Karen Yingling is our Middle Grade Fiction Category Chair this year, as well as a Round 1 judge, middle school librarian, reviewer for SLJ and YA Books Central, and, of course, blogger at Ms. Yingling Reads. Earlier this year, she reviewed Middle Grade Fiction nominee All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook by Leslie Connor, a family story with an unusual twist: the protagonist was born and raised in a correctional facility, where his mother lives. In her review, Karen said:
“This was a surprisingly upbeat and engrossing book. Perry’s daily life in the facility, as well as the various reasons that people came to be there, were both something new for middle grade fiction. The sense of supportive family made this uplifting rather than depressing.”