This week’s new LGBTQ-inclusive middle grade novels are tales of magic, mystery, monsters, and combinations thereof—perfect warm-ups for the upcoming spooky season. And two of the three have bi representation!
Click titles or images for full reviews, including more on the queer representation in the books!
The Burn Beast, by Mary Averling (G. P Putnam’s Sons): Eighth-grader Pira has moved to a creepy new town with her two detective moms to investigate a cold-case disappearance. Nothing burns within the town limits, ever since a fire raged through the area 30 years ago. As Pira begins to make new friends, though, she learns that the old logging region is actually full of “burnlings,” fire demons that none of the adults want to acknowledge—and that seem tied to the disappearance of her friend (and crush) Jackie’s sister. (Pira says that she’s had crushes on both boys and girls before.) But as Pira and friends investigate, the danger grows….
The twisty plot, with age-appropriate horror elements and a quirky, resourceful group of youth, makes for an exciting read, while the character development (particularly of Pira and Jackie) adds depth. There are underlying messages about environmentalism, the perils of corporate greed, what adults pass on to the next generation, and standing up to create change, but Averling avoids both pedantry and simplistic answers, creating a highly recommended title with (appropriately) a lot of warmth.
Riley Dare: Slightly Witchy Sleuth, by M.K. England (Penguin Workshop): Twelve-year-old Riley Dare loves puzzles and mysteries and can add her special touch of slight magic to any of the themed settings of her aunt’s escape room. Riley’s own life, however, is one of the few mysteries she can’t solve. She’s never met her parents, and her aunt refuses to say what has happened to them.
When a popular children’s mystery author disappears during an escape room session, however, the bad publicity could mean that the escape room will have to close for good. Riley refuses to let that happen, and sets out with her best friends to solve the crime—but is the perpetrator a mysterious ghost in the escape room or someone much more human?
The twisty mystery is full of spookiness, humor, and magic, but Riley makes it shine. She’s capable and clever and leans into that in a self-assured way that feels refreshing for a middle-grade protagonist. With a penchant for short hair, button-down shirts, and bow ties, Riley is also at the very least gender creative. Whether she also identifies anywhere else on the LGBTQ spectrum remains to be seen (but given England’s own agender identity, I think it likely). This is the first book of a planned trilogy, though, so I suspect we’ll learn more with the books to come in this highly recommended series.
Spells to Mend Broken Hearts, by Marissa Macy (Scholastic): Fifteen-year-old Alex didn’t plan to start high school sidelined from field hockey by an ACL injury and separated from her friends—but her parents have just moved her and her older brother across the country to help her cancer-stricken aunt (who has a wife) run her “crystal emporium/bookshop/candle store.” Her parents have been fighting, however, and Alex fears they may divorce.
When she discovers her Cuban grandmother’s book On Small Magics, with various rituals and charms, she tries a spell hoping to attract a friend—and soon strikes up a friendship with cool, goth, tarot-loving classmate Tess. They bond over Alex’s witchy book, and begin doing rituals together to make adjustments to their everyday lives. Alex wants her parents to stay together; Alex wants to get back together with an old boyfriend, the brother of Alex’s other new friend, Cameron.
Things don’t go exactly as planned, of course, particularly as Alex realizes she has a crush on Tess. (Both have had crushes on both boys and girls, although Alex says of her identity, “I’m still figuring it out.”) Macy uses magic as a tool for helping the characters know themselves and work through grief and change, exploring the question of how much control they have over their lives and what to do when there are things beyond that control. The book gives each of its main characters a thoughtful, nuanced arc of personal (and interpersonal) growth—but who’s to say that lighting a candle or two along the way didn’t help?