5 Middle Grade Books I'm Excited to Read this Summer

Everyone loves summer reading, but diving right in can be daunting when there's so much out there.  In the name of prioritizing, I've decided to focus my summer reading efforts based off what my students are reading, what's getting great reviews, and what I'm really interested in.  Here are five middle grade books that I'm excited to crack open this summer.

1. The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart
Coyote and her dad have spent the last five years living on the road, ever since her mother and sisters died in a car crash.  But when she finds out that her old neighborhood park, where she and her family buried a treasure box, is being demolished, she comes up with a plan to get her dad to drive her all the way back home--all 3,600 miles.  On their journey, they pick up several misfit travelers, all searching for things of their own.  A couple of my students already read this and loved it, and it tackles themes such as resilience, loss, and finding home.

2. Nikki Tesla and the Ferret-Proof Death Ray by Jess Keating and Lissy Marlin
After an incident with her homemade death ray, Nikki Tesla is sent to Genius Academy, where she'll learn how to channel her genius powers without blowing up her bedroom.  But Nikki doesn't want to be there, and refuses to make friends . . . until her death ray is stolen.  Then she must team up with her classmates on a globetrotting adventure to retrieve the death ray, dodge the authorities, and get home safely.  Nikki and her classmates are all based off of famous scientists, and her friends include Charlotte Darwin and Leo da Vinci.  There's information at the back about the real-life Tesla, and according to reviews, the book does a fantastic job integrating art and geography. (coming July 9, 2019)

3. To Night Owl from Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer
Bett and Avery are very different people, but they have one big thing in common: their single dads have fallen in love with each other, and the girls are being shipped off to sleepaway camp so that they can bond.  Their initial plans to sabotage the whole thing are put on hold when they start to realize that they might be more alike than they thought . . . and they find themselves, along with their dads, on a whole new summer adventure.  This one is full of great plot twists and surprises, and is said to deal with big topics in a lighthearted, sensitive way.  And who doesn't want to read a book set during the summer right now?

4. Front Desk by Kelly Yang
Mia's family is struggling to succeed in the United States since they immigrated from China two years ago.  They think they've gotten their lucky break when they get offered jobs--and a place to live--running a motel in California.  But the motel owner is a nasty man who finds any excuse to dock their pay, and her parents are letting immigrants hide in empty rooms for free.  If they get caught, they're worse than fired.  Meanwhile, Mia decides she wants nothing more than to be a writer . . . but how can she be when English isn't even her first language?

Front Desk has won several awards, including the Asian / Pacific American Award for Children's Literature.  Another cool fact?  The author--who based the book on her own life--went to UC Berkeley at 13 and Harvard Law School at 17.

5. Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee
13-year-old Min is descended from a line of fox spirits, but she's learned to never use her magic, because the rest of her community doesn't trust fox-magic.  She wants nothing more than to escape her planet, and when news comes that her brother has abandoned his post in the Space Forces to look for the mythical Dragon Pearl, Min is instantly suspicious.  She knows Jun would never leave his team, and so she runs away from home to try to find him.  She learns more about her world and her magic than ever before, and she will have to be braver than she's ever been.  This story has sci fi, magic, roots in Korean mythology, and looks sure to take you on an epic adventure this summer.

Laura and Emma by Kate Greathead

★★/5

Laura & Emma follows a woman, Laura, who finds herself pregnant after a one-night stand with a stranger.  She keeps the baby and tells her family and friends that she decided to have the baby through a sperm donor.  Each "chapter" in the book is a year of Laura and Emma's lives—some years are full of things happening, some are only a paragraph—and the reader gets to witness not only Laura and Emma growing up, but also the evolving setting of New York City.

This book had a lot of elements that made me think I would enjoy it--two complex female protagonists, a little quirky, spans several years, etc., but the story just fell flat for me. Laura and Emma, as characters, were both frustrating and not that interesting to me.

I had a hard time relating to Laura, which is definitely a personal thing, but I was more frustrated by Emma, her daughter, and how Laura raises her. Laura is a very hands-off parent, which is fine, but she didn't even seem that interested in Emma. When Emma was younger, she said/did a lot of things that most parents would be concerned about and intervene in, but I got the impression Emma was raising herself. Emma does eventually have a character breakthrough, but it was so sudden it was hard to believe, and when she becomes a teenager, I didn't feel she had changed at all from when she was younger. This wasn't, to me, a new take on mother/daughter relationships because it seemed that the two were just cohabiting.

Another problem I thought was in the book was Laura's job. She arranges it so she works part-time, gets eight weeks off in the summer, and gets paid for a full-time job with benefits. This was so unrealistic and improbable and felt like a plot convenience.

Finally, the ending--I was surprised when I turned the page and the book was actually over. It ended so abruptly and while I didn't expect everything to be wrapped up, I felt that nothing was. I have no idea what's going to happen to either of these characters.

Final Word: While Greathead tackles some interesting topics in this book (family relationships, sexuality, growing up, parenting), she didn't do it in a way that spoke to me. I can see where others would enjoy it--fans of Brooklyn by Col Toibin or Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood, for example, might enjoy its style and characters.

If you've read this, I'd love to hear your what you thought!  Was the ending too abrupt?  Were the characters relatable?  Share down below!

Surprise Me by Sophie Kinsella

           If you've read any of Sophie Kinsella's other books, you probably have a good idea what to expect from them: a fun, smart, sometimes ditzy female protagonist; some crazy situation said protagonist has to find a way out of; lots of hijinks; and, of course, romance.  And even though her books all tick those boxes, they're still fun.

            Confession: the only other Kinsella book I've read all the way through is My (Not So) Perfect Life, which was great.  I've had a harder time getting into her other books, but I was excited to try this one because a) it looked fun, and b) I read that it was more similar to Big Little Lies than to Kinsella's other books.

            Surprise Me didn't have the Big Little Lies vibe that appealed to me—I can see what that reviewer was saying, but the two books still feel completely separate to me.  In Surprise Me, Sylvie and Dan are happily married, have twin girls, and think they are totally in-sync.  Then they get told at their annual physicals that they probably have about 68 more years to live.  Good news, right?  Instead, it sends Sylvie and Dan into a tailspin as they try to figure out how to make their lives more exciting if they're going to be together for 68 more years . . . and their idea is that they're going to try to surprise each other.

            The surprises, of course, turn out to not quite go as planned (lots of hijinks!), and some of them end well and others don't.  The really compelling part of the story, though, is the plotline around Sylvie and her late father, whom she idolizes and Dan seems kind of . . . meh about (that might be putting it kindly).  This is the part that draws the Big Little Lies comparisons, and I thought it was excellently-done: the reader knows something is up with Sylvie's father, but they're not sure of what.  It kept me flipping pages (I actually skipped a chunk to read the ending, which I've never done before . . . Sylvie and Dan's surprises were fun, but I enjoyed them more when I knew how all the big stuff resolved).  I loved seeing how some seemingly loose ends and extra details were all tied in together at the end.  The book doesn't end with a perfect bow where you feel like everyone's life is going to be so easy, but with plenty enough resolved.

            This is a great summer read; I think it'd be perfect at the beach.  The cover art is also absolutely adorable, and I loved displaying it on my bookshelf.

            The bottom line?  Would recommend to women for a fun, light read, and for anyone who wants a perfect display book.

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

I went into this book with high hopes: I loved Hannah's last book, The Nightingale, and while that's the only other thing of hers I've read, it made me want to read everything she's written.  I also loved The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey, which has a lot of similarities to this one.  This book seemed like it would be a perfect fit, but I walked away from it feeling . . . meh.

The Great Alone follows Leni from the time she's an awkward 13-year old all the way into her adulthood.  Leni's father, Ernt, was a soldier in Vietnam, and he came back very different than how he left.  While today we would call it PTSD, there weren't names or good treatments for what Leni's father experienced back then.  Ernt is always uprooting his family in the hopes that wherever they settle next will be the place where he can feel normal.  Which takes them to a small town in Alaska.

            If you don't know, Alaska is not for the faint of heart, especially this small town where Leni's family settles.  They have to kill and grow their own food, basically rebuild their entire house, and adapt to living somewhere that is dark most of the day and way, way below zero in the winter.  Needless to say, these winter circumstances are not good for Leni's dad.

            But Leni and her mother manage to make friends in the town; most importantly, Leni befriends a boy her age, Matthew, and they become best friends.  But when tragedy hits Matthew's family, he moves away, leaving Leni more alone then ever.

            I don't want to give too much away about the story, because the twists and turns, mirrored by Alaska's wildness, is one of the enjoyable things about this novel.  While some of it felt too predictable, there were a few great surprises along the way.

            My main issue with the story, though, was with the main character.  Leni starts off shy and insecure, which makes sense—she's 13, after all, and lives with an unstable father, a mother who puts up with too much, and she doesn't have any friends.  As she becomes an older teenager, she seems to find some personality and strength—but then, when she's an adult, I felt like all that disappeared and she started making some really bad decisions.  I wanted her to take charge of her life, the way she seemed to be learning to do in Alaska, but she felt flat and at times kind of pathetic to me. 

            My other criticism is that the book is really long, and by the last third the story felt too stretched out.  Things just kept happening, and I wanted to get some kind of resolution.

            Overall?  This isn't a book I'll be telling a lot of my friends to read, but I see why a lot of people do like it.  Because it is so event-heavy, it might draw in some people who don't read as much but are looking for a less-fluffy summer read.