Great Middle Grade Reads discussion

Another month has come and gone, and we're hoping it included some good books. Think back and recommend your best middle grade reads from May.

I co-host a middle grade blog, and every year, we do #BookADayMay. Needless to say, I read a LOT last month. Of the 31 titles, I'll highlight three. The Last Musketeer by Stuart Gibbs is about a boy who's tossed back in time, where he meets three boys his own age who are the real life inspiration for the famed Three Musketeers. Lots of nods to the classic & some interesting details about life in France during that century. Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell is about a girl who's quite sure she's not an orphan. With a handful of clues and the help of some unusual friends, she and her guardian elude the authorities and take to the rooftops of Paris to find her. And then there's Airball: My Life in Briefs by L.D. Harkrader, which made me laugh so often, it's been boosted onto my Best Books list for this year. It's about a basketball-loving boy with no athletic ability who's willing to do just about anything the coach decrees if it means a chance to meet the man he's pretty sure is his father.

The best book I read in May has definitely been Janet Lunn’s The Root Cellar. I loved the main character, the anti war message and how Rose gets to the past.

I also read another time travel novel in May and while I did love the combination of time slipping, British school story and the detailed information on WWI I in Penelope Farmer’s Charlotte Sometimes, I also found it a bit hard to know main character Charlotte and also wanted more information on Clare (the WWI student with whom Charlotte keeps switching places).

A couple of my favorites that I read again in May that I really enjoyed were Words on Fire by Jennifer A. Nielsen and Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George. My favorite to read for the first time was The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart by Stephanie Burgis.

The best book that I read in May was Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack. The characters were endearing and I loved the Slavic folklore that was in it. The main character and her family are also Jewish and Anya being from the only Jewish family in her village is discussed on how this affects her and her family.

The best book I read in May was The Year I Flew Away. I loved it and am hopeful it gets book award attention this year.

I had great fun with Jonathan Auxier's Trouble with Tattle-Tails, which is the second in his Fable Stables series. They are on the young end of Middle Grade, I think, but good, brilliantly illustrated, chapter books.

At the end of May I popped in Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse which was great fun, wonderfully illustrated, and I can't remember it at all otherwise. For my present state of mind it's probably a good recommendation.

The other one I read was Max's Arabian Adventure, a novella length piece in Wendy Leighton-Porter's fabulous Shadows from the Past series, which starts with The Shadow of Atlantis.

I recommend the whole series... even if I'm only up to number 16, and the series will be finishing at 25!