Realistic middle grade - summer 2021

 It's been lovely having time to read over the last few weeks.  Not working is awesome.  I will, of course, be happy to go back to work, but having time away is pretty terrific too.  And happily, I've been on something of a tear with really great books.  Here are two realistic ones you should totally look for.

The first one is called Ahmed Aziz's Epic Year by Nina Hamza.  It's her debut novel and I hope there are more coming, because this one was great!  It's about Ahmed, who's family is moving from Hawaii (where he's lived all his life) to Minnesota (his dad's home town).  The family (mom, dad, little sister Sara, and Ahmed) because his dad has a debilitating (and potentially fatal) liver disease and he can get a hopefully life saving treatment in Minnesota.  It turns out that Ahmed's dad left Minnesota as a young man, partially because his younger brother died of the same liver disease that Ahmed's dad has.  He died as a young man so Ahmed never had the opportunity to meet him.  In the same hometown, there is also a woman that Ahmed has know all his life-Janet, that will help with emotional support around the treatment.  It turns out that Janet is also his 6th grade English teacher, who has a reputation for being a wonderful but tough teacher.  The school bully lives two doors down from Ahmed and they end up together a lot more than Ahmed would like.  

Ahmed is a really great character that a lot of kids are going to be able to relate to.  He works hard at trying not to engage in anything at all (he's pretty unhappy about having to move to Minnesota) but he really learns to like the kids at his school and even adapts some of their problem solving techniques to serve his own purposes.  There are some really great adults in the book (along with some really dopey ones), particularly his parents and Janet, his friend and teacher.  Janet assigns the class three historically wonderful novels that the kids probably read earlier in their school lives- Holes, The Bridge to Terabithia, and From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, and through the kids' discussions, brings a lot of ideas about thinking deeply about books, to the forefront.  English teachers are going to LOVE those pieces.  There is also a big part of the book that deals with bullying.  What's great about that part is that the reader learns early on WHY the bully behaves as he does, without excusing his actions.  What's also great is how Ahmed deals with him.  I think my students are going to like this one a lot, for Ahmed's clear, wonderful voice.  

If you're interested, click on the book cover to listen to a little bit of the audio book. 

The second one is called The Last Super Chef by Chris Negron.  A topic near and dear to my heart!  Cooking!  It's about Curtis Pith, who lives with his younger sister Paige, and his single mom.  Curtis's family struggles financially, but Curtis, who wants to be a chef, craves complicated and often expensive ingredients.  His favorite TV show is a cooking competition show called Super Chef and it features an amazing chef who Curtis believes is his father.  At the opening of the book, Curtis and Paige are watching Super Chef, when they announce a competition for the last Super Chef and the competitors will be kids.  Five lucky kids will be selected to be on the show and they will compete for the title of the Last Super Chef.  The kids have to create a video of themselves cooking to show why they deserve to be on the show.  Curtis decides the best way to do this is to break into his landlord's house, use his ingredients and equipment,  have his best friend record him with his phone and submit the video that way.  Unsurprisingly, he makes the cut and ends up on the program.  The other four competitors are an interesting variety of confident kids who want to compete.  There are times when the book almost seems a little cartoonish (like the scene where he breaks into the house to cook) but a lot of it is full of the chatter in Curtis's head, which I think gives an excellent opportunity to talk to kids about the voices in your head or the stories you tell yourself compared to actual events and interactions with people.  The story has a feel of some other more well known stories, like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or The Candymakers by Wendy Mass.  This one has a bit of a plot twist at the end (I'm SO not going to tell you) that wraps up the story nicely.  There is a LOT of conversation in the story about cooking and high end food, which may or may not be interesting to middle grade students, but I think this one is going to inspire passion from the ones who do like it.    

Here's the cover.