Ani's Summer Friday Faves: Favourite Middle School Aged Author Collections

I will start with the collections and end with my top Middle School Novels of all time.

Roald Dahl is another creative genius. He's funny, a little dark, a little inappropriate at times, and always fun. Our family favourites were Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (loved all the movies), Fantastic Mr.Fox (movie is great too) and Matilda (movie is amazing). I think Dahl's books were written with a film mind. They all make amazing movies. We loved the Matilda musical too. If you have a child who likes to laugh and perhaps laughs at odd things, pick up one of his books.

Lucy Maud Montgomery is amazing and our favourite series is OBVIOUSLY Anne of Green Gables but my daughter loved all her new released books shown below. I'm currently rewatching the 1985 Anne of Green Gables series now in preparation of new Anne inspired stories in Anne-thology.

My daughter and I quickly made our way through all of Kate DiCamillo's books. They are easy to read with heartfelt stories. (My favourite I highlight below.) The only book that we would never read again was The Tiger Rising. We thought it was terrible (not the writing but the story was too depressing for us.)

C.S. Lewis is likely on many of your favourite's lists. The Narnia Series is pure classic. The characters are written so well you feel as if you are part of their family. Narnia is very creative and the story is moral based so the reader grows with it. My favourite book was The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe but my son loved the Silver Chair and the Magician's Nephew best.

My daughter loved Trenton Lee Stewart's Mysterious Benedict Society books. I actually did not read them but am including them due to her high rave of them. I did watch the tv show with my kids and it was quite fun. We are hoping for a new season to be released soon.

My favourite classical series is and will always be Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. I reread them over and over throughout my youth. I had the Alice pencil case, book bag, black mary-janes, and 5-6 different printings of it. I've seen all the movies (tv and big picture) and loved them all regardless of how wacky some ended up being.

Kate DiCamillo's The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is a beautiful journey of a lost stuffed bunny. I loved it. I read it to both kids separately and look forward to one day reading it to grandkids. I have recommended it to every friend with new children because it is so lovely and "...along the way, we are shown a true miracle — that even a heart of the most breakable kind can learn to love, to lose, and to love again."