Armchair BEA 2013 Children's and YA

The final genre focuses on the younger crowd:  children, middle grade and YA.  Mine probably fall into middle grade, spilling over into YA.  So many I have loved and could mention, but will stick to a few favourites over the last couple of years.

Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt.  I fell in love with the main characters Doug and Lil, two unlikely friends.  I also learned a lot about Audubon's birds! Middle grade book.  My class loved it too.

Once by Morris Gleitzman.  Set in war time Poland during Nazi times. It is a novel, however Gleitzman did a lot of research.  In spite of being told  with warmth and humour, the horror of that time still is there.  I have read the follow up Then and still have Now on my TBR.  Middle grade, but adults would appreciate it.  I did!

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan which starts the Heroes of Olympus.  I used to listen to my class talk about Greek gods and I couldn't get over the knowledge and interest.  Now I am hooked on this present series, and along with them wait for the fourth one, The House of Hades which comes out later this year.  Middle grade and up.

 Little Brother by Cory Doctorow was a book I read last year and really liked.  It's science fiction - cyberpunk.  This was a stretch for me to read, not my usual, but again one of my students talked me into it.  It was a great recommendation, I loved Marcus - so you can see there is a theme going on here. I like character driven books.  YA, but adults would enjoy it too.

Finally One for the Murphy's by Linda Mullaly Hunt was another book that my class and I were entranced by.  It certainly gave us insight into the mind and heart of a foster child.  Middle grade. Beautiful. Tissues may be needed.

There are so many great middle grade books I could go on and on!  

As an adult reader do you ever read books written for children?  Do you know how good they are?