After doing this for a few years, I just get happy if I can pick few enough to make the number somewhat sensible.  Not sure that 30 counts for that!  But I really had a hard time cutting the number down any farther.  So here are my Top 25 Middle Grade Books of 2014:

 

Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff

Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms by Katherine Rundell

 

Categorical Universe of Candice Phee by Barry Jonsberg

The Children of the King by Sonya Hartnett

 

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

Curiosity by Gary L. Blackwood

  

The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm

Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky

 

Half a Chance by Cynthia Lord

Half a World Away by Cynthia Kadohata

 

The Luck Uglies by Paul Durham

The Madman of Piney Woods by Christopher Paul Curtis

 

The Meaning of Maggie by Megan Jean Sovern

Nest by Esther Ehrlich

 

The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier

Nightingale’s Nest by Nikki Loftin

 

Nine Open Arms by Benny Lindelauf

Outside In by Sarah Ellis

 

Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin

The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney

 

The Secret Hum of a Daisy by Tracy Holczer

The Swallow by Charis Cotter

 

The Thickety by J. A. White

The Turtle of Oman by Naomi Shihab Nye

West of the Moon by Margi Preus