For this week’s marvelous Middle Grade Monday here’s something a lot more recent, SCHOOLED by Gordan Korman. I love to see a middle grade book that will appeal to boys who haven’t bought into the whole school of magic thing. SCHOOLED is funny and exciting but firmly grounded in the real world. But the unusual … More Marvelous Middle Grade Monday –SCHOOLED by Gordan Korman
Before I start this week’s MMGM I just want to say: STAY TUNED FOR A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT COMING THIS WEEK OR NEXT! Once again, I must go back into the vast historic vault of my childhood reading. I couldn’t tell you how many times I have read THE BELGIAN TWINS. I’m not at all embarrassed … More Marvelous Middle Grade Monday – THE BELGIAN TWINS by Lucy Fitch Perkins
I loved dolls as a child. I mean I LOVED them. It was slightly pathological. I think I liked dolls more than people. I was never into Barbies, or plastic dolls at all. I loved rag dolls and made them my family. I had Raggedy Anne and Andy, as well as Holly Hobbie and several … More Marvelous Middle Grade Monday – Rumer Godden’s Doll Stories
For this week’s Marvelous Middle Grade Monday I’m looking at a classic survival story, HATCHET by Gary Paulsen. This is one I didn’t read as a child. This Newbery Honor book was published in 1987. when I was already an adult and I didn’t read it until well into the 21st Century, when I was … More Marvelous Middle Grade Monday – HATCHET and Survival Tales
For this week’s Marvelous Middle Grade Monday I’m remembering a book I read over and over as a child – The One Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith. Now I’ve got nothing against either the Disney animated version of this story or the live action one, although the series of sequels is getting a … More Middle Grade Monday : The One Hundred and One Dalmatians
For this week’s Marvelous Middle Grade Monday I’d like to look at “lower middle grade” books. There’s a lot of discussion about the difference between Middle Grade and Young Adult literature – this excellent post for example from Upstart Crow Literary Agency. While there are various sides to this discussion the issues of protagonist age … More Middle Grade Monday – All about “Lower Middle Grade”
I was going to focus this post on A WRINKLE IN TIME, a book I must have read about a million and two times when I was a youngster. But then I remembered that the last time I read it, I was slightly disappointed. That happens to us adult MG and YA readers. Books that … More Marvelous Middle Grade Monday – Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Trilogy
For this weeks Marvelous Middle Grade Monday I’m in a bit of a rush but I’m going to recommend THE IRON MAN by Ted Hughes. Here’s a little blurb from Amazon: An iron giant saves the world in this contemporary classic. A mysterious creature stalks the land, eating barbed wire and devouring tractors and plows. … More Marvelous Middle Grade Monday – The Iron Man
Late addition: Just so you all understand me a bit better THIS is what I mean when I talk about teens, dystopias and YA fiction. For this week’s Marvelous Middle Grade Monday I’m going to talk about a book about a young kid on a farm who saves a baby animal from being slaughtered. The … More Marvelous Middle Grade Monday – A kid, a farm animal and a blue ribbon.
It’s MMGM again and this time, once again, I’m going back to the vault for a really special book from my childhood. The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards (yes, her!). I got this book when I was eight or nine (I remember because we were living in New Zealand at … More Marvelous Middle Grade Monday – Whangdoodle Time!
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