mainstays on library shelves everywhere.
