Recent Middle Grade and Young Adult Reads

plus more pictures of my library

Hello supporters!

Today is my first official day back at school for the year ~ meetings, so many meetings! In honor of the school librarian part of my life being back in full swing, today I am sharing all of the middle grade and young adult titles I have read over the past few months. There are 20ish books on the list, which feels both like a lot, and also not nearly enough?

As a school librarian, I often get asked if I get to just sit around and read all day, and the answer is NO. I actually get to read at work so infrequently that I honestly can’t remember the last time I did so! Our days are absolutely packed with teaching, circulation, shelving, planning, tech assistance, collection development, and collaboration with teaching teams ~ getting to read is a luxury. I really really want to squeeze in 15 minutes per day of reading from my collection during the school day ~ we shall see if that actually happens!

We are pressured with knowing ALL the books, but also not given any time during contract time to actually READ them! For that reason, since I’m reading on my own time, I primarily read the books from my library that I would read even if they weren’t for work, and trust other sources to tell me which ones are amazing in genres I don’t gravitate toward. If a book is on our Battle of the Books list, or I need to read it for a particular teaching unit, of course I make the time to read it. But otherwise?

I read exactly. what. I. want. to.

So many readers adore fantasy and science fiction and gamer world books, and I trust my review sources to tell me which ones I need to buy. I get to know these books well enough to be able to book talk them, but honestly, I refuse to spend all of my non-contract time reading books I wouldn’t pick up on my own. There are a gazillion realistic and historical fiction stories, romance novels, and graphic fiction in the middle grade and young adult world for me to be able to double dip for personal and professional reading!

poster from East Nash Teacher

Just as the sign in my office says, let kids librarians read what they want to read.

If you came upon this piece through a share from a friend, please do consider subscribing for free weekly bookish and lifestyle content on Saturdays, or becoming a paid subscriber for additional weekly book content, more mindful musings and full access to this essay.