As a mom who loves to read (and write!), I’ve always hoped and prayed my kids would fall in love with reading, too. That said, I’ve always been careful not to force them into it, not to somehow make them feel like my hobbies had to be theirs. When my twelve-year-old devoured Harry Potter in mere weeks, I was practically ecstatic. And when I heard her tell her brothers at the height of the pandemic, “Books get you out of the house and let you go somewhere new,” I knew that they’d become for her what they’ve always been for me: a window to another world.
I’ll be honest and admit that I gave up on this series after the second or third book, and yet I strongly suspected that my daughter would enjoy them—and she absolutely did. She loves the elvish cities and how keenly they’re described, and the idea that they’re here, somehow hidden on our world, captured her imagination. Oh, and I’m supposed to tell you that Keefe is hilarious.
A New York Times bestselling series A USA TODAY bestselling series A California Young Reader Medal-winning series
In this riveting series opener, a telepathic girl must figure out why she is the key to her brand-new world before the wrong person finds the answer first.
Twelve-year-old Sophie has never quite fit into her life. She's skipped multiple grades and doesn't really connect with the older kids at school, but she's not comfortable with her family, either. The reason? Sophie's a Telepath, someone who can read minds. No one knows her secret-at least, that's what she thinks...
My faith is core to who I am. I love Jesus wholeheartedly and believe true fulfillment only comes through a relationship with Him. I believe we are all created on purpose for a purpose. I want every person I come in contact with to know that they are powerful, chosen, loved, and never alone. I also love creating and reading real and fictional stories that have a message. I believe that stories can seep through our layers and speak to the deepest parts of who we are. The books on my list are the ones that seeped deep down into my heart.
It was surprising how much a series for children spoke to my heart. I loved the deep worldbuilding that didn’t shy away from the darker things. As I listened with my daughter, I was overcome by the message of truth, transformation, and the power to do good. This beautiful story encouraged us to have value and purpose in this world–one that is more about being than doing.
After living for years under the occupation by the evil Fangs of Dang, the Igiby children find a map rumoured to lead to the lost Jewels of Anniera - the one thing the Fangs will do anything to find. The family is thrown headlong into a perilous adventure, uncovering truths about who they are that will change their world forever.
Repackaged with new illustrations, this is the opportunity to discover the Wingfeathers.
Unlike most authors, who only write one genre, I write mystery/suspense, thriller, fantasy, and dystopian. I love plotting and naming stories. I studied Criminal Justice & Legal Studies in college and absolutely loved it. I've also been reading these genres since I was little. I certainly never thought I’d be a writer, but the ideas kept coming so I guess the writing chose me. As a self-published writer, I get to make every decision concerning my books and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I write my books, design the covers, make the trailers, market the books, and everything else. I enjoy using my writing to point to the things I believe are important.
Technically, this is a children’s book. However, I’ve loved it from the moment I read it the first time.
Since then, I lost count of the number of times I’ve read it. It is a fantasy book with a little mystery tied to the end. What an excellent plot twist. I’ve always been a daydreamer and this story is exactly the kind of thing I’d love.
Cecelia looks like a peasant girl and lives in a village so small that it's not even on the map. But she knows that secretly, she is the true princess, hidden away as a baby to be kept safe from the enemies of the kingdon. A commoner named Desmia was placed on the throne as a decoy. Cecelia has always known that when it was safe, she would be taken out of hiding and returned to her rightful place on the throne.
Then danger finds her in her village, and Cecelia has to act. With the help of her best…
Corey
Ann Haydu has a talent for using magic to get at truths that are all too real.
In One Jar of Magic, Rose lives in a town that collects magic, and her
father is the best magic-collector of them all. On her twelfth birthday, she’s
supposed to join him, stepping into her birthright…but at the end of that
night, all Rose has collected is one tiny jar of magic.
Her father’s
disappointment is a crushing, bruising thing. As she faces the fact that she
might not be “meant for magic,” Rose begins to see her family — specifically, her
overbearing father — with clearer eyes.
This book is beautifully written, and it
tackles the difficult subject of abuse with compassion and care. I am such
a fan of Corey’s work.
From the critically acclaimed author of Eventown comes a hopeful and empowering tale set in an enchanting world of magic and mysterious family secrets-perfect for fans of Anne Ursu, Rebecca Stead, and Wendy Mass.
Magic is like a dream. Delightful. Terrifying. Unreal.
Rose Alice Anders is Little Luck. Lucky to be born into the Anders family. Lucky to be just as special and magical as the most revered man in town-her father. The whole town has been waiting for Rose to turn twelve, when she can join them in their annual capturing of magic on New Year's Day and become…
Am I an expert on transportation? No. But I’m fascinated by movement. Physical movement (how do bike gears actually work?) and metaphorical (how does life actually work?) I did enjoy a brief moment as the kind of unofficial bike traffic reporter when I was on CBC Radio here in Canada. I’d report on my 4 am commute to work. But as a writer and illustrator for kids, I know the freedom transportation represents. We all want to fly. In MINRS I write about spaceships. We all want to see the world. In The Fabulous Zed Watson! I write (with my kid Basil) about epic road trips.
One of my kid-lit heroes, and clearly a writer/illustrator who grew up (like me) with a love for the vehicles we saw in science fiction. He has Eva Nine and her pals (and enemies) flying around in ships that are clearly inspired by pod-racers, x-wing fighters, the Millennium Falcon, and Flash Gordon. (Then, as the series goes on, we even get airships!)
But the thing that anchors the series is the wonderfully drawn characters. Eva Nine is all of us as kids… eager to break away but also tied to the adults around us. That tension between knowing when to hold on and knowing when it’s time to say goodbye is what really kept me with her on her journey.
Eva Nine was raised by the robot Muthr. But when a marauder destroys the underground sanctuary she called home, twelve-year-old Eva is forced to flee aboveground. Eva Nine is searching for anyone else like her. She knows that other humans exist because of a very special item she treasures ~ a scrap of cardboard on which is depicted a young girl, an adult, and a robot along with the strange word "WondLa".
Tony DiTerlizzi honours traditional children's literature in this totally original space age adventure: one that is as complex as an alien planet, but as simple as a child's…
Like most children, I’ve experienced being teased for appearing different in some way. I learned to defend the strange outfits my mother made for me and the bizarre hairdo of eight pigtails my older sister dared me to wear to school. As a teen, I wore a patchwork jacket made of quilt scraps to my new school and came home in tears. I’ve always felt that if we really knew one another on a deeper level and shared each other’s stories we would realize that we’re all made up of the same stuff inside and would not feel prejudice or the need to scorn outward aspects that don’t matter.
I absolutely love this book and have both listened to it and read it more than once. There are so many layers and insights especially for those who feel out of place and are bullied for being different. It is about a girl who is half-human and has Moorfolk (faerie) banished from the fae for her inabilities and exchanged for a human baby. As she grows, her odd abilities are noticed and feared. Despite the taunting and blood-thirsty actions of the village folk, she gives of herself and ultimately takes the risk to retrieve her adopted parents’ human baby. She has the inner strength to venture out and be her unique self.
The daughter of a fairy folk mother and human father, Moql is raised by the fairies, until she is considered too great a risk and is left with a strange human family. Reprint. Newbery Honor Book. Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor Book.
When I was five my dad had to carry me, crying, out of the Salem Witch’s Dungeon. You’d think that would put a damper on my love of spooky things, but it absolutely did not! Bela Lugosi was my first crush. I set up Haunted Houses in my garage and read every single book my local library had on the Salem Witch Trials. I made my way from Bunnicula and The Halloween Tree, to books by Stephen King and Anne Rice. Halloween and horror will always have a special place in my heart, and yet…I still don’t let my legs dangle off my bed, lest the monsters get me.
I firmly believe that Halloween books are for everyone, even kids who don’t want their pants scared off or kids who aren’t big readers. In comes Lumberjackula! An adorable graphic novel with a great Halloween esthetic.
Jack is a half vampire, half lumberjack kid who has to make a big decision: should he go to Lumberjack school like Mom wants, or Vampire school like Dad wants? Jack doesn’t want to disappoint either parent, but he has a secret…he wants to dance!
Lumberjackula has all the fun of Halloween without the fear, and the illustrations are adorable. It’s a great book to make sure all of your middle graders get to join in the Halloween fun. (And as a former goth myself, Dad’s band is awesome!)
For fans of The Okay Witch and Fake Blood, this hilarious middle grade graphic novel follows a half-vampire, half-lumberjack boy who feels torn between his parents and just wants to be a dancer.
Jack is in a pickle. His lumberjack mom wants him to go to Mighty Log Lumberjack Prep to learn how to chop wood and wear flannel. His vampire dad wants him to go to Sorrow's Gloom Vampire School to learn how to turn into a bat and drink blood-orange juice. And Jack has a secret: what he really wants to do is dance.
Since I was a child I have viewed the world differently. I dreamed of magical worlds, and I always was curious to find answers to questions that were hard to find. When I began to question a local legend about the Lady in White, I had to know more. I spent countless days researching to find anything about this mystery lady. Unfortunately, I never did find out who the Lady in White was, but I did find information on every one of her so-called victims. With a handful of real-life events, and a lot of imagination, my Lady in White series was born.
This story brought me back in time to 1899. It didn’t take long for me to gather emotional ties with the main character, Serafina.
She had a very hard childhood that any parent would wish they could protect their child from. I was soon thrown into magic and mystery, suspense, and intrigue. I love that this book shows that we are not all created or grow up the same way, but our differences when used together will only make us stronger.
This book had me on the edge of my seat guessing what could possibly happen next!
A brave and unusual girl named Serafina lives secretly in the basement of the grand Biltmore Estate amidst the splendor of the Gilded Age. Serafina's pa, the estate's maintenance man, has warned her to keep herself hidden from the fancy folk who live on the floors above, but when children at the estate start disappearing, Serafina and her friend Braeden Vanderbilt must work together to solve a dark and dangerous mystery. This page-turning thriller from Disney-Hyperion is a #1 New York Times Bestseller, has been on the bestsellers list for more than 50 weeks, and is already being taught in…
Maurice Sendak said, "Children do live in fantasy and reality, they move back and forth very easily in a way we no longer remember how to do." In other words, children do the impossible. Growing up, stories where the real and imagined collided were like fresh air when I felt like I couldn't breathe. They've always been important to me, and for many reasons, hold a special place in our literature. Now, as a full-time teacher, writer, and daddy, I get to be on the other side of that joy equation, guiding new readers and writers as they become travelers of the fantastic.
This book is brain candy. Rick’s writing style immediately pulled me into the story. First-person is hard to do right without going overboard, but Rick set the perfect balance of action and internal voice. It also helps that the relationship between Percy’s stepfather and mine was as close to identical as a fantasy novel can get.
And while I know it’s not the first to do it, this was the first middle-grade book I read where the main character was neurodivergent and dealing with a lot of the same issues that I did and that many of my students do as well.
The Lightning Thief: the First book in Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series.
The first bestselling book in Rick Riordan's phenomenally successful Percy Jackson series.
Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood. I never asked to be the son of a Greek God. I was just a normal kid, going to school, playing basketball, skateboarding. The usual. Until I accidentally vaporized my maths teacher. That's when things started really going wrong. Now I spend my time fighting with swords, battling monsters with my friends, and generally trying to stay alive.
I write for middle grade readers because they still dwell in a place of possibility. They know flashy magic doesn’t exist but they’ll still check the back of a wardrobe to see if it leads to Narnia. Middle grade is a period where readers explore their identity, trying to figure out who they are as well as who they’ll become. In these witchy books, the protagonists are exploring their identities, trying to reconcile expectations and the broadening world around them with who they truly are. The resulting books are adventures both external and internal and the start of exciting journeys.
While staying with her aunt in Italy, Lilla comes across a book that reveals she’s a witch. But the Stregamama, an ancient witch, wants to use Lilla for her own means. Meanwhile, Lilla’s crushing on her aunt’s assistant and trying to avoid the local boy her family is trying to set her up with. As a bookish introvert who wanted space to read, draw, and grow on my own terms, I couldn’t help but see myself in Lilla. Slightly artwork brings movement to the story while the palette adds spots of spookiness. A cute, queer graphic novel of realizing and voicing one’s identities, this book charms.
Thirteen-year-old Lilla feels she is a bit different. She's quiet and shy and sometimes feels uncomfortable in the company of boys. She'd much rather spend time by herself drawing and daydreaming. This summer, while staying with her aunt in rural Italy, Lilla discovers a book of magic which reveals that she is a witch with special powers, the magic of 'Strega'.
But unbeknownst to her, an ancient witch, Stregamama, threatens to ruin more than just her summer. Lilla is soon faced with a choice that could change her life forever.
