- @teacher_mr_r
Hidden Gems
Recently, one of the regulars at my #SundayMorningBookBlether chat suggested I ran some end of year awards. I loved the idea and said yes (although I didn't realise quite what an undertaking it would be at the time). The categories are linked to subjects that have been discussed in the book chat this year and one of my favourite categories was 'Hidden Gems' as I am always keen to champion fantastic books that don't always get the publicity they deserve.
So I asked for nominations for the category and was overwhelmed with the amount of responses and the diverse range of fabulous books that are not getting the profile they deserve. Here is the twitter feed if you want to take a look:
Or if you want to see the individual books I have organised them on a Wakelet as well:
The difficulty I have with all the nominations is that there are so many of them (over 50) and they are all deserving. I didn't want to discount any books because although I consider one or two of them popular on Twitter, the fantastic book community on Twitter is not a reflection of the general teaching world and what I may consider well known may in fact have very little traction in the real world.
I have divided the books into 2 categories: Middle Grade (including books suitable for approx. aged 7-11) and Young Adult (including books suitable for 11+ so this list has some upper KS2 books in it) to make the lists more manageable there are some books on the YA list that could easily fit in the MG list but are also appropriate for YA (otherwise i would have ended up with one very long list and one very short one as the majority of books nominated were suitable for Middle Grade). Apologies for any names misspelt or any books that are in the wrong category-some were borderline and the split was mainly to make the lists more manageable.
So here are the lists. I have tried to link in book reviews to as many as possible so that anyone interested in the books can learn a bit more.
Below the lists are the Google Forms for you to vote. This is such a difficult category to vote for as surely the more popular books will get more votes? (Which is sort of defeating the point of the category), so to be honest I'm more interest in helping these fabulous books get a higher profile so please share this post widely to help get the names out there. Also, perhaps you could buy one or two of the books you don't already have and then rave about them on social media-help create the book buzz these books deserve.
Middle Grade Hidden Gems
The Museum's Secret by Henry Chancellor
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
Lena, The Sea and Me by Maria Parr
The Tigers in the Tower by Julia Golding
Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper
Midsummer's Mayhem by Rajani LaRocca
The Naming of Tishkin Silk by Glenda Millard
The Murderer's Ape by Jakob Wegelius
Oranges in No Man's Land by Elizabeth Laird
The Children of Swallow Fell by Julia Green
The Unadoptables by Hana Tooke
The Maker of Monsters by Lorraine Gregory
The Secret of Purple Lake by Yaba Badoe
The God of Small Boys by Joseph Lamb
Saturdays at the Imaginarium by Shauna Darling Robertson
The Key To Finding Jack By Ewa Jozefkowicz
5 minute really true stories for Bedtime published by Britannica
It's a Great Big Colourful World by Tom Schamp
Real Life Disasters by Susan Martineau & Vicky Barker
Life of Riley: Beginners Lick by Simon James Green
When Life Gives You Mangoes by Kareen Getten
The Orphan's of St Halibuts by Sophie Wells
My Life as a Cat by Carlie Sorosiak
The School for Nobodies by Susie Bower
The Mask of Aribella by Anna Hoghton
The Garden of Lost Secrets by A.M. Howell
Where the World Turns Wild by Nicola Penfold
Orion Lost by Alistair Chisholm
The Risen Sea by Bren MacDibble
The House of One Hundred Clocks by A.M. Howell
YA Hidden Gems
The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
Jessica's Ghost by Andrew Norris
Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver
The Great Godden by Meg Rosoff
Sisters of Scarlet by Emily Bain Murphy
A Game of Fox and Squirels by Jenn Reese
The Door that Led to Where by Sally Gardner
Lenny's Book of Everything by Karen Foxlee
My Name is Leon by Kit De Waal
The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
The Great and Calamitous Take of Johann Thomas by Ian Thornton
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley