MMGM- The Burning Season and Catch a Crayfish, Count the Stars

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Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
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Always in the Middle 

and #IMWAYR day 

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Unleashing Readers

Rose, Caroline Starr. The Burning Season

May 13, 2025 by Nancy Paulsen Books

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

In this novel in verse, Opal is turning twelve, which means that she will begin to take lessons on how to be a smoke spotter from her grandmother, and become the fourth generation of women in her family to keep an eye on the Mangas Mountains from the Wolf Mountain station. Her great aunt Dor was the first female lookout in 1915, and Opal's grandmother and mother have both held the position. Her father was a smoke jumper who died when Opal was five. It's lonely at the top of the mountain, living in a 15" by 15" cabin, and even getting supplies requires a two day hike to nearby Cielito... and everything must be brought back in a backpack! Opal has two friends in town, twins Jacob and Vince Trujillo, whose father Mark works for the forest service, and after spending time with them, she would love to live with the family and attend La Plata Middle School. Her mother doesn't want to send her just yet, and picks up homework when she goes into town. Opal also can use the satellite phone to talk to a retired teacher for help. After her birthday cake, her mother sets off to Silver City, leaving Opal to begin her training. Her grandmother shows her to always hold onto the binocular straps, and how to use equipment and make reports. Opal is worried about fire, since her family had to be evacuated, and she's been too close to the fires several times, but she understands the seriousness of her family's responsibilities. When her mother doesn't make it to town for several days, her grandmother says it is likely because of the rain, but it is still a concern. When Opal accidently breaks the binoculars, she doesn't want to tell her grandmother. When she finally does, her grandmother takes a walk to cool down... and doesn't come back by nightfall. Not only that, but Opal has seen some smoke, and the last batteries for the phone have died. Not only that, but there is a storm approaching. Opal sets off with some supplies to look for her grandmother, and finally finds her. She's hurt her ankle in the stream, and Opal manages to contact Mark, who sends someone up to help. Worried about the fire, she tries to get back to report, and worries that the fire will get to her grandmother. After a fall that causes her to lose her backpack, she ends up fighting small fires by herself before help arrives. Will this quick thinking convince her mother that she should be allowed to go to middle school, or encourage her mother to keep her on Wolf Mountain. 

Strengths: This is based on several real people and events, but with some poetic license. I loved that there was a great-aunt who was a pioneer in the Forest Service, and that the family felt strongly about keeping the area safe. Of course Opal wants to do that... but she also would like to be able to walk to the library and check out a pile of books or hang out with friends. There are lots of details about previous fires, and about how forest management has changed over the years; this is something more tweens need to know. Of course everything goes wrong at once; I was just surprised there wasn't a bear attack thrown in there! The best part of the book was Opal fighting the fires on her own. It was very intense. This ends on a happy note, and it was interesting to see all of the people behind the scenes who were helping Opal and her family. The author's notes on the area and fires were very interesting as well. 
Weaknesses: I would have loved more details about the cabin and living on the top of a mountain! How did the grandmother bake that delicious chocolate cake? Since my daughter once lived off the grid in a tiny house, I know many of the accomodations that would have to be made, but young readers may not and would be enthralled with details about composting toilets and solar heated showers! 
What I really think: Add this to the list of books that make it impossible for me to go out into any kind of wilderness without extreme back up, along with Downing's Just Keep Walking, Philbrick's Wild River, Behren's Alone in the Woods, and Goeble's Back Country. Books about forest fires that would go nicely with this book include Downing's Controlled Burn,  Vrabel's When Giants Burn, and Marrin's nonfiction When Forests Burn. 

Rinella, Steve, Henderson, Brody and Temescu, Max (illus.). 

Catch a Crayfish, Count the Stars: Fun Projects, Skills, and Adventures for Outdoor Kids

May 27, 2025 by Random House Trade Paperbacks

Copy provided by the publisher

Since my own children were allowed to play in a nearby creak, and would often come home with mud and mulberry body art, I knew I had to take a look at this adventure guide. Many of my students don't get a chance to be outdoors, even to walk home a mile from school! 

The fact that being outside and having adventures comes with risks is acknowledged in the beginning of the book, and it even mentions the idea of "situational awareness". Parents are encouraged to know their children and what they are capable of, and to do activities with them if the children lack the skill level or maturity to do them on their own. 

There are four main chapters; Navigation and Exploration, Collecting and Foraging, Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife, and Garden and Home. It's important to know how to get around ones environment, and the first chapter covers everything from compasses, following trails, planning hikes, and paddling canoes, but also includes how to set up a tent and fix a bicycle chain. 

The second chapter has a lot of good information about discovering the outside world.  This could also help with outdoor survival, since there's a great how-to guide for obtaining drinkable water, as well as a few tips for wild edibles (with proper caveats, of course). This also discusses collecting rocks and fossiles, finding bugs and stocking an aquarium, and even how to prepare an animal skull to display. The author, whose other work includes The Meat eater Outdoor Cookbook, acknowledges that some parents might be squeamish about hunting, and dead animals in general. The suggestions for obtaining a skull include talking to hunters and trappers who might have one, or finding a "deadhead" in the wild. 

My father and grandfather were avid fishermen, taking yearly trips to Canada. I never had any interest in the sport, but I DO know the trick to making one's catch look bigger than it is! (Hang the fish on a line and stand a few feet back, and pose like you're holding the line.) This chapter inspired some great conversation about the roles and skill sets of my grandson's grandparents, and I've decided to hand this book over to his paternal grandfather, who camps and hunts. I'm mainly vegetarian, so I am not the grandparent to gig a frog or skin a squirrel, but Grandpa does hunt. I'll leave intricacies of firearms safety up to him; I stick with Eddie Eagle's firearm safety rules: "Stop! Don't Touch. Leave the area. Tell an adult."

As far as Garden and Home goes, I've also deputized the grandparent who recently made a rain gauge out of an abandoned and weathered plastic orange safety to be in charge of sprouting beans and planting a garden, although I will be glad to step in to make pickles, preserves, or cobbler. While I've always liked the idea of being an outdoor person, I'm really not. This is why I read a lot of books about getting children outdoors, like Spikol and Metallinou's  Forest Magic for Kids: How to find Fairies, Make a Secret Fort, and Cook Up an Elfin Picnic. Gutierrez' Hiking 101: Tips and Advice for Little Campers, Ward's Lonely Planet Kids America's National Parks, and Storey Publishing's Backpack Explorer books. 

This is a hefty book (350+ pages) with lots of reading, so more suitable for independent reading for middle school students, although it certainly can be useful to younger children with more support. I would have organized it in a somewhat different way, perhaps with more chapters, but there is a helpful index that makes it easy to find topics. 

My own children like to hike, camp, and garden, so I guess I didn't do too badly. I'll do my best to make sure that my grandson gets outside, and this will be a motivational text for me, since my skills tend more toward quilting, knitting, pie making, and knowing how to clean things INSIDE my house!