Cybils judges are allowed to put a maximum of seven books on the shortlist (otherwise it isn’t a short, manageable list.) Here’s what the middle grade speculative fiction committee picked this year:

• Bayou Magic by Jewell Parker Rhodes
  
• Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon
• Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge
• Mars Evacuees by Sophia McDougall
• The Dungeoneers by John David Anderson
• The Fog Diver by Joel Ross
• Wings of Fire Book Six: Moon Rising by Tui Sutherland

They are all really great books, and you should go read them or put in the path of readers of the appropriate temperament in your life.

But here are ten more middle grade speculative fiction books that I really loved this year.  Almost half of them are series books that need the rest of the series to work well – which is really only a problem when we’re trying to make a list of books that stand on their own.

Beastkeeper by Cat Hellisen

The Hollow Boy. Lockwood & Co. 3 by Jonathan Stroud

Jinx’s Fire by Sage Blackwood

Nomad by William Alexander

A Pocket Full of Murder by R.J. Anderson

Rose and the Silver Ghost by Holly Webb

School for Sidekicks by Kelly McCullough

Shadows of Sherwood by Kekla Magoon

Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer by Kelly Jones. Pictures by Katie Kath

The Wild Swans by Jackie Morris (with a note that this is really one I’d suggest for adult and teen lovers of retold fairy tales than kids.)

What were your favorites from last year?