Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction [Bookshelf Tour 5/5]

Part 1 (Tolkien) | Part 2 (New bookcases) | Part 3 (Arctic exploration, Japanese religion, assorted adult fiction and non-fiction, and a few MG faves) | Part 4 (remaining adult fiction and non-fiction, fairy tales, favourite YA and adult authors) | Part 5 (middle grade and young adult fiction)

It took almost a year instead of the planned eight weeks, but here is the final post in my Bookshelf Tour! There’s no preamble required for these final three shelves.

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Favourite Middle Grade

• The Inquisitor’s Tale by Adam Gidwitz with illustrations by Hatem Aly
• Some Kind of Happiness by Claire LeGrand
• The Swallow by Charis Cotter
• The Language of Ghosts by Heather Fawcet
• Cog by Greg Van Eekhout
• A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
  • This series started out as paperback Scholastic Book Fair purchases. I upgraded to hardcover over the years. You will see this annotation on a few books throughout this post, though I haven’t annotated every book that started out as Scholastic paperback.
• A Sprinkle of Spirits (Love Sugar Magic #2) by Anna Meriano
  • I have only the second book in this series because Meriano did a signing at Books of Wonder when I happened to be in NYC, so I managed to snag this!
• The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart by Stephanie Burgis
• A Properly Unhaunted Place by William Alexander
• A Festival of Ghosts by William Alexander
• The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
  • Another purchase that originated in Scholastic paperback. I took that copy with me when I visited Venice as part of a high school trip. Never had I thought when I first read this book that I would get to visit the place where it all happens!
• The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
• When the Sea Turned to Silver by Grace Lin
• Over the Woodward Wall by Seanan McGuire
• Along the Saltwise Sea by Seanan McGuire
• The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf
• Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh
• Scary Stories for Young Foxes by Christian M. Heidicker
• The Nest by Kenneth Oppel
• J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan and Wendy, Retold for Little People adapted by May Byron
• Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
  • These last two were finds at a local secondhand bookstore specializing in children’s books
• Leather journal that I picked up in Italy, on aforementioned high school trip, as a special souvenier (and because I had to use up my euros)

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More Middle Grade

This shelf includes favourites from way back when I was a wee kiddo (I spy some key Scholastic Book Fair purchases, like Wish Upon a Unicorn), classic titles (hello Charlotte’s Web), books still on my TBR (Prisoner of Ice and Snow), and newer middle grade that I enjoyed alright but not as much as as the titles on the top tier shelf above. 😜 A few of these books will probably be offloaded one day.

• The Sight by David Clement-Davies
• Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
• Pandas on the Eastside by Gabrielle Prendergast
• This Can’t Be Happening by Gordon Korman
• Beware the Fish! by Gordon Korman
• The Wiggle War by Gordon Korman
• Wish Upon a Unicorn by Vicki Blum
• Into the Land of the Unicorns by Bruce Coville
• Song of the Wanderer by Bruce Coville
• Dark Whispers by Bruce Coville
• The Last Hunt by Bruce Coville
• Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
• The Lost Flower Children by Janet Taylor Lisle
• Poppy and Rye by Avi with illustrations by Brian Floca
• Poppy by Avi with illustrations by Brian Floca
• Ragweed by Avi with illustrations by Brian Floca
• The Witch’s Boy by Kelly Barnhill
• The Land of Yesterday by K.A. Reynolds
• Prisoner of Ice and Snow by Ruth Lauren
• All Four Stars by Tara Dairman
• The Boundless by Kenneth Oppel
• Elizabeth and Zenobia by Jessica Miller
• Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega
• What If A Fish by Anika Fajardo
• A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat
• The Boy, the Bird, and the Coffin Maker by Matild Woods
• Melissa by Alex Gino (previously published as George)
• Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer
  • The first book I reviewed on my blog, back in 2010, was The Atlantis Complex! I also reviewed The Last Guardian.
  • Another series that started off as Scholastic paperbacks and got upgraded to hardcover over the years.
• Skinjacker trilogy by Neal Shusterman
  • My first introduction to Shusterman was when my sister checked out Everlost from the library.

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Young Adult

When I start to truly feel the space squeeze, a few of these books will probably also be offloaded. Some books I picked up via Book Outlet, others because I wanted to support the book/author at time of publication. But some of these I don’t intend to reread, so they don’t need to live here.

• Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman
• Unwind dystology by Neal Shusterman (Unwholly | Undivided)
• Salt & Storm by Kendall Kulper
• Drift & Dagger by Kendall Kulper
  • IIRC I won this in a Twitter giveaway – it’s annotated by the author.
• The Devouring Gray by Christine Herman
  • I enjoyed this book so much on first read that I purchased a copy. And then bought the sequel and read them again together. Didn’t enjoy it as much on reread and the sequel wasn’t as good…
• The Deck of Omens by Christine Herman
• If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo
• The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton
• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
• An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
  • This book was not yet a year old when I came across vlogbrothers. At the time, I thought it was such a novelty that I could go out and buy a book by this guy whose Youtube videos I enjoyed!
• Looking for Alaska by John Green
• Paper Towns by John Green
• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
• The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty
• Blanca & Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore
  • My least favourite McLemore book resides down on this shelf because I needed to make space on the favourite authors shelf.
• The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini (Inheritance)

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Lastly, some notes on the objects scattered across these shelves: The Ventian mask I picked up on that high school trip (when I read The Thief Lord and explored Venice). The white mug with the J was an Anthropologie clearance find. The YA shelf features some of my vinyl toys: the black and blue were finds in Akihabara and the green was created by local company Grumble Toy.

What kind of decorations do you like to keep on your bookshelves?
How do you sort your books?
Can one ever have enough bookcases?