New FrankinSchool Titles and The Serpent Rider

Rivadeneira, Caryn and Jones, Dani (illus.).
The Cupsnake Escape (FrankinSchool #2)
February 6, 2024 by Red Chair Press Books for Young Readers
Copy provided by the publisher

After his escapades in Monster Match, Fred is back. This time he is very concerned about an upcoming community baking competition for kids, the annual Ook and Spook School Bake-Off. Since his grandmother owns and operates Sigrid's Swedish Bakery and is one of the judges, he doesn't feel there can be a good outcome to his participation. If he wins, people will think it is favoritism, and if he loses, he will be embarassed. It doesn't matter that his own father lost spectacularly years ago; Fred is a much better baker. With his friends Drake and Louisa along on the bus trip to the venue, Fred writes a poem about the competition, hoping that Frank's ghost will save the day. The trio try making snake shaped cupcakes rolled in fondant, but are disappointed that they are dull and mud colored. Fred sees colorful sugar sprinkles that look like they will help, but once he puts them on, the "cupsnakes" wriggle off! The friends morph into their monster forms, and get to work. Now they are faced with not only lacking an entry, but with having magical baked goods slithering around the mansion. Frank is behind it, and outlines some of his reasons, including wanting to get rid of some mice. Will Fred and his friends be able to save the day again? 

Strengths: This is a quick, goofy read, and Fred and his friends are good at trying to manage situations by themselves. The ghost of Frank is helpful, but not always in the way the friends need, which makes sense for a ghost. His backstory is fleshed out a bit more, and there is a surprising family connection. This is a nice sized book, with larger font, and the illustrations add even more appeal. I would have loved these books in elementary school.
Weaknesses: Fondant. Blech! While some of the baked good the kids were making sounded good, the cupsnakes did NOT sound at all appealing!
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoyed Dadey and Jones Bailey School Kids (which freaked my younger daughter out!) or other magical early chapter book series like The Magic Treehouse or Malcolm's Jewel Kingdom.

Rivadeneira, Caryn and Jones, Dani (illus.). 

Gone to the Dogs (FrankinSchool #3)
September 10, 2024 by Red Chair Press Books for Young Readers 

Copy provided by the publisher

Luisa, Drake, and Fred have a research project on "World-Changing Ideas", and their teacher wants them to use the card catalog and books in the library, which is very frustrating to Fred, who would rather use the internet. He even tries to write a "what if" poem so that he changes into FrankinSchool and can get out of doing the work, but nothing changes! The library is in an addition to Tamer Mansion, which was renovated in the 1960s, so has a conversation pit and orange shag carpeting. Luisa is working on a project about the jewelry of Princesa Luisa, and writes a poem that does work. Drake turns into "Snake-ula", and Fred is once again FrankinSchool. They run into Frank, the ghost custodian, who is trying to appease the ghost of Jeremiah Tamer, who once owned the mansion. He had a difficult childhood, and found it hard to read. His nanny helped, but his father just called him "dumb". He and his nanny would look at dogs playing in the park from the windows of the attic, but he was never allowed to have a pet. When the family business fell on hard times, the nanny was let go, leaving Jeremiah to struggle. When he died and left the mansion to the city, it was supposed to house an animal shelter, so he's been haunting the mansion and making it unusable. He wants the addition torn down, and insists on haunting until his wishes are met. Drake has been working on a report on service dogs, and tells Jeremiah about the new practice of dogs reading with children. He also helps Jeremiah calm down with "box breathing" techniques that Fred also needs to use. In the end, a compromise is reached; the library addition will remain, but the house will be used for an animal shelter, and the dogs will read with children in the library to help the chances of the dogs being adopted. 

Strengths: It was great fun to see Fred and his friends struggling with doing research the old school way; I keep a set of encyclopedias (that my lovely public library donates!) on hand for this very purpose, although the card catalog was gone years ago. The back story on the Tamer Mansion and the addition is interesting, and of course Fred and his friends save the day. Information about dogs reading with children, and the eventual use of the mansion for an animal shelter, will make children very happy. 
Weaknesses: I'm pretty sure that a public library with orange shag carpeting would have been renovated years ago, especially since the library was in the basement. Young readers won't know how gross that carpet would be, but... ew! 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoy beginning chapter books with monsters in them, like Lubar's Monsterific Tales, Fearing's Welcome to Feral, or Stine's Goosebumps House of Shivers.

Diño, Yxavel Magno. The Serpent Rider
September 10, 2024 by Bloomsbury Children's Books
ARC provided by the publisher

Tani works with Swordmaster Pai on drills, since she is supposed to be the "destined hero" of her village, but all of her hard work is for nothing as long as her bakunawa egg that was assigned to her at birth doesn't hatch. Everyone in her village has a special bond with the dragon like creatures, and her friends are already training their bakunawa; Bato has Iska, and Kiri's Lutian hatches soon after the story begins. Tani's father, who was the leader of the village (the Datu) was killed, and her mother has taken over. Her sister, Ligaya, has spent a long time learning all of the village lore, and must be protected. When Tani meets Mutya, she shares her desperation from a bakunawa, since there have been monsters attacking, and the biggest fear is that the Great Bakunawa will return and swallow the final sun. Mutya offers to create a creature for her in exchange for some small tokens, like a blue cone shell, as well as unspecified future payments. Mutya creates Uling, and for a while, Tani feels like this will help her attempts at keeping her sister and village safe. When Mutya takes her payment in kidnapping Ligaya and taking her to Mount Mahiwaga, Tani must go on a quest to return her sister and keep the Great Bakunawa at bay. 

This had some interesting elements of Filipino folklore, and read fairly quickly. There are relatively few fantasy books with Filipino characters, other than Villanueva's  2024 Lulu Sinagtala and the City of Noble Warriors and 2021 Sugar and Spite, Badua's 2022 Freddie vs. the Family Curse, and Torres' and Elbert's 2012 graphic novel Lola: A Ghost Story.  No matter where tweens are in the world, it is up to them to save the world from paranormal destruction! Definitely appreciate that this is a stand alone fantasy novel.