The Book Search

There have been SO many amazing speculative middle grade fiction books this summer.  Here are two of my new favorites!  If you've been reading my blog (and I KNOW you have been, thank you!), you know, I'm not a big fan of scary books.  There are so many scary things in the world, I'd really rather NOT spend my time reading about them, but this one called to me!  To let me tell you about it. The first one is called "This Appearing House" by Ally Malinenko.  Allie wrote this terrific creepy ghost story last year called "Ghost Girl" that I really enjoyed, so I was looking forward to this one.  There's an author's note at the beginning of the book from Ally that tells that the inspiration for this book was her own battle with cancer (which has been largely victorious) so right away, that sets up readers for a really different kind of experience.  The book is told from the viewpoint of Jac, a middle school girl who doesn't have many friends and is...

 I am not a super big fan of ghost stories.  I like historical fiction.  I like magical realism.  I don't like scary things.  I don't like monsters.  So ghosts do not typically figure prominently into the books I read.  Until the CYBILS award period, where I read virtually all of the fantasy or speculative fiction that has been published in the current year.  It turns out that other people DO like to read about ghosts and scary things so I read along.  It's super fun but it can be a bit daunting to see a TBR pile that stretches all over the house.  Or when someone asks you when you leave the library "Are there any books left?".  Then you channel your inner Dory ("just keep swimming, swimming, swimming").    So here are two I really liked. The first one I finished this morning and I'd had my eye on it for awhile, because it's written by a favorite author-RJ Palacio.  You might remember her first book that had some crit...