Middle Grade Monday – what to read?

I’ve been pretty absorbed with my thoughts today following the ALA Youth Media Awards announcements. I’m still not sure what I want to say. Two things I am happy about, though, are the number of diverse titles on lists that aren’t specifically meant to honor diverse books, and the presence of graphic novels on the Newbery and Caldecott lists. The Printz Award was a trendsetter in this area, which kind of makes sense…?

Anyhow, I’ve been blessed with the delivery of a number of physical ARCs lately. Here they are:

I have one at work (Survival Strategies of the Almost Brave) which I tried today, but it is too sad for me to read right now. Also, I confess that I read the first 3 chapters of the Meg Cabot, and it didn’t do anything for me. But, if one of you thinks it picks up, I might be persuaded to try again. So, tell me gentle reader, where would you start? Has anyone heard anything good about any of these titles? Well, besides the first Calpurnia Tate…I’m assuming they sent it to me with the second one to refresh my memory?

Sometimes I get a little overwhelmed by the abundance of options – help me choose!

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