2018 Favorites – Part 2

My Favorite Middle Grade Reads

I read so many good middle grade books this year that it is hard to choose just a few.  But here are some that really stood out as being exceptional. 

Ice Wolves is a stunning start to a new series.  I loved that there are two types of shape shifters, wolves and dragons.  Plus the cast of characters was very diverse.  

City of Ghosts  is also a great start to a series. I loved Cassidy and I am really looking forward to her next ghost adventure.  

The Evil Wizard Small Bone is an older book that I read for our states children’s choice award.  But I though it was a lot of fun and very well done.  

Good Dog was quite a different take on the whole ‘dog dies in the end’.  It is such a sweet story and I loved some of the animals in it. 

The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise is probably my favorite read of the fall.  It doesn’t come out for a couple of weeks, but I urge you all to go out and read it!

Inkling is a quirky story, but full of family and friendships and coming to accept who you are.  I had no idea that an ink blot could have such a great personality and could become one of my favorite characters this year.  

These three were all very short reads but were all delightful.

The Girl with the Dragon Heart, was a sequel to one of my favorite reads from last year.  I hope to see more stories from this world, with of course more chocolate.

The Girl in the Locked Room, was such a different take on ghost stories.  How the girl’s solve the mystery and help the ghost move on was not something I had seen before. 

Bob, I’m not sure how to describe this one.  It is such a sweet and lovely story of friendship and love mixed with some magical realism.  Plus another book set in Australia.  

Finished Series

There were three great series that I finished this year.

Lockwood & Co. is such a brilliant series.  I love the alternate London in this one, with ghosts pretty much terrorizing the world.  Kids are the only ones who can see them, so we have a group of Tweens being ghost hunters.  I loved it and I loved how it ended as well.  

The Shadow Magic series is also quite unique.  I really liked the magical system and the two main characters were lots of fun to spend time with.  I think this was the last one, but the ending was left open for more.  

Shadow Weaver duology had a very interesting magical system as well.  The villain in this one was quite evil and how our heroes save the day was very well done.  

I could probably add quite a few more to this list, as there were very few middle grade books that I didn’t love this year.  But when I look back on the year these are the ones that stood out to me as being unique or very well written, and something most middle graders will enjoy.  

Did you read any good middle grade books this year?