Book #156 of 2026: Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (Nevermoor #3) This middle-grade fantasy series continues to read like a Star Wars temptation plot wedged into a whimsical Harry Potter-meets-Roald Dahl magical setting, but I do think the storytelling has been improving with every successive volume. Our heroine is now thirteen …
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Book #147 of 2026: One Jar of Magic by Corey Ann Haydu As with author Corey Ann Haydu’s later middle-grade fantasy novel The Ordinary and Extraordinary Auden Greene, this 2021 title stands out in that genre for its realistic portrayal of an unhealthy household dynamic for its twelve-year-old protagonist. Here, though, the adults aren’t simply …
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Book #134 of 2026: Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (Nevermoor #1) There’s a heavy Roald Dahl flavor to this middle-grade fantasy debut — in terms of both the unhappy homes of Matilda or James and the Giant Peach and the eccentric wealthy benefactor of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — but …
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Book #79 of 2026: Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods by Suzanne Collins (The Underland Chronicles #3) I’m definitely not in the target audience for this middle-grade fantasy series, but I liked the first volume (and of course author Suzanne Collins’s unrelated Hunger Games novels) enough that I feel compelled to finish the pentalogy …
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Book #68 of 2026: Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane by Suzanne Collins (The Underland Chronicles #2) Overall a decent middle-grade adventure sequel, although not really as entertaining or imaginative as its predecessor. The first volume established the existence of the ‘Underland’ beneath New York City, and ended with the revelation of a further prophecy …
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Book #57 of 2026: Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins (The Underland Chronicles #1) A pitch-perfect middle-grade portal fantasy, in which our eleven-year-old protagonist stumbles into an underground world via the basement laundry room of his New York City apartment building. There he discovers giant talking animals like cockroaches, spiders, and bats, a strange civilization …
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Book #40 of 2026: The Ordinary and Extraordinary Auden Greene by Corey Ann Haydu Pretty much everything I could want from a middle-grade contemporary/fantasy novel. Our story follows two identical girls on the cusp of their twelfth birthdays, who magically switch places and must navigate one another’s worlds. Princess Auden is the heir to a …
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Book #31 of 2026: The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science by Kate McKinnon (The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science #1) This 2024 title unfortunately hasn’t hit the mark for me, much as I love author Kate McKinnon’s work on Saturday Night Live. The …
Book #6 of 2026: The Rise of Neptune by Scott Reintgen (The Dragonships #2) The first volume in this middle-grade sci-fi series about dragons in outer space didn’t blow me away, but it was promising enough that I decided to check out this sequel to see how the cliffhanger resolved. And I guess I’m reasonably …
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Book #189 of 2025: The Last Dragon on Mars by Scott Reintgen (The Dragonships #1) A fun little blend of Ender’s Game, Red Rising, and Fourth Wing, all age-appropriate for the middle-grade audience. Dragons exist in this setting as avatars of every planet and moon, and they each choose one human rider in a generation …
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