I thought the realistic middle grade fiction published in 2020, both historical and current day setting, was a much better crop of books than the speculative fiction, which I’ll post the best of tomorrow. Here are 12 of my favorites, all published in 2020.
Leaving Lymon by Lesa Cline-Ransom. A companion novel to Finding Langston, recipient of a Coretta Scott King Writing Honor and winner of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction. Everyone has a story, even the bully Lymon, who needs a father and a second chance.
A Ceiling Made of Eggshells by Gail Carson Levine. Set in the 1490’s during the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, this historical fiction title tells the story of a young Jewish girl and her famous and influential grandfather. Loma lives with her family in the judería of Alcalá de Henares, Spain, and wants nothing more than to someday have a family of her own, but it seems as if Loma will never be able to make a life of her own. The Jews are in danger, and only Loma is particularly suited to help her grandfather in his quest to save their people from exile and worse.
Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk. I thought this one was better than the author’s previous award-winning books, Wolf Hollow and Beyond the Bright Sea. Ellie’s father is in a coma, asleep in their mountain home where her family has been forced to live because of the Great Depression. And since everyone thing her father’s accident is Ellie’s fault, Ellie must find a way to bring him back, even if she has to enlist the help of the “hag” who lives at the top of Echo Mountain
We Could Be Heroes by Margaret Finnegan. Hank Hudson and Maisie Huang, misfits both, become unlikely friends and bond over saving her neighbor’s dog, Booler, who has seizures and is, according to Maisie, in imminent danger of being taken away. I didn’t know that this was a debut novel, but it is quite good. It’s light-hearted and funny without being sarcastic or slapstick, something I think is often missing in children’s fiction these days. The two children do grow, and if the father’s reaction to Hank’s first lie (he’s rather proud of his autistic son for learning how to tell a lie) is confusing to young readers, it could be a point of discussion.
Orphan Eleven by Jennifer Choldenko. Based on a true (sad) story of experimentation and psychological manipulation of orphans back in the 1930’s, this novel of four children who escape from an exploitative orphanage and find a home at the circus is well-written and engaging. Lucy, the central character, is an elective mute, and the suspense of the story has to do with why Lucy doesn’t talk, whether she ever will, and whether Lucy will find her older sister, Dilly. The villains of the story are bad, and the helpers are good; nevertheless, even the supportive adults at the circus aren’t infallible, and the children themselves have their own faults and bad choices to overcome. I liked the way the children bore one another’s burdens and forgave, even when one child was not so likeable and endangered the rest.
Everything Sad Is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri. An amazing story based on a combination of Scheherazade and the 1001 Nights and the author’s own story of emigrating from Iran to Oklahoma, this book should garner all kinds of awards. There are too many poop stories embedded in the overall story, but it’s all part of a bigger narrative of persecution, assimilation, and survival that inspires and educates American readers about Persian culture and the difficulties of being caught between two worlds.
Gold Rush Girl by Avi. Victoria Blaisdell wants independence and adventure, and when she stows away on the steamship that’s carrying her father and other hopeful gold hunters from the East Coast to the gold fields of California, she gets both in spades. Victoria’s father, determined to strike it rich, leaves Victoria and her little brother in wild and dangerous San Francisco while he searches for the gold that will change their family fortunes. And Victoria must deal with thieves, kidnappers, and her own divided loyalties as she learns to persevere and never give up hope.
Here In the Real World by Sara Pennypacker. The NY Times gave it a good review, but Kirkus called the book “well meaning but belabored”. The story is about two eleven year olds, Ware and Jolene, who create a secret garden and castle in a deserted vacant lot and torn-down church. There’s some allusion to Christian ideas and some garbled theology as both of the children try to figure out how to be hopeful and yet realistic in a broken world. If it’s belabored, then I like belabored.
Brother’s Keeper by Julie Lee. Twelve year old Sora and her little brother Youngsoo are escaping with their family from North Korea at the height of the Korean War, but when the two children are separated from their parents they will have to get to Busan on their own. Can Sora survive and take care of eight year old Youngsoo over three hundred miles of war torn country in the dead of winter?
Things Seen From Above by Shelley Pearsall. When April signs up to be a Buddy Bench monitor, mostly to escape from sixth grade lunch hour, she meets Joey, a boy who acts and interacts, well, differently. The more April tries to understand what Joey’s actions during recess are all about, his walking in circles and making trails in the playground dirt, the more she begins to understand about herself and the kids around her, her school and even her town.
Ways to Make Sunshine by Renee Watson. The acclaimed author of The Hate U Give shares a new Ramona Quimby-esque story for the 2020’s, starring a Black girl, Ryan Hart, and her family and set in Portland, Oregon, just like Beverly Cleary’s Ramona books.
The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman. This story is told from the perspective of three different girls–Valentina and Oksana at Chernobyl in 1986 and Rifka in 1941 surviving World War II in Ukraine. The themes are overcoming tragedy, disaster, and abuse, the value and meaning of friendship, and loyalty in an age of betrayal.
