Booklist’s 50 Best Middle-Grade Novels of the 21st Century (Now With Ample Edits!)

[conuly]

I've been sitting on this post for a while, thinking about what I'd add or remove, contemplating the fact that 2019 is altogether too soon to start making "Best of the 21st Century" lists....

Without doing any grouping, I think I'd make the following unnamed replacements:

Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer. Any list that does not include this book is fatally flawed.

Two Naomis. A new one, but a good one.

Year of the Dog. Gotta have something historical here!

Roller Girl. Definitely the best "friends growing apart" middle grade book I've seen in a while.

Handbook for Dragon Slayers. Just liked this one better than the one I'm subbing.

Mars Evacuees. It's like Blitz evacuees, but on Mars, and that's a mash-up I will always enjoy.

Misadventures of the Family Fletcher. I also almost always enjoy family stories.

Cosmic. Wait, was this published this century?

Save Me a Seat. Short, sweet, and to the point.

The Grand Plan to Fix Everything. I just think this one is cute.

This is Not a Werewolf Story. For a long time, I thought it actually might not be, but it is. (Spoiler!)

Time Travel With a Hamster. If that title doesn't sell you, don't bother.

Sal and Gabi Break the Universe. EVERYBODY should read this book.

Original list is here.

So what does everybody else think? We're sticking to MG books here - not much emphasis on romance or violence, main character should be approximately middle school or upper elementary aged.

Comments

[troisoiseaux]

The Mysterious Benedict Society!! Middle-schoolers with unusual skills (ability to identify patterns/solve puzzles, eidetic memory, sheer moxy, etc.) are recruited to an undercover mission to take down a vast mind-control conspiracy. One of my favorite books when I was a kid (it came out in 2007, so I was 10 or 11?) and still a delight when I re-read it last year.

Also, The Tale of Despereaux (2003) by Kate Di Camillo. Sweet and moving story about a mouse who loves stories, a rat who loves the light, a servant girl who wants to be a princess, and a princess who just wants her mom back. (This was also a much re-read childhood favorite that I revisited semi-recently and ended up bawling. It's so good!!!)

[conuly]

Those are on the original list :)

So you don't want to make any quiet subs?

[troisoiseaux]

Oh, whoops, I missed those somehow *facepalm*

[troisoiseaux]

Actually!! I don't know if it necessarily deserves to be on a best-of-the-21st century list, but Gail Carson Levine's Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg (2005) was another childhood favorite I revisited earlier this year and found that I still loved, but no one else seems to have heard of it! It was the book that started Disney's whole Neverland Fairies spin-off franchise, but it was a clever, sweet book with a really nice message about differences as strengths, etc.

[boxofdelights]

I read the original list (before I clicked to see your emendations) and then had to read it again, because I could not believe that Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer was not on it.

[conuly]

SERIOUSLY WTF.

[bibliofile]

IKR?

[nocowardsoul]

I approve of Enola Holmes.