I read some wonderful new (and old!) middle grade books in 2024, and I wanted to share some of my favorites with you, in no particular order. (And there are more I could talk about! I found so many great stories this year.)

• The Secret Sisters by Avi (2023): A delightful follow-up to The Secret School, one of my longtime favorites! I waited years to see what would happen to Ida at high school, and this is a worthy sequel.
• Somebody Else’s Summer by Jean Little (2005): I’m so glad I saved this to read in the summer! It’s a Parent Trap-type mix-up where two girls swap places during visits to family members.
• Mustang: Wild Spirit of the West by Marguerite Henry (1966): An incredible novel based on a true story of a woman who dedicated her life to saving mustangs in Nevada.
• Lily’s Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff (1997): This book was completely not what I was expecting based on the plot description, but I was actually pleased with that. It’s a quiet, gentle, yet powerful World War II home front story.
• The Grey Family by Noel Streatfeild (1951): What a joy to read a Streatfeild story I’ve never read before! Written for a slightly younger audience than most of her books, it was episodic, fun, and (of course!) about a young ballet dancer and her family.
• Ferris by Kate DiCamillo (2024): I almost think I liked this story more than Because of Winn-Dixie–it’s humorous and heartwarming and full of well-crafted characters. There’s been a lot of talk about this book winning a Newbery–could it be??
• Marjorie’s Vacation by Carolyn Wells (1907): Sweet, funny episodes in the life of a mischievous girl and her friends during a summer at her grandmother’s.
• Drina Dances Again by Jean Estoril (1959): Another great installment in the Drina series, which I’ve talked about before. I’m sad that the rest of the books in the series are so hard to find!
• Strawberry Girl and Flood Friday by Lois Lenski (1945 and 1956): I really enjoyed both of these books in Lenski’s series that features different regions of the U.S. throughout history.
• Summer on the North Star by Elsa Pedersen (1960): Originally titled Alaska Harvest, this story follows a girl who lives with her family a boat as they harvest crabs in order to earn enough money to buy their own house.
• Maudie in the Middle by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor and Lura Schield Reynolds (1988): Based on a true story, this gently comedic book is about Maudie, a middle child living on an Iowa farm in the early 1900s.
• Absolutely Truly by Heather Vogel Frederick (2014): For me, binge-reading is reading a long book in three days, so this counts as a binge-read. 🙂 It’s about a girl whose family moves to a small town and she helps run the family bookstore, solving a mystery along the way.

Favorite Rereads:

I reread tons of books every year, so this category is JUST the rereads that I vividly remember having a blast with. 🙂 There’s no rhyme or reason as to what will end up being a brilliant re-read for me, it just depends on finding the perfect book to fit my exact mood.

• Anne’s House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery
• The Four-Story Mistake and Spiderweb for Two by Elizabeth Enright
• The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall
• Party Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
• The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street by Karina Yan Glaser
• Sister of the Bride by Beverly Cleary
• What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge
• Louisiana’s Way Home by Kate DiCamillo
• Hey, World! Here I Am by Jean Little
• Family Sabbatical by Carol Ryrie Brink

My 50 State Reading Challenge

This was my big reading goal in 2024! I decided to read a children’s book set in every U.S. state. It was such a joy, even though it was hard to find books for a handful of states! It was such a fun challenge that in 2025, I want to read books set in 20 different countries.

Here is my final list of the books I read for the challenge! I’ve noted which ones were picture books (PBs), chapter books (CBs), middle grade (MG), or young adult (YA).

Alabama (Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai)–MG 
Alaska (Summer on the North Star by Elsa Pedersen)–MG
Arizona (Trixie Belden and the Mystery in Arizona by Julie Campbell)–MG
Arkansas (The Girl with the Mind for Math by Julia Finley Mosca)–PB
California (Sister of the Bride by Beverly Cleary)–YA
Colorado (The Secret Sisters by Avi)–MG
Connecticut (Flood Friday by Lois Lenski)–MG
Delaware (When Washington Crossed the Delaware by Lynne Cheney)–PB
Florida (Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski)–MG
Georgia (Louisiana’s Way Home by Kate DiCamillo)–MG
Hawaii (Growing Up with Aloha by Kirby Larson)–CB/MG
Idaho (Moving the Millers’ Minnie Moore Mine Mansion by Dave Eggers)–PB
Illinois (The Light in the Cellar by Sarah Masters Buckey)–MG
Indiana (Rosetown Summer by Cynthia Rylant)–MG
Kansas (May B. by Caroline Starr Rose)–MG
Kentucky (Happy Little Family by Rebecca Caudill)–CB
Iowa (Maudie in the Middle by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor & Lura Schield Reynolds)–MG
Louisiana (Meet Marie-Grace by Sarah Masters Buckey)–CB
Maine (The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall)–MG
Maryland (Chesapeake Duke by Gilbert Byron)–MG
Massachusetts (Little House by Boston Bay by Melissa Wiley)–MG
Michigan (The Star That Always Stays by Anna Rose Johnson–yes, my own book!! It was fun)–MG
Minnesota (Carney’s House Party by Maud Hart Lovelace)–YA
Mississippi (Daddy Played the Blues by Michael Garland)–PB
Missouri (Depend on Katie John by Mary Calhoun)–MG
Montana (The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White)–MG
Nebraska (Elsie’s Bird by Jane Yolen)–PB
Nevada (Mustang, Wild Spirit of the West by Marguerite Henry)–MG/YA
New Hampshire (Absolutely Truly by Heather Vogel Frederick)–MG
New Jersey (The Slipper Point Mystery by Augusta Huiell Seaman)–MG
New Mexico (Secrets in the Hills by Kathleen Ernst)–MG
New York (The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright)–MG
North Carolina (My Great-Aunt Arizona by Gloria Houston)–PB
North Dakota (Fly Away by Patricia MacLachlan)–MG
Ohio (What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge)–MG
Oklahoma (Angels in the Dust by Margot Theis Raven)–PB
Oregon (Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary)–CB/MG
Pennsylvania (Pie by Sarah Weeks)–MG
Rhode Island (The Automobile Girls at Newport by Laura Dent Crane)–MG
South Carolina (Honey Butter by Millie Florence)–MG
South Dakota (Judy Bolton and the Discovery at the Dragon’s Mouth by Margaret Sutton)–MG/YA
Tennessee (Lizzie by May Justus)–CB
Texas (The Boxcar Children and the Mystery at the Alamo by Gertrude Chandler Warner)–CB
Utah (Iron Horses by Verla Kay)–PB
Vermont (Lumber Camp Library by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock)–CB/MG
Virginia (Meg and the Secret of the Witch’s Stairway by Holly Beth Walker)–CB/MG
Washington (For the Love of Autumn by Patricia Polacco)–PB
West Virginia (A Piece of Home by Jeri Hanel Watts)–PB
Wisconsin (Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink)–MG
Wyoming (I Could Do That: Esther Morris Gets Women the Vote by Linda Arms White)–PB

A few other books to share …

I had the joy of providing endorsement blurbs for the books of three friends: Writer on the Wall by Joanne Bischof (a sweet contemporary Christian novel), Road Trip Return by Becca Wierwille (a heartfelt contemporary MG story), and Beyond Mulberry Glen by Millie Florence (a beautifully written, character-driven fantasy MG). Definitely check them out!

Three non-kidlit books I enjoyed this year were L.M. Montgomery’s The Blue Castle (my last new Montgomery book! <tears>) and two nonfiction books: Glad and Golden Hours by Lanier Ivester and illustrated by Jennifer Trafton (a lovely book to read during Advent) and Barefoot Summers by Faith Andrews Bedford (a collection of wonderful essays on summertime, family, and memories).

What did you enjoy reading in 2024? What are some books you’re excited about for 2025? I’d love to hear!

With September (my favorite month of the year!) starting tomorrow, I thought it would be fun to list a few books that I think would make ideal September reads.

The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall
This delightful second book in the Penderwicks series takes place mostly in October, but it opens at the very end of September, which would make it a perfect read for the end of the month! (The Penderwick sisters’ plan to stop their widowed father from dating makes for a hilarious and heartfelt story.)

Ramona and Her Father by Beverly Cleary
Pretty much any of the Ramona books would be perfect for September with their back-to-school themes, but I think Ramona and Her Father is probably one of the best—it begins in September, when Ramona is already busily working on her Christmas list, until she learns her father has lost his job.

What Katy Did at School by Susan Coolidge
I’m going to be reading this story (one of my longtime favorites) in September—it’s such a fun book, featuring Katy and her sister Clover heading off to a strict boarding school for the first time.

Apple Bough by Noel Streatfeild
This lesser-known novel of Noel’s (often titled Traveling Shoes) has always struck me as just right for fall. It follows the Forum family as they travel from one country to the next so that second-eldest child Sebastian can pursue a career as a violinist—but all the siblings want is a home!

Around the Hearth by L.M. Montgomery
This recently-edited collection of short stories from L.M. Montgomery is absolutely lovely and has a wonderful autumnal feel–many of the stories are centered on home and family, as the title would suggest. My favorite story in this volume is Miss Curtis Comes!

What are you reading this September? Leave a comment below!

In a post last year, I gave suggestions for books to check out if you’re a fan of Anne of Green Gables, and today, I’m recommending books for longtime Little Women fans. If you’re hoping for a book that has a similar feel, see if one of these fun vintage titles could be the right fit!

– If you love the realistic sibling dynamics, try What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge.

– If you’re a fan of sister stories and want another book with both child and young adult siblings, try Treasure for Debby by Amy Wentworth Stone.

– If you’re in the mood for a book that features the characters maturing from childhood to adulthood, try Pollyanna Grows Up by Eleanor Porter.

– If you’re on the hunt for another book featuring a heroine who longs to be a writer, try Jill’s Story by Jean Fiedler (hard to find, but worth looking for)! 

– If you’re looking for another cozy family story set in the 1800s, try The Belonging Place by Jean Little.

– If your favorite aspect of Little Women was the Jo & Laurie subplot but you want the characters to actually end up together, try the Betsy-Tacy high school books by Maud Hart Lovelace, beginning with Heaven to Betsy.

– If you’d like to read another feel-good novel about a New England family pulling together in hard times, try Winterbound by Margery Williams Bianco.

– If you’re still in the mood for Louisa May Alcott but want something less known, try her delightful Jack and Jill!

Bonus: if a chapter where the characters time-travel to visit the Little Women cast sounds good to you, check out The Time Garden by Edward Eager!

What books would you recommend to Little Women fans? Leave a comment below!

Are you looking for a lovely classic children’s novel to read? In this post, I’m introducing you to the story of the Carr family, which is told in What Katy Did and its four sequels. When I reread the first two books a few years ago, I was very happy to discover that I liked them just as much as ever. These novels were published in the late nineteenth century, and the series focuses on a large, happy New England family.

The first two books are absolutely wonderful. The initial book is Katy’s coming-of-age story and chronicles how she changes from a rambunctious little girl to a poised young woman throughout many challenges and setbacks. When What Katy Did was first published in 1872, The Boston Globe wrote of the novel: “The story belongs to that class of children’s books in which an attempt  is made to represent children as they really are, and at the same time, to introduce such incidents as give, on the whole, a good direction to their impulses and wills.”[1]

I find it interesting that I found the books so readable and rereadable when I was nine or ten years old—because at that time, I was a very slow reader, and it was hard for me to get through books that were written in a more old-fashioned style. But that wasn’t a problem at all with these books!

I actually read them out of order—my first introduction to Katy was in the second volume of the series, What Katy Did at School. I was nine years old and fascinated by the regulated (but terribly sophisticated!) boarding school that Katy and her sister Clover attend. They’re just so much fun—the characters seem so real, and the dialogue is excellently written (and seems much more modern than it is).

The last three books in the series are not my absolute favorite, but they do contain some fun elements as well. The third book follows Katy as she sails to Europe, goes sightseeing, and, naturally, meets a handsome lieutenant. And of course, you’re going to want to read the entire series to know who marries who, and where all the family members end up living. I will not divulge any spoilers, but let me say that the Carrs are a well-traveled family.

Here’s a little something about the author: Susan Coolidge was the pseudonym for Sarah Chauncey Woolsey, who wrote many short stories and poems and also edited a book of Jane Austen’s letters. She grew up in New England, and at the time she wrote the Katy books, she was living in New Jersey. I do a lot of genealogy, so I looked up some records about Susan and discovered a passport for her. The date of this record was 1872, which is fourteen years before she wrote What Katy Did Next. When I read What Katy Did Next, I was struck by the amazing details in the book, and I thought that the author had to be writing from experience to be able to describe everything so well. So now I think that she probably did go to Europe, as the passport would suggest, and possibly referred to letters or diaries from her trip to help write the third Katy book. (I also found her census enumeration in 1900, and her occupation is listed as “authoress!”)  🙂

I was listening to the first two on audio recently (I downloaded the Librivox versions read by Karen Savage). One thing that I found interesting when I was listening to What Katy Did at School for the first time was that the story takes place in 1868. And so I started doing some figuring and I realized that the first volume of the series is supposed to be set in 1863. So What Katy Did is supposed to be taking place about the same time as Little Women. And I don’t get that feeling at all reading it—I would have thought the Katy books were contemporary to the 1870s, which is when the first two novels were published. Perhaps this is because Susan Coolidge set out to write a book based on her family, and she grew up in the 1830s and 40s. And I wonder if the fact that she was reminiscing about an earlier era when she wrote them might have contributed to the sort of timelessness of the books (and consequently, the lack of an authentic 1860s feel).

Speaking of Little Women, I read that Susan Coolidge’s publisher, Roberts Brothers, was also Louisa May Alcott’s publisher. And I believe I read that like Louisa, Susan was inspired to write about a family that was modeled after her own. So while What Katy Did did not end up enjoying the amazing success that Little Women did, it has had a lasting impact on me and—I am sure—many other readers. I invite you to check out the books for yourself—because basically, if you love Little Women and Anne of Green Gables, you do not want to miss out on these! Happy Reading!

[1] The Boston Globe, December 4, 1872, pg. 1