Episode 2: Fifth Grade Book Reports

In Episode 2 of Two Lit Mamas, Margie and Heather surprise each other with book reports on two Middle Grade novels the other one hasn’t read. Listen along as the mamas introduce each other to bog monsters, butter cows, wish granters, and Jan Brady books. What the heck is a Jan Brady book, you ask? Hit play and let Margie explain it to you.  

Margie’s Surprise-Me Books:

Eventown
by Corey Ann Haydu

Eventown follows eleven-year-old twins, Elodee and Naomi as they move from their urban home to Eventown following a heartbreaking loss. Eventown promises to be a new start where nothing is good or bad but only even. Memories fade, both good and bad and everything is replaced with a perfect state of calm. The problem is, what makes things better for one sister, doesn’t always work for both. *Note* Contains references to teen suicide.

Slider
by Pete Hautman

David Miller is a fourteen-year-old who is stuck in the middle. He’s the middle child living in the middle of Iowa and the only thing he seems to be good at is competitive eating. When a mess-up on an online auction site threatens to get him grounded for life, David has to break out of the middle and find a way to shine, even if it’s by eating two dozen pizzas.

Heather’s Surprise-Me Books:

The Girl Who Drank the Moon
by Kelly Barnhill

The Girl Who Drank the Moon is a 2017 Newbery Medal winner about a young girl named Luna who becomes magical after a witch, who saves her from abandonment in the forest, feeds her moonlight. The witch, Xan, then raises Luna as her own along with the help of a bog monster and a tiny dragon. On the other side of the mountain, in Luna’s hometown of the Protectorate, a young man vows to put an end to the evil witch who demands a sacrificial baby each year, but the real evil is waiting to be uncovered.   
 
Granted
by John David Anderson

Granted is a middle grade novel about Ophelia Delphinium Fidgets, a Granter fairy who’s been given her first wish-granting assignment. To complete her mission, she must leave the safety of the Haven for the first time. Her mentors warn her that the human world is a dangerous place, but Ophelia isn’t afraid. She’s packed everything she could possibly need and is ready to make one girl’s wish for a new bike come true ­– or, so she thinks. 

Show Reference Links:

Artist Duffy and the history of Iowa State Fair butter cows

More Middle Grade farm books from The Mixed Up Files of Middle Grade Authors 

More about bog ecosystems from National Geographic

Ms. Bixby’s Last Day

Teacher Guides from Pete Hautman