six middle grade books i read this year (so far)
So, it hasn’t been a good week. Not really a good month, either, although at least I had Ms. Marvel episodes to get me through.** I wanted to read more, watch more, for Pride, but to be honest for most of June it was really hard just getting to the next five minutes, let alone the next day or week. I haven’t responded much on all the depressing news in the world, because I barely had energy to go through the motions.
It may be stupid for those who don’t get how obsessed I am (see my newsletter on special interests), but for most of the month? It was the thought of Ms. Marvel, and Thor, that got me to pull through. So you can imagine how I felt today - like all this work at keeping myself together. Wasted.
[well, there is also the fact that I am very, very, very bad at dealing with sudden changes of plans.]
Anyway, I was going to skip this week’s newsletter, but the one thing that is working for me right now is the fact that I keep reading excellent books. Particularly, excellent queer middle grade books. Here are some of them. I will just include the book description from Edelweiss because I still don’t have the energy to write proper reviews:
*clears throat, puts mask on * time for some book recs!
- Moonflower by Kacen Callender
Book Description:
“Moon’s depression is overwhelming. Therapy doesn’t help, and Moon is afraid that their mom hates them because they’re sad. Moon’s only escape is traveling to the spirit realms every night, where they hope they’ll never return to the world of the living again.
The spirit realm is where they have their one and only friend, Wolf, and where they’re excited to experience an infinite number of adventures. But when the realm is threatened, it’s up to Moon to save the spirit world.
With the help of celestial beings and guardians, Moon battles monsters and shadows, and through their journey, they begin to learn that a magical adventure of love and acceptance awaits them in the world of the living, too.
This story of hope shows readers that our souls blossom when we realize that we are as worthy and powerful as the universe itself.”
My thoughts:
This book is so depressing I actually hesitate to recommend it at all, but at the same time I related to so much of this book that a large amount of my e-arc is highlighted and annotated. Kacen Callender has yet to let me down.
- Alice Austen Lived Here by Alex Gino
Book description:
“From the award-winning author of George, a phenomenal novel about queerness past, present, and future.
Sam is very in touch with their own queer identity. They’re nonbinary, and their best friend, TJ, is nonbinary as well. Sam’s family is very cool with it… as long as Sam remembers that nonbinary kids are also required to clean their rooms, do their homework, and try not to antagonize their teachers too much.
The teacher-respect thing is hard when it comes to Sam’s history class, because their teacher seems to believe that only Dead Straight Cis White Men are responsible for history. When Sam’s home borough of Staten Island opens up a contest for a new statue, Sam finds the perfect non-DSCWM subject: photographer Alice Austen, whose house has been turned into a museum, and who lived with a female partner for decades.
Soon, Sam’s project isn’t just about winning the contest. It’s about discovering a rich queer history that Sam’s a part of – a queer history that no longer needs to be quiet, as long as there are kids like Sam and TJ to stand up for it.”
My thoughts:
I want more! I enjoyed Alex Gino’s Melissa and Rick for what they are - issue books meant to educate kids about certain queer identities. But Alice Austen Lived Here was more than that, and like so many of the books in this list, it makes me grieve for the child that I was for never having the kind of family and community and connection to history that Sam has.
- Answers in the Pages by David Levithan
Book Description:
“When Donovan left his copy of The Adventurers on the kitchen counter, he didn’t think his mom would read it—much less have a problem with it. It’s just an adventure novel about two characters trying to stop an evil genius…right?
But soon the entire town is freaking out about whether the book’s main characters are gay, Donovan’s mom is trying to get the book removed from the school curriculum, and Donovan is caught in the middle.
Donovan doesn’t really know if the two boys fall in love at the end or not—but he does know this: even if they do, it shouldn’t matter. The book should not be banned from school.
Interweaving three connected storylines, David Levithan delivers a bold, fun, and timely story about taking action (whether it’s against book censors or deadly alligators…), being brave, and standing up for what’s right. “
My thoughts:
I believe I’ve already mentioned this book in one of my previous wrap-ups. Basically, it’s one of my favourites by David Levithan - and when I love a Levithan, I really love it.
- The One Who Loves You the Most by medina
Book Description:
“From debut author medina comes a beautifully told story of finding oneself and one’s community, at last.
I have never felt like I belonged to my body. Never in the way rhythm belongs to a song or waves belong to an ocean. It seems like most people figure out where they belong by knowing where they came from. When they look in the mirror, they see their family in their eyes, in their sharp jawlines, in the texture of their hair. When they look at family photos, they see faces of people who look like them. They see faces of people who they’ll look like in the future. For me, I only have my imagination. But I’m always trying.
Twelve-year-old Gabriela is trying to find their place in the world. In their body, which feels less and less right with each passing day. As an adoptee, in their all-white family. With their mom, whom they love fiercely and do anything they can to help with her depression. And at school, where they search for friends.
A new year will bring a school project, trans and queer friends, and a YouTube channel that help Gabriela find purpose in their journey. From debut author medina comes a beautifully told story of finding oneself and one’s community, at last.”
My thoughts:
To be honest, I almost didn’t request this book because I wasn’t too keen on the cover. But I’m glad I did, because it really has a strong voice and yes, it may be a bit “unrealistic” in how nice most of Gabe’s classmates are, I like it. It’s about finding family and finding yourself and it acknowledges that for some of us, figuring out our identity is a longer process, and that’s okay.
- The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen
Book Description:
“Tiến loves his family and his friends…but Tiến has a secret he’s been keeping from them, and it might change everything. An amazing YA graphic novel that deals with the complexity of family and how stories can bring us together.
Real life isn’t a fairytale.
But Tiến still enjoys reading his favorite stories with his parents from the books he borrows from the local library. It’s hard enough trying to communicate with your parents as a kid, but for Tiến, he doesn’t even have the right words because his parents are struggling with their English. Is there a Vietnamese word for what he’s going through?
Is there a way to tell them he’s gay?
A beautifully illustrated story by Trung Le Nguyen that follows a young boy as he tries to navigate life through fairytales, an instant classic that shows us how we are all connected. The Magic Fish tackles tough subjects in a way that accessible with readers of all ages, and teaches us that no matter what—we can all have our own happy endings.”
My thoughts:
Like with every other book in this list, I want to give Tiến a good long hug. As someone who is not at all a hugger, this is kind of major. I really love the use of fairy tales in this one, how the stories help Tiến and his mom understand each other. And I love how the clothes/details in the stories change depending on the teller - when Tiến is reading to his mom, the style is very European, like the illustrations in the collections he’s reading, but when his mom reads/tells a story, even when it’s something like Little Mermaid, the clothing and ornaments were more traditionally Vietnamese.
- Different Kids of Fruit by Kyle Lukoff
Book Description:
“In this funny and hugely heartfelt novel from a National Book Award finalist, a sixth-grader’s life is turned upside down when she learns her dad is trans
Annabelle Blake fully expects this school year to be the same as every other: same teachers, same classmates, same, same, same. So she’s elated to discover there’s a new kid in town. To Annabelle, Bailey is a breath of fresh air. She loves hearing about their life in Seattle, meeting their loquacious (and kinda corny) parents, and hanging out at their massive house. And it doesn’t hurt that Bailey has a cute smile, nice hands (how can someone even have nice hands?) and smells really good.
Suddenly sixth grade is anything but the same. And when her irascible father shares that he and Bailey have something big–and surprising–in common, Annabelle begins to see herself, and her family, in a whole new light. At the same time she starts to realize that her community, which she always thought of as home, might not be as welcoming as she had thought. Together Annabelle, Bailey, and their families discover how these categories that seem to mean so much—boy, girl, gay, straight, fruit, vegetable—aren’t so clear-cut after all.”
My thoughts:
I’m about to finish this, and to be honest, while I obviously adored this book, it did feel a bit more issue-book-ish than the others I’ve read. The bit of internal transphobia in the book took me aback at first, but it was one of the things that endeared the book to me, because [the character] is probably around my age and would have grown up in the extremely toxic 90s environment I did, and while I was mostly isolated I never had it as bad - I had (have) no community, but that also means that I didn’t experience bigotry from those within the community. It must have been such a traumatic experience for them and that acknowledgement of the experience of being queer in the 80s/90s was everything to me.
** part of this is definitely constant overstimulation and being near-burnout from lack of rest (from said stimulation), the other part of it is gender dysphoria which is getting worse and worse these days. These books kind of help, at least a little.
There are a LOT more queer MG that was released recently, some this year even, that I haven’t read and are in my TBR/wishlist. And I did read a few excellent MG that aren’t queer, like Claribel Ortega’s Witchlings (which, okay, has an enby side character and a mention of queer witches), and Akemi Dawn Bowman’s Generation Misfits (which also has an enby side character) that aren’t included in this list, so yeah, this list isn’t exactly exhaustive or anything like that. But I will say this - if you loved Heartstopper and want more novels like it, you’re more likely to find books that has a similar feel (mb not the romance, but definitely the community/friendships/wholesomeness) among these middle grade books than most of the queer YA (which can also be excellent, but in different ways!)