Clean Fiction for Middle School

Homeschool Review Crew

We love reading in our house.  I’m always finding one or two or ten kids with their noses in books.  They come by this honestly as I love to read.  However, it’s sometimes hard to know if something is clean fiction for middle school or not worth the paper it’s printed on.  Recently as part of the Homeschool Review Crew, we received two books to review from 12 Gates Publishing.  These are the first two books in The Hamelin Stoop Series.  It’s a new to us series and my kids immediately set into reading them.  

The two titles we received are Hamelin Stoop: The Eagle, The Cave, and the Footbridge (Book 1), and Hamelin Stoop: The Lost Princess and the Jewel of Periluna (Book 2).  My older readers got them first.  So my 14 and 12-year-old fast readers.  Once they read them they were passed on through the ranks.  Now all of my children who can independently read have read them and love them.  They’re already asking for the next ones in the series.  

This series is currently expected to have 6-7 books.  The suggested age range is all ages from 8-20 due to the vast character range in the books as well as the writing style.  We’re looking forward to an extension of these clean fiction for middle school books.  My kids definitely can’t wait to read more. 

Our Thoughts

I had seven children read these books.  Their ages are from 8 through 14.  So obviously we’re showing that a good range can read and enjoy them.  I have not had a chance to read them yet because my kids still have them squirreled away where they like to read.  Before the kids took them, I did get a chance to skim them and did not find anything questionable.  My children normally would report anything questionable.  In fact, they do a better job than me in that if they see the word underwear or a joke that they know I wouldn’t want someone repeating they bring me the book.  

I could easily see these becoming a new favorite read aloud as well.  We have not used them as such yet but that’s next on the list.  Read aloud books are a big deal in our family and we enjoy finding new titles to add to our repertoire.  

Book one introduces you to the characters.  It’s a clean fiction for middle school or young adult(thus the wide age range).  The genre is fantasy. I’m not a huge fan of fantasy but from what I understand it’s a “really good one” and my kids “can’t wait for the next book”.  

Our main character is Hamelin Stoop.  He’s left for an orphan on the stoop of an orphanage.  Not because his parents don’t love him, but rather because they do.  They’re fleeing(and get taken prisoner) by an evil person, Ren’dal, and taken to a different world.  

As Hamelin grows he is alone and he feels this deeply.  While the orphanage isn’t a horrible one per se it’s not family and family is what he craves.  Living in an orphanage gives him a wide range of emotions to feel that readers are maybe able to relate to and possibly help them put a name to an emotion that they feel if they haven’t already done so.  

Hamelin flees his orphanage at the age of eight after his birthday is forgotten.  He then lives in a cave.  It is here his life is forever changed when he meets a great eagle.  The story is woven in such a way that you can’t help but keep reading.  Prophecies of old are brought to light that are being fulfilled in him and even his parents in their new world far away.  Great suspense and mystery but on a level as to not be too much for younger children while keeping the young adults mesmerized.  

More Points

Some other points that my children have shared with me about these books.  Hamelin’s mother, Johnnie, is not from the world he lives in.  In fact, she is actually from the world she’s taken back to.  Getting confusing yet?  She escaped that world long ago.  

Hamelin got his name from a small scrap of a letter and Stoop because he was found on the stoop.  Through his years at the orphanage, he makes many good and dear friends.  However, a recurring theme about his friendships is that they don’t last.  The friends move away or run away or have no choice but to leave. And then he is essentially all alone again.  He receives the best most special care from two helpers in the orphanage, but even they retire and leave him which prompts his running away.  

He doesn’t run away for good though.  Should I have said spoiler alert?  He does run away and is helped in finding safety from a severe storm by the majestic Giant Eagle.  But as he is put to a test of crossing a footbridge with the eagle as his guide and a special pair of gloves he fails.  He turns back.  And at that moment he failed a test.  Failing doesn’t only affect him though as he later learns.  Now he can’t get that bridge out of his mind and wants to try again.  

Instead of immediately trying again he is advised that he cannot without being summoned.  Friends that he confides in even tell him that he can’t and he must wait until they can accompany him.  Now he is eleven.  

The orphanage is taken over by new caregivers who are kind and he has a loving “family” again.  Eventually, now he can redo his task and pass.  Here he learns that others suffered from his failure.  Book one ends with a dream and a horrid event for his parents.  

My kids loved the book and couldn’t wait to start the next.  They have learned how cliffhangers really make you want to keep reading.  

After going through the Water of Death and Life Hamelin finds himself in the Land of Gloaming.  Here he must rescue a princess who has been kidnapped and find a stolen jewel.  He meets new characters and more adventures await him.  But how long can he go unknown?  When will the evil who took his parents realize that the infant son lived? 

Book Two

Book two is just as good as book one.  

Hamelin is in the cave that he escaped to at age eight only now he’s eleven and more ready for the tasks before him.  He finds himself in an atrium which connects two worlds.  The water there is sweet but he doesn’t know the proper way to enter the water and have a new life.  Sounds basically like a great segue into how one must be saved and born again.  I love that this is brought into the books and they have such great values to teach our children.  

Learn More

You can read more reviews of these two books over on the Main Homeschool Blog Post.  All reviewers received a copy of both books.  However, I’m sure we each have differing opinions and will mention vastly different topics. Clean fiction for middle school ages really is hard to find so I’m excited about the new series.  Check out the author Robert B. Sloan who can also be found on facebook, twitter, Pinterest, youtube, and Instagram.