Middle grade fiction. Everybody loves it. They're the books you read long after you've left the babyish picture books and easy readers of your youth behind. Middle grade fiction means chapters. Now since we already have a Fantasy/Sci-Fi category for this award, I won't be needing anything along those lines. I want you to instead nominate those chapter books that balance child appeal with out-and-out great writing. We are NOT covering YA fiction so make sure you are careful in relegating a book to one category or another. Fun, fabulous fiction. That's where my MGFs are at.
--Betsy Bird, A Fuse #8 Production
Leave your nomination for this category in the comments below. Nominations close Nov. 20.
Rules by Cynthia Lord (Scholastic, 2006).
Posted by: Cynthia Leitich Smith of Cynsations | October 18, 2006 at 01:57 PM
Hugging the Rock by Susan Taylor Brown
Posted by: Kim | October 18, 2006 at 06:53 PM
Our of Patience by Brian Meehl
Posted by: Jennifer Smith | October 18, 2006 at 07:20 PM
I mean Out of Patience by Brian Meehl (sorry!)
Posted by: Jennifer Smith | October 18, 2006 at 07:21 PM
Shug by Jenny Han
Posted by: Little Willow | October 18, 2006 at 08:28 PM
Robin: The Lovable Morgan Horse by Ellen F. Feld
Posted by: William Hutchinson | October 19, 2006 at 05:35 AM
Toys Go Out: Being the Adventures of a Knowledgeable Stingray, a Toughy Little Buffalo, and Someone Called Plastic by Emily Jenkins, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky
Posted by: Kelly Fineman | October 19, 2006 at 06:57 AM
Victory by Susan Cooper. A little bit of historical fiction, some fantasy, adventure, and a great girl character.
Posted by: Jennifer Schultz | October 19, 2006 at 06:58 AM
Younguncle Comes To Town by Vandana Singh (Viking, 2006)
Posted by: Pooja | October 19, 2006 at 07:28 AM
That Girl Lucy Moon, by Amy Timberlake
Posted by: Elizabeth Fama | October 19, 2006 at 07:46 AM
Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata
Posted by: Tracy Chrenka | October 19, 2006 at 08:17 AM
Julia's Kitchen by Brenda A. Ferber
Posted by: Michelle | October 19, 2006 at 01:00 PM
Year of the Dog by Grace Lin
Posted by: Meghan | October 19, 2006 at 01:44 PM
Black Duck, by Janet Taylor Lisle
Posted by: Lisa | October 19, 2006 at 03:22 PM
Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass
Posted by: Lisa | October 19, 2006 at 07:10 PM
Firegirl by Tony Abbot.
Posted by: Paul Acampora | October 19, 2006 at 09:01 PM
Ruby Lu, Empress of Everything, by Leonore Look (it's on the young side of "middle grade" but it's no easy-reader, so I nominate it for the middle grade fiction).
Posted by: Alkelda the Gleeful | October 19, 2006 at 11:33 PM
I'd like to nominate Into the Woods by Lyn Gardner. I don't know if its eligible as it has only been published in England so far by David Fickling books. It is for 8-12 years olds and it has got everything you would want in a book including scary wolves, rats, a terrifying villian, a child guzzling ogre and a really strong and fearless heroine called Storm Eden. It is also written by my mum, but I don't think that makes me biased because all the children who have read this book love it too. It looks beautiful too as it has fantastic illustraions by Mini Grey.
Posted by: ellie Duboois | October 20, 2006 at 02:03 AM
YELLOW STAR by Jennifer Roy
Posted by: Lisa Yee | October 20, 2006 at 06:25 AM
The Higher Power of Lucky, by Susan Patron (Richard Jackson Books).
Posted by: Liz | October 20, 2006 at 07:25 AM
ALL OF THE ABOVE by Shelley Pearsall
Posted by: alvina | October 20, 2006 at 07:57 AM
Clementine by Sara Pennypacker
Posted by: Judy Freeman | October 20, 2006 at 08:44 AM
I nominate YEAR OF THE DOG by Grace Lin because it has heart, shows a child's view of the world, and is just plain fun to read.
Posted by: George Knightley | October 20, 2006 at 10:28 AM
Charlie Bone and the Hidden King by Jenny Nimmo.
Posted by: Beverly Archer | October 20, 2006 at 01:12 PM
Fly By Night by Frances Hardinge
Posted by: Phoebe Carter | October 20, 2006 at 01:16 PM
holes by louis sachar
Posted by: Lindsey Dunn | October 21, 2006 at 07:45 AM
Wright 3 by Blue Balliett.
Posted by: Christine Heron | October 21, 2006 at 11:50 AM
My nomination goes to FLYTE: SEPTIMUS HEAP by Angie Sage
Posted by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius" | October 21, 2006 at 07:13 PM
THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING by Guus Kuijer
Posted by: Christy Lenzi | October 21, 2006 at 09:41 PM
RULES, by Cynthia Lord
Posted by: Natalie Lorenzi | October 22, 2006 at 04:35 AM
Vive La Paris, by Esme Raji Codell.
First, Codell may be the Muriel Spark of middle school fiction: knive-edge funny, devoid of sentimentality, yet able to provoke what E.B. White in Death of a Pig called "deep hemorrhagic intears."
This book reminds me -- in subject, tone and caliber -of Elizabeth Bishop's poem,In the Waiting Room. Vive is a pitch-perfect story of a child's first recognition of her part in an inescapably flawed and painful world.
Codell weaves the adult and child levels of knowledge, perception and consciousness through the story in every permutation: parallel path, direct collision and oblique intersections at various levels of mutual bafflement.
Magical.
Posted by: Julia Martin | October 22, 2006 at 11:36 AM
Half-Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer
Posted by: Rachael | October 22, 2006 at 08:40 PM
Of books not already on the list, I'd like to add Kiki Strike by Kirsten Miller. (I could be convinced that this is a young adult book, but I don't see it on either list yet).
Posted by: Jen Robinson | October 22, 2006 at 08:58 PM
Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce. It's magnificent and if you haven't read it, you must!
Posted by: Stephanie Ford | October 23, 2006 at 06:16 AM
I would like to nominate the third book in the Sisters Grimm series called The Problem Child by Michael Buckley.
Posted by: Zdena Masek | October 23, 2006 at 07:37 AM
I also posted this under YA, but I think it goes in MG:
"The Legend of Zoey" by Candie Moonshower.
It's so well done. I love this story.
Posted by: Elizabeth O. Dulemba | October 23, 2006 at 11:15 AM
Victory, by Susan Cooper
Posted by: GraceAnne | October 23, 2006 at 11:38 AM
School Story by Andrew Clements
Posted by: Laurie | October 23, 2006 at 03:57 PM
The Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L Koningsburg MY ALL TIME FAVE GROWING UP
Posted by: Lstar19 | October 23, 2006 at 04:05 PM
The Girls by Amy Goldman Koss, an amazingly realistic and consoling story for middle school girls
Posted by: Marsinvestigations | October 23, 2006 at 04:08 PM
PENNIES FROM HEAVEN by Jennifer L. Holm
Posted by: Erin | October 23, 2006 at 05:09 PM
Gilda Joyce, and the Ladies of the Lake, by Jennifer Allison, which came out May 2006.
Posted by: TadMack | October 23, 2006 at 11:03 PM
THE EYE POCKET by E.J. Crow
Posted by: Bill | October 24, 2006 at 10:11 AM
My nomination goes to THE LEGEND OF ZOEY by Candie Moonshower because it uses a great mix of humor and drama to explore themes that matter to middle-grade readers: Do I fit in? Can my family hold together? If the situation demanded it, could I be the hero who makes a difference?
Posted by: Patsi B. Trollinger | October 24, 2006 at 02:11 PM
Vive la Paris by Esme Raji Codell
Posted by: Jennifer | October 24, 2006 at 03:51 PM
Allow me to withdraw Victory, which someone else had nominated, and instead place Hilary McKay's Caddy Ever After in contention.
Posted by: GraceAnne | October 24, 2006 at 05:51 PM
THE GREEN GLASS SEA by Ellen Klages.
This is the story of two very different girls growing up together in a place that doesn't exist: Los Alamos, New Mexico. Their parents are scientists building the atomic bomb - they are just kids, dealing with bullying, friendship, life and death.
Simply magnificent in style and scope - raises a lot of big questions and delivers no easy answers. Wow!
Posted by: jennifer (aka literaticat) | October 24, 2006 at 07:40 PM
ps on Green Glass Sea -
Yes, I am aware that the place "Los Alamos, New Mexico" actually EXISTS... what I meant was that the area was so top secret during that time that the characters weren't allowed to say where they lived, there were no maps of it, and even the authorities in New Mexico had no idea of or jurisdiction over what was going on there.
Sorry to New Mexicans, wasn't trying to negate your existance!
Posted by: jennifer, aka literaticat | October 25, 2006 at 01:22 AM
Bread and Roses Too by Paterson
Posted by: Sherry Early | October 25, 2006 at 09:46 AM
The Adventures of Odysseus
Written By Hugh Lupton and Daniel Morden, Illustrated by Christina Balit (Barefoot Books, 2006)
Posted by: Jeanne Nicholson | October 25, 2006 at 12:39 PM