And we’re back, with another installment of this year’s Gift Guide, today with a whopping fifteen new books aimed at the 8-12 audience. (The next and final post will cover books for tweens and young teens and will encompass some upper middle-grade titles in addition to young adult.) Below, you’ll find graphic novels interspersed among traditional novels, though many of the latter have a strong visual component.
What a difference a year makes! Last year at this time, many of us were bemoaning the rising disconnect between today’s young readers, who are turning away from reading for fun at record rates, and the books being marketed towards them. What do today’s young readers actually want? Fun! Shorter page count! More illustrations! More boy protagonists! FUNNY without compromising solid storytelling! I’m thrilled to report that the books below deliver in spades.
I have to give credit to my marvelous colleagues at the bookstore, who read many of these first and insisted I move them up on my to-read pile.
As always, I’ve prioritized books that feel particularly gifty. All of these are hardcover editions, many with captivating art and special touches, and if you order from Old Town Books, you’ll find some of them even come with signed book plates and swag.
Though all the books below are targeted towards 8-12, some of them—ahem, Westfallen—are going to have legs for older kids as well. Stellar storytelling is stellar storytelling, after all.
The Fairy Tale Fan Club: Legendary Letters Collected by C.C. Cecily
by Richard Ayoade; illus. David Roberts
Ages 8-12 (128 pages)
At a time when so many kids are feeling intimidated by tiny text, high page counts, and lack of illustration, books like The Fairy Tale Fan Club are a breath of fresh air. This is GOLD for reluctant readers, from the non-traditional format to the subversive content. It’s a collection of letters between children and their favorite fairy tale characters, curated by a fictional archivist named C.C. Cecily. Before you shrug your shoulders and think your reader is too old, I assure you the language is supremely sophisticated and clever. The guard rails are off, and we’re getting the real deal from the characters we thought we knew.
We’ve always been told that fairy tale characters lived “happily ever after,” but did they really? Where are they now? What lessons did they retain? And if they could go back and do things different, would they? These are some of the questions answered in letters from Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Pinocchio, Rumpelstiltskin, and more. The Little Mermaid would like to take issue with the “film” telling of her story, which sorely misrepresents the “forced community service” she has been relegated to for the rest of her life. The Big Bad Wolf would like to point out that, though he would never profess innocence, he was never given a proper trial, and also, all of this could have been avoided if Little Red Riding Hood had just shared a single cupcake with him.
With an array of fonts, letter styles, lists, and fabulously wry pen-and-ink drawings by David Roberts (of the “Questioneers” picture book series!), readers will have so much fun, they’ll barely notice they’re reading. (A quiz at the end asks readers to match fairy tale characters with email addresses, he he.)
Sidekicks: Book 1 (Graphic Novel)
by Dan Santat
Ages 8-12 (240 pages)
All you really need to know about this graphic novel to understand its kid appeal is 1) it’s about superheroes and 2) there are butts. But, OK, I’ll force myself to say more. Actually, Sidekicks is a bit of a cheat because it’s not actually new: it’s a reissue of a beloved series, with a new cover and sixteen pages of a never-before-seen epilogue. But since the chances are high that your kiddo wasn’t in this age range when the book first came out, it’s going to feel new to them.
Captain Amazing, hometown hero of Metro City, is in the market for a new sidekick, and his own pets—a dog, cat, hamster, and chameleon—decide to audition for the part. As it turns out, they’re not just eager to try their own paws at superpowers; they’re also competing for some one-on-one time with the Captain himself, whose busy schedule means he hasn’t paid a whole lot of attention to the shenanigans happening at home. But when Dr. Havoc, Captain Amazing’s longtime nemesis, comes on the scene, the sidekick-hopefuls will have to set aside their own competition and come to the Captain’s rescue.
Buckle up, because Dan Santat’s art explodes with dynamic facial expressions, pops of color, and visual puns. It’s such a good time. Plus, superheroes and butts.
The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science
by G. Edwina Candlestank, as told to Kate McKinnon
Ages 8-12 (239 pages)
I normally can’t abide celebrity authors, who tend to get published way too easily with mediocre (or downright terrible) writing, but after reading The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science, I’ve decided to always make an exception for Weird Barbie—I mean, SNL alum Kate McKinnon. Is this story about a finishing school for nonconformists ridiculously over the top? In every possible way. It’s a smorgasbord of eccentric characters, weird science, and linguistic play. (Did your kids like The Swifts? I rest my case.)
Orphaned sisters Gertrude, Eugenia, and Dee-Dee Porch are “drowning in [the] intellectual and moral cesspool” that is their snooty town of Antiquarium, where brooches outnumber books at the etiquette school they’ve just been expelled from. But then a mysterious invitation appears in each of their backpacks, inviting them to a school in a decrepit mansion run by a mad scientist named Millicent Quibb, who has oysters in her bathtub, a blue hermit crab as an assistant, and an alleged fondness for pickling children’s brains. Oddly the school has no other students, but what the heck?! If they can avoid being candied, or preyed upon by murderous worms, at least they might finally be accepted for who they are: smart, sensitive, weird-as-anything sisters, who could end up being their town’s true heroes.
Voice is everything here—so much so that when I was presenting the book as part of my Gift Guide Live events at the bookshop, all I needed to do was read aloud the first few paragraphs of the preface and the audience was hooked (the line and sinker, too). This is a book that begs to be read aloud. I’d tell you to cue up the audiobook for your kids, but I wouldn’t want to deprive you of the chance to do the voices, if that’s your thing. Which it should be. (Plus, you’d miss the scientific diagrams, which as you can see are delightful.)
Take It From the Top
by Claire Swinarski
Ages 8-12 (248 pages)
When Claire Swinarski set out to write this middle-grade novel—a story about a summer theater camp production of WICKED!—did she realize it would come out at the same time as the movie, or was that just purely serendipitous? Either way, Take It From the Top—yes, that’s the same author as last year’s hugely popular What Happened to Rachel Riley?—feels like the biggest gift to readers right now. The fact that is also deftly handles the complex dynamics of a friendship fallout, reminding us to hold space for multiple truths, is (emerald) icing on the cake.
Every year, Eowyn Becker counts down the months to sleepaway musical theater camp, not only for the chance to hone her singing and acting skills out of the shadow of her Broadway-star brother, but because she’ll get to spend time with her best friend, Jules Marrigan, the only person who has ever understood how badly she wants to be a star like her late mother. But this summer, as soon as Jules opens her mouth, Eowyn knows something has changed between them. Could Jules’ coldness mean she is still upset about what happened during last summer’s camp production? And what did happen…exactly?
But when Eowyn and Jules are cast as Glinda and Elphaba, their chemistry on stage will hinge on their ability to work through their grievances off stage. Amidst rigorous rehearsals, demanding directors, and the breakdowns of musical numbers we know and love, Swinarski pulls back the layers to this friendship, alternating perspectives and moving back and forth in time to expose the hurt feelings, the misunderstandings, and the things that may still be worth fighting for. A thoughtful look at the way admiration and ambition aren’t mutually exclusive when it comes to main character energy—and a thrillifying (see what I did there?) ending at that.
(If you still want to keep the Wicked high going, check out Will Taylor’s fun new fantasy series, set in Oz: The School for Wicked Witches.)
Boy vs. Shark (Graphic Novel)
by Paul Gilligan
Ages 9-12 (234 pages)
Boy vs Shark, Paul Gilligan’s graphic memoir of growing up in 1975, on the heels of Jaws releasing in the theater, is one of the most underrated gems of the year. It is so dang funny, but it’s also tackling something we don’t often see for this age.
Here’s what I tell kids when I’m recommending this book: a boy gets pressured by his friends, the neighborhood bully, and his own father to see the movie Jaws, even though he’s pretty sure it will freak him out. As it turns out, it freaks him out so badly that, for days afterwards, he is convinced a giant shark is following him around, taunting him and tempting him to do more things he doesn’t want to do in the name of impressing others, until he figures out how to stand up to the shark—and the young (and old) men in his life.
Now here’s what I tell parents: this is a brilliant exploration of toxic masculinity, the pressure our society puts on boys to “man up” and deny their vulnerability at all costs. And the dry, laugh-out-loud humor is such that kids will devour this important and profound message without ever realizing it. Just make sure you read it after your kids, because it’s that good. (A glossary at the end primes kids on some of the 1970s products and slang in the story.)
Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody
by Patrick Ness; illus. Tim Miller
Ages 8-12 (199 pages)
Speaking of kids getting exposed to meaty themes under the sneaky levity of silly humor, let’s talk about Patrick Ness’ Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody, not a graphic novel but with spot illustrations on almost every page. If Bog Myrtle is my favorite graphic novel of the year (see the Short Chapter Books installment of this year’s Gift Guide), this reptilian take on surviving middle school is probably my favorite middle grade. For one, I’ve never read anything like it. Two, it’s incredibly funny. Three, it tackles a clown car of subjects in the cleverest way.
Welcome to a middle school of anthropomorphic animals, where Zeke the monitor lizard is at the bottom of the social ladder, is forced to wrangle angry lions and way-too-chill pandas every day in the halls (how stereotypical, Principal Wombat, making a monitor lizard a Hall Monitor), has to (unfairly) apologize to the aspiring supervillain Pelicarnassus after punching him, and is still mourning the loss of his dad five years ago. Also, he has France on his knee. (Say what?) Keep up: he has the actual country of France on his knee. It’s a lot of responsibility, seeing as he has to keep eyes out for possible intruders and also avoid ever putting his knee in the bathtub so as not to wash away an entire country.
While Zeke works on finding his inner hero and the friends who will have his scaly back in the wild ride that is middle school, readers are exposed to a host of themes, from classism to xenophobia, fat shaming to misinformation, bullying to grief. The sequel will be out next June and I CANNOT WAIT.
A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall
by Jasmine Warga
Ages 8-12 (213 pages)
A stolen painting, a friendship born in the wake of its investigation, a ghost who doesn’t know who she is, and a turtle who holds the key to it all: this mystery exudes charm on every page! But what impresses me most about A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall is how much Jasmine Warga accomplishes in such spare prose. Much like she did in A Rover’s Story, she infuses short chapters, snappy dialogue, and deceptively simple sentences with robust characters, emotional growth, and a lens for considering our own wants and needs. It would SHINE as a read aloud, too.
When a painting goes missing at the museum where Rami’s mother works as a janitor, and especially when all signs point to it being an inside job, he understands that things look bad for his mom. So, when Veda, one of the only kids left at school who still talks to him (mostly, he thinks, because she’s a big fan of talking), convinces him, during their spring break, to take up the investigation themselves, he decides to go along with it. Even if it means breaking and entering. Even if it means talking to a ghost (who looks suspiciously like the girl from the missing painting). Even if it means finally confronting the reasons for the increasing loneliness and alienation he feels around everyone in his life.
Enter Agatha, a turtle on the grounds of the museum. A turtle who can’t talk—this isn’t that kind of book—but chooses to express herself in another way, if only Rami is ready to see it. After all, isn’t being seen for who we are and what we have to offer what we all need in the end?
The Sherlock Society
by James Ponti
Ages 8-12 (336 pages)
Exploding yachts, hidden maps, alleged skunk apes, corporate conspiracies, a million dollars buried on an island somewhere in South Florida, and an aquamarine Cadillac convertible named Roberta in which to track it down? This is the stuff that middle-grade mysteries are made of! The Sherlock Society is the first in a new series by beloved author James Ponti (of City Spies), and it is SO. MUCH. FUN.
When siblings Alex and Zoe Sherlock join forces with two friends to start a detective agency in Miami—“a sunny place filled with shady people”—their maverick grandfather, a former investigative journalist, agrees to serve as both their teacher and their chaperone. But their attempt to tackle a decades-old mystery involving Al Capone takes an unexpected turn when they stumble upon clues that the shadiest of crimes might be unfolding right in front of their eyes. The only trouble is, if they’re going to crack the case, they might need to turn a few heads and break a few rules along the way (and risk the wrath of their attorney mom).
This story is everything kids today are looking for: short, cinematic chapters that keep you guessing; funny, punchy dialogue; an ensemble cast of memorable characters; and a kids-out-to-right-the-wrongs-of-adults vibe that excites and empowers. (P.S. I so appreciate James Ponti’s thoughtfulness at having his characters do daring, outlandish things in the name of the greater good but also giving them realistic consequences to face in return. Without even the tiniest bit of didacticism, he gives kids the chance to think about how to navigate the murky gray area between right and wrong.)
The Wand Keepers: A Sky Full of Dragons
by Tiffany McDaniel
Ages 8-12 (339 pages)
Toadfire! If you like your fantasy on the softer, whimsical side—spells and riddles aplenty—I can’t wait to tell you about The Wand Keepers: A Sky Full of Dragons, a new magical school series, starring a young witch with blue freckles named Spella, who was abandoned in a purple cauldron at birth and taken in by a doting magical hat maker named Aunt Cauldroneyes.
Spella wants nothing more than to spend her days by Aunt Cauldroneyes’ side, foraging among the giant unicorn horns that make up the trees in Hungry Snout Forest and caring for the hundreds of animated hats that share their lively, if unusual, home. She knows that, at some point, she’ll have to learn wand magic, fulfilling her destiny and learning the identity of her shadow, who is still just an egg. But that destiny gets sped up considerably when her Aunt is kidnapped—ironically, by an imposter hat—and Spella must seek help from the prestigious Dragon’s Knob school for magic, where dodo birds can transform into dragons, merit badges are made from troll boogers, and secrets abound. Armed with her new friend, Tolden, the two dive into the mystery of Aunt Cauldroneyes’ disappearance and get a whole lot more than they bargain for.
Think Harry Potter, only if more time had been spent on the spells and the magical creatures and what happens when witches cry (their tears turn into buttons), and the ins and outs of how to sleep in floating beds. I’m not sure I stopped smiling the entire time. In the words of Deputy Headwander Candlehour, “Remember. Today belongs to you. Do something wonderful with it.”
The House With a Dragon In It
by Nick Lake
Ages 8-12 (242 pages)
FACTS: no one does fantasy better than the Brits. The latest evidence lies in Nick Lake’s new middle grade, The House With a Dragon in It, which packs an emotionally rich and delightfully weird punch in just 242 small-trim pages, accented with moody graphite illustrations by fellow Brit, Emily Gravett. Don’t be fooled by the misleading title or cover: the story is neither dragon-centered nor especially whimsical. It’s everyday life with an overlay of dark witchy magic (think an older, grittier version of Ruth Chew’s Matter-of-Fact Magic series). In true Brit form, it stars an orphan who is well versed in loneliness, appreciates the sanctuary of a library (and its librarian), and is, therefore, perfectly poised to try anything to change her luck, even it means straddling some murky moral ground.
When Summer dares to climb into the sink hole that mysteriously opens in her latest foster family’s living room, she comes face to face with a snarky dragon. The dragon is guarding an alleged treasure, and when Summer defeats him, the treasure falls to her. But the treasure isn’t gold or riches, per se. It’s a glass bottle containing an imprisoned witch. And in one of the few memories Summer has of her birth mom, she was told never, ever to open such a thing. I think you can guess what Summer does; after all, she doesn’t think she has much to lose.
Before long, Summer has entered into a contract with the witch, who feeds off Summer’s bitterness born of past heartbreak and grants her wishes for popularity and wealth. But Summer soon suspects that the wishes are coming at a dangerous cost to what few allies she does have, including the classmate who was just becoming a friend and the elderly neighbors who help her pass the lonely hours after school. Is it possible Summer is just a pawn in the witch’s own plan to avenge her death? And can Summer learn to trust, finally, the members of her new home enough to want to fight for it?
Nary a word is wasted in this splendid story, which has the potential to appeal to fantasy and non-fantasy readers alike, avid and reluctant readers.
Splinter & Ash
by Marieke Nijkamp
Ages 8-12 (368 pages)
Splinter & Ash is a medieval fantasy, the first in a trilogy, that’s light on the magic and heavy on the empowerment (think Tamora Pierce but for the middle-grade crowd). If you have a fantasy reader that loves fiery protagonists pushing against class and gender norms, there is much to love about this story of two outsiders on a high-stakes quest to save a kingdom—and each other.
Ash—or Princess Adelisa—is the youngest child of the queen. When she returns to the royal city of Kestrel’s Haven after spending six years on the other side of the country, she is shocked to learn it bears little resemblance to the home she once knew. The kingdom is under threat from shadowy nobles who resent the queen’s policies favoring the poor, and the court—her snarky brother included—quickly dismisses Ash on account of her having to use a cane and braces. Enter Splinter, the youngest child of one of Haven’s most prominent families, who dreams of becoming a knight like her older brother. Even if everyone says she can’t because she’s not a boy. And even if she has to dress like a boy to show off her bravery and convince Ash to choose her as squire. (After all, she has never actually thought of herself as a girl.)
Ash and Splinter forge a fast friendship in their shared loneliness and desire to prove themselves to their families. But when the two discover a plot to overthrow the queen and Ash is kidnapped through a secret passage of the castle, they’ll learn just how sharp their daggers—and wits—are going to have to be if they want to fight for themselves and the kingdom they love.
A Split Second
by Janae Marks
Ages 8-12 (248 pages)
What if you went to sleep in your basement with your two best friends, then woke up to find six months had passed, neither girl was speaking to you, and you don’t remember any of it? With no one else in her family or school seemingly the victim of time travel, Elise tries to play along as if everything is normal, while secretly trying to solve the mystery of how this happened, what went on in the past six months, and whether things can return to the way they were. What a premise, eh?!
In A Split Second, Janae Marks—you know her from the beloved From the Desk of Zoe Washington duology—continues her track record of perfectly-paced stories with compelling, relatable characters. Here, the story is divided into two halves: the first is Elise’s perspective and the second is that of Cora, Elise’s former bestie, someone who turns out to hold essential clues to Elise’s time jump.
Friendship spells and friendship drama collide big time, as readers are treated to two girls eager to be seen and loved for who they are in a world that isn’t always what it seems.
Let’s Go, Coco!
by Coco Fox
Ages 8-12 (240 pages)
Is it fair to say we’ve all made the mistake of spending so much time trying to appease the high drama friend that we end up ignoring the genuinely loyal ones? For this relatable offense and so many others, for the way she picks herself back up both on and off the basketball court, and for her ability to laugh at herself throughout it all, I adore the spunky protagonist of the new graphic novel, Let’s Go, Coco!, loosely based on author Coco Fox’s own childhood.
Sixth grade starts out rocky for Coco: her best friend since forever has just moved away and she feels lonely and awkward around new classmates. In a moment of bravery, she decides to put herself out there and join the school basketball team for a chance to hone her skills and make new friends in the process. Quickly, she falls in with the other Owls, but she also gets a crash course on navigating team dynamics, first crushes, gender identities different than her own, bullies, and apologies. But when her shooting arm ends up in a cast, can she find a way to keep taking her shots?
The purple-and-orange dominant palette is fresh and fun (and easy on the eye), but it’s the slightly exaggerated and stylized drawings that elicit so many tender and humorous moments. (For another slam dunk, see Hena Khan’s new basketball-themed graphic novel, We Are Big Time, which my daughter and I also loved.)
Popcorn
by Rob Harrell
Ages 9-13 (270 pages)
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I adore Rob Harrell’s writing: his deeply feeling boy protagonists; his self-effacing, laugh-a-minute humor; his ability to seamlessly weave comics into his prose; and his commitment to proving through story that kids can do hard stuff. My daughter and I continue to agree that Wink is one of our favorite middle-grade novels ever (we’re also fiercely devoted to Batpig, his graphic novel spin-off series). Now, in Popcorn, Harrell channels his personal experience with anxiety and OCD into the story of a single school picture day gone terribly, disastrously, and—yes—hilariously wrong.
A science experiment that backfires (literally); a rogue ketchup rocket; a basketball to the face; a bully out for revenge; a best friend you’ve upset; a grandmother with Alzheimer’s gone missing: any of these are bad enough on their own, but all in one day?! And to a kid who struggles with anxiety on a good day? Did I mention it’s picture day and his one nice shirt is now completely destroyed, and his mom isn’t picking up her phone so it falls to him to answer the police’s questions about his missing grandmother?
My own grandmother was fond of saying that the key to success is being able to laugh at yourself or your situation, and by that criteria, Andrew Yaeger is killing it. Ever since his (awesome) therapist encouraged him, Andrew has been documenting his journey with anxiety and OCD in comics he calls, “The Anxiety Files.” Which means that, over the course of this no-good-very-bad day, as Andrew tries to keep himself from the mortification of a full-blown panic attack at school, we’re not only treated to Andrew’s first-person narration—and his dramatic storytelling is pitch perfect—but also to the funny and highly apt window into his brain that his comics provide. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such a compelling presentation of anxiety for the middle-grade audience.
Westfallen
by Ann Brashares & Ben Brashares
Ages 9-13 (375 pages)
Did I save the best for last? Well, certainly the most suspenseful! Occasionally, when I read a *really* good middle-grade novel, I forget that I’m an adult, trying to read with an eye towards kids, and I get to be that kid. My 44 years of reading vanish, I can’t predict where the story is going, and I’m breathless with every turn of the page. Westfallen was such a read for me—I read it in one sitting—and to say I’ve been excited to put this book into tweens’ hands—history buffs, sci fi fans, and lovers of good storytelling alike—is an understatement. (I’ve decided to forgive the massive cliffhanger at the end.) A time-travel-esque thriller that asks what might have happened to the US if the Nazis had won the war? That considers the dangers of history repeating itself while playing out the butterfly effect in terrifying but tantalizing ways? WOWZA.
Two threesomes of best (or formerly best) friends in two different periods of history but in the same New Jersey backyard shed inexplicably make contact over a hand-fashioned radio. The kids in 1944 can’t travel to 2023—or vice versa—but they can have clandestine discussions. At first, the exchange of information (and valuable baseball cards) seems harmless. Until it isn’t. Because as World War Two is going badly in 1944 for the Allies, the kids in 2023 offer hope from their studies of D-Day—mainly, how that victory came to be. And when one thing leads to another, the kids in 2023 suddenly walk out of their shed into a place that’s no longer called the United States of America but Westfallen—and it’s run by Nazis. The kids have inadvertently altered history.
The story is told in confessional style, moving back and forth in time as Henry and Alice attempt to capture on paper what they know to be right and true before they try against all odds to reverse what they’ve done. The intriguing premise and action-packed chapters are made even better by the chemistry—the banter and affection—of the (racially and ethnically diverse) characters, which makes it perhaps not so surprising that Ann Brashares, author of The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, co-wrote this with her brother. Buckle up: this is one wild ride!
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