Spectacular speculative middle grade fiction 2025

 So even though CYBILS isn't doing an award this year, people are still reading and recommending books.  I'm so happy I got to read this two, because they're wonderful!

The first one is called "Candace, the Universe, and Everything".  It's written by Sherri L. Smith, who has written several other books, but this is the first one I've read (and it will NOT be the last).  The story is told by Candace, a middle schooler who lives with two loving parents.  She's having a hard time adapting to the new relationship she has with two girls that she considers her best fiends.  She missed out on a camping trip with Becca and Deen and it seems like Becca and Deen are bonded in a way that they hadn't been before.  Candace feels left out.  And then, a bird flies out of her locker, leaving behind a purple notebook full of advice that seems surprisingly on point, especially when Candace finds out that the notebook is 40 years old and that the writer had the same locker that Candace now has, and the writer is now a professor at City College.  When the two meet, Candace and Tracy have a number of things in common but they are both having a hard time figuring out how they both saw the same unusual bird and how Candace's message to Tracy ended up in a notebook that she hadn't opened in quite some time.  Then they get another message from a woman named Loretta who is 93 and lives near Chicago.  She invites them to come and talk to her because she knows things about the birds and the locker.  This is a super fun science fiction story with so many other great themes-besides time travel-friendship, the scientific process, finding your own voice, the power of art, Black History, following your dreams, even a little romance.  I thought this one was great and I'll bet a lot of kids are going to love it too.  

Check out this awesome cover:

The second one is called Dad Rock: Dragon Quest.  It's written by Joan Reardon and this is her second book.  I didn't read her first book, but I really hope there will be more!  This one is about Zadie.  She lives with her mom, her mom's boyfriend, Lloyd, and her big sister, Persephone.  She misses her dad since the divorce, because he seemed to really understand her, unlike the rest of her family.  Her mom and Lloyd are very risk adverse, Lloyd even took the USB ports out of his car because he was worried they would be a distraction while he was driving so everyone is condemned to listening to CDs of his favorite 80s music.  Zadie's dad has a different idea of what danger means.  He's a park ranger and so when he invites Zadie and Persephone to come spend time with him in the summer, Zadie is over the moon.  Until she finds out that Lloyd will have to go with them.  Persephone doesn't really want to go because she's doing a podcast about saving the earth with a boy she met online.  Zadie grudgingly agrees to the plan because it's the only way she's going to get spend anytime with her dad.  Except that things don't exactly go according to plan.  I don't want to give away too much, because it's so much fun to watch this story unfold but suffice it to say, lives are risked, powers are discovered, and Zadie's dad turns out to be more dangerous and way cooler than she ever thought.  This one has themes of finding your own voice, learning to appreciate others who are different from you, and how music can change your life.  This is a fun, exciting book to read and I think kids are going to love it.  

Check out this awesome cover.