New middle grade fantasy fiction

So does it feel like January just streaked past?  How did it get to be February for goodness sakes?  I always heard as you get older time passes more quickly, but this is ridiculous!  Anyway, luckily, I had enough time to slow down and finish a book!  And even better, it was a really great book!

It's called "The Storm Keeper's Island" and it's written by Catherine Doyle.  It came out in January and I was lucky enough to get to read it as an advanced reader's copy on Netgalley.  It's about Fionn and his sister Tara who go to spend the summer with their grandfather on the island where he lives and their parents grew up.  Fionn is especially missing his dad, who disappeared off the the coast of the island in a boating accident.  Right away things seem a little weird.  His grandfather's house is full of candles.  His sister keeps trying to sneak away to meet her boyfriend, an annoyingly smug and handsome boy from the island named Bartley.  He has a little sister named Shelby who is much less annoying.  And their mom is not communicating with Fionn because she is so sad over the loss of their dad.  So out of boredom, Fionn lights a candle and is transported through time.  He's pretty freaked out about it until his grandfather tells him the truth.  The island is magical, two magicians battled for control and the evil one is locked in a prison under the island.  Fionn's family has been controlling the magic for awhile but a new Storm Keeper is getting close.  This is a really exciting story with lots of adventure, interesting characters and super fun magic.  It looks like it's the first in a series, which I think is great because I'd love to get to know these characters even better.

Here's the book trailer.

The second title is called The Flooded Earth by Mardi McConnochie.  It's a dystopian future, science fiction mystery with excellent characters.  Will and Annalie are twins but really different from each other.  Annalie has recently been sent to an elite boarding school run by the government.  Will is happy to be at home with his dad Spinner, who fixes things.  Until one day their home is raided by government agents and Spinner disappears.  Will decides to go after him on his own, but it doesn't take Annalie long to catch up to him.  Annalie brings one of her friends from school along and Essie turns out to be a big help.  They also rescue a boy named Pod, who is an escaped slave.  This book has so many great things in it-the science fiction part about a devastating flood caused by climate change (or is it?), a mystery with family dynamics, interesting characters (including a completely hilarious parrot).  I thought this one was terrific and I can't wait to give it my students.