Today I break radio silence to build a book list. My sister reports that my five-year-old nephew is going through a dragon phase. He already has A Practical Guide to Dragons (how could he not? I think I gave a copy to every relative who wanted one, and then some), along with the one I edited, A Practical Guide to Monsters. My sister called while in the bookstore, looking for books to go with a Christmas present, and I could only think of the Dragon Codex books I edited. I didn’t even think of the Dragonology books off the top of my head, which would be perfect for him—some reading, but a lot of tactical exploring, as well. So now I’m putting together a list of books for her to look up at the library.

He’s only five, so picture books are welcome for the list. I’m just not as well-versed in them, so I don’t have a great lot of suggestions in that category. I’d love early readers and chapter books, because he can work on those on his own (though he might need help for some of the more advanced ones). They also read aloud a lot together, so suggestions for middle grade novels are definitely welcome.

Dragon Codex books by R.D. Henham (Red, Bronze, Black, Brass, Green, Silver, and Gold)—full disclosure: I edited these. They’re GOOD. And so of course they go at the top of the list.
How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell
How to Speak Dragonese by Cressida Cowell
Dragonology (& all related books)
Kenny & the Dragon, Tony DiTerlizzi
Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville
Puff the Magic Dragon (picture book—we loved the song as kids)
Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke (I *knew* she had a dragon book!)
Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull—fun of all sorts, dragon doesn’t come in until most recent book
St. George & the Dragon by Margaret Hodges & Trina Schart Hyman
Magic Treehouse #37: Dragon of the Red Dawn (they love Magic Treehouse in their house–my nephew’s older brother devoured practically the whole series)

Now, the book list says "YA SF," but I’m seeing everything from Captain Underpants (how could I forget him?) to Scott Westerfeld, so it encompasses more than just YA. I’ll skim and see what I can glean for the particular list we’re making here, and if you all happen to see any on there that would count as middle grade, let me know.

Remember, we’re talking specifically about books published for middle grade readers, kids age 8-12. The lines can be blurry, but I want to keep books published for young adults and adults off the list even if kids those age are reading them, simply for clarity’s sake.

Also, let’s leave off anything published prior to . . . oh, let’s give it a wide swath but say 1990. Science fiction published before those years was definitely science fiction, and there are kids who still find that interesting, but like I’ve said before, it’s a forward-looking genre, and really, books published before the kids were born will probably not be regarded as forward anything. But I gave i
t a little bigger swath than what should be probably 1997-2001, because there are a lot of good books like The Giver which are still popular in schools and aren’t set at any time that the reader couldn’t imagine to be their future.

Let’s also do a subgenre breakdown in the list, so we know why we’re calling it science fiction rather than fantasy (especially time travel novels: for the sake of clarity, few of the time travel novels have plausible science in them. I mean, do *you* know anyone who has traveled in time? but for ease of listing, I’m just plunking it in science fiction). If you have a subgenre classification I haven’t used here that applies to your book, let me know.

Dystopic

* City of Ember, Jeanne DuPrau
* The Giver, Lois Lowry
* Among the Hidden, Margaret Peterson Haddix
Running Out of Time, Margaret Peterson Haddix

Cyberpunk

Are there any cyberpunk books for middle graders? Would we even WANT there to be any? (Most of the cyberpunk I’ve read is pretty mature.)

Steampunk

Steampunk is one of those genres that crosses the line between SF and fantasy, too. The one that stands out most is Larklight by Philip Reeve. Others?

Space/spaceships/space travel

* A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle (this makes *both* fantasy and science fiction lists because it has elements of both. Please be careful when suggesting books like this, but if it it fits, it goes on the list)

Time travel

* Many Waters, Madeleine L’Engle (also a double, fuzzy, slippage kind of book)

Other planets

* Dragonsong, Anne McCaffrey (this goes on this list as much as or more than it does on fantasy, given that the dragons are actually just native to the new planet) new info says this book is definitely YA–sex in later books in the series
* Dragon and Thief (Dragonback), Timothy Zahn 

So far the length of this list sucks. I *know* there are more books out there, but my fantasy collection here at home is far more vast than my science fiction collection. Every SF book I think of tends to be more YA than MG.  I know that Rebecca Moesta and Kevin J. Anderson have spoken out about how little SF there is for kids, but I don’t know that I’d classify Crystal Doors as more SF than fantasy, and most places I’ve seen it sold in the YA section anyway.

So, what’s out there, people?

I just found another stack of books in my extremely large TBR pile, though, and I haven’t read most of them myself, and some of them I’m not even sure if they’re YA or MG. I’m wondering if any of you have read them, and if so, if you’d add them to the list.

• The Key to Rondo, Emily Rodda (who is the author of the extremely popular Deltora Quest books)
• The Shadow Thieves, Anne Ursu
• The Chaos King, Laura Ruby (the ARC I have says 10 and up)
• The Faerie Wars, Herbie Brennan (I read about half of this a few years ago but a project took my attention away, and I never came back. Would you consider this one MG or YA? Perhaps it fits in the 10 and up category that crosses over?)
• Book of a Thousand Days, Shannon Hale (the only one on the list I’ve read all the way through. LOVE this book. I wouldn’t count it as strictly middle-grade, especially with a 15-year-old protagonist, but it does make me wonder if it’s a 10 and up kind of book. Though it’s really about the love story, so perhaps I just need to start making a YA list! But right now, concentrate! Middle grade!)
• The Dreadful Revenge of Ernest Gallen, James Lincoln Collier (this is the author of My Brother Sam Is Dead, which I loved. Does the ghostly voice whispering to the main character constitute fantasy? I’m not sure, given that I haven’t read it myself. Anyone who has read it, please let me know.)
• The Tygrine Cat, Inbali Iserles
• The Deep Freeze of Bartholomew Tullock, Alex Williams

And please keep adding to the ever-growing list!

* A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle
A Ring of Endless Light, Madeleine L’Engle
* Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, Brandon Sanderson
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
* Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
Babe: The Gallant Pig, Dick King-Smith
* Babymouse, Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm (strictly speaking, this is a graphic novel, which opens up a can of worms, but it’s so fun!)
3EBeauty, Robin McKinley
Bedknob and Broomstick, Mary Norton
* The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, Lloyd Alexander
* The Borrowers, Mary Norton
* Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
Charlotte’s Web, E.B. White
Chasing Vermeer, Blue Balliet
* Children of Green Knowe, L.M. Boston
Children of the Lamp: The Akhenaten Adventure, P.B. Kerr
* The Chrestomanci Chronicles, Diana Wynne Jones
Coraline, Neil Gaiman
* The Dalemark Quintet, Diana Wynne Jones
* Dragon Keeper, Carole Wilkinson
* Dragon’s Milk, Susan Fletcher
* Dragonsong, Anne McCaffrey (?)
Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine
* Fablehaven, Brandon Mull
* Five Children and It, E. Nesbit (and pretty much anything by E. Nesbit)
The Folk Keeper, Franny Billingsley
Half Magic, Edward Eager
* Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling
The Hoboken Chicken Emergency, Daniel Pinkwater
* Howl’s Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones (well… more YA, really, but House of Many Ways is more middle grade, so…)
* Hugo Pepper, Paul Stewart & Chris Riddel
The Indian in the Cupboard, Lynne Reid Banks (though perhaps should be phased off any recommendation lists, due to cultural inaccuracies, but it is a title that grabs kids)
* Inkheart, Cornelia Funke
* Into the Wild, Sarah Beth Durst
James & the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl (man, I loved this one in about 3rd or 4th grade)
* Larklight, Philip Reeve
* The Last Apprentice, Joseph Delaney
The Last Dragon, Silvana de Mari
The Light Princess, George MacDonald
* The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan
* The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Narnia), C.S. Lewis
* Little Sister, Kara Dalkey
The Magic Thief, Sarah Prineas
Many Waters, Madeleine L’Engle (part of the Wrinkle in Time series, technically, but far enough forward that I kind of count it separately)
* Mary Poppins,
P.L. Travers
May Bird and the Ever After, Jodi Lynn Anderson
* Mister Monday (Keys to the Kingdom), Garth Nix
The Mouse and His Child, Russell Hoban
My Rotten Life: Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie, David Lubar (ARC, to be published this August)
* The Mysterious Benedict Society, Trenton Lee Stewart
Of Mice and Magic, David Farland
* Over Sea, Under Stone, Susan Cooper
Penderwicks (is this fantasy? I haven’t read it)
* Pendragon, D.J. MacHale
The Perilous Gard, Elizabeth Pope (not technically fantasy, and perhaps YA? But oh so good!) (?)
Peter Pan & Wendy, J.M. Barrie
The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster
The Power of Three, Diana Wynne Jones
Princess Academy, Shannon Hale
The Princess and the Goblin/The Princess and Curdie, George MacDonald
The Princess Bride (kinda sorta–perhaps more YA?)
* The Princess Tales (Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep, etc.), Gail Carson Levine
* Protector of the Small, Tamora Pierce
* Red Dragon Codex, R.D. Henham
* Redwall, Brian Jacques
* The Seeing Stone, Kevin Crossley-Holland
* Skulduggery Pleasant, Derek Landy
Standard Hero Behavior, John David Anderson
* The Fairy Tale Detectives (The Sisters Grimm), Michael Buckley (I LOVE this series)
* The Spiderwick Chronicles, Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi (that’s one that’s on the young end, but still enjoyed by 9-10 year olds)
* The Stink Files, Holm & Hamel
* The Story of the Treasure Seekers, E. Nesbit
Stuart Little, E.B. White
The Tale of Despereaux, Kate DiCamillo
* The Thief, Megan Whalen Turner (would this be YA or middle grade, really? I’m about to read it so will have a better feeling after, of course)
* The 13th Reality, James Dashner
Tom’s Midnight Garden, Phillippa Pearce
The Trumpet of the Swan, E.B. White
* Vampirates, Justin Somper
* Warriors, Erin Hunter
* The Wee Free Men, Terry Pratchett
Well Wished E, Franny Billingsley
The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
The Witches, Roald Dahl
* Whales on Stilts, M.T. Anderson
* The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum