The Beach Dilemma and FrankinSchool

Prior, Laura Wiltse and Kissi, Marta (illus.) 

The Beach Dilemma (Emma Just Medium)
August 1, 2023 by Red Chair Press Books for Young Readers

Copy provided by the Publisher

Emma and her family go to the lake with the Farbers every summer. Unfortunately, it involves a long car ride, which rising second grader Emma doesn't care for. Older brother Big is ten, and has his own iPad, and younger brother Little requires a car seat, so Emma is stuck in the middle in the car, just like she is in real life. After Big gets carsick playing on his device and throws up on Emma's head, she decides that the best way to deal with being in the middle is to pretend she is NOT. This does mean that she won't be able to play with best friend Wes Farber, who is the middle child in that family, but she still tries to act like an older child. When that doesn't work, she gives things a try from Little's perspective. There are some advantages to being in the middle, such as being just the right size to be picked up by her dad and flung in the water, and after experimenting, Emma decides that being in the middle isn't so bad after all. 
Strengths: Car trips are not often discussed in middle grade or elementary literature, and as someone who spent a LOT of time in the back seat of a wood paneled Chevy station wagon with my younger brother, I think there is a lot of untapped potential here! While Emma's family gets to their cabin fairly quickly, the idea of going on vacation appeals to a lot of readers. Dealing with siblings is a big concern in the mind of the average second graders, and Emma shows a lot of realistic reactions to different facets of this. She doesn't like to be called "Emma Bemma", she is annoyed that Big gets an iPad and she does not, and she is envious of the attention that Little gets. I liked the representation of the speech impediment Emma deals with. The parents are present and supportive, and ultimately open to discussing Emma's feelings and her unhappiness with being in the middle. 
Weaknesses: Don't all parents know that the child in the car seat goes in the middle of the backseat, to act as a plastic fortress between the two older children? Also, most children throw up on their laps when they are on car trips. This is based on personal experience, but I understand that mileage may vary!
What I really think: This is a great choice for elementary students who like books like Sheth's Nina Soni, Brown's Lola Levine, Khan's Zara, and Warner's Absolutely Alfie. 

Rivadeneira, Caryn and Jones, Dani. 

Monster Match (FrankinSchool)

August 1, 2023 by Red Chair Press Books for Young Readers

Copy provided by the publisher

Fred misses a day of school, and when he comes back he finds that he also missed an author visit. His mother arranged for him to have a book, but when he opens up the one the teacher has left on his desk, he finds it inscribed "To Frank". When his teachers has the students work on creative writing, he pens a poem explaining how he is Frank "in school" and imagines a fantasy world where he is a Frankstein type monster. Before he knows it, his poem comes to life. All of the other students and teachers are asleep, but he and Luisa are awake and living this fantasy. Luisa is usually very mean to Fred and calls him stupid, but in the fantasy she is Princessa Luisa. The two follow the clues in Fred's poem to try to solve a ghostly mystery involving a long time custodian who is  now haunting the school. Will they be able to figure out a way to make the spirit happy and wake up their classmates?

Strengths: This is a wild tale of imagination that will appeal to readers who like to tell stories and come up with unusual things that could happen to them. Who wouldn't want to be the only one awake in a school who could deal with a ghost. The lab in the attic was particularly enjoyable, but I did feel sorry for the custodian who spent 40 years cleaning up the messes of others and was then stuck as a ghost in the school! 
Weaknesses: While I liked that Fred's mother told him to stand up to Luisa and tell her that he didn't like the way she was treating her, I was a little disturbed that Luisa really thought that she was joking and didn't seem to get the full impact of what Fred was saying, although she does change their last interchange from "dummie" to "smartie". 
What I really think: It's been years since I've thought about Dadey's Bailey School Kids, but I imagine there are still copies of that vast series lingering in most school libraries! I'm not well versed in elementary aged fantasy, but this is a fun book that readers who enjoy Vernon's Dragonbreath will find interesting. It might even spark interest in writing some poems.