JaNoWriMo anyone?

November was not a great month for me – almost everything that could have happened, happened, and so my attempt at NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) was scuppered before it even began.
Unsurprisingly, December has been super busy, not just with Christmassy goings on but with a LOT of family birthdays and several other things which I won't go into. And yet, while everything seems to have been working against me writing-wise, I've been making slow, steady progress on a new story. It's a MG fantasy adventure (just for a change!) and will hopefully be as much fun to read as I'm finding it to write. However, I'd dearly like to ramp my writing up a gear – and so, I'd like to invite anyone who's willing to join me in a January version of NaNoWriMo, which I have unimaginatively named JaNoWriMo! Basically it'll run throughout the month of January, in the same format as NaNo but without the official NaNo badge of honour.
During January I'll put as many updates on my blog/twitter/FB page as I can and encourage anyone wanting to join in to add to my posts/tweets. So, with eight days to go, I hope you will join me, or if not, egg me on to complete a whopping 50,000 words by the end of January! But first, may I wish you all a Merry Christmas and happy new year :)

Endless Editing, Hiking in the Heat and the Quest for MG Fantasy Fiction Titles

I've spent most of the last 12 months revising and editing what was my first draft and think I'm almost there! As I'm writing middle grade fiction, one of the biggest challenges has been the wordcount. So far I've cut several thousand words but am concerned it might still be too long! MG fantasy fiction is generally longer than regular MG fiction but I still think I may be pushing it. P and K at my writers' group think I should stop worrying about the wordcount and they are probably right. So, I've promised myself this WILL be the final draft before I resubmit it to that agent who has agreed to read it again. Otherwise I will go mad!
Also it would be nice to work on something else and have something new to share with my writers' group, who I'm sure are bored senseless by me moaning on about the latest draft of the same story!
*Takes short break to eat dinner*
Right I'm back and feeling better for some food. We had a work day out in the Dales today - a 6 mile walk in 31 degrees celsius - far too hot to be doing anything, least of all hiking, but it was good to get out of the office. It was a bit like a school trip except no one got told off and a few people went (temporarily) missing! One of my colleagues has an 11-year-old daughter who likes fantasy/adventure fiction and wanted some recommendations. I suggested the Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan, The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness by Michelle Paver and His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman.
This got me thinking - what ARE the best / most popular middle grade fantasy fiction books right now? Whenever I try to google a list of top MG fantasy fiction I end up with a mixture of genres / ages with loads of YA titles.
I would love to compile a list for reference, reading and recommendation and so, please tell me what you / your children's favourite middle grade fantasy reads are. (Middle grade is generally classed as 8-12 years but I'm particularly focused on 9-11).
Hope you can help!