Top 10 middle-grade books of 2014

Written by Sally Gardner and illustrated by David Roberts, Square Fish

Emily Vole has just inherited an abandoned shop, some keys and a cat named Fidget from her recently deceased neighbor Mrs. Sting. She quickly discovers that this is no ordinary shop, but one that opens the doors to a magical realm. When she learns of a troublesome witch living in this fantastical land, it becomes her job to rally the fairies at the old Fairy Detective Agency and embark on Operation Bunny to save the fairies.

Written by Kenneth Oppel, HarperCollins 

Willim Everett’s adventure on the new majestic train, The Boundless, is rife with heinous villains and suspenseful escapes.

Written and illustrated by Dav Pilkey, Hachette 

This eleventh installment of this series features a vengeful toilet that devours everything in sight. Will Captain Underpants save the day?

Written by Malala Yousafzai, Little, Brown Books

Malala Yousafzai tells her inspirational story of how she risked her life to defend her right to education. Written for school-aged readers, so they, too, can learn her message of hope.

Written by Raina Telgemeler, Scholastic *

This sequel to the best-selling graphic novel Smile shows a big sister learning what it really takes to welcome a new baby to the family.

Written by Alison Hughes, Orca Books

This book is a hilarious “science project” (complete with pie charts, graphs and case studies) that measures the level of jerk-iness in really annoying people throughout human history. It even comes with a quiz so readers can find out what their own jerk-y score is. 

Written by Dav Pilkey, illustrated by Dan Santat, Scholastic

The bestselling author of Captain Underpants tells the tale of how Ricky, a shy and reticent mouse, meets Mighty Robot, who helps him step out of his shell.

Written by Karen Foxlee, RandomHouse

If science can’t prove it to be true, Ophelia Jane Worthington-Whittard won’t believe it. But when her family moves to a new town (where it mysteriously never stops snowing) for her father’s recently acquired museum job, she meets a strange boy in the museum one evening. She soon learns that he’s a captive of the evil and magical Snow Queen. Quickly, everything Ophelia ever knew to be true is called into question and she’s launched into an adventure to save the world.

Written by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare, Scholastic

Two bestselling authors have come together to produce a five-book series full of suspense and magic. In the first installment, readers meet twelve-year-old Callum, who doesn’t want to have anything to do with magic. His dad had been proselytizing how dangerous and evil it is since the Mages (magic users) killed Callum’s mother when he was a kid. Callum desperately tries to fail the Iron Trial (a test most kids his age can’t wait to take due to the possibility of being admitted to the Magisterium school of magic), but he passes and is admitted to the school, where finally begins to learn the truth about his family’s past. 

Written by Dan Bar-el and illustrated by Tatjana Mai-Wyss, Tundra Books

When Audrey the cow learns that she’s headed for the slaughterhouse (oh my!), her barnyard friends help her plan a great escape.