Jennifer Foehner Wells
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The One In Which I Compile Recommendations

3/19/2015

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I get asked A LOT to recommend books. Last night on Twitter, someone asked me to recommend middle grade SFF books with a female protagonist. I didn't have any good answers so I turned around and posed the question to my own Twitter followers. Since this wasn't the first time I've been asked this particular question, and since I have a middle grade reader in my household, I thought I would compile a list of the books tweeted to me.

As usual, Twitter was very kind and dozens of people enthusiastically jumped into the fray, tweeting titles at me. I managed to keep up and have listed them here in the order I received them. I recognize some of these as being YA but some MG readers are ready for YA, especially if there's a dearth of MG stuff they enjoy reading. I have added links to Amazon for some of them. I'll try to update it in time. It's time consuming to add that many links! Based on what I've seen so far, most of these recommendations are excellent choices for children to read!

***Keep in mind--these have not been vetted for age-appropriateness. Do your due diligence and research the titles before you buy for your favorite Middle Grade or Young Adult aged kiddo. If you keep a keen eye out, many of the books have suggested reading ages right in the descriptions!***
So You Want to be a Wizard and Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane 
A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge
His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman (recommended twice)
Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones (appears to be out of print)
Divergent by Veronica Roth (this is more YA, but my 11 year old son enjoyed it.)
Uglies by Scott Westerfield 
Leviathan by Scott Westerfield (several suggestions for these)
The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancy
Maximum Ride by James Patterson
Matched by Ally Condie
Across the Universe by Beth Revis
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
My Teacher is an Alien by Bruce Coville (recommended twice)
The Tiffany Aching books by Terry Pratchett
Fledgling by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L'Engle
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
Open Minds by Susan Kaye Quinn (YA, very clean--I've read this one)
Hunger Games
Thursday Next by Jasper Fford
Tales From Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin
Beyond the Pawpaw Trees by Palmer Brown
Dealing With Dragons series
School For Good and Evil
Lunar Chronicles
Mars Evacuees
The Fellowship For Alien Detection
Dove Arising
Earthseed by Pamela Sargent
Molly Fyde by Hugh Howey
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Zita the Spacegirl (comic format)
Legend by Marie Lu
Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Podkayne of Mars by Heinlein
The Water of Possibility by Hiromi Goto
Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor
Ninth Ward by Rhodes
Falls' Dark Life
Starters and Enders by Lissa Price
A Girl of Many Parts
This Place Has No Atmosphere
Farmer's House of Scorpio
Alaya Dawn Johnson and Joyce Chng both write YA SFF with WoC protagonists
Icefall by Matthew Kirby
Spellsong War by LE Modessett
Heretics 
Chapterhouse Dune
Love is the Drug
Cats of Tangle Wood Forest by Charles deLint
Harper Hall trilogy by Anne McCaffrey
Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin
Abhorsen by Garth Nix
Otherland by Tad Williams
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Tunnel in the Sky by Heinlein
MG Anthology: Young Explorer's Adventure Guide
YA Anthology: Kaleidoscope
Pern books by Anne McCaffrey
Elizabeth Moon
Never to Return by Marjory Davey
Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds
Dangerous by Shannon Hale
Saga of Seven Suns by Kevin J Anderson
A Wolf at the Door by Ellen Datlow (MG)
Swan Sister by Ellen Datlow (MG)
Troll's Eye View by Ellen Datlow (MG)
The Green Man by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (YA)
Sassinak by McCaffery and Moon
Delia Sherman
Cat Valente
Maximum Ride series by James Patterson
Amulet (graphic novel)
Legacy of the Clockwork Key
Ghoulish Song by William Alexander
Iron Hearted Violet by Kelly Barnhill
Breadcrumbs and The Shadow Thieves by Anne Ursu
Song of the Lioness Books by Tamora Pierce
Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia Wrede
Forbidden Library by Django Wexler
Frostborn by Lou Anders
Emilie and the Hollow World by Martha Wells
Savvy by Ingrid Law
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
The Girl who Circumnavigated Fairy Land by Catherynn Valente
Diary of a Mad Brownie by Bruce Coville
The Glass Sentence by S.E. Grove
Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee
Juniper Berry by M.P. Kozlowsky
The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex
Inkheart by Cornela Funke
The Thirteenth Child by Patricia Wrede
The Pinhoe Egg by Diana Wynne Jones
Freedom Maze by Delia Sherman (couple of recommendations for this one!)
Fairyland Books by Cat Valente
Sparkers
Monstrous
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
West of the Moon
Changeling by Delia Sherman
The Kat Incorrigible Books by Stephanie Burgess
The Princess Curse by Merrie Haskell
The Smoking Mirror by Carolina Garza
Valdemar books by Mercedes Lackeys
The Chronicles of Morgaine by C.J. Cherryh
The Chanur Series by C.J. Cherryh



Here are some links to other people's collections of books in the same vein:

10 YA Fantasy/Science Fiction Novels About Latino Characters
Asian Inspired MG and YA Fantasy by Asian Writers
10 Diverse Dystopian YA Books
A Pinterest page on Diverse MG Fantasy
A Pinterest page on Diverse MG Science Fiction
A Goodreads page on MG SFF Starring Women of Color
Another blogger lists Middle Grade SFF with Black Protagonists
Then there is Twinja Book Reviews: Fighting to bring multiculturalism to YA SFF novels
And I have to mention Tu Books, an imprint of Lee and Low books that publishes multiculturally-focused YA books.


And then, there's always the All Ages Edition of FLUENCY. : )

READ ON!!!!
2 Comments

Jen Tweet Storms ;D

3/3/2015

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    Jennifer Foehner Wells

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