Today I want to introduce you to two middle grade reads that felt a bit old—but in entirely different ways.
Wolf Hollow, by Lauren Wolk follows the story of Annabelle, who lives on a farm. Unlike many of her classmates, Annabelle’s family has done well after World War I. She has enough to eat, enough time to play, enough love to go around. And then in walks a new girl, Betty, who begins targeting Annabelle with her bullying pranks, some of which are quite dangerous. Betty quickly turns her bullying efforts to Toby, a World War I veteran who lives in a small shack in the woods. He is the kind of guy most people tolerate but don’t understand. Annabelle, however, loves him as a child would love an uncle—which is good, because she will have to find the courage to stand up for him and risk everything to clear his name when Betty mysteriously disappears.
Not only was Wolf Hollow a bit long for a middle grade read but it was also written in a way that, to me, felt almost like reading an adult memoir. Bullying is a deep topic. We absolutely need to talk about it with our kids. They need to read about it in stories. But there was something about the way the topic was presented in this book that felt a little mature to me. It was a great read, but I think it could have been classified better, if someone had taken the to unravel all the layers. It felt more like an adult book to me. Just because the narrator is a 12-year-old girl doesn’t mean that it should be classified middle grade fiction.
I am all for dark middle grade literature that explores hard topics like abuse and bullying and parental divorce and growing up. But Wolf Hollow felt a little too old to me. I think it had something to do with how the narrator saw the world. It seemed as though she was an adult, looking back on this one particular time in her life.
So now that I’ve gotten that detail out of the way, I’ll say that I really enjoyed the story. Not only did it showcase bullying, but it detailed what veterans struggle with once they are done with a war. It was intriguing and heart-wrenching and, at times, sobering. The story pulled you in and would not let you go. Annabelle had extraordinary bravery and dedication. She defied her parents to do what was right, what would protect someone she loved in the safest way. The tension throughout the book kept me engaged and hopeful.
Now that I look back on it, I can tell by the first line that the book was a bit old for middle grade, even the upper ages:
“The year I turned twelve, I learned how to lie.
“I don’t mean the small fibs that children tell. I mean real lies fed by real fears—things I said and did that took me out of the life I’d always known and put me down hard into a new one.”
So, if you read Wolf Hollow, just keep this mis-classification in mind. I think you’ll enjoy it much better.
The Black Pearl, by Scott O’Dell, is another middle grade book that feels old, but in a completely different way. I read this one aloud to my boys, and they were riveted the whole time. It felt old, because O’Dell was a popular writer back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, and literature was much different than it is now.
It’s refreshing to read his books again. I read them all when I was younger, breezed through the whole shelf of my middle school library, because I loved his stories so much. He’s written all sorts of Newbery Honor books, including Island of the Blue Dolphins, which was the first O’Dell book I ever read, Sing Down the Moon (also a fantastic one) and this one.
The Black Pearl is about a pearl merchant family. Ramon Salazar has never been allowed to dive for the pearls, though his father is a pearl dealer. His father believes it’s too dangerous. So when his father embarks on a journey, Ramon defies his father’s wishes and dives in a small area that is known to house a great sea beast—the Manta Diablo, who guards the Pearl of Heaven. But Ramon comes back with the Pearl of Heaven, and he thinks it’s the saving grace of his community—until the old man whose lagoon houses El Diablo tells him that the manta will get his pearl back one way or another.
It’s a dark, adventurous tale that will keep you wondering how, exactly, the Manta Diablo will exact his revenge.
Like I said, this story is written very differently than the stories you see today. It’s not as fast-paced and visual, but it still is a story that stands the test of time. My boys could not wait to hear what happened next—which proves, to me, that all you really need is an engaging character and a good story. A book can have the best visual writing around, but if it does not have a solid story, it will fall flat.
Be sure to visit my recommendation page to see some of my best book recommendations. If you have any books you recently read that you think I’d enjoy, get in touch. And, if you’re looking for some new books to read, stop by my starter library, where you can get a handful of my books for free.
*The books mentioned above have affiliate links attached to them, which means I’ll get a small kick-back if you click on them and purchase. But I only recommend books I enjoy reading myself. Actually, I don’t even talk about books I didn’t enjoy. I’d rather forget I ever wasted time reading them.
