Dec 15 2025
with incredibly charming illustrations by Reggie Brown. Ooof, I should have known from the introductory note itself, with the line “Sometimes it can feel like winter because there is snow inside”, that this book would wring me out. Gosh, when was the last time I had an ugly cry like this, over something that didn’t …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/15/the-snowman-code-by-simon-stephenson/
Dec 08 2025
adapted from the bestselling novel of the same name. I love that this powerful middle grade story was adapted to the graphic novel format because that feels so much more accessible to a wider variety of readers, not only to kids with short attention spans but also to adults with less time on our hands …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/08/ghost-boys-the-graphic-novel-by-jewell-parker-rhodes-setor-fiadzigbey/
Dec 05 2025
Hello, readers! Today, I’m super thrilled to be able to bring you a guest post from debut author Raidah Shah Idil, whose middle grade novel How To Free A Jinn was only recently published this past November. Like myself, Pn Raidah is a member of the Malay diaspora. In her guest post, she talks about …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/05/how-to-free-a-jinn-by-raidah-shah-idil-guest-post/
Nov 04 2025
I can understand why all this was crammed into one volume but I’m also kinda wishing that the copious amounts of personal growth A had to undergo here had been stretched out to at least two. Which, I know, is one of my most complimentary criticisms, that I liked something so much that I wish …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/04/a-world-worth-saving-by-kyle-lukoff/
Oct 16 2025
I continue to stand by my claim that contemporary Middle Grade fiction is the most consistently affecting, life-affirming genre currently publishing, with this terrific mystery novel being only the latest excellent example. Benny has Mosaic Down’s Syndrome, which for him manifests in physical appearance, but not in any intellectual or health issues. For the longest …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/10/16/benny-on-the-case-by-wesley-king/
Sep 29 2025
Readers who’ve already enjoyed Book 1 will likely warm up to this quicker than I did, but once I realized this wasn’t just escapist (sub)urban fantasy, I was all in! The Lizard Boy series revolves around the titular middle schooler, Tommy Tomkins, who fled with his mom and older sister Tiffany from the underground realm …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/09/29/lizard-boy-2-the-most-perfect-summer-ever-by-jonathan-hill/
Sep 11 2025
What a terrific idea, writing a middle grade novel about the career of public relations! Sloan’s favorite computer game, Dungeon Quest, has just hit a weird glitch. Oh well, she figures, time to go to bed anyway… but then she hears her Uncle Curtis speaking urgently from her mom’s home office. She goes to peek …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/09/11/game-face-becoming-a-pr-detective-by-curtis-sparrer/
Sep 02 2025
These covers always confuse me a little. I want to say The Sherlock Society: Hurricane Heist every time I see one — and I get that this is the best way to market any series novel aimed specifically at children — but the fact that the series name is so large in comparison with the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/09/02/hurricane-heist-by-james-ponti/
Jun 23 2025
Oh, huh, I didn’t realize that this second book in The Web Of The Spider series would have a different protagonist than the first one, but it makes sense! In Rise Of The Spider, our narrator was young Rolf, who watched with growing horror as the Nazi Party’s hatefulness infiltrated not only his beloved hometown …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/06/23/threat-of-the-spider-by-michael-p-spradlin/
May 21 2025
This middle grade mystery-adventure hearkens back to the Famous Five and similar novels I devoured as a kid, tho with one crucial difference I’ll talk about later in this review. Thirteen year-old twins Brice and Brianna Hendrix have recently moved to Florida, and are spending the summer helping their mom by volunteering at the retirement …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/05/21/sabotage-at-casa-grande-springs-by-dd-sterner/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
Emily Lauer
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire