
Elza and I love games almost as much as we love reading middle grade books. You’ll find more of these over on Middle Grade Carousel and posting throughout the day on our Twitter account. Follow us and play along! ~CJ

Elza and I love games almost as much as we love reading middle grade books. You’ll find more of these over on Middle Grade Carousel and posting throughout the day on our Twitter account. Follow us and play along! ~CJ

Enter the Core wraps up the Max Tilt trilogy. Still following in the footsteps of their ancestor Jules Verne, Max & Co. seek the truth behind Journey to the Center of the Earth. Action-packed adventure with literary tie-ins. Beastkeeper was an odd one. Things are changing and Sarah doesn’t like any of it. Her mother runs away, and her father is getting stranger (and scarier) by the day. When he shuffles her off to her grandmother’s house (a dilapidated tower in the middle of nowhere), it becomes increasingly clear that her family has never been normal. Indeed, they must be cursed. (It’s a contemporary/magical realism fairy tale that never really even tries to be happy.) And then there’s the classic The Voyage of the Frog. Fourteen-year-old David finds himself alone and adrift. A survival story at sea.
One good book can lead to another! Both of these stories involve characters whose choices buck traditions that are gender-based.


Elza and I love games almost as much as we love reading middle grade books. You’ll find more of these over on Middle Grade Carousel and posting throughout the day on our Twitter account. Follow us and play along! ~CJ
Pre-order! The audio edition of Harrow (Galleries of Stone, #2) narrated by Travis Baldree is now available for pre-order. Release Date: July 5, 2022.


George by Alex Gino, will soon be re-releasing as Melissa. Even if nobody else realizes it, George knows she’s a girl. Hiding it is hard. Speaking up is harder. But when she tries out for the part of Charlotte in their grade’s production of Charlotte’s Web, the grown-ups around her begin to take note. In Arlo Finch and the Valley of Fire, Arlo’s family moves back to his mom’s hometown, a tiny place up in the Colorado mountains where things are a little on the strange side. When he joins the Rangers, since all the kids in town do, he finds out that supernatural stuff is real … and full of risks. (Hoping to finish the trilogy this year. It’s really good.) And in Wildwood, Prue crosses a bridge and finds a whole world that’s hidden away in the woods.
Can you describe yourself with three book characters? I took up the challenge … and summed up my life with three redheads. (No, I do not have red hair.)

Who would you choose?
We’re halfway through the month already. Here are my book finds for the themes we set for May.

Day 01 – Key in the Title – There are dozens and dozens of possibilities. I just picked a few that I hadn’t featured anytime recently.


Day 02 – A Door on the Cover – Again, doors are a big deal in middle grade stories. I mean, hey! Portal Fantasy is a huge sub-genre. These are just a few. Look around! There are many, many more.

Day 03 – Inspired by Sherlock Holmes – I see we’re already getting creative with the them. Sherlock Holmes is one of my favorite literary characters, so I’m always reaching for books inspired by the great detective.

Day 04 – Main Character is a Thief – another very popular theme in middle grade.

Day 05 – Gates on the Cover – Nearly as popular as doors, and always opening a way into intriguing places.

Every month, Elza and I pick a theme around which to plan our posts. For May, we went with Lock & Key.

And because I enjoy little challenges, we created a list that embraces the theme in more specific ways. We definitely have fun trying to apply the theme to middle grade books. Piano keys. Locks of hair. Safes & thieves. I share my book finds on Twitter, but I’ll be doing a sort of summary post here, too.

You’re welcome to play along. Just use the #MGCarousel tag when you tweet.
Progress Report. It’s been nip and tuck since I’ve been on deadline for the last two weeks, but by the power of graphic novels, I’m hanging in there!
