Westfallen

Brasheres, Ann and Brasheres, Ben. Westfallen
September 17, 2024 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Henry, Frances, and Lukas used to be good friends, but when the children developed different interest in middle school, they saw less and less of each other. When their gerbil dies, Henry contacts the other two for a funeral. While digging, they unearth an old radio, and manage to get it to work. They talk to three children their age, Alice, Lawrence, and Artie, who are also from their New Jersey town. They arrange to meet, and both groups are disappointed. When they talk again, landmarks come up. Alice is confused about a war memorial being at the specified location, and Henry is confused about Snyder's Sweet Shop. Why? Henry is in 2023, and Alice and her friends are in 1944. The groups try several experiments to connect across time, and are both clearly tied to the same house address and a shed on the property. When Henry finds out that Snyder's burned down because of a faulty hot plate, Alice and her friends make sure to get the owner to unplug it. The next day at school, one of Henry's classmates, Ada, is not there, and her father's magic shop isn't either, although the Snyder's building is. Upon researching, they realize that Snyder's became a convenience store, and Ada's father was killed working there in 1987. Alice and her friends manage to get the store to burn down a few days later, but things go badly, badly wrong. Unfortunately, both sets of kids destroy the radio, so that they can't contact each other and start other "butterfly effects". It's too late, however. Instead of being in the USA, the children in 2023 are now in Westfallen, which is run by German Nazis. While Frances is Aryan and therefore doing well, Henry is part Black, so assigned to work details in a hospital instead of going to school. Lukas, who is Jewish, is assigned to hard field labor. Realizing that they have to find a way to return the world to a course where the US is victorious, the children discover that a telegram was sent from their town that caused D Day to be a German victory. They manage to communicate across time, and the shed helps Henry and Frances remember the ways things were before. Lukas, however, has his actions circumscribed by his discriminated against status. Will Henry be able to find the woman who sent the telegram and stop it from alerting the Nazis?

Strengths: Almost as good as time travel? Communicating across time. Who wouldn't want to stop a soda fountain store from burning down? Some nice wordplay on Westphalia in the title, and the story has just enough detail without getting bogged down in politics. Henry's desire to get his friends back together for some interesting adventures gives us a good excuse to get the radio up and running, and I appreciated that both groups were perfectly willing to accept this odd occurrence. There are enough period details about the 1940s to differentiate the two groups. The alternate US is horrible enough to motivate both groups to try to keep in contact and save the world. Very intriguing story. 
Weaknesses: We don't get too many details about what happened to Alice's mom, and I could have used a little more explanation of how Henry and Alice are related. Also, there is a short scene in 1944 with folding a fitted sheet. Fitted sheets would not have been widely adopted until the 1950s. I'm a stickler for details like that, and there was no good reason to have specifically fitted sheets. 
What I really think: This has some similarities to Scarrow's Time Riders (2011), with the Germans winning World War II, but that is as old as my students by this point! Also, this gets a lot of bonus points for the radio that connects the two time periods. I can't think I've ever seen anything like that! The Voyagers! feel to this definitely appealed to me! The ending of this had Ada pulling up in a van and telling the kids to get in, so I wonder if there will be a sequel. 

MMGM- Off the Map and Kid Musicians

It's

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
 at 

Always in the Middle 

and #IMWAYR day 

at

Unleashing Readers

Hashimoto, Meika. Off the Map

November 12, 2024 by Scholastic Press

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Marlo is excited to go on a backwoods adventure in the Yukon with her mom to start off her summer vacation. The end of the school year has been rough, after her father left to go "find himself" and her best friend, Amos, stopped talking to her for reasons she doesn't understand. When Marlo and her mom get packed up to go on their advenutre, along with her dog, Cheerio, Marlo is not happy to find that Amos and his father have been invited along. At first, she's in the canoe with Amos' dad, Terry, who is a novice at paddling, but eventually ends up with Amos. When the two get separated from the parents, they run into trouble. Taking a wrong turn, they get swept over some falls, and have to try to dry out their equipment and set up for the night. Amos suffers from hypothermia, and Marlo has to build a fire to get him warm, but leaves the axe by the river and it gets swept away. They trek off away from the canoe, and find it crushed by a tree when they get back. Cheerio comes face to face with a porcupine but escapes unscathed, and Marlo slices open her foot on rocks in the river. There's a storm, as well as the requisite bear attack. Food runs low, and the two dispair of being found after a helicopter flies over and doesn't spot them. On top of all of this, there is some friend drama. Marlo feels that Amos' treatment of her is similar to her dad abandoning her, so is freezing him out. At the same time, Amos feels that Marlo is the one who stepped away from their friendship. Amos' tells her that he has a crush on her, and the two are able to discuss their feelings, unpack them, and remain friends. Eventually, they make their way back to the main river, and are rescued. 

Strengths: Survival tales all tend to be somewhat similar (there's almost ALWAYS a bear attack!), but there are never enough of these books for my readers. Off the Map does have some facets that set it apart. The bear attack, for instance, is the best one I've read. There's a bear horn and pepper spray involved, and Cheerio gets mixed up in it. Everyone survives unscathed, however. Whew. This interweaves the emotional drama with the survival quite nicely, and is well paced and a good length. Marlo and Amos' falling out has some surprising but realistic elements, and it's on trend with current thinking that they were able to discuss what happened and still remain friends. Marlo's feeling that what happened with Amos parallels what happened with her father is well explained, and shows how parental problems can affect middle grade children on many different levels. The cover has lots of good elements in it that will appeal to middle grade readers; make sure that there are plenty of copies of this in your Scholastic book fair. 
Weaknesses: Marlo's mom is a professional river guide who's spent years in the Yukon wilderness, and yet she lets her daughter go off without her own satnav phone? And they bring their dog? Of course, there wouldn't be a story is Amos and Marlo stayed with the parents, but they seemed a bit I'll prepared for the emergencies that might come up in such a journey. Did love that Marlo and Amos had to pay for the damaged canoe by earning money, but was it really their fault? Young readers will not have these reactions. 
What I really think: There are just never enough survival stories for my students, so I will definitely purchase this, and it will make a nice display with Bledsoe's Running Wild, and Behren's Alone in the Woods, Downings' Just Keep Walking, Greci's The Wild Lands, Goebel's Backcountry, and Philbrick's Wild River. Very new titles also include Smith's Stranded, Russell's It Came from the Trees, and what I still think is essentially a survival tale, Neri's Safe Passage. 

Stevens, Robin and Steinfeld, Allison (illustrations)

Kid Musicians: True Tales of Childhood from Entertainer, Songwriters, and Stars

November 12, 2024 by Quirk Books

Copy provided by the Publisher

Think of the Quirk Kid books as a sort of Readers Digest condensed book collection of biographies. In just ten to twelve pages, which includes bright and colorful illustrations, we get a great overview of a variety of musical celebrities. There are four general categories with four people each, and while most are from the last forty years or so, there are some outliers. 

The "Pop Superstars" include Cher, Beyonce, Harry Styles, and Taylor Swift, so this will draw in a lot of young readers who are Swifties! It was interesting to read about Styles, since I found out he is the age of my children, but the book didn't give me much information about his interesting style. 

"Jazz Clubs and Concert Halls" gives us older musicians like Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Yo-Yo Ma, and Glenn Gould, of who I had never heard. Born in 1932, Gould was considered one the most famous classical pianists. 

The musicians of my era get a shout out with "Songwriting and Music Making" with such Boomer favorites as Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, Bob Marley, and Dolly Parton. I was glad to see Mitchell included, since she is such a brilliant writer, and is still singing despite health challenges, but I would have chosen John Lennon or George Harrison to represent the Beatles; after all, they are unfortunately dead, and Sir Paul is still going strong. 

Finally, "Rhythm and Blues and the Motown Sound" is represented by Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Prince, and Mariah Carey. Wonder's story is especially suited to this series, since his career started when he was quite young. 

This series of collective biographies reminds me of the Childhood of Famous Americans series, with which I was obsessed in the fourth grade. It's helpful to young readers to see the childhood daily life and challenges of people who became big stars.  I really appreciate that this has a bibliography as well as a good index; I'm seeing more and more nonfiction books that lack these crucial elements. 

It's tough to balance the mix of different types of music and different eras of performers, but Kid Musicians delivers a well orchestrated interlude of stories about performers that will be music to young readers' ears. 

Happy & Sad & Everything True

Thayer, Alex. Happy & Sad & Everything True
November 12, 2024 by Aladdin

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Dee is having a difficult year in sixth grade. Her best friend, Juniper, is in another class, and they don't have their Snack and Stretch Break together. Dee hasn't made any other friends, so she tries to spend the break in the bathroom, listening to the drip of the water and counting the tiles. After a while, she realizes that she can hear people talking through the grates in the bathroom, and has a pleasant interchange with Harry, who is in her class. Gym is after the snack break, and she is very embarassed when there is a Parent PE day and her mother shows up in a very short skirt and tall boots. Not only is she not really able to participate in a two legged race, but when she does, she is tied to the gym teacher and falls over, showing everyone her underwear! Dee is mortified, and knows that everyone is talking not only about her mother, but is also making unkind comments about Dee herself. Luckily, she is able to work on some group projects with Harry, and the two get along. Through the bathroom grates, she also helps several younger students with spelling, factual information, and some life advice. Her reputation at giving good advice spreads, and she helps out a 7th grader as well. Of course, spending this much time in the bathroom makes her teacher suspicious, and Dee is sent to the guidance counselor for a brief talk. At home, her mother, who gives spiritual readings as a way to earn money and who has been divorced from Dee's father for a long time, has Mr. Fender, Dee's gym teacher, over for dinner. When Juniper finds out about this from her mother (who is a friend of Dee's mother), she thinks it is weird and inappropriate. Harry's father, a well-to-do, motivated business man, has problems with the 6th grade curriculum, and meets with the teacher and principle to discuss his unhappiness. Dee overhears them talking, and worries that Harry will leave the school. Eventually, Dee is called to the office when Juniper complains about her conversations. Instead of punishing her for what Juniper thinks are inappropriate interactions, the principle offers Dee an advice column in the school newspaper. Dee realizes that while Juniper no longer wants to be her friend, Harry is a good person to have on her side, and some people do like her. 

Strengths: This is on trend with books addressing social emotional learning topics and with the idea that it is good to share one's problems with others. There are always students who, like Dee, find it hard to make friends, so it was good to see Dee have some successes, like getting to know Harry and being offered the advice column. I was glad to see that Dee was not able to spend a huge amount of time in the bathroom and have it go unnoticed. School security is usually better than that! Teachers and  librarians will enjoy this lyrical "heart print" book. 
Weaknesses: There is not a lot that happens in this book, so tweens might find it a little slow. Also, Juniper's concerns about having Dee as a friend are something that she should be allowed to have, although she should not have been allowed to try to get Dee into trouble. It's also not terribly surprising that Juniper's family wanted the girls separated, but Dee's mother should not have told her about that. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who like contemplative books about relationships like DiCamillo's Ferris, Swartz's Hidden Truths, or Conklin's Crushed. 

Saturday Morning Cartoons- The Squad

Soontornvat, Christina and Cacao, Joanna (illus.)
The Squad (The Tryout #2)
November 12, 2024 by Graphix
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Even though she didn't make the 8th grade cheerleading squad, Christina is having a good year. She still practices the cheer routines with her good friends Megan and Leanne, has a crush on the very cute Andy, is taking home ec, and is very excited about her new art project, which she is working on with a group. It's sculptures of toes, which seems perfectly reasonable for a middle school art project! She still hangs out with Greg (whom she "loves but doesn't 'like'"), and avoids the racist Tobin, who isn't quite as bad as he's been in the past, although his friends still call Christina "rice girl" and other horrible names. While Christina is the only Asian in her small Texas town, when she goes to church and hangs out with other Thai students, she still doesn't feel like she fits in, since she is half Thai and doesn't speak the language. While her life is going pretty well, there is some tension, since her parents' restaurant isn't doing as well as they would like, and her parents are arguing a lot. When it turns out that there will be THREE spots on the high school cheer squad, the friends are sure that they can try out and get them, and that this would be the thing that would make life absolutely perfect. Of course, life changes quickly, and when her father moves out, Christina tries to tell herself that her parents are just separating. Since one of her favorite movies is the Hayley Mills' version of The Parent Trap, she's determined to get her parents back together, and doesn't really listen to what they have to say. Eventually, her parents tell her that it's a done deal; they are divorcing, and the mom sells her half of the house and the restaurant business to the dad. She gets a job, but it's in the nearest large town, and rents an apartment. This is a lot to deal with while tryouts are going on, and it's a big relief when Christina and Megan make the high school squad. Sadly, Leanne doesn't, and this causes a temporary rift. Christina is angry about her parents, and also bears some resentment towards the people who want to be her friend now that she's a cheerleader. Why didn't they want to be her friend before? This causes her to be a bit snotty to others. She's excited about cheerleading camp, but it's a lot of work, and eventually her feelings bubble to the surface and she shares them with her new squad. This helps a little, and while life isn't perfect, it's still pretty good. 

Strengths: I was glad that we had a firm date when this took place: 1994. The historical details are quite good; there's even a stress ball that Megan has that reminded me of one that my students gave me in 1993! The relationships are more strongly portrayed than in other graphic novels I have read, and I especially liked the fact that Christina and Andy go out to the mall on a date... and she finds out that they really don't have much in common! The arc of the divorce seems very realistic, and I imagine that there are a lot of students who delude themselves that their parents will get back together when this won't ever happen. I liked that she was able to discuss this with other classmates, like Andy, whose parents were also divorced. Since I am also a huge Gene Kelly fan, I was greatly amused by her love of this fantastic movie star; maybe tweens will investigate some of his work. There is an undercurrent of racial identity that is worked in nicely as well. There are not as many middle grade novels about cheerleading as you would imagine, and the first book has circulated well in my library. 
Weaknesses: Sure, I know in my heart of hearts that the cheerleaders who were mean to me when I was in middle and high school probably were mean because they were deeply wounded individuals and I should feel sorry for them, but since several of them were still nasty to me at our 40th class reunion, this is hard to believe. We can only hope that cheerleaders today are not as elitist. And snotty. 
What I really think: I love the variety of Soontornvat's writing; she's done nonfiction (All Thirteen, Made in Asian America), fantasy (Legends of Lotus Island and Time After Time), alternative history (The Last Mapmaker), and even a picture book biography (A Life of Service: The Story of Senator Tammy Duckworth)! I'd love to see her do more funny, realistic fiction, but it will just be fun to see what she turns her hand to next! 

Guy Friday- Shadowed

Deuker, Carl. Shadowed. 

November 5, 2024 by Clarion Books

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Nate's family is heavily invested in soccer, and his older sister, Amelia, is working hard to get the attention of college scouts so that she can get a scholarship. This is important, since the family's subway shop business in Salmon Bay, Washington is continually struggling. Both parents are frequently at work, and they get little support from their own parents, one set of which lives in Portugal, and the other set in Missoula. When Nate suffers a bad concussion when he is hit with an errant ball at his sister's soccer game, he struggles for weeks to stand up straight without being nauseated. He tells his parents that he is no longer going to play the sport, but wants to try out instead for the basketball team. They don't take him seriously, because he's never been involved in the sport, but he starts to play pick up games with his neighbor, Lucas Cawley. Lucas' family is troubled; the father does woodworking at home, the mother works in a hospital but is a functioning alcoholic, and Lucas' sister is developmentally delayed. His oldest brother, Richard, is considered "wild", and Amelia is told to stay away from him. Lucas is devoted to his sister, and always makes sure she is safe on the bus. He even goes to her unit during the day and will play with her, giving way to the derisive nickname "Creepy Crawley" that popular basketball players Bo and Colin bestow upon him. Nate doesn't stand up for Lucas, and the two stop playing basketball together. As high school starts, Nate struggles. Amelia is off at college, and his parents are still more invested in her sporting career than his. When he wants to join an expensive travel team, they say that they don't have the money. Feeling that he needs some kind of preparation and coaching, Nate plays rec ball, and eventually gets good enough to try out for the team. He barely makes it, and reconnects with Lucas. The two compete with each other, and always have a slightly wary relationship. When there is a big tournament during their junior year, a tragedy occurs when the team is goofing off. Having to come back for his senior year, Nate tries to make peace with what has happened, and to make plans for how he can go forward with the rest of his life. 

Strengths: I loved the family dynamics with the parents' restaurant and Amelia's soccer playing. I think there are a lot of high school students who are often left to their own devices because parents are busy, or concentrating more on another child. Nate's a good kid; he even gets decent grades when recovering from the concussion. The fact that Lucas has more urgent struggles is also realistic, and Nate doesn't really have a solid enough situation to really be able to understand and support Lucas. (If this were a Mike Lupica book, there would be an awesome mother who took care not only  of Nate, but of Lucas AND Megan, but this is more realistic.) It's interesting to watch Nate change over the four years of high school, and watch him meet the different challenges that come his way. He is a resilient character, and we certainly need a lot more of those! 
Weaknesses: The contemplative tone, as well as the long time period, makes this more of a young adult book. I definitely appreciate that Deuker is always circumspect in his use of language and situations, making his books suitable for younger readers as well as older ones. The story moves more slowly because so many emotions are being processed. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who want an upper middle grade/lower young adult book that covers a long range of time, like Volponi't Top Prospect , and reminded me a little of Whitaker's Snap Decision. The way the death is treated is somewhat reminiscent of Stokes' Fadeaway, and definitely reminded me of Bunting's hard-hitting 1999 Blackwater. This is not quite as sad as Deuker's Swagger (2013), but lacks the intrigue of High Heat or, my favorite, Runner. 

Bank

Quigley, Emma. Bank
March 8, 2018 by Little Island Books
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central

Luke, who lives in a town in Ireland, is dealing with the disintegrating finances of his family, which leads to problems for him, like having no internet for schoolwork, forcing him to hunker down in the family bathroom and use his neighbor's connection. When his friend Finn shows up at school with a wad of cash, all of the boys in their group are a bit confused, until Finn tells them about his epiphany in the dentist's chair. All of their classmates desperatelyf want to get tickets to the upcoming Boy Wonder contest, but they don't have the ready cash necessary, and their parents are not about to bankroll this particularl endeavor. Finn proposes that he loan money to a select group, and plans to charge a pound in interest every week, with a steeper penalty if the loan isn't paid on time. He needs his friends to help with various aspects of the "business", including recruiting people. The group's first customer is Speedy O'Neill, who owes sixty pounds to the cafeteria, and doesn't want his parents to find out. Since Finn's mother is an estate agent who is lazy with her keys to properties, Finn finds an old butcher shop on the books for a business front. He recruits Emily, on whom Luke has a bit of a crush, to help with the math. They also give a loan to Jo and Lucy, who have developed a software app called "Tagged" that is a matchmaking program, and the group arranges for a cut of the profit. Also on their books is Paddy, who has trained piglets to dance and march, and posts videos about them. He wants liquid assets to pay for a pet hotel to keep them safe! Wanting to expand their business further, and realizing that the football (soccer, in the US) team has a source of income from a stipend for getting uniforms washed, Finn also takes deposits and promises interest. When schoolmate Mucker wants a larger than usual interest loan to buy sample sports equipment from his uncle, he gets his loan when he offers to pay a larger rate of interest. Aside from Emily's bookkeeping, the records are not great, and Luke finds himself storing a lot of the money under his bed. Some of the other funds are stashed in the butcher's shop. For a while, things are going well, but eventually there are problems. Paddy's father hasn't paid off the pigs. The Tagged app is banned at school. Bets for a soccer shoot out might have to be returned when one of the participants is injured. Luke finds himself syphoning off more and more of the money, and when the group needs to have cash at had, they find that some of it has been stolen by Brazilians tourists, and that they can't get into the butcher shop because it's been sold and turned into a nail salon. Will Finn and his associates be able to locate enough of the funds to take care of their debts before closing the business down?

I loved that this was told from the point of Finn, who is really secondary to most of the business dealings. We get to experience all of the loans and schemes through his eyes, and see that Finn really has not thought through any of this! Luke, despite his troubles at home, is a pretty good kid, who wants to do the right thing, but also isn't about to go making trouble and questioning the other teens who are involved. His crush on Emily is sweet, and he's a nice, calm foil for the mayhem that is swirling around him.

The language of the book is very colloquial, so some US readers might take a moment to adjust to the Irish vernacular, which includes laundrettes, pounds, Mams, and feckin'. Since there is a lot of action at the beginning as well as a lot of characters that are introduced, going into this story knowing that there might be some unfamiliar vocabulary might be helpful to tween and teens readers.

The draw here is the constant, swirling absurdity that Luke witnesses. There are a group of boys called the "Teletubbies" because of an incident with paint, a boy named Specks who lives out of a farm and rents out both recording studio time and campsites, and a scene where the boys plan on having manicures so that they can distract the new nail salon owners and retrive their savings. While it's all a bit far fetched, none of it seems impossible.

There are a number of books where students have impossible schemes, and it's always fun to read about. Teens trying to behave like adults is always fun to read, and I can see this book being a hit with readers who enjoyed Mitchell's How to Rob a Bank, Johnson's The Great Greene Heist, Schreiber's Con Academy, and Carter's Heist Society. 

Unsinkable Cayenne

Vitalis, Jessica. Unsinkable Cayenne
October 29, 2024 by Greenwillow Books

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

It's 1985, and Cayenne's family has been living in a 1969 camper van, traveling the US. Her father is a Vietnam vet who is on disability, and her mother is a free spirit who doesn't want to be tied down to a conventional lifestyle. However, since the birth of Cayenne's twin siblings, Bear and Sossity, it's been more difficult to maintain this nomadic way of life, and Cayenne's father has gotten a job in a sawmill in Montana. The family is renting a house, and Cayenne is very excited to be able to stay in one place and go to school. The house is rather run down, and she's a little concerned about fitting in to her new school, but there are some hopeful signs. The family finds a dog, George, and Cayenne sees a cute boy in the neighborhood. He turns out to be new to the school as well. Cayenne starts to play the flute, and would like desperately to be as popular and untroubled as the other flute players, who look down their noses at her worn and unstylish clothing. She does befriend the bookish Dawn, whose father is a doctor and whose mother is a nurse. This secure family situation allows her to match her outfits to the books she is reading. She's nice, but Cayenne can tell that Dawn is a bit of an outcast, and worries about aligning herself with her. She's happy to befriend Tiff, one of the flute players, even when Tiff criticizes her shoes. Beau is rumored to be interested in her, but Cayenne finds herself tongue tied in his presence, and thinks that she is being taunted when his friends give her Beau's phone number and tell her to call. Her teacher is very excited about the fact that the wreckage of the Titanic has been found, and many of their school projects revolve around this historic event. Cayenne is still concerned that her mother is going to alienate her new friends; she's raising chickens in the yard, and was very cold to Tiff's mother when the woman brought over cookies, since she is not about to embrace something as conventional as the PTA. Even though things are financially difficult, especially after her father is laid off from the sawmill, Cayenne is hopeful that things will work out and her family will be able to stay put. The class projects on the Titanic show the socioeconomic disparity in the number of deaths, and Cayenne sees the parallels in her own life, and wonders why having more money should translate into a person being more valued. While there is some kindness from her friends' families when Cayenne's parents are really strapped, it's not enough to keep them in their home. Luckily, when they hit the road again, they run into another family with a similar outlook, and Cayenne is able to understand that while their lifestyle might not be the most "normal" one, it still has some positive aspects to it. 

Strengths: There are LOTS of good historical details about fashions, news, and prevailing thoughts in 1985; from Swatches and Benetton to the ubiquity of perms, this hits all of the highlights. I also appreciated that the dates worked for the parents being hippies, especially since there have been relatively few middle grade books with fathers who fought in Vietnam. Cayenne has a good idea of what it takes to fit in during middle school, and she makes realistic attempts to be cool by piercing her own ears and using a cash windfall to buy new sneakers. Dawn was a great character, as was Tiff, and I was glad that Cayenne did have a few good friends and wasn't completely alone. The crush on Beau was very sweet, and I loved that he invited her on an outing with his parents! The information about the Titanic, and the different death rates for different social classes, was quite interesting, and this gets bonus points for mentioning the movie The Unsinkable Molly Brown. (If you're even in Denver, you can still visit her house!) Comparisons with Fipps' And Then... Boom are apt, due to the verse format as well as the questionable parenting, and this is a great addition to other books about families who are struggling to make ends meet, including Supplee's The Sweetness All Around, Walker's Why Can't I Be You, and Ogle's Free Lunch. 
Weaknesses: A parent smoking marijuana openly in 1985 would have been VERY concerning. Modern readers will have a vague idea that marijuana is now legal under certain circumstances, but I was a little surprised that the father's (then) illegal use wasn't explained more. 
What I really think: This is set a few years earlier than Toalsen's The First Magnificent Summer but definitely has some similarities. The comparison that popped into my mind (maybe because of the similarities in the names) was this: if Gemeinhart's The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise ended and sequed into Eulberg's The Best Worst Summer (because of the 1980s cultural details) but was written in verse, you'd have Unsinkable Cayenne! This also made me think of all of the parents in Jacqueline Wilson's novels. 

Election Day- The Day Madear Voted and Vigdis

Hudson, Wade and Tate, Don (illus.). The Day Madear Voted

9 July 2024 by Nancy Paulsen Books

Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central

It's 1969, and Charlie and Ralph's mother is very excited that she will get to vote for the first time since the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965. Before, Black people were made to provide documentation they didn't have in order to be abel to vote, or to pay a toll tax or even guess the number of jellybeans in a jar! Now, all that is ended. Madear gets dressed up in her best dress and takes the boys to City Hall to vote. It's a bit of a tense time; it wasn't always easy for Black people to vote in some places in the US, but Madear is able to vote without incident. After that, she voted every year, and in 2008 was able to vote for Barack Obama, the first Black president of the US.

Good Points Wade Hudson's fantastic memoir, Defiant: Growing Up in the Jim Crow South (2021) as well as his contemporary middl grade fiction book The Reckoning (2024), both explore Civil Rights, so it is great that he is bringing this topic to younger readers, especially since the illustrator, Don Tate, has done several books on the topic as well, like Pigskins and Paintbrushes.

The illustrations get the details of the 1960s correct, and Madear's outfit somehow made me think of the rebooted Wonder Years television show that portrays the experiences of a Black family in Montgomery, Alabama during this time period. There's something about the clothing and the house that particularly ring true. Don't forget the plaid pants on some of the voters!

An end note says that this is loosely based on one family's experience, and gives more information about the historical period.

As we approach another presidential election cycle, it's important to teach young future voters the importance of making their voice heard. Keep The Day Madear Voted in heavy rotation for nightly read alouds along with Todd's Stacey Abrams and the Fight to Vote, Winter and Evan's Lillian's Right to Vote: A Celebration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to make sure that children grow up and fulfill their civic duty. Add Rockcliff's Around America to Win the Right to Vote, if you want to also include Women's Suffrage before 1920; my grandmother was 27 before she could vote for the first time, so it is not a right that I ever take lightly! 

Flygenring, Rán. Vigdis: A Book About the World's First Female President
May 07, 2024 by Helvetiq
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central

Born in 1930, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir was raised in Reykjavík, Iceland. She loved nature, and had many varied interests. After World War II, when she was 19, she went to study in France, and loved the French culture. Upon her return home to Iceland, she held a variety of jobs, including teaching French both in the classroom and on television, working as a tourist guide, and running a theater. She was also the first single woman in Iceland to adopt a child alone. She was well known in the country, and after a women's strike in 1975, was asked to run for president. She had little interest in this, and was not planning on running until she got a letter from a group of fisherman who urged her to run. Even in 1980, the thinking of most people was that a woman couldn't be president, but Vigdís won the election and became the first woman to hold an elected position as a head of state. She served for 16 years, and always tried to do the best for her country. She lived in the official presidential residence, Bessastaðir, and was fond of visiting school groups. She would even take three birch tree saplings with her to present to them; one each in honor of the girls, the boys, and the children yet to be born!

Good Points Vigdís is still alive in 2024, and I don't feel too bad using her first name, since even the phone books in Iceland were arranged by first name rather than last because of the practice of giving children a last name comprised of their father or mother's first name combined with "son" or "dottir", so that each member of a family could have a different last name! The other item that caught my interest more than it should have was her Bessastaðir cookies even though women politicians often have a difficult relationship with baking; if I could find a recipe for them that wasn't in grams, I would try to make them!

This book is set up as though a young child were interviewing Vigdís at her house, and is illustrated in a colorful chalk pastel style. The hand lettered text is woven between the pictures, and there is a lot of information presented. The pictures also have lots of detail, and do a good job of capturing the clothing of the various points of time.

Even though I was reading the news in 1980, I was unaware of Vigdís' groundbreaking career, so I'm glad to add this to my library of picture books about women politicians, which includes Aronson's Abzuglutely!, Bryant's Fall Down Seven Times, Stand Up Eight: Patsy Takemoto Mink and the Fight for Title IX, Charles' Katanji Brown Jackson: A Justice for All, and Warren's Stacey Abrams: Lift Every Voice.

MMGM- The Mystery of Mystic Mountain

It's

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
 at 

Always in the Middle 

and #IMWAYR day 

at

Unleashing Readers

Fox, Janet. The Mystery of Mystic Mountain
October 22, 2024 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

E ARC Provided by Edelweiss Plus  

Becca Solway has her summer all planned; she's going to hang out with Kasie and the popular crowd at the beach, date Tommy, and not think about her parents fighting all the time. Instead, her mother whisks her away from Connecticut to Montana for a month at a spa resort. However, when they arrive, they realize that the booking was not made for the posh Get Away Ranch, with its masseurs and hot tubs, but rather the Far Away Ranch run by Terry, with iffy WiFi and even iffier food. Since it's already been paid for, the two must make do. Becca starts to go into the woods, but is stopped by Jon, whose father works at the ranch, and told she needs boots and Bear spray if she wishes to venture further. Back at the lodge, they see Tad Lochster, the YouTube star who is always posting about extreme adventures, and Becca is concerned that her mother looks at him with some interest. Jon, whose mother has passed away, has encouraged his father to come to the ranch based on the stories his Gram, who has also passed away, told him about Pearhandle Pete back in the last century. Jon thinks if he can find Pete's treasure, it would help his father, who is "buried in sadness". Becca is interested in the story even though she is still embroiled in friend drama between Kasie and her former best friend Ameerah back home, whenever there is WiFi. She also has odd run ins with the unhappy looking but cute Liam, as well as his sister, Finn. Jon and Becca have one clue to work with, and follow it into the mountains, where they narrowly escape a rattlesnake but find a clue in a metal canister with a picture and the word "mica" wedged on a rock ledge. When Becca is talking to Terry about the history of the ranch, she sees a display case with a slab of mica in it, and when she and Jon sneak down and get into the case, they find an envelope under the mineral. Tad knows what they are up to, and is also determined to find the treasure, and since Becca's mother seems to be off on her own without telling Becca what she is doing, Becca suspects her mother might be hanging out with him! When there's a trip to the ghost town of Piney Ridge, the kids are able to follow the clue for a "locked box", but almost get locked into a bank vault. They get a safety deposit box, and are rescued by Tad, but he later tries to steal it from them. There's a bear attack, more ghost sightings by Liam, who has ESP, and a lot of the story that Gram told Jon. When a clue is found in the grandfather clock at the ranch, Jon and Becca manage to arrange a five day family pack trip to find a cave. When Tad follows them, they learn that he might be buying the entire ranch from Terry, who is in financial difficulties, and that the sale might contain the treasure! Will the kids be able to find out secrets about the past and thwart the YouTube star?

Strengths: Who doesn't want to be able to spend a month at a dude ranch in Montana? Sign me up! Becca makes the most of her visit, and is glad to help out Jon with her knowledge of geology. A treasure hunt would also be a lot of fun, and there was something about Jon and Becca joining forces with Liam and Finn that felt very much like a Donna Parker mystery. There's some old timey history, a sad family story, and various kinds of treasure-- I don't want to spoil too much here! The inclusion of Tad makes this a little more modern, and I rather enjoyed Becca's mom's new diversion and her new lease on life. 
Weaknesses: There's a LOT going on here. As popular as friend drama is in middle grade literature, I would have removed that from the book, since the friends are back in Connecticut. Also, ghost towns featured largely in kids fiction from the 1950s-1970s (think about the Brady Bunch's adventure to one), but that was fifty or more years ago. Would there still be a safety deposit box intact? The clues would have had to hang around for well over a hundred years, if not 140. Nobody ever dusted the mica?

What I really think: Despite the Scooby-Doo like villain (Tad actually stomps, and I could imagine him muttering "meddling kids" to himself!), and the suspension of disbelief about the canisters wedged in rock ledges, I really enjoyed this book. Young readers who enjoy clue oriented mysteries and outdoor adventures will pick this one up, especially with this great cover. 

Lonely Planet. Lonely Planet Kids Mysterious World 

October 8, 2024 by Lonely Planet

Copy provided by the publisher

Am I the only one who remembers the late 1980s Time-Life Mysteries of the Unknown books? Or even earlier incarnations? My parents were big fans of taking advantage of the offer to look at the first book in this mail order series and then cancel if they didn't want to continue, which meant I spent a lot of my childhood reading the first volumes of a lot of different series. The books were packed with information, and very interesting. This new Lonely Planet title reminded me of those fun, nonfiction titles. 

Mysterious World is definitely updated for the new millennium, however, and like Lonely Planet's Your Ultimate Travel Adventure List, makes sure to include locations from around the world. Entries include some well known mysteries, like Bigfoot and the Wendigo in North America, but also includes some that I hadn't heard, like the Ogopogo. I liked that each geographic section started with a map showing where the various mysteries could be found. 

The pages are formatted rather like a scrapbook, with pictures in the background, photographs "paperclipped" to pages, and lots of snippets of information shown in boxes. There are vintage illustrations, some more maps, and discussion boxes about "Hoax or Reality".  My favorite bits were when there was a box stamped "Solved" and light was shed on why a supposedly supernatural occurrence really happened. This has a glossary and an index, making it easier to find information hidden in the crammed pages, and even has a page about what do you really believe. 

I always tell my students that if something has never shown up in my backyard, I don't believe in it, but this doesn't stop them from wearing out my "nonfiction" books on the topics. Readers who enjoyed Fleming's Crash From Outer Space , Williams' Deadly Hauntings, or Hollihan's Ghosts Unveiled will find this a fascinating tome, and probably need a copy to carry around and read at night under the blankets with a flashlight. 

Like a Boss

Khan, Hena. Like a Boss (Best Wishes #4)
November 12, 2024 by Scholastic Press

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Maya Amir lives in Washington, D.C. with her parents, older siblings, and Dadi, her grandmother who used to be the head of an environmental protection agency in Pakistan before she came to live with them. When her mom's cousin and daughter come to visit, Maya has to double up with Dadi, and also gets an intriguing package in the mail. It's a sparkly bracelet, and it has a note with it. Soon, she's video chatting with Becca (from Best Wishes), Addie (The Sister Switch), and Lucy (Time After Time), who has sent the bracelet to Maya after getting caught in a time loop! They all warn Maya about the importance of making a good wish, and also tell her to watch out for Eloise, who is trying to steal the bracelet. Maya is excited about the opportunity, but finds it very hard to make decisions, so doesn't make the decision right away. When she has an environmental club meeting, Maya wavers long enough that her best friend Hazel volunteers to be the president. Maya doesn't mind so much, but when Hazel doesn't jump right in to actual environmental issues, she's concerned. Putting glitter on posters and buying promotional sunglasses is BAD for the environment, and when talking to another club member, Maya wishes that she were in charge. The bracelet gets warm, and the faculty advisor puts Maya in charge! Not only that, but when she gets home, Dadi asks what she wants for dinner. Basically, everything that needs to be decided gets turned over to Maya, who is in charge of EVERYTHING. After a disastrous couple of days at school, where she is put in charge of a classroom and then the entire school, Maya begins to realize that she should have made a more careful wish. After having to consult with her parents on their IRAs and her siblings on what colleges they should attend, the secret service come to whisk Maya away to meet the president. Dadi insists on going with her. The president says that he's going away and wants Maya to be in charge. The White House staff supply her with suits, and she's off making policy. When the vice president tries to sabotage the climate meeting that Maya is in charge of, Dadi suggest that she make a committee of people she trusts. Maya calls her family to the White House, and they help her make a lot of policies. Eloise tries to get in to the secured area with a blow torch to take off the bracelet, and is summarily arrested! Once the environmental issues are resolved, the family bowls and has a celebratory dinner, but then Maya gets to go home. She meets up with the other girls, and sends the bracelet on to someone named Emma, who will no doubt have as exciting a time as Maya did! 

Strengths: As adults, we forget how little control kids have over their days. Just this past year, I asked a student what he was doing for the weekend, and he replied "Whatever my parents tell me I'm doing, I guess!" Being IN CHARGE would be very appealing to a ten year old, even one who might struggle with making decisions. I love Maya's interest in the environment, and Dadi is a great character; I was glad that she went to the White House with Maya. Of course, a lot of the things Maya is put in charge of get out of hand in goofy ways, and the vice president is over-the-top evil, but that just makes the situation all the funnier. I love how each of these books grants wishes in a unique way. 
Weaknesses: For some reason, I would rather that the girl receiving the bracelet didn't get anything but a brief note from the previous recipient. No matter what they say, things are going to go wrong somehow, and it would be more mysterious if there were limited direction on how to use the bracelet. 
What I really think: This series is a quick, fun read, and the illustrations add to the appeal. I enjoy the fact that the wishes don't turn out too horribly, and the girls always learn something. There are a lot of middle school students who can use some help with making decisions, so this is a great topic to focus on. When I was Maya's age, I thought I wanted to be president of the United States, so I would have loved this one. 
 

The Wrath of the Paperclip (The First Cat in Space #3)

Barnett, Mac and Harris, Shawn. The Wrath of the Paperclip

November 5, 2024 by HarperAlley
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

In this third book in the pell mell, absurd-fest that started in The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza and The Soup of Doom, we catch up with the Queen of the Moon and her minions, who are happy to be out and about solving minor problems and don't want to be saving the world. Of course, they are immediately met with a problem: an ancient evil has arisen and only the first cat can stop it! CheckMate, a grammar and spelling assistant, has attained sentience and is determined to save society from itself by killing all carbon based life forms so they can no longer sign their holiday cards "The Smith's". This sends are characters all over, including digging a pit on the moon and reconnecting with Loz. The ship's computer has used his isolation to write a graphic novel series called Pool Sharks, some of which is presented. Eventually, they decide that in order to take down CheckMate, they need to get a virus into his system, although there is also a reset button. Since First Cat has been reduced to a mewling kitten when CheckMate steals his suit, how on Earth will CheckMate be stopped? A teaser for a fourth book is at the end. 

Strengths: It's much easier to review this series when I have a physical book, since navigating pages on an E Reader takes so long, but this book must be celebrated, if only for this assessment of Tolkien's The Silmarillion by Loz, who says "Even though I've read more than 35 million stories I was not able to get through [The Silmarillion]!" It is indeed like an encyclopedia written by elves! I'm not sure that young readers will understand the whole backstory to Microsoft Office's Clippy, and the thought that artificial intelligence would take over the world... wait, maybe they will! There are plenty of jokes for older readers, (as well as a brief foray in to 8 Bit style animation) and even a nice message in the Pool Sharks comics, aimed at adults who are described as liking books more when they have those messages. Droll, Barnett and Harris. Droll. Of course, more readers pick up these books because they are beyond goofy, and chock full of weirdness and action. 
Weaknesses: Since the series is about a cat, wouldn't it have made more sense to have an evil villain based off the dog Office Assistant Rocky rather than Clippy? I love Rocky. I miss him. 
What I really think: I'll be ordering this one, even though the earlier versions were teetering right on the Pilkey Line and almost fell onto the elementary side. Clippy, the Tolkien reference and other in jokes just begged to be explained to interested middle school readers. 

Saving Kenny

Gaile, Corinne. Saving Kenny
October 29, 2024 by Charlesbridge Moves

E ARC Provided by Edelweiss Plus

Kenny Reed lives with his mother, older sister Gwen, and older brother Vaughn in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston in 1968. His brother works at a Black owned bookstore and is very invested in the Black Panthers movement, and has just graduated from high school. His sister is enrolled at a private school, and is taking singing lessons in the hope that she can get into a performing arts program for college and become an opera star. She has helped Kenny get a scholarship to a private middle school, so she and Kenny take a daily one hour bus ride to attend their schools. Kenny has a best friend, Ted, who is wealthy, and invites him to spend time with his at his parents' summer house, but this falls through after Kenny draws a picture that Ted thinks is making fun of his father. The mother has fits of rage over small things, and is abusive; at one point, the milk for her coffee has gone bad, so she slams Kenny's head into the sink to make him smell it, and orders him to go to the store in his pajamas to get more. Vaughn and Gwen often serve as buffers, and he is afraid of what will happen when they both move out of the house. Gwen has taken Kenny to the opera, and he is fascinated by the costumes in Aida. He goes to a summer camp, and wants to take costume design. There's even another boy in the class, Walter, but Vaugn says that sewing is for "sissies" and forces Kenny to take drumming, which many of his friends are taking. After talking to the owners of the bookstore where Vaughn works they help Vaughn see that Black men have always been involved in texiles and sewing, so Vaughn relents. Kenny makes a tie dyed dashiki for his mother, and wins the class prize (a sewing kit!), but his mother shows no interest in it at all, but continues her abusive ways. When Vaughn gets his draft notice, he decides to go to Toronto with his girlfriend instead. This leaves Gwen and Kenny alone with their mother. When she becomes ill with pneumonia, they reach out to their mother's cousin Betty, a nurse, in Philadelphia, and she comes to help the family out. Their neighbor, Miss Temple, helps out as well. Recovery takes a while, but the minute Betty is gone, the mother is having Kenny buy her cigarettes and returns to her horrible ways. When Gwen and Kenny decide that Kenny should try to get a scholarship to the boarding school his friend Ted is attending, the mother beats Gwen and tells her to leave, and beats Kenny as well. He ends up in the hospital, and Miss Temple decides that the children will stay with her. Betty arrives and makes sure that the mother gets psychiatric help. An epilogue gives a brighter view of the world after Reed children are all in better circumstances. 

Strengths: An author's note says that this is based, sadly, on some of the author's own experiences, and this first hand knowledge is evident in the attention to the details of daily life in 1968. I was thrilled to see information not only about the Black Panther movement, but about draft dodging, which is a topic about there could be a LOT more books. The mother's troubled past contrasted nicely with the drive her children had to not only go to college, but to pursue things that excited them. Kenny's interest in sewing would have made him a bit of a target, and this topic is treated realistically as well. This is a good length, moves quickly, and is an excellent historical fiction choice. 
Weaknesses: There could have been better pacing to the arc of the mother's abuse; I would have liked to see more tension built in between the positive experiences that Gwen and Kenny have pursuing their activities. 
What I really think: This is an excellent book along the lines of Stealing Mt. Rushmore, where problems that still exist in the present day are showcased against a historic background. Have this on hand for readers who want historical fiction like Magoons' The Rock and the River or William's One Crazy Summer, and definitely pair it with Magoon's excellent Revolution in Our Time, the most definitive coverage of the Black Panther Movement I've seen.