I keep a reading list, and every year about this time, I go through the list to see which ones still stick in my mind. Looking at just the middle grade and young adult books, here are my favorites, in roughly the order I read them. I’m sure there’s a Newbery or Printz Award in there somewhere!

The Game of Love and Death, by Martha Brockenbrough
The Summer of Letting Go, by Gae Polisner

The Hired Girl, by Laura Amy Schlitz

Blue Birds, by Caroline Starr Rose

Becoming Maria, by Sonia Monzano
Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt