Middle Grade Reading

I've been so lazy about blogging about the childrens/MG/YA lit I've read for quite a long time now.  But I am still reading some really good books. 

And I'm still finding plenty of books to recommend to my students.

And, I'm even reading books that aren't the genres I tend to gravitate toward.

 

The Last Dragon on Mars by Scott Rentgen is a fantasy novel that I loved.  I few through this one. Lunar is a boy who was born on Mars back when Earth wanted to create a community there. However, resources are scarce and the dragons who inhabited space have fought over the planets. Earth's dragon sacrificed herself in order to make Earth habitable to humans, and now there is a group of people on Mars who are hoping that the creation of a dragon might save their planet.

This one is fast paced and suspenseful and for someone like me who doesn't read fantasy very often, it was really, really good.  The second in this series is already out and I'm taking it home over Christmas break to devour.

Codebreaker by Jay Martel is a book that would make a perfect movie.  This is an action packed story with chapters that end on cliffhangers.  

Mia is a normal high school girl who is looking at colleges, when armed government agents swarm her house while she and her parents are at home.  They believe her father has something they want, and before the day is over her mother is dead and her father is on the run, a fugitive from justice.  

As the story unfolds there are more twists and turns and secrets that Mia uncovers as she tries to figure out what happened to her dad.  

This book is full of secret codes as Mia's dad tries to communicate with his daughter who he has shared various codebreaking tips with.  

I've got a pile (or two or three) of various middle grade and YA books I'd like to get to over break.  There is always plenty for me to read!