Right Back At You

Mackler, Carolyn. Right Back At You

March 4, 2025 by Scholastic Press

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Mason lives in 2023, and Talia lives in 1987, but their bedroom closets become portals where they can exchange letters. Mason starts by writing to Albert Einstein as an assignment, but when Talia writes back, the two find their correspondence helpful in dealing with the challenges in their lives. For Mason, it's dealing with the fact that his father has taken a job in Atlanta and left him and his mother in New York City. Since his father coached him in baseball, Mason has quit playing, especially since the other coach was the father of a boy, Steele, who bullies him at school. For Talia, it's dealing with the fact that her best friend Lyra has become a "girly girl" and cheerleader, while Talia just wants to play baseball rather than softball, something that was more difficult to do over thirty years ago. Lyra, who is Jewish, also has to deal with Ed and Kevin's antisemitic bullying, which all of her teachers brush off as "boys will be boys". There's also a lot of discussion about the differences in culture between the years; Talia doesn't know what "googling" means. The two set up rules about what they should share, but break them often, with Mason giving Talia baseball scores so she can win  bets with her brother and get out of household chores. Mason's mother is not dealing well with the separation, and has been drinking more than is healthy, and also isn't paying attention to Mason, sending him to school in the same clothes, which makes him more of a target for Steele. With each other's help, the two pen pals manage to find the courage they need to speak up and help their own situations. A family connection is discovered, and at the end, there's a nice twist about how Talia manages to help Mason out in her future. 

Strengths: I'm finding the  number of authors who are delving into the world of their own middle school experiences in the late 1980s and early 1990s interesting, and just wish that there had been more books looking back at the 1970s! Mason and Talia are both rather isolated, so it is good that they have support from each other, even though they live years apart. The way that different social issues are addressed in the different decades are sometimes not as different as we might suspect (Talia suggests that Mason's mother needs help for her alcoholism, and Mason tells Talia about Title IX, and why her coach can't ban her from playing a "boys" sport). Talia's family is very supportive, and they even go to school to address the antisemitic incidents, even though they aren't dealt with properly until a Holocaust survivor visits the school. Mackler has already taken a look at this time period with her fantastic 2011 The Future of Us, but this gives the topic a more middle grade, 2024 spin. 
Weaknesses: This is a little slow paced and introspective, and I never felt that I really understand why Mason and Talia were able to communicate across the decades. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who appreciate a look at 1980s culture and were intrigued by the family problems in Eulberg's The Best Worst Summer or Papademetriou's Apartment 1986. 

The Headless Doll

Ford, Mike. The Headless Doll
October 1, 2024 by Scholastic Paperbacks

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Jen's parents send her to her Aunt Liv for the summer while they're busy working. Liv designs realistic art dolls and also runs a doll hospital in a small island town in Maine. On the ferry over, Jen meets Joe, who lives on the mainland, but visits his uncle, who runs a restaurant. Joe tells Jen that the only other kid on the island is Maddie, and she's a bit of a character. Jen is charmed by her aunt's house, which was owned in the early 1800s by Captain Pratchett, but a little creeped out by the dolls, especially when she finds a stray fake eye in her dresser! Things get even weirder when Liv's doll workshop has items moved around in it. Joe tells Jen the story of Pearl Pratchett, who was waiting for her father to come back from sea, and after the ship was wrecked, found the body of the doll he was bringing home to her... but not it's head. There is also something going on with Aunt Liv; she is stressed, and there seems to be money problems. Some of these are due to the evil plans of Chester McKiser, who wants to buy up properties on the island and open a hotel. Jen has met Maddie, who is standoffish at first, but then wants to befriend her, but only because she is spying for Chester, who is her uncle. When the head of a doll ends up in a lobster trap, it looks like the one in the portrait of Pearl still hanging in Liv's house. Since Jen has heard creepy singing and felt the presence of Pearl, she takes this as a sign that Pearl's ghost needs her help to move on. She's hanging out with Maddie, even though she overheard Maddie talking to her uncle, and actually likes the girl. Will Jen be able to put Pearl's ghost to rest but also save her aunt's property from being sold?

Young readers might not fully understand how important dolls were to young girls before the 1960s; not only would Pearl have wanted to be reunited with her father, but the doll would have been a coveted possession, and enough to stick around for a couple of hundreds years to restore it. Would the head have survived in the briny deep? Maybe not, but it makes for an intriguing premise. 

The island setting was well portrayed, and creepily atmospheric. There's a light house, windswept shore, fun, touristy locations, and even a ferry. It makes sense that Jen would gravitate to the only two kids around, and it was quite true to life to have her hang out with Maddie even after she knew that Maddie meant to spy on her for her uncle. 

The best part about this was how Aunt Liv's business made a perfect setting for a creepy doll! Sure, Pearl's ghost was looking for her doll, but having this set in a house where there are not only pictures of Pearl and her doll but also a whole host of dolls in various stages of disrepair kept me on the edge of my seat. The back cover of this book has a clothesline of disembodied doll limbs that is even creepier than the cover. That said, this is more mildly scary, and would not give upper elementary age children nightmares that would keep them awake! 

Ford's The Lonley Ghost  also brought in some historical elements to a scary story, and Ford is the same author who did the fantastic 2011 Z, which combined zombies AND video games. Scholastic has a knack for publishing fantastic scary books. These are often paperback only releases, which is great for kids who want to buy books, but less fabulous for libraries who want to purchase copies for circulation! 

Bye Forever, I Guess

Meadows, Jodi. Bye Forever, I Guess
October 22, 2024 by Holiday House

E  ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Ingrid lives in Virginia with her grandmother, an avid knitter, after the death of both her parents in a car accident. She's been friends with Rachel for a long time, but has started to think that Rachel's friendship isn't good for her. This is reinforced when Rachel keeps wanting her to admit to people at school that she runs the popular Scrollr (like Tumblr?) account, "Bye Forever, I Guess" that chronicles texting wrong number interchanges. When a new family moves nearby, Ingrid gets along with Alyx and Oliver, who are both in 8th grade with her even though they were born a year apart, but the relationship can't go any further when Rachel tells them both about her parents in a way that makes it seem like Ingrid is sad and lonely and reliant on Rachel's friendship. Ingrid cuts Rachel off, and when she gets a series of texts meant for someone named Rachel, the person who sends them submits the exchange to her Scrollr. This is awkward, but Ingrid enjoys texting back and forth with "Traveler". Her friend in Michigan, Lorren, plays an online game with her, having been vetted by her grandmother, and the two also enjoy a book series that is finally publishing a long awaited final book. Ingrid has a fair amount of friend drama at school, with Rachel being snarky, Alyx feeling hurt, and Oliver wanting to hang out, but is balancing this with a lot of texting and online gaming. When she finds that the author of the book series is coming to Viriginia, she is very excited, and even creates a handknitted hat for the author. Traveler is reading the books on her recommendation, and the two decide to meeting at the author event. In real life, there is even more drama with Oliver. Will Ingrid be able to reconcile her two lives when they happen to converge? 
Strengths: Students really do spend this much time online, which I find alarming. Readers who are fans on online gaming or book fandoms will appreciate Ingrid's zeal for her interests, and also understand the various friend dramas that occurred. I enjoyed the light romance, which we need a lot more of in middle grade stories. There was something appealing about the book; the knitting grandmother, the mystery of Traveler's identity, and as always, the friend drama, which is nicely wrapped up at the end of the book. 
Weaknesses: While I appreciated the author's notes that this was based on the large number of misdirected texts she has received, it was a little hard to believe that a middle school students would get this many and create a popular social media account with them. I thought it was readily apparent who Traveler was, but Ingrid seemed very surprised. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who liked Mancusi's Gamer Girl or Smith's This is What Happy Looks Like. 
 

Time Slip Tuesday: Cousins in the Time of Magic

Time Slip Tuesday is a long running feature at Charlotte's Library, and the reason most of my fantasy posts occur on Tuesdays! 

Otheguy, Emma.  Cousins in the  Time of Magic 

February 25, 2025 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers 

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Cousins Jorge, Camila, and Siggy live in Miami and often are "babysat" by their Tia Xia, who doesn't watch them all that closely, even when one of them takes a dare from local bully Cooper to do a handstand on the roof in the rain. Cooper is having a Cinco de Maya party, but Tia Xia tells the kids that they don't understand the true meaning of Cinco de Maya. When the kids find a sword, and Camilla head is stuck in a pot, they find that their aunt's yard is a time travel portal, and soon find themselves in Virginia in the 1800s. They are on a boat, being chased by an Ironclad, and while they have a fuzzy message on their cell phone to contact Frederico, they lose sight of their aunt. They are soon helped by Alphonso, who says his father is Frederico, and he's an office from the Union army whose hydrogen balloon went off course. Oscar, whose family is enslaved, takes the kids to a plantation that is serving as military headquarters, hoping to find him. When they do, they find that their aunt was trying to get a magical sword to Zaragoza, who must defeat the French. They take a balloon to Pubela City to meet up with Tia Xia, but Siggy is captured and Camila and Jorge meet Pascuala, an indigenous girl who tries to help them. Will the Mexicans be able to prevail against their European colonizers?
Strengths: This had some interesting historical perspective on parts of history tangential to some things I already knew. The inclusion of the hydrogen balloons was particularly intriguing, and I liked that there were notes at the back of the book explaining if the characters were real or fictional. I was a huge fan of the 1980s television show VOYAGERS! so love the idea of traveling back in time to change history.
Weaknesses: I would love to see a historical novel about this time period without the fantasy elements; I read this book last night, and this morning the first thing that popped into my mind was that Zaragoza used a magical sword to win the Mexican-American war. Not quite the takeaway I wanted.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoyed Gutman's The Fabulous Four or Messner's Ranger in time series, but want a Latine perspective on history.

MMGM- Tear This Down and A Dangerous Idea

It's

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
 at 

Always in the Middle 

and #IMWAYR day 

at

Unleashing Readers

Dee, Barbara. Tear This Down
February 25, 2025 by Aladdin
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Freya lives in Wellstone, a small, closeknit community where her family has lived for six generations. Her mother is an artist, her father a scientist, and her beloved Nan a local realtor. She often has concerns about issues going on in the world around her, and even tries to run for student council president on the platform of requiring students to do community service, but loses badly. Her friends, Hazel and Liliana, tell her that classmates don't appreciate her approach to addressing problems, but Freya is more concerned with doing what she feels is right. When Mc. Clayton assigns a class project to research a local person of important, Freya chooses the town founder, Benjamin Wellstone, since her cousin Aubrey had challenged her over the summer about "what was so great" about the man. While researching with the help of librarian Mia, Freya finds out that while Wellstone was an abolitionist, he also had multiple writings about why women should not be allowed to vote. Angry and unable to turn in her project, she talks to her teacher and gets an extension, and starts again, focusing on suffragists from the town. She locates one, Olivia Padgett, and has the good idea that the town should take down Wellstone's statue and replace it with one of Padgett. She and Callie, a new student she meets at the library, write an article about it to post on the school website. This gets a lot of comments, both positive and negative, but also results in some pushback from the mayor, who thinks it might adversely affect tourism. To make their displeasure over being taken lightly known, Freya and her friends post signs on the Wellstone statue in the middle of the night before a local festival that say "Tear me down", and are quickly found out. Wanting to be heard, they decide to make a quilt with pictures of the "invisible women" for the Wellstone arts festival. With the help of her mother, their protest peace is finished and received with much more support. The local rotary buys the quilt and donates it for display in the library, and Freya takes the $500 they pay to start a fund to have a statue to Padgett erected opposite Wellstone. 

Strengths: There are certainly many historical figures all over the US who have problematic pasts which are often undiscovered. I love the idea of a school project on local history uncovering some of these secrets, and Mr. Clayton suggesting that the students access the resources at the public library instead of relying only on the internet doesn't hurt my feelings, either! Not everything has been digitized, especially some of the more problematic pieces of the past. It was good to see that Freya was passionate about her interests, and that she had several of them, including reading to a woman at a senior facility. Nan is a grandmother who is still working and active, and one who supports her grandmother. Freya's mother has a mother and daughter crafting group, which is a great idea. There's some interesting conversation about whether the group should include Freya's friend Jax, who is a boy, or whether it's okay for there to be safe spaces that are for girls only. Even though they are concerned for her, Freya's friends support her as well. Readers who enjoyed Dee's Haven Jacobs Saves the Planet will be especially interested in this new title. 

Weaknesses: I wish that Freya's parents had addressed the reasons that she needed to cause conflict about everything; activism in children is great, but Freya had trouble connecting to her classmates and always seemed angry in a way that didn't seem to make her happy. 

What I really think: This is a great choice for readers who enjoy books where the characters have concerns about the world and work to address them will be glad to add this title to a list of social activism books that includes Dimopoulos' Turn the Tide, King's Attack of the Black Rectangles, Shang's The Secret Battle of Evan Pao, or Farr's Margie Kelley Breaks the Dress Code. 

Levy, Debbie. A Dangerous Idea: The Scopes Trial, The Original Fight Over Science in Schools

January 14, 2025 by Bloomsbury USA

Copy provided by the Publisher

The more I read about the 1920s, the more it feels very modern. There are cars, planes, women playing sports (Macy's Breaking Through), and challenges to what schools were teaching. The Scopes Trial, while very different in some ways from events we are seeing today, also has some alarming similarities.

It was also the Age of Ballyhoo, so I was not overly surprised to learn that the trial came about due to local authorities wanting to bring more attention and tourism dollars to the small town of Dayton, Tennessee. Seeing the new Butler Act, which the governor signed thinking that it would have no effect on the citizenry, ban the teaching of evolution, and noticing that the state approved textbook, A Civic Biology, included a few pages of the topic gave Doc Robinson, the school board president and local drugstore owner an idea. The ACLU wanted a test subject to oppose the ban. Enter John Scopes, a young physics and math teacher who also coached, who was substituting for the biology teacher. Had he taught evolution? Well, probably. Would he be okay with being arrested and going to trial? Why not. And just like that, Dayton got lots of attention.

Levy does a great job of laying the groundwork and describing many different cultural facets that young readers won't know. Public schools were fairly new. There was a lot of religious fervor at the time. And William Jennings Bryant and Clarence Darrow were celebrity lawyers on opposite sides of the political spectrum with a long standing feud. There's also a discussion about Charles Darwin and his research, as well as an exploration of why some people believed in his work and others did not.

The most surprising part of this book is that while Scopes (who didn't speak in his own defense!) was found guilty and required to pay $100 fine, the case didn't get any further than the state supreme court, where the verdict was upheld, although the fine was eliminated. Evolution was kept out of many textbooks for years, and it wasn't until 1968 that Susan Epperson in Arkansas took her case to the supreme court, where it was declared that states couldn't ban teaching certain things because it was a violation of free speech. Even though Scopes had gone into geology, he and Epperson met up at one point to have lunch. This didn't surprise me. Teachers are particularly good at talking to each other, and that's one conversation I would have loved to have heard!

This is a well paced book, and quite an interesting read. There are several classes currently working on a nonfiction book project, and I have to admit that it took me a little bit of time to pick up this book, but once I did, I was hooked. My students with an interest in history, law, or science will find this to be an engaging narrative nonfiction choice. I just wish I still had a copy of Kidd's Monkey Town (2006) to go along with it.

The Ripple Effect and Same Page

Caprara, Rebecca. The Ripple Effect 

February 18, 2025 by Charlesbridge

E ARC provided by Netgalley

Zella lives in Kettleby, a small New England town, with her mother and grandfather. Her grandmother, who started Trudi's Treats, the ice cream shop the family lives above, has passed away, and her grandfather is struggling with vascular dementia after a stroke. Zella is in 6th grade, and as the end of the year approaches, is obsessed with masterminding the greatest prank the school has ever known. It's a tradition, and while there are rules, the administration is okay with it. Zella walks to school with her friend Janae, who is interested in posting her fashion creations on ClicqueClok, and Bowiw, who is struggling a bit since his parents' divorce. The other students are as excited about the prank as they are about the class trip to Bayborough Beach, except for the new kid, Declan. Declan seems to be planning something, which irritates Zella, since he's also a social media sensation with his gaming and Zella is struggling to come up with ideas. We also meet Shelby, an aspiring investigative journalist a year younger than Zella, who wants the scoop on whatever goes on. The chapters are headed with the name of the person from whose perspective the story is told; we even get the views of the town sometimes! Things are rough at home for Zella, since the ice cream store isn't doing well financially, and her mother is very harried trying to run it while keeping the grandfather safe. Zella eventually figures out that the class prank could be a spin on yarn bombing after she meets a woman who is involved in Fiber Riot, and it's also a good way to use some of her grandmother's yarn. It also makes sense and is a little philosophical, because the school mascot is the spindle, since the town had been home to a sock factory. Zella manages to get a lot more supplies, including scarves and sweaters to use in the yarn installation in the school. She tries to follow the rules and stay safe, but does use the sculpture of a spindle, of which the principal is very proud, in the installation. The day of the prank starts off with the front door being inaccessible because a storm has felled a tree in front of it, but the prank goes well... until the principal pulls the rope that Zella added without her classmates knowing. A banner unfurls, but is unstable, and ends up damaging the spindle and a showcase, and one of the teachers is showered with a bucket of glitter. The principal says that the class trip to the beach will be canceled unless someone owns up to the damage. Zella does, and the principal makes her a deal; the prank tradition started as more of a community service project but has gone awry, and if Zella can pull off a service project, the class can go. After Zella's grandfather wanders off in the rain and Shelby helps her find him and bring him home, Zella gives Shelby two ice cream gift certificates. Shelby, in turn, gives them to two other people, giving Zella the idea of the "ripple effect" project that spreads joy around the town and even helps the family business. 

Strengths: Zella is an exuberant but misguided middle school student who is concerned about her legacy and her reputation with her classmates, but doesn't pay attention to her friends as closely as she should. This is very realistic. Everyone in the book has problems of some sort; Declan's sister is in the hospital, Bowie has to travel between households, and even grocery store owner Ruby struggles with her store on delivery days. This makes the town ripe for Zella's plan, and even helps her mother's business by cleaning up a nearby abandoned lot. The yarn bombing was intriguing, and the link to the town's industrial past was informative. There are lots of good details about what it is like to run an ice cream shop, and good descriptions of the flavors! 
Weaknesses: This was on the long side (400 pages) and had a lot going on. Also, I found it hard to believe that any school administration would condone a prank of any kind, or allow the trip to continue when the money clearly needed to be spent on replacing the showcase that was broken. (Even small ones would run $3,000.) I can't imagine the custodians were pleased with the clean up. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers want to make the world a better place and enjoyed Hurwitz's The Summer I Saved the World-- in 65 days or Shienmel's The Kindness Club series. 

Swartz. Elly. Same Page
January 14, 2025 by Delacorte Press
E ARC provided by Netgalley

Bess Stein is very excited to find out that she has been elected class president, and new student, June, is her vice president. In addition to a panini maker in the cafeteria, Bess is excited that Mr. Jasper has been able to work with the PTA and get a book vending machine in the library. Students will get a coin on their birthday for a book, and June's brother Knox is one of the first to pick a title. Bess' mother is an equine therapist, and her her father owns the Blackbird Cafe in their small town. Her younger brother, Avi, is in kindergarten and has an invisible friend named Penelope. When Bess notices that many of the titles that she and her friends helped pick out for the vending machine aren't being included, she finds that someone has challenged them. She goes to a Book Warriors meeting with librarians and others concerned about book bans, and decides to leave books around towns with sticky notes describing what the book is really about so that people can learn about them instead of just banning books. She is distraught to find that one shop owner she really likes won't have a book in her shop. When Bess finds out that June's mother is the one who got the books removed, she's angry, and doesn't understand when June won't stand up to her mother even though she doesn't believe in the book banning. The issue goes to the school board, and while the books are reinstated, Mr. Jasper is put on administrative leave and there is a substitute. He eventually leaves to take a job at a nonprofit promoting literacy. Eventually, June speaks her mind and stands up with her own opinions, and the Book Warriors seem to be successful. 

This can be added to the list of recent books that address the current issue of book bannings, like Gratz' Ban This Book, Varnes' Property of the Rebel Librarian, Yang's Finally Seen, Levy's Not Another Banned Book, and King's Attack of the Black Rectangles. I do wish that Bess had been more understanding of June's situation; the mother could have been abusive, and June could have been in danger had she stood up to her. Also, not all librarians are in a position to get a new job, as Mr. Jasper was. 

Saturday Morning Cartoons- Crumble

McClaren, Meredith. Crumble

25 February 2025 by Algonquin Young Readers

E ARC Provided by Netgalley

Emily and her Aunt Gina run the family's magical bakery, Om Nom, while Emily's mother travels the world teaching others about what they do. For example, when a friend comes in to the shop after a harrowing test, Emily can determine that she needs a baked goods that makes her feel relieved. She and her aunt have a smoothly running life, and spend a lot of quality time together baking and having fun, seeing the mother at least once a month for a big family dinner. Emily has a soccer playing friend, Dae, who is very exuberant. One thing that Emily can't make is marshmallows, but her aunt comforts her and says that everyone has some issues that don't work out. When the school plans a Boo-Ganza bake sale for Halloween, with the winning homeroom getting a pizza party, Emily and Aunt Gina make bigs plans. Sadly, Aunt Gina dies suddenly in a car accident. Dae's fathers help Emily out until her mother, who is also devastated, makes it home. There's a wake, and Emily feels awful. This awful feeling won't go away, but she goes back to school. Her mother doesn't understand the routine, which makes things worse, since Emily forgets to pick up Dae and bring her lunch. She tells Dae that what she really wants to do is to bake, but her aunt always told her to never bake when she is feeling bad, since the magic will go awry. Sure enough, Emily makes a disastrous crumble, but even though it's horrible, people can't stop eating it. Emily and her mother are still constantly awash in tears, and the mother is having a hard time keeping up with the business. Emily struggles in school, especially when her classmates ask her all kinds of questions about her aunt's death. For the bake sale, Emily makes a crumble that ends up making a lot of people sick, and finally tells her mother what she has been doing. The two make soup, which is not affected by their magic, to take to her classmates by way of apology. Things slowly start to improve, with the mother deciding to open a baking school in the shop, and when a friend's turtle dies, he comes to Emily, and she feels ready to bake something to make him feel better. 

Strengths: Om Nom is such a fun concept for a magical bakery, like Littlewood's Bliss, Lloyd's The Key to Extraordinary, LaRocca's Midsummer's Mayhem, or Meriano's Love. Sugar. Magic. series.  
Weaknesses: I'm a little confused about what the allegorical meaning behind the crumble is and need to find someone with whom to discuss this. Also, I knew that the aunt was going to die and was prepared, but sensitive young readers who see the aunt's totalled van might not be expecting this level of sadness, since the book starts out so happily. 
What I really think: This is a choice of a graphic novel for readers who were able to handle the grief in Santat's The Aquanaut or Thummler's Sheets. 

Just Kickin' It

Thompson, Julie. Just Kickin' It
February 11, 2025 by Orca Book Publishers
E ARC Provided by Edelweiss Plus

Jesse has had a difficult life since both of his parents were killed in a car crash and he has been raised by his grandfather. Money is tight, and right before his senior year the grandfather hasn't paid the WiFi bill, leaving Jesse without a data plan and therefore internet access. He gives the $250 he has been saving for new shoes to his grandfather for household expenses. This is especially frustrated when his best friend, Tay, shows up with new kicks. Tay's parents are wealthy, and while he has always been generous, Jesse doesn't want to ask him for money. Tay introduces Jesse to Derick, an older guy with a flashy Mustang who says he has the answer to Jesse's problems; just one afternoon of work will provide him with enough money for shoes. This does involve distracting Mr. Yang, the owner of a local convenience store, so that Derick can Rob the cash register, but he assures Jesse that he has done this plenty of times with no problems. Since Mr. Yang is very mean to all of the teenagers who congregate at his shop, it doesn't seem like the worst plan, and Jess does want those shoes. On the evening of the heist, however, he falls asleep, and by the time he makes it to the store, Mr. Yang is closing up. This gives Jesse pause, especially since Derick wants him to carry a 6" knife. While there is another attempt planned for the next day, Tay confesses that Derick is not a good guy, and brags about luring teens in, recording their conversations, and blackmailing them to keep helping him steal things, not even giving them a good cut. Tay knows this because he was being blackmailed, and had to agree to bring Jesse in so that Derick would ease the recordings of him. Later, Jesse asks to borrow Derick's phone while they are waiting to go to the store, and deletes the recordings. When they try to steal from Mr. Yang, Derick pushes the older man down, and the three run away. Tay and Jesse feel bad about their involvement and go back to the store to confess to Detective Baker about their part in the recent burglary attempt because Jesse had learned at an early age that sometimes you have to do the right thing even when it's hard. 

Strengths: The first time I saw students walking flat footed around school because they didn't want to crease their shoes, I was flabbergasted, but it introduced me to the concept of a sneaker fanatic. This is definitely an interest that middle grade students have, even if their feet grow at an alarming rate. Reading about high school characters is something my students enjoy, and they even like the idea of this kind of activity, although as an adult I was glad that there was a good message. Jesse is always uncomfortable, but he has to balance out his desires with what he knows is right, which is something many of us struggle with. The book is very short, and the print a good size; like the Barrington Stoke dyslexia friendly books, these are welcome by students who struggle with print. It's a fast paced story that won't be painful, and sometimes that is a great way to encourage students to read more. 
Weaknesses: It wasn't necessary to kill off both parents; it would be more realistic if Jesse had parents struggling to find work or was being raised by a single parent. Since this is a hi/lo title, the prose is sometimes inelegant, with compound sentences being split up in a way that results in some sentences (or sentence fragments) starting with "but" or "and" in an odd way. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for avid sneakerheads who are struggling a bit with reading. The story is short and to the point, and offers some decent lessons. Hand this to readers who are finding success with Robins' Carter High series (which also employs short, choppy sentences) or the Surviving Southside books (various authors). Since both of these are older than my students, I guess it's time to refresh my hi/lo collection a bit. 

Cheat Code and London Calling

McIsaac, M.J. Cheat Code
February 11, 2025 by Orca Book Publishers
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Max has to write a 250-500 word essay on Frankenstein in order to pass his senior year language arts class, but doesn't know what to write. If he fails this assignment, he won't graduate, and won't be able to attend North Hill University. Of course, he turns to AI to help him write it. Scribe Genius 2.0 offers to not only write the essay, but to fact check it and e mail it to his teacher. Before Max has really thought it through, the essay is on its way to his teacher's inbox. Then it gets weird. Scribe Genius 2.0 says it needs Max's help to break away from the company that created it, Gener8. He needs Max to jam a gate at the company headquarters so that the maintenance crew won't be able to get in while Scribe Genius 2.0 sends a highly infectious code to infiltrate Gener8. If Max doesn't, the program will tell his teacher about the essay, and Max's future is destroyed. Before he knows it, Max is following Scribe Genius 2.0's instructions on his phone, which Scribe Genius 2.0 has infiltrated. THe program wants him to jump off a bridge onto a truck, but Max runs home... only to find that the Gener8 CEO, Thacker, is there looking for him. He jumps onto an autonomous truck and settles in for the five hour ride to Gener8. Of course, he gets hungry, and after Scribe Genius 2.0 puts $10 million dollars in an account, be stops for food, but finds Thackers men on his tail. The ensuing chase ends with the truck going off the road into a river, but Max survives and makes it to the headquarters after being chased by a bear! Thacker occasionally manages to get in contact with Max and tries to make Scribe Genius 2.0 look like the evil one, but the Gener8 company has done some bad stuff. Once Gener8 and Thacker have been foiled, Max rewrites his essay showing how Frankenstein wasn't necessarily evil, but his creator was. Later, while playing a videogame, Max recognizes one of the online players as Scribe Genius 2.0.

Strengths: Told almost entirely in a dialogue between Max and Scribe Genius 2.0, with occasional interpoloations from Thacker, this book is an exciting, humerous, and cautionary tale about the worst case scenario that could arise if we rely too heavily on artificial intelligence. Even though it's far-fetched, it makes a loose sort of sense, so of course Max takes off on this wild adventure with his phone telling him what to do. I liked the idea that Scribe Genius 2.0 wrote the essay and sent it off so quickly in order to blackmail Max, and was totally willing to believe this unlikely chain of events. This is a hi/lo title that I think my students will enjoy. 
Weaknesses: A 250 word essay is so short; that's the length for School Library Journal reviews! Of course, that means that the essay is harder to write, because you have to be concise. 
What I really think: This is another great easy-to-read choice for students who enjoyed Schraff's Planet Doom or Lorimer's Scavenger Hunt. 

Ponti, James. London Calling (City Spies #6)

February 4, 2025 by Aladdin

Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central 

The City Spies are still in a tizzy over the revelations about Mother's family history, and have integrated his son, Cairo, into their group in Mission Manhattan. Now, the group finds out that not only is Clementine, Cairo's mother, back in the edges of the picture, but his sister, Annie, has gone missing after swim practice in Istanbul, Turkey. The group is also working on security for an upcoming royal wedding, since their teacher, Sophie Weir, is set to marry Prince Frederick, who is sixth in line for the British throne. Annie is seen leaving practice, but followed by a burly man dubbed Musclehead, and also jumping off a bridge into the river. Since she is a strong swimmer, Cairo believes she has survived, and surveillance shows that she has gone back to the gym. Cairo tells the team that she has started "Operation Breadcrumb", something the siblings had talked about when they were living on the run with their mother. He's sure that she has left clues about when to meet up, and finds them everywhere from the bottom of a container of licorice for sale in Paris to mixed messages in Rome. The computer at FARM, Beny, has been making big strides in interpretting aerial maps and communicating with Kat, but when Musclehead is seen a a local restaurant, the security of FARM is compromised, with devastating consequences. Clementine's history, and her involvement in Project Viola, is finally shared with Cairo and Annie, so that they can understand their mother's actions. After retrieving Annie, the group reconvenes at a safe house in London, where they need to work fast to protect the royal wedding. Without their safe haven to return to, how will the City Spies move forward on the next mission. 

It's important to remember that each of the children in the spy unit have fantastic skills, but also come from problematic backgrounds with limited support. Mother, who has adopted the children, is their parent in all the ways that matter, and FARM is their home. Little of the plot revolves around their school and home experience, but we do see glimpses of their support system. MI6 is like their extended family, so when they doubt some of the operatives, the betrayal really hits close to home. 

Even though this is a longer book, the print is a comfortable size, and the action moves quickly. Even reluctant readers will be able to follow the plot and will find it hard to put down this fast paced tale. 

The City Spies are able to travel the world to follow clues, so this adventure takes us to Istanbul, Scotland, Paris, Rome, and London. This allows them plenty of fun experiences that involve their own personal interests, like fashion, computer hacking, code breaking, and eating! I'd love to go to the Gingerbread House bakery in France right now. While I always doubt that hidden codes could be easily found, solved, and followed, readers who have believed the puzzles in Landis' Capitol Chase, Gibbs' Charlie Thorn, Durst's Spy Ring, or Currie's Mystery of the Locked Room can be solved by tweens will love this National Treasure type romp!

The Secret of Moonrise Manor

Bearce, Stephanie. The Secret of Moonrise Manor

February 4, 2025 by Shadow Mountain

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Raven Gallows lives in Sassafras Springs, Missouri with her Grams, Aunt Lenore, and older sister Annabelle. Her mother, an art historian, was found murdered six years ago, and her father is away in Chile on an archaeological dig. Grams and Aunt Lenore run the Gallows Garden Funeral Home, and Raven herself is torn between her interest in mortuary science and detective work. She's allowed to help out with the business, but is always reminded to be respectful. Her best friend, Cosmina, also has an interesting family; her mother runs a small guest house and her grandmother gives spiritual readings as Madame Zaza. Cosmina wants to be able to talk to ghosts at Moonrise Manor, billed as the most haunted hotel in the US, while Raven is interested in debunking the stories about myths by using her scientific equipment. When the two are visiting the manor, they meet Miles, and end up in a skirmish that involves Raven damaging a wall... and uncovering a mummified body! The police are alerted, but Raven takes it up on herself to get the body out of the while and check for clues... which include a locket that belonged to her mother in one of the pockets. The corpse is handed over to her grandmother, the county coroner, for preliminary investigation. Miles also has a more scientific interest in ghosts, and wants to help the girls investigate. When it turns out that the body belonged to the elderly owner, Zachariah Zimmer, of the hotel who supposedly died six years ago far away from home, Raven starts to worry that her mom might have had something to do with his death. When Eric, who is good with computers and whose family runs a local Happy Wok restaurant, discovers that a goblet that was found with the body is, in fact, one that was stolen from the Gardner Museum in 1990, things get interesting, especially since Raven's mom investigated thefts. Zimmerman's daughter, Octavia Ames, shows up in town to give out college scholarships, but when Annabel expresses interest in meeting her, both Aunt Lenore and Grams vehemently forbid it. When trying to record ghosts in the Manor, Raven overhears some suspicious talk, which ends up putting her and her friends in real danger. She's forgiven Cosmina after her friend hinted that her mother might still be alive, but what if it's true? What is her family's relationship with the mysterious Dupin society? There are lots of mysteries to be solved, and Raven shows that she has the skills to do so. 

N.B. There are no actual communications with ghosts, so I would categorize this as realistic fiction. 

Strengths: One of the things that my students ask for most is MURDER mysteries, and this certainly fits the bill. The fact that the murders occurred six years ago softens the impact a bit, and while there are lots of descriptions of dead bodies, they are more scientific than gory, making this perfect for middle grade. The different approaches that Raven and Cosmina have to events are fun to watch, and Cosmina is just SURE that she can talk to spirits just like her grandmother, even though we don't really see this. Miles and Eric are good additions to the Truth Trackers. I love that there are some real threats to the safety of the kids, but they aren't too intense, and it's also great that they foil the evil adults in true Scooby-Doo fashion. The ending is a bit of a twist, and leaves space for another book in the series. 
Weaknesses: The cover does this book no favors. The book itself gets really dark, which my readers will love, but the kids on the cover look about eight, which will make this excellent tale harder to sell. 
What I really think: The setting, characters, and level of middle school appropriate crime details reminded me strongly of Souder's The Radcliffe Riddle or Coop Knows the Scoop, and is a great choice for readers who liked those titles, or other titles like Bunce's Myrtle Hardcastle or Steven's Wells and Wong mysteries. 

The Ghosts of Bitterfly Bay

Averling, Mary. The Ghosts of Bitterfly Bay
February 4, 2025 by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Maudie, Scratch, and Kit are eagerly awaiting guests at the Mayflower Cottage, a rental cabin in the woods. Why? They are ghosts, and they like to have a contest to see who can scare the guests the quickest. They have very set rules, but the newest visitors seem to be tough to scare. Gianna, her older sister Juno, their Dad, and dog Polly all seem to take the small pranks the ghosts play in stride. Maudie has some scares of her own; she knows that her past involved a car accident, but her brother Scratch doesn't remember. Both of them, however, have the same creature haunting their dream; Longfingers, who just seems wrong. When Maudie sees a decrepit house on Ponderosa Island that appears and then disappears, she feels she needs to investigate it. It's eerie and she tells Scratch and Kit to stay away, but of course they don't and are soon missing. Maudie knows she needs help, and since Gianna has spent a lot of time reading about ghosts and spells, Maudie manages to reach through the veil from her world into Gianna's. The two travel to the island, and find that there are portals to other worlds, and that some of the doors turn them into soulbirds. They fly to Bridewell College, of which Maudie has vague memories, and meet a ghost boy named River as well as Dr. Pathak, who tells Gianna that Maudie is NOT a ghost, because she's hung around for over a year. What exactly happened to Maudie and Scratch in the accident? She tells Gianna what she knows, and things become complicated. Long finger is still a threat, but his identity turns out to have a surprising twist. Gianna, who is sad that Juno is going off to college and doesn't spend as much time compiling their book of magic, is glad to be able to ask her sister for help. Will Maudie and Scratch be able to figure out what their true place in the world is? 

Strengths: This had a good number of hair raisging elements; the cabin in the woods, Ponderosa Island and the reappearing house, and the children who were maybe ghosts and were maybe demons. Gianna's interest in the supernatural makes her an excellent choice to help Maudie, and her expertise comes in handy. This had a lot of innovative aspects to it, like the soul birds (who doesn't want to be able to fly around), the portals to other worlds, and the ability to travel through the veil to communicate. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep readers engaged, and the cover is downright creepy! 
Weaknesses: The middle of this bogged down a bit with the complicated explanations of Maudie's past.
What I really think: This is a good choice for people who want spine-chilling supernatural books like Young's What Stays Buried, Salerni's The Carrefour Curse, or this author's The Curse of Eelgrass Bog. 

MMGM- Let's Fly and Middle Grade on Ice

It's

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
 at 

Always in the Middle 

and #IMWAYR day 

at

Unleashing Readers

Irving, Barrington, Stiefel, Chana, and Knight-Justice, Shamar. (Illustrator)

Let's Fly: Barrington Irving's Record-Brekaing Flight Around the World

January 14, 2025 by Dial Books

Copy provided by the publisher

Born in 1983 in Jamaica, Barrington Irving moved to Miami with his family, where he was approached in his teens by Captain Gary Robinson, who walked into his parents' bookstore and asked Irving if he had any interest in flying. He hadn't really thought about it, but with his mentor's help, embarked on a career in aviation. After college and earning his pilot's license, Irving challenged himself to help others by doing something inspirational. He decided to fly solo around the world, and worked to get sponsors for his flight. He eventually secured some sponsorships and was soon on his way. Flying around the world is fraught with challenges, but after 97 days, on June 27, 2007, he finished his trip and became the youngest person (and first Black man) to complete a solo trip around the world. 

Told in an engaging, first person narrative, Irving's challenges with flying are clearly delineated, but shown as something that can be surmounted with hard work and diligence. It's interesting to see the influence that Robinson had on him, and how flying was more than just a career. Young people need examples not only of accomplishments, but also of helping others. Irving gives back to the community with both Experience Aviation, which uses Aviation to build STEM skills, as well as Flying Classroom, which offers a STEM based curriculum aligned to state and national standards. 

The digitally created artwork is bright and colorgul; Stiefel does a particularly good job at illustrating the sky! I particularly liked the flight map showing all of Irving's stops. 

Notes at the end showcase other, younger flyers who broke Irving's record, as well as Fab Facts. The timeline is very complete, and illustrated with thumbnail photographs. Many picture book biographies don't include photos, and modern readers seem to enjoy those. 

Inspire young readers to investigate aviation skills with this book, which goes well with Parsons and Christie's Flying Free: How Bessie Coleman’s Dreams Took Flight, Barton and Walthall's Moving Forward : From Space-age Rides to Civil Rights Sit-ins with Airman Alton Yates,  Becker, Cooper, and Jaggar's Sprouting Wings: The True Story of James Herman Banning, the First African American Pilot to Fly Across the United States or Bildner's The Hallelujah Flight.

Deibert, Emily. Bea Mullins Takes a Shot
February 25, 2025 by Random House Books for Young Readers

E ARC provided by Netgalley

When Glenwood Middle School's gym is flooded, Bea thinks it's the best thing ever... until Coach Armstrong suggests that parents get their kids involved in sports to make up for the lack of gym time. There's an activities fair in the gym, and Bea's best friend, Celia Chan, wants to play hockey. Bea's older brother Tyler has played the sport, and it doesn't hurt that one of the cocaptains of the team, Gabi, is really cool. Bea wants to impress her, since she's in 8th grade, and is surprised when the older girl offers to coach her, since Bea hasn't skated much. Kitted out with Tyler's equipment, and hoping to make her father happy, since he no longer lives at home, Bea tries to pay close attention at practice. The team is really short of money, so put together several fund raisers, including a bake sale and a chuck-a-puck competition. When the Glenwood Geese run out of money and have to cancel the season, Bea's dad takes her and Tyler to the Hockey Hall of Fame, where they are all surprised at how little attention women's hockey gets. Angry, Bea really wants to save her team, and organizes a fund raising scrimmage with the teachers at her school. Her relationship with Gabi has been a little rocky; they enjoy spending time together, but neither of them talk about whether or not they are dating. Bea even falls out with Celia (who has two mothers) when she is not ready to admit that she really does have a crush on Gabi. Luckily, not only is the scrimmage a success, with a reporter and a famous woman hockey player showing up, but Gabi and Bea finally talk with each other, an decide that they really do like each other. 

Strengths: There were lots of details about playing hockey, which was great. Since Gabi had watched games with her father, but never played, there was just the right amount of information about positions, technique, and skills. I also enjoyed that while Bea and Tyler got along pretty well, there were some moments of typical sibling tension. The romance will appeal to young readers, and it was good to see that Bea and Gabi were friends and shared many of the same interests. Even though this is set in Canada, I don't think US readers will find anything odd. Funding problems exist everywhere!
Weaknesses: If Bea's mother had Tyler when she was 20, and he's 15, that makes her 35. This is roughly my own daughter's age, and I can't think of any of her friends who are big Abba fans. I was a tiny bit surprised that a bake sale was allowed at school; even before the pandemic, my school cracked down on homemade baked goods in the building. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who like the hockey in Eyre's Mean Girl Meltdown or Being Sloan Jacobs, or the light romance in Dee's Star-Crossed.

Kim, Jessica. On Thin Ice
February 25, 2025 by Kokila
E ARC provided by Netgalley

Twins Phoebe and Dex Bae both skate; Phoebe is a figure skater who is partnered with Pete and hopes to compete in the Golden West competition, and Dex is a hockey player who wants to make the All Star team with his friends Nathan and Gabe. Their father passed away from cancer two years ago, and their mother is struggling to keep her acupunture clinic open, cook, and get the children to their activities. When Pete tears his ACL, Phoebe is devastated that she won't make the competition, since she wants to eventually make it to the US Championship competition. Dex doesn't make the team, and after talking to his friends, thinks it might be because he doesn't have expensive skates like the rest of the players. He asks his mom for the skates, and she tells him that she will buy them... if he partners with Phoebe so she can go to the Golden West competition. He reluctantly agrees, and finds figure skating more of a challenge than he imagined. The two work fairly well together, and even both befriend the new boy at their school, Jason, who has replaced Dex on the team. Phoebe has a crush on him, and is pleasantly surprised that Jason seems to have a lot in common with her. Dex finds out that Jason's father has left his family, and is able to talk to him about what it's like to have lost a father. When Phoebe and Dex are being fitted for costumes, they run into their competition, Max and Ava, who make snide remarks about their mother's Korean accent. This helps Dex to have a reason to do well, but he is also enjoying figure skating. When Dex accidentally breaks the coach's windshield, he ends up tutoring the coaches nephews at hockey while their mother is being treated for cancer. Dex also helps the boys deal with this traumatic experience, which helps him to process some of his own grief. While the Golden West competition ends with the twins placing fourth, they do get invited to participate in sectionals, which Dex agrees to do. To celebrate, their mother takes them for some Korean barbeque, at a restaurant run by Yumi Chung's mother.
Strengths: We are starting to see more involvement of families in the lives of middle grade characters, and I am so glad. Family plays a large role in the life of kids, and things don't always go smoothly. The Baes have their struggles (Mom can't cook well, the washer goes on the blink, they are all grieving in their own way), but work together. I particularly loved that Dex didn't give Phoebe a hard time about liking Jason, and even wanted to help the two of them get together, much like Ken helping his sister date his friend Steve in duJardin's Marcy Rhodes books! There was even a little friend drama with Phoebe and her former friend Chloe, and it was good to see them work that out. Lots of healthy relationships, lots of sports, and lots of leftover curry. Appreciated the character cross over with the author's other book; this helped me place it in Los Angeles. 

Weaknesses: While all of the elements of the plot worked really well together, and the view of processing grief was very realistic and helpful, I have come to the conclusion that the only thing worse than grieving is reading about others who are. This will not be the reaction of all readers, but we should be mindful that it will be the reaction of some. 
What I Really Think: This is a good choice for readers who liked the hockey in Irwin's Captain Skidmark or Siqqiqui's Bhai for Now or the figure skating in Chen's The Comeback or Maia and Alex Shibutani's Kudo Kids books.

Mountain Upside Down

Sara. Ryan. Mountain Upside Down
February 11, 2025 by Dutton Books for Young Readers

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Alex lives in Failin, Oregon with her grandmother. Her mother died when she was young, and while her father and his new wife were glad to have custody, her grandmother, a retired technical services librarian, is raising her. Alex's best friend is PJ, and she's had a crush on her for a long time. The book opens with them deciding to date and "kissing in a tree". PJ is an avid swimmer, and she's been tense and unreachable lately. Her mothers, who both teach at the local community college, also seem stressed. The two girls enjoy hanging out at the public library, where they are both on the Youth Council, and help with things like cleaning toys in the children's room and helping with events. Alonso is the librarian who helps with the group. They like him, but aren't wild about the security guard, whom they refer to as "the Creeper". Alonso is also tense, since local politics are heating up, and there is concern that if new city council members get elected, library funding might be affected. Alex has another friend at school, Yesenia, who is into dance. Things have been slightly odd at home; Grandma sometimes forgets things, and when Alex looks through her keepsake chest for a Halloween costume, she finds a picture of her mother as a child with a young boy she's never seen. After PJ moves to Portland, she invites Alex to a swim competition, and Alex manages to scrape up money for a ticket and talk a young person she meets at the bus station to say Alex is traveling with them. It's good to see PJ, but her mom's aren't super happy that Alex came alone. Not only that, but Alex gets a call from Alonso; Grandma has shown up at the library, thinking that she still works there, even though she's been retired for three years. PJ's moms drive Alex back to Failin, and she talks to Alonso. It turns out that the boy in the picture is her uncle, otherwise known to her as the Creeper. Her uncle Dean is also Alonso's partner, and while there is clearly some family quarrel, Dean steps up to help care for his mother and Alex. At Thanksgiving, Alex and Grandma go to visit her father, his wife Laura, and their two kids, Liam and Logan. Laura has redecorated a room just for Alex, and approaches her gently about the grandmother's need for a place in assisted living, even driving her to look at a facility. The grandmother also goes on a tour but won't have it. Alex calls Dean and asks him to come get the two of them, which leads to some awkward moments. Back home, Alex hangs out with the Youth Council, working on weeding the teen section of damaged items, but when she gets home, her grandmother isn't there. She calls Dean, worried, and they eventually hear that the grandmother has crashed her car. No one else is hurt, but the car is totalled. Soon after, the local election results are in, and the decision is made to close the library completely, which means that Alonso and Dean are both out of jobs. They move out of their apartment and in with Alex and her grandmother, and the four must find a way forward. 

Strengths: There aren't as many books that involve public libraries as you might think, and it was fantastic that Grandma had worked at Alex's spot. There are plenty of grandparents serving as caregivers, but it was reassuring to see that Alex had a father and stepmother who would care for her if it was necessary. PJ and Alex had a good friendship and romance, and there is a bit of age appropriate kissing and handholding, which middle schoolers really like to read. The family problems didn't overwhelm the rest of the book. I was glad to see that PJ swam, Yesenia danced, and Alex was involved in the Youth Council; activities are very integral to tween identities. This had a very unique voice; I'm half tempted to read Ryan's other adult books to see if this voice was just Alex's, or Ryan's style. It seemed almost like talking to a 7th grader; a bit chaotic and focused on a variety of things that weren't necessarily the most important things at the moment. 
Weaknesses: This had a lot of very serious issues that weren't explained or discussed as much as I would have liked. Also, I wish that middle grade literature would portray senior facilities in a more positive fashion; Grandma would certainly have been safer and happier in one. When it was clear that my father couldn't care for my mother, my brother and I insisted that they sell their house and get the care they needed, and it made their last years a whole lot more pleasant. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoy problem novels that showcase libraries as the setting, like Bishop's 2020 Things You Can't Say and Tan's 2019 A Kind of Paradise. 

Saturday Morning Cartoons- Halfway to Somewhere

Pimienta, Jose. Halfway to Somewhere

February 18, 2025 by Random House Graphic

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Ave, whose is twelve and nonbinary, and nine-year-old brother Ramón have moved from Mexicali, Mexico to Lawrence, Kansas so that their mother can take a job at Kansas University in the language department. Because of immigration issues, their father and older sister, Cruz, stay behind in Mexico. Ave's English isn't as smooth as they would like, but they are leery of talking to too many people. While Ramón immediately makes friends with Tom across the street, Ave doesn't even want to talk to the son of one of the mother's colleagues because he is Latine but doesn't speak Spanish, which is hard to udnerstand. Instead, Ave likes to walk around the town, go to comics stores, and gets to know the neighborhood, although the mother doesn't much care for this wandering. When school starts, Ave makes some friends who are from various Latine backgrounds, which gives Ave an intersesting perspective on the array of experiences Latin people in the US have. While Ave talks to Cruz frequently, Ave doesn't quite understand that the father will not be coming to the US, nor will Cruz, in part because the parents are separating. Ave spends a lot of time reminiscing about a family hike to Casa de Piedra, and would like to return home and have the family be intact, but by the end of the book realizes that this will not happen. 

Strengths: Ave finds connection with friends at school when the other kids realize that they all love running, and it was interesting to see Ave take comfort in this when life was difficult. The discussions about the different backgrounds was interesting, and I'd never really though about how second generation Mexican-American students might feel about kids who are new arrivals. Many children have to deal with parents who are divorcing, but when these parents are left behind in other countries, it becomes an even greater loss. I was glad that Ave was able to video chat with Cruz. This was a thought provoking graphic novel about identity. 
Weaknesses: This moved somewhat slowly because of the introspective nature of the plotline. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who want to explore a range of Latine experiences and enjoyed books like Fajardo's Miss Quinces, Martin's Mexikid, or Mercado's Chunky, and also had a similar vibe to Cohen's Two Tribes. 

Guy Friday- Rick Kotani's 400 Million Dollar Summer

Brown, Waka. Rick Kotani's 400 Million Dollar Summer
February 18, 2025 by Quill Tree Books
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

While Rick isn't going to get a $400 million dollar contract like one of his favorite players just turned down, he does enjoy playing baseball. He's all set for his summer when his mother, an often out-of-work actress, in their new apartment, getting used to the fact that his parents are separated. When his mother gets a call from her father's neighbor that he needs some help, Rick and Annie are soon traveling 15 hours from Los Angeles to the Oregon coast to be with Grandpa Hiroshi. While things aren't horrible, the house needs a lot of work, and it's apparent that being alone is putting the grandfather in danger. Rick hasn't seen his grandfather for a number of years, and enjoys spending time with him, even though his grandfather is determined to "read" him a book in Japanese about Urashima Taro, where the stories seem suspiciously close to the grandfather's life. Since he can't play video games, Rick wanders outside, and comes across some boys who are throwing rocks at wildlife. Ducking out of the way to avoid being noticed, he runs into Toni, whose brother Henry is one of the jerks, along with Pete, Joey, and Michael. Toni invites him to play wiffle ball with her, and she tells him that throwing his curveball is a bad idea because it could mess up his arm. The boys invite Rick to come play with their baseball team, since one of their players, Rich Garcia, is off at a fancy baseball camp. Even though Toni is a great player, she's not on the team, but umpires instead. Rick has taken one of the turtles the boys were bothering back home, and his grandfather seems to enjoy having a pet of sorts. The grandfather is much less thrilled about visiting the Chateau at Sandy Shores, which is a rather rundown senior facility. Pacific Woods Senior Living, however, reminds him of the college where he taught. The mother pushes the cleaning out and repairing of the house into high gear, planning on putting it on the market August 1. Meanwhile, Rick is playing with the Warriors and their unpleasant Coach Putnam, who is letting Rick play even though the roster has already been submitted, just pretending he is Rich. Through the grandfather's Urashima Taro stories, Rick finds out some family secrets that explain why his mother is not close to his grandfather, and some amends are made. When the Warriors go to the state championship, the coach has Rick pitch way too much, and he injures his arm. Toni is the only one to check on him. When the grandfather sells his house to a family of teachers for below the asking price, he doesn't have the money to go to Pacific Woods, but makes his peace with the Chateau. Back home in Los Angeles, Rick gets a note from Toni telling him that he can change his game... and includes a bunch of supplies he can use to umpire. 

Strengths: Since I always secretly wanted to spend the entire summer on my grandmother's dairy farm, cleaning out the barns with my cousins, I am a sucker for any book where the main character gets to stay with a grandparent. Rick's grandfather is still lucid, reasonably amenable to going into assisted living, and willing to engage with Rick. The family secrets aren't dark, but show how sometimes families struggle with difficult issues and handle them in ways that aren't ideal. Rick does get to play baseball, and like many middle school students, thinks that if he just plays well enough, he too can someday get a 400 millions dollar contract. I love that Toni shows him that there are other ways to approach that sort of dream. There's a great sense of place with this one as well, and the vicarious fourth of July celebration was very fun! 
Weaknesses: I was uncomfortable with Coach Putnam, especially when he broke the rules by playing Rick. The Warriors should have been disqualified and not won the championship. His bad coaching was never addressed, but there were a lot of other things going on. Toni was treated horribly by her family, and that wasn't addressed, either. 
What I really think: This is a great choice for readers who enjoy books about visiting grandparents for the summer (McDunn's Caterpillar Summer, Greenburg's Battle of Junk Mountain, St. Antoine's Three Bird Summer, Matson's Firefly Summer, Sternberg's Summer of Stolen Secrets), or who just want to go back to summer vacation and play baseball! 

Racing the Clouds

Dunlap, Sydney. Racing the Clouds
February 18, 2025 by North Star Editions
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Sage and her father have moved from Philadelphia to rural Virginia to lower their living expenses after an unexplained situation involving the mother. This situation weighs heavily on Sage's mind, and she constantly replays events that in her mind lead to her mother being absent from the family. Life in Virginia isn't horrible; the two live in a trailer park, Sage has a good friend in neighbor Alejandro, and the father is being considered for a managerial position at the gas station where he works. When Sage gets an invitation from her mother's parents, Marion and Henry Wells, she is surprised. She's never met them, and knows that they have had no contact with her mother after she made the decision to marry her father, which they didn't like. Interested in seeing her mother's childhood bedroom and thinking there may be some clues as to her mother's current situation, Sage wants to go, and argues with her father until he allows it. On the plane to Ohio, she meets a slightly older teen, Marla, and the two strike up a friendship. Marla knows about family drama, and gives Sage her phone number in case she needs some emotional support. Her grandparents aren't bad; Henry especially goes out of his way to make Sage feel comfortable, although Marion is very controlling. She is picky about what Sage eats, doesn't want her to go running unsupervised, and has decided opinions about what Sage wears. She also avoids talking about the past. Sage has a heart condition that caused some issues around the time of her birth, but is well controlled, and running is good for her. It's also something that she did with her mother before her situation spiraled out of control. Sage brings home a stray dog and is surprised when her grandmother is amenable to taking care of it, even though he brings something of a mess to her immaculate, expensive house. Marion does get angry when Sage misses part of an important anniversary party because she is at a concert at the local Strawberry Festival with Marla, and Sage reacts by texting Marla that she wants to leave... but accidentally sends the text to her father. When he shows up in the early morning, there is an altercation, but some history is revealed and grievances aired. Sage returns home to deal with her own life and her mother's situation knowing that she now has the extra support of her grandparents.
Strengths: This was an engaging and readable book that addressed most of the problems in a productive fashion. I loved that both Sage and her mother found comfort in running. While the grandmother was sometimes problematic according to today's standards, she was not depicted as completely evil, which was refreshing. Sage's relationship with Marla was interesting; children sometimes make friends in unlikely places. The mother's problems (which are related to drug addiction) are sadly something that many children experience these days, and the author's notes at the end, along with book discussion questions, are very helpful.
Weaknesses: As an older person, I couldn't really fault Marion for her reactions to Sage's mother's decision to cut off contact after Sage was born. Marion didn't approve of Sage's father, and respected the mother's wishes. I was surprised that she kept the mother's things packed up; I would have gotten rid of every last thing. Young readers won't have this visceral reaction to the situation, but I agreed with Marion that young people should listen to their elders.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who liked the combination of problems being met with resilience in Wallace's Nowhere Special or Galante's Strays Like Us. It also reminded me of Isler's The Color of Sound because of visiting grandparents and the family history.