May 20, 2025 by Holiday House
E ARC provided by Edelweiss
Lana's family is struggling after the death of her father two years ago. While she and her twin sister Gracie, younger sister Duck, and parents used to go out and do a lot of activities, her mother, an English teacher, is struggling with being a single parents and never wants to go out. Her grandmother, who owns a lot of land in Galveston, Texas, including the marsh near Lana's house, has had a stroke. She used to be right next door, but now is in an assisted living facility. When Lana is bored, she goes to Nana's house to play board games, and finds a note with her father's name on it, a key, and the cryptic message "Do your duty. The alligator witch is always there." Lana has grown up hearing about the alligator witch, but never took it seriously. She asks her neighbor, Mrs. LaSalle, about it, and talks to Mrs. LaSalle's mother about it. Lana decides to go into the marsh, which is never allowed because of the prevalence of alligators, and meets the witch. Of course, asking a witch questions is always a delicate matter, and Lana ends up making a deal with the witch thta freezes her mother, younger sister, and cat, Tofu! This plunges her, as well as her sister, into an old legend involving a medium named Zofia, the wealthy Getty family, and the Galveston hurrican of 1900. Nana also has a lot of information, but can't speak due to her stroke, and has trouble getting around. This doesn't stop the group from breaking Nana out of the home and riding on scooters around town! Lana learns a lot of family history, and feels closer to her father as she and her twin work to solve the mystery of the alligator witch and unfreeze her family. Afterwards, she has a heart to heart with her mother about not forgetting the father, and talking about him openly.
Lana's family is struggling after the death of her father two years ago. While she and her twin sister Gracie, younger sister Duck, and parents used to go out and do a lot of activities, her mother, an English teacher, is struggling with being a single parents and never wants to go out. Her grandmother, who owns a lot of land in Galveston, Texas, including the marsh near Lana's house, has had a stroke. She used to be right next door, but now is in an assisted living facility. When Lana is bored, she goes to Nana's house to play board games, and finds a note with her father's name on it, a key, and the cryptic message "Do your duty. The alligator witch is always there." Lana has grown up hearing about the alligator witch, but never took it seriously. She asks her neighbor, Mrs. LaSalle, about it, and talks to Mrs. LaSalle's mother about it. Lana decides to go into the marsh, which is never allowed because of the prevalence of alligators, and meets the witch. Of course, asking a witch questions is always a delicate matter, and Lana ends up making a deal with the witch thta freezes her mother, younger sister, and cat, Tofu! This plunges her, as well as her sister, into an old legend involving a medium named Zofia, the wealthy Getty family, and the Galveston hurrican of 1900. Nana also has a lot of information, but can't speak due to her stroke, and has trouble getting around. This doesn't stop the group from breaking Nana out of the home and riding on scooters around town! Lana learns a lot of family history, and feels closer to her father as she and her twin work to solve the mystery of the alligator witch and unfreeze her family. Afterwards, she has a heart to heart with her mother about not forgetting the father, and talking about him openly.
Strengths: I'm all for freezing relatives in order to give kids a chance to break their grandmothers out of care facilities and solve mysteries! It was also interesting to see a twin dynamic where the twins weren't exactly the best of friends, and had very different interests and friends. The legend of the alligator witch is well developed, and we get some flashbacks to Zofia's experience in 1900 with the hurricane. The setting is well described, and I felt damp and icky just reading about the marsh. The real star here is Nana, though, vaulting over a low balcony to escape, even though she needs a walker to get around, and using a note pad to communicate. Wow. Including history about the Galvestone hurricane gives this added appeal.
Weaknesses: Perhaps if Lana had been in therapy for her grief, she would have been able to let her mother grieve in her own way. It would be nice to see more constructive portrayals of parents handling grief in middle grade. There's really no point in talking about people who have died, but the mother does need to be aware of her daughter's needs.
What I really think: This was a bit difference from Jortner's 102 Days of Lying About Lauren, which I adored because of its theme park setting, but will be a huge hit with readers who like creepy, atmospheric Southern mysteries like Fournet's Brick Dust and Bones, Beasley's Tumble & Blue or Young's What Stays Buried. A good nonfiction companion would be Anderson's 2013 City of the Dead: Galveston Hurricane, 1900.
Weaknesses: Perhaps if Lana had been in therapy for her grief, she would have been able to let her mother grieve in her own way. It would be nice to see more constructive portrayals of parents handling grief in middle grade. There's really no point in talking about people who have died, but the mother does need to be aware of her daughter's needs.
What I really think: This was a bit difference from Jortner's 102 Days of Lying About Lauren, which I adored because of its theme park setting, but will be a huge hit with readers who like creepy, atmospheric Southern mysteries like Fournet's Brick Dust and Bones, Beasley's Tumble & Blue or Young's What Stays Buried. A good nonfiction companion would be Anderson's 2013 City of the Dead: Galveston Hurricane, 1900.
May 27, 2025 by Peachtree
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Geo Leoni's father has died, and her mother has been struggling with the tech gig job market. She's thinking of finding a full time job with benefits, but this means that the family might need to relocate. Since Geo doesn't want that, she works with her best friend Lana on ways to make money. Lana's rock collection is an inspiration, and the two decide to set up shop in a local park and charge $10 each for fortunes. As "Rock Readers", they do a pretty good business, but when Geo's fortunes start coming true, she starts to bill herself as a "manifestor". The business grows, but it's still not enough. Geo tries to manifest her father, so she can get advice, as well as trying to engineer things so that she can win the lottery. This doesn't work quite as planned, and almost leads to tragedy. How will Geo, with help from her new friends Feather and Liv, find a way to help her mother and stay put?
It's always fun to think about having magical powers, and Geo's manifesting skills will be interesting to readers who enjoyed magical books like Mlynowski's Best Wishes series, Collier's The Best Friend Bracelet, Voigt's When Wishes Were Horses, or Baptiste's Carnival Chaos (Moko Magic #1).
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