Kyle Kimmal, one of our Round I judges for Middle Grade Fiction, blogs at The Boy Reader. He's a third grade teacher, so he looks at a lot of books of interest to younger readers, but he also reviews other titles of interest to boys. (And getting more boys to read is definitely a good thing!)
Kyle recently posted about Cybils MG Fiction finalist The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter, author of Slob. The story follows the rather odd lives of the Hardscrabble siblings, not unlike Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events, and combines magic and realism into a unique adventure. Kyle says in his review:
Their journey is what I enjoyed most about this book. It is fun to follow these quirky kids. The longer I read the book the more I cared about them.
Read the full review here.