Great Middle Grade Reads discussion

We made it into a new year! Happy 2022, everyone! While we're readying our goals for the months ahead, take a moment to consider December. Did you squeak in with any year-end titles that impressed you?

My December reads were a wild mix, mostly because I was trying to wrap up annual reading challenges. My top two favorites (completely unintentionally) had something in common. Both feature autistic boys.



And while we're being all retrospective, let me ask: What were your best reads of 2021? Share a handful of your top middle grade titles. Maybe the rest of us will be adding them to our To Read piles for 2022!

Here are some of mine:

The Puppet's Payback and Other Chilling Tales a collection of short stories by Mary Downing Hahn was the best of the books that I read for the first time. However, as usual, I reread some of favorites including: The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop by Kate Saunders and a couple of short, delightful great books. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson and O Ye Jigs and Juleps! by Virginia Cary Hudson.

I had a huge number (for me) of 5 star MG reads this year. Some of them were new releases, as I review Advance copies (ARCs) via Netgalley. Often I don't see them being any better than the indie authors.

I also had some catching up on my TBR list, and I managed to find some of the BOTMs as well :)

Older books:
Adventures with Waffles (BOTM)
A Swiftly Tilting Planet
The Year of Shadows
Max's Arabian Adventure
Goodnight Mister Tom
The Boy at the Back of the Class (BOTM - read in December)

New releases
The Cat Who Saved Books
Trouble With Tattle-Tails
The Weather Weaver

While reading some of my past blogs I came across an old book review I did on “Lizzie and the Boys Club.” written by Elizabeth Melton Parsons. I suspect the book is based on Young Elizabeths life. She grew up in the Florida Everglades with no indoor plumbing and very few amenities.
In the novel, Lizzie is rambunctious and always getting into trouble. She is indignant when she is rebuffed trying to join the Everglade Rebels, an all boys club. She believes in female equality, and probably grows up to be independent and a feminist.
This is a great middle grade read. My grand daughter loved it and found the antics and misadventures of Lizzie to be hysterical.
This is also a good read for adults.

The best book I read in December was definitely Borders, a deceptively simple graphic novel not only for MG readers, and which shows that for many Native Americans and Canadians, the border between the USA and Canada means nothing, and for them, their tribal affiliations mean everything and not the concept of Canadian or American. Highly recommended!

Annie wrote: "Im making the list, but it's kinda huge this time, lol"
You can always do it in small chunks and post more than one message. We won't mind!

I'm a bit behind... I didn't read a lot of MG in December, but the best was Adventures with Waffles
I'm now reading the December BOTM...