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playground

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Finised Elizabeth's Legacy today. It was okay. Really want more epic fantasy to read for upper MG though. Any suggestions? Some of my favorite authors in the space are Brandon Mull and Jonathan Auxier, though Auxier is less epic.
 

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Today, I finished reading Somewhere Else, a picture book by Gus Gordon. I totally loved both the story and the illustrations. The main theme is coping with the things we don't have.
 

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Finised Elizabeth's Legacy today. It was okay. Really want more epic fantasy to read for upper MG though. Any suggestions? Some of my favorite authors in the space are Brandon Mull and Jonathan Auxier, though Auxier is less epic.

Got into a conversation with a co-worker about what qualifies as MG fantasy...went down the rabbit hole and no clearer than I was. So forgive me if I drift outta the category.

-Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. Meant more to me growing up than LOTR, though I *will not* tolerate Tolkien-bashing.

-False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen. Uncomplicated and fun, great voice and an entertaining twist you can kinda see coming.

-Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer. Historical fantasy set in 1000 AD England and Scandinavia. With Vikings, Norns, and a great organic-feeling magic system.

-Alanna by Tamora Peirce. I'm a little meh on this series, but maybe only becuase I work with two young women who will not stop talking about it, and feel it's a little hokey and dated personally. But hey, I really liked it as a kid, and it's a solid concept. MG? YA? YMMV.

-Princess Academy
by Shannon Hale. Epic? Maybe not, but it has some high fantasy in its DNA and is a great series by a great person.

-Peasprout Chen by Henry Lien. Asian themed fantasy based around ice-skating martial arts. Super-cool and witty.

-Cold Cereal by Adam Rex. Not high fantasy, but outlandish humor and very much a love letter to fantasy fiction in general.
 

Brightdreamer

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Finised Elizabeth's Legacy today. It was okay. Really want more epic fantasy to read for upper MG though. Any suggestions? Some of my favorite authors in the space are Brandon Mull and Jonathan Auxier, though Auxier is less epic.

Throwing out a few at random...

I'll second the suggestion for Tamora Pierce. Her books tend to come in quartets, but can generally be read independently of other quartets, even in the same universe. Alanna/Song of the Lioness and the Protector of the Small, set in her magical medieval Tortall, are pretty good. Alanna was a pioneer of strong girl leads in a genre that did (and still does) lean toward men.

Also seconding Shannon Hale's Princess Academy, though it might be more mid-MG. (On a similar vein by a different author, Gail Carson Levine does some fun yet interesting fantasies with strong heroines.)

Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus books. An alt-modern London is ruled by magicians, who only have power by enslaving spirits. Great fun but with a sharp story, and one of the most memorable MCs in the djinn Bartimaeus. Another fantasy with epic overtones from him is Heroes of the Valley, which deconstructs classical ideas of heroism in a world where old stories are no longer the best guide to behavior. (Stroud also has an MG ghostbusting series, starting with The Screaming Staircase, that's pretty good.)

Rick Riordan's modern takes on classical mythos count as epic, too. They may look simplistic and shallow, like they're trying to make old myths "cool" for kids, but don't be fooled; they have some interesting characters and some pretty good storytelling, and Riordan delves beyond the shallow surface of the myths.

And Patricia C. Wrede's take on fairy tales in The Enchanted Forest Chronicles is still pretty fun. (She also has an epicish alt-history trilogy, her Frontier Magic books, set in a magical American past, though it looks to skew more YA.)
 

Kjbartolotta

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Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus books. An alt-modern London is ruled by magicians, who only have power by enslaving spirits. Great fun but with a sharp story, and one of the most memorable MCs in the djinn Bartimaeus.

I held back on Bartimaeus because I knew I'd be genre-drifting. But since you mentioned it... *Points to 'Ask me about Bartimaeus' button on lapel*

But if you like Auxier, you're bound to enjoy Stroud!
 

playground

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Thank you both so much! Have some great material to go off of now. I've already read the False Prince trilogy and the Percy Jackson series but the others are all new to me so I'm going to go through them.

I'm currently working on a epicish manuscript and I read a lot of like Sanderson and Rothfuss but I wanted MG books to feed off of too so I can make sure it stays within the right style (I want to stay upper MG). Huge help, both of you!
 

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*Turns on lights*

Finished The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge by MT Anderson with illustrations by Eugene Yelchin, and I bet y'all are gonna like it. I mean, it's weird, but fun unusual middle grade of the kind you can expect from Anderson. Adult main characters, so I wondered if I should put this in SFF, but it is marketed as MG.

The story of an elvish ambassador sent to the kingdom of the goblins, whom his kind has been at war with since times immemorial. Brangwain, an insufferable snob, must adjust to the crude (and Stalinist) ways of goblinkind while carrying out his secret agenda, which might not involve peace as a final end. Along the way, he is paired up with his goblin counterpart, the adorable and and menschy Werfel. The two engage in cultural misunderstanding and Cold War style espionage, while learning to eventually see eye-to-eye and putting a stop to the war that seems to be brewing. The book is funny and satirical, with more than a whiff of Discworld-style humor if you're into that. One of the most interesting elements are the illustrations, done in beautiful woodcuts by Yelchin, which represent Brangwain's perceptions of the goblins, and start out quite nasty and terrifying but get gentler and more relatable as the story passes. Read it as a galley, don't think it comes out till the end of Sept, but I would highly recommend it if you get a look.
 

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I worked myself into a near state of frenzy over the release and bought Ivy & Bean: One Big Happy Family, the long-awaited (by me) eleventh book in the series. I am extremely obsessed with this series, because it combines adorableness, sassy jerkass behavior, and intellect and anarchy into something really special. Everything's surprisingly sophisticated, there's a Boudica reference on page four, and the characters show complexities and self-awareness while still acting convincingly like children. I don't know if it was quite as good as Bound to be Bad or Solve the Case, but the next best after those.

Yes, I really adore this series. I even have my promotional Ivy pin, tho it'd be weird to actually wear it.
 

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there's a Boudica reference on page four

That's enough to make me want to look for it; you don't often get allusions to figures in early British history like her in U.S. children's fiction. Thanks for telling me about it.
 

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Had bought Sweep. A big fan of Auxier's work and expected to blaze through this book. Unfortunately, not as addicted to it as I thought I would be. It's good, just not as fantastic as I anticipated.
 

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Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Lafayette.

This graphic novel series is exceptional, and not just for kids and graphic novel fans but anyone who love history. Humor! Swashbuckling! Research! Ranks along with Underground Abductor as one of Hale's best.
 

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Merci Suárez Change Gears by Meg Medina.

Nice MG fiction about a Cuban-American girl going through typical middle-schooler stuff. Tender, relatable, and earnest, not life-changing but worth a read.
 

owlion

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After reading a couple of MG books I ended up not being keen on, my sister recommended A Girl Called Owl by Amy Wilson, which is so far pretty good! It's about the seasonal spirits, so a good book for winter.
 

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Thanks so much for posting about Ivy and Bean! I had no idea there was a new Ivy and Bean book out. My granddaughter has the entire collection (Christmas gift) and she'll be thrilled to know there's more. Last year she received numerous Ramona books, but she doesn't like them as much as Ivy and Bean for some reason. I'm not sure why the other appeals to her more.
 
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Roxxsmom

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I recently read Coraline and The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman - I always think of Neil Diamond when I write that name.

I thought they were very intense for intended grade level, but I am old and out of tune with reality, so ignore that if you want to. But the only point I could see to the books was "Stay away from strangers" and "Bad things happen when you least expect them."

Maybe someone can point to some positives to the stories, other than they are, I guess, big hits with the kids?

I gave those books to one of my nieces a few years back, and she loved them. But kid's books could be intense and filled with danger (even a little sadism) in the old days too. The Hobbit, James and the Giant Peach (two nasty old women were smashed), Joan Aiken's books and so on. I think the voice has shifted in MG, though. It tends to be more like a kid's voice and less like an adult telling a story.
 

Kjbartolotta

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I always like Gaiman for slightly older than kids usually read him, there's a lot of sweetness and human decency, but his worlds are dark, complicated, and mysterious, this resonates with kids but also freaks them out. Dahl is Dahl, I think he's timeless but the man was also an unapologetic misanthrope, and I think it's easy to forget how cynical he could be. This is why he holds up, IMHO, but also lead to problems.

On a completely different note, the thing I love so much about MG is the sheer variety of it, there are so many different kinds of stories to tell within that framework.
 

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Oh my goodness! I'm really hoping that post of mine is quite old and outdated!

I've read hundreds of MG books since then, and completely turned around in my thought processes. Yes, they are still quite dark and disturbing, but that's what makes them so popular. I just hadn't read enough variety in MG at that point to understand how diverse kids are in their likes and styles for reading material. I feel like an old grandma! Well, I am. But we don't need to go there.

I just finished reading (twice because I loved it so much) Kate DiCamillo's Louisiana's Way Home. I loved it! And it's SO depressing if you think about it. But she can tell a story that is hard to beat, IMO.
 

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I'm reading Nevermoor and quite loving it!
I recommend The Crooked Sixpence and the Star Thief, both were equally magical.

Finised Elizabeth's Legacy today. It was okay.
I've known about this book for ages and it's got nearly 700 reviews on Amazon, but I've got this condition that I'd like to call "Self-publishophobia." Meaning no offense to self-published authors, I'm super hesitant to read a book that's been idependently published. I've had a dreadful experiece with E.G. Folly's The Last Heir, which was fraught with inconsistencies and did not adhere to industry standards at all. I couldn't even finish it. Its two authors kinda shot themselves in the foot when they included an anonymous Amazon reviewer's blerb about this book being as good as Harry Potter. How unprofessional was that?

I just finished reading The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding by Alexandra Bracken. One of the best books I've read this year. Can't wait for the sequel. I highly recommend it for Bartimaues fans.

I'm looking for more first-person MG, preferrably humorous and less than a decade's old. Any recs?
 
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Kjbartolotta

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I'm looking for more first-person MG, preferrably humorous and less than a decade's old. Any recs?

I really can't recommend The Riverman by Aaron Starmer enough. Especially after the Stranger Things phenomenon. Very hard to describe, a nice mix of realism and fantasy, and the author does some really interesting things. The middle book is a little weak, but the first and last are impressive.

For actual humor, Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos won the Newbery, and can best be described as (paraphrasing my co-worker) "A homage to old-fashioned, small-town American values, if the small town is Twin Peaks.

Also, True Meaning of Smek Day by Adam Rex is still one of the funniest SF novels since Hitchhikers. The basis for the movie Home, but the book is intended for an older audience.

And Jackie Ha-Ha by James Patterson Chris Grabenstein, a really great one about a girl in the early Nineties who wants to be a comedian. I really liked the MC, who's an especially gross and goofy girl MC, kind of reminded me of Deenie. And the emotional nuances are surprisingly complex, while still being good at relating to kids on their level. I have to say, I didn't really buy into the Jimmy! imprint at first, but its continuously impressed me.
 

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Just finished the second Dragonwatch book by Brandon Mull. It was good. I enjoyed the ending and feeling that the "true" villain of the series was revealed I guess (depending on if my hunch is right). Another good fantasy round. I feel Mull might be juggling a bit too many characters which might force some progression to the back but we'll see.

Just bought the second Wundersmith book. Plan to start that this week.
 

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Finished the second Nevermoor/Wundersmith book. Pretty fun. I feel it dragged just a tad in the middle but I enjoyed it still. Reading the Sam Miracle book. Not crazy over it yet but we'll see how it finishes.
 

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Read Ghosts of Greenglass House recently, and enjoyed it, just as I'd enjoyed Greenglass House. One moment that amused me was the response of the characters to a story which suddenly and unexpectedly adds a fantasy element; that reminded me of my response to a scene near the end of Greenglass House (which is all I dare say about it, since it involves a big spoiler). I wondered if the "response moment" was an allusion to that element of the first book.
 

owlion

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I've just started reading Greenglass House and I'm enjoying it a lot.

I'm also trying to find some recent middle grade (high) fantasy, but can't seem to find any. If anyone has recommendations, they'd be greatly appreciated!