Gregor the Overlander book review

This is part of my continuing series, #iLoveMG , where I share middle grade books that my fifth graders recommend. (Please note that my fifth graders read a wide variety of books across a wide variety of genres, levels, and topics. Do not think that these books are "only" for fifth graders.) Or check out #3rdfor3rd for recommendations from when I taught third grade.

Gregor the Overlander

When Gregor finds himself falling down an air duct, He soon realizes he will not be coming back for a while. Can he face the rats to stop a war, follow a prophecy and find his dad? But his two year old sister might also not be the best person to take on a dangerous journey……….. I would rate this book ⅘ stars.

Gregor the Overlander is part of a five book series by author Susanne Collins (Hunger Games).   

Click here for all of our #iLoveMG posts. What are your favorite middle grade books?

Some Good Books

As part of our end-of-year wrap up in 5th grade, I asked my students to compile their own #BestBookList. They could choose an overall theme or not. You can see all of their recommendations at #BestBookList. For individual book recommendations, check out our  #iLoveMG posts. If you are looking for younger readers, #3rdfor3rd features recommendations from when I taught third grade.

Some Good Books

Recommended by Margaux

• So B. It by Sarah Weeks
• Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee
• Everything I Know about You by Barbara Dee
• Masterminds by Gordon Korman
• Blubber by Judy Blume
  
  
  Click here for all of our #BestBooks posts. What is your favorite middle grade book for 5th graders?
  

Read Your World Day!

This Thursday, January 30th, is Read Your World Day! #ReadYourWorld, formerly known as Multicultural Children's Book Day, is a celebration of children's literature and reading. You can read all about it here, on their website.  

Book Reviews

As a reviewer for Read Your World Day, I received two different books to review, and I am delighted to share them here with you. As always, my opinions are my own. 

WE SING FROM THE HEART by Mia Wenjen and illustrated by Victor Bizar Gómez is the story of Simon Tam and his Supreme Court case to trademark the band name The Slants. This is an interesting and engaging look at history-making in action: walking kids through the process of trademarks and how cases end up before the Supreme Court. 

There is a lot of great background information woven in, introducing readers to the history of anti-Asian sentiment and racist terminology, as well as how The Slants subverted and reappropriated those terms. An empowering and inspirational read!

I Have Cerebral Palsy by Mary Beth Springer is a photo essay about a child name Sydney who has cerebral palsy. The book's inclusion of photographs from Sydney's earliest days through her childhood helps young readers relate and connect to Sydney. Kids can see Sydney doing lots of activities that are also familiar to them (going to school, taking the bus, even playing baseball), making this a good, relatable way to introduce kids to celebral palsy. 

What are your favorite multicultural or diverse books? 

You can see more of my 5th graders' favorite books here: Click here for all of our #iLoveMG posts. 

Mock Sibert Winners 2025

The ALA Youth Media Awards are coming on Monday! (Livestream here on 1/27/25 at 8 am MT.) This is the Super Bowl of the kidlit world, when many of the major book awards are announced including the Newbery and Caldecott Awards. Every year, I try to have my students participate in at least one mock awards vote.

The past few years we've enjoyed Melissa Stewart's Sibert Smackdown. The Sibert Medal is for informational fiction (nonfiction), and each year Melissa shares her slate of top books for schools to host their own Mock Sibert voting. In coordination with our school librarian, my 5th graders have spent the past month reading, analyzing, and discussing their favorites among this year's choices.

We read aloud different books with each class, and it was interesting to see how much the voting was swayed by books we read aloud vs. books the students read and discussed in pairs. 

And the Winners Are ... 

In my first class, the winner was One Day This Tree Will Fall by Leslie Barnard Booth and illustrated by Stephanie Fizer Coleman! Our honor books were...

• Life After Whale by Lynn Brunelle and Jason Chin 

• What's Inside a Bird's Nest by Rachel Ignotofsky 

• Growing Up Under a Red Flag: A Memoir of Surviving the Chinese Cultural Revolution by Ying Chang Compestine and Xinmei Liu (This was was not from the Sibert Smackdown list but was a student favorite.)
   

In my second class, the winner was Narwhal: Unicorn of the Arctic by Candace Fleming and illustrated by Deena So'Oteh.

The honors books were...

• Almost Underwear: How a Piece of Cloth Traveled from Kitty Hawk to the Moon and Mars by Jonathan Roth

• The Painter and the President: Gilbert Stuart's Brush with George Washington by Sarah Albee and illustrated by Stacy Innerst

• Urban Coyotes by Mary Kay Carson and illustrated by Tom Uhlman

Bonus content: photo of the "Almost Underwear" taken over winter break at the Wright Brothers National Monument in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. 

Who are your top choices for the awards this year! Share a guess in the comments below!

Want more of my 5th graders' favorite books? Click here for all of our #iLoveMG posts. 

Mila's Best Books

As part of our end-of-year wrap up in 5th grade, I asked my students to compile their own #BestBookList. They could choose an overall theme or not. You can see all of their recommendations at #BestBookList. For individual book recommendations, check out our  #iLoveMG posts. If you are looking for younger readers, #3rdfor3rd features recommendations from when I taught third grade.

Best Books

Recommended by Mila

• The Parker Inheritance, a story about a girl and history 
• Love that Dog & Hate that Cat, two books of really good poetry 
• Super Boba Cafe, a book about a boba shop 
• The Maze Runner, A book about people being trapped in a giant maze
  
  Click here for all of our #BestBooks posts. What is your favorite middle grade book for 5th graders?
  

Books You Must Read by Katherine

As part of our end-of-year wrap up in 5th grade, I asked my students to compile their own #BestBookList. They could choose an overall theme or not. You can see all of their recommendations at #BestBookList. For individual book recommendations, check out our  #iLoveMG posts. If you are looking for younger readers, #3rdfor3rd features recommendations from when I taught third grade.

Books You Must Read (in my opinion)

Recommended by Katherine

• Wings of Fire is about 5 dragonets born to fulfill a prophecy and stop a war between tribes. It's also available as a graphic novel.

• Keeper of the Lost Cities is about a girl named Sophie who finds out she’s an elf, not a human. She moves to the Lost Cities, where the elves live, and she learns more about herself. 

• Percy Jackson is about a young demigod named Percy Jackson who goes to Camp Half-Blood and goes on many quests to save camp, himself, his friends, and the gods. 

• Spy School is about math genius Ben Ripley who gets into Spy School to train to be a spy. During his training, he is targeted by an enemy group whose mission is to get rich and cause chaos. 

• Harry Potter is about a boy who is a famous wizard for surviving Voldemort, a powerful evil wizard, when no one else had survived. Harry Potter goes to Hogwarts, a school for wizards and witches, and tries to stop Voldemort from coming back and ruling the world. 

• The Serpent’s Secret is about Kiranmala, a princess from another dimension, who finds out she is a princess and has to stop her evil father from his evil plans. 

• Battle Dragons is about a boy, Abel, and his 2 friends who try to stop the gang-like kins who terrorize the whole city while freeing dragons from the humans. Along his journey, he meets many amazing dragons who are hurt because of humans and some who lead the others to the wild. 

• Myth of Monsters: Medusa is about a girl, Ava, who tries to control her anger but fails, freezing her bully. She doesn’t know what happened, but soon her parents send her to a school for descendents of monsters. She learns she is a descendant of Medusa, who was locked up and misunderstood. Once Ava knows this, she goes on a quest to free Medusa from her prison. 

• Witchlings is about 3 girls, Seven, Thorn, and valley, who are placed in a second-rate group and are shunned. There is evil, though. And misunderstood. Seven and her friends have to fix things once and for all. 

• Amari and the Night Brothers is about a girl, Amari, who has “lost” her brother. Amari is soon accepted into a school for kids like her, and she gets a power, but an “evil” one. She meets someone else, but he betrays Amari by revealing her works for an ancient evil person, one of the night brothers, whose goal is to bring his twin back from the dead. The boy also reveals he has the same power as Amari. The forbidden one. Amari needs to stop her ex-friend and the one remaining night brother from ruling the world.

What do you think Katherine should read next? 

Click here for all of our #BestBooks posts. What is your favorite middle grade book for 5th graders?

Lucie's Best Books

As part of our end-of-year wrap up in 5th grade, I asked my students to compile their own #BestBookList. They could choose an overall theme or not. You can see all of their recommendations at #BestBookList. For individual book recommendations, check out our  #iLoveMG posts. If you are looking for younger readers, #3rdfor3rd features recommendations from when I taught third grade.

Best Books

Recommended by Lucie

Masterminds is a fun-filled book about a “real safe” world that might be a trap. 

The Wolf’s Curse is about a boy whose grandpa dies and has to learn how to take care of himself. 

Deenie is a book about a girl who has scoliosis and is embarrassed about it and has confidence issues with her back brace.

Just as Long a We're Together is about two girls who then find a friend who just moved there and then starts to take over the friend group. 

Restart is about a boy who falls off his roof and doesn’t know why. Lose your memory and find your life.

Click here for all of our #BestBooks posts. Which would you choose?