Hurricane Child by Kheryn Callender

I really wanted to love this middle-grade novel about twelve year old Caroline, set on Water Island and St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. And while I thought it was quite good in many ways, and touched on many important themes and subjects, in the end, I couldn't really connect with it. The plot...

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

One Crazy Summer is an understated middle grade novel about Delphine and her two sisters, who travel from Brooklyn to Oakland during the summer of 1968 to spend a month with the mother who left them when they were small. While there, they spend their days at a summer program put on by the Black...

The Jumbies by Tracy Baptiste

Robin Miles is one of my favorite audiobook narrators of all time, and I'll pretty much listen to anything she narrates. I stumbled upon this delightful middle garden novel, inspired by Caribbean folklore, when searching for audiobook books under 5 hours (though this one is just over), and I was not disappointed. Eleven year old...

Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman

This was another great find courtesy of my short audiobooks project. In this middle grade novel, a diverse community in a Cleveland neighborhood comes together to transform a vacant lot into a thriving community garden. The book is told in thirteen short chapters, each one from the perceptive of a different character. In many ways,...

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente

I read a lot of fantasy books--for all ages--and it's always a joy to discover something that feels entirely new. This book is reminiscent of many that came before it--it nods to Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, the The Wizard of Oz, classic fairytales. But it is also wholly itself and wholly new. Valente recognizes the...