In 2019 Booklist published their list of the “50 Best Middle Grade Novels of the 21st Century.” Go ahead, take a look.

They left off Harry Potter, Wimpy Kid, and Percy Jackson because they figured those already had enough attention. (I would leave off two of the three for reasons of poor quality and over-exposure, and HP for the reason they state.) They also “cheated” and included series as one book, so I plan to do the same. Anyway, I do have some reading background and expertise in this particular genre, and for your reading pleasure I thought I would give you my own list of the 50 Best Middle Grade Novels of the 21st Century (so far). There is some overlap between my list and Booklist’s list, so I’ll start with those books we agree on.

Booklist and Semicolon’s Best Books (14 selections):

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill. Algonquin, 2016.

Greenglass House by Kate Milford. Illus. by Jaime Zollars. Clarion, 2014.

Last Day on Mars by Kevin Emerson. HarperCollins/Walden Pond, 2017.

Lockwood & Co. series by Jonathan Stroud. Illus. by Kate Adams. Disney/Hyperion, 2012-2017. (5 titles)

The Mysterious Benedict Society series by Trenton Lee Stewart. Illus. by Carson Ellis and Diana Sudyka. Little, Brown/Megan Tingley, 2007-2012. (4 titles)

Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt. Clarion, 2011.

The Penderwicks series by Jeanne Birdsall. Knopf, 2005-2018. (5 titles)

Race to the Bottom of the Sea by Lindsay Eagar. Candlewick, 2017.

Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin. Feiwel and Friends, 2014.

The Ranger’s Apprentice series by John Flanagan. I’ve only read the first book in this series, but I do plan to read more. Recommended.

A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park. Clarion, 2001. Newbery Award winning story of an orphan boy who wants to become a potter. Tree-Ear, named for a wild mushroom that grows without seed, lives under a bridge with his friend and mentor, Crane-man. His friend’s shriveled and twisted leg and foot makes him unable to work, and the two manage to eat and hold body and soul together by foraging among the garbage heaps. Then, Tree-Ear gets a job—and a dream of leaving the fringes of 12th century Korean society to become an artisan.

The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo. Illus. by Timothy Basil Ering. Candlewick, 2003.

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. Random/Wendy Lamb, 2009.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon series by Grace Lin. Little, Brown, 2009-2016. (3 titles)

Then, Betsy Bird at Fuse #8 chimed in with the substitutions and changes she would make to the list.

Fuse #8 and Semicolon’s Best Books (3 selections):

Rules by Cynthia Lord.

A Drowned Maiden’s Hair by Laura Amy Schlitz. Historical fiction about Maud, an orphan, who is adopted out-of-the-blue by two elderly sisters. Her new guardians lavish her with new clothes on their way home to their large home, but then make her hide in the attic when guests come. They have a plan for Maud to help them in their spiritualism business, but Maud may be more than the sister bargained for.

Ghost by Jason Reynolds.

And, these are my selections—33 more books that I think are outstanding and will stand the test of time:

Heart of a Shepherd by Roseanne Parry.

Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce.

The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson. (On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, North! Or Be Eaten, The Monster in the Hollows, The Warden and the Wolf King) Waterbrook/Rabbit Room Press, 2008-2014.

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd. 2008.

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt.

Alvin Ho series by Lenore Look.

The Casson Family series by Hilary McKay. (Saffy’s Angel, Indigo’s Star, Permanent Rose, Caddie Ever After, Forever Rose) Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2002-2008.

Maggie Valley novels by Kerry Madden. (Gentle’s Holler, Louisiana’s Song, Jessie’s Mountain)

Leepike Ridge by N.D. Wilson. Random House, 2007.

A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park.

Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier.

The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle by Christopher Healy.

Boys Without Names by Kashmira Sheth. Eager to find work after his hungry family arrives in Mumbai, 11-year-old Gopal ends up locked in a one-room “factory” making beaded frames with five other boys so beaten down they don’t even talk to one another. The boys have no names because their boss manipulates them to distrust one another in the interest of keeping them in slavery. Heart-rending, but never preachy, and ultimately hopeful.

Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins. Charlesbridge, 2010.

Anything But Typical by Nora Leigh Baskin.

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban.

Clementine books by Sara Pennypacker.

Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson.

Books of Bayern by Shannon Hale. (The Goose Girl, Enna Burning, etc.)

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo.

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander.

The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton.

The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen. The Ascendance Trilogy.

The Luck Uglies series by Paul Durham.

Tuesdays at the Castle series by Jessica Day George.

War Horse by Michael Morpurgo.

Chasing Vermeer series by Blue Balliet.

The Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner.

Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley.

Isle of Swords by Thomas Wayne Batson.

Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm.

Any Which Wall by Laurel Snyder.

Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce.

So, what do you think? What books would you add or take away from my list or Booklist‘s list? Or make your own list, and link in the comments.

Because we’re planning to visit England this summer and because I’m an Anglophile, anyway, I’ve been reading quite a few books set in England lately, sort of preparing myself for the journey. And a lot of my reading has happened to be centered around the seventeenth century, particularly the English Civil War between the Cavaliers and the Roundheads, Charles I, Oliver Cromwell, and all that jazz. So, I thought I’d stay in the same ballpark, 1600’s, but switch it up a bit and read this Messner biography of Louis XIV of France.

Louis XIV was an amazing man, but not so very admirable. He seems to have been blinded by his upbringing, his cultural assumptions, and his own pride and greed into making a lot of misery for a lot of people. His biographer calls him “disdainfully aloof” and “a proud absolute ruler” and “the supreme embodiment of Absolute Monarchy.” Although his seventy-two year reign, longer than the reign of any other French king in history, saw many accomplishments and triumphs for French hegemony as well as French literature, art and architecture, Louis’s rule also perpetrated the horrendous persecution of French Huguenots and eventually drained the French economy to the point of bankruptcy. (It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.)

Louis XIV is famous for the slogan, “I am the state.” He truly believed what he was taught: that France existed for him and that he, Louis XIV, was the sole judge and arbiter of everything that happened in that ever-expanding nation. His only responsibility was to God, and the people of France existed to serve God by serving Louis. He said, “It is for kings to make their own decisions, for no one dares or is able to suggest any that are as good or as royal as those which we make ourselves.”

It was particularly interesting to me to read about Louis’s economic policies. The French under Louis XIV adhered to the economic theory of mercantilism, “the economic theory that trade generates wealth and is stimulated by the accumulation of profitable balances, which a government should encourage by means of protectionism.” However, in addition, Louis IV’s economy was an example of what came to be called “Colbertism” named for Louis’s chief financial advisor, Colbert. “Colbertism meant unlimited government control of economic life. Louis XIV, as the foremost exponent of absolute despotism, felt it perfectly natural to give his finance minister freedom in directing with an iron hand all of France’s production and distribution of goods.”

“These principles led seventeenth-century France on the road to forced nationalization, in some even to socialization, of its economy.” But instead of being done for “the people”, as Marxism would later claim, this centralized and autocratic government of the economy was intended for the glory of France and even more for the glory and increased power of Louis XIV. And the interesting thing is that such dictatorship for the sake of the nation’s power and glory does work for a time in increasing the nation power and fame. France did indeed become larger, taking over more and more territory, more organized and orderly, richer and more powerful. The arts flourished in France under Louis XIV. The economy and the middle class bourgeoise also grew and became more prosperous.

BUT as taxes became higher and higher to sustain Louis’s army, his territorial ambitions, and his extravagant lifestyle as well as that of his courtiers and as Louis himself felt the need to appease God by purifying the church and driving out the Huguenots, the whole scheme began to collapse. As Margaret Thatcher so aptly put it many centuries later, “Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other people’s money.” Louis’s government and economic system was the worst of all possible systems, combining an absolute monarchy or dictatorship with the nationalization of much of the industry in the country and with nothing going back to the people except the satisfaction of living in the glorious Age of Louis XIV. This idea of the common people living and working for the monarchy and the higher classes living off of the monarchy and not working led directly to the French Revolution a little less than a century after Louis’ death.

“Louis’ state remained anchored to one person, the sovereign. He had willfully neglected to allow the growth of any institution fostering participation by the people whom he ruled. The success of the state depended solely on the manner in which the monarch played his role. When the successors of Louis XIV completely failed to fill this role which he had created for them, the whole system collapsed, like a house erected on shifting sand, in the French Revolution of 1789.”

This biography was such a good read with many insights that can be applied to our own times as well as just interesting bits of knowledge and information. Did you know that Louis XIV was the king who built the enormous and expensive palace of Versailles or that he was one of the first European kings to have a standing army?