It's
Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
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at
and #IMWAYR day
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April 7, 2026 by Scholastic Inc.
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Dany lives in Galveston, Texas, with her mother, who is an elementary school principal, her father who fishes, and her high achieving siblings Ethan, Hazel, and Jackson. Dany's best friend Courtney has just moved to Oklahoma City, so she is at a loss as she starts 7th grade, since she has no one in whom to confide or to do to Splash World with. As the beginning of school approaches, there is a hurricane forming in the area, but the family feels prepared. Dany and her father even go out in his boat. The weather gets a little choppy, and Dany falls overboard. She has on her life jacket and observes good protocols, but still ends up far from her father. She had been observing a pod of dolphins, and was particularly intrigued by one that stood out because of an unusually blue hue. "Blue" comes up to her, and seems to "talk" to her. She grabs onto the animal's dorsal fin, and he takes her six miles through the bayou to land. She stumbles ashore and goes to the nearest house, where Eleanor Belrose answers the door. Eleanor's family help her and contact her mother and father. Everyone is astonished by her tale, and Ms. Belrose, who is the news director at KPZY, arranged for Sara to be interviewed. As the threat of Hurricane Kai nears, Sara is worried that Blue is stranded in the bayou. She emails the Sealife Support rescue organization, and Chrissie Wake, who runs the organization, show up. Blue is safe for the time being, since the bayou is salty enough for him, but the storm puts a crimp in plans to get him back to his pod. When the hurricane hits, the family is safe, although the father's boat ends up blocking the front door! Blue can't be found, which worries Sara, but he eventually shows up at Splash World. With the help of Ms. Wake and her new friend Eleanor, Sara devises and implements a plan to rescue Blue and return him to the open sea.
Strengths: If I were to construct a book that I could hand to just about any student who wanted an exciting story, it would be this. There is a great and supportive family, friend drama, lots of suspense, excitement and adventure, and an interest and purpose for our main character. It is easy to read, moves quickly, and was blissfully enjoyable. There were sad moments, but they didn't make the story soggy and morose. Dany has some realistic struggles with her siblings, but they come through in the end and love each other. No wonder Schusterman has written so many books! She's so good at it. The upbeat nature of this was great, but there was enough realistic tragedy to please adults who can't stand a happy story.
I try to keep the snark out of my reviews, but when I read a really excellent, solid title and realize it is only available from the publisher in paperback, it's confusing and irritating!
Weaknesses: Like seemingly all of the best Scholastic titles, like Amar Shah's Hoop Con series, this is available only in paperback. I can only imagine this is so that they can sell copies at the book fairs, but considering the titles that have hardback releases... I just don't understand how publishing works, and how editors decide what will sell. I know that publishers are just trying to survive, but maybe they need to do some more market research and demographic surveys with actual middle grade readers?
What I really think: This is a fantastic choice for readers who like outdoor survival adventures like Philbrick's Wild Wave, Watt Key's Deep Water, or this author's other animal titles like Some Bunny to Love or the Kat Sinclair Files. I will purchase this if Follett offers it in a prebind.
January 1, 2026 by Lerner Publications ™
Copy provided by the publisher
Today's tweens think that the Internet has always existed, but those of us who are older and wiser (and who can mimic the sound of a dial-up connection on demand) know otherwise.
Accompanied by colorful illustrations, there is a great, short history of computers starting with ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) and addressing e-mail, internet protocols, and Tim Berners-Lee's development of HTML. Since my first experience with the Internet in 1995 was text based, I wish the book had pointed out that at the beginning, there were no pictures on the Internet!
Popular online destinations like Google, MySpace, and Facebook are mentioned briefly, and the transition from desktop computers to phones is explained. I'd love to see a biography of Marian Croak, who helped develop the technology behind Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) that allowed people to use computers like telephones. This was a huge innovation, since video phones were something that always seemed like a very far off and sophisticated science fiction technology. Artificial intelligence is mentioned very briefly, and this ends with a nice timeline, glossary, and index.
While it hurt a little to see a picture of my first computer labeled as "A desktop computer from the late 20th century", this is a great, short overview of the development of the internet. I still have Sherman's very complete 2003 The History of the Internet, but am glad to have something a bit more updated to accompany it!
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