Two for them and one for you
School’s out forever (jk, for summer)
When I was a kid, summers were like, “Welp, children, see you when we see you!” For me, this involved a lot of one-handed biking, swinging on swingsets, playing Nintendo, and wandering around my house trying desperately to find something new to read.
This was almost certainly why I read James Clavell’s Shogun at a wildly inappropriate young age, not to mention Michael Crichton’s Disclosure.
Anyway, my mother-in-law-as-was told me once that her mom just left books on her bed during mandatory summer chill times. This is a cool idea! In my experience, both as a book-curious kid and as a parent, if you have books lying around and a bored reader, those books will get read. Though sometimes, you may need to pointedly leave one on a bed.
But also, you need books for your own self! So I’ve included one that I particularly enjoyed reading during a very hot summer week for reasons you will learn.
For more books for kids, check out this beaut written by my then-11-year-old: EELS: You know, for the kids! There’s also EELS: A gift guide for aunts and uncles (which covers kids of all ages).
Check out all my past recommendations, linked to all the past EELSes, in one easy-to-scan spreadsheet!. Click this link, hit “request access,” and if you’re on my subscriber list, it’s yours for the taking.
👺 The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge
M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin, 2018
OK, first, I genuinely love this middle grade fantasy book for being so clever and funny—a satirical, illustrated romp about goblins and elves that gives kids a huge lesson for Our Times without them even knowing it. History is heavily laced with propaganda, young people! Trust no one! Also, isn’t art neat!
And second, my sixth-grader book pal Zahra lent this to me, and I want to say publicly that she has excellent taste. I couldn’t put it down.
But third, I just realized that the author is the same author who wrote Feed. I think about Feed constantly—another huge lesson for Our Times! But, listen, the author of a novel about an algorithm-driven near-future in which all humans are completely driven by minute-by-minute trends beamed directly into their brains now writes National Book Award finalist middle grade fantasy political satires?? I guess, actually, that makes some sense. M.T. Anderson would like your child to grow up more aware, and I think we would all benefit from this book ending up on your kid’s bed. But also on your bed.
Recommended for: Those who want to laugh while they whisper “I know it’s 1am, but I’ll just read one more chapter to see what happens. OK, and now another one. I am definitely a grown adult!”
🏮 A Wish in the Dark
Christina Soontornvat, 2020
Here’s another one handed to me by a precocious reader accompanied by a demand. This is also why I have read the first five Percy Jackson books (my niece dropped them all off en masse). I’d recommend those, too.
I was halfway through this one, which is set in a fictional, somewhat fantastical Southeast Asia, when… wait une seconde. This is Les Miserables. I couldn’t believe it! One kid is on the run for stealing a fruit, and this other kid is part of this law enforcement situation and she is obsessed with finding him. Meanwhile, he’s got all these noble other causes he’s trying to sort out to help the miserable poor in the streets. Look down!
And then she lets him go for like the 80th time and jumps off a bridge, but gets a great solo out of it.
Just kidding! It’s a book for kids! I was so fascinated once I started putting the pieces together, though, and the author confirmed all my suspicions in the afterword. But all that aside, my middle grade reader just liked the book for itself. It’s clever, has a complex, carefully done message, and is a really rich, interesting world. Who cares about classic literature, am I right? (I’m not.)
Recommended for: 24601
☁️ Great Circle
Maggie Shipstead, 2021
I’ve been wondering how I could worm this book in—this, the book I shouted at everyone about before I shouted at everyone about Demon Copperhead.
It’s a very jam-packed story about a woman named Marian who flies planes. She has a lot of trauma in her life, she has a brother she adores, and she wants to make an insane trip around the world on a longitudinal line.
Maggie Shipstead is an excellent writer who has the gift of making you feel like you can see and feel ice crystals in the air around you. This is key when it is August—the month of being stuck inside—and you question the life choices that kept you from moving to Scandinavia. Great Circle deserved its Booker finalist status, and you can read it at the pool or at home or anywhere. It’s an anywhere book.
Recommended for: Those who want a summer read that isn’t a waste of words.
Another thing I think you should check out
Last week, I hyped Julia Malleck’s Snake Oil but forgot to actually link to it, like a true, rushed scatterbrain.
The good news is, now the first installment about Starseeds exists, so I can just send you straight there. Enjoy!
👼Why TikTok thinks you’re a space angel
And now, a bonus recommendation
🏀 Falling Short — Ernesto Cisneros, 2022
“Good book for rising middle schoolers age 8-12 who might be struggling with sports or school. Great motivational story.”
Recommended by: Archie, age 12, who then shouted “END QUOTE!” The last three books he loved were To Kill a Mockingbird, A Cricket in Times Square, and Hatchet. If you have any YA book recs for me, let me know. I am always, always looking for books to put on his bed.
That was the forty-third EELS! As always, send any and all questions, feedback, and shouted book recommendations by hitting reply.
📚 Susan
YA recommendation: Willa of the Wood and its sequel, Willa of Dark Hollow. Historical fiction! It's about a girl but not *girly*, in case that matters.
Great Circle really is THAT BOOK -- an anywhere book. I recommend to everyone, too. It's awesome for a thick summer read.