It's
Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
at
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and #IMWAYR day
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Twenty years of reviews, one every day since 2012. Over 7,000 posts.
Celebrate or not. No longer care.
But I do know more about middle grade literature than anyone.
Prove me wrong.
February 3, 2026 by Scholastic Paperbacks
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Ethan Yang loves soccer, and is a big fan of Luis Alamilla, aka El Botín, a player for Venezuela who is especially charismatic and charms spectators with his antics surrounding his special "magical" soccer shoes. Ethan's best friend, Sasha plays WorldFootball, a video soccer game, when she's not helping her single mother with her catering business. She's very good, and comes close to making a level where she would go to a tournament in D.C., but loses to another player named "Worminator". Mateo Flores is a social media influencer the kids know, who has 400,000 followers. His father works with the AC Miami team. All three are interested in a scavenger hunt that El Botín sets up for fans, and manage to figure out a couple of the clues and take the required selfies, although Ethan and Mateo don't get along, and try to stop the other from finding the clues. When El Botín's soccer shoes go missing, the star posts on social media that he can't play without him. This escalates after several disastrous games, and he even mentions a curse. When Ethan (who used to live in Mexico City and knows Spanish) is at the AC Miami facility to try out for their academy team and overhears some people talking, he suspects that Mateo's dad might be involved with the disappearance of the shoes. Meanwhile, Sasha's mother gets a catering job with Irina, El Botín's girlfriend, and Irina is so pleased with how Sasha interacts with her cat, Starboy, that she offers to hire her if she needs a cat sitter! Mateo's sister, Cecelia, is planning her quinceanera, which leaves Mateo without parental supervision even more than usual. When the three kids start to work together, they investigate Mateo's father and think they find a box with the shoes. Sneaking aboard Irina's boat, they end up going to El Botín's private island and talking to him. In the end, they are able to convince him to come back to the game. Sasha ends up working her way through the losers' bracket to play the Worminator in a WorldFootball tournament.
Strengths: Who knew there were so many different facets to soccer? This book has Ethan and Sasha playing the sport, Sasha involved in an E Sport version, and Mateo covering professional soccer on social media AND his father involved in the administration of a pro team. There's also the scavenger hunt for fans, and a mystery about El Botín going missing. The three main characters were all different, but worked well together; the tension when Sasha got along with both Ethan and Mateo while the boys didn't like each other was great! I also very much enjoyed the parents being alive but busy with other things. That gave the three plenty of time to get into trouble, sneak around, and end up with their idol on his private island! The information about handmade soccer shoes was touching as well. I've read so many sad middle grade novels recently that this was an absolute delight. Should not have been surprised, since I enjoyed Liu's Near and Deer and Hanna and the Ghost Crab Nation as well.
Weaknesses: There could have been more soccer in the book. While I'm all about a good mystery, I'm always looking for more books about playing the sport, like Layton's The Academy books or Fabbri's Back of the Net series.
What I really think: I will definitely purchase this title, and it is a great choice for readers who loved David A. Kelly's Ballpark Mysteries when they were younger. If you're having a Scholastic book fair, I would make sure to have extras of these on hand, as it will be very popular with kids who like soccer, humorous books, or mysteries.
Weaknesses: There could have been more soccer in the book. While I'm all about a good mystery, I'm always looking for more books about playing the sport, like Layton's The Academy books or Fabbri's Back of the Net series.
What I really think: I will definitely purchase this title, and it is a great choice for readers who loved David A. Kelly's Ballpark Mysteries when they were younger. If you're having a Scholastic book fair, I would make sure to have extras of these on hand, as it will be very popular with kids who like soccer, humorous books, or mysteries.
February 10, 2026 by Aladdin
Copy provided by the publisher!
After their adventures in London Calling, the City Spies find themselves lodging in a safe house in London, since their Scottish base was compromised. Tru uses this as an opportunity to brush up on the groups' skills and knowledge of history in her Tru-torial sessions, which involves visits to important MI6 sites and sometimes delicious lunches. When there is a threat that train stations may be bombed, she has the group look at the notes, and the kids are the only ones who realize that it's not London train stations that are being targeted, but rather ones in Paris. They take off to the city with Tru reluctantly posing as their grandmother. We see that Gilles Deschamps is working for Allard, who is threatening the government even from jail, telling agents that if he isn't released, bad things will happen, not that he will be responsible for them. At the last minute, the children figure out that the "train station" is actually an abandoned one that is beneath the Museum D'Orsay. They manage to get into the museum after hours, and while Sydney doesn't completely diffuse the bomb, she manages to limit the damage of the paint, and suffers a concussion. Even with her injuries, she is able to deliver a coded message to Paris when they are arrested and questioned. They are released, but can no longer remain in Paris. There are suspicions that Clementine is somehow involved in this threat, so when she and Annie show up, there are some questions. When Allard gets loose and endangers Clementine, will the City Spies be able to save her? More missions are on the way.
Strengths: You have to love the ease with which the City Spies bop back and forth on the EuroStar and run around London and Paris on their missions. It is nice that they have supportive adults like Tru and Mother on their side, and Clementine is an interesting character, since we're never quite sure if she is completely good. Annie gets a little more coverage in this one. The recap of the different kids in the back, along with their pictures, is a fun overview. There are a lot more puzzles and clues in this one, as Tru sets up meetings with the kids via puzzles, and the train station bombing also requires them to solves some siddles. Reading a print copy of this book made me realize that even though this is 378 pages long, the print is on the large side, with lots of white space. Publishers don't seem to realize that this makes a HUGE difference in the reading experience for middle school students.
Weaknesses: I'm not personally a fan of the clues and riddles; to me, they slow down the story. There seem to be more of them in this book than the others in the series, so maybe actual tweens are requesting that they be included.
What I really think: I'm always interested to see what Ponti writes next, and even though I'm not a fan of enormous series, both his work and Stuart Gibbs' still circulates well for the entire series. We'll refer to this as the Jackson Braun Conundrum, after the author of The Cat Who Mysteries, which lasted for an inordinate amount of books. I'll continue to purchase these until the end!
Weaknesses: I'm not personally a fan of the clues and riddles; to me, they slow down the story. There seem to be more of them in this book than the others in the series, so maybe actual tweens are requesting that they be included.
What I really think: I'm always interested to see what Ponti writes next, and even though I'm not a fan of enormous series, both his work and Stuart Gibbs' still circulates well for the entire series. We'll refer to this as the Jackson Braun Conundrum, after the author of The Cat Who Mysteries, which lasted for an inordinate amount of books. I'll continue to purchase these until the end!
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