The 2000s have been a phenomenal century for youth literature. Not only have we seen young adult books grow and adapt, we’ve seen middle grade literature come into its own, distinguishing itself from books for children and books for teen readers.

Beyond target readership, middle grade literature explores the themes and questions this age group is curious about: Who am I in the world?

We put our heads down and got to work thinking about this question: In reflecting on 25 years of growth, change, and evolution, what stands among the best of middle grade books this century?

Months of discussions and debate helped us develop an outstanding list of middle grade books that deserve that honor–even if the list has limitations (as any list does!).

Our picks for the best middle grade books of the century include:

Among the 50 titles on the list:

Check out the full roster of titles and prepare to catch up with–or reminisce about–some of the best of middle grade literature this century (so far!).

Goodreads readers’ most anticipated fall books are here! And, my friends, it is a packed season featuring major comebacks, big names, and series finales. Many of the books featured on Goodreads’ list are repeats from other big fall previews.

The buzziest fiction reads of the season include:

Readers of speculative fiction can’t wait for:

Even more interesting tidbits gleaned from the list include:

Finally, we have two notable series conclusions:

My oh my, what a season of books. Brace yourself for October 6th when so many of them hit shelves. – SZW

Her kiss might kill you.

Every person Harlow Carrenwell, the heroine of Sheila Masterson’s The Poison Daughter, kisses dies immediately, and that’s the way she likes it. The poison-lipped youngest daughter of Lunameade’s magical founding family has used her power to annihilate their opposition.

Her first husband is in the ground, and her new betrothed, Henry Havenwood—the one man immune to her kiss—has secrets of his own.

Feminine rage, dual POV narration, and a dash of vampires make this standalone enemies-to-lovers romantasy a must-have for your TBR.

The trailer for the adaptation of the mega-bestselling 2018 psychological thriller Verity by Colleen Hoover just dropped last Tuesday. Already, it’s amassed more than 12 million views on YouTube and ranks #9 in the movies category for the site’s trending chart.

I watched the trailer and have thoughts:

The rest of my thoughts on the trailer (heads up: kinkiness confirmed)—EE

The results are in for our “What counts as AI-written?” survey, and there are some surprises. For one thing, there are several uses of AI in the writing process that we are divided about.

Here was the most polarizing question: if an author runs their writing through an LLM to ask for advice on structure, does that make the finished work “AI-written”?

I’ll be honest—I did not expect so many people to object to this. The answers here are just one example of how we need to start talking more about the specifics of AI-assisted writing.

AI and LLMs are being incorporated into brainstorming, research, writing, and editing. Instead of collapsing all of these uses into one “AI writing” category, it’s worth examining each one separately.

Here are my takeaways from the survey results:

 See the full survey results on Book Riot. —DE

A story of hope for anyone struggling with their identity.

In Half is More, Vol 1, writer and artist Yoiki Fujimi explores the challenges of being mixed-race in a place that expects and rewards sameness.

In a country as homogeneous as Japan, Kazumi and others like her must continue to put one foot in front of the other and contend with feelings of otherness every day. As they navigate this road rife with trials and pitfalls—microaggressions, misunderstandings, social transgressions, and racism—it becomes clear that self-acceptance isn’t simple.

As you might guess from the title, author Kit Rosewater’s latest young adult book, Buried Feelings, was inspired by treasure hunts. It’s a fascinating and compelling story about where and how treasure hunting intersects with queer history and queer community.

Rosewater’s inspiration came from a book she was obsessed with as a young reader. Masquerade by Kit Williams, was read to her third grade class by her teacher. 

“I became utterly obsessed with the book for one simple reason: the treasure within the story was actually real,” Rosewater explains. “In 1979, Williams buried a golden necklace, then hid the clues to its whereabouts in Masquerade. Though the necklace had been found well before I ever came across the book, I was transfixed by a treasure story that gave so much weight and gravitas to its actual treasure.” 

Buried Feelings was her opportunity to pay homage to history that she holds dear—that of queer heroes and communities in the United States.

The book is “a story of a treasure hunt set within San Francisco that sees its characters uncovering the history of the wider queer community that rose together and took shape in the Bay Area after World War II,” Rosewater explains. “The book started from my childhood love of treasure hunts, but has ended in the most cliché way possible, as I realized that researching and discovering this queer history was the real treasure all along.”

Uncovering and celebrating queer history—or as Rosewater calls it, taking “an archeological journey through the glimmering facets of queer representation and queer community rooted in various times and places”— has been an emerging and welcomed theme in a number of YA books over the last year. 

You can check out more about Rosewater’s book, as well as three of her picks for excellent YA queer history novels, in this piece. – KJ

A new Disney romantasy webcomic series will launch on Webtoon. The initiative, “Disney Cursed Love,” was announced at Disney’s annual fan convention, D23, last weekend.

Disney Publishing says “Disney Cursed Love” will:

Sorry to the shifter romance fans, but Beast will be in his human form in The Curse of a Forsaken Heart. The story, written by Emily McIntire and illustrated by Samairu, features:

Release dates and details are forthcoming. – SZW

ThriftBooks is keeping summer reading going with Endless Summer, Endless Points, giving readers the chance to build their perfect summer reading stack while earning up to 200+ bonus ReadingRewards points on a single order.

The more books readers add to their cart, the more bonus points they can earn, making it the perfect time to squeeze in one more great summer read or stock up for the season ahead.

Plus, readers can enjoy free domestic shipping on orders over $20, making it even easier to keep the pages turning. Shop now!

Did you know? From 2011 to 2019, there was a Frank McCourt museum in Limerick, Ireland.

These romance novels are inspired by real-life love stories.

AMAZE AMAZE AMAZE. Project Hail Mary fans, here’s how a language made entirely of music could work.

The Heated Rivalry cottage is as swoony as it sounds.

Nothing to hate about a Broadway adaptation of 10 Things I Hate About You.

The Odyssey book bump is real.

Written by Rebecca Schinsky, Kelly Jensen, Erica Ezeifedi, Sharifah Williams, Danika Ellis, and Jeff O’Neal. Thanks to Vanessa Diaz for copy editing.

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