I am very excited to introduce a new blog series here at GreenBeanTeenQueen! If you're a reader of this blog, you know I love reading and talking about middle grade. I recently did a post for my friend Kelly at Stacked for their series "So You Want to Read YA?" We talked about doing a middle grade series along the same lines, and here it is! So be sure to check back for some great suggestions on what to read if you're looking for some great middle grade books! Here are some of my favorites to get you started:
-Shug was one of the first "tween" books I read when I started working in the library and it rang so true with it's pitch perfect middle grade voice. I think it was one of the books that got me excited about working with this age group and wanting to do programming for the 8-12 year-old set. It's still one I love to recommend!
-Linda Urban is the queen of tween and her debut novel shows why. She writes memorable characters that you never want to say goodbye to and her books manage to sneak in a great emotional punch in a way you never expected.
-First of all, how can you resist that title? This is one of my most suggested series I give to readers in the library. And it's one that patrons come back asking for the next book in the series because they love it so much. It's a crazy romp that has a bit of fantasy and a ton of humor-and of course evil librarians. Just do yourself a favor and go read this one right now!
-I love humor in my books and this one is full of hilarious situations and a very fun storyline. A middle school mafia complete with a godfather-type, a noir detective, and water balloons? I'm in.
And you gotta have some classics:
-Such amazing storytelling that gets better with each read.
And my favorite book of all time:
From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
-I still want to run away to a museum!
So happy to see this series, Sarah! If you ever need a guest poster, I'm your girl!
ReplyDeleteYes! I would love that!
DeleteExcellent list! I love Shug and A Crooked Kind of Perfect in particular -- I have both of them on my Middle School Must-Haves booklist!
ReplyDeletehttp://slayground.livejournal.com/73379.html
Shug is just so good! I give it my MG readers all the time.
DeleteI like the list, going to add Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians. With a name like that, I have to check it out.
ReplyDeleteI know! The title sells itself! :)
DeleteGreat start to a fun series!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteSo glad to see this series. Thanks for the suggestions.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm excited for you to see the upcoming posts! :)
DeleteGreat list! I haven't read much contemporary MG - this is a great starting point. Thanks for the suggestions!
ReplyDeleteI haven't read The Big Splash, but I have all of the others! Excellent choices. I love a tween book!
ReplyDeleteI just loved Shug! I give that to a lot of my sixth grade readers. Then when they hit eighth grace I give them Jenny Han's summer series. Good stuff!
ReplyDeleteI adore Shug, too. It's one that's always stayed with me, and that I recommend ALL the time. Looking forward to the rest of the series.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter loved the Wig series by R.Suerth.
ReplyDeleteShe thought it was very funny and real (chapters ranged from lunch, gym, to lice...)