Oh My Gosh. This was an incredibly hard thing to do: chop everyone’s lovely recommendations to a list of 100 that is not only reflective of all the wonderful middle grade writing, but also reflects the diversity out there. There’s books about people of color, of course (though not as many as I think there *could* be), but fantasy, adventure, family-oriented, classics, new books, boy books, girl books… I ended up only having one book per author, because of space. And I eliminated graphic novels (except for Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which isn’t really one). And I tried to choose the best one when I had three or four on the same theme (which wasn’t easy).

It’s not perfect — how could a list compiled by one person running a blog ever be? — but I think it’s a dang good one. Enjoy!

1. Wolves of Willoughby Chase, by Joan Aiken
2. How Tia Lola Came to Visit, by Julia Alvarez
3. The Book of Three, by Lloyd Alexander
4. The Underneath, by Kathi Appelt
5. Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babitt
6. The Indian in the Cupboard, by Lynn Banks
7. Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum
8. Peter Pan, by J. M. Barrie
9. Tales of Fourth Grade Nothing, by Judy Blume
10. The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
11. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
12. Al Capone Does My Shirts, by Gennifer Choldenko
13. Ramona Quimby, Age 8, by Beverly Cleary
14. Gregor the Overlander, by Suzanne Collins
15. The Dark is Rising, by Susan Cooper
16. Elijah of Buxton, by Christopher Paul Curtis
17. Matilda, by Roald Dahl
18. Because of Winn-Dixie, by Kate DiCamillo
19. The London Eye Mystery, by Siobhan Dowd
20. The City of Ember, by Jeanne DuPrau
21. Half Magic, by Edward Eager
22. Then there were Five, by Elizabeth Enright
23. The Moffats by Eleanor Estes
24. The Great Brain, by John F. Fitzgerald
25. Harriet The Spy, by Louise Fitzhugh
26. The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman
27. Coraline, by Neil Gaiman
28. Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little, by Peggy Gifford
29. The Liberation of Gabriel King, by K. L. Going
30. The Thing about Georgie, by Lisa Graff
31. The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame
32. Among the Hidden, by Margaret Peterson Haddix
33. The Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale
34. Penny From Heaven, by Jennifer L. Holm
35. Everything on a Waffle, by Polly Horvath
36. Journey to the River Sea, by Eva Ibbotson
37. Toys Go Out, by Emily Jenkins
38. The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norman Juster
39. The Ordinary Princess, by M. M. Kaye
40. Diary of a Wimpy Kid, by Jeff Kinney
41. The Jungle Book, by Rudyard Kipling
42. The Book of Story Beginnings, by Kristin Kladstrup
43. Schooled, by Gordon Korman
44. The Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E. L. Konigsburg
45. Savvy, by Ingrid Law
46. Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
47. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle
48. Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine
49. The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis
50. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin
51. Pippi Longstocking, by Astrid Lindgren
52. Rules, by Cynthia Lord
53. Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things, by Lenore Look
54. Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace
55. The Giver, by Lois Lowry
56. Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, by Betty MacDonald
57. Every Soul a Star, by Wendy Mass
58. Homer Price by Robert McCloskey
59. Saffy’s Angel, by Hilary McKay
60. The Blue Sword, by Robin McKinley
61. The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill
62. Winnie the Pooh, A. A. Milne
63. Rascal, by Sterling North
64. The Borrowers, by Mary Norton
65. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, by Robert C. O’Brien
66. Greetings from Nowhere, by Barbara O’Conner
67. Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O’Dell
68. A Single Shard, by Linda Sue Park
69. The Bridge to Terebithia, by Katherine Patterson
70. Soup by Robert Newton Peck
71. Clementine, by Sarah Pennypacker
72. Rickshaw Girl, by Mitali Perkins
73. Six Innings, by James Preller
74. Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls
75. The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin
76. The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan
77. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling
78. Yellow Star, by Jennifer Roy
79. Becoming Naomi Leon, by Pam Munoz Ryan
80. The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznik
81. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
82. Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein
83. The Bad Beginning, by Lemony Snicket
84. The Egypt Game, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
85. The Mysterious Benedict Society, Trenton Lee Stewart
86. The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare
87. When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead
88. Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
89. Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield
90. Keena Ford and the Second Grade Mix-Up, by Melissa Thompson
91. The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
92. Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
93. Dicey’s Song by Cynthia Voigt
94. So B. It, by Sarah Weeks
95. Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White
96. Little House in the Big Woods, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
97. Leepike Ridge, by Nathan D. Wilson
98. Dealing with Dragons, by Patricia Wrede
99. Dollhouse Murders, by Betty Wren Wright
100. Passager, by Jane Yolen