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Middle Grade Books My Middle-Grader Is Loving

So my 9 year old daughter is a voracious reader, like her mama. But, unlike her mama, she has, at any given time, about 5-10 novels in active reading mode. (I tend to have one fiction and one non-fiction book going; or one hardcopy and one audio book.) She switches from book to book depending on her mood. She carries at least three novels in her backpack at all times (that sucker is heavy!). And always has one in her hand when she climbs into a car. She takes them with her when we go out to dinner or, really, anywhere where there is even the slightest chance of a few minutes of downtime when she could slip in a few pages. She moans at bedtime when I tell her it's lights out and she has to put away the books.

This, not so secretly, gives me unending pleasure. I LOVE that she is so into books. Love, love, love! And I encourage it. I support it...like a dealer supports a junkie. I'm constantly picking up another book from the library (or Amazon) that looks good. And now that she's into middle grade books, I read a lot of them, too.

So, today, I thought I'd share with you a few of the books my daughter has been reading lately, in case you're looking for something good for the middle grader in your life to read...or even for yourself! (See the "post script" below for a few middle grade books that I've really enjoyed as an adult.)


The Spaghetti Detectives by Andreas Steinhofel...This was one of those books that I picked up in the library, opened to a random page, and read. If that page catches my interest, I get the book. And it did. This is a cute, quirky, funny little book. I read it first, then gave it to my daughter. We both enjoyed it. Part of what we liked is that it's written by a German author (and translated) and is set in Germany. Which made it a little different from your average MG book. Plus, she's taking German in school, so that made it even more appealing. If you like quirky characters and a little mystery, this is a good one.





the Bliss series by Kathryn Littlewood...We read the first book together and then my daughter read the second and third on her own. She pretty much raced through them, and asked for the sequels back to back, so I figure that's a good endorsement. I loved the premise of the books...magic baking. And the flawed but brave and determined heroine. They're cute.







the A Series of Unfortunate Events series by Lemony Snicket...My daughter devoured these. She had a chance for a big ticket reward item last spring for all her hard work at school and chose the Series of Unfortunate Events box set. She just finished book 13, and loves them so much that she's reading all the auxiliary books to the series as well as pretty much anything else written by Lemony Snicket/Daniel Handler. P.S. He wrote a picture book called The Composer is Dead that comes with an audio cd with a narrator reading the book along with orchestral accompaniment. It is awesome! We listened to it again and again in the car. So good.





Poppy Mayberry, The Monday by Jennie K. Brown...We picked this one up because the author did an appearance at a local library. Another cute premise...everyone is born with a special power based on the day of the week that they're born on (i.e. people born on Tuesdays can read minds). There are currently two books in the series and we're reading the first together.







the Who Was books...I'm sure everyone is aware of the Who Was/Is book series, but I just had to say that we love them. We read them together and I'd say we have to have read at least 20-30 of them. Right now we're reading about Albert Einstein. Reading about Anne Frank prompted my daughter to ask to read The Diary of a Young Girl. And reading about Lucille Ball had her asking to watch I Love Lucy...which she is loving! These books are such a great little introduction to the lives of great/interesting/famous people.







The BFG and other books by Roald Dahl...So I put The BFG here, but we're really saying All Books By Roald Dahl. My daughter's pretty passionate about Roald Dahl and we've read A LOT of his books. But I think The BFG is still her favorite.









Superfudge and other books by Judy Blume...Also read this one as All (age appropriate) Books By Judy Blume. Superfudge is just an example. I loved Judy Blume books when I was young, so it's no surprise to me that she loves them too. They are fun and funny and totally relatable.








Encyclopedia Brown books by Donald J. Sobol...Apparently these were my brother's fave when he was a kid. My daughter loves these books. She's big into mysteries and wants to be a detective/spy, so she loves trying to solve the mystery in each story. They're nice for reading together because 1) They're short enough for bedtime stories, and 2) It's fun to try and solve the mystery as a team.








The Wanderer by Sharon Creech...I have to read this one (I haven't yet). My daughter read it for school and loved it so much that she asked for her own copy for Christmas so she can read it again and again. I'm guessing it must be good.









Rule of Three by Megan McDonald...I haven't read this one either, but my daughter read all of the Judy Moody books a couple years ago and loved them, so when she found other books by the same author, she was super excited. She's read this one twice.

So those are a few books that my 9 year old has been enjoying. Got any middle grade books that you and your youngster have loved? Please share the titles in the comments below. We're always looking for our next great read!

Until next time, happy reading!

P.S. If you're looking for a middle grade novel that both you and your middle grader can enjoy (like you're own little book club), try one of these titles. They're all books I've thoroughly enjoyed reading as an adult: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, Counting By 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan, Wonder by RJ Palacio, The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak, and A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd.


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