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In her novel The Empty Place, Olivia Cole explores the themes of identity, truth, family dynamics, and self-discovery. To do this, Cole creates her protagonist Henrietta Lightfoot. Henry is an indoor girl, an earthworm whose father, Joseph, is a butterfly—always fluttering off to some new adventure. To Joseph, adventure is outdoors, where one can wander and discover new places. He shares these places with his YouTube followers who tag along with him on his adventures when his own daughter will not. Instead, Henry prefers the safety of home, “her cluttered desk, dotted with dried hot glue” (44), and the familiarity of her friend Ibtihay UmarRead More →

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With every detention and expulsion and with every scorch mark and emotionally scarred staff member, the legend of twelve-year-old Lavina Lucas continues to grow. Mostly abandoned by her parents who often travel for their work, Vin has not received guidance on how to use and control her magic, and she yearns to figure it out. After all, the Treaty of 1695 does say that “magic must be controlled” (4), and the purpose of magecraft education is to teach discipline, restraint, and control. Because of her infractions, Vin’s latest emotional outburst at Strictland School of Magic has landed her into the last resort for delinquents. SuchRead More →

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Players of Dungeons and Dragons (D and D) will likely enjoy Garth Nix’s recent novel for middle grade readers: We Do Not Welcome Our Ten-Year-Old Overlord. Set in an alternative version of Canberra, Australia, in 1975, Nix’s novel features the Basalt siblings: Eila and Kim, who are friends with the Chance siblings: Bennie and Madir. On one of their excursions wading in a nearby lake, they encounter a peculiar object just beneath the surface. Resembling a “cut-off head with long hair” (10) or maybe an abandoned cannonball, the muddy object captivates Eila.  When Kim tries to wrestle the now glowing orb away from his ten-year-oldRead More →

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Fans of the Nevermoor series will likely fall in love with Steven Banbury’s debut novel for middle grade readers, The Pumpkin Princess and the Forever Night. Banbury’s magical novel opens as an orphan is attempting yet another escape from the orphanage. Pursued by the orphanage’s two hounds, Watcher and Curfew, our protagonist, logical and unafraid, plots and schemes as she flees. Desperate not to just run away, but to run to something keeps her dedicated to her escape plan as she seeks to find “the happiness she has always read about in books and wants so badly for herself” (13).  Fearlessly looking for a home,Read More →

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With her recent book for middle grade readers, Impossible Creatures, Katherine Rundell tells a tale of possibility. While the book soars on the fringes of imagination, with its talk of griffins, berserkers, unicorns, and sphinxes, it recounts the power of courage, determination, and a fierce passion for protection. It tells the story of two young people, Malum Arvorian and Christopher Forrester who have an allegiance to wild and living things. Rundell is herself a magician when it comes to creating characters and putting them into situations where their best selves emerge. For example, although Mal’s Aunt Leonor is a sullen and gruff character, she putsRead More →

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Fans of The Chronicles of Narnia and The Hobbit will likely enjoy Blackberry Fox by Kathrin Tordasi. This fantasy adventure will take readers on a journey into the Otherworld, a place where Welsh myths and legends come to life for twelve-year-old Portia Beale and Ben Rees. Driven by curiosity, Portia steals Aunt Bramble’s key, follows a trickster fox, and opens the door to the Borderlands. The fox turns out to be a shape-shifter named Robin Goodfellow, and Portia has no idea what she had done until her previous reality begins to unravel. Despite knowing that humans always end up losing when they make deals withRead More →

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Middle grade readers will likely relate to Jen Wilde’s recent novel, Paige Not Found. Wilde’s book features eleven-year-old neuroatypical Paige Wells whose insecurities provide obstacles but whose courage is commendable. Paige dreams of being just like her favorite teacher Ms. Penny: “Happy, funny, wearing kooky glasses, and doing a job she loves” (38). When Paige discovers that she has a mechanical device in her brain to monitor her moods and serotonin levels, she is angry. Feeling like a lab rat because her parents signed on to a research trial with Nucleus, owned by tech giant, Elliot Preston, who is about to sell the failing companyRead More →

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In her debut novel, Paper Dragons, the first in what sets itself up for a sequel or series, Siobhan McDermott has created a fantasy adventure story about twelve-year-old Yeung Zhi Ging. Although Zhi Ging has grown up in the village of Fei Chui, she wants to be its next Silhouette. When she catches the eye of a Silhouette Scout named Reishi, Zhi Ging fights hard to secure his recommendation. Even though she doesn’t finish her exam, somehow—whether by magic or by fate—she gets named Fei Chui’s Second Silhouette and gains access to the training in Hok Woh, which is the underwater home of the immortalRead More →

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Bobert Bougainvillea is eleven years old and feels virtually invisible. Actually, he might be oscillating between visibility and invisibility, given that there is all kinds of evil scheming taking place in Nefaria. Such is the opening of Adi Alsaid’s first novel for middle grade readers, The Bravest Warrior in Nefaria. When Bobert is in a visible phase, he invites some classmates to the town square to do homework while he waits for his parents. Here the group discusses Nefaria’s gumball machine which has been cursed by Evil Wizard Matt.  In every corner of the kingdom, both commoners and nobles are known to be dreaming upRead More →