Into the Shadow Mist

Soontornvat, Christina. Into the Shadow Mist (Legends of Lotus Island #2)
July 18, 2023 by Scholastic Press

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

After The Guardian Test, Plum and her friend Cherry and Sam are continuing their studies at the Guardian Academy on Lotus Island. Plum is still worried that she hasn't fully come into her powers, but she has noticed that she seems able to magnify the powers of others. She has, for example, helped Cherry turn into a much larger bear. When the students all get assignments to go to other locations and study under other masters for a brief time, Cherry, Plum, and Hetty are supposed to go to Glai Island and work with rare lavender fluff bunnies, but can't go there because a storm destroyed their dock. Instead, they join Salan, Sam, and Mikko on Bokari Island, learning from Master Em. It's cold and damp on Bokari, and the students soon learn that there are problems with knobble shrooms. They grow on Bokari trees, and are eaten by roll bugs, which burrow into the trees. This damages them, so the students think that getting rid of the shrooms will help. Upon further examination, however, they find that the entire ecosystem of the island is tied to the shrooms and the Bokari trees, so both must be kept healthy. This is a problem when they find several trees cut in half! This is alarming, and Master Em puts them on the case. It isn't a huge surprise to anyone to find out that Sam's mother, Lady Ubon, as well as Rella, who was kicked out of the academy, have something to do with the damage. 
Strengths: Plum's concerns about discovering and honing her skills are well described, and the fact that she keeps these concerns to herself is very much in character with young middle grade readers. She does tell Cherry, her best friend, and eventually confides in Master Em, who is able to reassure her. The Guardian Academy is a fun place to be, and the students have a lot of agency in solving problems and in mounting quests. While the problems the students face are serious, they are never scary, and there is a positive and upbeat feel to the whole book. This would be a MUCH better fantasy series to read aloud to first and second graders-- I've never understood reading Harry Potter aloud with the very young. If anyone is still promoting that series because they grew up with it, I still think it is best read independently by students in the sixth grade and up. Soontornvat has such a variety of titles that readers who enjoy her work can be encouraged to explore her other works like All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team, The Tryout: A Graphic Novel,  The Last Mapmaker, her Diary of an Ice Princess  series, or the next installment in Mlynowski's cooperative Best Wishes fantasy series, Time After Time (November 7, 2023).
Weaknesses: As someone whose formative years were spent eagerly awaiting the yearly airing of Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (RIP, Eddie Albert) this did have a bit of a Truffala tree vibe to it. Since young readers are not consuming as much Seuss as my generation did, this will seem new to them. 
What I really think: It is hard to find fantasy books that aren't 400 pages long, so I have decided to purchase these. One of our teachers challenges her students to read 25 books a year, and I think this would go over well with my fans of Chew's Everyday Magic books, Patton's Battle Bug series, or Rodda's Deltora Quest.