Middle Grade Must Reads – October 2026 (Part Two)

Boy vs Reality

• Written by James Fox
• Published by Scholastic

Like it or not Social Media is a massive part of everyday life.

And it seems everyone wants to be  a reality star. But is everything really like what we watch on the screen? And how far would you go to make your family famous?

This is the question asked in this book.

Meet Ethan Lacey, online vlogging sensation alongside

his mum, dad and big brother Mason.

They film and upload everyday life for their million subscribers to enjoy – the pranks, the cosy family time, the perks like going to the opening

of an epic new theme park. They are the perfect family… aren’t they? But reality is not all fun and freebies. Mum and Dad have been arguing a lot recently and Mason has been picking on Ethan. When the cracks start to show, can Ethan persuade his family to fix the real world, not fixate on the online one? 

This book is an interesting look at what might happen behind the scenes of a family of vloggers.

This book shows everyday problems that families go through everyday made worse by a screen.

This book makes the reader look at themselves and wonder what the reader is seeing online is true or not.

There is a big look at child consent on being online, and this book also tackles toxic family/friend relationships. And of course privacy is a big issue.

This is such an engaging book that is aimed at both adults and children, 

What strongly came across for me  is  not to believe everything you see online, just a reminder that it is so easy to edit anything.

So when you next post on your child just check with them that it’s ok to do so.

The Castle of Tangled Magic

•  Written by Sophie Anderson
• Published by Usborne

Twelve-year-old Olia knows a thing or two about secrets. Her parents are the caretakers of Castle Mila, a soaring palace with golden domes, lush gardens, and countless rooms. Literally countless rooms. There are rooms that appear and disappear, and rooms that have been hiding themselves for centuries. The only person who can access them is Olia. She has a special bond with the castle, and it seems to trust her with its secrets.

But then a violent storm rolls in . . . a storm that skips over the village and surrounds the castle, threatening to tear it apart. While taking cover in a rarely-used room, Olia stumbles down a secret passage that leads to a part of Castle Mila she’s never seen before. A strange network of rooms that hide the secret to the castle’s past . . . and the truth about who’s trying to destroy it.

This was such a great read and it was great to see a character from   a previous book appear.

This book is rich in descriptions of the characters, the world and the magic.

And this is definitely a world that I would love to visit.

It was nice that the author had a kind and likable main character, sometimes MG books lack this.

Overall this was a great read.

The Body in the Blitz

• Written by Robin Stevens
• Published by Puffin

March 1941.

 Britain is at war, and a secret agency called the Ministry of Unladylike Activity is training up children as spies – because grown-ups always underestimate them. Enter May, Eric and Nuala: courageous, smart, and the Ministry’s newest recruits.May’s big sister Hazel has arranged for them to stay on a quiet street close to the Ministry, home to an unlikely collection of people thrown together by the war. And it is in the basement of the bombed-out house at the end of that street that they discover something mysterious. Something that was not there when the Blitz wreckage was first combed through. Something that has been placed there recently. A body…Could this be the missing Ministry spy that Daisy Wells is on a dangerous mission in France to find? Or could it be someone else – someone a resident of the street wanted silenced . . . ?

This is the second book in her new series, I will be honest and say that I haven’t read book 1 yet so it took a little working out who was who. 

These new characters have the makings of being as good as the ones from her Murder Most Unladylike series. 

I did like the setting of WW2 and I always find it interesting how authors manage to find different angles to write about. And this was such a complex story, but it was fun and entertaining to read. I think it’s great that authors understand the importance of opening young eyes to the effects of war.

What I like about books by Robin Stevens is that she always has a cast of diverse characters, characters that you would meet in real life, and these are characters that readers can see themselves in.

A Grave Inheritance

This was a great read, it was kind of predictable where the plot was going but I still enjoyed it.

After her father and older sister both die suddenly, Dolores is left with the family’s inheritance, and a large house she’s sure is haunted. Teaming up with her occult-obsessed neighbour, Ada, and the mysterious spiritual medium, Violet, the three girls plan to dispel the bad spirits from Dolores’ home.

But when Dolores uncovers a clue that suggests her sister Edith’s death wasn’t due to natural causes, what starts as an investigation into ghostly apparitions develops into the unravelling of something far more sinister. . .

Ghosts. Murder. The patriarchy. One should never underestimate what a trio of free-spirited young women can handle.

This book is suitable for those readers who are leaving MG behind but not quite really for YA

This story explores grief, feminism and how women had to fight to be heard.

But the overwhelming message is that you need to have the courage to believe in yourself and the importance of friendships, and never be afraid to try something new.