Category: Middle school

Charming is an underused and dangerous word to describe mglit. Some readers might view it as a less juvenile way to describe something when you’re tempted to use ‘cute’. The kitten is cute. The behavior of someone else’s six-year-old child is cute. The behavior of any 10-year-old does not want to be perceived as cute. That’s the sort of behavior that causes your grandmother to pinch your cheeks, and no self-respecting kid over eight wants that. The Curious League of Detectives and Thieves 2: S.O.S. by Tom Phillips, is a very charming book in the best of all possible ways. It’s mglit that’s the second one in the series and has enough humor, action, and intrigue to hook readers who are in middle school and older.

MGLIT in its sophomore book that hooks in readers who don’t know about ti

You don’t need to read Roll With It in order to enjoy Time to Roll. As a matter of fact, that first book snuck up on us because it adhered to the age-old saying of not judging a book by its cover. Time to Roll follows that formula so successfully that it doesn’t feel like a sequel to another book, but it is. Part of that is our fault because we’ve seen too many follow-ups, sequels, or properties that intended to make themselves multiple entries; but instead merely check off formulaic boxes. Middle school readers, if they give Time To Roll an opportunity, will find themselves enjoying a story that they never thought they would.

Realistic fiction that’s on a roll with readers

It’s possible to be too clever or too meta when audiences aren’t ready for it yet. The Umbrella Maker’s Son falls into one, or two of those traps.* The surface of The Umbrella Maker’s Son has a lot going for it that will be attractive to middle school readers. Oscar Buckle is the titular son of an umbrella maker, named after their family and boy does the city ever need umbrellas.** Everything is going well with Buckle and their umbrellas, after all, they’re the best in town and priced appropriately.**** Unfortunately, the city’s other umbrella manufacturer is selling more market share. This causes Oscar to have to quit school and work for his father as an apprentice to learn the family business and ask questions about the competitor.

Sometimes, less is more

Oh Lia Park, you continue to defy our expectations. Your freshman book, Lia Park and the Missing Jewel, had all of the markings for rote, by-the-numbers mglit, until I actually read it. The stereotypical place where I thought your book should be categorized was replaced with variety, a great heel, and a breathlessly fun pace. Now the second book in the series, Lia Park and the Heavenly Heirlooms, opens with Lia’s summer coming to an end and her attendance at the International Magic School about to commence.  Hey, look, another book about teen kids at a magic school, where do I sign up to read this one? Yet again, author Jenna Yoon spins a tale that takes staple elements and situations, and turns it into an mglit read that will satisfy fans of the genre and beyond.

Lia Park, going all Empire strikes back in an mglit way

The Counter Clockwise Heart feels like that classic fairy tale that you were never told. It’s a remarkable book that could’ve been three times as long, but in doing so would’ve been half as interesting. The first chapter in The Counter Clockwise Heart is one of the best introductions we’ve read this year. In those eight pages it perfectly sets up the world of the book’s inhabitants. It does so in a way that alludes to great danger and flashes back to times of unimaginable peril. The Counter Clockwise Heart manages to do all of this in a constant, taut manner in a way that will pay reading dividends to those who are looking for a breath of mglit fresh air.

So wonderful that you wish you hadn’t read it, so that you dig it for the first time