The October 2023 middle grade books Spotlight is now complete! You can download the slideshow and booklist without worrying I will add anything new.
I define middle grade books as those for students in Grades 3-8. Anything for Grades 7+ will go on my YA Spotlight, and yes, some books may appear on both lists. This list has two such titles: Plague-Busters and Shipwrecked. Both titles are nonfiction.
NEW IN OCTOBER: Sequels are now listed at the bottom of this post, as well as in the last slides of the Google presentation linked below.
Also a reminder – the book information I added to the previous Spotlights has not changed! I still add the book’s genre, setting, protagonist description, themes, grade level recommendations, and my notes. They are now in the Google presentation instead of in the post.
I’m putting that information in the Google Slides because the post would be a very long scroll by the end of the month if I added them here. With the Google presentation, it’s a “sideways” scroll, but you can also easily share the information with students in the library. Simply delete the information you don’t want to include.
HOW TO USE THE OCTOBER 2023 MIDDLE GRADE BOOKS SPOTLIGHT IN YOUR LIBRARY
This post has five parts. I’ve linked each below for easy reference, but they are also linked in the body of this post.
- Google Slides presentation – click “use template” to make a copy – share with students and teachers!
- printable list of MG October 2023 Spotlight titles – sorted by genre; click “use template” to make a copy – see the second slide
- The Ginormous Book List – this month’s list starts with #3601
- Amazon-linked book covers, sorted by genre and topic – links are in Part IV below
- Sequels – these are also Amazon links, but they are not sorted by genre
PART I: GOOGLE SLIDES PRESENTATION – OCTOBER 2023 MIDDLE GRADE BOOKS
The first part of the New Release Spotlight is the Google Slides presentation. This is downloadable, editable, and FREE!
A few reminders and items I had questions about last month:
- The Google Slides presentation includes each book’s publisher’s summary, genre, setting, grade levels, themes, protagonist description, and any notes I might need to add. This is the special book information that was previously included in the Spotlight; it’s just in a different place now.
- This presentation is complete as of October 30, 2023. No new titles will be added, so you can download and edit the presentation as needed.
- The new books I add are not automatically added to any copies of the presentation you add to your Google Drive. You will have to redownload them to get the most recent update.
- This presentation is great to play on a loop in the library! Students and teachers will inevitably ask you to order some of the books – it’s a great way to develop a student-centered library collection.
Click here to download the presentation. Click “Use Template” in the
top-right corner to make an editable copy for your own Google Drive.
PART II – PRINTABLE LIST OF OCTOBER 2023 MIDDLE GRADE BOOKS BY GENRE AND TOPIC
You can download a two-page, printable list from this Google page. This list is also complete as of October 30, 2023.
The list is sorted by genre and topic. Includes book title and author’s last name. The list is fully-editable, so you can add or remove whatever you need to suit the needs of your library.
Books that fall into more than one genre are listed under each genre (so some titles are on the list more than once).
PART III – THE GINORMOUS BOOK LIST
Since October 2019, I have added the New Release Spotlight books to The Ginormous Booklist. This is a huge Google spreadsheet that currently has over 3600 titles for K-12.
I will continue to add information from the October Spotlight titles to The Ginormous as normal. Scroll to the bottom for the newest titles. The October 2023 Spotlight titles are #3601 – #3682 on The Ginormous Booklist.
PART IV – OCTOBER 2023 MIDDLE GRADE BOOK COVERS WITH AMAZON LINKS
The fourth part of the October 2023 Middle Grade Spotlight is a sorting area by genre and topic.
The cover images below are clickable Amazon Affiliate links. If you use them to make a purchase, I will get a small commission from your purchase.
I am including the cover images below to help make it easier for you to find the books. I know I sometimes have trouble finding them on Titlewave just by title or author.
The book cover links below will tell you the ISBN (scroll down to Amazon’s book details) and give you an overall list of books without having to scroll through the entire Google presentation.
This section is also complete as of October 30, 2023.
Because some books fall into multiple genre or topic categories, you will find some books listed more than once below.
NONFICTION
ADVENTURE
GRAPHIC NOVELS
ILLUSTRATED NOVELS
STEM / STEAM
FANTASY
MYSTERY
NOVEL IN VERSE / EPISTOLARY
REALISTIC FICTION
MYTHOLOGY
SCIENCE FICTION
SURVIVAL
DYSTOPIA
HOLIDAYS / SEASONAL
FICTIONALIZED MEMOIR
HISTORICAL FICTION
HUMOR
MAGICAL REALISM
PART V – OCTOBER SEQUELS
MORE OCTOBER 2023 BOOK RELEASES
ABOUT THE SPOTLIGHT
The New Release Spotlight began in May 2016 as a way to help librarians keep up with the many new children’s and YA books that are released each week.
Each week, school librarian Leigh Collazo compiles the New Release Spotlight using a combination of Follett’s Titlewave, Amazon, Goodreads, and Barnes and Noble. Recommended grade levels represent the range of grade levels recommended by professional book reviewers. See the full selection criteria here.
Each month, there are far more books that meet my criteria than can make it on the Spotlight. When I have to make the tough decisions on what to include, I just use my “librarian judgment.” Would I buy this book for my own library? Would my students want to read this book? Is the cover appealing? Does it fill a need?
The Google Slides presentation now includes sequels. Scroll to the last few slides for images of each sequel.