What's new in middle grade realistic fiction? Check these out!

 I'm playing catch up on blog posts because while we were away I was reading madly but we often had kind of sketchy internet connections AND there was more wine involved than usual (it was France, what can I say?).  Anyway, here are two new realistic fiction books you should definitely look for.

The first one is by a favorite author, Gary D. Schmidt. He's written some of my perennial favorites-The Wednesday Wars, Orbiting Jupiter, Okay for Now...  there are lots more and he has such a gift with voice! His characters always ring so true and that's exactly how this new one is.  It's called The Labors of Hercules Beal and it's so great.  It's about Hercules, who at 12 is dealing with a big loss-his parents were killed in a car accident and his brother has come home to run the family business, a nursery on Cape Cod. When school starts, Hercules is given an assignment by his 6th grade social studies/language arts teacher, Lt. Colonel Hupfer.  The assignment is a Classical Mythology Application Project (I kind of love this idea!)  Hercules is meant to consider each of the 12 Labors of Hercules and how they might look in today's world.  And so the story begins.  Hercules Beal finds out that the first labor of the mythical Hercules was a task to help him overcome the grief from losing his family.  Since Hercules Beal is dealing with that same grief, it feels like a good place to start!  Hercules Beal gives a modern retelling of the first labor (which, if you don't know this part of classical literature, like I didn't), is all about Hercules killing the Lion which had been terrorizing the Nemeans.  Hercules Beal finds a group of feral cats that are living in an abandoned house and figures out a way to deal with them.  Get the idea?  The whole book is like that, with completely ordinary modern events, but drawing connections to this historical piece of literature.  It's brilliant!  On top of it, Gary Schmidt has created the most amazing characters that anyone would love spending time with.  I was totally bereft when I finished the book because I couldn't hang out with this awesome crew anymore.  This would be a wonderful book to use in middle school or high school literature classes to help kids draw connections between classical literature and modern literature or even modern events but it's also just a really great read.  Don't miss this one!

The second one is called The Fire, The Water and Maudie McGinn.  It's written by Sally J. Pla.  You might remember one of my favorites called The Someday Birds.  Anyway, this new one is terrific!  It's all about Maudie, who lives with her mom and stepdad during the school year and her dad in the summer.  Maudie is neurodivergent (she's autistic) and her mom has spent a lot of time and energy trying to get Maudie to be more normal.  Maudie sometimes gets really overwhelmed with too much input (too much noise, too many people) and has big meltdowns, but now as a teenager, she's getting a better handle on it and she really loves spending time with her dad.  She's looking forward to being out in his cabin, helping him build things, but a wildfire comes through and they have to leave.  Maudie and her dad end up staying in an old trailer that an old friend agrees they can use until they can figure out what comes next.  It's not really very nice (especially compared to the luxury condo with her mom and stepdad) but they are close to the beach and Maudie loves to swim.  One more morning, Maudie is out on the beach and notices a woman surfing.  Maudie really wants to learn how to surf and eventually works up the courage to ask the woman to teach her how.  Maudie also makes friends with a girl, Paddi and her big dog Leonard.  Paddi has ADHD and Paddi's mom runs a school for kids who are neurodivergent.  Maudie hears about a contest for new surfers, with a $1000 prize and decides she wants to try to win the contest to help her dad get back on his feet financially.  It also turns out that Maudie has a secret that her mom has asked/demanded that she keep, which Maudie hints about as story unfolds, but comes blaring out in the forefront, right at the end of the story.  This is one of my new favorite books.  I loved Maudie's character.  I loved how she explained what it's like to be overwhelmed by stimuli and draws connections to how lots of people cope with that overload, both well and badly.  I loved how Maudie explained how some of the therapy that her mom took her too felt like punishment but she kept going to try to be the person her mom wanted her to be.  I love how Maudie found her own path and her own family through surfing and through the community her dad was a part of.  Ultimately, this is such a hopeful story-hope that people will find their own voice, hope that people will find a community that supports and loves them for who they are, hope that people can find something that they are passionate about and good at and want to get better at.  In other words, the best possible kind of story.  I was sad to finish this one too!  But so excited to think about others getting to meet Maudie and her crew.  Don't miss this one either!

And here's an interview with Sally about the book!