14 Best Country Life, Juvenile Fiction Books

In a town slowly being destroyed by rising tides, one girl must fight to find a way to keep her community’s spirit from drowning.

For thirteen-year-old Jillian Robichaux, three things are sacred: bayou sunsets, her grandmother Nonnie’s stories, and the coastal Louisiana town of Boutin that she calls home.

When the worst flood in a century hits, Jillian and the rest of her community band together as they always do–but this time the damage may simply be too great. After the local school is padlocked and the bridges into town condemned, Jillian has no choice but to face the reality that she may be losing the only home she’s ever had.

But even when all hope seems lost, Jillian is determined to find a way to keep Boutin and its indomitable spirit alive. With the help of friends new and old, a loveable golden retriever, and Nonnie’s storytelling wisdom, Jillian does just that in this timely and heartfelt story of family, survival, and hope.

In her stunning debut middle grade novel, Sarah Guillory has written a lush story about an indomitable girl fighting against the effects of climate change.

Laugh your head off in this second adventure in the bestselling, highly acclaimed Grimwood series.
Your favourite fox cub siblings Ted and Nancy are back with an all-new wildly funny story that will have children (and their grown-ups) begging for more.
Perfect for listeners age 7+, and fans of Dog Man, Roald Dahl, David Walliams, Loki, Bunny vs Monkey and anyone who likes to laugh.

Ted and Nancy love their new life in Grimwood – the forest where anything can happen. But the dastardly mayor of neighbouring town Twinklenuts is on a mission to take over Grimwood and kick everyone out. Ted and Nancy must muster up bags of courage, rally their friends, and show off their treebonking skills to save the home they’ve grown to love.

Full of heart, laughs and surprises, this is the must-listen second title in the bestselling and fantastically funny Grimwood series.

Nadia Shireen has won awards for her picture books including the UKLA Book Award for Good Little Wolf and most recently for Barbara Throws a Wobbler, which has been described as a ‘little doorway of joy’ by Caitlin Moran. She’s also been shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, and has been Writer-Illustrator in Residence for BookTrust. Grimwood is her first series for older readers.

Praise for Grimwood:
‘Funny, anarchic, original and gloriously silly.’ Richard Osman
‘Pure genius!’ Louie Stowell
‘Ted and Nancy are my favourite funny foxes EVER.’ Liz Pichon, author of Tom Gates

From New York Times bestseller Rory Feek, one half of the singing duo Joey+Rory, comes The Cow Said Neigh!, a fun and humorous tale of farm animals who wish they were like the other animals . . . which leads to a farm-full of confusion! Children will laugh out loud when the cow wants to run free like a horse, the sheep wants a snout like a pig, and the dog wants to be inside like the cat.

The Cow Said Neigh! will teach children:

• Animal sounds with clever rhymes
• How to celebrate the unique strengths in each of us

This delightful audiobook is perfect for:

• Playing out loud at home or in classrooms
• Ages 4-8

Anne’s children were almost grown up, except for pretty, high-spirited Rilla–whose bright hazel eyes and dazzling smile no one could resist.

Rilla, almost fifteen, can’t think any further ahead than going to her very first dance at the Four Winds Lighthouse and getting her first kiss from handsome Kenneth Ford. But undreamed-of challenges await the irrepressible Rilla when the world of Ingleside becomes endangered by a far-off war. Her brothers go off to fight, and Rilla brings home an orphaned newborn in a soup tureen. She is swept into a drama that tests her courage and leaves her changed forever.

A one-of-a-kind voice lights up this witty, heartwarming debut set in 1985 Tennessee about the power of homespun wisdom (even when it’s wrong), the clash between appearances and secrets, and the barriers to getting help even when it’s needed most. Lyndie B. Hawkins loves history, research, and getting to the truth no matter what. But when it comes to her family, her knowledge is full of holes. Like, what happened to her father in the Vietnam War? Where does he disappear to for days? And why exactly did they have to move in with her grandparents? Determined to mold recalcitrant Lyndie into a nice Southern girl even if it kills her, her fusspot grandmother starts with lesson number one: Family=Loyalty=keeping quiet about family secrets. Especially when it comes to Lyndie’s daddy. Then DB, a boy from the local juvenile detention center comes to stay with Lyndie’s best friend, Dawn. He’s as friendly and open as a puppy. There to shape up his act, he has an optimism that’s infectious. But it puts Lyndie in direct opposition to her grandmother who’d rather keep up appearances than get her son the help he needs.

Fans of The Thing About Jellyfish and A Snicker of Magic will be swept away by Cindy Baldwin’s debut middle grade about a girl coming to terms with her mother’s mental illness. When twelve-year-old Della Kelly finds her mother furiously digging black seeds from a watermelon in the middle of the night and talking to people who aren’t there, Della worries that it’s happening again-that the sickness that put her mama in the hospital four years ago is back. That her mama is going to be hospitalized for months like she was last time. With her daddy struggling to save the farm and her mama in denial about what’s happening, it’s up to Della to heal her mama for good. And she knows just how she’ll do it: with a jar of the Bee Lady’s magic honey, which has mended the wounds and woes of Maryville, North Carolina, for generations. But when the Bee Lady says that the solution might have less to do with fixing Mama’s brain and more to do with healing her own heart, Della must learn that love means accepting her mama just as she is.

‘Funny, anarchic, original and gloriously silly.’ — Richard Osman

‘Ted and Nancy are my favourite funny foxes EVER.’ — Liz Pichon, author of Tom Gates

‘I CACKLED ALOUD on practically every page. Comic gold, tinged with such tenderness.’ — Kiran Millwood Hargrave

‘Grimwood is like Winnie-the-Pooh written by the Pythons, and so madly inventive and funny I was howling with laughter by the third page. This is about to become a fundamental part of 21st century childhood’ — Caitlin Moran

Laugh your head off with this fully-illustrated new series from award-winning Nadia Shireen. Perfect for readers age 7 to 107, fans of Dog Man, Roald Dahl, Mr Gum, Loki and David Walliams, and anyone who loves to laugh.

Fox cub siblings Ted and Nancy are on the run from Princess Buttons, the scariest street cat in the Big City. They flee for Grimwood, expecting to find refuge in the peaceful countryside. Instead, they are met with thieving eagles, dramatic ducks, riotous rabbits and a whole host of unusual characters. Grimwood is . . . weird. But when Princess Buttons tracks them down, Nancy and Ted and the animals of Grimwood must unite in a mind-bending race against time . . .

This memorable, distinctive and warm-hearted comedy series will have kids begging to read more.

*Pre-order Grimwood: Let the Fur Fly! the must-listen second Grimwood adventure – out this September!*

Nadia Shireen has won awards for her picture books including the UKLA Book Award for Good Little Wolf, and her latest, Barbara Throws a Wobbler, has been described as a ‘little doorway of joy’ by Caitlin Moran. She’s also been shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, and has been Writer-Illustrator in Residence for BookTrust. Grimwood is her first series for older readers.

PRAISE FOR GRIMWOOD:
‘Gloriously anarchic, properly funny and highly illustrated with dynamic black-and-white art, this is a quirky delight for children – and their parents, too.’ — The Bookseller

‘Dark, original and laugh-out-loud funny’ — The Times

‘This book made my face hurt! Relentlessly funny.’ — Rob Biddulph, author of Peanut Jones

‘Like Watership Down, but funny. You’ll laugh hysterically on every page.’ — Caitlin Moran

‘Fantastic.’ — Lauren Laverne

‘Pure genius!’ — Louie Stowell, author of Loki

‘Made us laugh out loud.’ — Jim Smith, author of Barry Loser

‘You’re in for a treat!’ — Selom Sunu, illustrator of Look Both Ways

‘Utterly HILARIOUS’ — Sophy Henn, author-illustrator of Pizazz

‘Every page of the book zings with invention and joie de vivre‘ — The Financial Times

PRAISE FOR NADIA SHIREEN:
‘Shireen’s latest book confirms her as one of the brightest and best picture book creators working in Britain today … Sensational.’ — Observer

Today, Papa is going to trade for the milk cow needed at home, and Samuel will walk the long road with him.

But the winter day will be short, and snow is coming.

As the few hours of daylight pass and the snow flies, Samuel shows Papa he can keep up and even help with the trading–a good day’s work. And by the time they return to the warmth of home, Samuel has earned the perfect reward.

The winsome Anne Shirley is grown, has been married to her beloved Gilbert Blythe for fifteen years, and is the mother of six spirited children. When a strange family moves into a nearby mansion,Anne and her family are drawn into a host of trials, schemes and triumphs. The Meredith family is comprised of two boys and two girls, a minister father but no mother, and a runaway girl named Mary Vance. The clever and mischievous Meredith kids join Anne’s children in a private hideout to carry out plans to save Mary from the orphanage, to help the lonely minister find happiness, and to save a pet rooster from becoming a soup ingredient.

In this, another of L. M. Montgomery’s beloved books, the sun-dappled world of Rainbow Valley is always full of adventure and delight.

This uplifting New York Times bestseller reminds us that if we’re open to new experiences, life is full of surprises.

Fans of Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech’s Love That Dog and Hate That Cat will love her newest tween novel, Moo. Following one family’s momentous move from the city to rural Maine, an unexpected bond develops between twelve-year-old Reena and one very ornery cow.

When Reena, her little brother, Luke, and their parents first move to Maine, Reena doesn’t know what to expect. She’s ready for beaches, blueberries, and all the lobster she can eat. Instead, her parents “volunteer” Reena and Luke to work for an eccentric neighbor named Mrs. Falala, who has a pig named Paulie, a cat named China, a snake named Edna–and that stubborn cow, Zora.

This heartwarming story, told in a blend of poetry and prose, reveals the bonds that emerge when we let others into our lives.

Elsie Mae has long treasured summers with her grandparents in the Okefenokee Swamp, so she is devastated to hear that a shipping company plans to build a canal right through it. What will that mean for the people and animals that call the swamp home? So she writes a letter directly to President Franklin Roosevelt himself and sets off to enjoy what may be her last happy summer there with her new dog, Huck. But when she arrives, she discovers a team of hog bandits who have been stealing from the swamper families. When her cousin Henry James, who dreams of one day becoming a traveling preacher like his daddy, shows up, Elsie doesn’t think things could get worse. But then she devises a plan to use Henry and his Hallelujahs to help stop the thieves-and maybe make just enough noise to gain Roosevelt’s attention…

ALA Schneider Family Book Award winner Leslie Connor infuses her timely family stories with humor and hope. Fourteen-year-old Dewy Marriss never imagined America’s gas pumps would dry up the same week he promised to manage his family’s bicycle shop. Suddenly everyone wants a bike, and nobody wants to wait. With his parents stranded far from home, Dewey tries to keep up with his overwhelming responsibilities. “Characters are colorful but believable, dialogue crisp and amusing . Charming and original.”-Kirkus Reviews

An orphan reflects on the lessons he was taught by the wise old man who raised him in this lyrical novel that reads like poetry from three-time Newbery Honor-winning author Gary Paulsen.

Deep in the woods, in a rustic cabin, lives an old man and the boy he’s raised as his own. This sage old man has taught the boy the power of nature and how to live in it, and more importantly, to respect it. In Fishbone’s Song, this boy reminisces about the magic of the man who raised him and the tales that he used to tell–all true, but different each time.