King of Shadows is about a young actor pulled back into the past, where he joins William Shakespeare at the Globe Theater, playing Puck to his Oberon. (So many feels!) Definitely one of my favorite books for the year. Felix Yz is certainly off-beat, but in ways I completely enjoyed. In the lab accident that killed his father, Felix is fused with an alien entity. Mostly about family, the story also slips into LGBTQ territory. My favorite character was Grandy, Felix’s father’s parent, who sometimes goes by Vern and sometimes by Vera and has invented veir own set of gender-neutral pronouns. In Enchanted Glass, Andrew Hope inherits his grandfather’s field-of-care, although he’s a bit vague on what that entails. He has his hands full with the housekeeper and his gardener, who dislike change almost as much as they dislike each other. Then young Aiden shows up on his doorstep. Magical realism in true Dianna Wynne Jones style!

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“Middle grade” isn’t a genre. It’s a recommended age level. Which is just about the only thing these titles have in common. Half a Chance is a slice-of-life summertime story about a girl whose family moves a lot and her love for photography. (Adored the “scavenger hunt” style photography challenge.) In When You Reach Me, Miranda tries to make sense of the things that are going on around her—the notes, on-again-off-again friends, who likes who, and the best way to win at a game show. And At the Bottom of the World is the first book in the Jack and the Geniuses series, which succeeds in making science fun. (Makes sense, considering Bill Nye is part of the project.)

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Loser is an endearing story about a boy who’s … a little different. I picked up The Vanishing Game to fill a slot on my A-Z Reading Challenge and was intrigued to find that the Hardy Boys have been dragged into the modern era and equipped with cell phones and contemporary slang. Not too shabby, though this particular mystery had a slap-dash finish. Jungle of Bones is a survival story in which an angry boy behaves stupidly, then has to live long enough to learn from his mistakes. Lots in this about WWII in the Pacific and respecting our veterans.

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Here are three books that celebrate and explore culture and differences. In One Crazy Summer, three girls trade east coast for west coast in order to spend time with their mother. Set in the 70’s, there are many references to the Civil Rights movement. Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear is about a Chinese family that’s moved to America. Everyone’s a gifted musician except Yingtao, who’d really like to trade his violin for a baseball glove. And Save Me a Seat alternates perspectives between an American boy named Joe and Ravi, who’s recently arrived from India. Definitely one of my favorite books so far this year!

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