More new realistic middle grade fiction

 So I guess I'm a little behind on updating the blog... since it's been since APRIL that I posted last.  Sheesh, it's not even like I have work to blame it on anymore.  But ok, here are two amazing new middle grade realistic fiction books. 

The first one is by a favorite author, Jeanne Birdsall.  If you don't know, she wrote a series of books about a family called the Penderwicks, that was just wonderful.  Her newest book is called "The Library of Unruly Treasures" and it's also just a treasure.  Birdsall has a real gift for writing characters that are interesting and kind and smart, people that I'd like to be friends with and this book is exactly that, except this one also has magical creatures.  It's about Gwen, who's lived a life of upheaval, her parents are divorced and neither of them really seems to want a girl like Gwen around, so one summer, she ends up going to stay with her great uncle Matthew who she doesn't really remember and doesn't have very high hopes for.  But Uncle Matthew is delighted to have a guest, especially one who looks almost exactly like his own daughter, Nora, who is in England, studying.  Like any sensible girl, Gwen goes to the local library and finds it be wonderful-it was actually built by a distant relative (who kind of looks like Gwen too) and it turns out, it has magical creatures called Lahdukan living there.  With the help of Uncle Matthew's dog Pumpkin and Julia, the girl next door, Gwen is able to conquer some of her deepest fears and help the Lahdukan in many ways.  This is a lovely adventure story, with exciting plot twists, terrific dialogue, interesting characters, and lovely solutions to the problems.  I loved this story and if you like a nice book that isn't scary and has wonderful, interesting characters, you're going to love this one too.

The second one is a much harder reader, not harder because of the vocabulary, harder because of the content.  It's called "The Freedom Seeker" and it's written by Ruchira Gupta.  It's about Simi, who lives with her parents in a small village in India. Her grandparents live close by on a farm, where her dad works.  Her mom is a nurse and Simi is good student and great field hockey player.  She's so good, she's been asked to be the captain of her team.  Except that things are getting strange in her village.  She's always know that her parents married for love and that her mom is a Hindu and her dad is a Muslim, but they follow mostly Hindu traditions (except for some beef kabobs sometimes), but one day, some of the boys on the team start making fun of her for being Muslim and telling her she should go back to Pakistan.  Things escalate, and suddenly, her home and village don't really seem that safe anymore, even if she tries to solve things peacefully.  After a terrible beating, her father decides to emigrate to the US.  It's not easy-he can't go directly there, he has to go and cross the border from Mexico.  He finds a job and tells Simi and her mom to come and join him.  But things have changed in the time since he left and the way that he came is no longer available.  Simi and her mom have to cross the desert on foot instead.  This is sometimes a difficult story to read-the hardships that are described are echoed in the news reports we see.  The systems that Simi passes through are all too easy to believe and her strength of character serves her well.  This book has big themes of family and loyalty but also to bullying and nationalism and how people can choose to look at immigration as a scary problem or a kind solution.  I thought this was a wonderful story and I hope lots of kids get a chance to read it.  

Here's the book trailer:

and here's an interview with the author.