Talk about the kidlit you're reading!

playground

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 31, 2011
Messages
1,404
Reaction score
138
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!


I'm a big fan of Brandon Mull. He has a portal series called Five Kingdoms which is great and his two series FableHaven (five book series completed) and his sequel series Dragonwatch. Wundersmith is another cool portal story. Also trying to get more current High Fantasy upper MG.


Couldn't get through Magyk and Sam Miracle and put them down at 25% and 50% respectively and picked up Six of Crows which is great but YA.
 

owlion

Absorbing inspiration from the moon
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 8, 2010
Messages
2,475
Reaction score
2,376
Location
United Kingdom
I'm a big fan of Brandon Mull. He has a portal series called Five Kingdoms which is great and his two series FableHaven (five book series completed) and his sequel series Dragonwatch. Wundersmith is another cool portal story. Also trying to get more current High Fantasy upper MG.

Couldn't get through Magyk and Sam Miracle and put them down at 25% and 50% respectively and picked up Six of Crows which is great but YA.
Thanks for the recommendations :) The books by Brandon Mull do sound good. I was hoping to find one which was set solely in a fantasy setting to see how it was being handled these days, but reading a bit of Magyk, it doesn't quite seem like my thing. I wonder if there have been any relatively recent high fantasy books for MG.
 

Taylor Harbin

Power to the pen!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 8, 2013
Messages
3,078
Reaction score
1,499
Location
Arkansas
I’m reading Gypsy Rizka by Lloyd Alexander. The library didn’t have the Pyrdain series....
 

Dianee

Registered
Joined
Apr 10, 2018
Messages
44
Reaction score
5
Location
Ithaca, New York
The Wheel on the School

I'm just finishing The Wheel on the School, recommended by a librarian, and I just love it. It's an old book that I never would have come across myself. I have really enjoyed the humorous, quirky style :) The story is simple and easy to read.
 

Foolster41

Aspiring Fool
Registered
Joined
Aug 2, 2014
Messages
22
Reaction score
2
Location
Pacific Northwest, USA
Website
www.tumblr.com
I've just started reading "Seer of Shadows" by Avi. It's about a boy who's an apprentice to a somewhat ecentric photographer. It's on a list of 100 MG fantasy books I've been working my way through, since I've been trying to read more MG fantasy (perticuarly modern or post 20th century period fantasy, I guess what's called "Urban ficiton" or "Fantasy realism"). It's pretty good so far, though I'm not very far into it.

On that list that I also really enjoyed was:

"Keeper" by Kathi Applet, which is about Keeper, a girl living on the Texas coast who believes her mother is a mermaid who swam away, and she sets sail alone to find her
"A snicker of magic" by Natalie Lloyd, about a girl moving back to her mother's home town where she learns of two brothers, a duel, and a wandering curse that she hopes to break to keep her mother in one place
"Behind the Canvas" by Alexander Vance, about a girl who meets a boy who is trapped in a painting and must travlel into the world behind the canvas to steal and break a staff to free him
 
Last edited:

Kjbartolotta

Potentially has/is dog
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 15, 2014
Messages
4,197
Reaction score
1,047
Location
Los Angeles
The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Summers by Dan Geminhart

An adolescent girl and her hippie father have been living on the road for the past five years, after the death of her mother and two sisters. When a park where she buried a keepsake box is to be torn down, she must trick her father into making a cross-country journey to rescue it, all without him ever knowing.

IDK, it has a lot of elements that are likable. It's a road-trip novel, its got a fun main character and lots of interesting scenarios to explore. And I think it gets a certain middle-grade feel right, that's hard to do an I appreciate any author capable of it. But there's something off-kilter about the whole set-up. She lives alone in a converted schoolbus with her father and they travel around the country doing absolutely nothing, just driving nonstop and sleeping on the roadside. She had no other relationships, no education (though it's made clear she's a reader through constant name-drops of other contemporary MG titles), rarely showers, and gets all her food from gas stations.

I'm not trying to be a prude here, but that's no life for a child! It just comes across as a kind of torturous existence, and kind of impossible to boot. They cross the country twice a month, and there's never any discussion of money of how the father maintains their lifestyle. I get that any kid would love to be a scuzzy vagabond (hell, I could get into it myself...), but it never feels real to me. We'll see, I haven't finished and still really want to like it. Curious what a kid in the target age would think.
 
Last edited:

t0dd

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 10, 2011
Messages
2,007
Reaction score
891
Just finished reading "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman, an impressive re-imagining of "The Jungle Book" in an English graveyard with ghosts (and a few other fantastic beings) in the role of the animals.
 

playground

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 31, 2011
Messages
1,404
Reaction score
138
Just finished reading "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman, an impressive re-imagining of "The Jungle Book" in an English graveyard with ghosts (and a few other fantastic beings) in the role of the animals.


I was very hit-and-miss on that one. Some chapters I absolutely loved and others I felt dragged.
 

owlion

Absorbing inspiration from the moon
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 8, 2010
Messages
2,475
Reaction score
2,376
Location
United Kingdom
I recently finished The Ghosts of Greenglass House (sequel to Greenglass House) and I really enjoyed it a lot. I'd heard it wasn't as good as the first, but I thought it was pretty much equal in different ways, at least in terms of enjoyability. I'm definitely going to find more books by the author to read.
 

t0dd

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 10, 2011
Messages
2,007
Reaction score
891
I recently finished The Ghosts of Greenglass House (sequel to Greenglass House) and I really enjoyed it a lot. I'd heard it wasn't as good as the first, but I thought it was pretty much equal in different ways, at least in terms of enjoyability. I'm definitely going to find more books by the author to read.

I just read "Bluecrowne" by the same author. It's a sort of prequel to the Greenglass House books, set during the building of the house in 1810. And it's also very good.
 

owlion

Absorbing inspiration from the moon
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 8, 2010
Messages
2,475
Reaction score
2,376
Location
United Kingdom
I just read "Bluecrowne" by the same author. It's a sort of prequel to the Greenglass House books, set during the building of the house in 1810. And it's also very good.
Thanks for the recommendation :) It sounds really good - I'll check it out!
 

playground

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 31, 2011
Messages
1,404
Reaction score
138
Just finished the Adventurers Guild. It was good. Pretty standard in regards to dwarfs, elves, and the like but I really enjoyed Brock's character. Either going to read the sequel next or Keeper of the Lost Cities.
 

playground

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 31, 2011
Messages
1,404
Reaction score
138
Just finished Keeper of the Lost Cities and it was pretty good. Anyone that has finished the series, are all seven books all connected or does it branch off?
 

Kjbartolotta

Potentially has/is dog
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 15, 2014
Messages
4,197
Reaction score
1,047
Location
Los Angeles
Apocalypse Taco by Nathan Hale.

I'm a big fan of his Hazardous Tales series, which is a must read for any history buff. AT is a bit different, it's clearly meant as a schlocky b-movie and an excuse to draw some really twisted monsters. And man are they weird! The main villain is a lot of fun, a despicable little grad student named Kevin with no redeeming qualities. Why are characters name Kevin always such wieners?
 
Last edited:

playground

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 31, 2011
Messages
1,404
Reaction score
138
I know it's not a book but I'm almost halfway through Gravity Falls, and it is INCREDIBLE. Highly recommend it. Only two seasons, 20 episodes each so not a huge investment.
 

Kjbartolotta

Potentially has/is dog
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 15, 2014
Messages
4,197
Reaction score
1,047
Location
Los Angeles
MAKING FRIENDS by Kristen Gudsnuk

One of the multitude of graphic novels set in middle school about friendship and finding yourself, I read them all and while I tend to enjoy them, I'm kinda not the demographic. This one blew me away though. Dany, starting 7th grade and struggling with finding new friends, finds a magic sketchbook in the great-aunts attic that makes anything she draws real. She starts off by drawing a character from her favorite TV show, basically a Sailor Moon knock off, and ends up with the disembodied head of Prince Neptune, a preening (but cute) supervillian who dispenses with bad advice and generally gets her in trouble. From there, she creates Melanie, a cool girl who will serve as her guide and BFF through the trials and travails of middle school.

It's all kinds of amazing. The characterization is much deeper than I expected, Dany is your average kid trying to fit in and makes all kinds of bad and selfish choices, while Melanie, who is not only cool and hip but kind, supportive, and courageous, realizes she's just a prop in Dany's life and starts going through a serious existential crisis. The humor is sharp as well as silly, and the story, while going all kinds of directions at once (there are some big loose threads that never get developed), ends up being very satisfying with a tropey Magical Girl climax that still fits the offbeat sensibilities of the book. Though not particularly edgy, the story has lots of adult appeal. The art is loose and colorful with a Manga-influenced style, and it ends up feeling very substantial and meaty
 

playground

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 31, 2011
Messages
1,404
Reaction score
138
Just finished The Adventures Guild 2: Twilight of the Elves. Good, fun, high fantasy upper MG to read. Dual POVs with a nice little group of characters where each one really has strengths to add to the group. Big fan of Brock (one of the dual POVs). Will buy the final book when it comes out. Next up for me is, I believe, Jed and the Junkyard Wars.
 

maghranimal

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 5, 2018
Messages
76
Reaction score
12
Location
Los Angeles
I just finished the Mad Wolfs Daughter, and am currently on The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise. I thought The Honest Truth was an impressive debut from Dan Gemeinhart, but Coyote Sunrise really shows how far he's come as a writer.
 

maghranimal

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 5, 2018
Messages
76
Reaction score
12
Location
Los Angeles
The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Summers by Dan Geminhart

An adolescent girl and her hippie father have been living on the road for the past five years, after the death of her mother and two sisters. When a park where she buried a keepsake box is to be torn down, she must trick her father into making a cross-country journey to rescue it, all without him ever knowing.

IDK, it has a lot of elements that are likable. It's a road-trip novel, its got a fun main character and lots of interesting scenarios to explore. And I think it gets a certain middle-grade feel right, that's hard to do an I appreciate any author capable of it. But there's something off-kilter about the whole set-up. She lives alone in a converted schoolbus with her father and they travel around the country doing absolutely nothing, just driving nonstop and sleeping on the roadside. She had no other relationships, no education (though it's made clear she's a reader through constant name-drops of other contemporary MG titles), rarely showers, and gets all her food from gas stations.

I'm not trying to be a prude here, but that's no life for a child! It just comes across as a kind of torturous existence, and kind of impossible to boot. They cross the country twice a month, and there's never any discussion of money of how the father maintains their lifestyle. I get that any kid would love to be a scuzzy vagabond (hell, I could get into it myself...), but it never feels real to me. We'll see, I haven't finished and still really want to like it. Curious what a kid in the target age would think.


They do say the source of money comes from a settlement. I'm not completely done with it yet (you've likely finished it by now), but what sorta irked me was that I was 50 pages in and still had no idea what the book was going to be about. It just took a little long to get going. I also do think Coyote drops wayyyy too many other book titles, and with Katherine Applegate's endorsement on the back, it seems like it gets to the point that it's clear the author just likes those books.
 

JKRowley

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 1, 2012
Messages
969
Reaction score
59
They do say the source of money comes from a settlement. I'm not completely done with it yet (you've likely finished it by now), but what sorta irked me was that I was 50 pages in and still had no idea what the book was going to be about. It just took a little long to get going. I also do think Coyote drops wayyyy too many other book titles, and with Katherine Applegate's endorsement on the back, it seems like it gets to the point that it's clear the author just likes those books.

I just read this (The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise) and I agree about the name dropping thing with the books (one in particular), and that book doesn't play a big role in their adventure. Now I am reading a different book (Because of the Rabbit by Cynthia Lord) and THAT book references the same Katherine Applegate masterpiece. LOL.
 

Kjbartolotta

Potentially has/is dog
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 15, 2014
Messages
4,197
Reaction score
1,047
Location
Los Angeles
Heh. My big issue with the book name-dropping is that it's supposed to be a way we know she's smart and keeping well-educated, like somehow it excuses Rodeo's extreme negligent parenting & bad choices. Haven't thought about that book in a minute, surprised it still makes me so frustrated.

Thinking back, I do recall something about the settlement funding their lifestyle, not that I think that's a stellar way to justify it.

Haven't been reading as much middle-grade lately, kind of miss it. Any recs? I tend to like realistic and/or funny, Rebecca Stead is one of my favorites.
 

starrystorm

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 9, 2018
Messages
2,987
Reaction score
605
Age
24
Funny you should mention that, since I'd recently read "When You Reach Me", and enjoyed it.

That was my favorite book for the longest time! It still is one of my top books.
 

t0dd

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 10, 2011
Messages
2,007
Reaction score
891
Just finished reading "The Lost Girl" by Anne Ursu, and enjoyed it. (I'd read "Breadcrumbs" by the same author a few years ago, and enjoyed it as well - I recall being particularly amused at the scene where the Snow Queen offers some Turkish Delight to the boy she's luring away, describing it as just her little joke.)
 

Kjbartolotta

Potentially has/is dog
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 15, 2014
Messages
4,197
Reaction score
1,047
Location
Los Angeles
STRANGE BIRDS by Celia Pérez.

Utterly delightful MG, also not out till September (I got an ARC). Four girls in Florida start an outlaw Scout troop around their shared interests and discover friendship while fighting injustice & learn that their differences are what bind them together. Pretty standard synopsis, because it's not a book that's trying to reinvent the wheel, but rather distill what makes MG so special while creating modern and memorable protagonists.

I adored Pérez's first book, First Rule of Punk, because it was a) excellent and b) about a young character getting into Zine culture. Strange Birds has the same rebel spirit to it, but like First Rule it sets out not to be edgy or cool but rather heartfelt and sincere. While still being pretty darn cool.

Just finished reading "The Lost Girl" by Anne Ursu, and enjoyed it. (I'd read "Breadcrumbs" by the same author a few years ago, and enjoyed it as well - I recall being particularly amused at the scene where the Snow Queen offers some Turkish Delight to the boy she's luring away, describing it as just her little joke.)

Oh, I've been wanting to read this one, Ursu is fantastic. The Real Boy was one of the best books I've read with an autistic main character, even though autism is never mentioned and its a straight-up fantasy. Rather impressive how she juggles that.