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20 best books of 2008 for middle school readers
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This list was created after consultation with School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, Publisher’s Weekly, Amazon.com editors’ picks and the hearty help of Manhattan’s most knowledgeable children’s bookseller, Peter Glassman of Books of Wonder.
#1 The Calder Game by Blue Balliett (Scholastic Press, $18). This book should be the number one pick, says Peter Glassman (and so it is, Peter!) and, in fact, Glassman taps it as his favorite book of the year, overall. Fans of the author’s earlier Chasing Vermeer will understand. To the rest of you, just know that it’s a puzzle novel built around the “whimsical, yet sophisticated” sculpture of Alexander Calder. Calder Pillay and his friends Pietra and Tommy encounter this adventure in small Woodstock, England, where a Calder sculpture has just been donated and placed in the town square. Young Calder is drawn to it while others in the village are decidedly not. Both the boy and the sculpture disappear.
Calder's friends Petra and Tommy must fly to England to help Calder's father find him. But, according to the product description, “this mystery has more twists and turns than a Calder mobile caught in a fierce wind-with more at stake that meets the eye.” (plus, you could use this book to pique some youthful interest in art.
(For those near New York City, there a Calder exhibit at the Whitney Museum of American Art through February 2009. Find out about it at http://www.whitney.org/www/calder/.)
#2 Starcross – A Stirring Adventure of Spies, Time Travel and Curious Hats by Philip Reeve (Bloomsbury USA $8—paperback) Sequel to Larklight. This is my top pick. If your kids like time travel-science fiction and are Anglophiles to boot, (hey, it starts way before Harry Potter… Tower Bridge and Big Ben showing up in Peter Pan, Dalmations, Mary Poppins …) this should be your #1 pick as well. The tale is so “unapologetically British,” says reviewer E.R. Bird, “that that Reeve has even managed to find a way to sneak railroads into intergalactic space travel….. (but it’s) the author's language that sucks you in…. (You know you're in safe hands when you find the term "Amanuensis" on the very first page, he asserts.) Not only does he create consistently amusing and diverting new worlds, but he also has the verbal skills to back them up. So it is that you hear about the planet Vestibule, "which is hollow, and inhabited by people who live upside down upon its inner surface, and Abnegation, which was woven out of brown string by Presbyterians."
This sentence, I believe, would seem right in a P. G. Wodehouse novel: "my army consisted of me, two elderly gentlemen who were not feeling quite the ticket, a grumpy goblin, two anemones, a large crab and a blue lizard of the gentler sex."
So what’s the plot already? When Larklight left off (Yes, you can read most of these sequels stand-alone, but it is probably better to know what came before), heroic siblings Myrtle and Art were living peaceably once again in their house, Larklight. After a mysterious invitation arrives inviting the family to the “beautiful and otherworldly” grand hotel, Starcross, they accept and another mystery unfolds.
Bird says: “Their old friend Jack Havock is there in disguise, paying close attention to the lady guest Miss Beauregard (and you can imagine how happy that makes Myrtle). Guests appear to have disappeared from the surroundings, and then there are the black top hats. Not merely elegant headgear, the hats turn out to be horrid alien creatures from the far future called Moobs. With plans for universal domination, they intend to open a portal to the future and allow more of their kind through so as to take over and dominate the world around them. It'll take some pretty fancy footwork for our heroes to overcome this mind-controlling threat and save the day once more.”
It’s part Victorian boys adventure novel, part sci fi, part English country house mystery. “The secret of Starcross plays out like a humdinger of a game of Clue (though you might want to remove the top hat from your game of Monopoly and add it to the list of murder weapons for this particular game,” Bird writes.
Oh, and, the spies are French. But of course!
#3 Playing With Fire - Skulduggery Pleasant, Book 2 by Derek Landy (HarperCollins, $17) This might be #1 if left up to my 11-year-old consultant, Lloyd. I didn’t “get” a skeleton detective and he had to explain it to me. But after he did, I admit I am intrigued. Here’s the idea: Skulduggery was a leader in “a secret war” against evil. Evil, particularly his adversary Mevolent, prevails and Skulduggery is killed, reduced to a bag of bones. We aren’t told his name in life, only that all people have three names: one which is secret and is obtained in the subconscious mind, one that is known and if you are a sorcerer can be used against you, and one that sorcerors use to protect themselves. Sorcery is the route to Skulduggery’s re-animation. Since by then the war is won, he decides to become a gumshoe. (He says that the head he has at the moment is not his, but was won, and the only thing he misses is his hair.) He hides his unconventional appearance like The Invisble Man, comports himself as dapper as Cary Grant, and projects a velvety smooth voice. This enraptures the book’s 12-year-old heroine, Stephanie Edgely. Her other name is Valkyrie Cain. In Book 2, Stephanie’s novelist uncle dies, leaving her his vast mansion and the proceeds from his best-selling books. At the reading of the will, a strange man in a tan overcoat, an oversized hat, sunglasses and a scarf is present. Stephanie's aunt and uncle are to be given something as well: a seemingly useless brooch. That night in the mansion, Stephanie is attacked by a strange man, demanding she give him a "key". Skulduggery saves her, throwing fireballs at her attacker.
Upon the revelation that her uncle was murdered, Stephanie, wanting to escape her previously boring and tedious life, helps Skulduggery investigate. They gradually uncover a greater plot for world domination. Seems Stephanie's uncle discovered an ancient weapon used by the first sorcerers, the Ancients, to defeat their tyrannical gods, the Faceless Ones. He sealed this deadly weapon, the Sceptre of the Ancients, in a maze beneath the house Stephanie inherited. The "key" is in fact an old, insignificant-looking brooch left by her uncle to his other brother's wife.
Stephanie and Skulduggery, aided by an immensely strong tailor named Ghastly, an English professional swordswoman, Tanith Low and the world's physically strongest man, Mr Bliss, attempt to prevent the villain, Nefarian Serpine, from obtaining the Sceptre. Serpine once served under the evil wizard Mevolent …
#4 Akiko and the Missing Misp by Mark Crilley (Delacorte Press, $13) – Perhaps this book should be #1. As reviewer Tim Lasiuta told Amazon.com, “truly charming children’s books are hard to find.” Over the past three and a half years I’ve read dozens of kids’ books to my secret panel of advisers -- from when they were ages 5 and 8 through their ages now, 8 and 11, a boy and a girl. Our titles spanned contemporary bestsellers like Artemis Fowl and Inkheart, classics like Anne of Green Gables and Oliver Twist, and series from My Teacher is an Alien and His Dark Materials trilogy. I read Harry Potter to my son. All the books engaged them – they’re bright kids. But we had more laughs, more smiles and more pure enjoyment from the Akiko series than any of the above mentioned books, however acclaimed and great they may be. In Akiko, “The art and writing is superb…very funny moments mix effortlessly with great suspense,”says reviewer Daniel Reilly.
Here’s the premise: Akiko is a fourth grader in the first book, Akiko on the Planet Smoo. She is whisked away by diverse intergalactic friends who need her help for a rescue. (Not to worry her parents, they leave an Akiko android behind). The coterie includes Spuckler Boach, a daring pilot; Mr. Bebba, a bespectacled, mild-mannered professor type; Gax, a robot with handy attributes and a good “heart”; and Poog, much more than just a purple floating head.
Akiko and the Missing Misp is the team’s 10th adventure. Akiko is now a teenager. She’s visited by the Akiko robot and whisked, (as always), away to the planet Smoo, ostensibly to help celebrate the 125th Smoovian Liberation Day. Trouble is, she arrives at a time 25 years in the past. The place is changed and her friends not-so-subtly altered. She becomes part of the events that put the present King Froptoppit on the throne, meets her future friends in the past, and somehow manages to land the exact day the sacred Misp is stolen and the overthrow of the good Froptoppit kingship is taking place! In 'real' time, the effort is thwarted, but 25 years in the past, it just might be successful!
This is a darling middle reader novel. As always, there are benefits to have read the earlier books. The adventures begin in …Smoo, continue in Akiko and the Great Wall of Trudd, …in the Sprubly Islands, …in the Castle of Alia Rellapor, …and the Intergalactic Zoo, …and the Alpha Centauri 5000, …and the Journey to Toog, The Training Master and Pieces of Gax..
If you want a break from the dark arts, blood lust, doings of the dead, and a bit of escape from painful contemporary issues, you’ll love Akiko.
If you just want a tale with old fashioned-style friendship and lots of laughs, you’ll love Akiko.
I’ve got this book as a surprise for my readers, Blythe and Lloyd, for after Christmas. My son gets a copy, too, age 18 no matter! He still loves them.
(Incidentally, Akiko is apparently an Asian-American girl, which isn’t surprising since Mark Crilley taught English in Japan, where he met his wife, and started the Akiko series. They have a daughter named Mio. He hails from my home state of Michigan. Visit him at www.markcrilley.com)
#5 The Seems – The Split Second by John Hulme and Michael Wexler (Bloomsbury USA, $17) Again, this is a sequel. But jump right in: Anything can happen in a Split Second. Becker Drane’s still got the coolest job in The World, but it’s getting harder and harder to live a normal life outside of The Seems. He’s definitely feeling the strain of being a teenager (complete with mood swings and a newfound respect for sarcasm) and he can’t stop thinking about Jennifer Kaley, the totally cool girl he met during his Mission in Sleep. Things don’t get any easier when a bomb explodes in the Department of Time and Becker is called in to pick up the pieces after a more senior Fixer couldn’t disarm the device. It’s his toughest mission yet, and Becker finds himself going places in The Seems he never knew existed, and meeting people long thought dead. Yep, it’s just another day in the life of Becker Drane. Let’s hope he lives to Fix again.
Hulme and Wexler previously wrote The Seems: The Glitch in Sleep. As the story goes, they accidentally stumbled upon the existence of The Seems after opening an unlocked Door in Wilmington, North Carolina, during the summer of 1995. From that moment on, they were obsessed with the curious realm they had discovered.
One reviewer said The Seems is ingenious, wildly inventive, laugh out loud funny, touching and poignant at times. …For you parents out there (and I am one): There are a number of important themes running through the book - the Seemsians, especially our protagonist Becker Drane, have strong ethics, remain true to their goals and doing the right thing, and they understand and buy into doing your part for society and following the rules that accompany life.
He also recommends no one pay attention to the age recommendation. The book is for everyone! A big thumbs up from Peter Glassman here.
He also recommends the next six:
#6 Masterpiece by Elise Broach (Henry Holt & Co., $17). As masterful as the author’s Shakespeare’s Secret, but it’s not necessary to have read that to enjoy this one. In either case, the reader will adore the little beetle, Marvin. Product description: Marvin lives with his family under the kitchen sink in the Pompadays’ apartment. He is very much a beetle. James Pompaday lives with his family in New York City. He is very much an 11-year-old boy. After James gets a pen-and-ink set for his birthday, Marvin surprises him by creating an elaborate miniature drawing. James gets all the credit for the picture and before these unlikely friends know it they are caught up in a staged art heist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that could help recover a famous drawing by Albrecht Dürer. But James can’t go through with the plan without Marvin’s help. And that’s where things get really complicated (and interesting!).
“It’s fast-paced mystery that will have young readers on the edge of their seats as they root for boy and beetle.”
There’s a natural tendency to compare this to Charlotte’s Web or the Borrowers. A “Peter Glassman preferred” title.
#7 The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins, $18). Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, would be a completely normal boy if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead.
There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard --an ancient Indigo Man beneath the hill, a gateway to a desert leading to an abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer.
But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed his family. . . .
Following the author’s bestselling Coraline, The Graveyard is called “magical, terrifying, and filled with breathtaking adventures.”
#8 The Runaway Dolls by Ann M. Martin (Hyperion, $17) Adventure from a doll’s- eye view. Doll Best-friends Annabelle Doll and Tiffany Funcraft are back, and this time they've got an unexpected visitor, a new doll named Tilly May. She's arrived in a mysterious package from London, but her face looks so familiar... . Could she be Annabelle's long lost baby sister? Annabelle is convinced it absolutely must be so--but her parents refuse to believe her. With time running out before the package is at risk of being sent back to England, Annabelle and Tiffany resort to the only course of action they can think of--running away. But life on the road is fraught with its own pitfalls, from a foreboding wooded park to a close call in a department store. How will Annabelle and Tiffany find their way back home...and what's going to happen to Tilly May if and when they do? Masterfully plotted. Captivating black and white illustrations. Some readers call it the best of the series. Martin is the author of the Babysitter’s Club series.
#9 The Underneath by Kathi Appelt, illustrated by David Small (Atheneum, $17) There is nothing sadder than a cat who has once known love, abandoned and alone. The calico, about to have kittens, hears the lonely howl of a chained-up hound deep in the backwaters of the bayou. She dares to find him in the forest, and the hound dares to befriend this cat, this feline, this creature he is supposed to hate. They are an unlikely pair, about to become an unlikely family. Ranger urges the cat to hide underneath the porch, to raise her kittens there because Gar-Face, the man living inside the house, will surely use them as alligator bait should he find them. But they are safe in the Underneath...as long as they stay in the Underneath. But, as the product description says, kittens are notoriously curious creatures. And one kitten's one moment of curiosity sets off a chain of events that is astonishing, remarkable, and enormous in its meaning. “For everyone who loves Sounder, Shiloh, and The Yearling, for everyone who loves the haunting beauty of writers such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Flannery O'Connor, and Carson McCullers, Kathi Appelt spins a harrowing yet keenly sweet tale about the power of love -- and its opposite, hate -- the fragility of happiness and the importance of making good on your promises.”
#10 The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart (Little Brown Young Readers, $17) Clever twists, hairbreadth escapes in the return of four children and the society created to thwart the plans of the evil genius Ledroptha Curtain. Fresh off their great victory, the crew reunites for a celebratory scavenger hunt. The "brainswept" are slowly having their memories returned and everything seems like it should be getting back to normal. But Reynie finds himself having nightmares of being surrounded by snakes. A conversation with Mr. Benedict did little to ease his growing fears that wickedness is something to be generally expected of people. Kate has been living largely on her own wits for the past six months (Milligan largely off doing secret agent work) and Sticky has had trouble convincing his parents that he should be allowed to go to college. As for 3-year-old Constance, she continues to struggle with being a young child genius, while the government refuses to even properly acknowledge her existence so Mr. Benedict can adopt her. Worst of all, Mr. Benedict has been tricked and kidnapped!
Both Benedict and Number Two have been captured by Curtain and his minions -- now going by the name "the Ten Man" -- for the ten different ways they have of torturing people. The only solution may be to follow through with Mr. Benedict's surprise -- an adventure he planned for them that may now be their only way to save him. And they have only one week to do it. So, once again, danger and thrills are promised. A satisfying adventure.
#11 The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall (Knopf, $16). The Penderwick sisters are back, this time trying to head off any possibility of getting a stepmother. They implement the “Save Daddy” plan, designed to set him up with perfectly dreadful women so that he will not want to date again. Subplots add to the domestic drama and humor. Skye struggles with her temper on the soccer field. Rosalind and neighbor Tommy experience a frustrated romance. Skye and Jane switch homework assignments, leading to a school performance of Jane’s Aztec drama, with everyone crediting Skye. The solution to the dating dilemma may be obvious to the reader, but the sisters are so caught up in their drama that they can’t see who’s right next door. School Library Journal says laugh-out-loud moments abound and the humor comes naturally from the characters and situations. “Especially funny is the scene in which the youngest Penderwick hides in the car hoping to spy on one of her father’s dates. Like much of the book, this scene resolves itself in a tender moment between father and daughter. This is a book to cherish and hold close like a warm, cuddly blanket that you draw around yourself to keep out the cold.”
#12 Chains – by Laurie Halse (Simon & Schuster Children, $17) If an entire nation could seek its freedom, why not a girl? As the Revolutionary War begins, 13-year-old slave girl Isabel wages her own fight for freedom. Promised liberty upon the death of their owner, she and her sister, Ruth, in a cruel twist of fate, become the property of a malicious New York City couple, the Locktons. They have no sympathy for the American Revolution and even less for Ruth and Isabel. When Isabel meets Curzon, a slave with ties to the Patriots, he encourages her to spy on her owners, who know details of British plans for invasion. She is reluctant at first, but when the unthinkable happens to Ruth, Isabel realizes her loyalty is available to the bidder who can provide her with freedom.
#13 The London Eye Mystery (Random House, $16). Author Siobhan Dowd asks readers to solve a type of “locked room” mystery in this intriguing story set in a London of the near future. The protagonist is a boy named Ted who has an Asberger-type disorder that sometimes makes it difficult for him to connect with people. But Ted often can make other types of connections and this ability may help him and his sister find their missing cousin Salim before it’s too late. (Ages 10-14). Two siblings, one who is an ace at deduction and the other who is a whiz at reading emotion, pool their talents after their cousin disappears. A thrilling mystery with well-delineated characters and an exciting clue-laden plot. –Two siblings, one who is an ace at deduction and the other who is a whiz at reading emotion, pool their talents after their cousin disappears. A thrilling mystery with well-delineated characters and an exciting clue-laden plot.
#14 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules by Jeff Kinney (Amulet, $13). The highly anticipated sequel to the bestselling first Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Secrets have a way of getting out, especially when a diary is involved. Whatever you do, don’t ask Greg Heffley how he spent his summer vacation, because he definitely doesn’t want to talk about it. As Greg enters the new school year, he’s eager to put the past three months behind him . . . and one event in particular. Unfortunately for Greg, his older brother, Rodrick, knows all about the incident Greg wants to keep under wraps. But secrets have a way of getting out . . . especially when a diary is involved.
…Rodrick Rules chronicles Greg’s attempts to navigate the hazards of middle school, impress the girls, steer clear of the school talent show, and most important, keep his secret safe.
#15 Savvy by Ingrid Law (Dial, $17). For generations, the Beaumont family has harbored a magical secret. They each possess a “savvy”—a special supernatural power that strikes when they turn thirteen. Grandpa Bomba moves mountains, her older brothers create hurricanes and spark electricity . . . and now it’s the eve of Mibs’s big day.
As if waiting weren’t hard enough, the family gets scary news two days before Mibs’s birthday: Poppa has been in a terrible accident. Mibs develops the singular mission to get to the hospital and prove that her new power can save her dad. So she sneaks onto a salesman’s bus . . . only to find the bus heading in the opposite direction. Suddenly Mibs finds herself on an unforgettable odyssey that will force her to make sense of growing up—and of other people, who might also have a few secrets hidden just beneath the skin.
Also see: Savvy's a wild romp for kids about to be teens
#16 The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibotson (Dutton Juvenile $18). It’s 1939 in London, and Tally, a high-spirited 11-year-old, reluctantly leaves home for a progressive boarding school. At first Tally doesn’t want to go to the boarding school called Delderton. But she soon makes a cadre of loyal friends and discovers that it is a wonderful place where freedom and self-expression are valued. Tally organizes a ragtag dance troupe so the school can participate in an international folk dancing festival in Bergania in the summer of 1939. There she befriends Karil, the crown prince, who would love nothing more than to have ordinary friends and attend a school like Delderton. When Karil’s father is assassinated, it is up to Tally and her friends to help Karil escape the Nazis and the bleak future he has inherited. The story parallels the author’s own childhood experinces. That based-on-a-true-story stuff always makes it more compelling for me!
#17 The Diamond of Drury Lane by Julia Golding (Roaring Brook, $12.50. Ah, more history, more mystery, for the Anglophiles among us! And who could resist an orphan named Cat Royal? The fiesty, red-haired girl lives in the Theater Royal in the tough 1700s world of unrelenting poverty and crime. Cat fends off one of London’s worst gang leaders in this book that won Britain’s prestigious Smarties prize.
#18 The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry (Houghton-Mifflin, $16) This two-time Newbery Medalist spoofs classic children’s books in this tale of four children who want to become orphans to get rid of neglectful, mean-spirited parents.
#19 The Totally Made-Up Civil War Diary of Amanda MacLeish by Claudia Mills (FSG, $16). Amanda Macleish loves writing the fictional U.S. Civil War diary assigned to her 5th grade class. As a child whose parents are going through a separation, she’s all too familiar with what it feels like to have conflicting loyalities and live in a battle-lines darwn situation. The author deftly blends history, reality, and humor in a book that promies to resonate with many young readers.
Also of note: Books that shaped Michael Crichton’s writing life
Books for teens? See 10 Top books for Teen in 2008
and, How graphic novels won respect
Younger kids? The 25 best picture books (of all time) for children
