The best heart-warming middle-grade stories with hints of paranormal activity

The book series targets a young audience craving action and adventure on a newer, more appropriate, and more mature level. So many children gravitate toward stories that might be inappropriate for their age. They are drawn to the plot and characters, but are unfortunately hit with all of the negative language and content that comes with it.

Being a teacher, I see this negativity spill out in the classroom.

The Last Kids on Earth, is a perfect balance of adventure and fright that excites and engages the reluctant readers I see too often at school. I love that there are wonderful illustrations and word bubbles on every page, mixed in with middle-grade text. For readers looking to move from chapter books to graphic novels, this is a perfect transition. This series is an eye-popping, gross-out, nail-biting good time with pleasing character development. Highly recommend!

My son, who is now eight, despised reading—to the point where he would do anything to avoid it. Seeing him re-read an entire series is beyond exciting for me—not to mention, the stories and characters remind me of the students I teach: Goofy, curious, naive, inquisitive, and caring.

What I like about The Dairy of a Wimpy Kid is that Jeff Kinney mixes in doodles and comic-like drawings to add to the main character’s wild thoughts, concerns, ideas, and accounts.

It’s also very funny. I love hearing my son laugh out loud as he turns each page. He’ll even stop and share some of the hilarious moments with the entire family.

So, why am I making note of this? Because one thing I haven’t focused on in my writing is humor—something I want to try in my future works.

Adrian J. Walker takes you on a scenic adventure across England as his characters struggle to survive a world-ending meteor strike. I love this story as it hits all the elements of a great story: love, struggle, adventure, survival, humor, horror, and drama!

Why would I recommend this book? Because you can’t help but wonder if you’d do the same thing as the protagonist. You can’t help but empathize with him. I mean, what would you do if a meteor was about to destroy everything? How would you save your family? What would you do to keep alive? What if you and your family got separated? Would you run across the country to find them?

It’s about an autistic boy trying to solve the murder of a neighbor's dog and discovers wild truths about himself and the world. He loves animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched, and he hates yellow. I liked Christopher and his unique view on life. Somehow, the author makes Christopher’s little world an incredibly interesting and thrilling place to be.

I recommend this book because it takes you on a unique detective-like adventure where you’re dying to know how Christopher navigates the real world with such unique qualities.

The story is heart-warming, educating, and humorous at the same time.

The adventures of Asterix and Obelix focus on their wild skirmishes with the Romans. It’s a wonderful series of graphic books that help strengthen the imagination while sharing a comical twist on ancient history. I grew up with these books and they inspired me to draw—and ultimately become an author.

My writing career began as an illustrator, and I now use illustrations in all of my children and middle-grade books.

I can’t help but recommend the Asterix series because without it, I may not have taken the creative path I am on today. The illustrations (originally designed by Albert Uderzo) are probably the most detailed and original you’ll ever see. It was his wildly funny and eye-popping drawings that helped the books jump off the shelf every time I visited a book store.

The author (Rene Goscinny) pieced together the wonderfully funny historical adventures, making this series my all time favorite growing up.