Middle Grade Must Reads -April 2026 (Part One)

• Written by Tanya Landman
• Published by Walker Books

This was amazing from the first page.

Haunted by the past, can Anna rewrite the future?

1976: Twelve-year-old Anna, bored and lonely away from her friends for the summer, finds herself dreaming about a girl from 1919 – a neglected and lonely girl living in a mansion with an austere and unloving grandfather. As Anna’s dreams grow more vivid, she realizes that the girl from the past is calling out to her – and that Anna must cross time to save her from an untimely death…

This is so different from what I usually read, but I was hooked.

I couldn’t leave the book alone until I knew what had happened to Etty.

I become so invested in the 2 characters and how their lives come together.

This was well written and the research the author did shines through. She was able to describe both era’s really well.

Flipped

This truly is a masterpiece and I know this is going to be popular.

During a long, lonely summer, Flip explores the mysteries of the nearby marshes. When he stumbles upon an abandoned Victorian house, he quickly discovers not everything is as it seems. As Flip realises he is trapped inside the page of a famous book, and the strange people he meets are convinced he’s someone else, he must work with faces old and new to stop this story becoming his new reality.

This is set during the hot summer of 2020, the year we were all in COVID lockdown.

This is the time when we had bubbles, the school’s were shut unless you were a keyworker and we were allowed out of our homes to go to work, shopping or to exercise,

For millions of children these were lonely times they were isolated from their friends and peers.

This was a creative story with lot’s going on.

We have a retelling in  a way of Great Expectations, and this story runs parallel with this one. And how both casts come together. 

But there is a scary time when a character gets COVID and we feel the character’s emotions during this time.

This is ideal for the modern audience, and getting a simpler and better version of  a classic.

I had never read this author before but after this my library reserve list is now longer.

This new tale will appeal to modern and younger readers, but has enough of Dickens’ classic to provide a delightful read for the older reader too. The sometimes pithy wit was well received in this household, as were Flip and Pip’s confusion and responses to situations they found themselves in . Poor Mr Dickens has a rough time of it as well, and his role added a lovely twist/extra layer and dimension that takes it up a notch.

Letters from the Upside

• Written by Katya Balen
• Published by Bloomsbury

I have always said that Katya Balen is one the best children’s author around, everything she writes is completely different, but she never shys away from the tough issues children face.

But she does this with sensitivity and in a way that makes the reader understand.

Con has been angry ever since Dad left. He doesn’t want to be. He wants to play FIFA with his best friend Kyron; to make his mum proud; to let people’s words about his dad roll off him like water. Instead, rage builds inside him until he explodes. Now even Kyron is scared of him. And when Con gets suspended from school he knows he’s let everyone down. The good person he longs to be feels unreachable.

And then his neighbour, Mr Williams, lets him in on a secret.

Up on the roof of Con’s building, Mr Williams keeps homing pigeons. Their feathers are the colour of pearls and storm clouds. Every day they fly out, carrying messages to people in other towns before finding their way home. Mr Williams wants Con’s help looking after them. Con can’t believe it. How could someone like him be trusted with these delicate creatures? But slowly, Con begins to believe that he can.

Then Mr Williams goes away for a few days. Con is left in charge, and he begins to wonder whether the pigeons might be able to bring home more than just messages. Perhaps they could find his dad.

I personally feel that schools should consider using this book as a class read, it would open up so many important discussions.

This story is about anger and how you learn to work through it, it’s also about learning that you can’t control other people’s actions. But it’s also about how crossing the generations is good for all involved.

The author is amazing at showing empathy towards young people and the challenges they face.