I was a panellist (judge) in the Elementary & Middle Grade Speculative Fiction for Cybils 2021, so I had the pleasure of reading a lot of Middle Grade books over the last few months. As I write Middle Grade fantasy, this was a total joy, and I am so impressed by the range of stories, from fantasy, horror sci-fi, to magic realism, with every sort of protagonist, from historical settings to futuristic, from intrusive and portal fantasises to secondary worlds, and for the younger and older end of Middle Grade. It was extremely difficult to choose which books proceeded to the final, and I wish we could have put forward a lot more than seven! Anyway I thought I would start the year off with a post on some of my favourite nominated books that didn’t get through to the final.
Ghost Girl by Ally Malinenko.
One of the best books I read last year, and my favourite Middle Grade, it has an exciting story, fabulous characters, deep themes, and in places definitely creepy! I’m looking forward to reading more by this author. See my review here.
Wulfie Beast in Show by Lindsay J Sedgwick
This story by fellow Irish author is perfect for younger readers, and who wouldn’t want as best friend a purple wulfen who shrinks and grows, and freezes time when he sneezes? I absolutely love Wulfie, and this is book 2 in the series, and book 4 due out soon. Highly recommend this series
Pencilvania by Stephanie Watson
I loved this perfectly crafted tale for younger readers of a girl lost in grief for her dead mother who has to rescue her little sister from a monster who wants to erase her. See my review here.
The Monsters of Rookhaven by Padraig Kenny
A fun read about a mysterious family of monsters with a secret pact with the local village which is threatened when strangers arrive. See my review of my fellow Irish author’s book here.
The Gatekeeper of Pericael by Hayley Reece Chow
This is such an exciting fantasy adventure with excellent world-building and a fabulous magic system. Highly recommend. See my review here.
I’ll be posting more reviews of other books nominated in this category over the new few weeks so watch out for them.
In the meantime wishing all my readers a wonderful, magical, and very happy 2022!
Valinora Troy 
I’ve read the first three and really enjoyed them. I’ve added the others to my growing list of books to read. I also saw the list of books that made the finals and your group did a great job. Thanks for sharing this post on MMGM.
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It was so difficult selecting that final list! So many good books to chose from, and it was so close between so many! Thanks for having me on MMGM! 🙂
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I have not read any of your favorite nominated books that didn’t make the finals, so I look forward to reading some great selections. Must be hard to break it down and I appreciate your involvement in the Cybils process and sharing some of your favorites on MMGM!
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Thank you! 🙂 It was a lot of fun, but so hard to let go of many of the books, especially these ones!
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The Pencilvania one looks good. I love that play on words!
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I loved it! It’s for younger readers, great fun, though sad as well, and I loved that Zora’s anger had consequences (pretty dramatic ones though! 🙂 )
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I love that you’re taking the time to recognize the books that were excellent but that you all couldn’t select as finalists, and these all sound excellent, especially Ghost Girl and Pencilvania! Thanks so much for the great post, Valinora, and happy new year!
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Happy New Year, Max! I thought these books were great, but they couldn’t all go through! 😦
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Wow! I can’t imagine being a judge for so many books. What a tough job!
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It was fun, but my family didn’t see much of me for a while! Even my dog started to complain!! 🙂
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I haven’t seen these books, but The Gatekeepers of Pericael sounds good.
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Superb world-building and I loved the magic system so much! It reminded me a little of Garth Nix’s Old Kingdom in the sense that after reading the book, I was ready to draw spell rings of my own! (Whenever I read Sabriel, I think I can dip into the Charter – if you’ve read them, you’ll know what I mean! 🙂 )
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This is a genre I don’t read much. Some of these sound pretty interesting, though, so I might check them out. Thanks for the post.
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They are really good, so if you were interested in delving into fantasy, it would be worthwhile checking out some of them. 🙂
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They all sound so wonderful, and I especially love the clever title “Pencilvania”!
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They’re really good, and yes, it’s a great title! 🙂
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