Most Anticipated 2018 Releases

It’s that time of year again! This was probably the first year where I AGONISED over my choices for my most anticipated, purely because there are SO many I wanna read next year. However, to make this blog post readable, I’ve narrowed down a few of my favs. I decided to focus on middle grade, mainly coz that’s the genre I read (and heart) the most. These are five books I’m really looking forward to:

Take the hilarious, magic-infused world of Eva Ibbotson’s Which Witch, add the lovable feuding family from The Incredibles, and you’ll get Wizardmatch–funny, fantastical, action-packed, and totally heartwarming.

Eleven year old Lennie Mercado loves magic. She practices her invisibility powers all the time (she can now stay invisible for fifteen seconds!), and she dreams of the day that she can visit her grandfather, the Prime Wizard de Pomporromp, at his magical estate.

Now, Lennie has her chance. Poppop has decided to retire, and his grandchildren are coming from all over to compete in Wizardmatch. The winner inherits his title, his castle, and every single one of his unlimited magical powers. The losers get nothing. Lennie is desperate to win, but when Poppop creates a new rule to quelch any sibling rivalry, her thoughts turn from winning Wizardmatch to sabotaging it…even if it means betraying her family.

Comedic, touching, and page-turny, Wizardmatch is perfect for fans of Mr. Lemencello’s Library, The Gollywopper Games, and The Candymakers

Lauren, for me, is a must buy author. I LOVE EVERYTHING SHE’S DONE. Also, she’s been teasing this book on twitter this year, and it sounds like everything I love in middle grade: funny, magical and feminist.

The middle grade fantasy novel follows a 12-year-old girl born in a city where no girls are allowed to make music and the cloistered girls are instead trained to spin boys’ songs into gold; when Delphernia begins to sing her own songs in secret, she discovers a new kind of magic that will change everything.

Full disclosure: Hayley is one of my favourite people on twitter. She’s smart, her poodle feels me with dog-envy, and she gives great book recs. But her book sounds SO good. I love the gentle magic that this summary conveys, and although I’m not musical at all, I have this thing with books about music. Although this isn’t scheduled to come out until Autumn next year (BOO), and doesn’t even have a title yet, this is a read I already can’t wait for.

After Cecelia Dahl’s little brother, Celadon, dies tragically, his soul goes where all souls go: The Land of Yesterday. And Cecelia is left behind in a fractured world without him. Her beloved house’s spirit is crumbling beyond repair, her father is imprisoned by sorrow, and worst of all, her grief-stricken mother abandons the land of the living to follow Celadon into Yesterday.

It’s up to Cecelia to put her family back together, even if that means venturing into the dark and forbidden Land of Yesterday on her own. But as Cecilia braves a hot air balloon commanded by two gnomes, a sea of daisies, and the Planet of Nightmares, it’s clear that even if she finds her family, she might not be able to save them. And if she’s not careful, she might just become a lost soul herself, trapped forever in Yesterday. 

I MEAN, look how gorgeous that cover is?!!! This book sounds full like it’s full of whimsy and magic, and is giving me serious Cat Valente-vibes. I love anything ghost-ly and middle grade, and can’t wait to get my hands on this one!

From the New York Times bestselling author of A Snicker of Magicand The Key to Extraordinary comes a new middle grade series about seven strange siblings all born on a different day of the week and the neighbors who keep trying to tear their family apart.

When the Problim children’s ramshackle bungalow in the Swampy Woods goes kaboom, the seven siblings and their pet pig have no choice but to move into their Grandpa’s abandoned old mansion in Lost Cove. No problem! For the Problim children, every problem is a gift.

Wendell and Thea—twins born two minutes apart on a Wednesday and a Thursday—see the move as a chance to make new friends in time for their birthday cake smash. But the neighbors find the Problims’ return problematic—what with Sal’s foggy garden full of Wrangling Ivy, toddler Toot’s 365 stanktastic fart varieties, and Mona’s human catapult.

Truth be told, rumors are flying about the Problims! Rumors of a bitter feud, a treasure, and a certain kind of magic lingering in the halls of #7 Main Street. And the neighbors will do anything to get their hands on those secrets—including sending the Problim children to seven different homes on seven different continents!

With a snicker of Lemony Snicket, a dollop of the Addams Family, and a healthy dose of charm, The Problim Children is an unforgettable tale about adventure, family, and finding the courage to tackle any problem heart-first.

This one should come as no surprise, considering how much I rave about Natalie’s first two books. The summary alone makes my heart full–it sounds like family and mischief galore! UBER excited for this one.

A Tim Burtonesque retelling of The Picture of Dorian Gray aimed at Middle Graders. 

The most peculiar things always happen to Bryony Gray. As if it isn’t bad enough that her uncle keeps her locked in the attic, forcing her to paint for his
rich clients, she’s becoming rather well known in the art world… since all her customers seem to go missing.

When her newest painting escapes the canvas and rampages through the streets of London, Bryony digs into her family history, discovering some rather scandalous secrets her uncle has been keeping, including a deadly curse she’s inherited from her missing father. It turns out, Bryony has accidentally unleashed the Gray family curse, and it’s spreading fast.

With a little help from the strange-but-beautiful girl next door and her paranoid brother, Bryony sets out to break the curse, dodging bloodthirsty paintings, angry mobs and her wicked uncle along the way.

Can we just go over that tag line again? A Tim Burtonesque retelling of The Picture of Dorian Gray aimed at Middle Graders. I’m 100% sold—The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of my fav classics, and Burtonesque sounds RIGHT up my street. This is another debut novel that I’m eagerly anticipating.

So, those are five novels that I’m excited to read in 2018. What are you most excited to read next year?

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