This week we're looking at my favorite middle grade books I have read this year, as well as the top releases of 2017 (from any age interest level) I wish I had been able to read and some releases coming in 2018 I'm looking forward to. Unless specifically noted, the books may have been published any year but I read them sometime in 2017. In general, the lists are organized with my absolute favorites on top and kinda, sorta in descending order (though for many of these lists I'd be hard pressed to pick my favorite out of the top five). I read quite a lot of middle grade books, so making today's post was probably the hardest of the top 10s of 2017 (and also why I moved it to last, to give me more time to cram in some of the books I'd seen talked about a lot). There were many great books that kept getting reshuffled into and out of these lists because I just didn't have room for all of the good ones!
Next week will be a guest post from the Elementary librarian I work with, Ms Sarah Foit. She's going to share her top 10s of 2017. If you missed Part 1, my top 10s for picture books and lower grade books, here's the link. And if you missed Part 2, my top 10s for young adult & adult books plus top Christian reads of 2017, here's that link.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
Lower Grade & Middle Grade Biographies/Autobiographies
John Ronald’s Dragons: the Story of J.R.R. Tolkien by Caroline McAlister, ill. by Eliza Wheeler
Real Friends by Shannon Hale, ill. by LeUyen Pham
*I’ve seen this listed as both nonfiction & fiction. I feel there’s enough truth in here to classify it as biography.
Frida Kahlo and her Animalitos by Monica Brown, ill. by John Parra
Out of School and into Nature: the Anna Comstock Story by Suzanne Slade, ill. by Jessica Lanan
Big Machines: the Story of Virginia Lee Burton by Sherri Duskey Rinker, ill. by John Rocco
Women in Sports: 50 Fearless Athletes Who Played to Win by Rachel Ignotofsky
Shark Lady: the True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean’s Most Fearless Scientist by Jess Keating, ill. by Marta Álvarez Miguéns
Pocket Full of Colors: the Magical World of Mary Blair, Disney Artist Extraordinaire by Amy Guglielmo and Jacqueline Tourville, ill. by Brigette Barrager
Trudy’s Big Swim: How Gertrude Ederle Swam the English Channel and Took the World by Storm by Sue Macy, ill. by Matt Collins
Pelé: the King of Soccer by Eddy Simon, ill. by Vincent Brascaglia, translated by Joe Johnson
Middle Grade Nonfiction: Books on Animals
Moto and Me: My Year as a Wildcat’s Foster Mom by Suzi Eszterhas
How to Be an Elephant by Katherine Roy
Lesser Spotted Animals by Martin Brown
The Great Penguin Rescue: Saving the African Penguins by Sandra Markle
Amazon Adventure: How Tiny Fish Are Saving the World’s Largest Rainforest by Sy Montgomery, photos by Keith Ellenbogen
Penguins vs Puffins by Julie Beer
Sergeant Reckless: the True Story of the Little Horse Who Became a Hero by Patricia McCormick, ill. by Iacopo Bruno
Once a Wolf: How Wildlife Biologists Fought to Bring Back the Gray Wolf by Stephen R. Swinburne, photos by Jim Brandenburgh
The Elephant Keeper: Caring for Orphaned Elephants in Zambia by Margriet Ruurs, ill. by Pedro Covo
Owen & Mzee: the True Story of a Remarkable Friendship by Isabel Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff & Dr. Paula Kahumbu, photos by Peter Greste
Middle Grade Nonfiction: Books on Topics Other Than Animals
Biometrics: Your Body and the Science of Security by Maria Birmingham, ill. by Ian Turner
What to Do When Good Isn’t Good Enough: the Real Deal on Perfectionism by Thomas S. Greenspon
Sandwiches!: More Than You’ve Ever Wanted to Know about Making and Eating America’s Favorite Food by Alison Deering, ill. by Bob Lentz
Engineered!: Engineering Design at Work by Shannon Hunt, ill. by James Gulliver Hancock
Mission to Pluto: the First Visit to an Ice Dwarf and the Kuiper Belt by Mary Kay Carson, photos by Tom Uhlman
The Quest for Z: the True Story of Explorer Percy Fawcett and a Lost City in the Amazon by Greg Pizzoli
Dazzle Ships: World War I and the Art of Confusion by Chris Barton, ill. by Victo Ngai
You’re Pulling My Leg: 400 Human-Body Sayings from Head to Toe by Pat Street & Eric Brace, ill. by Eric Brace
Lift-the-flap Periodic Table by Alice James, ill. by Shaw Nielsen
Food Like Mine by DK Publishing
Middle Grade Fiction : Fantasy & Scifi
(limited to those published in 2017)
*Titles with an asterisk beside them denote books that don’t feature magic or strange tech, but are not quite realistic or historic
Wishtree by Katherine Applegate, ill. by Charles Santoso
The Lost Kingdom of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine
Missy Piggle-Wiggle and the Won’t-Walk-the-Dog Cure by Ann M. Martin and Annie Parnell, ill. by Ben Hatke
Ben Franklin’s in My Bathroom! by Candace Fleming, ill. by Mark Fearing
Frogkisser! by Garth Nix
The Matchstick Castle by Keir Graff*
Giant Trouble by Ursula Vernon
The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine by Mark Twain & Philip Stead, ill. by Erin E. Stead
Prisoner of Ice and Snow by Ruth Lauren*
Payback by Gordon Korman
Middle Grade Fiction: Historical Fiction & Contemporary Fiction
(limited to those published in 2017)
Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling
The Van Gogh Deception by Deron Hicks
Beyond the Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk
The War I Finally Won by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Vanished! by James Ponti
Refugee by Alan Gratz
Panda-monium by Stuart Gibbs
Patina by Jason Reynolds
The Unbreakable Code by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
Beach Party Surf Monkey by Chris Grabenstein, ill. by Brooke Allen
Middle Grade Fiction: 2015 & 2016 Releases
(Limited to those published in 2015 & 2016 that I read in 2017, and limited to books not in same series as books that appear in 2017 lists.)
The Ministry of SUITs by Paul Gamble
Insert Coin to Continue by John David Anderson
The Adventurer’s Guide to Successful Escapes by Wade Albert White
Randoms by David Liss
Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi
Cloud and Wallfish by Anne Nesbet
The Eye of Midnight by Andrew Brumbach
The Lost Property Office by James R. Hannibal
Spaced Out by Stuart Gibbs
Slacker by Gordon Korman
Middle Grade Graphic Novels
(contains both fiction & nonfiction titles, but limited to only 1 per series)
Real Friends by Shannon Hale, ill. by LeUyen Pham
Anne of Green Gables: a graphic novel based on the novel by L.M. Montgomery, adapted by Mariah Marsden, ill. by Brenna Thummler
The Big Bad Fox by Benjamin Renner
Phoebe and Her Unicorn in the Magic Storm by Dana Simpson
One Trick Pony by Nathan Hale
Star Scouts by Mike Lawrence
Swing It, Sunny by Jennifer L. Holm, ill. by Matthew Holm
The Battle for Amphibopolis by Doug TenNapel
Catstronauts: Mission Moon by Drew Brockington
Mighty Jack and the Goblin King by Ben Hatke
2017 Lower Grade & Middle Grade Reads That I Wish I Could’ve Read in 2017
Time ran out and ordered copies of these haven't arrived yet, or I just haven't had time to read them yet but I really want to. This first title in this list is the one the students ask for the most.
Spy School Secret Service (Spy School, #5) by Stuart Gibbs
Raid of No Return (Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales, #7) by Nathan Hale
The Monster’s Daughter (Ministry of SUITs, #2) by Paul Gamble
York: the Shadow Cipher by Laura Ruby
Mr Lemoncello’s Library Race (Mr Lemoncello’s Library, #3) by Chris Grabenstein
Life on Surtsey: Iceland’s Upstart Island (Scientists in the Field) by Loree Griffin Burns
Penguin Day by Nic Bishop
A Boy Called Bat Elana K. Arnold, ill. by Charles Santoso
Where’s Halmoni? by Julie Kim
The Great Art Caper (Pets on the Loose, #2) by Victoria Jamieson
2017 YA & Adult Reads That I Wish I Could’ve Read in 2017
Time ran out and ordered copies of these haven't arrived yet, or I just haven't had time to read them yet but I really want to. Oathbringer is the most requested title by students on this list...which is saying something about Sanderson's writing skills. Anyone who can get busy teenagers and adults clamoring to read a whopping 1200+ page book is a writing wizard.
The Speaker (Sea of Ink and Gold, #2) by Traci Chee
Venturess (Mechanica, #2) by Betsy Cornwell
Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive, #3) by Brandon Sanderson
The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston
The Book Thieves by Anders Rydell
Renegades by Marissa Meyer
The Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
The Last Castle by Denise Kiernan
The Lost Plot by Genevieve Cogman
The Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
18 Highly Anticipated Reads of 2018
(organized by interest level, starting with youngest)
A Busy Creature’s Day Eating by Mo Willems
I Got It! by David Wiesner
Peanut Butter and Jelly (A Narwhal & Jelly Book, #3) by Ben Clanton
The Wild Robot Escapes (Wild Robot, #2) by Peter Brown
The Rose Legacy by Jessica Day George
Monsters Beware (Chronicles of Claudette, #3) by Jorge Aguirre, ill. by Rafael Rosado
Whiskerella (Hamster Princess, #5) by Ursula Vernon
Waste of Space (Moon Base Alpha, #3) by Stuart Gibbs
Time Jumpers (Five Kingdoms, #5) by Brandon Mull
2 Fuzzy, 2 Furious (The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, #2) by Shannon Hale & Dean Hale
Thunderhead (Arc of a Scythe, #2) by Neal Shusterman
Gone Rogue (Wires & Nerve, #2) by Marissa Meyer, ill. by Stephen Gilpin
The Forest Queen (Mechanica, #0) by Betsy Cornwell
Station Zero (Railhead, #3) by Philip Reeve
The Traitor’s Game by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Arabella the Traitor of Mars (The Adventures of Arabella Ashby, #3) by David D. Levine
Lies of the Beholder (Legion, #3) by Brandon Sanderson
Skyward by Brandon Sanderson
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