Loteria book recommendation #iLoveMG

Welcome to #iLoveMG where I share middle grade books that my fifth graders recommend. (Please note that my fifth graders read a wide variety of books across a wide variety of genres, levels, and topics. Do not think that these books are "only" for fifth graders.) Or check out #3rdfor3rd for recommendations from when I taught third grade.

LOTERÍA

Recommended by Thomas

  

Loteria is the book's name and the author is Karla Arenas Valenti and the book is fantasy. The book is about a little girl named Clara. Life and Death are playing a game to decide Clara’s fate, a tic tac toe game. Life and Death starts to play, the placed a bean on a tree and something happens to a tree, then Life and Death placed a bean on a scorpion, and a scorpion appears in Clara’s house, then Life and Death placed a bean on a bow, then a siren, since the bow and arrow killed Clara’s friend’s mom, Chita. Esteban, Clara’s friend, filled with grief, followed a voice into a different place, where a devil awaits, now Clara has to find his friend before he gets sold off and survive the many challenges that Life and Death creates. 

My favorite quote is “We must honor all living creatures. It is not our right to restrict anyone’s freedom. We always pay a price for doing so.” I like this quote because animals deserve to live life how they want to, don’t force them to do something, and for keeping people in a cage (unless they are a VERY VERY VERY bad human being). 

I recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy and for people who like a boring book at the beginning and suddenly spikes with action. I think this book is really good, but it takes too much time for the action to rise, so I would rate this book, out of five, a solid 4.2

Click here for all of our #iLoveMG posts. What are your favorite middle grade books?

Dealing with Dragons book review #iLoveM

Welcome to #iLoveMG where I share middle grade books that my fifth graders recommend. (Please note that my fifth graders read a wide variety of books across a wide variety of genres, levels, and topics. Do not think that these books are "only" for fifth graders.) Or check out #3rdfor3rd for recommendations from when I taught third grade.

Dealing with Dragons

Recommended by anonymous

   

Dealing with Dragons is an adventurous novel about a princess that is bored with her life in the Kingdom of Linderwall. The princess is named Cimerone, and eventually ventures off to become the princess of Kazul, a charming girl and one of the most sensible of the kind (Roxim would be the only one more sensible, as the elder of the group). She meets new friends and enemies and makes the acquaintance of two wizards a few times. The book is full of adventure and danger and princes trying to bother her.

Click here for all of our #iLoveMG posts. What are your favorite middle grade dragon books?

Other Words for Home book recommendation #iLoveMG

Welcome to #iLoveMG where I share middle grade books that my fifth graders recommend. (Please note that my fifth graders read a wide variety of books across a wide variety of genres, levels, and topics. Do not think that these books are "only" for fifth graders.) Or check out #3rdfor3rd for recommendations from when I taught third grade.

Other Words for Home

Recommended by Abby

  

My book is Other Words for Home, written by Jasmine Warga and the genre is realistic fiction. This book is about a girl from Syria named Jude. Apart from her older brother, Issa, slowly growing apart from the family, all is well. That is until wars strike out in the area, and her family finds that it is no longer safe to stay. Leaving her father and Issa behind, Jude and her mother flee to the other side of the Atlantic, to America. What will happen with the emotion of being away from friends and family and being treated like an outcast at her new school? 

I really enjoyed this book because it contains a lot of emotional and meaningful scenes. The book also gives us a good sense of some Arabic words, including a glossary of the words at the back of the book. The story has so much character and heartfelt lines. 

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys realistic fiction books and books where characters have to move somewhere else because of problems in their lives in their home country. Finally, if I were to be asked how I would rate it out of ten, I would give it a solid eight out of ten.

Click here for all of our #iLoveMG posts. What are your favorite middle grade novels in verse?

City Spies - book recommendation #iLoveMG

Welcome to #iLoveMG where I share middle grade books that my fifth graders recommend. (Please note that my fifth graders read a wide variety of books across a wide variety of genres, levels, and topics. Do not think that these books are "only" for fifth graders.) Or check out #3rdfor3rd for recommendations from when I taught third grade.

City Spies (series)

Recommended by Eleanor H

 

I read City Spies by James Ponti and it is a mystery book. City Spies is an amazing book in it the main characters who are named after cities have to go to France and stop a possible attack. The book moves sort of fast through the story and a lot of things happen quickly. It is hard to stop reading it once you start reading it. This book has a lot of excitement and mystery and I suggest you pay attention to the clues. 

I would recommend this book to any one who likes mystery, suspense, and excitement. City Spies makes an amazing read and I would give it a nine out of ten.

Click here for all of our #iLoveMG posts. What are your favorite middle grade books?

Inside Out and Back Again book review #iLoveMG

For their recent independent book clubs, I had my fifth graders design their own book cover to accompany the book. I hope you enjoy their interpretations as well as their reviews. 

(Please note that my fifth graders  #iLoveMG read a wide variety of books across a wide variety of genres, levels, and topics. Do not think that these books are "only" for fifth graders.) Or check out #3rdfor3rd for recommendations from when I taught third grade.

Inside Out and Back Again

Recommended by Angelina

 

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhhà Lai is my book. It is a historical fiction book, based on the Vietnam War in 1955. 

 

The book is told in verse in the perspective of a young girl named Hà. Hà has only known Saigon, Vietnam for the first 10 years of her life, but when the Vietnam War arrived at her hometown, Hà, her three brothers, and her mother are forced to flee to America. Hà doesn’t know whether she and her family will manage to escape or even sneak up to the fleeing ship without being caught. Even worse, Hà’s father served in the war, but fell for a trap set by the enemy troops and has suddenly gone missing. Through the stress, war, and risk, Hà and her family’s fate is in god’s hands now. 

Even though it is in verse, the book is amazingly told and engulfs the reader in the story as it progresses. I really like the plot because it shows that out of a devastating and despairing situation, one can still find a glimmer of hope in unexpected places.

Click here for all of our #iLoveMG posts. What are your favorite middle grade books?

The Gauntlet by Karuna Riazi book review #iLoveMG

For their recent independent book clubs, I had my fifth graders design their own book cover to accompany the book. I hope you enjoy their interpretations as well as their reviews. 

(Please note that my fifth graders  #iLoveMG read a wide variety of books across a wide variety of genres, levels, and topics. Do not think that these books are "only" for fifth graders.) Or check out #3rdfor3rd for recommendations from when I taught third grade.

The Gauntlet

Recommended by Ellen

  

My book is The Gauntlet by Karuna Riazi.

On Farah’s twelfth birthday she receives a game from her aunt, not expecting to be trapped in it. Farah and her friends complete challenges in a mind deceiving world and search for Farah's little brother Ahmed. The Gauntlet cheats and doesn’t give anyone an easy game. The players are fierce competitors, but the game doesn’t play fair. 

Can they escape and find Ahmed, or will they be trapped in the game forever?

I give this book 5 stars!

Click here for all of our #iLoveMG posts. What are your favorite middle grade books?

Among the Hidden book review #iLoveMG

For their recent independent book clubs, I had my fifth graders design their own book cover to accompany the book. I hope you enjoy their interpretations as well as their reviews. 

(Please note that my fifth graders read a wide variety of books across a wide variety of genres, levels, and topics. Do not think that these books are "only" for fifth graders.) Or check out #3rdfor3rd for recommendations from when I taught third grade.

Among the Hidden

Recommended by Jack

Margret Peterson Haddix has outdone herself with this series (Shadow Children series). Among the Hidden is about a boy who has to stay hidden since he is a third child, if he doesn’t the population police will come after him. One day he sees a girl’s face in the window of a house where two children already live, Now he has found another shadow child like himself. The other shadow child, Jen, has a plan to make the third children free, but it is very dangerous and possibly deadly. 

Personally, I think this is a great book since it slowly starts to get more exciting, and then Wham! There's the surprise ending. If you don’t mind a or like a very sad ending, with quite a plot twist, and if you like series, then this is the book for you! I would give this book five out of five stars because of all these things! Now go read this über exciting book!

Click here for all of our #iLoveMG posts. What are your favorite middle grade books?