Thursday, December 22, 2016

2016 Middle Grade Favorites 12.22.16


This week I am sharing my favorite books that I read in 2016.
They don't have to be published in 2016.
They don't have to have an author or illustrator that lives in the United States.
I just had to love the book.
Or know that kids are going to love the book.


Books That Kids LOVE
These are books that I was very excited to share with students because I knew they would absolutely fall in love with them.

Fenway and Hattie (Fenway and Hattie, #1)       Fenway and Hattie and the Evil Bunny Gang (Fenway and Hattie, #2)
Fenway and Hattie series
by Victoria Coe

Pilfer Academy: A School So Bad It's Criminal
Pilfer Academy: A School So Bad It's Criminal
by Lauren Magaziner

Criminal Destiny (Masterminds #2)
Masterminds: Criminal Destiny
by Gordon Korman

Rookie of the Year (Rip and Red, #2)
Rookie of the Year
by Phil Bildner

Lou Lou and Pea and the Mural Mystery
Lou Lou and Pea and the Mural Mystery
by Jill Diamond

Characters That Touched My Heart
These books touched my heart because of the characters - they stuck with me.  I wanted to leap into the book and give them hugs and help them out and root them on!

Finding Perfect
Finding Perfect
by Elly Swartz

Short
Short
by Holly Goldberg Sloan
(publishes January 31, 2017)

Gertie's Leap to Greatness
Gertie's Leap to Greatness
by Kate Beasley

The Distance To Home
The Distance to Home 
by Jenn Bishop

Sticks & Stones
Sticks and Stones
by Abby Cooper

The Meaning of Maggie
The Meaning of Maggie
by Megan Jean Sovern

Full of Beans
Full of Beans
by Jennifer Holm

Books I Had No Idea How Much I Was Going to Like Until I Read Them
These books took me by surprise.  I didn't have any expectations when I started them and I ended up absolutely loving them.

Full Cicada Moon
Full Cicada Moon
by Marilyn Hilton

Summerlost
Summerlost
by Ally Condie

Once Was a Time
Once Was a Time
by Leila Sales

Moo
Moo
by Sharon Creech

Apparently I Had a Magical Thing Going This Year
I know readers who don't like fantasy.  Or magic.  I guess it's something I enjoy after looking at this list!

The Key to Extraordinary
The Key to Extraordinary
by Natalie Lloyd

Like Magic
Like Magic
by Elaine Vickers


Hour of the Bees
Hour of the Bees
by Lindsay Eager

The Girl Who Drank the Moon
The Girl Who Drank the Moon
by Kelly Barnhill

The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog
The Inquisitor's Tale
by Adam Gidwitz

Red: The True Story of Red Riding Hood
Red: The True Story of Red Riding Hood
by Liesl Shurtliff

Villains We Love To - Wait - No, Just Really Mean Villains
Only one book here, but wow, she was quite the villain.

Wolf Hollow
Wolf Hollow
by Lauren Wolk

Settings That Surprised Me
I wasn't sure about these books - very different settings: Russian wild, wild west, war.... I guess never judge a book based on its setting???

The Wolf Wilder
The Wolf Wilder 
by Katherine Rundell

Some Kind of Courage
Some Kind of Courage 
by Dan Gemeinhart

Pax
Pax
by Sara Pennypacker

Fun Characters
I loved these characters!  They are different from the category above.  I enjoyed meeting them, they are FUN!

The Wild Robot
Roz in The Wild Robot
by Peter Brown

All Four Stars (All Four Stars #1)
Gladys in All Four Stars
by Tara Dairman

Two Naomis
the Naomis in Two Naomis
by Audrey Vernick and Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich

Maxi's Secrets: (or what you can learn from a dog)
Timminy, Maxi and Abby in Maxi's Secrets
by Lynn Plourde

Wish
Charlie in Wish
by Barbara O'Connor

Ghost (Track)
Castle in Ghost
by Jason Reynolds

2017 Books to Look Forward To
I was so fortunate to receive copies of these amazing amazing 2017 releases.  Be sure they are on your preorder list.  Too good to miss.

Moon Shadow
Moon Shadow 
by Erin Downing
publishes May 16, 2017

Lucky Broken Girl
Lucky Broken Girl
by Ruth Behar
publishes April 11, 2017

This list is by no means exhaustive or accurate.  Even as I made the list I realized I forgot books.  There are so many books that touched me in some way or another, something inevitably gets left off.  Please know I probably forgot a book or two or ten.

What books were on your 2016 favorites list?  Check out my other 2016 favorite lists
2016 Nonfiction Picture Books favorites
2016 Picture Book favorites

Be sure to return next week when I share books to look forward to in 2017!

4 comments:

  1. All the books in your "No idea how much I would love them till I read 'em" category have really interesting titles and/or covers. I'm on my way to Goodreads to check out some in case I want some light reads next year!

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  2. Thanks for sharing, Michele! I've read many of these, but now I have more to add to my list. Some other favorites are Lois Sepahban's Paper Wishes & Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks & Gita Varadarajan

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  3. What an awesome post! I just accepted a job as a middle school librarian and this is super helpful since I've been in elementary land for 6 years :)

    Amanda @ A Bookshelf Monstrosity

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  4. I'd have to add Courage for Beginners. I absolutely loved that book.

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