Lauren's Beach Crush

Darling, Angela. Lauren's Beach Crush. (Crush #1)
7 May 2013, Simon and Schuster Books

Lauren has had a crush on Charlie Anderson for several years and has a plan to get him to like her THIS summer at the family beach house. When she finds out her mother has invited Chrissy to join them, she thinks her plans are ruined. Chrissy turns out to be cool, and has a BF in California, Justin. Lauren and Chrissy end up talking to Charlie and his friends, especially Frank. Lauren thinks Chrissy and Frank would be perfect together and tries to fix them up. Things don't go well with Charlie, the girls fight a bit, and there's massive confusion at the end about who "like likes" whom, but it all works out, and the characters get to spend some quality time on the beach at sunset savoring the moment. Coming out from now until December: Maddie's Camp Crush, Lindsay''s Surprise Crush, Noelle's Christmas Crush,Rachel's Valentine Crush.

From Picky Reader (who will soon be a jaded high school sophomore), after she gave a dramatic reading of the last chapter on the way home from clarinet:  "It sounded like it would make a fantastic Taylor Swift song."

Strengths: The girls will ADORE these. Lauren is going into seventh grade, and is all about finding True Love Forever and gaining a BFF. She has embarrassing plans, takes magazine quizzes.. true middle grade romance.
Weaknesses: Does anyone on the East coast like, totally overuse "like" and "totally"? Do girls doodle "Lauren and Charlie" and "Lauren Anderson" on their notebooks? 'Cause I totally have to slap them if they do. This was painful to read, but I remember having elaborate plans to "get a boy to like me". Just feel like maybe I shouldn't be encouraging this kind of thinking. These have an odd, 1980s feel to them.

Guy Friday-- Better Nate than Ever

Federle, Tim. Better Nate Than Ever.
February 5th 2013 by Simon & Schuster BFYR

Nate has always loved musical theater, even though it has gotten him in trouble with his own jockish brother as well as bullies at school who like to fling terms like "fag" and "homo" at him, even though Nate declares that he's too young to declare his sexual preferences in any direction at all. When his best friend Lily finds out that open auditions are being held for the part of Elliot in a Broadway production of E.T., Nate knows that he has to give it a try. With Lily's help, he figures out how to get from his home outside Pittsburgh to New York, and makes it to the auditions after a series of mishaps. He is met by his aunt Heidi, whom his mother doesn't like, after Lily rats him out to her, but Heidi (a failed actress herself) is very helpful. Nate goes through the auditions with some success, only to find that he needs to stay in New York, which is going to run him into problems at home. Nate decides that he really likes New York and theater culture, and sees some hope for his future there. Will he make the final cut before his parents find him out?
Strengths: This offers a lot of practical information about what it is like to try out for a Broadway production. Nate's running away is well thought out and realistic; dangers are not necessarily present, but not glossed over. The treatment of Nate's sexuality is perfect for a middle grade novel-- he is interested to see two boys kiss and not be bullied in New York and finds a male friend of his aunt's somewhat attractive, but he doesn't over think it because he doesn't want to really consider kissing anyone at this point in his life.
Weaknesses: As I have said before, my students seem to have zero interest in the theater. As much as they love Zadoff's Food, Girls and Other Things I Can't Have, I can't get anyone to read My Life, the Theater, and Other Tragedies. Also, knowing how cruel middle school boys can be to each other, and how they love to fling about accusations of being "gay", I would have put Nate in a slightly more masculine pose on the cover. Why default to stereotypes? (Says the librarian in the cardigan and pleated skirt...)

Patterson, James and Papademetriou, Lisa. Middle School #3: My Brother is a Big, Fat Liar.
18 March 2013, Little, Brown

Told from the point of view of Georgia, Rafe Khatchadorian's younger sister. Georgia is starting middle school at the same school where her brother was notorious enough to get kicked out, so all of her teachers immediately suspect that she will be just as bad. Right away, the "princesses" of the school make fun of Georgia, but she still rather wants to be with them. Instead, she is befriended by Rhonda, who is very supportive, but Georgia thinks she is loud and weird. Georgia is in a band (even though she doesn't really know how to play guitar), and when Rafe signs the band up to play for the school, Georgia starts to panic. Even though Georgia claims she is nothing like Rafe, she manages to get into trouble all on her own.
Strengths: Undeniable appeal for students who like notebook novels or this series. Nice to see a change in point of view. I normally really like Papademetriou's writing.
Weaknesses: Found this disappointing, mainly because it was so mean. Georgia doesn't treat Rhonda any better than the "princesses" treat her. Also, if teachers have a really bad student, and a sibling comes along, we are hugely relieved if the sibling if well-behaved, and don't immediately assume the child will be bad. Papademetriou usually has a better feel for middle school, so I'm assuming Patterson had a lot of input into the outline and character development of this.

Accomplice

Corrigan, Eirann. Accomplice. 
1 August 2010, Scholastic Press.

Living on the east coast, Finn and Chloe are afraid that their high school academics are not good enough for them to get into elite colleges. After seeing a news item about a girl who was abducted and held for months by kidnappers and then got into the college of their choice, they come up with an elaborate plan-- Chloe will disappear for a while, Finn will help "find" her, and they will both not only get accepted into whatever college they want, but will get scholarship money. Their plan goes well, and Chloe is hiding in Finn's grandmother's house. Chloe's family and friends are understandably upset, especially when she is gone long enough for the local lake to be dragged. When her boyfriend, Dean, becomes a "person of interest" and is later arrested, Finn starts to question their plan and wants to back out, but Chloe wants to stick with it. In the end, their plan costs them more than they get out of it.
Strengths: This is a well-paced, unique thriller with a fantastic cover. I think that this will go over very well with my middle school students who always want murder mysteries.
Weaknesses: I've never understood the whole "elite college" thing, and my daughter got in to three different colleges, so the whole premise seemed unlikely to me, but then (thankfully) I don't live on the east coast!

Martin, Ann M. Better to Wish (Family Tree #1)
30 April 2013, Scholastic Press
E ARC from Netgalley.com

Abby is looking back at her life in the year 2022, when she is 100 years old. In anecdotal chapters, she recalls various scenes from her life that made an impact on her. Raised by a controlling father and a sad, frail mother, Abby and her sister Rose live in a small coastal town and get along as best they can.
Strengths: Historical events such as the Great Depression and WWII effect Abby, and details of everyday life are nicely portrayed.
Weaknesses: This was possibly the most depressing historical fiction book I've come across. Whatever bad things could happen, did happen. The poor mother. She suffers the father's abuse, has multiple miscarriages, finally has a baby boy who is "feeble-minded" and is sent to an institution and eventually dies. At least Abby manages to break free from her family, but the whole book made me too sad to think about handing it to a student. I was surprised at Martin-- Picky Reader adored the Doll Family books, which are a bit happier!

Another review of this at Secrets and Sharing Soda.

You Know It's Time For School To Be Over When: I tell a teacher "Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part." When the students start to arrive at this time of year, I need to be hunting them down for overdues, not hooking up an LCD projector to a computer, expecially when two days ago I suggested to the same teacher that I could give her better service with a little more advance notice. She replied that it's not always possible to plan. Really? Because I got in to school at 4:30, and you're rolling in at 7:30, so that's not really the thing to say to make me want to help you.

I'm normally not that cranky. 

World Wednesday-- Sugar

Excitement! Gathering prizes for the MotherReader 48 Hour Book Challenge. Here’s a teaser of what MIGHT be awarded—still figuring out HOW to award them.

The wonderful Carol Rasco of Reading is Fundamental has once again graciously offered our winners RIF's Celebrations collections to be donated to a school or non-profit of the recipients choice.

Other prizes may include:

·         Five great prizes from Kelly Celia at Walden Pond Press,

·         Four YA titles from  Barbara Fisch at Blue Slip Media 

·         Jennifer Angus' In Search of Goliath Hercules from Albert Whitman Publishing

·         A signed copy of Bot Wars from author Jennifer Rush

A variety of things from:

·         Random House

·         Big Honcho Media

·         Egmont USA

·         Quirk Books

·         Penguin Group

 
Rhodes, Jewell Parker. Sugar.
7 May 2013, Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Sugar is not a slave, but she might as well be. Her father was sold before slavery ended, her mother has died, and the former slaves who have remained at Mr. Willis' sugar plantation in the 1870's work very hard. They are also alarmed when Chinese workers are being brought in. While their work is hard, they don't know anything else, and are reluctant to go North away from everything they know. Sugar is fascinated by the Chinese workers and wants to get to know them, but finds it hard to keep out of trouble. The kindly Mr. and Mrs. Beale watch over her, but she insists on playing with the son of the owner, runs off on her own, and generally has trouble staying within the narrow parameters society has assigned to her. When the owner's son becomes very ill, Sugar refuses to leave his side, and realizes that perhaps heading North would give her more of the freedom she desires.
Strengths: This is an interesting account of Reconstruction, and I didn't know that Chinese immigrants had been brought to the South during this period of history. The plight of African Americans is well covered, and good for students to read about-- just because they were no longer slaves didn't mean that their lives were instantly good. Easy to read, with an engaging main character.
Weaknesses: While it is more interesting to read about spunky women or African Americans at times when they were oppressed, I wonder how many spunky sorts actually survived and prospered. I also wonder how many friendships there were between freed slaves and the children of owners.

The Planet Thieves

Krokos, Dan. The Planet Thieves.
21 May 2013, Starscape.

Mason lives on the USS Egypt with his sister Susan as an ESC Cadet after the death of his parents. When Tremists (an alien race hostile to humans) attack the ship, the captain is killed, his sister is taken hostage, and Commander Lockwood is so gravely injured that he puts Mason in charge. Tom, the captain's son, is a bit put out, but knows that the cadets must take back the ship if there is any hope of defeating the Tremists. They have been fighting with the ESC over the habitable planet Nori-Blue. When they board the Egypt, their goal is to steal a large "gate" which collapses space and makes travel faster. Once they get the gate, they use it to transport Earth nearer to their planet! Mason realizes that his friend Merrin is actually a Tremist when the Tremist King insists that she's his daughter... and after he sees under the Tremist uniform and realizes that Merrin's violet colored hair and eyes do make her look just like them. A hostage exchange (Susan for Merrin) is arranged, to be conducted on the neutral planet of Nori-Blue. Once there, the cadets realize that Nori-Blue, thought to be uninhabited, is not. Secrets about the past of both the humans and Tremists are revealed. The ending is full of lots of twists, and I don't want to ruin the suspense!
Strengths: This is classic, action-packed science fiction. Travel around in space, deal with hostile aliens, travel to new planets where there are even more dangers, figure out that the aliens are not that different from us. Have cool weapons, used judiciously, and add children in charge-- awesome! There is even a jet pack at one point. Still not understanding how it's 2013, phones can send pictures, and I STILL don't have a jet pack!
Weaknesses: Hmmm... can't think of much. Of course it stretches credulity to have the cadets in charge of the ship, but when everyone else is captured or disabled, what can you do?



If you want more recommendations on great books for boys, head on over to Boys Rule Boys Read!  Iron Guy Carl is a fantastic public librarian, not to mention a big Rick Riordan fan, and does great work with getting books to boys. One of his former coworkers, Library Ninja Bill, has a blog as well, Boys Rock, Boys Read!!! If one or the other of them happens to have an interview with a certain middle grade librarian who doesn't have a cool blog name, I mention it only for shameless self promotion!

MMGM-- Civil Rights

Williams-Garcia, Rita. P.S. Be Eleven
21 May 2013, Amistad Press
E ARC from Netgallet.com

Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern have just returned to Brooklyn after One Crazy Summer with their mother in California. Delphine especially has a new found awareness of social issues, but the world is still the same to Pa and Big Ma. Things are changing-- Uncle Darnell is back from Vietnam but is not his old self. Pa has a girlfriend who is not like Big Ma, but not like Delphine's mother, either. Delphine feels that things are slowly changing for black Americans in Brooklyn, but they are changing much more slowly. She writes letters to her mother asking about her life as well as the world around her, and her mother generally replies cryptically, and ends with "P.S. Be Eleven". This story can stand alone, but is a nice follow up of these sisters.
Strengths: If I had any doubts about Williams-Garcia's age, this certainly answered it. The details of every day life were exquisite, from Mr. Bubble to a school movie about marijuana starring Sonny Bono. Even in a time of great social change, there are still grandmothers who want granddaughters to wear dowdy clothing, and every day life to be lived.
Weaknesses: This didn't have the emotional impact or the historical significance that the first book had for me. It reminded me, oddly, of the All-of-a-Kind-Family books. Pleasant, but not earth-shaking.

It's Marvelous Middle Grade Monday at Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe and What Are You Reading? day at Teach Mentor Texts. Both sites have lots of links to reviews about books that are great for the 4th through 8th grader. It's also Nonfiction Monday, hosted this week at Pirogies and Gyoza.

 
Stone, Tanya Lee. Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles.
22 January 2013, Candlewick Press

I've had several of my students ask for books about the Tuskegee Airmen, so this was eagerly snatched up by students who are interested in Civil Rights, and also those who like to read about WWII. This has a good narrative style, plenty of pictures, and was very informative. My only complaint is that students tend to balk at nonfiction of this length.  Great for a lot of Common Core pairings!






Tuck, Pamela M. As Fast As Words Could Fly
1 April 2013, Lee and Low Books
E ARC from Netgalley.com

Mason, who is growing up in North Carolina in the 1960s, helps his father by writing letters for a Civil Rights group. To thank him, the group gives him a typewriter. Mason and his brothers are enrolled by their father in a nearby all-white school because their father says that someone must start making things different. The boys experience plenty of prejudice, but Mason excels, especially in his typing class. He also works in the school library. Eventually, he gets to represent the school in a typing contest. Based on the experiences of the author's father.

I was hoping that this was a novel, because it has a lot of potential. It is a picture book, and the illustrations are quite nice. I am half tempted to buy a copy for my middle school library, but picture books don't get much use. If we had a unit on Civil Rights, I would consider it.

How to Rock Break-Ups and Make-Ups

Haston, Meg. How to Rock Break-Ups and Make-Ups
25 September 2012, Poppy

Kacey is back in the band Gravity and hopeful that Zander might like her now that Molly has broken up with him, but Molly doesn't want anyone else dating him! Zander's friend Stevie arrives from Seattle, and she is so fabulous that Kacey is worried, and also really peeved that Stevie's father is dating her mother and making her go all googly-eyed. There's a dance being planned that Kacey gets Gravity a gig at, a school trip to the Shedd Aquarium, and also a big class election that Paige is running in. At the aquarium, Kacey gets Stevie in trouble for writing graffitti on the glass (Kacey and her friends did it), but when things get serious between their parents, the girls try to work together to break them up.Kace4y breaks into her mother's e mail and offers (as her mother) to interview rock star Levi if he will play at Kacey's school dance because Paige is dying of an awful disease. The star falls for this, so her mother has to miss a hot air balloon trip with Stevie's father, which makes him angry. In the end, Paige forgives Kacey for humiliating her in front of all of Chicago (and Paige wins the election); Kacey dates Zander; her mom dates Stevie's dad; everyone lives Happily Ever After.
Strengths: Quick, fluffy read for girls who like Lisi Harrison's Clique series. There is also a television series based on the first book.
Weaknesses: Didn't personally like, because it was somewhat ridiculous. The fashions alone were absurd (page 70 "In a sleek black moto jacket, low-slung army-green cargos rolled up at the ankle, and round-toed rose-gold snakeskin pumps... her moto jacket lifted, revealing a momentary flash of belly ring." Seriously? Who sends a seventh grader to school looking like this?), and the whole idea of a school election or kids' band playing at a school dance makes me wonder what planet the middle school was on. That said, I would no doubt have adored this when I was in seventh grade!

DeVillers, Julia and Roy, Jennifer. Triple Trouble.
1 January 2013, Aladdin 

Emma and Payton are back for their fifth adventure. Read and enjoyed; again, would have loved in middle school. I got a little confused that the triplets that play a large role in the book were NOT on the cover. As for realism-- we have two sets of triplets in our school right now! Definitely a fun series for girls who like realistic fiction.

From the Publisher:
Emma and Payton are home from Hollywood, but the drama continues: Not only is the Homecoming Dance coming up fast, but there’s someone new in school! Three someones, actually: triplets. Oliver, Dexter, and Asher look exactly the same, dress exactly the same, and—worse—have exactly the same superior attitude.

When the triplets mention they’re participating in a regional Twins & SuperTwins Festival that has a Tweens Division and twin-related contests, Payton and Emma are instantly interested. Emma’s been suffering from competition withdrawal ever since Jazmine James managed to get her disqualified from the upcoming science fair, so she’s got her game face on. And once Payton convinces Mrs. Burkle that the festival is perfect for a VOGScast field trip, the whole gang takes a road trip and the games really get going. But attempts to take down the triplets threaten to land everyone in hot water. Can Emma and Payton switch their way out of trouble, or are they stuck in a multiples mess?