In this series, we’ll pick some of our favorite things about Minnesota and share some related book suggestions. (We’re open to your suggestions! Comment below or email us and tell us some of your favorite MN things!)

This week it’s all about middle grade books! Check out our list of middle grade novels set in Minnesota and leave a comment with one of your favorites!

Great Pumpkin Suite by Melanie Heuiser Hill
“Musically talented Rose is focused on winning the upcoming Bach Cello Suites Competition, while happy-go-lucky Thomas has taken up the challenge of growing a giant pumpkin in the yard of their elderly neighbor, Mr. Pickering. But when a serious accident changes the course of the summer, Rose is forced to grow and change in ways she never could have imagined. Along the way there’s tap dancing and classic musicals, mail-order worms and neighborhood-sourced compost, fresh-squeezed lemonade, the Minnesota State Fair — and an eclectic cast of local characters that readers will fall in love with.”

The Take Back of Lincoln Junior High by Roseanne Cheng
“Lincoln Junior High is out of money. For Andrew and Hannah, this means no sports, no music, and no fun. That is, until the principal begins a corporate sponsorship program to “Take-Back” the school. A few advertisements in exchange for cool programs and new technology can’t be that bad. Or can it?”

The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich
“The sole survivor of a smallpox epidemic on Spirit Island, Omakayas, then only a baby girl, was rescued by a fearless woman named Tallow and welcomed into an Ojibwa family on Lake Superior’s Madeline Island, the Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker. We follow Omakayas and her adopted family through a cycle of four seasons in 1847, including the winter, when a historically documented outbreak of smallpox overtook the island. 
The author’s softly hewn pencil drawings infuse life and authenticity to her poetic, exquisitely wrought narrative. Omakayas is an intense, strong, likable character to whom young readers will fully relate–from her mixed emotions about her siblings, to her discovery of her unique talents, to her devotion to her pet crow Andeg, to her budding understanding of death, life, and her role in the natural world. “

In this series, we’ll pick some of our favorite things about Minnesota and share some related book suggestions. (We’re open to your suggestions! Comment below or email us and tell us some of your favorite MN things!)

Favorite topic this week? Minnesota bees! Minnesota has nearly 400 species of native bees. Learn more from the Minnesota DNR’s website.

If Bees Are Few: A Hive of Bee Poems from the University of Minnesota Press
“An anthology of 2,500 years of poetry, from Sappho to Sherman Alexie, humming with bees, at a moment when the beloved honey makers and pollinators are in danger of disappearing.

Virgil wrote of bees, as did Shakespeare, Burns, Coleridge, Emerson, and Whitman, among many others. Amid the crisis befalling bees—hives collapsing, wild species disappearing—the poems collected here speak with a quiet urgency of a world lost if bees were to fall silent.”

The Winter Bees by Jill Kalz
“Behind each door of each small place in this collection of ten short stories, people mind their duties to keep a small town humming. The Winter Bees: Fiction introduces seemingly mundane lives lived in a rural Minnesota town and reveals journeys of personal discovery, meaning, love, and hope.”

 

A Photographic Guide to Some Common Wasps and Bees of Minnesota by Scott King
“A photographic guide to some common wasps and bees of Minnesota. Includes color photos and descriptions for over 125 species of wasps and bees observed in Minnesota. An excellent introductory reference to this interesting order of insects.”

Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold by Joyce Sidman
“In this outstanding picture book collection of poems by Newbery Honor-winning poet, Joyce Sidman (Song of the Water Boatman,Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night), discover how animals stay alive in the wintertime and learn about their secret lives happening under the snow. Paired with stunning linoleum print illustrations by Rick Allen, that celebrate nature’s beauty and power.”

 

In this series, we’ll pick some of our favorite things about Minnesota and share some related book suggestions. (We’re open to your suggestions! Comment below or email us and tell us some of your favorite MN things!)

Let’s continue to choose to enjoy the chilly temperatures recent weather has thrust upon us and take a look at another popular Minnesota pastime: ice fishing!

A Hard-Water World: Ice Fishing and Why We Do It by Greg Breining “Striking storytelling photographs by Layne Kennedy and engaging essays by outdoor writer and fisherman Greg Breining capture the quirky world of ice fishing-its natural beauty and solitary subzero vigils, along with its oddball practices and practitioners. Kennedy and Breining take readers to fun-filled if bizarre festivals that include “Guys on Ice” in Door County, Wisconsin, and the supremely self-mocking International Eelpout Festival on Minnesota’s Leech Lake, which honors a slimy, potbellied, finny critter.”

Something’s Fishy by Jean Gourounas “An ice fishing penguin grows increasingly aggravated as his line fails to attract fish, but his activity attracts a cast of curiously chatty polar characters. A fast-paced and entertaining read-aloud that provides ample opportunity for character voices and multiple punchlines. ”

 

The Fish House Book: Life on Ice in the Northland by Kathryn Nordstrom “If you’re a fan of ice fishing or have ever wondered about those little houses on the northern lakes, The Fish House Book will entertain and enlighten you. Photos of fish houses are coupled with fishing contests, a fish house parade, ice activities and even a wedding on ice. “