Middle Grades

Metaphysics, Graphics-Style

By Janie Cheaney | Feb 19, 2013

For some folks, graphic novels are actually a discipline to be learned—their eyes don’t know where to go first and they tend to jump from ...

Happy Birthday, Mr. Lincoln

By Janie Cheaney | Feb 12, 2013

I’ve heard that aside from William Shakespeare, more books have been written about Abraham Lincoln than any other historical figure. That makes it difficult to ...

Wholehearted Romance: Living Book Library Picks

By emily | Feb 7, 2013

Many of you may remember our interview last fall with Liz and Emily, proprietors of the Living Books Library website. They were kind enough to ...

Legends Told and Re-told

By Janie Cheaney | Feb 5, 2013

Robin Hood, by David Calcutt, illustrated by Graham Baker-Smith. Barefoot Books, 2012, 112 pages. Age/interest level: 9-up. Everyone knows—or do they?--how the hooded stranger showed ...

Unstoppable by Tim Green

By Janie Cheaney | Jan 31, 2013

A middle-grade boy's football ambitions crash against a cancer diagnosis in this frank tale by NFL star Tim Green. Unstoppable, by Tim Green. HarperCollins, 2012, ...

Identity and Revolution, part 2

By Janie Cheaney | Jan 25, 2013

Last week we looked at some YA titles that celebrated the “coming out” of gay and lesbian characters. “Young Adult” has traditionally been the accepted ...

On All Fronts: New Nonfiction of World War II

By Janie Cheaney | Jan 15, 2013

My sister, who serves at a docent at a prisoner-of-war museum in Texas, says that her most eager listeners are pre-teen and teenage boys. When ...

Going to the Dogs

By Janie Cheaney | Jan 11, 2013

Of all four-legged mammals, I estimate that dogs get the most exposure in fiction, with horses and mice tying for second and cats a distant ...

The Wimpy Kid and His Imitators

By Janie Cheaney | Jan 8, 2013

Jeff Kinney currently sits at the top of a $550 million empire, and it all started with a web comic. When Kinney’s ambition to write ...

Kids–Try This at Home

By Janie Cheaney | Jan 4, 2013

Got a novel idea? It’s easier than ever to get published, but if the imprint on the spine of your masterwork is Xlibris or iUniverse, ...

A Very LOGOS and Parnassus Christmas, Part Two

By emily | Dec 17, 2012

If you missed it, Part One of this series detailed my trip to a fantastic Nashville bookstore, Logos Bookstore. Today, I follow up that Christian ...

16th Century Travels: Jepp and Will Sparrow

By Janie Cheaney | Dec 14, 2012

Jepp, Who Defied the Stars, by Katharine Marsh. Hyperion, 2012, 369 pages plus author note. Age/interest level: 12-up. Jepp’s diminutive size has always been a ...

A Very LOGOS & Parnassus Christmas, Part One

By emily | Dec 6, 2012

One Hip Town. Two Bookstores. And Lots of Great Books for Kids! Here in Nashville, we have at least two exceptional bookstores: Logos Bookstore and ...

A Cold Night in Boston

By Janie Cheaney | Dec 4, 2012

Two hundred and thirty-nine years ago this month, a band of New England Patriots (not the NFL team) disguised as Indians swarmed aboard three ships ...

O Come, Emmanuel

By Janie Cheaney | Nov 30, 2012

Every year advent takes me by surprise--otherwise I would have posted this last week! Family advent readers come down from the shelves this time of ...

Hobbit Read Along, Week 4: How to Make Hobbit Feet and More!

By emily | Nov 26, 2012

Now that the turkey feathers have settled, it's time to get back to The Hobbit! In case you're running behind, here's a recap: 1) Introduction, ...

Spunky Siblings

By Janie Cheaney | Nov 16, 2012

Brother-Sister duos are a staple in children’s publishing ever since the Bobbsey Twins—a way of stretching the appeal, I suppose. These new series try to ...

Quiet Time For Kids – Part Two

By Janie Cheaney | Oct 26, 2012

Last week’s post ran so long I had to cut it short in order to attend to other business. But close readers may remember a ...

Hand of Vengeance

By Janie Cheaney | Oct 23, 2012

Tomorrow we have a real treat for you: two Christian dads, one a pastor and one a teacher, who both happen to write books for ...

Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing: Savoring Sally Lloyd Jones’ New Book

By emily | Oct 20, 2012

This October, the team that brought you The Jesus Storybook Bible released a unique new book, Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing. At 224 pages, ...

Quiet Time for Kids

By Janie Cheaney | Oct 19, 2012

“Thy word have I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin . . .” (Ps. 119:11) More than anything, Christian parents want ...

Shopping for Bible Storybooks

By Janie Cheaney | Oct 17, 2012

In keeping with our home library emphasis this month, most of our readers would probably agree that the first items on our list would be ...

God’s Time to Make a Change

By Janie Cheaney | Oct 2, 2012

I was alive during the Civil Rights struggles of the mid-50s and 60s, but wasn't personally affected by them. So the history of those years ...

Before the Boxcar

By Janie Cheaney | Sep 21, 2012

The Boxcar Children Beginning: the Aldens of Fair Meadow Farm, by Patricia MacLachlan. Whitman, 2012, 121 pages. Age/interest level: 7-10 The Boxcar Children have had ...

Kids and 9/11

By Janie Cheaney | Sep 7, 2012

To our children it’s already history, but to us it seems like “only yesterday.” Too soon, really, to come to an informed conclusion about what ...

By Janie Cheaney | Aug 21, 2012

In keeping with our back-to-school focus: if you haven't met little Rocket, you really should. As for Charlie Joe, well . . . How Rocket ...

By Janie Cheaney | Aug 10, 2012

Our 50 Shades of Gray discussion this week demonstrates how our sin nature turns God's gifts into perversions. But sex is still a gift, and ...

By Janie Cheaney | Jul 24, 2012

Remarkable, by Lizzie K. Foley. Dial, 2012, 325 pp. Age/interest level: 9-13 Jane is remarkable in her town for being unremarkable. In fact, she and ...

By emily | Jul 19, 2012

This summer I've been on a mission to find books with specifically Christian content for my kids. We get plenty of great literature from the ...

By Janie Cheaney | Jul 17, 2012

The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom, by Christopher Healy (drawings by Todd Harris). HarperCollins, 2012, 436 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 10-12 Recommended ...

By Janie Cheaney | Jul 17, 2012

Tuesdays at the Castle, by Jessica Day George. Bloomsbury, 2012, 225 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 10-12. Recommended for: Ages 8-14 Whenever Castle Glower ...

Dystopia, Junior

By Janie Cheaney | Jul 13, 2012

Dystopian fiction for middle-grades isn't new: Lois Lowry's The Giver is a classic of the genre. The success of The Hunger Games means similar titles ...

Hard Science

By Janie Cheaney | Jul 10, 2012

God particle, Higgs boson—it's been news since Independence Day (no relation to said holiday) and most of us scratch our heads. It’s too hot to ...

We Hold These Truths

By Janie Cheaney | Jul 3, 2012

“If men were angels,” wrote James Madison in The Federalist #51, “government would not be necessary.” While understanding what Madison meant, he wasn’t quite accurate. ...

Mystery Under the Stars

By Janie Cheaney | Jun 22, 2012

. . . In which we crack the spines of two middle-grade novels that have been getting a lot of favorable press: both are mysteries, ...

Crazy Numbers

By Janie Cheaney | Jun 19, 2012

Some kids like numbers and are good with them; others aren’t. Though no longer a kid, I fall in the latter category,but these two books ...

The Great Outdoors

By Janie Cheaney | Jun 4, 2012

Your kids may be packing for camp this month--or maybe not. (Watch for my post on Bible/Christian camps later this week.) While the weather's warm ...

The Bible in Brickbats

By Janie Cheaney | May 29, 2012

The Brick Bible: A New Spin on the Old Testament, as told and illustrated by Brendan Powell Smith. Skyhorse Publishing, 2011, 270 pages. In his ...

Saturday Review: Among the Fairies

By Janie Cheaney | May 19, 2012

Tagging along after yesterday's post, here are two relatively new (and one older) titles in that perennial genre, the fairy tale: Small Persons with Wings, ...

“Do you believe in fairies?”

By Janie Cheaney | May 18, 2012

The Fairy Ring, or Elsie and Frances Fool the World, by Mary Losure. Candlewick, 2012, 168 pages. Age/interest level: 10-14 When Frances Griffith arrived in ...

The Secret Lives of Animals

By Janie Cheaney | May 16, 2012

The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate. HarperCollins, 2012, 304 pages. Age/interest level: 8-up. Last week, a little bluebird appeared in our wood stove. ...

Steve Jobs: American success story?

By Janie Cheaney | May 11, 2012

Steve Jobs: Thinking Differently, by Patricia Lakin. Aladdin (Simon & Shuster), 2012, Age/interest level: 10-14. Who Was Steve Jobs? by Pam Pollack and Meg Belviso, ...

*Mr. and Mrs. Bunny: Detectives Extraordinaire! by Mrs. Bunny, translated from the Rabbit by Polly Horvath

By Janie Cheaney | May 8, 2012

*Mr. and Mrs. Bunny: Detectives Extraordinaire! by Mrs. Bunny, translated from the Rabbit by Polly Horvath, illustrated by Sophie Blackall. Schwartz & Wade, 2012, 248 ...

Huddled Masses and Deadly Desperados

By Janie Cheaney | May 4, 2012

City of Orphans, by Avi. Atheneum, 2011, 350 pages. Ages 10-14. New York, 1893: “Look at someone on the street and you may never see ...

Cowboys and Other Guy Stuff: Poems by David Harrison

By Janie Cheaney | Apr 27, 2012

The title is a misnomer; poetry is for girls, too—and humans in general. In spite of my lazy attitude toward it, poetry is the highly ...

How Our Gardens Grow

By Janie Cheaney | Apr 21, 2012

Planting a garden is an exercise in faith—the assurance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. Young children are fascinated with ...

Podcast 14: American Girls, Dangers and Delights

By emily | Apr 20, 2012

What are the dangers and delights of the American Girls series of books? I gave you guys an intro to this subject in an American ...

May B by Caroline Starr Rose

By Janie Cheaney | Apr 13, 2012

May B., by Caroline Starr Rose, Schwartz & Wade, 2012, 225 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, Ages 10-12 Recommended for: Ages 10-12 and up Bottom Line: ...

Wonder

By Janie Cheaney | Apr 10, 2012

Wonder, by R. J. Palacio. Knopf, 2012, 320 pages. Ages 8-up August (Augie) Pullman obviously doesn’t remember the day he was born, but in the ...

Dealing with Death: Bridge to Terabithia

By Janie Cheaney | Apr 5, 2012

The first time I ever heard my father cry was when my uncle, the brother closest to him in age and disposition, was dying of ...

The Poetry of Nature

By emily | Mar 5, 2012

Contest: Do you have a favorite kids' poem? Would you or your kids like to write your own? Post your new or favorite poems in ...

By Janie Cheaney | Mar 2, 2012

Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George. Harper Collins, 1972 (paperback reissue 2003). 208 pages Reading Level: Middle Grades, 10-12 Recommended for: Young adult, ...

By Janie Cheaney | Mar 2, 2012

Gary Paulsen's classic survival novel Hatchet offers a realistic--as opposed to romantic-- view of nature and what it takes to survive in the wild. Hatchet ...

Soldier Bear

By Janie Cheaney | Feb 28, 2012

Soldier Bear, by Bibi Dumon Tak, illustrated by Philip Hopman. Translated by Laura Watkinson. Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2011, 145 pages. Age/interest level: 9-12 World War ...

By Janie Cheaney | Feb 24, 2012

Countdown (the Sixties Trilogy) by Deborah wiles. Scholastic, 2010, 377 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 10-12 Maturity Level: 4 (ages 10-12) and up Bottom ...

Breaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin

By Janie Cheaney | Feb 21, 2012

Breaking Stalin’s Nose, written and illustrated by Eugene Yelchin. Henry Holt & Company: 2011, 154 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 10-12 Maturity Level: 5 ...

Happy Presidents’ Day! No, really…

By emily | Feb 20, 2012

Better Than Little Obama Debbie Cakes Let's go ahead and admit it. Nobody really cares about Presidents' Day. I mean, maybe a few history buffs, ...

Heart and Soul

By Janie Cheaney | Feb 17, 2012

Heart and Soul: the story of America and African Americans, written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson. HarperCollins, 2011, 108 pages (including bibliography, index, and chronology). ...

Africa: A Literary Adventure and Podcast!

By emily | Feb 16, 2012

This month my local public library is offering a marionette show of African folktales starring Anansi the spider. It's a unique way to celebrate Black ...

By Janie Cheaney | Feb 14, 2012

Dead End in Norvelt, by Jack Gantos, FSG, 2011, 341 pages. Age/interest level: 10-13. (2012 Newbery Medal winner) Norvelt, PA, 1962: a depression-era-town that’s slowly ...

By Janie Cheaney | Feb 7, 2012

My first exposure to Charles Dickens was the original Classics Illustrated edition of A Tale of Two Cities. The last panel of Sidney Carton climbing ...

By Janie Cheaney | Feb 6, 2012

We're kicking off Dickens week with a fun excursion into the heart of Victorian London. Be sure and enter our Dickens trivia contest for a ...

By Janie Cheaney | Jan 27, 2012

So, last Friday the whole boys-and-reading subject came up, and why boys seem to prefer non-fiction. I think this generally true, though there are plenty ...

By Janie Cheaney | Jan 24, 2012

Actually, it’s not at night, but first thing in the morning. And there are no backless evening gowns or acceptance speeches (those come later). But ...

By Janie Cheaney | Jan 20, 2012

Everybody likes stories. But a significant number of bodies prefer their stories to be true, or at least factual. I’ve long heard it rumored among ...

By Janie Cheaney | Jan 12, 2012

*Secrets at Sea, by Richard Peck, illustrated by Kelly Murphy. Dial, 2011, 239 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ages 8-10 and ...

By Janie Cheaney | Jan 9, 2012

Last August saw the 50th anniversary of The Phantom Tollbooth—has it been that long already? We’re a little late but wanted to observe the occasion ...

By Janie Cheaney | Jan 5, 2012

A Nest for Celeste: A Story About Art, Inspiration, and the Meaning of Home by Henry Cole. HarperCollins, 2010, 336 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ...

By Janie Cheaney | Dec 23, 2011

The Invention of Lefse: a Christmas Story, by Larry Woiwode. Crossway, 2011, 63 pages. Age/interest level: 8 and up. “Lefse? What’s lefse?” is the epigraph ...

By emily | Dec 22, 2011

Ah, winter...Christmas parties, New Years resolutions, dashing through the snow to Grandma's house with a minivan full of sugar-crazed kids. What better time for a ...

By Janie Cheaney | Dec 20, 2011

War Horse, by Michael Morpurgo. Scholastic, 2011 (originally published 1982), 192 pages. Age/interest level: 8 and up. Michael Morpurgo was already established in the UK ...

The Word of God for Kids

By emily | Dec 19, 2011

ESV Seek and Find Bible. Crossway Bibles, 2010. 1, 888 pps. Ages 5-up. The Action Bible. David C. Cook, New edition 2010. Illustrated by Sergio ...

By Janie Cheaney | Dec 16, 2011

The December 21 opening of The Adventures of Tintin: the Secret of the Unicorn, should focus attention not only on the boy from Belgium ...

By Janie Cheaney | Dec 8, 2011

Picture books are traditional, and YA is new and glamorous, but the area of literature I consider to be “classic children’s” is that big glorious ...

He’s Coming!

By Janie Cheaney | Nov 29, 2011

In the fundamentalist church where I grew up, we never did advent. I never even understood what the word meant until well into my twenties, ...

By Janie Cheaney | Nov 25, 2011

Million-Dollar Throw by Mike Lupica. Penguin, 2009, 244 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-14 Bottom Line: Mike Lupika's young hero ...

By Janie Cheaney | Nov 18, 2011

Food occupies our minds a lot this time of year—to gather around, to give away, to serve to strangers at the Salvation Army, to stuff ...

Thankful for Cheryl Harness

By Janie Cheaney | Nov 15, 2011

*The Adventurous Life of Myles Standish, by Cheryl Harness. National Geographic, 2006, 143 pages. Age/interest level: 8 and up. Thanksgiving means a raid on the ...

By Janie Cheaney | Nov 11, 2011

Veterans’ Day is one of those holidays that sneak up on me. I intend to write a note to a veteran, wear red, pray a ...

By emily | Nov 10, 2011

*The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins, written by Barbara Kerley and illustrated by Brian Selznick. Scholastic Press, 2001. 48 pps. Recommended for ages 7-up. When I ...

The Story Behind the Confessions

By Janie Cheaney | Oct 28, 2011

Faithfulness Under Fire: The Story of Guido de Bres (2010) and The Quest for Comfort: The Story of the Heidelberg Catechism (2011), by William Boekestein. ...

By emily | Oct 26, 2011

Today Janie and I have the opportunity to introduce you to two delightful resources: first, fellow Christian and kids' book blogger Shanna Gonzalez, whose own ...

By Janie Cheaney | Oct 20, 2011

Reformation Heroes, by Diana Kleyn with Joel R. Beeke. Reformation Heritage Books, 2009, 250 pages. Age/interest level: 11-up. October 31, 2017 (only six years from ...

By Janie Cheaney | Oct 14, 2011

Saint Training, by Elizabeth Fixmer. Zondervan, 2010, 233 pages. Age/interest level, 10-14. Mary Claire, sixth grader at St. Maria Goretti School in Wisconsin, has lofty ...

By emily | Oct 10, 2011

COLUMBUS The first time I browsed through Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire's biography, Columbus, I purchased it for my kids on the spot based largely ...

By Janie Cheaney | Oct 4, 2011

Nobody knows yet exactly what causes it, or why it occurs more in certain income levels, or even quite what defines it, but autism becomes ...

The Strange Condition Called Middle School

By Janie Cheaney | Sep 9, 2011

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, by Tom Angleberger. Abrams, 2010, 141 pages. Age/interest level: 9-12. Sixth grade is the witching time for authors of ...

By Janie Cheaney | Sep 2, 2011

The Brixton Brothers, by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Adam Rex, published by Simon & Schuster. The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity (2009), 179 ...

By Janie Cheaney | Aug 30, 2011

In our continuing tradition of slopping over themes to the following week, I wanted to weigh in one more time on our book/movie emphasis. Partly ...

By Janie Cheaney | Aug 12, 2011

Close to Famous, by Joan Bauer. Viking, 2011, 250 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, 10-12 Recommended for: ages 11-13 Bottom Line: In this feel-good middle ...

On Eagle’s Wings

By Janie Cheaney | Jul 29, 2011

Book 2 of the epic adventures of the three children who are heirs to a kingdom, sought by the Fangs of Dang, and as normal ...

Shakespeare R Us

By Janie Cheaney | Jul 26, 2011

Dallas, 1970: Storm clouds gather over the Texas prairie, where the students of a small junior college are presenting A Midsummer Night's Dream in an ...

In Front of God and Everybody by K. D. McCrite

By Janie Cheaney | Jul 22, 2011

The Confessions of April Grace: In Front of God and Everybody, by K. D. McCrite. Thomas Nelson, 2011, 390 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages ...

By Janie Cheaney | Jul 22, 2011

The Luck of the Buttons, by Anne Ylvisaker. Candlewick, 2011, 224 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ages 8-12 Bottom Line: The ...

By Janie Cheaney | Jul 8, 2011

Around the World in 100 Days, by Gary Blackwood. Dutton, 2010, 358 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-14 Bottom Line: ...

By Janie Cheaney | Jul 5, 2011

We end our extended history week with what some consider to be the purest form of history: biography. The old argument of whether great events, ...

By emily | Jul 4, 2011

Boy Humor, and How I Came to Terms With It One of my earliest realizations of the strange, otherness of boy humor is embodied in ...

By Janie Cheaney | Jul 1, 2011

Short answer: no, but it's showing signs of dementia. Historical fiction has one of the longest roots of any literary form. You might say that ...

Covenanters: Then and Now

By Janie Cheaney | Jun 28, 2011

Duncan's War, by Douglas Bond (Crown and Covenant #1). P&R Publishing, 2002. 270 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-12 and up ...

*The Charlatan’s Boy by Jonathan Rogers

By Janie Cheaney | Jun 9, 2011

*The Charlatan's Boy, by Jonathan Rogers. WaterBrook Press, 2010, 305 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: Ages 10-12 and up Bottom Line: ...

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