Middle Grade Marvels December Announcement

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Hello Hello! How are you?

Can you all believe it’s nearly December? This year has just been crazy. The start of the year seemed to go so slowly and the end just took off and ran away. At least we have good books to help us along.

In November, the Middle Grade Marvels members have been reading Shadows of Winterspell by Amy Wilson. Some have already finished it and others are still currently reading it but we are all excited to discuss it on Saturday! This one was a really short book, but wow, so magical, whimsical, I’ve not finished it yet but I’m loving it and I can’t wait to find out what happens and how this concludes!

If you don’t know what this book club is, head over to my announcement post here, Noly’s announcement post here, and Holly’s announcement post here. If you are interested in joining our book club on Twitter or Goodreads, you can find all the information you need for December in the pinned tweet at @GradeMarvels.

The December BOTM poll has been voted on, and the information Tweet has been published and pinned, so you may already know that in December we will be reading two books actually to finish off the year. Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia and Winterling by Sarah Prineas are our two BOTMs and we are so excited to dive into them.

Tristan Strong Punched a Hole in the Sky has been in and out of BOTM polls four times so far this year I think, so I’m really happy that it has finally been chosen because the first time I read this blurb, I was sold. And Sammie from The Bookwyrm’s Den (and also one of our lovely members) really loved this book! I hadn’t heard of Winterling before, but I’m glad it was chosen as well because it looks great from the festive month ahead!

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia

Seventh-grader Tristan Strong feels anything but strong ever since he failed to save his best friend when they were in a bus accident together. All he has left of Eddie is the journal his friend wrote stories in. Tristan is dreading the month he’s going to spend on his grandparents’ farm in Alabama, where he’s being sent to heal from the tragedy.

But on his first night there, a sticky creature shows up in his bedroom and steals Eddie’s journal. Tristan chases after it — is that a doll? — and a tug-of-war ensues between them underneath a Bottle Tree. In a last attempt to wrestle the journal out of the creature’s hands, Tristan punches the tree, accidentally ripping open a chasm into the MidPass, a volatile place with a burning sea, haunted bone ships, and iron monsters that are hunting the inhabitants of this world. Tristan finds himself in the middle of a battle that has left black American gods John Henry and Brer Rabbit exhausted.

In order to get back home, Tristan and these new allies will need to entice the god Anansi, the Weaver, to come out of hiding and seal the hole in the sky. But bartering with the trickster Anansi always comes at a price. Can Tristan save this world before he loses more of the things he loves?

This list includes some affiliate links. If you decide to purchase a book from one of my links, I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.

If you would like to purchase this book, you can find it here:  Amazon UK  – Amazon FR – Amazon US – AbeBooks – The Book Depository – Waterstones – Barnes and Noble – Kobo – Blackwell’s – BetterWorldBooks

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Winterling by Sarah Prineas

“We live here, my girl, because it is close to the Way, and echoes of its magic are felt in our world. The Way is a path leading to another place, where the people are governed by different rules. Magic runs through them and their land.”

With her boundless curiosity and wild spirit, Fer has always felt that she doesn’t belong. Not when the forest is calling to her when the rush of wind through branches feels more real than school or the quiet farms near her house. Then she saves an injured creature—he looks like a boy, but he’s really something else. He knows who Fer truly is, and invites her through the Way, a passage to a strange, dangerous land.

Fer feels an instant attachment to this realm, where magic is real and oaths forge bonds stronger than iron. But a powerful huntress named the Mór rules here, and Fer can sense that the land is perilously out of balance. Fer must unlock the secrets about the parents she never knew and claim her true place before the worlds on both sides of the Way descend into endless winter.

Sarah Prineas captivates in this fantasy-adventure about a girl who must find within herself the power to set right a terrible evil.

This list includes some affiliate links. If you decide to purchase a book from one of my links, I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.

If you would like to purchase this book, you can find it here:  Amazon UK  – Amazon FR – Amazon US – AbeBooks – The Book Depository – Audible FR – Waterstones – Barnes and Noble – Audible UK – Scrib’d – Kobo – Blackwell’s – BetterWorldBooks

If you haven’t yet joined our book club and you love reading Middle Grade books, what are you waiting for?

You can sign-up on this form to tell us where you want to discuss the books (Twitter, Goodreads), if you will read the BOTMs with us (you can pick one, or both) or just read something from your own TBR. Those already in the Twitter chat no longer need to sign-up, so you can sit back, relax and get ready for some great reading in December!

If you are in the MGM – BOTM Twitter chat, but do not want to follow the December BOTM discussions, you are free to leave, and of course if you would like to come back in following months, just fill out the form again, or you can just stay in there and join back in with the conversation when you are ready!

As usual, the Nominations form is still open and this is where you can give us your nominations, and please remember to join us on Goodreads where we post our BOTM discussions for you to join in. We have also posted the Recommendations list and Nominations board for you on there. If you are not on Goodreads, you can find our Recommendations list here.

As we have chosen two BOTMs for December, we are not going to publishe a Similar Books list for December, but if you don’t want to read either of our BOTMs and still want to join in for some middle grade reading, you can find all our previous Similar Books Lists if you scroll through the @GradeMarvels account on Twitter. And of course, you can read any Middle Grade book you have on your TBR, just let us know what you will be reading with the hashtag #middlegrademarvels on Twitter!

Holly, Noly and I are so excited for the December books and we hope that you are too! Join our club if you love Middle Grade stories and want to discuss some amazing books with our amazing members! Looking forward to having you on for the ride!

That’s all for now, I hope you enjoyed this post, see you soon, stay safe,

Ellie xx

Middle Grade Marvels Book Club links: Twitter – Goodreads – Recommendations List – Monthly Sign-up Form – Nominations Form