Happy New Year, dear readers! Here is the fantastic list of Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction Finalists the other panelists and I put together. (Click through the link to read our beautifully crafted blurbs! It’s always hard to trim the list down to the required length, but I’m really proud of this list.
Here’s the list with links to my own reviews:
- Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston
- Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls by Kaela Rivera (and note that Flight of the Puffin, which I reviewed in the same post, was a Middle Grade finalist as well!)
- Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom by Sangu Mandanna
- The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera
- Ophie’s Ghosts by Justina Ireland
- Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff
- The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy by Anne Ursu
And here are some of my favorites that didn’t make the list. There are a variety of different reasons – but all of these have stuck with me, and are ones I’ll recommend to people regardless.
- Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
- Girl Giant and the Monkey King by Van Hoang
- The Insiders by Mark Oshiro
- The Last Fallen Star by Graci Kim
- Monsters of Rookhaven by Padraig Kenny. Illustrated by Edward Bettison
- Root Magic by Eden Royce
- Sisters of the Neversea by Cynthia Leitich Smith
- That Thing about Bollywood by Supriya Kelkar
Once I’ve read a couple of romance novels as a palate cleanser, I’ll go on to read the finalists in other categories. If you’re here, you might also enjoy some of my favorite other categories – Middle Grade Fiction, Graphic Novels, and Young Adult Speculative Fiction.
Have you or do you want to read any of these books? What’s next on your TBR?
alibrarymama 
It’s hard when favorites don’t make the list. I would have liked to see This Fallen Star on the list.
The Last Fallen Star? It was a good!!
There were lots of great books on the nominated lists: we had a hard time narrowing down the YA Spec fic finalists, too, but I think we came up with a stellar list of finalists. I love how diverse all our shortlists are! Can’t wait to start reading the Middle-Grade selections now!
I’m very excited to start reading the YA spec fic finalists, too!
No surprise that you and the others have made a great selection! Many of these books are on my TBR but only one I’ve already read (Too Bright To See). Well, I’ve now read The Last Cuentista and I’m working on The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy this weekend. Root Magic and Anya and the Dragon (then perhaps Nightingale if I’m keen on the first book) are ones I will also definitely pick up some day.
Happy reading! And as always, I’d love to hear what you think of them.
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