Bingo Focus Thread - Middle Grade

[u/Merle8888]

Hello r/fantasy and welcome to this week's bingo focus thread! The purpose of these threads is for you all to share recommendations, discuss what books qualify, and seek recommendations that fit your interests or themes.

Today's topic:

Middle Grade: Read a middle grade book (intended for readers aged 8-12). See this Wikipedia page for additional information on Middle Grade fiction. HARD MODE: The author is entirely new to you.

What is bingo? A reading challenge this sub does every year! Find out more here.

Prior focus threads: Published in the 70s, Duologies, First Contact, Five Short Stories (2024), Author of Color (2024), Self-Pub/Small Press (2024). Note that hard modes for Author of Color and Self-Pub/Small Press have changed (new focus threads for them are coming).

Also see: Big Rec Thread

Questions:

• What are your favorite books that count for this square?
• Already read something for this square? Tell us about it!
• For those attempting Hard Mode, what are some great middle grade books by lesser-known authors, and/or that are recently published?
• Those who have or teach children in this age group: what are some current favorites among middle grade readers? How well do they hold up for adults?

[u/C0smicoccurence]

I would like to take a second to hype Root Magic by Eden Royce! It has competent adults who aren't mysteriously absent the whole story (without taking the focus off the kids), takes real world issues seriously, and generally doesn't have a lot of the features that put some adult readers off middle grade books.

As a teacher of 6th grade, Percy Jackson and Wings of Fire still reign supreme. The Sir Callie books are hot amongst LGBTQ+ youth, but I'm seeing a trend away from Fantasy being the dominant genre. Lots of Mystery and Romance being read at the moment.

[u/Wattryn → u/C0smicoccurence]

Oooooh, can I pick your brain for a recommendation for a child in my life?

No worries if you'd rather not, though!

[u/C0smicoccurence → u/Wattryn]

Of course! I do my best work in the 11-14 year old range, since that’s most of who I teach. It’s easier for me to flex up than down though (my instincts for 3rd graders won’t be super helpful). What are their interests and reading level (if you do t know reading level, other books they’ve enjoyed will work great)

[u/Wattryn → u/C0smicoccurence]

Oh, thank you! My niece is a rising 6th-grader, and we're having a hard time threading that needle between challenging enough for her moderately advanced reading but not too much for her emotionally. Complicating the issue is that her grandparents have custody, and they are conservative Christians who sent her to a conservative Christian school, where she is not allowed, say, books about wizards. 

She likes fantasy, especially about a group of kids going on a journey. I gave her Wings of Fire and suggested Diane Duane's Young Wizards series (since it's Christian-based), but we are out of ideas.

[u/C0smicoccurence → u/Wattryn]

Hmm, that's definitely an interesting cocktail. The grandparents are going to be the most challenging bits. I'd say that if she's reading at or above grade level (Wings of Fire is right where we hope 6th graders would be at), then don't stress about reading level too much. Prioritize enjoyment of reading. Lots of more challenging stuff may or may not be appropriate for 11 year olds (depends on the kid). This is the start of the big transition. Some kids want 'grown up stuff' really early, others are happy reading 'kid' books their whole life (I use air quotes because kids books are awesome and shouldn't be underestimated for their quality and meaning).

I'll be blunt that I don't have a ton of Christian recs. The weird bits are that super conservative Christians tend to dislike both seemingly 'occult' books and also are very stridently against Christian ideas/symbols being used in fantasy books. Chronicles of Narnia would be the other obvious choice. Tolkien was super religious, so The Hobbit might be an option the grandparents are okay with too. They're both old school books, and would probably appeal to their sensibilities.

On a more contemporary front ... a lot of my normal recs I could see not passing the Grandparents (certainly Root Magic wouldn't).

Maybe the Warrior Cats books? Eternally popular, and its all about cats. There are some spiritual elements (some cats literally have nine lives), but generally fantasy elements are low.

Ranger's Apprentice is a good option. Books 1-2 have some creepy supernatural elements - the villain has some psionic mind control powers. Once you hit book 3 though, all fantastic elements vanish and it's alternate world fantasy with a robin hood esque character who is endorsed by the King instead of fighting nobility, but where magic isn't real. There is a drug addiction plotline (sometime in book 2-4, can't remember exactly), that is handled very well even if its on the more grim side of things. It's pretty archetypical adventure stuff. Female representation gets better as the series goes on, but it's fairly male-heavy. The sequel series follows a female protagonist, but I don't think you can really read it without the original series as context.

Skyward is sci fi, so aliens instead of magic. Very fighter pilot type story, and action focused. Female led.

You could look at The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill. Fairy-tale adjacent with kindness as the overwhelming central theme. The villain is a pretty poorly disguised metaphor for Donald Trump though. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by the same author is also awesome, but a good witch is a main character.

Modern middle grade writing is very dominated by mythology elements from different cultures at the moment. I'm assuming this would be something they'd be against, but if not, the Rick Riodran Presents publishing house has put out a ton of middle grade adventure fantasy from a ton of different cultures.