Middle Grade

Just Shy of Ordinary

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by A. J. Sass
First sentence: “Day one of my new normal began on the Sunday before I started my first-ever day of public school.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is some talk of crushes and like-liking people, there is mention of anxious self-mutilating behaviors, and it’s on the longer end for the age range. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Shai has a plan to create their new normal: come out as non-binary to their mom and their closest friends (done), wear sleeves to cover their arms so they stop picking and pulling out the hairs when they get anxious (their best friend Mille designed and made the sleeves as an added bonus), and start 8th grade at a public school. They believe that the change of routine will help with the picking. Except they test out of 8th grade (they’ve been homeschooled up until now), and get put into 9th grade. High school! 

So while Shai is anxious about starting something new, they meet a couple of people -Nia and Edie – who seem nice enough to be friends. (And maybe even tell them that they’re non-binary!)And then their English teacher assigns a long-term project that has Shai thinking about their Jewish heritage. It’s all complicated and difficult, but maybe this new normal will turn out for the best. 

This is a simple tale – the conflict is mostly internal, with Shai struggling with anxiety and the compulsion of picking, as well as the distance they feel from their mom, who has been studying and working to get a new job. But Shai was an enjoyable character to spend time with. I think Sass did a good job portraying the uncertainties that a kid would go through when they’re redefining who they are, as well as the added challenge of skipping a grade and starting something really big, like public school. I appreciated the inclusion that Shai’s mom, grandparents, and friends showed, as well as the diversity in their small-ish Wisconsin town. While it’s not a book that really blew me away, it is one that made me smile, and I enjoyed until the end. I’m glad it’s out there for the kids who need it. 

 

Finally Heard

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by Kelly Yang
First sentence: “‘Mom!’ Millie, my sister, protests, banging on the door.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: Finally Seen
Content: There is talk of puberty, crushes, and social media. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore, but I’d give it to the older end of the age range.

Lina’s mom’s business making bath bombs has stalled, and the thing that they need to save it? Social media. It’s also taken over the 5th grade- everyone in Lina’s class seemed to have gotten phones over spring break, and there’s no stopping the posting, looking at the phones, and worst of all: the bullying in the Discord chats. And Lina’s no exception. She, her sister, and her friends discover that they’re good at making content for people, and her mom becomes obsessed with answering every comment posted. On top of that, Lina’s starting to go through puberty and has no idea how to deal with her changing body. It’s all spiraling out of control.

Yes, it’s a treatise against 10- and 11-year-olds having phones and access to social media, but Yang has woven a good story here. I like Lina’s confusion both with puberty and with social media. It felt honest and real: kids don’t know what they’re getting into at that age. Yang touches on all aspects of social media: the addiction, the bullying, the misrepresentation, and does it in a way that’s very accessible for kids.

I liked the first book in the series better, but this one was a solid story.

Audiobook: Finding Hope

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by Nicola Baker
Read by Kristin Atherton
Listen at Libro.fm (I think it’s only in e-book and audio)
Content: There are some intense moments. It would be in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore if it were a print book.

Ava is stuck at Whistledown Farm for two whole weeks while her parents make an important trip to America. She’s a city girl, and during the only visits she’s ever made to the sheep farm she’s mostly kept to the house. She’s not sure she wants to spend two whole weeks with her aunt, uncle, and cousin (especially since her cousin is less than thrlled to see her!), but she’s determined to help. Then, on the first night, she finds a lost lamb and brings it in. They all set Ava to carig for it, and that’s the first step on her journey to learning to love the farm and the work it takes to run it.

There’s some dramatic moments: Ava forgets to close the chicken barn door one night and a fox kills off half of the flock, and there’s some sheep rustling nonsense, but mostly, it’s Ava learning how to live and work on a farm.

I liked this one well enough. The cousin, Tom, was an annoying 10-year-old boy that I wanted to smack a few times, but it wasn’t terrible. The thing that made this one work for me was the narrator. Atherton was fantastic. I’m not sure the book (it’s a celebrity author, I guess) would have been great otherwise, but Atherton made the characters shine.

It’s a short, fun read, especially for those kids who love animals.

Tagging Freedom

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by Rhonda Roumani
First sentence: “Kareem picked up the black spray paint and studied the sandy-colored wall.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is some talk of war and protests where gunfire opens up. There are also instances of microaggressions and blatant racism. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Kareem is a 13-year-old in Syria in 2011, right as the protests and the civil war began. He is fired up about the abuses by his government and wants to help do something so he and his friends take to spray painting slogans and art on the buildings around Damascus. This lands him in trouble – with his parents, not the government, fortunately – and they ship him off to live with his aunt and uncle and cousin in America.

Said American cousin, Samira, is having her own problems. She wants to join the Spirit Squad, but the girl who runs it is the same girl that bullied Sam all through 4th and 5th grade. But people change, right? And it’s 7th grade now. But joing the Spirit Squad makes her end up fighting with her best friend, and when her cousin arrives, it makes everything a lot more complicated.

The most striking thing in this book is the huge juxtaposition between Kareem’s Syrian life and the way he cares deeply about his family and friends who are still being affected by the uprising and government retaliation and Samira, who is concerned with, well, #firstworldproblems. If there is anything that brings to light the huge disparity (and nonchalance) that we Americans (even children!) have with the other world, this is it. I thought Roumani handled it well – making Kareem care so deeply, you can’t help as a reader but care about what he cares about. And I liked Samira’s growth arc, and the way she shook off superficial concerns compared to the problems that Kareem and his family have.

And because it has a lot of similarities with the genocide in Gaza right now, it was that much more powerful and relevant. An excellent book.

The Apartment House on Poppy Hill

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by Nina La Cour
illustrated by Sonia Albert
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
First sentence: “1106 Wildflower Place was what many considered to be a perfect building, plunked right in the middle of Poppy Hill, a not entirely perfect hill but a good one all the same.”
Content: There are three sections of short chapters. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore, but I’m considering suggesting it move down to the Beginning Chapter (grades 1-2) section instead. I think it fits better there.

Ella has lived at the apartments at Poppy Hill her whole life, and she knows almost everything about her neighbors and the building. So, when newcomers Leo and Cleo move in, Ella is there to show them the ropes. The only thing she doesn’t know: much of anything about the Robinsons, the older couple who live in the topmost apartment.

Much like most beginning chapter books, this one is light on plot but leans heavily into charm and character. You meet all the neighbors through our very competent main character, Ella, and there is a very charming assortment of quirky neighbors. Eventually, in the third section, you meet the Robinsons, who are equally charming and delightful.

That’s all there is, which is fine when you’re 7. In fact, I think many seven-year-olds will really like this one.

Audiobook: The Misfits

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by Lisa Yee
Read by Cindy Kay
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: It’s a fast-paced novel, and there are illustrations in the print version. Some intense moments may be scary to sensitive readers. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Olvie Coben Zang has been an outcast her entire life. Her parents are too busy to pay her much attention, she doesn’t really fit in at school, she has no friends… the works. The only person who really saw her was her grandmother, Mimi, but she has passed on. And then, out of the blue, her parents tell her that she’s being transferred to a boarding school, RASCH, a unique school for unique kids. Once there, she’s lumped in with four other outcasts – James, who’s young but has an encyclopedic knowledge of words and history; Philomena (“just call me Phil”) who is a tech genius; Iggy, who has a bit of temper but a heart of gold; and Theo (TBH, I just thought of him as the White kid). Together, they form the Misfits, as part of an experiment to train kids as spies. Their goal, in the end: Catch the Bling King and get back the infamous, super expensive necklace of the school’s founder.

This was a lot of fun. I liked the mystery (I miscalled the ending!), I liked the characters – they were fun and interesting and sometimes silly. It was well-paced; I could see a kid falling into the book and plowing through it because it’s hard to put down. And Kay, as a narrator, is excellent. She definitely keeps the pace up as well as helping with voices to keep all the numerous characters (including the adults) straight.

I thoroughly enjoyed this and am looking forward to more in the series.

The Lost Year

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by Katherine Marsh
First sentence: “Dark Beast Ganon charged.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is talk of starvation and the deaths of children. It’s in the YA section (grades 6-8) of the bookstore. I read this book for the Cybils, and this reflects my opinion and not that of the whole panel.

It’s spring of 2020, which means that Matthew is trapped in his home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s bored out of his mind, mostly because his great-grandmother – whom they call GG – has come to live with them and his mom is super strict about not interacting with anyone because of the pandemic. He has his Switch, until his mom decides that he needs more to do than sit playing games, and tasks him with helping GG go through her stuff.

When he finds a black and white picture of her and another girl, he slowly gets GG to open up about her childhood in Ukraine and the famine that plagued the country in the early 1930s. Told in alternating voices – we hear Matthew’s story as well as Helen’s, a first-generation American immigrant – and Mila’s – the daughter of a Communist official – stories.

I really liked this one. I liked the parallels between the early days of the pandemic and the Ukranian famine of 1932/1933. I liked how Marsh made each of the three characters come alive on the page, and made the historical parts relevant to today. And even though there is conflict, as a a reader, you can see all the various perspectives. In the end, after all, we’re all just trying to survive somehow.

It’s a good story, and one I think kids who like Jennifer Nielsen or Alan Gratz will enjoy.

Skating on Mars

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by Caroline Huntoon
First sentence: “Time with Katya, my figure skating coach, is in high demand.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is some bullying and misgendering. It’s in the Middle Grade section (graes 3-5) of the bookstore. I read this book for the Cybils, and this reflects my opinion and not that of the whole panel.

All Mars wants to do is skate. They feel the most at home on the ice, especially since their dad’s death. But, things off the ice aren’t simple: they haven’t come out to their family as nonbinary, their best friend is making new friends that aren’t terribly accepting of Mars, and they might have a crush on a girl at the skating rink. It’s a lot for a 12-year-old to handle. And when they decide to skate in the men’s division of a competition, that makes everything they thought they were holding in come spilling out.

I liked this one a lot! I liked the portrayal of Mars as an enby kid, and the way it was expressed. I liked that their mom was supportive, once she found out, and all the conflit and drama was centered around figure skating and the binary way the sport is structured. I liked the relationships Mars had, and the realistic ups and downs they went through. And I never felt like Huntoon was simplifying or dumbig thigns down for the audience.

A solid story, good for both people who love to skate and for those who want a book from a nonbinary perspective.

Dear Brother

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by Alison McGhee, Illustrated by Tuan Nini
First sentence: “Dear Brother, I am writing this note of apology from my room, where I have been sent to spend the rest of my life for referring to you as America’s FAmous Nothing.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: It’s got lots of illustrations and not too many words It’s in the Middle Grade section (grades 3-5) of the bookstore. I read this book for the Cybils, and this reflects my opinion and not that of the whole panel.

Sister is tired of being the younger sibling. She never gets anything: attention, her way, her desires. Brother is the one who gets what he wants, like a bearded dragon as a pet instead of a dog; or getting to go to sleep away music camp. But Sister learns that maybe a bearded dragon (and Brother) aren’t so bad, and Brother learns that maybe his little sister is okay as well.

This one was… fine. It bothered me that the characters didn’t have names besides “sister” and “brother”; I’m sure it was to make them feel universal, but I just felt like it was stupid. (I suppose I have a thing about calling people by their names..) I did like the Lessons Learned, but there wasn’t much else to the book besides learning lessons. The illustrations were good – it borders on being a graphic novel, but not quite – but there wasn’t much else to it.

I’m sure there is a 3rd grader out there for whom this is their favorite book, and I don’t want to take that away from them. It’s just not for me.

Finally Seen

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by Kelly Yang
First sentence: “I listen to the quiet hum of the plane and the not-so-quiet flutter of my heart in my chest.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is bullying and microaggressions both by other children and adults. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore. I read this book for the Cybils, and this reflects my opinion and not that of the whole panel.

Lina Gao has lived with her grandmother in China for the past five years while her parents and younger sister start a new life in America. She has missed her family but loved her time with her grandmother. But now, her parents have sent for her. She is racked with guilt for leaving her grandmother to go live in a retirement home, but excited to start a new life in America. Unfortunately, it’s not all happiness and roses. She can’t speak English well, so starting a new school is difficult for her. Her parents and sister have a bond that she isn’t part of. And then there’s her parents’ financial situation: back rent from the pandemic is due and her father’s boss at the organic farm is pretty sketchy.

Through the ups and downs of Lina’s life, she gains some friends, helps her parents figure out their finances, and figures out how to navigate her school. And in the end, she feels like maybe she can make a place for herself in her new life.

I liked this one. Reading the author’s note, it seems that some of this reflects Yang’s experience, which makes it that much more interesting. It’s a good immigrant story and a good reminder that everyone wants the best life they can have. Several white adults (mostly men) came off pretty bad in this – they were bullies and racist towards Lina and her family. (One of them – the father of a friend of Lina’s did start to learn and change…) This is a good reminder of how adults tend to use and abuse their power. I like the portrayal of the immigrant story, and I think it’s definitely an important book to have on shelves.