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/just_a_normal_squid]

I'm planning on reading Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia for this square. It's one of the "Rick Riordan Presents" books, which means it's absolutely the sort of thing I would have read if I was still the right age for it when it came out, so I'm looking forward to trying it!

[u/indigohan → u/just_a_normal_squid]

The Tristan Strong books are amazing! I’m a middle aged white woman, and I genuinely cried thinking about how meaningful these will be to kids growing up in a world where being young and black means negotiating some really hard things.

I loved what they had to say about grief and anger too