Flood City, The Vanished

Older, Daniel Jose. Flood City

February 2nd 2021 by Scholastic Press

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Twins Max and Yala live with their doctor mother in Flood City, the only city left on a damaged Earth. While the buildings must be built much higher and there is a lack of food, and there are some technologies like Jet Boots, there are also details of ordinary life that are somewhat similar to current times. Max is in an orchestra which is planning to perform at a local pageant, and he also has a crush on another drummer, Djinna, who is the daughter of the local holographer. Things are about to become dangerous in Flood City, however. Yala goes missing when she and Max are wandering around, and a Vapor, Biaque, tells her that she is right to want to leave home and join the Star Guard. This is a tough choice, because while the Star Guard are generally not nice to the residents of Flood City, they are also fighting against the Chemical Barons, who ruined the world and are now trying to reimpose rule. Ato and Get are two Barons who have lived their whole lives in the air, and are being trained by ArchBaron Mephim. Unfortunatly, Mephim wants to nuke the city so that the Barons can take control of it, and hopefully reverse the flooding so that Earth is more easily inhabitable. When the ship they are on crashes, Ato is injured. Max finds him, and even though he knows that Ato is a Baron because of his pale skin, he brings him home and makes sure he gets well. The two boys have a lot in common, and Ato is not sympathetic to the Barons' causes. They almost get caught by the Star Guard, but manage to escape. Things start to heat up even more, and eventually, Max asks Yala (who is not enjoying the Star Guard training, although she thinks it is still important) to come back and help with the fight. Band director Cortinas is instrumental in organizing resistance to both the Star Guard and the Barons, but will he be able to muster the forces necessary to keep Mephim from annihilating the residents of Flood City? I suspect we may not find out until a second book comes out. 

Strengths: This is an action packed, fast paced adventure along the lines of Pittacus Lore's I am Number Four or MacHale's Sylo. There are a lot of appealing, multifaceted characters, and it's nice to finally see more speculative fiction with characters of color. Max and Ato's friendship is heartwarming, since they are on opposite sides of the fight but find many similarities early on. Yala is a fighter with which to be reckoned, and the brief glimpses of Max's music add some depth. The twin evils of the Star Guard and the Chemical Barons, combined with the dire situation on Earth, make this an interesting and innovative dystopian novel. 
Weaknesses: Flood City is a very intricately constructed world, but the details are released fairly slowly, which made me wonder on occasion if I had started on book two of a series. I get easily confused by fantasy and was never quite sure why the people of Flood City were ambivalent about the Star Guards. 
What I really think: This read more like a Young Adult novel, although the characters were clearly stated to be twelve years old. Readers who thrive on complex and elaborate high fantasy, or who know Star Wars movies backwards and forwards, will find Flood City to be an exciting and thought provoking foray into a world that has gone terribly wrong.

Stone, Nic. The Vanished (Shuri: A Black Panther Novel #2)

February 2nd 2021 by Scholastic Inc.

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Shuri finds out about a conference by spying, and is determined to attend it with with her mother and brother T'Challa. They say it might be possible, but require her to finish up some of her training in order to accompany them. Shuri's not a big rule follower, and prefers to concentrate of tech project that she enjoys, but talks to Kocha M'Shindi who agrees to let her train with the Dora Milaje. It's tough to concentrate with Shuri realizes that her own surveillance system was hacked. She traces it to a girl named Riri in Chicago, and when the two talk, they realize that there are a lot of girls who are interested in STEM going missing, including one of Riri's friends as well as one of K'Marah's. No one seems to notice or be alarmed, but Shuri does some research and manages to get an idea of where some of the girls might be. The Ethiopian city of Mekele is not far, so she arranges to travel there on a mission ostensibly to get fabric with the Clothier Lwazi and K'Marah. Once there, they manage to find a compound where the girls are being kept, and infiltrate it while invisible. The girls seem happy enough in The Garden, which is a tech lovers' paradise headed by Lady Nirvana Something seems not quite right, and Shuri has even more cause to worry when she finds her own name on the Bright Future's recruitment list. Will Shuri be able to figure out what Lady Nirvana is up to with her program for tech focused girls before she ends up in The Garden herself?
Strengths: Ronald Smith's Black Panther: The Young Prince has been super popular in my library, and while I don't have a copy of the first Shuri yet, I do have it on order. I love that Shuri is so interested to science, and the way she saved the day in the first book was great. She unearths a problem no one else knows about, gathers help, and saves the girls in Lady Nirvana's thrall before anyone else even knows there is a problem. She struggles with her training because she is distracted, but still tries her best. I often struggle keeping fantasy plots straight, but this one progressed at a nice pace and wasn't complicated to follow, which I very much appreciated! Marvel fans will appreciate the inclusion of characters in the Marvel canon.
Weaknesses: I still don't quite understand why Shuri's mother and brother have so little faith in her abilities and don't include her in important matters of state. That just doesn't make sense. Also, since I am not familiar with the Marvel universe, I had to look up a large number of things (What is S.H.I.E.L.D.? Are they good or are they evil. A tiny bit of explanation for those not in the know might help.)
What I really think: Definitely purchasing both, especially since I had an 8th grade girl who was so excited to read Alston's Amari and the Night Brothers because she hadn't really ever seen a fantasy book with an African American main character. I can only purchase books that have been published! (She's only been at my school this year, so hasn't gotten to investigate all of the titles that we have.)

Lots of fantasy

Stone, Nic. Shuri: A Black Panther Novel
May 5th 2020 by Scholastic Inc.
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Shuri is hard at work on a new suit for her brother, T'Challa, the Black Panther and king of the isolated kingdom of Wakanda. Things are not going the way she would like; she can't find a good combination of fabric and Vibranium to make the suit fit better AND protect her brother. She also has to put up with the demands of her mother, who wants her to act like a proper princess and go to council meetings wearing a dress. There's also K'Marah, the annoying "friend" her mother has foisted on her. When Shuri finds out that the plant used for the ritual challenge is dying at a horribly fast rate, she makes plans to find out why and get some assistance. Of course, her mother is against this, so she tries to sneak out. Unfortunately, K'Marah follows as well. The two girls head to Kenya, where they meet Queen Ororo and ask for her help. In order to do more research, the group heads to London, where they also meet up with the White Wolf, Dr. Selvig, and other super heroes. As the threat to Wakanda and to T'Challa grows, Shuri tries to perfect a suit for him, help the plants that are dying, and return to her country to help out.
Strengths: I loved Shuri's devotion to science and technology, as well as her dedication to helping her brother and her country. She is aware that she could one day be the Black Panther, even though there has never been a woman who has held the position. I'm not sure how closely this follows the Marvel canon on this character, but it seems like this is a fairly recent story line, and since it is published by Marvel it must have their blessing. Stone's writing is always great, and I love seeing fantasy books that aren't just reworkings of Anglo-Saxon tales like The Hobbit.
Weaknesses: Shuri could take some lessons from Queen Elizabeth about doing her duty and occasionally wearing a dress without fighting about it with her mother. Clearly an adult viewpoint, not one from the target demographic, clearly. Some of us think that skirts and dresses are more comfortable than skin tight, low riding jeans, after all!
What I really think: I'll buy this, since this author and the Ronald L. Smith Black Panther: The Young Prince book circulate well, but there was a LOT I didn't understand about what was going on, since I'm not familiar with the Marvel canon.

Oh, here is a fantastic review of the Marvel Comic Book in which I appeared in 2006, where I help defeat Dr. Doom. My new alias is going to be Mousy Vixen.

Barron, Rena. Maya and the Rising Dark
May 5th 2020 by HMH Books for Young Readers
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Maya is starting to see some weird things in her South Side Chicago neighborhood, but she doesn't say anything to her parents. Her father is gone a lot for his work, since he is an engineer who travels to lots of different countries to fix edifices. The two share a love for comic books, and are planning on going to Comic Con. She does mention the odd things to her friends Eli and Frankie, which is helpful when the group is attacked. Maya learns that her father, as well as many of the neighborhood denizens, are orishas, gods who have special powers. They are all keeping the darkbringers at bay, but they are seeping into the neighborhood more and more. Maya finds out that she and her friends are all godlings; they have one parent who is a god and one who is human. When her father, who is the guardian of the veil that separates our world from the realm of the gods, goes missing, it is up to Maya and her friends to defeat the Lord of the Shadows, bring her father back, and keep her neighborhood safe. Since Maya becomes an official guardian in training at the end of the book, there is surely a sequel in the offing!
Strengths: I loved the author's note at the beginning of the book; she says that she wanted to write a book about the south side of Chicago but not dwell on its problems to the exclusion of the sense of family and community, she wanted to learn about West African traditions, and she wanted a character who loved superheroes and comics. The story is well organized and progresses quickly, and the mythical characters are well explained. Maya and her friends area  fun group, although Maya's concern for her father is definitely what drives the story. Like Roanhorse's Race to the Sun, this is an excellent fantasy book that brings in interesting elements from other cultures.
Weaknesses: I was really intrigued by a comment early on about Maya's anemia making her feel dizzy sometimes, but it wasn't elaborated on and now I'm just curious!
What I really think: Definitely purchasing. There are so many good fantasies now that draw from cultures other than medieval Europe! I'm looking forward to see what Maya's next adventure is!


Lerangis, Peter. The Chaos Loop (Throwback #2)
May 5th 2020 by HarperCollins
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Corey and Leila have done some time traveling in Throwback, when they discovered that Corey has the ability not only to time travel, but to actually change history when he does. In the first book, he managed to save his grandmother from being killed on 9/11, but also found out that time traveling can have very bad effects if done too much. He decides that his trips to the past must be the most meaningful ones he can find, so when he realizes how many of his family members were killed during the Holocaust, he decides to go back and neutralize Adolph Hitler. Reluctant to just kill the man, he tries to redirect his life choices, only to find that this isn't enough to change history. He tries several different things in order to change the past, but finds that it is harder than he thinks, and Corey also finds that the repercussions of time traveling are very real.
Strengths: The first book set up the reasons that Corey and Leila can time travel, as well as the problems that other travelers have faced. Papou is a great character, and the New York City setting is interesting as well. The fact that Corey chooses to take out Hitler is fascinating, and many young readers will agree with his choice. This moved along swiftly and was just fun to read.
Weaknesses: This ends very abruptly, paving the way for another installment!
What I really think: I'm curious what will happen in the next book, which I predict will have a red or lime green cover! Wanting to change the past is a powerful story line which makes the books very intriguing. The great covers help students pick these up, too!

Last Gamer Standing and other spec fic

Zhao, Katie. Last Gamer Standing
September 21st 2021 by Scholastic Paperbacks

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

It's 2067, and Reyna Chang is definitely super excited to be at the summer Dayhold Academy and to be taking part in the junior championship tournament. She's had to keep her online identity separate from her in person one, since there is a heavy bias against both female and Asian gamers. Her online presence is The RuiNar, who presents as a teenage boy, a play on the Chinese version of her name, Rui Nar. Her parents are struggling, especially now that her mother is battling cancer, and are not thrilled to have their daughter be so interested in gaming. They think that she should spend her time studying useful things, like math and science, and don't fully support her dreams of being a professional gamer like LuckyJade847, her idol. The summer academy has many useful classes, but Reyna struggles with the social aspects of the camp, since she has to hide her identity. Her best friend from school, Henry, is at the camp, and she does connect with Nell Kwon (a boy), over their interest in The RuiNar. Reyna makes it through the first round by forging an alliance with Proslayer, a player whom she has admired, but he does not make it through. In the second round, she tries another alliance with RHCP, but that doesn't go as well. In the meantime, her mother's condition worsens, and her father wants her to come back home. Not only that, but she gets an anonymous e mail from another player who threatens to dox her. (From Dictionary.com: To publish the private personal information of (another person) or reveal the identity of (an online poster) without the consent of that individual.) This strengthens her resolve to do well at the tournament, especially since she wants to win the $10,000 prize in order to help her family. During the third round, she is made the captain of a team that includes F3lx, who is widely suspected of habitual cheating, but who is so clever he is never caught. Will Reyna be able to hold her own in the tournament, stay connected with her family, remain safe from those who wish her ill, and pursue a career in E Sports?

Strengths: While the descriptions of in-game play (and the fantastic cover!) are what will sell this to most readers, there is plenty of relevant social content for gatekeepers. This is set just far enough in the future that readers in 2067 might still have access to this book! Not a lot has changed, especially in the treatment of women and people of color in the gamer world. I loved that Reyna addresses this topic, and while it informs many of her choices, it never stops her from working towards her dream. It is also helpful that she does have a few role models (whom she eventually gets to meet), and has friends who are supportive of her once they find out her true identity. Also important is that when she has an opportunity to report mistreatment, it is taken very seriously. She is even given a response when she asks specifically what the consequences will be. When there are problems in middle grade novels, I think it is helpful to young readers to see good practices modeled in books, since they may not see them in real life. Since this is a Scholastic title, make sure you order an extra box if you are having a book fair! 

Weaknesses: I could have used more information about Reyna's life and how she worked her gaming into her ordinary activities before she came to the summer camp. Also, my daughter's name is Nell and I've never heard the name used for a boy before, so I kept expecting another subplot to develop from this.
What I really think: If this were available in hard cover, I would probably buy five copies. In prebind, I will probably get two or three. Video gaming is a HUGE interest among middle school readers, and until a few years ago, it was difficult to find books that involve them. Now, there's Anderson's fantastic Insert Coin to Continue, Mbalia's Last Gate of the Emperor, Mancusi's Dragon Ops, and many more titles. 

Video game books are always hard for me personally; I don't understand gaming (since the only game available during my formative years was Pong), and I don't think it is a good thing for children to do. If they are reading a book about video games, at least they aren't playing them! My own offspring were limited to a half hour of screen time each day, so when Reyna talks about playing for FIVE hours each day, that just seemed excessive. Many of my students think they can become YouTube stars, professional video game players, or professional ball players, but their chances of actually succeeding are so low. I wanted to be a Latin teacher, and my life would have been SO much better if someone had firmly squashed that impossible dream when I was young, so I really struggle with books like this, even though I buy them and recommend them to students.  

Got to the point this summer where fantasy novels got a bit samey. Now, my students won't necessarily have this reaction, since they haven't read as many as I have, but I can't buy all the books. Even if there were enough money, there's not enough SPACE, and I already have a ton of books about tweens finding out the have magical powers and using them to Save the World. Here are a couple of fantasy books I will be buying, but didn't have the mental energy to review properly.

Tsang, Katie and Tsang, Kevin. Dragon Legend (Dragon Realm #2)

September 21st 2021 by Sterling Children's Books

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

This had a couple good twists-- it is set at a summer camp, dragons are involved (they are HUGELY popular in my library right now), and there is also some time travel. I enjoyed the first one, Dragon Mountain. 

From the Publisher: 

"Billy Chan and his friends are not having a very relaxing summer. Their friend, Dylan, has been kidnapped by the evil Dragon of Death and it's up to them to travel through time, back to the dangerous Dragon Realm, in order to save him. Luckily they have their own dragons on side, but they'll need to collect eight magical pearls if they're to amass enough power to destroy the Dragon of Death and her followers for good. So begins an epic quest that will take them to the depths of the Frozen Wasteland and the imperial palaces of Ancient China. But can good triumph evil...?"

Barron, Rena. Maya and the Return of the Godlings

September 21st 2021 by HMH Books for Young Readers

Really enjoyed the first book in this series, Maya and the Rising Dark. Glad to see Maya's father is back and involved in teaching her about her powers, and will definitely buy this book. 

From the Publisher:

"In this highly anticipated sequel, Maya and the godlings must return to the sinister world of The Dark to retrieve the one thing keeping the veil between the worlds from crumbling: her father's soul. Perfect for fans of Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky and Willa of the Wood."

Smith, Ronald. The Young Prince: Spellbound

September 28th 2021 by Marvel Press 

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

While I was able to hang on through the first book in this series (https://msyinglingreads.blogspot.com/2018/01/wndb-black-panther-young-prince.html), the story does require a little more Black Panther knowledge than I have in my brain. There is even a graphic novel about this character, but that made me even more confused. I love Smith's writing, and the first book has been wildly popular with my students. I'll buy this one, and feel like I need to go read a whole lot of Black Panther comics. Or maybe see the movie. 

Somehow, I did much better with Stone's Shuri series:

https://msyinglingreads.blogspot.com/2020/05/lots-of-fantasy.html

https://msyinglingreads.blogspot.com/2021/02/flood-city-vanished.html

From the publisher:

"In the sequel to the hit middle grade novel, The Young Prince, T'Challa is heading back to America to visit his friends Sheila and Zeke, who are staying with Sheila's grandma in Alabama over their summer break. T'Challa is excited to see his friends, but his fun summer vacation quickly turns into a nightmare. The small town has fallen under the sway of a charismatic politician named Achebe who is there to retrieve a spell book full of dark magic. When strange events start to take place, T'Challa begins to think that it's no coincidence that Achebe arrived in Beaumont at the same time he did."

Spy School Goes North (Spy School #11)

Gibbs, Stuart. Spy School Goes North (Spy School #11)
October 3, 2023 by Simon Schuster Books 
ARC provided by the publisher

After the devastating events in Spy School: Project X, Ben finds himself in Alaska, in a remote and antiquated training base with Cyrus, Mike, Erica, and Zoe. While Ben still needs a lot of training, he is getting better at spying, and even identifies that there is a bear in the area when the group are working on their rappelling skills. When Cyrus is kidnapped by the Russians, the group looks through his things and decides he must have been taken to Fort King. Erica, determined to get her grandfather back, has everyone stock the training helicopter with supplies, and they set off. Erica's flying technique needs work, but she is still good at taking down attackers once they arrive, and Mike's out-of-the-box thinking has the group smearing chocolate frosting (who doesn't travel with tubs of that?) via slingshots on the security cameras so that the bears destroy them in search of a sweet treat. Even Ben manages to take down a guard! They find Cyrus having tea with Ivan Shumovsky and his granddaughter Svetlana, who looks like the evil twin of Erica. Cyrus and Ivan have butted heads before, and Ivan is still convinced that the US took advantage of Russi when they bought Alaska from them back in the 1800s. He's determined to take his revenge, and has a Doomsday project he means to implement unless Cyrus can prove the US wasn't culpable. Ben and his crew realize that the "Operation Hornswoggle" that Ivan thinks is behind this was really an operation that Croatoan was behind. With the notes incinerated and none of the members on speaking terms, the group heads out to find th eone person who might know something-- Murray Hill. Murray is alone on an island (ala Mary Malone) inhabited mainly by flatulant walruses, with little to do but study native plants and try to figure out the WiFi password. Of course, he doesn't want to cooperate and poisons the group in a very clever way and escapes. Luckily, Tina Cuevas, who has worked with Ben in the past, realizes that something is up and comes to the island to check on the group. She's working to prevent animal smuggling, but is able to help the group out. They meet with Ivan and discuss their findings, but they don't have enough and Ivan is determined to go through with his destructive plan. Luckily, Svetlana works against her grandfather because she doesn't agree with his, and also because she and Zoe shared a riveting glance and turn out to have a mutal crush. Can the group locate Ivan's notebook and stop his evil plan before he manages to blow up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge? And what will Murray be up to in the next book? 
Strengths: To underline how popular these books are with my students, I had to jump the queue and read this October title in early May because the publisher sent me a physical ARC, and I knew a handful of students who would gobble it up! I don't know how Gibbs continues to churn out quality books (like Gordon Korman, he has at least two a year!), but this was filled with his trademark humor, adventure, and clever ways of saving the day. I do like that he includes some romance for his teen characters, because that is completely realistic, and Zoe's feelings of lonliness are understandable, and the way she explains them to Ben make a slightly unlikely situation ring true. There are so many good details about flying helicopters, tromping through the Alaskan wilderness, and investigating decades old spy doings that I always feel like I could totally be a spy when I finish reading one of these books, even though I don't think that's true. Ben is an engaging character who knows his weaknesses and isn't afraid to leave the beating up of the enemy to his girlfriend. I'm interested to see where Murray leads the group next, and to see if the group manages to get back into society. Maybe, like Ben's parents, they'll be given a new life in San Diego. 
Weaknesses: While I adore these books, series that are this long pose a problem for a school library. Sometimes it feels like half of my book orders are sequels, and it breaks my heart when I deaccession a series that is no longer circulating (Sic transit, Duane's So You Want to Be a Wizard) and find that the ninth book has only been read thrice in a dozen years. 
What I really think: Of course I'll buy this. It's a great book. It sort of reminds me of my weird obsession with Lillian Jackson Braun's 1960s Cat Who books that got a second wind in the 1980s and went on to about 30 books. I even bought the paperbacks when I couldn't find them anywhere else, which was highly unusual for me, especially at that time. But it wouldn't hurt my feelings if Gibbs' gave us some shorter series like Moonbase Alpha with the same great characters and funny writing. 

Reynolds, Jason and Peña, Zeke. Miles Morales: Suspended
May 2, 2023 by Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central

Marvel's Miles Morales first appeared in 2011, after the fictional death of Peter Parker. His story has been told in Reynolds' previous Miles Morales: Spider-Man (2017) as well as Justin A. Reynold's graphic novels Shock Waves and Stranger Tides, as well as comic books and movies. In Suspended, we find Miles struggling with multiple issues at the Brooklyn Visions Academy, the elite boarding school he is attending. He's not a fan of living away from parents Rio and Jeff, who are not only supportive of him, but also of Black culture and social justice issues. The school struggles to understand and properly discipline students of color, and employs problematic teachers like Mr. Chamberlain, who doesn't teach history properly. Miles' parents are called to school when he is wrongly accused of stealing sausages from the cafeteria and of breaking a desk, and he eventually lands in In School Suspension for his accumulated actions. Is part of this due to the evil force of the Warden, who has a long history of mind controlling teachers and influencing their actions to be racist? ISS is horribly boring, and Miles and the others assigned to this punishment have packets of work to be turned in, administered by Coach Holt. She largely ignores them and reads the newspaper. Miles is preoccupied with the fate of his cousin Austin, who is in jail, and during a fire drill he talks to Mrs. Tripley, the helpful school librarian, and asks is she would consider helping him run a book drive to get books to send to his cousin. The fire drill ends in some scuffles, and there is an increasing amount of strange stuff going on. Miles sees termites, not only around the building, but coming out of the mouth of Tobin. Tobin has been accused of damaging library books, many of which are commonly challenged in school libraries. As Miles works on the packet, he thinks about how the school is failing Black and Brown students by not providing the books they need for projects, sometimes because the books have been challenged. Why is Tobin, a self professed book nerd, damaging books? Clearly, some evil forces are at work. Will Miles, or his alter ego, Spider-Man, be able to defeat them?

In Reynolds' hands, even a super hero story can be elevated to a lyrical commentary on social justice. Unlike Miles Morales: Spider-Man, this is more than just a super hero tale. It's a thoughtful rumination on many social justice topics, it includes a lot of poetry, and there are even illustrations by Peña. Much of the book is almost stream of consciousness, as we delve into the deeper questions behind why Miles was really put in ISS. 

Don't worry; there is an epic battle scene, but it does come late in the book. Miles also goes out on the street as Spider-Man and catches a pickpocket, but there are not as many standard super hero scenes. I wouldn't have minded seeing more of Peña's illustrations, either. 

Superhero tales are always in demand, so add Suspended to the growing number of novels set in the Marvel universe, along with Smith's The Black Prince and Spellbound, Stone's Shuri series, Gratz's Captain America graphic novel, and Hale's The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. 

I'm not entirely sure that my super hero fans are going to finish this; it is a bit on the longer side, and poetry is not a big hit with my students. This will probably be more successful with Young Adult readers due to its tone, size of print, and philosophical orientation.