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Welcome to Top
Ten Tuesday! This week, we’re talking about the new middlegrade books that are
coming out between January and June 2021. The books on this list are for kids
ages 8-14, but I think they’ll be loved by a wide variety of readers. I’m a
proper adult, and I’m looking forward to reading them. This is going to be a
long list. Let’s stop dawdling and get into it.
2021 Middlegrade Book Releases
January
Just Like That by Gary D. Schmidt
Historical Fiction
January 5, 2021
Following the
death of her closest friend in summer 1968, Meryl Lee Kowalski goes off to St.
Elene's Preparatory Academy for Girls, where she struggles to navigate the
venerable boarding school's traditions and a social structure heavily weighted
toward students from wealthy backgrounds. In a parallel story, Matt Coffin
has wound up on the Maine coast near St. Elene's with a pillowcase full of
money lifted from the leader of a criminal gang, fearing the gang's relentless,
destructive pursuit.
Why I’m excited to read it: Gary D. Schmidt is one of those authors who I should have
read by now, but I haven’t been able to because his books are always checked
out of the library. I need to know what the hype is about! His new book sounds
intriguing because of the parallel storylines. I wonder how they intersect.
Root Magic by Eden Royce
Historical Fantasy
January 5, 2021
It’s 1963, and
things are changing for Jezebel Turner. Her beloved grandmother has just passed
away. The local police deputy won’t stop harassing her family. With school
integration arriving in South Carolina, Jez and her twin brother, Jay, are
about to begin the school year with a bunch of new kids. But the biggest change
comes when Jez and Jay turn eleven—and their uncle, Doc, tells them he’s going
train them in rootwork.
Jez and Jay have always been fascinated by the
African American folk magic that has been the legacy of her family for
generations—especially the curious potions and powders Doc and Gran would make
for the people on their island. But Jez soon finds out that her family’s true
power goes far beyond small charms and elixirs . . . and not a moment too soon.
Because when evil both natural and supernatural comes to show itself in town,
it’s going to take every bit of the magic she has inside her to see her
through.
Why I’m excited to read it: I love when books mix magic with real events. Adding the supernatural
to real life can only make life better, right? Novels like this are great for
kids because the kids are learning history, but there’s enough magic and weirdness
in the story to make it not feel educational. Goodreads calls this book
“wondrous,” and “an unforgettable tale of courage, friendship, and Black Girl
Magic.”
Alone by Megan E. Freeman
Adventure / Survival Novel-In-Verse
January 12, 2021
When
twelve-year-old Maddie hatches a scheme for a secret sleepover with her two
best friends, she ends up waking up to a nightmare. She’s alone—left behind in
a town that has been mysteriously evacuated and abandoned.
With no one to rely on, no power, and no working
phone lines or internet access, Maddie slowly learns to survive on her own. Her
only companions are a Rottweiler named George and all the books she can read.
After a rough start, Maddie learns to trust her own ingenuity and invents
clever ways to survive in a place that has been deserted and forgotten.
As months pass, she escapes natural disasters,
looters, and wild animals. But Maddie’s most formidable enemy is the crushing
loneliness she faces every day. Can Maddie’s stubborn will to survive carry her
through the most frightening experience of her life?
Why I’m excited to read it: I love novels-in-verse because they’re super quick to read.
They get to the point faster than prose novels, and there aren’t many words on
a page, so you feel like you’re flying through the pages. This one has a
promising mystery. Where did everybody go? Also, I can’t pass up a survival
story.
The Ambassador
Of Nowhere Texas by Kimberly Willis Holt
Contemporary Fiction
Series: When Zachary Beaver Came To Town #2
January 12, 2021
Decades after
the Vietnam War and Toby's life-changing summer with Zachary Beaver, Toby's
daughter Rylee is at a crossroads—her best friend Twig has started pushing her
away just as Ben, a new kid from New York, settles into their small town of
Antler. Rylee befriends Ben and learns that Ben's father was a first responder
on 9/11. The two unlikely friends soon embark on a project to find Zachary
Beaver and hopefully reconnect him with Rylee's father almost thirty years later.
Why I’m excited to read it: This is one of my most-anticipated releases for all of 2021.
It’s a companion novel to When Zachary Beaver Came To Town, which came out in the 1990s and was a middle school
favorite of mine. I read it approximately one billion times. The author is
spectacular at capturing the boredom and gossip and drama that occurs in small
towns. I’m excited to meet the next generation of characters from Antler,
Texas.
365 Days To Alaska by Cathy Carr
Contemporary Fiction
January 19, 2021
Eleven-year-old
Rigel Harman loves her life in off-the-grid Alaska. She hunts rabbits, takes
correspondence classes through the mail, and plays dominoes with her family in their
two-room cabin. She doesn’t mind not having electricity or running
water—instead, she’s got tall trees, fresh streams, and endless sky.
But then her parents divorce, and Rigel and her
sisters have to move with their mom to the Connecticut suburbs to live with a
grandmother they’ve never met. Rigel hates it in Connecticut.
It’s noisy, and crowded, and there’s no real nature. Her only
hope is a secret pact that she made with her father: If she can stick it out in
Connecticut for one year, he’ll bring her back home.
At first, surviving the year feels impossible.
Middle school is nothing like the wilderness, and she doesn’t connect with
anyone . . . until she befriends a crow living behind her school. And if this
wild creature has made a life for itself in the suburbs, then, just maybe,
Rigel can too.
Why I’m excited to read it: A few years ago, I read a memoir called Still Points North. It’s a vivid and hilarious memoir. I recommend
it. It’s about the author’s early childhood in remote Alaska. Her parents
divorced when she was seven, and she was forced to move to Baltimore with her
mother. 365 Days To Alaska sounds
like the fiction version of Still Points
North. If I like one book, I’ll probably like a similar one, right? I’m
interested to see how they compare.
While I Was Away by Waka T. Brown
Memoir
January 26, 2021
When
twelve-year-old Waka’s parents suspect she can’t understand basic Japanese,
they make the drastic decision to send her to Tokyo to live for several months
with her strict grandmother. Forced to say goodbye to her friends and what
would have been her summer vacation, Waka is plucked from her
straight-A-student life in rural Kansas and flown across the globe, where she
faces the culture shock of a lifetime.
In Japan, Waka struggles with reading and
writing in kanji, doesn’t quite mesh with her complicated and
distant Obaasama, and gets made fun of by the students in her Japanese
public-school classes. Even though this is the country her parents came from,
Waka has never felt more like an outsider.
If she’s always been the “smart Japanese girl”
in America but is now the “dumb foreigner” in Japan, where is home? And who
will Waka be when she finds it?
Why I’m excited to read it: I love memoirs, and I don’t know very much about Japan.
Being dumped in a Japanese public school would be stressful! I’m interested to
see how the author handles it.
February
Ground Zero by Alan Gratz
Contemporary Fiction
February 2, 2021
It's September
11, 2001. Brandon, a 9-year-old boy, goes to work for the day with his dad . .
. at the World Trade Center in New York City. When two planes hit the towers,
Brandon and his father are trapped inside a fiery nightmare as terror and
confusion swirl around them. Can they escape—and what will the world be like
when they do?
In present-day
Afghanistan, Reshmina is an 11-year-old girl who is used to growing up in the
shadow of war, but she has dreams of peace and unity. When she ends up
harboring a wounded young American soldier, she and her entire family are put
in mortal danger. But Reshmina also learns something surprising about the roots
of this endless war.
Why I’m excited to read it: I loved the author’s other book, Refugee. It’s harrowing and intricately plotted. I’m hoping for
more of the same. Goodreads calls Ground
Zero “a breathtaking, multifaceted,
and resonant look at this singular event in US history—and how it still impacts
us today.”
The Year I
Flew Away by Marie Arnold
Historical Fantasy
February 2, 2021
It’s 1985 and
ten-year-old Gabrielle is excited to be moving from Haiti to America.
Unfortunately, her parents won’t be able to join her yet and she’ll be
living in a place called Brooklyn, New York, with relatives she has never met.
She promises her parents that she will behave, but life proves to be difficult
in the United States, from learning the language to always feeling like
she doesn’t fit in to being bullied. So when a witch offers her a
chance to speak English perfectly and be “American,” she makes the deal. But
soon she realizes how much she has given up by trying to fit in and, along
with her two new friends (one of them a talking rat), takes on the witch in an
epic battle to try to reverse the spell.
Why I’m excited to read it: I think a lot of kids will be able to relate to Gabrielle.
Everybody wants to fit in, but that’s hard to do when you’re learning a new
culture and language. According to the early reviews I’ve seen for this book,
the characters are funny, and the plot is like a fairytale, complete with an
evil witch. I’m intrigued.
Strong As
Fire, Fierce As Flame by Supriya Kelkar
Historical Fiction
February 24, 2021
Meera's future
has been planned for her for as long as she can remember. As a child, her
parents married her to a boy from a neighboring village whom she barely knows.
Later, on the eve of her thirteenth birthday, she prepares to leave her family
to live with her husband's—just as her strict religion dictates. But that
night, Indian soldiers mutiny against their British commanders and destroy the
British ammunition depot, burning down parts of Delhi. Riots follow, and
Meera's husband is killed. Upon hearing the news, Meera's father insists that
she follow the dictates of their fringe religious sect: She must end her life
by throwing herself on her husband's funeral pyre.
Risking everything, Meera runs away, escaping
into the chaos of the rebellion. But her newfound freedom is short-lived, as
she is forced to become a servant in the house of a high-ranking British East
India Company captain. Slowly through her work, she gains confidence, new
friends, new skills—and sometimes her life even feels peaceful. But one day,
Meera stumbles upon the captain's secret stock of ammunition, destined to be
used by the British to continue colonizing India and control its citizens.
Will Meera do her part to take down the British
colonists and alert the rebellion of the stockpile? Or will she stay safe and
let others make decisions for her? It really comes down to this: how much fire
must a girl face to finally write her own destiny?
Why I’m excited to read it: The plot sounds more mature than other middlegrade books,
which I would have appreciated as a kid. Most children’s books were too tame for
me. I love the questions this novel asks. I think they’re very relevant to
modern times. Will you risk your own comfort and safety to make life better for
others?
March-June
Bridge Of
Souls by Victoria Schwab
Contemporary Paranormal
Series: Cassidy Blake #3
March 2, 2021
Where there
are ghosts, Cassidy Blake follows. Unless
it's the other way around?
Cass thinks she might have this ghost-hunting
thing down. After all, she and her ghost best friend, Jacob, have survived two
haunted cities while traveling for her parents' TV show.
But nothing can prepare Cass for New Orleans,
which wears all of its hauntings on its sleeve. In a city of ghost tours and
tombs, raucous music and all kinds of magic, Cass could get lost in all the
colorful, grisly local legends. And the city's biggest surprise is a foe Cass
never expected to face: a servant of Death itself.
Why I’m excited to read it: Victoria Schwab is one of my favorite authors. I’ll read
anything she writes. The Cassidy Blake series is fun and creative. Each book
introduces the reader to the haunted history of a different city. I would have
adored these books as a kid because they blend two of my favorite things:
history and spooky stuff.
The Gilded Girl by Alyssa Colman
Historical Fantasy
April 6, 2021
Miss
Posterity’s Academy for Practical Magic is the best kindling school in New York
City—and wealthy twelve-year-old Emma Harris is accustomed to the best. But
when her father dies, leaving her penniless, Emma is reduced to working off her
debts to Miss Posterity alongside Izzy, a daring servant girl who refuses to
let her magic be snuffed out, even if society dictates she must. Emma and Izzy
reluctantly form a pact: If Izzy teaches Emma how to survive as a servant, Emma
will reveal to Izzy what she knows about magic.
Along the way, they encounter quizzes that
literally pop, shy libraries, and talking cats (that is, house dragons). But
when another student’s kindling goes horribly wrong, revealing the fiery
dangers of magic, Emma and Izzy must set aside their differences or risk their
magic being snuffed out forever.
Why I’m excited to read it: I like the premise: magic is only for those who can afford
it. If magic was real, that’s probably how it would work in our world. There’s
potential for some interesting social commentary. The plot sounds fun, too.
According to Goodreads, this novel is “Heartfelt, fast-paced, and utterly
absorbing.” I hope so.
Finding Junie
Kim by Ellen Oh
Contemporary Fiction
May 4, 2021
Junie Kim just
wants to fit in. So she keeps her head down and tries not to draw attention to
herself. But when racist graffiti appears at her middle school, Junie must
decide between staying silent or speaking out.
Then Junie’s history teacher assigns a project
and Junie decides to interview her grandparents, learning about their unbelievable
experiences as kids during the Korean War. Junie comes to admire her grandma’s
fierce determination to overcome impossible odds, and her grandpa’s unwavering
compassion during wartime. And as racism becomes more pervasive at school,
Junie taps into the strength of her ancestors and finds the courage
to do what is right.
Why I’m excited to read it: This book got my attention because it’s been compared to Inside Out And Back Again by Thanhha
Lai, which is an excellent novel-in-verse about Vietnamese immigrants. Inside Out is loosely based on the
author’s own life. It sounds like Finding
Junie Kim will be similar because the story was inspired by the life of
Ellen Oh’s mother in Korea.
The Shape Of
Thunder by Jasmine Warga
Contemporary Fiction
May 11, 2021
Cora hasn’t
spoken to her best friend, Quinn, in a year.
Despite living next door to each other, they
exist in separate worlds of grief. Cora is still grappling with the death of
her beloved sister in a school shooting, and Quinn is carrying the guilt of
what her brother did.
On the day of Cora’s twelfth birthday, Quinn
leaves a box on her doorstep with a note. She has decided that the only way to
fix things is to go back in time to the moment before her brother changed all
their lives forever—and stop him.
In spite of herself, Cora wants to believe. And
so the two former friends begin working together to open a wormhole in the
fabric of the universe.
Why I’m excited to read it: Well, I was not expecting the wormhole! I wonder if the
characters will actually be able to create it. I’m interested in this book
because of the complicated relationship between the friends. It’s probably hard
to maintain a friendship with someone whose brother murdered your sister. Jasmine
Warga’s novels are loved by the book community and tend to get very good
reviews. I’m excited to see what the hype is about.
Ophie’s Ghosts by Justina Ireland
Historical Fantasy
May 18, 2021
Ophelia
Harrison and her family used to live in a small house in the Georgia
countryside. But that was before the night in November 1922 and the cruel act
that took her home and her father from her. Which just happened to be the same
night that Ophie learned she can see ghosts.
Now Ophie and her mother are stuck living in
Pittsburgh with relatives they barely know. In the hopes of earning enough
money to get their own place, Mama has gotten Ophie a job as a maid in the old
manor house where she works. Daffodil Manor, like the wealthy Caruthers family
who owns it, is haunted by memories and prejudices of the past—and, as Ophie
discovers, ghosts as well. Ghosts who have their own loves and hatreds and
hungers and desires, ghosts who have wronged others and ghosts who have
themselves been wronged.
And as Ophie forms a friendship with one spirit
whose life ended suddenly and unjustly, she wonders if she might be able to
help—even as she comes to realize that Daffodil Manor may hold more secrets
than she bargained for.
Why I’m excited to read it: I adored the author’s zombie thriller, Dread Nation. I’m confident that she can write creepy ghosts just
as well as she can write creepy zombies. There’s an old manor house in Ophie’s Ghosts. I can’t pass up that
setting! I love old houses, especially when they’re full of secrets.
Are you
looking forward to any middlegrade book releases in 2021?
There really are a ton of incredible middle grades books coming out. Warga's was on my radar, but there were a few more on your list that really appealed to me.
ReplyDeleteI love that you chose books for tweens! I'm really looking forward to Root Magic, Ophie's Ghosts, and the Bridge of Souls! It seems like there are so many amazing middle grade books coming out in 2021, and I'm trying to pace myself, but goodness, I want to read them all haha.
ReplyDeleteYou're not the only proper adult who loves middle grade! It's such a fun genre, isn't it? Of the ones you listed, I'm most excited for OPHIE'S GHOSTS, although I'm also pumped for ALONE and FINDING JUNIE KIM. I hope we both love these :)
ReplyDeleteHappy TTT!
This list is perfect because I love middle grade and I always seem to miss a good chunk of new releases. Root Magic is one I've had my eye on, I love the premise. The Gilded Girl and Finding Junie Kim also sound great!
ReplyDeleteMiddle grade books always have the most gorgeous covers! Root Magic and Alone both seem right up my alley!
ReplyDeleteRoot Magic sounds like it's going to be really good.
ReplyDeleteMy post.
I also decided to share some middle grade books that I can't wait to read -- Bridge of Souls and Ophie's Ghost made my list. =P Root Magic sounds so good.
ReplyDeleteHappy readings!
Tânia @MyLovelySecret
What a great list of MG books all with such attractive covers. ALONE stood out to me because I like both survivalist stories and those written in verse. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThese all look like so much fun! Alone sounds super intriguing already and I REALLY want to read the Cassidy Blake series.
ReplyDeleteBridge of Souls was on my list this week too!
ReplyDeleteMy TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2021/01/05/top-ten-tuesday-297/
I'm in Heaven! I love this post. I'm going to have to bookmark it to come back to for ideas. Many great ideas. They all sound good, actually. I can't even single one out I like best.
ReplyDeleteI've been so looking forward to Root Magic, too! I mean, sometimes you can just tell when a book is going to be special, and that's been a big one for me.
ReplyDeleteI don't read a lot of middlegrade, but I'm looking forward to when my niece is older and starts reading books like these!
ReplyDeleteThere's so much good middle grade stuff out there, seems like. Whenever I'm at the bookshop and I stroll through that section I always see so many books I wish I would have had when I was younger. Although, like you point out, a lot of them are fun for adults too. I love that so many of them have a mysterious vibe too.
ReplyDeleteThere's so many wonderful books on here and I have just discovered how amazing MG is last year! I have added some of these to my TBR. Thank you, for an awesome post!! :)
ReplyDeleteMy Top Ten
Ground Zero and The Shape of Thunder are on my list too! I loved City of Ghosts, and I have Tunnel of Bones that I need to read ASAP. I love MG books as well and I really want to read more of them this year.
ReplyDelete-Lauren
www.shootingstarsmag.net
Another list of Middle Grade books! :) Great picks.
ReplyDeleteWow this is an incredible list! I just added Alone to my daughter's wishlist, because I think it would be her cup of tea for sure. I also am really interested in The Shape of Thunder, Fierce as Fire, and Ophie's Ghost, so THANK YOU for putting them all on my radar! Also, these covers are just... perfection, right?
ReplyDeleteBridge of Souls is going to be fantastic! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteLauren @ Always Me