2023 Blogging A to Z: Zany
I can’t believe we’ve already reached the letter “Z” It has been a very busy month and I’m so glad I got to share over 300 titles and authors with you! For the letter “Z”, I chose the word zany. Zany became my catch-call letter for some really fun, wacky, crazy, scary, silly stories that I didn’t want to ignore. Enjoy all of these great books and make sure to stop back tomorrow for a complete list of all the adjectives I chose this month as well as a link to all of the book lists! Happy reading!
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read the full disclosure for more information.
2023 Blogging A to Z: Zany
The Adventures of a South Pole Pig by Chris Kurtz
Flora’s a die-hard dreamer. She’s never left the farm, but she knows she was born for adventure. She’s determined to become a sled pig!
A harrowing voyage to Antarctica, a bacon-loving cook, and a shipwreck in deadly conditions stand between Flora and her dream. What will happen to Flora, whose companions see her as more of a meal than an adventurer?
As the ship’s captain says, you never know where brains and talent will come from. They just may come from this brave pig.
Almost Super by Marion Jensen
Everyone over the age of twelve in the Bailey family gets a superpower. No one knows why, and no one questions it. All the Baileys know is that it’s their duty to protect the world from the evil, supervillainous Johnson family. shake fists
But when Rafter Bailey and his brother Benny get their superpowers, they’re, well . . . super-lame. Rafter can strike matches on polyester, and Benny can turn his innie belly button into an outie. Along with Rafter’s algebra class nemesis, Juanita Johnson, Rafter and Benny realize that what they thought they knew about superheroes and supervillains may be all wrong.
And it’s up to the three of them to put asides their differences and make things right. They may not have great powers, but together, they’re almost super.
Doll Bones by Holly Black
Zach, Poppy, and Alice have been friends forever. And for almost as long, they’ve been playing one continuous, ever-changing game of pirates and thieves, mermaids and warriors. Ruling over all is the Great Queen, a bone-china doll cursing those who displease her.
But they are in middle school now. Zach’s father pushes him to give up make-believe, and Zach quits the game. Their friendship might be over, until Poppy declares she’s been having dreams about the Queen—and the ghost of a girl who will not rest until the bone-china doll is buried in her empty grave.
Zach and Alice and Poppy set off on one last adventure to lay the Queen’s ghost to rest. But nothing goes according to plan, and as their adventure turns into an epic journey, creepy things begin to happen. Is the doll just a doll or something more sinister? And if there really is a ghost, will it let them go now that it has them in its clutches?
The 14 Fibs of Gregory K. by Greg Pincus
Gregory K is the middle child in a family of mathematical geniuses. But if he claimed to love math? Well, he’d be fibbing. What he really wants most is to go to Author Camp. But to get his parents’ permission he’s going to have to pass his math class, which has a probability of 0. THAT much he can understand! To make matters worse, he’s been playing fast and loose with the truth: “I LOVE math” he tells his parents. “I’ve entered a citywide math contest!” he tells his teacher. “We’re going to author camp!” he tells his best friend, Kelly. And now, somehow, he’s going to have to make good on his promises.
Hilariously it’s the “Fibonacci Sequence” — a famous mathematical formula! — that comes to the rescue, inspiring Gregory to create a whole new form of poem: the Fib! Maybe Fibs will save the day, and help Gregory find his way back to the truth.
The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier
More than just a spooky tale, it’s also a moral fable about human greed and the power of storytelling. The story follows 14-year-old Molly and her younger brother, Kip, orphans fleeing the Irish famine who travel to work as servants at a creepy, crumbling English manor house. But the house and its family are not quite what they seem. Soon the children are confronted by a mysterious specter and an ancient curse that threatens their very lives. They will be forced to make decisions that could spell their doom.
The master and mistress of the house, and their two children begin to grow pale and gaunt; their eyes and hair become dark and black. Entering the forbidden room at the top of the stairs, Molly finds a knothole in the tree there that magically produces whatever one wishes for (money, jewels, treats). The price, however, is one that most would not be willing to pay, the high, high price is a piece of the petitioner’s soul. Footprints and dead leaves in the house reveal an evil nighttime visitor, the “Night Gardener” of the title.
Pi in the Sky by Wendy Mass
Joss is the seventh son of the Supreme Overlord of the Universe. His older brothers help his dad rule the cosmos, but all Joss gets to do is deliver pies. That’s right: pies. Of course, these pies actually hold the secrets of the universe between their buttery crusts, but they’re still pies.
Joss is happy to let his older brothers shine. He has plenty to keep his hands full: attempting to improve his bowling score; listening to his best friend, Kal, try (and fail) to play the drums; and exploring his ever-changing home, The Realms. But when Earth suddenly disappears, Joss is tasked with the seemingly impossible job of bringing it back. With the help of Annika, an outspoken girl from Earth, he embarks on the adventure of a lifetime…and learns that the universe is an even stranger place than he’d imagined.
Strange, But True by Ellen Potter
HARDY-HAR-HAR!
Meet Otis Dooda. Yes, that’s his name. Go on and have a good laugh. He’s heard it all before. He’s been called things like Otis Poopy Stink and Otis Toilet Twinkie. That’s right, yuck it up and get it out of your system. We’ll wait.
All right then. This is the story of Otis and the Dooda family (including their rat named Smoochie) moving to New York City, and the incredibly strange, but true, things that happened to them. It all started with Otis getting cursed by a guy in a potted plant in their apartment building lobby, and then meeting a bunch of their neighbors, including a farting pony named Peaches who was disguised as a dog. And that was just the first day.
The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp by Kathi Appelt
Raccoon brothers Bingo and J’miah are the newest recruits of the Official Sugar Man Swamp Scouts. The opportunity to serve the Sugar Man—the massive creature who delights in delicious sugar cane and magnanimously rules over the swamp—is an honor, and also a big responsibility, since the rest of the swamp critters rely heavily on the intel of these hardworking Scouts.
Twelve-year-old Chap Brayburn is not a member of any such organization. But he loves the swamp something fierce, and he’ll do anything to help protect it.
And help is surely needed, because world-class alligator wrestler Jaeger Stitch wants to turn Sugar Man swamp into an Alligator World Wrestling Arena and Theme Park, and the troubles don’t end there. There is also a gang of wild feral hogs on the march, headed straight toward them all.
The Scouts are ready. All they have to do is wake up the Sugar Man. Problem is, no one’s been able to wake that fellow up in a decade or four…
The Voyage to Magical North by Claire Fayers
Twelve-year-old Brine Seaborne is a girl with a past–if only she could remember what it is. Found alone in a rowboat as a child, clutching a shard of the rare starshell needed for spell-casting, she’s spent the past years keeping house for an irritable magician and his obnoxious apprentice, Peter.
When Brine and Peter get themselves into a load of trouble and flee, they blunder into the path of the legendary pirate ship the Onion. Before you can say “pieces of eight,” they’re up to their necks in the pirates’ quest to find Magical North, a place so shrouded in secrets and myth that most people don’t even think it exists. If Brine is lucky, she’ll find her place in the world. And if she’s unlucky, everyone on the ship will be eaten by sea monsters. It could really go either way.
Zombie Baseball Beatdown by Paolo Bacigalupi
The zombie apocalypse begins on the day Rabi, Miguel, and Joe are practicing baseball near their town’s local meatpacking plant and nearly get knocked out by a really big stink. Little do they know the plant’s toxic cattle feed is turning cows into flesh-craving monsters! The boys decide to launch a stealth investigation into the plant’s dangerous practices, unknowingly discovering a greedy corporation’s plot to look the other way as tainted meat is sold to thousands all over the country. With no grownups left they can trust, Rabi and his friends will have to grab their bats to protect themselves (and a few of their enemies) if they want to stay alive…and maybe even save the world.
Zombie Tag by Hannah Moskowitz
Wil is desperate for his older brother to come back from the dead. But the thing about zombies is . . they don’t exactly make the best siblings.
Thirteen-year-old Wil Lowenstein copes with his brother’s death by focusing on Zombie Tag, a mafia/
capture the flag hybrid game where he and his friends fight off brain-eating zombies with their mothers’ spatulas. What Wil doesn’t tell anybody is that if he could bring his dead brother back as a zombie, he would in a heartbeat. But when Wil finds a way to summon all the dead within five miles, he’s surprised to discover that his back-from-the-dead brother is emotionless and distant.
Zombiekins by Kevin Bolger
Stanley Nudelman turns the boring town of Dementedyville on its head when he buys a mysterious toy at his neighbor’s yard sale. Sure, Zombiekins looks cuddly and creepy-cute – but expose him to moonlight, and strange things happen. When Stanley brings Zombiekins to school, he unleashes the worst zombie plague in fourth-grade history! Can Stanley find the courage to save the day before his teachers notice the class is full of zombies? Or will he soon join the ranks of the snuggily UNDEAD?
This is my eighth year participating in the Blogging A to Z Challenge! And this year my theme is Books for Every Reader. My plan is to take and adjective for each letter of the alphabet and create a short book list for that “type” of reader. I’ll be focusing on middle grade novels, but you’ll also see some chapter books, YA titles, and nonfiction on the lists too. So whether you have a sporty kid or a theatre kid or just the type of kid that is a friend to everyone, you’ll find a list of books that I hope they love!
