Thursday, March 3, 2011

The End of the World & More

So I've been all about middle-grades lately, re-reading old favorites and a few new ones coming out this summer, too. Like Greg van Eekhout's new post-apocalyptic BOY AT THE END OF THE WORLD, coming out June 2011!

Um, if you like middle-grade, you have to read this book about a boy who wakes up from a pod at the end of the world and discovers that—except for a robot companion—he is the only survivor.






And if you haven't read it yet, Greg van Eekhout's first book KID VS. SQUID is so funny. Thatcher's voice is absolutely vibrant and hysterical. Highly recommended! It was an IndieBound pick, too, by the way, so it's not just me who loves it!









As for oldies, I revisited WALK TWO MOONS, of course--the tight writing & craft in that novel just blows me away!--and my absolute favorite, MAMA, LET'S DANCE by Patricia Hermes. The story is pretty simple & linear, but the emotions are so real. I was teary by page 40 and by page 67 I WAS BAWLING. You don't even know! This book is really something special. Sigh. I remember reading it with my mom in elementary school and by the end, we were just a teary mess :(

So yea. What are your favorite middle grade reads? Any recommendations for fun adventure stories? Tear jerkers? Hit me!

1 comments:

Lenny Lee March 18, 2011 at 7:19 PM  

hi miss jude! i got here from miss sharons blog. she was talking bout that cool contest. i just only write kids books but i could wanna do a mg one. me and miss sharon are critique partners. :) now in looking at your blog and i just saw those cool mg books and im in mg. mostly i could wanna read the boy at the end of the world but that squid one sounds pretty cool too. mostly i dont like girly stuff and im thinking that dance one is sorta girlyish but maybe its not. for sure im putting those first ones on my biwr list. thats for books i wanna read. :) did you read miss hilarys nightshade city? woweee! way cool for sure and the next ones coming out in october and its called white assassin. shes gonna send me a arc. im thinking you could like grey griffins the brimstone key by derek benz and j s lewis. the iron bodkin by amy allgeyer is real good and the secret series by bosch is way cool. one more is travels with gannon and wyatt by patti wheeler and keith hemstreet. yikes! im chatting sooo much. ha ha.
...smiles from lenny