Best of 2014: Middle Grade (Kid Lit)

This year, I read twelve books that generally fall in the category of Middle Grade (which I also refer to as Kid Lit, but is usually geared for 9-13 year olds). The age distinction between this and YA tends to be a little vague.

These are the ones I read this year:

Gustav Gloom and the Four Terrors (Gustav Gloom, #3) by Adam Troy-Castro
The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #5) by Rick Riordan
Out of the Woods by Lyn Gardner
Charmed Life (Chrestomanci, #1) by Diana Wynne Jones
The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
City of Orphans by Avi
The Lives of Christopher Chant (Chrestomanci, #2) by Diana Wynne Jones
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus, #1) by Rick Riordan
The Son of Neptune (Heroes of Olympus, #2) by Rick Riordan
The Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus, #3) by Rick Riordan

And the winner is . . .

I have adored every book I've read by Rick Riordan, but I think this is his best I've read yet. It had me glued to the pages from beginning to end and begging for more after where he left us.








Honorable mentions:

Christmas Reads

Pulled this off my Instagram. Feel welcome to follow me
there to see tons of book and cat pictures. :P

I'm going to my parents' house for Christmas in a few days and therefore have set aside the books I'm going to read over the six days I'll be there. I figured I would go ahead and share them here in the order that I intend to read them.

My True Love Gave to Me Edited by Stephanie Perkins
~This compilation of stories by twelve different prominent Young Adult authors just came out about a month ago and I have been dying to read it. I'm not much of a Christmas-y person. I don't like Christmas music and am partial to only a few Christmas movies, but I like Christmas stories and this should be good. And I would be remiss to ignore pointing out how stunning this version of it is. It's the UK cover and I am in love with it. It's definitely one of the most gorgeous books I own. (Rivaled only by my Drop Cap version of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass.)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone & Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

~I've been wanting to do another reread of the Harry Potter series for a few months now. What better time to kick that off than Christmas, the most nostalgic of holidays (in my humble opinion)? So I'm packing up the first two adventures that introduced us to the Wizarding World and diving back in to a story that is "always there to welcome you home".

Conrad's Fate by Diana Wynne Jones
~This is the third book in the Chrestomanci series by the incredibly talented author of Howl's Moving Castle. I've been meaning to get to this book for a while. It's filled with magic and stories that really wrap you up and pull you in, so I cannot wait to get lost in it. Again, this is another stunning UK cover (their covers beat ours almost every time). All of my Diana Wynne Jones books are in this cover and they look amazing on the shelf.

Those are the books I'm taking this year, though there is always the distinct chance I'll be throwing in a graphic novel or two for the plane ride. I tend to pack even more, but I'm trying to cut back. Plus, I asked for quite a few books for Christmas, so I'm sure I'll have plenty more to choose from after we open presents.

Do you have any Christmas reads you're planning this year? If so, leave a comment here to let me know what you're reading!

House of Many Ways (Howl's Moving Castle, #3) by Diana Wynne Jones

"I never talk nonsense." the creature said. "All is mine. You are mine." Wings whirring, it began to stalk towards her on most unnatural-looking wiry blobs of feet. "I shall come to claim my own very soon now. I claim you first." It took a whirring stride towards Charmain. Its arms came out. So did a pronged sting on the lower part of its face.
Charmain screamed, dodged and fell of the edge, scattering flowers as she fell.

[Click here to see my review of book 1: Howl's Moving Castle and book 2: Castle in the Air]

When Great Uncle William falls ill, Charmain Baker is tasked with the responsibility of taking care of his home while he's away with the elves who are trying to heal him. Charmain jumps at the chance to get out from under her mother's thumb and go to a place where she can read and eat to her heart's content.

Upon arriving at Great Uncle William's home, she soon learns that caring for the home of the Wizard of High Norland isn't quite so easy a task as she had anticipated. After all, the house is filled to the brim with magic (which she is unaccustomed to entirely) and filled with secret passageways and hidden rooms that could take her days to navigate her way through. Soon, Charmain finds herself dealing with a magical dog named Waif, little blue men who seem determined to make her life more difficult, and a boy who only seems to be able to irritate her and keep her from settling down with a good book.

But when Charmain is summoned to the castle to help the King sort out his library, she learns that the king and his daughter are searching for the elf-gift, a weapon that could help save High Norland from ruin, and she might just be essential to locating it. She isn't the only one who has come to help, though, and soon Charmain finds herself under the speculation of a Mrs. Pendragon and her fire demon, Calcifer.

I really loved this conclusion to the Howl's Moving Castle trilogy. Charmain is a wonderfully stubborn and irritable protagonist who isn't exactly the best at being kind, though she tries to get better at it. She stands her ground, even when she's scared, and she'll sate her curiosity if it's the last thing she does. She is profoundly human and I love that about her.

I mentioned before that I wasn't a big fan of the second book in this trilogy because I felt it opened slowly and dragged on for a bit. This was absolutely not the case with House of Many Ways. I felt like I was pulled in from the get-go and loved everything about the story. It was a satisfying read and one I highly recommend.

Rating: ★★★★★

"Who are you?" the demon said.
Charmain's heart thumped a little, although Waif seemed perfectly calm. If I hadn't just met a lubbock, Charmain thought, I'd be quite frightened of this Calcifer. "I... er... I'm only the temporary help in the library," she said.
"Then we'll need to talk to you later," Calcifer crackled. "You reek of magic, did you know? You and your dog."

Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones (Howl's Moving Castle, #2)

"It is of course a magic carpet."
Abdullah had heard that one before. He bowed over his tucked-up hands. "Many and various are the virtues said to reside in carpets," he agreed. "Which one does the poet of the sands claim for this? Does it welcome a man home to his tent? Does it bring peace to the hearth? Or maybe," he said, poking the frayed edge suggestively with one toe, "it is said never to wear out?"
"It flies," said the stranger. "It flies wherever the owner commands, oh smallest of small minds."

[Click here to see my review of book 1: Howl's Moving Castle]

I almost did it again. Twice before I've picked up a book and managed to read the whole thing before realizing it was a sequel. The first was Scarlett Fever by Maureen Johnson; the second was The Wizard Heir by Cinda Williams Chima. This time, I almost messed up with the third book in the Howl's Moving Castle series: House of Many Ways.

I hadn't really bothered to double-check what order the books were supposed to be in and simply saw it sitting on its own on the library shelf. I got about a fourth of the way through it before I realized I was on the wrong book. At least I didn't finish it this time!

Castle in the Air is the story of young Abdullah, a carpet merchant in the city of Zanzib. When a stranger comes to his hut offering to sell him a magic flying carpet, Abdullah is admittedly wary of the merchant, but when he proves that the carpet truly does fly, Abdullah takes the deal.

That night, the carpet takes Abdullah to the night garden of a very rich man, where he meets Flower in the Night and immediately finds himself falling in love. But just when the two make plans to run away together, a djinn carries her off into the night and Abdullah is blamed for her capture. Now he has to use the carpet to find his beautiful Flower and save her from the djinn before it's too late.

This was a really interesting book. I enjoyed seeing more of the world of Howl's Moving Castle as well as getting to revisit some old friends from that book. That being said, I do feel like the beginning of this book dragged on. It wasn't anything I had to struggle through, but it did feel slower than it ought to be. Much of this is due to setting up the scene, which is entirely understandable, and the other could very easily just be because I was so eager to catch a glimpse of Sophie and Howl and see how they were doing that I had a bit of trouble enjoying Abdullah at first.

I did enjoy the novel overall and the closer you get to the end, the better it gets. I really loved the way Diana Wynne Jones went about creating this world and adding more detail than we had previously received, as well as the way she tied up all the loose ends. I definitely can't wait to start back up on the conclusion of this series.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

[Click here to see my review of book 3: House of Many Ways]

"I never said my wishes were supposed to do anyone any good," said the genie. "in fact, I swore that they would always do as much harm as possible."

The Homeward Bounders by Diana Wynne Jones

"Oh I did," he said. "I hated Them for aeons, make no mistake. But it wore out. You'll find that Things wear out, specially feelings." He didn't seem sad about it at all. He acted as if it was a relief, not hating Them anymore.

I picked up this gorgeous copy of The Homeward Bounders at the Shakespeare & Company bookstore beside Notre-Dame while showing the store to a visiting friend. I caught sight of this paperback while perusing the YA section and, being a huge fan of Howl's Moving Castle, another work by Diana Wynne Jones, I immediately snatched it up.

When Jamie stumbles upon the dwelling in which They live, he discovers that his world, an many others, are all territories in a series of elaborate board games that They control. Having discovered this secret, he is cast out of the game and made a Homeward Bounder. This means, he must travel through worlds on his own and with no control over when or how he goes. The only way he can make it stop is by finding his way home. If he manages that, he resets himself within the game and may continue as a player there.

The game has many rules, most of which are vague and never really explained to Jamie. Every Homeward Bounder he's managed come across has a different perception of what it is they might be. But one things is for certain: Homeward Bounders are meant to be alone and, therefore, must not team up or travel together. Teamwork could cause them to interfere with game play.

When Jamie meets up with Joris and Helen, he does everything in his power to make sure the three of them stay together, but it may not be in his power to keep the three of them that way. All bets are off if They find out about their teamwork, and the three aren't exactly subtlety personified.

I'll be honest here in saying that this book didn't exactly live up to my expectations after the masterpiece that was Howl's Moving Castle. I definitely preferred Sophie's adventures to Jamie's. That being said, I did enjoy this book. I enjoyed Jones's writing style and her deeply imaginative storytelling. Stepping out from under the shadow of Howl, this book still managed to be deeply interesting and I was definitely eager to find out how a resolution could possibly take place.

All in all, I would suggest this for a thoughtful read, but if you're only looking for the best, I'd give you a free pass to skip this one.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

"We took them off, " he said, "to show that we have no hope. Hope is an anchor, you know."

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (Howl's Moving Castle, #1)

"He was in there two hours," said Calcifer, "putting spells on his face. Vain fool!"

"There you are, then," said Michael. "The day Howl forgets to do that will be the day I believe he's really in love, and not before."

After reading The Space Between Trees, I immediately went online and bought it on Amazon. And here again I've stumbled upon a book that I absolutely must purchase as soon as I get a bit of money.

I didn't exactly stumble upon Howl's Moving Castle. In fact, I happen to be quite fond of the movie adaptation. When I found that it was based off a book, I knew I had to read it. Once again, I am profoundly glad I did. It is nearly an entirely different story and I loved every second of the journey.

Howl's Moving Castle is the story of a girl named Sophie. As the eldest of three, she is doomed to an entirely uneventful and unsuccessful life. She resigns herself to this fate, even as her younger sisters go out to seek their fortunes. However, fate doesn't seem to agree with her on how her life is supposed to turn out.

When the hat shop she runs with her stepmother is visited by the Witch of the Waste, Sophie is put under a curse that turns her into an old woman. Unsure of what to do and unable to tell anyone of the curse, Sophie decides to leave the home she has always known in order to find her destiny and hopefully an end to the curse.

When she seeks lodging in a moving castle belonging to Wizard Howl, she expects to be turned out almost immediately. However, she makes friends with its occupants: a fire demon named Calcifer, Howl's fifteen year-old apprentice (Michael), and the dreaded wizard himself. Howl is nothing like she had been told. Still, the vain wizard manages to trample on every last one of Sophie's nerves.

That's not the only trouble, though. The Witch of the Waste is hot on their tail, eager to get Howl in her clutches, and she'll stop at nothing to succeed in her aims. On top of that, Sophie needs to find a way to break her own spell. Calcifer promises to break it if she can break the contract between he and Howl, but to do that, Sophie is going to have to find out the terms on her own.

Howl's Moving Castle is a fantastical adventure through a land filled with wonder. I enjoyed every moment of the journey and couldn't wait to see where it would take me next. I would advise it for readers of all ages. It's a compelling read and lovely story.

Rating: ~★★★★★~

[Click here to see my review of book 2: Castle in the Air and book 2: House of Many Ways]

It seems as if those of high ability cannot resist some extra, dangerous stroke of cleverness, which results in a fatal flaw and begins a slow decline to evil.