The Secret Horses of Briar Hill by Megan Shepherd

Set in a convalescent hospital for children with Tuberculosis during World War II, this story is both historical fiction and magical realism.  Emmaline, one of the girls who lives in the mansion-turned-hospital sees flying horses in the mirrors of the house and one day, she sees a flying horse outside as well.  She finds a letter asking her to help to protect the flying horse with an injured wing who she finds in a garden.  She needs to find objects with all the colors of the rainbow to hide the horse from another flying horse who is after her.  The story is very sad.  I received this book free to review from Netgalley. 

Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, Book 2: The Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan

I enjoyed this second book in the Gods of Asgard series.  Like Riordan's other books, this one has lots of humor and pop culture references.  He also tries to incorporate a lot of different groups of people.  Sam is Muslim who wears a hijab and prays the required 5 times a day whenever possible and that is explained several times.  Hearthstone is deaf and speaks using American Sign Language, which Riordan makes a point of explaining many times.  Blitzen is gay and Alex is gender fluid. Magnus and his friends are on a quest to find Thor's hammer and keep Sam from being married to a giant and save the world.  There is lots of action and adventure and the story is fun to read.

Escape in Time: Miri's riveting tale of her family's survival during World War II Kindle Edition by Ronit Lowenstein-Malz

Told as a story within a story, 12 year old Nessya has learned that her grandmother, Miri, is a Holocaust survivor, and when she asked about it, her grandmother wrote down the story for Nessya to read.  Miri tells her family's story of escaping from Czechoslovakia, just in the nick of time before the Jews there were sent to concentration camps.  She tells how they had to use false papers and how they moved to Hungary.  They tried to warn other Jews about what was happening, but they refused to listen until it was too late.  Nessya shares her feelings about her grandmother's bravery during that time.  I think this book is a well told story about the Holocaust that is appropriate for middle school age children. I received this book free to review from Netgalley.

The Enemy: A Book About Peace by Davide Cali and Serge Bloch

While this picture book is not for young children, I think it should be a must read for children in grades 5 and up.  Even adults will be touched by this story about a soldier, who is in a hole, shooting at the enemy every day, wanting to kill the enemy before the enemy kills him.  He knows the enemy is not a human being because his manual told him that.  However, one day he sneaks out and winds up in the enemy's hole and finds photographs of the enemy's family and the enemy's manual, which is just like his, except in that manual, the enemy has his face.  The story and illustrations are simple, but the message is powerful.  I highly recommend this book.

Finn's Choice (The Adventures of Finn MacCullen) by Darby Karchut

This is the 4th and last book in this fun series for middle grade kids.  I have only read the first book and this one, but I am sure the other two are fun reads too.  This book is several months after the first book.  Thirteen year old Finn now has to complete four impossible tasks or else he will have to go live and train with Scatach, a goddess, for many years.  Gideon and his friends help Finn to deal with the challenges and hopefully pass them.  There is magic and action and adventure in this last book of the series.  I am sure that readers will enjoy the book. I received this book free to review from Netgalley.