6 New Magical Middle Grade Fantasy Novels

This is another super fun urban fantasy where kids discover they have magical powers. This one is based on Afro Caribbean folklore. Misty recently moved from Trinidad to Brooklyn and is living with her aunt, uncle, and cousins until her mom can find a job. Then she and her cousins start seeing strange creatures, and they seem to have magical powers. Misty can see into the future. They learn that they’re from a long line of mokos, magical healers who help their community. Three mokos are born in each generation. It’s carnival season in Brooklyn, but an evil council member wants to shut it down. Saving the carnival will be their first challenge as mokos.

This middle grade graphic novel is great for kids who love magic schools. Jupiter has always wanted to attend the Seven Schools of Magic. Unfortunately, when she tests to join the school, her magic ability is very low, though she does pass the Earth Magic test. The Earth Mage accepts her as his apprentice—his only apprentice. While the other six schools have lots of students, she’s the only Earth magic student. Other students look down on Earth magic because it doesn’t require magical ability. What it does require is a lot of sweat to work with the magical creatures and garden. When a bully gets under Jupiter’s skin, she leaves the school. However, it turns out the school needs her now more than ever. This is the first book in a series.

This is a fun, feminist middle grade fantasy. Faye is the groundkeeper’s daughter of Wizard West’s castle. There are four wizards who play a vital role in ensuring the continued, centuries-long imprisonment of the evil Shadow Queen witch. Because of the Shadow Queen, women aren’t allowed to practice magic. But Faye is quite good at magic and secretly practices it to help the castle grounds. She’s also quite good with the castle’s lazy dragon and the topiary. When the hapless Wizard West dies, his ghost haunts the castle. Faye informs him that he’s dead, and he curses her to become part cat. He has to pick a successor fast, or else the castle will fall. He decides to host a tournament for wealthy male tweens to compete to become the next Wizard West. This is a standalone fantasy.

I really enjoyed the world-building in this first book in a planned series. Twelve-year-old Yeung Zhi Ging is training to become an immortal in a secret underwater world after being raised by an elderly healer woman and being shunned by her village because her hair doesn’t glow around dragon scales. The students have to pass challenges to stay in the program. Meanwhile, the entire kingdom is being attacked by zombie-like creatures, and Zhi has some kind of special power to pull rails out of the sky, which might be instrumental in preventing the creatures from attacking magic users if she could only figure out how to use the powers.

This is the second book in the Lei and the Legends series, which is based on Hawaiian mythology. The first book is Lei and the Fire Goddess. It’s just as action-packed as the first. Lei’s family’s aumakua, Kaipo—who is also her best friend—might remain a human after his pendant was stolen by Pele and her evil hawk companion. They have to find it fast, and they think it might be on an invisible island. Finding the island is the least of their worries, because when they do finally find it, evil creatures are waiting for them.

Smokey Bear’s 80th birthday was August 9th! I love this puzzle of him reading by the safely contained fire with some cubs. $35

My daughter’s favorite fantasy series is Cat and Cat Adventures, graphic novels for early readers. She turned a notebook into a Cat and Cat-themed activity book!

If you’d like to read more of my kidlit reviews, I’m on Instagram @BabyLibrarians, X @AReaderlyMom, Bluesky @AReaderlyMom, and blog irregularly at Baby Librarians. You can also read my Book Riot posts. If you’d like to drop me a line, my email is [email protected].

All the best,
Margaret Kingsbury