Our middle grade book spotlight this week is on books that showcase some amazing animal main characters!! Animals can be the best friend that you did not know you were missing and all of these books feature animal stories with happy endings (they will not scar you for life I promise!!). We have stories this week that are filled with humor, adventure, mystery, and even some fantasy. These books and more can be found by searching the catalog using the search tag #youthanimalstories as well as on Libby and Hoopla. Check back next week for a new middle grade book spotlight and if you have any book suggestions, please let us know!!
Sanity & Tallulah by Molly Brooks--In this graphic novel, kid genius Sanity Jones experiments and creates a cute three-headed kitten on the space station she shares with her best friend, Tallulah Vega. However, the kitten escapes and begins wreaking havoc, forcing an evacuation and desperate search to stop the kitten.
Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo--When a lonely and hungry squirrel is sucked into Mrs. Tickham's Ulysses Super Suction vacuum cleaner, he is shot out into the backyard of young Flora, who resuscitates him. When he wakes, the squirrel discovers he has brand new thoughts in his head, can speak like humans, and sort of likes Flora. Naming him Ulysses, Flora suggests that he might have superpowers now! Not only is Ulysses transformed by the incident, but Flora, a cynic since the divorce of her parents, just might be opening up her heart again.
Pie by Sarah Weeks--When her Blueberry Award-winning Aunt Polly, "Pie Queen of Ipswitch," dies, leaving her secret recipe to her unpleasant cat, Lardo, and Lardo to 10-year-old Alice, Alice is forced to deal with all the pie-crazy people, including her own greedy mother. With the help of her friend Charlie, Alice sets out to uncover the recipe and return things back to normal again.
Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin--Twelve-year-old Rose Howard, who is diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, finds refuge from her difficult home life and the teasing she endures at school in homonyms and spending time with her dog Rain. But when Rain is lost during a thunderstorm and then later recovered, Rose learns that Rain has a microchip identifying her as someone else’s dog. Propelled by an unrelenting drive to comply with rules, Rose sets out to locate Rain’s owners and give Rain back to them, despite the anguish that relinquishing her beloved dog will cause Rose.
The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp by Kathi Applet--Follow a group of friends who set out to protect Sugar Man Swamp. Raccoon brothers Bingo and J'miah are honored to serve as Official Swamp Scouts for the Sugar Man, a legendary massive creature who has reigned over the swamp for a very long time. The only problem is that he has been sleeping for an eon! When Bingo and J'miah discover that their beloved swamp is being threatened by feral pigs and greedy Sunny Boy Beaucoup, who wants to turn the swamp into a tourist attraction, the raccoons, along with 12-year-old Chap Brayburn, who lives alongside the swamp, set out to do the unthinkable—wake up the Sugar Man!
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert O’Brien--Having no one to help her with her problems, a widowed mouse visits the rats whose former imprisonment in a laboratory made them wise and long lived.