8. Candle Island by Lauren Wolk

listened on Audible

352 pgs. (9:24)

2025
Middle Grades HF (almost CRF)
Finished 2/7/2026
Goodreads rating: 4.31
My rating: 5
Setting: Island off the coast of Maine, approaching DownEast

My comments: I'm so glad I read this.  No cell phones, no computers, the encyclopedia at the library dates from 1902. In my head it was the 70s.  Many facets of the story....losing your dad, moving with your mom from Vermont to a Maine island - an island only accessible by ferry - saving an osprey baby and raising it, Townies vs Summer kids, making friends, fishing and horse riding, learning to sail and exploring.  And painting. So good.

Goodreads synopsis:  A moving portrait of loss and the restorative power of art from Lauren Wolk, the Newbery Honor-winning author of Beyond the Bright Sea.

Lucretia Sanderson has a secret.

Lucretia and her mother have come to tiny Candle Island, Maine ( Summer, 986; Winter, 315) to escape—escape memories of the car accident that killed her father and escape the journalists that hound her mother, a famous and reclusive artist. The rocky coast and ocean breeze are a welcome respite for Lucretia, who dedicates her summer days to painting, exploring the island, and caring for an orphaned osprey chick.

But Candle Island has secrets of its own—a hidden room in her new house, a mysterious boy with a beautiful voice—and just like the strong tides that surround the shores, they will catch Lucretia in their wake.

With an unforgettable New England setting and a complex web of relationships old and new, Candle Island is a powerful story about art, loss, and the power of being true to your own voice.

1. The Walking Fish by Rachelle Burk

read on Kindle

192 pgs.

2015
Middle Grades CRF/STEM
Finished 1/12/2025
Goodreads rating: 4.16
My rating: 5
Setting: Summer at the protagonist's cottage on Glacial Lake

My comments: Rachelle Burk is coming to my school at the end of the month, and I had never heard of her before.  This book was great!  It was very well written, had humor, and honestly portrays a middle schooler who's a good kid but twists things around a little to suit herself and is naturally curious.  It's a perfect STEM/STEAM read!

Goodreads synopsis:  A humorous, exciting tale of an ordinary girl who makes an extraordinary scientific discovery—a blind fish that walks

When seventh-grader Alexis catches an unusual fish that looks like a living fossil, she sets off a frenzied scientific hunt for more of its kind. Alexis and her friend Darshan join the hunt, snorkeling, sounding the depths of Glacial Lake, even observing from a helicopter and exploring a cave. All the while, they fight to keep the selfish Dr. Mertz from claiming the discovery all for himself. When Alexis follows one final hunch, she risks her life and almost loses her friend. Walking Fish is a scientific adventure that provides a perfect combination of literacy and science.

66. Priscilla, Princess of the Park by Pat LaMarche

#1 Priscilla series
read on Kindle (not available on Audio)
111 pgs.

2020
Middle Grades Realistic Fiction
Finished 7/27/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.88
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Carlisle, PA

My comments: Illustrated by Bonnie Tweedy Shaw!

Goodreads synopsis:  An endearing novel about five young children, a charismatic compassionate woman, and the perils of homelessness. As the children fall madly in love with Priscilla, they begin to wonder about the story of their mentor. The children's homes are filled with everyday drama and excitement. Priscilla teaches life lessons that help them cope and find joy - as well as a sense of community.

34. Simon Sort of Says by Erin Bow

listened on Audible

320 pgs.

2023
Middle Grades CRF
Finished 5/15/2023
Goodreads rating: 4.32
My rating: 5

My comments:  Simon's a 7th grader and only child.  His mom is an undertaker and his dad is a Catholic deacon.  They move from Omaha, Nebraska to a tiny small town where, because of all its scientific and astronomical activity, no microwaves, cell phones, tv, anything of that sort is allowed.  Simon has been homeschooled for the past year and is heading back to school for the first time in 18 months or so, the first time since something pretty horrible happened to him - which he alludes to, and which slowly becomes known by about the middle of the book.  It's a book about friendship and family and trauma - and how both his parents and he deal with all that's happened.  He also raises a puppy to become a service dog, which is another interesting segment of the story which will greatly appeal to many kids.

26. Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling

listened on Chrip (although I started on Kindle)

2017
262 pgs.
MidGrades/YA Crf/Myst
Finished 4/16/23
Goodreads rating: 4.31
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary Phoenix, AZ

My comments: I've wanted to read this for a long time - it's set in the Arizona desert and has cacti on the cover and in the title, for cryin' out loud!  So sorry it took me so long, because this was an amazing story. It should be required reading for everyone! The way it looked at and handled Tourette's Syndrome was particularly special...heartbreaking and informative at the same time.  Great characters, interesting setting, wonderful plot.  What more could one want?

Goodreads synopsis:  Aven Green loves to tell people that she lost her arms in an alligator wrestling match, or a wildfire in Tanzania, but the truth is she was born without them. And when her parents take a job running Stagecoach Pass, a rundown western theme park in Arizona, Aven moves with them across the country knowing that she’ll have to answer the question over and over again.

Her new life takes an unexpected turn when she bonds with Connor, a classmate who also feels isolated because of his own disability, and they discover a room at Stagecoach Pass that holds bigger secrets than Aven ever could have imagined. It’s hard to solve a mystery, help a friend, and face your worst fears. But Aven’s about to discover she can do it all . . . even without arms.

10. The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera

2022 Newbery Award Winner

listened on Audible (used a credit for it)

2021

336 pgs.
Mid Grade SciFi
Finished 1/30/2022
Goodreads rating: 4.30
My rating: 4ish
Setting: 2060 New Mexico and 2400 Planet in another galaxy

My comments: This book was awarded the Newbery Medal last Monday, which sent me in a tailspin to obtain an audio reading asap.  It was read beautifully.  The cover is gorgeous. And it was an absolutely interesting piece of storytelling.  I'm not a big fan of folk/mythology/storytelling, and there were lots of places in the book where very important stories were told, stories that needed to be listened to in order to understand messages from Petra's grandmother, and then from herself.  I had to force myself to pay attention to these parts.  There seemed to me lots of repetitive places, and sometimes the story seemed to drag a bit. Creepy in places, sad in places, clever and adventurous in others.  Some of the pondering seemed more adult than child-centered. Lots to think about.  Good story, but I wouldn't have chosen it for a Newbery....but I never really like/agree with the Newbery choices, so ....

Goodreads synopsis:  There lived a girl named Petra Peña, who wanted nothing more than to be a storyteller, like her abuelita.

But Petra's world is ending. Earth has been destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children – among them Petra and her family – have been chosen to journey to a new planet. They are the ones who must carry on the human race.

Hundreds of years later, Petra wakes to this new planet – and the discovery that she is the only person who remembers Earth. A sinister Collective has taken over the ship during its journey, bent on erasing the sins of humanity's past. They have systematically purged the memories of all aboard – or purged them altogether.

Petra alone now carries the stories of our past, and with them, any hope for our future. Can she make them live again?

8. Alone by Megan E. Freeman

Read on Kindle - it was in verse 

2021

404 pgs.
Middle grades/survival CRF
Finished 1/28/2022
Goodreads rating: 4.20
My rating: 5
Setting: contemporary-ish small town Colorado

My comments: A beautifully written novel in verse  Gorgeous words.  And an incredible story. I so wish there had been an additional five pages so that we could hear what had happened to her parents for the past three years.  Three years all alone in a deserted and abandoned Colorado town...at 12 years old, trusting yourself to figure out how to survive!  Wow!  I can't imagine kids not enjoying this, and I can't wait to begin reading it aloud to my fifth graders.

Goodreads synopsis:  When twelve-year-old Maddie hatches a scheme for a secret sleepover with her two best friends, she ends up waking up to a nightmare. She’s alone—left behind in a town that has been mysteriously evacuated and abandoned.

With no one to rely on, no power, and no working phone lines or internet access, Maddie slowly learns to survive on her own. Her only companions are a Rottweiler named George and all the books she can read. After a rough start, Maddie learns to trust her own ingenuity and invents clever ways to survive in a place that has been deserted and forgotten.

As months pass, she escapes natural disasters, looters, and wild animals. But Maddie’s most formidable enemy is the crushing loneliness she faces every day. Can Maddie’s stubborn will to survive carry her through the most frightening experience of her life?