Fantasy Titles

Diño, Yxavel Magno. The Firefly Crown
November 11, 2025 by Bloomsbury Children's Books
ARC provided by the publisher

Yumi lives with her parents in the country, where they work using their mambabrang powers to control crickets and stop them from eating farmers' crops. Yumi's powers are still developing, and she lacks the skill to compel crickets to do her bidding that her parents have. There have been problems in the empire for a while, since the Empress Hara has been ill, and there have been instances of Ghost Swarms plaguing the area. Ghost Swarms came about after people without magic tried to sacrifice sorcerers like Yumi's family, but this backfired when they came back as Ghost Swarms. When it seems that crowning a new empress, the princess Eyrin, seems imminent, the rajah summons all of the mambabarang's to the capitol city, Tinanglawan, for the ceremony. Yumi isn't invited, and is supposed to stay on her own for a few days, but she stows away on the rajah's battleship that is taking people to the city. During the journey, she uses her metal working skills to repair a cannon and save the ship from a Ghost Swarm, although she is injured in the attempt. She was saved by the Dragonfly Mira, who was bringing mambabarangs to Tinanglawan on the rajah's behalf. The group is saved by another ship. Yumi wants to explore the city, and comes across the Master of Metals apprentice. She offers to help, and to take a shipment of gold to the palace. Everyone has heard of her and her heroics. She makes friends at the palace, like fellow mambabarang Talim, but is late for the ceremony. Eyrin is poised to take the crown, but Yumi falls into a pond, causing a disturbance, and the Firefly Crown goes missing. Yumi is thrown in jail but later rescued by Talim. Trying to get out of the dungeon, they run into Eyrin, who offers to keep them out of trouble if they help her find the crown. They start their investigation, and Yumi once again manages to defeat a Ghost storm, getting injured yet again. With the help of a cricket, Ikko, that she accidentally brought from the country, Yumi manages to help Eyrin find out who stole the crown. Will they be able to get it back in time? 
Strengths: When I realized that the crown was lost, I was fully prepared to go on a long and arduous trek across the kingdom (including going underground, through a cursed forest, and up a mountain) to retrieve it with Yumi and her entourage. It was a nice change of pace to find that this was more about palace intrigue. It was also refreshing that Yumi wasn't really looking to strengthen her magic or develop her powers of speaking to crickets; she just wants to apprentice herself to a metal worker and do what she loves. Once she gets to Tinanglawan, she just happens to save the day before getting to settle down. This wasn't overly long, and the fantasy world was not too complicated, making this a good choice for readers who want to try some fantasy without having to dedicate the next several months to a hugely long series. Yumi is an engaging character, and it was also nice to see that her parents weren't in danger, and supported her all along. There's a happy ending as well, which is rare in middle grade books these days. 
Weaknesses: Yumi doesn't seem to have any particular powers that make her the savior of the kingdom, and I kept waiting for some clarification as to why she was able to defeat the Ghost Swarms. I loved that at the end of the book she was able to choose her own path, but that left me even more confused. Young readers won't mind this, and it is nice that this is a stand alone fantasy book. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who liked this author's The Serpent Rider, or novels that include a lot of palace intrigue in a fantasy setting, like Splinter and Ash or Durham's The Shadow Prince.

Ransaw, Rosa. Smoke & Mirrors

June 10, 2025 by Amulet Books
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Andy Carter has moved in with his Aunt Noni since his mother abandoned him and his father, who is currently unjustly incarcerated, when Andy was a baby. He has struggled to make friends, as one of the few Black kids in town, and his attempts to hang out with the O’Brien boys, Rick and Pauly, hasn’t ended well. When the three were hanging out near Mr. Gilbert’s barn, fireworks were set off that resulted in the barn burning down, and Andy has been blamed. Mr. Gilbert makes an offer: if Andy helps him clean up a house he owns, he won’t press charges. Aunt Noni is very happy, since money is tight. Andy finds out that Mr. Gilbert’s house is quite a wreck; it was owned by the magician the Red Nave, and has been abandoned since 1964, when local resident Donovan Oxley was killed, presumably by the magician, who then fled. The mystery has never been solved. Mr. Gilbert and his late wife were interested in the history, having been at the final show, but since her death, the house has been left to further molder. Work on the house is hard, but Andy doesn’t mind it as much as he suspected, especially since his father won’t talk to him while his lawyer is trying to figure out how best to get him released. When Mr. Gilbert says that he will let Andy out of the work if he can solve the mystery, however, Andy jumps right into investigating. He starts at the local library, where he runs into Pauly, who apologizes. Since Pauly’s grandfather, who runs a local diner, was at the performance, Andy embarks on a tenuous relationship with Pauly, and the two investigate together. There is a lot of local history and animosity, and Donovan’s sister, who still lives in the area, is reluctant to give much information. Andy runs up against a lot of microaggressions and outright discrimination, and Pauly begins to understand how unfair the barn burning incident was, especially since white boys get away with behavior, and blame often falls on Black ones. Will Andy be able to solve the murder, and hopefully help his father?
Strengths: Starting a middle grade book with a fire is always a good idea (think Dairman’s All Four Stars), and murder mysteries are always popular. Andy is a character who has many struggles, but is trying to make the best of several bad situations. The dynamic between him and the O’Brien boys is unfortunately common, even among boys of the same race. It’s all too easy to get drawn into dangerous or ill advised situations, and to put the blame on one participant. I really liked the aunt, and all of her tween psychology like “I” statements. She was also supportive. Mr. Gilbert was another good character who had difficulties of his own, but also wanted the best for Andy. The sixty year old mystery that wasn’t solved seemed to have enough clues left for Andy to follow, and the culprit was a bit of a twist.
Weaknesses: For a mystery, this was a bit slow paced, and lacked some excitement. Also, the timeline seemed a bit off. Anyone who could remember the murder sixty years ago would be almost 80 or older, so setting the mystery in 1974 might have been better. I also would have liked more information about Andy’s father, their previous life, and what was happening to him.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who liked Philbrick’s Who Killed Darius Drake, Souders’ Coop Knows the Scoop, Smith’s Hoodoo, or Burch’s Finch House.  

Tash, Sarvenaz. The Treasure of Ocean Parkway (Ocean Parkway #2)

November 11, 2025 by Knopf Books for Young Readers

E ARC provided by Netgalley

After their time traveling adventures in The Queen of Ocean Parkway, Roya and Amin are back. It's summer, and Roya is dealing with father's death over the winter. She's finally able to be interested in pod casting again, and she and Amin are investigating a number of mysteries in the Brooklyn neighborhood, which is easier now that they have convinced both her mother and Amin's parents that they are safe to ride the subway and wander around the city by themselves. Even though Amin needs to practice riding the subway so he can do a good job in the Subway Safari competition, they don't have to look too far for a mystery. Thea Lim-Lambert, whose parents are artists and use the apartment as their home base when not living in Europe, has found several interesting things in the apartment that her family has occupied since 1947. Not only has she found a secret room, but her grandfather's diary and a note from 2010 inviting the "future Lambert" to a scavenger hunt. Since Thea hasn't had any luck, and her older sister Sunday is busy at college while their parents are frantically working to put together a show, she approaches the podcasters for help. The clues lead the group to the laundry room in the basement (remember, Roya's mother is the building super, so she has access to keys), where they find a secret door behind a painting of cheese. As the search progresses, they struggle with some of the clues, so Thea asks her father, Mason, to visit Errol with her. While Errol did carvings, he didn't gain the reknown that his father, Declan did:  he was an illustrator somewhat along the lines of Norman Rockwell. Errol has dementia, so often doesn't know who people are, but they do get some information. As the clues lead the kids around town, they sometimes need help from people like neighbor Katya's grandmother Annika, who grew up in the building with Errol. There is a lot of family dynamics that get explored, mysteries that get solved, and the promise of a new adventure with an Explorer's Club.

Strengths: Roya is a great character, and I was glad that we picked up her story when she was getting back into podcasting, and that the book shows just how much work a podcast is! She and Amin get along very well, and there's even a little understandable bickering when Thea joins the mix. The family mystery is well explained, and involves not only some family lore but some local history as well. Thea's troubled family life is well portrayed, and the unspoken problems get resolved in a realistic way. The apartment building is a great setting, and it's nice to see some illustrations in the book. Books where kids are doing things are always my favorite; I would have adored this when I was young. Even though it doesn't involve any of the fantasy elements that the first book had, it's a good sequel. 
Weaknesses: I was a little disappointed that there wasn't any time travel in this book, and only the tiniest hint of fantasy at all; it was more like Graf Patterson's The Minerva Keen Detetive Club. There were some things about New York City and apartment living that could have used a tiny bit of explanation for Midwestern suburbanites; I had to look up what Dumbo was, and I'm still a bit confused about how a family can live in the same apartment for 80 years (and tear down walls!) when they don't appear to own it. 
What I really think: This was another fun scavenger hunt book along the lines of Florence's A Study in Secrets or Landis' Capitol Chase, Gibbs' Charlie Thorn, Durst's Spy Ring, or Currie's Mystery of the Locked Rooms. I'm curious to see what direction the next book will take. 

MMGM- Ms. Pennypickle's Puzzle Quest and Tea Is Love

It's

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
 at 

Always in the Middle 

and #IMWAYR day 

at

Unleashing Readers

  

Grabenstein, Chris. Ms. Pennypickle's Puzzle Quest
October 14, 2025 by Random House Books for Young Readers
E ARC provided by Netgalley

Benji Broderick lives with his family in Naperville, Illinois. His father, along with his two brothers, run a sporting goods store that they were inspired to start after a road trip the three took when they were in their late teens and early twenties. Benji and his brother, Evan, don't get along all that well. Evan is a football player who has just graduated from high school, and Benji prefers playing video games and working on puzzles. Hoping to encourage the same sort of camraderie that he had with his brothers, Evan and Benji's father make Evan an offer: if he will go on a road trip with Benji, he and Evan's mother will give Evan a truck that he can take to college. This still isn't enough, but once Aunt Caroline offers unlimited gas for four years, Evan is on board. While Benji would like to visit some Lincoln sites in Springfield, the two don't really have much of a plan, so decide to head to the Pancake Palace, where Benji has won a free meal after playing a video game at the movie theater. At the restaurant, Benji does well on a menu maze, and gets an invitation to a competition at Ms. Pennypickle's Emporium. Evan is reluctant until he finds that there is a huge prize. At the emporium, the brothers meet the other contestants, which include an older couple, an aunt and her niece, a boy their age and his father, and sisters Kaitlyn and Lily, who are roughly the boys' ages. The game calls for a lot of travel (with trackers on the cars so no one exceeds the speed limit), various competitions, and elimation of contestants. This is Benji's dream, and the fact that Ms. Pennypickle is footing the bill for meals and lodging doesn't hurt Evan's feelings. There's a pop drinking challenge at Pop's Soda Ranch, a visit to the Cadillac Ranch in Texas, and diving at the Blue Hole in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. Along the way, alliances are formed, puzzles are solved, and there's even a bit of criminal mischief. When things go wrong, Benji and Evan have to decide how to wrap up their trip, but manage to pull together to make their time together worthwhile. 

Strengths: When you, as an adult, pick up a book to read for fun (after a long day of work and being bludgeoned over the head with the horrible news of the world), do you pick up a book where the main character is struggling with the death of a loved one? I don't. I want something to take my mind off of things, not teach me Life Lessons. Evan and Benji DO learn some life lessons, but they also get to chug disgusting flavors of sodas, flirt with some girls, and travel across the US without their parents! This is the sort of book that would make an excellent gift and can be reread many times. Benji is a goofy Every Kid who is a bit jealous of his older brother but genuinely loves him and wants to spend time with him. Their parents and extended family are supportive; I LOVED the idea of the family sporting goods store and think there could have been an entire novel set THERE. Grabenstein's writing is always clear and concise, and he has some great moments of slapstick along with the bonding of the brothers. I am a fan of stand alones, but it wouldn't hurt my feelings if there were another book about Benji. 
Weaknesses: Since I am always a planner, it was hard to believe that Evan and Benji would hit the road with no clearer plan than heading to the Grand Canyon, but that approach worked in their favor once Mrs. Picklepenny got involved. Also, I wish that Ms. Picklepenny's name (and also the title) wouldn't have been so goofy. This is an excellent middle grade road trip adventure, but the name makes it sound a bit twee. 
What I really think: Even though Kaitlyn and Lily's mother had died and their father wasn't doing well, that does not figure largely in the story at all. Given the huge number of books I read over the summer that were about processing grief, Ms. Pennypickle's Puzzle Quest was a huge relief, and a rare, fun read. Fans of Grabenstein's 2013 Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library will definitely pick this one up, but readers who enjoyed the puzzles in newer titles like Currie's The Mystery of the Locked Rooms and Guterson's The World-Famous Nine or who want vicarious road trips like the ones in Reardon's Dad Rock Dragon Quest or Cartaya's A Hero's Guide to Summer Vacation will be pleased with this as well. 

Khorram, Adib and Cha, Hanna (illustrator). Tea Is Love
October 28, 2025 by Dial Books
Copy provided by the publisher

As someone who drinks more than my fair share of tea, I'm always glad to read about that particularly fortifying beverage in books like Nicey and Wifey's 2004 A Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down or Perkins' new The Golden Necklace: A Darjeeling Tea Mystery. In fact, looking in vain on my local library's website for a history of tea that I read a few years ago, I came across a large numbers of books involving tea that I really want to read. 

Picture books are harder to find, other than another favorite, Hoban's 1970 A Bargain for Francis, which is really more about the tea set. My grandson is being raised in (gasp!) a household of coffee drinkers, so Tea is Love is a perfect book to read on repeat to reinforce the idea that a nice cuppa should be the preferred drink. 

This starts with the line "Tea is a plant", which is something I try to think more about. We then see, in lushly illustrated panels, how tea is served in different places of the world. Tea is shown being prepared by children watching an online video on how to make matcha, and even shows up with children in an online class and at a wedding. My favorite panels are probably the ones illustrating "Tea is a cozy morning", and "Tea is a warm hug", in which a little girl prepares chai and takes it in a thermos to a neighbor. All of these show the main assertion of the book, which is "Tea is love". 

This put me in mind a bit of Gilbert O'Sullivan's Where Would We Be (Without Tea) video that came out a few years back, although the illustrations are MUCH better. Cha's pictures have a very cozy feeling, with strong black outlines and warm browns and yellows. These strong backgrounds make the wispy lines of the steam coming off various cups of tea stand out even more. There is a nice variety of locations and types of tea, but the constant is hands holding warm cups. 

An author's note talks a bit about the history of tea, and its importance in other cultures. It was slightly surprising that the enormous role tea plays in British culture is not discussed, but that is no doubt due to the problematic colonial history. 

Brew a cup of your favorite tea to share with a little one while reading Waissbluth ond O'Byrne's Teatime Around the World, Miyakoshi's Tea Party in the Woods, and Gu's Bitter Tea and Rock Candy and perhaps munching on a biscuit or cookie. I'll keep Tea is Love on hand for when I dust off my copy of Kirk's Miss Spider's Tea Party and my mother's Akro Agate tea set for my grandson's first tea party. 

Jackson Bright in the Spotlight and Bad Cheerleader

O'Hara, Eureka and Poblocki, Dan. Jackson Bright in the Spotlight
October 21, 2025 by Amulet Books
E ARC provided by Netgalley

Jackson is an exuberant middle schooler who causes an inadvertent ruckus on the last day of school when he spills juice on his outfit and borrows a polka dot dress from his best friend Eva's older sister. He's given a hard time by bullies, and one particularly nasty teacher, Miss Helton, takes him to the principal. His mother is called, and she is NOT happy... with the school. She supports Jackson, and is angry that she had to step away from work. Jackson's father has lost his job and is depressed, so the family needs to money. Eva, who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronous, supports Jackson as well. When the two friends are shopping at a thrift store, they see an advertisement for a beauty pageant, and Jackson decides that he will enter in disguise. He and Eva come up with a name, Sissy St. James, and when Jackson's uncle Aaron visits, he signs the permission slip and helps Jackson with his makeup and costuming. The talent portion of the program is hard, but Jackson works to improve his performance. There are plenty of problems along the way, but Aaron and Eva are always supportive. Jackson has a crush on a boy, Lucas, whose sister is competing in the pageant, which complicates things a little. Jackson is eventually found out, but there are no rules that say that boys can't compete. What will his parents think when they find out? 

Strengths: Poblocki is best known for his horror titles, so this is an interesting change for him. Jackson and Eva are fast friends who come up with a plan and implement it, even though there are some problems along the way. There's even some very realistic friend drama. Jackson's parents and uncle are supportive, even if there are some pretty pressing problems that are worrying everyone. It was good to see that the principal was reasonable, even if Miss Helton (who had also taught Aaron) was rather evil. Readers who find pageants interesting will find plenty to love here, as will students who find drag performing intriguing. 
Weaknesses: Since I have never had a student participate in a pageant (I'm not even sure if there are any in our area), the appeal of this might be limited at my school. 
What I really think: This was very similar to Chu's Queen Bees of Tybee County and joins the list of middle grade novels involving drag performance like Leahy's Mallory in Full Color, Howard's Middle School's a Drag, You Better Werk, and Zaczek's Martin McLean, Middle School Queen.

Thayer, Alex. Bad Cheerleader

November 11, 2025 by Aladdin

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Margaret (who goes  by Bag) and her sister have moved with their mother to Newport, Rhode Island after their mother lost her job acting on a soap opera and their parents are separated. Their mother is now making school lunches at home and selling them to private school students. While Minerva is a cheerleader, Bag lacks confidence in herself after a dyslexia diagnosis. She does like reading, and spends most afternoons at the public library, where she feels comfortable. When her mother gets a job in a production of The Glass Castle, she can no longer get to the library and has to wait at school while Minerva has cheerleading practice. Thinking that something is off with Minerva, Bag sticks close to her sister and is asked by the cheerleading coach, Ms. Yoh, to help with equipment. Minerva is always sneaking off with fellow cheerleader Mimi to "write cheers", but Bag discovers that they instead have a scheme selling math homework to other students. Minerva claims this is to raise money to help fund their parents' divorce because the father is dealing with addiction issues. Bag's friend, Ridgely, feels estranged from her during this time, and Bag thinks it is because she has been allowed to cheer. She's done well, making up cheers and leading impromptu dances, which makes Minerva feel that Bag is out for her position as head cheerleader. Bag wants Minerva to return the money and stop the cheating, so that if she is found out, she won't get in as much trouble. While the scheme is eventually found out, the girls don't get in much trouble, and Bag is offered a position on the cheerleading squad.

While I really liked the family dynamic of the parents having marital difficulties and Bag and Minerva not always being close, I found a lot of this hard to believe. Bag wouldn't have been able to just pop onto the cheerleading squad, and certainly wouldn't have been at the top of a pyramid without extensive training. It also seemed odd that the girls wouldn't have gotten in trouble for charging money for homework! That's some high level rule breaking. This certainly had some intrigue, great characters, and an interesting plot, but not as much cheerleading as I had hoped. Take a look to see if it right for your collection. 

Saturday Morning Cartoons- Flat Stanley and Agent Cupcake

Brown, Jeff, Wilson, SB, and Egbert, Corey (illus.) 

Flat Stanley: The Graphic Novel
September 2, 2025 by HarperAlley

E ARC provided by Netgalley

Stanley Lambchop lives with his parents and younger brother Arthur in New York City. Life is uneventful until he wakes up one morning and has been flattened by a bulletin board that has fallen off the wall onto his bed. Since he doesn't seem to be in any distress, everyone has breakfast before taking him to the doctor. Again, nothing is wrong, so his mother's major concern is that all of Stanley's clothes will need to be altered! He has several adventures, like getting his mother's ring back from the sewer, being flown around the park like a kite, being used to help the policemen catch a sneak thief from stealing paintings, and being mailed in a large envelope (with a cheese sandwich!) to visit a friend in California. Eventually, he gets tired of being flat, and his brother manages to restore him to his normal girth by inserting a bicycle pump in his mouth until he is fully inflated. 

Strengths: I was a little surprised to find that Flat Stanley was first published in 1964; the series had a resurgence of interest in the 1990s when my children were in elementary school, and I seem to remember at least one Flat Stanley project. Egbert's illustrations capture some of the feel of the original while updating some details; Stanley's friend in California is Black, the father seems to do all of the cooking, and the crowds in the city are more diverse. The text is a nice large size, and this will be a huge hit with elementary readers and even some struggling middle school ones. There are six books in the series written by Brown, and a later set of four I Can Read Books, so meeting Stanley will encourage readers to look for other books about this character. 
Weaknesses: Since I'm a fan of anything vintage, redoing the illustrations always takes some of the original charm away for me, but readers who are vastly younger than some of my clothing are not going to care about vintage charm. 
What I really think: If you can suspend disbelief long enough to believe that Stanley is flattened by a bulletin board and has no further problems, you'll enjoy this reimagining of Brown's classic tale. The goofiness will appeal to fans of Greenburg's The Zach Files, Trine's Melvin Beederman series, and the various permutations of Thaler's Black Lagoon books. 

Hilario, Mel and Davis, Lauren. Agent Cupcake

November 4, 2025 by Oni Press

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Miguel Mangayayam gets hired by the Magical Beast Bureau since he is very interested in learning all he can about supernatural creatures, and because his mother works there. He is paired with Agent Cupcake, a unicorn who has lost his magical powers. Right away, Miguel learns a lot about unicorns (their horns DON'T purify water, and dragons are allergic to unicorns), and gets started on missions right away. A fashion store, Paleontolgie, is selling outfits with pilfered phoenix feathers, and investigating this leads to deeper problems. The unicorns sell their crafts on the Betsy website, but those whose work sells the best are losing their magic! What does this have to do with HOARD, a massive online retailer? The unicorn Ganache is some help, and contact one of his online friends, Polly, who works at HOARD to find a way to get into their headquarters. Miguel and Cupcake manage to infiltrate the building, but will they be able to get the unicorns magic back? There is a glossary at the back of some of the technology terms used in the book. 

This was a rather goofy satire of online commerce; since Anthropologie jeans retail for over $200, I'm not sure that tweens are really their demographic. (I was glad to see that high rise jeans and sweaters with embroidered motifs seem to be back, however!) Miguel has a lot of anxiety, so goes back and forth between the manga star eyes and weeping, so that would be appealing to young graphic novel readers. If Graley's Donut the Destroyer or Simpson's Phoebe and Her Unicorn are popular in your library, I'd take a look at this title. Wow. The first Phoebe came out in 2014. Seems like just yesterday. 
 

Poetry Friday- Holes in My Underwear

Eicheldinger, Matthew. Holes in My Underwear: Over 100 Poems That Will Knock Your Socks Off

September 9, 2025 by Andrews McMeel Publishing
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

The author's note about why he wrote these poems is very informative. His students didn't like the poetry that they had to read for class, so in order to interest them, he tried his own hand at writing poems for them. This is an admirable idea. He teachers 6th grade, so thematically, these address a lot of concerns about farts, sports, and generally goofiness. Also a good call. 

While I have definitely seen the same reactions to poetry from my students, I'm SUPER, SUPER picky about how poems are written. I write poems myself. It can take me weeks to get a poem just right; I'm a huge fan of the work of Timothy Steele, and adored his book on how to write poetry, All the Fun's in How You Say a Thing. Getting just the right word, making sure the scansion is absolutely flawless, using assonance and consonance... sigh. Writing poetry is my retirement plan. 

While everyone can try to write poetry, and sometimes write decent verse, not all of it is good. Eicheldinger's work is serviceable. It's got decent enough themes, the rhyme is okay, the meter is sometimes better than others. I'm wondering how he teachers his 6th graders about poetry, and whether or not his poems meet all of the criteria; when poetry was included in our 7th grade curriculum (it now isn't anywhere), there were a lot of types of figurative language that students had to find in collections of poems, and I'm not sure this book would have been useful. 

It's entirely likely that 6th graders will read this and find it funny. I still have a small collection of poetry books in my library, but I'm not buying any more, since they are used very little. If I were to purchase more, I would get Schecter's The Red Ear Blows Its Nose, which was very clever, but had a horrible cover. Viorst's What Are You Mad About? What Are You Glad About?, Dean Koontz's The Paper Doorway, and anything by Naomi Shihab Nye, J. Patrick Lewis, and Jack Prelutsky are also good choices. 

This author also wrote the goofy Matt Sprouts series and a memoir about his experiences in education, but I was not aware of this bestselling author at all. 

War Games and Refugee: The Graphic Novel

Gratz, Alan. War Games
October 7, 2025 by Scholastic Press

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Thirteen year old Evie is excited to be in Berlin, competing on the first women's gymnastic team in the 1936 Olympics. She's having a tough time, since she beat out another East Coast gymnast and the other competitors aren't being very supportive, but Evie's used to hard times. Her family lived in Oklahoma, and lost their farm after the horrendous Dust Bowl storms, and have been living in their car in California after a family tragedy. She hopes to win a medal in order to help out her family. She has made a friend in Mary, her roommate and equestrian, who is also a movie star. When Evie gets a note to meet someone on a local bridge, she is shocked that Karl, a German weight lifter, and Solomon, a reporter, ask her to help rob the German Reichsbank of gold. They need her gymnastics skills to break into the vault of the new building that is under construction; since Karl is a builder there, he has inside information, and the hullabaloo around the Olympics will take scrutiny off the site. Karl wants to use the money to help the resistance, since his boyfriend was put into a concentration camp. This doesn't sound like a great idea until Evie doesn't do well in the competition after coming very close to making the cut off. She also finds out secrets about her German guide, a boy her age names Heinz who is literally the poster boy for the Hitler Youth, and this motivates her to help. Along with a French Senegalese athlete who is not happy about being categorized as a "mischling", the would be robbers scout out the site, and work on getting vital information and supplies. Evie manages to get the code to the vault by going to a party with Mary and talking to the banker's young son to get his birthday. Mary is hit on by a Nazi, and this, along with other information she finds out, puts her in the right frame of mind to eventually help Evie out. Just as the heist is about to happen, another US gymnast is hurt, and Evie must compete at the same time the heist is supposed to roll out. Solomon threatens her, and says she must throw the competition. When she doesn't, it's up to her to figure out a new plan, or Solomon will endanger Heinz, to whom Evie has become close. Evie comes up with a plan to carry out the theft while the Nazis are having their nightly rally in the Olympic stadium, and even brings in Mary to impersonate the filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl in order to help get the group where they need to be without attracting attention. When things go wrong with the heist, it looks like all of the work might be in vain. Evie has had some more clever thoughts, but also gives the money to Heinz. As she says, while people in her country don't seem to care whether she lives or dies, at least no one is actively trying to kill her. 

Strengths: It's a bit surprising that there haven't already been middle grade books about the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin, so it's good to have one on this topic. Including sports of any kind is always a great way to attract readers, and there are very few books involving gymnasts! Evie's background, having barely survived the Dust Bowl, was interesting, and Heinz, as her Hitler Youth overseer, has a lot of surprises. Gratz worked hard to include mentions of many people from backgrounds targeted by the Nazis; there are characters that are LGBTQIA+, Black, and Jewish, and there is good information about how the Nazis treated them. I was unaware that Germany specifically brought in Jewish athletes who didn't "look Jewish" to deflect attention from their discrimination, or that some Jewish shops were allowed to be open. The fact that Berlin put on a good face for the event, and his crumbling facades behind Nazi flags was also interesting. The book ends with several pages of notes about what portions of the book were real, and which were fiction. 
Weaknesses: This was a longer book, coming in at over 350 pages. The bank heist took up so much of the story, and seemed like an odd inclusion. I'll all for action and suspense, but it came across as a bit goofy. Having Mary impersonate Riefenstahl was the only good part of that plot arc. There would have been plenty going on in the book with Evie's Depression Era background, and Heinz' family situation, and there were some things about the Olympics and Germany in 1936 that could have been explored more.
What I really think: I do have a lot of Gratz fans, so I'll probably purchase this, but there's a lot I would have changed about the story, like including more information about the women's gymnastics team in the Olympics. Add this to the still steady stream of World War II books that are still being published, like Hopkinson's They Battled in Blizzards, Nayeri's The Teacher of Nomad Land, and the much more intriguing Rise of the Spider series by Michael Spradlin. 

Gratz, Alan and Fini, Syd (illus.) Refugee: The Graphic Novel
October 7, 2025 by Graphix
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

It's fascinating to see what publishers decide to reinterpret as graphic novels. Tarshis' I Survived books and Alexander's Crossover are roughly the same length in both versions, so it seemed a bit of an odd choice to just add pictures, but Gibbs' Spy School adaptations have such tiny print and so many words that it's hard to imagine students enjoying them. Then there are older novels (Pullman's 1995 The Golden Compass or Pearce's 1958 Tom's Midnight Garden) that get the treatment; my students tend to not pick those up. Publishing is about making money, so someone must have thought turning Gratz' popular 2017 Refugee into a graphic novel would earn some bucks. 

This is a fine treatment; the illustrations are attractive, and the story stays true to the original. Since the graphic version is shorter than the prose version, it seemed like the perspective changed every three pages, which gave me a bit of whiplash and made it hard to focus on the stories. I found myself wanting each of the three storylines to have a slightly different color palette to differentiate them, but this didn't happen. There are other original graphic novels about the plight of immigrants, like Colfer's 2018 Illegal, Brown's 2019 The Unwanteds, and Jamieson and Mohamed's 2020 When the Stars are Scattered that told their stories with a more effective use of pictures. Since I have five copies of the original Refugee (people kept donating copies, and they were popular for a while) I probably won't buy the graphic novel version.

From the review of the 2017 prose novel:
Gratz tackles the idea of countries in turmoil by focusing on three children from three different time periods. Josef is a German Jew whose family is able to evade the Nazis after his father is arrested, and eventually book passage on a fairly nice ship bound for Cuba. They eventually run into complications, and the captain attempts to land them in the US and then the UK. Isabel lives in Cuba in 1994, and her family is struggling with the lack of food and the unrest in the country until the father feels that he will be arrested unless they leave. With the help of another family who has built a boat, they start on a perilous voyage to the US which is complicated by Isabel's mother's pregnancy. In 2015, Mahmoud's family can no longer stay in Aleppo, Syria after their apartment building is destroyed. They take off in their car, with a fair amount of resources, but it's a long journey to Austria, and nothing about the trip is easy. In all three cases, loved ones are lost, but eventually parts of the family arrive in safer places. There are some nice tie-ins at the end of the book, as well as additional information about the history of the conflicts that propel these families away from their homelands.
Strengths: This was rather grim, but certainly a book that students today need in order to understand what is going on in the world. Gratz always does excellent research, and he doesn't over dramatize events. I found it particularly illuminating that Mahmoud's family was so well-to-do and had made fairly good plans to get out of the country; I guess I have a typical tendency to think of refugees of people who are forced to leave very quickly with no resources at all, which must sometimes be the case. Their use of smart phones to map their routes was especially interesting, and the father's sense of humor added a very human element to the story. The three narratives change back and forth but are easy to follow.
Weaknesses: Again, a bit grim. Younger readers need to know that there are some deaths, a baby who is given away in order to be saved from drowning, and a lot of violence.
What I really think: This would make a great class read, since some of the historical topics as well as the issue of forced migration might need some explanation for students to fully understand them.

Yoli's Favorite Things

Our local school levy passed, so I still have a job. Of course, it doesn't feel great to know that the superintendent and school board think that my job is worthless. For now, glad to have a job.

Santana, Patricia. Yoli's Favorite Things

September 30, 2025 by Margaret Ferguson Books

ARC provided by Young Adult Books Central

Yolanda Sahugún is growing up in a close knit family with eight siblings in Palm City, San Diego, in 1967. As summer approaches, her  Mamá needs to travel to Mexico to be with her ailing father, and since her Papá does maintenance at a trailer park and must live there during the week, the children, who range from 23 year old Armando to 5 year old Luz, need some supervision. Luckily, Papá's cousin Matilde needs a place to stay, since she has just left the convent. Yoli is intrigued. She loved the movie The Sound of Music, and she and her best friend Lydia made a pact when they were 8 that they would both become nuns and join Our Lady of Angels in Glen Riddle, Pennsylvania. Yoli expects Matilde to be glamorous, like Julie Andrews in the movie, but she is a very plain and sensible woman. She cooks, and takes the girls to school, and slowly shares the story of her vocation with Yoli. Yoli is a little concerned that she finds one of the altar boys at church, Benjamin, to be rather attractive, and when he helps her out at a party, she ends up meeting with him to talk several times. When her favorite older brother Chuy does not manage to secure a letter of recommendation from their priest to support his application to be a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, Yoli is so worried that he will have to go and fight that she makes a pact with God; if her brother stays at home, she will not only become a nun, but she will be a missionary nun in Vietnam. This means that she tells Benjamin that she can no longer talk to him, and puts a strain on her relationship with Lydia. Her mother comes back home, and Matilde thinks about moving out on her own, since Yoli and her four sisters all share one room, and Yoli has to sleep on the couch when Matilde is there. Eventually, Chuy has to go to basic training, but Yoli hopes that the conflict will be over before Chuy is sent away. This doesn't happen, but with the help of Matilde, neighbors, and family, Yoli learns to persevere and not give up hope when her brother goes away. 

There are many good details about everyday life in the late 60s; as I suspected, Santana was born in 1955, so would have been a contemporary of Yoli's. From orange juice can hair rollers, to the parents stricter rules for girls, to the clothing described, it's clear that Santana is drawing from here past. While middle grade readers today might not be aware of the movie The Sound of Music, it was a huge cultural influence, and I loved that Yoli had a record of the soundtrack! My father was so fond of this music!

The comparisons between Yoli's California neighborhood and The Sound of Music's alpine setting was quite fun, and it was good to see such strong Catholic representation. I imagine there were many girls during the Vietnam era who made similar pacts, and the details of how Yoli prepared herself for becoming a none were interesting. She was very serious about her plans, even if she ended up not following through. Tia Matilde's story made sense in the era. I almost wanted a little more information about the state of Catholic convents at this time, and how Vatican II in 1965 affected things like the wearing of habits and cloistered communities. 

Of course, every middle grade book, no matter what decade the setting, needs some friend drama and a little romance. Benjamin is absolutely delightful; not only does he tell Yoli that she looks nice when she wears a dress to the party instead of less formal clothes, but he helps clean dog poop off her shoe! Later, he saves Almond Joys from his trick or treat bag for her. It's a very sweet romance. 

There are not as many books about the Vietnam era as there should be. Many of my students now have grandparents who fought in the conflict. There are even fewer books about the homefront during this time. Considering the fact that there are still a ton of books published each year about World War II, it was nice to see something different. This is a good choice for readers who enjoyed a virtual trip to the 1960s with O'Connor's Until Tomorrow, Mr. Marsworth, Tashjian's For What It's Worth, or Wallace's War and Watermelon. 

Fantasy Round Up!

Spending two days a week in Cincinnati with my grandson this summer was delightful, but also very distracting! I struggle with fantasy at the best of times. Since my daughter (former president of the University of Cincinnati Harry Potter Fan Club) has been reading him The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, I'm sure that he will probably enjoy a good fantasy title when he's a little older. Here's some of the books I read and didn't process as fully as I should have! 

Brashares, Ann and Brashares, Ben. Into the Fire (West fallen #2)
September 16, 2025 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
 

The first book in the series, Westfallen, had a ham radio, communication across the decades, and a crucial malt shop, so I loved it. The sequel was also good, but I got a bit confused by what was going on. I'd recommend to young readers that they read the secondly as quickly after the first as possible! The third is forthcoming. 

From the publisher:

Former best friends Henry, Frances, and Lukas thought they’d managed to restore history to its original path after their antics with a time-bending radio went awry. But they’re still trapped in Westfallen, the version of present-day America where the Axis won WWII, living an alternate—and much darker—version of their lives.

Henry has to work at the Home for Incurables, Lukas is on hard labor all day, and only Frances, whose parents are members of the Nazi elite, gets to go to school and move freely. And since they and their friends in 1944 destroyed the radio, they have to find cruder and ever-more-desperate ways to communicate across time. Frances uses her privilege in Westfallen to gather as much information as she can, while Henry tries to turn Lukas into a local baseball hero to save him from being sent away to a work camp.

But the deeper the three friends and their 1944 counterparts dig into how Westfallen came to be, the more they begin to attract unwanted attention from people with a vested interest in making sure this version of history becomes permanent…at any cost.

Senf, Laura. Pennies (Prequel to The Clackity)

September 23, 2025 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers 

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

I didn't buy the first book in this series, and was half expecting someone to request it, but no one has. There's a lot of well done world building, but my horror readers seem to prefer stand alones, so it's probably just as well I didn't invest in these four books. Sadly, can't buy everything, especially since I get 20% less now than I did in 2003, and that was HALF of what I got in 2002. (It's $8 per student per year, for which I am still exceedingly grateful. Some schools have no budget.)

From the publisher:

One hundred years prior to the events of The Clackity, four best friends are drawn into a deadly scheme when they set out to investigate the strange disappearances taking place in the eerie town of Blight Harbor in this spine-chilling middle grade adventure.

It’s June of 1921 and best friends Mae, Lark, Brigid, and Claret have plans for the perfect summer. Between riding their bikes to the enchanted lake and decorating their fort for its resident ghost, the girls are a busy bunch. But when they discover a door in the forest floor that leads to an alternate world with purple skies and fearsome creatures, everything takes a turn for the worse.

Someone else has already been through that door, and it’s triggered something incredibly dangerous. Maybe deadly.

Back in Blight Harbor, strange disappearances are taking place. The most worrisome being that of Brigid’s cousin, who has been spending an awful lot of time with the unusual and untrustworthy John Jeffrey Pope. As the girls uncover the eerie world that lives right beneath their feet, will they find their missing friend, or will the most treacherous man in Blight Harbor get to them first?

Mbalia, Kwame. Jax Freeman and the Tournament of Spirits (#2)

October 7, 2025 by Freedom Fire

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

This sequel to Jax Freeman and the Phantom Shriek is the perfect dose of methadone to Harry Potter addicts who can't get enough fantasy academy stories. I've just read too many tournament stories to be able to get really invested. 

From the publisher: 

Seventh grader Jackson "Jax" Freeman recently learned two important facts: one, he's a summoner—someone who can call on the magical powers of his ancestors to help him do amazing things—and two, he isn’t the only person with this ability.

After much training, Jax and four of his summoner classmates from DuSable Middle school in Chicago are thrust into a competition called the Tournament of Spirits where they'll face the most skilled summoners from around the world.

But while everyone is focused on winning, Jax is given a special side quest by the elders of the four magical families: he has to spy on each of the competitors—including his own teammates—in order to uncover who is releasing endangered, and very dangerous, cryptids into the arena.

Can Jax take the top spot in the tournament and save himself and his friends from a mysterious foe?

Edge, Clare. Mixing Magics (Accidental Demons #2)

November 11, 2025 by HarperCollins

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Ber is determined to find her grandmother, Orla, even though her mother doesn't seem to interested in helping. She's still with her boyfriend, Cai, and hangs out with her friend, Phoebe. When Ber is having trouble managing her diabetes, Cai's mother manages to magic up top tier health insurance for the Crowleys, and Ber gets an insulin pump, which is helpful but complicated to deal with. When she meets Patrick Walsh, her grandmother's nemesis, Ber hopes to get some answers that will help locate her grandmother. She does learn some family secrets about how the Bitterroot Coven memories that are sacrificed every year are being used. 

I forgot most of the first book, so it would have been helpful to have remembered some of the back story about the demon Fin. There were lots of good details about dealing with diabetes, but they were sometimes hard to follow while also keeping track of the complicated magic. I was a little concerned about Ber's approach to diabetes; at one point, she states that she prefers drinking sugar sodas and shooting the insulin for them. My father had a similar approach, and it did not work all that well. Most of the tween diabetics I've known have been very careful about their choice of foods. Readers who liked Hautman's 2003 Sweetblood or Van Otterloo's Cattywampus will enjoy this mix of fantasy and health problems. 

MMGM- The Free State of Jax and Real-Life Mysteries and Disasters

It's

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
 at 

Always in the Middle 

and #IMWAYR day 

at

Unleashing Readers

  

Nielsen, Jennifer A. The Free State of Jax

October 21, 2025 by Scholastic Press 

ARC provided by Young Adult Books Central

Jaxon Averett has lived with his grandmother after the death of both parents in a boating accident when he was three, but when she is diagnosed with Alzheimers when she is 75, Jax has to go live with his Uncle Clive and Aunt Helga Grimmitz in Walkonby, Kansas. They have a small farm and six children, most of whom are nasty to Jax. He has to sleep on the floor, is constantly bullied by Dutch and Danger, and the family can't even get his name right, calling him Jack. When he turns 12, he decides to run away and declare part of the neighbor's year "The Free State of Jax", a micronation. He knows the laws, and follows them. Of course, his family follows him and tries to get him to come home, but Jax finds a surprising ally in the owner of the property, Owen O'Keefe. O'Keefe has kept to himself after an incident nine years ago that ended with him being accused of murdering his brother and defrauding many townspeople, so he's understandably wary of letting others onto his property or into his life. Jax is glad for the support, especially since his aunt and uncle call the police, Officer Pressman (who is nice) and Officer Doyle (who is not). Jax also gets help from Alicia Baylor, who is in school with him and runs a "Brownies not Bullies" group hoping to help other kids. She brings in her mother, who is an attorney, and offers to see what she can do to get Jax away from the Grimmitz. Alicia also brings other kids from school, and they enjoy swimming in the lake, which is naturally warmed by hot springs. This is why Owen and his brother Waylon had wanted to turn the area into a resort. Jax is worried that the kids aren't really his friends, but just want access to the lake. To prove otherwise, the children help clear weeds, make a path, and install weeding. When the legal issues with the Grimmitzes heat up and Jax must contend with Finley T. Creel, Esquire, who is helping the Grimmitzes adopt Jax, some clues to Waylon's disappearance surface, and seem to implicate Uncle Clive. Will Jax be able to assert his independence in his new country as well as solve the mystery of Waylon?

It seems fair to say that a vast number of tweens have thought about running away from home at one point or another, and Jax has more reasons than most. This adds an immediate appeal to the book; what better place to live than on a raft in a lake, where there's a concerned adult to bring you food? It was good to see that Jax had some people on his side, since his family were just about as horrible as Harry Potter's  Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia! 

The information about micronations, and all of the politics involved made this a bit unusual, but also gave Jax a framework for staging his protest. I loved that Mr. O'Keefe demanded that Jax write a constitution before he let him stay on the property. While the legalities of the Grimmitz's adoption got a bit confusing, I appreciated that Nielsen drew from her own past, and from the powerlessness she felt when her parents were divorcing and no one seemed to care about her opinion. 

Even though Jax's parents are both dead, this book is rather lighthearted, with plenty of goofy things going on. It's fun to see all of the children working on Stay awhile Springs and stepping in to help Jax. The mystery with Waylon gives Jax something else to occupy his mind and also a way to pay back Mr. O'Keefe for his support. Scholastic does a particularly good job at publishing happier titles, and it was fun to see a different type of book from Ms. Nielsen, who has published many historical fiction books (Resistance,  One Wrong Step, Uprising,  Iceberg, Lines of Courage, Words on Fire) as well as the False Prince fantasy series. 

Hand this to fans of adventure stories that involve running away, like Kleckner's The Art of Running Away, Hashimoto's Bound for Home, Kothari's  Bringing Back Kay-Kay, but let young readers know that running away is generally a bad idea, just like Mr. O'Keefe tells Jax! 

This is a bit on the long side, at 352 pages, and there's plenty that could have been cut out, but still, bonus points for even TRYING to be cheerier! 

Martineau, Susan and Barker, Vicky (illus.).
Real-Life Mysteries & Disasters: Deadly Facts, Amazing Evidence, and the True Stories Behind 22 Incredible Events.

November 4, 2025 by Bright Matter Books (Penguin Random House)

Copy provided by the publisher

Have readers who can't get enough Titanic books? Some who love Hopkinson's Scholastic Focus Deadliest  titles or fiction like Tarshis' I Survived series, Marino's Escape from the U.S.S. Indianapolis, Philbrick's Wild Wave, or Johnson's Survivor Diaries? This is the book for them! 

There are twenty two different mysteries and disasters, and each once has an overview of one specific incident (like Bigfoot or the Bermuda Triangle) where the location, time period, and basics are covered thoroughly. This is followed by a case file in a fun scrapbook format that discusses what evidence is available, lists witness statements, has applicable maps, and has a box that encourages further investigations. I enjoyed that fact that there were definitions of words, assessments of witness reliability, and descriptions of similar cases, especially in cases of "unidentified weird lights" which are often thought to be UFOs. My favorite was probably the descriptions of spontaneous combustion; it never seemed all that possible to mek but looking at the scientific evidence, now I'm not so sure! 

It is also helpful that each of the sections starts with a helpful overview of how the pages are going to be set up. Many of my students struggle with processing nonfiction text, and this would be a great book for navigating a mix of pictures, text, and sidebars. Because of the interesting aspects of the mysteries and disasters, reading this book wouldn't feel like work. 

There is a helpful table of contents and a glossary of words at the back that readers will find useful. 

This reminded me of some National Geographic books or Lonley Planet nonfiction titles. The illustrations are great, but it wouldn't have hurt to include a photograph or two. I know that it's often more expensive to do this, and readers today are keen to look things up online. 

I'm always a fan of having books like this along on car trips. Real-Life Mysteries & Disasters is packed with information and would definitely take a couple of Midwestern states to finish. I get too car sick to read, but my brother was always a big fan of the Guiness Book of World Records and would quote passages while my parents are driving. This always led to some good family conversations, and I think that a topic like Bigfoot or the Halifax explosion could make the time on the road fly by. 

Tatulli, Mark. The eXpets 2: The Skunk Who Challenged the World!
November 4, 2025 by Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Professor Foozypinz is looking through his Enormo-Scope when he sees a giant kitten heading towards Earth. He tries to alert the White House and the military, but no one believes him. Needing back up, he sends out an alert to the eXpets, and soon the Incredible Mr. Turtle, Laser-Eye Kitty, Ginormous Gerbil, and Wonder Guppy have come to help. Stanky Dog has thrown his collar out into the yard so that his girl, Lily, doesn't hear it beeping, and Skunk and his sidekick Lizard have found it. He eventually comes to the aid of the professor, and the group realizes that the kitten must have been on the Moon when they discarded the powerful Collar of Power of Kitty KahKah and is wearing it. Appropriating a giant catnip filled toy, they manage to slow down the kitten. They need skunk's help, but know they van't trust him. When Stanky Dog is kidnapped by Skunk and held captive in his Mobile Underwater Secret Hideout, he is accompanied by Laser Kitty, who is now a shape shifter and has tagged along in the shape of a crab. Laser Kitty wisely tells Stanky Dog that he shouldn't rely on people, but when the two are rescued by Lily, Stanky feels good about his life choices. Skunk also is in control of UpDawg, and it looks like things will not end well for the eXpets until the giant kitten's identity is revealed, and an emotional connection saves the day. 

Strengths: Tatulli's illustration style is clear and less cluttered than that of many similar books, and his plots are a little more streamlined. Sure, there is a lot of goofiness, but it makes more sense, which is a huge relief for me. Readers who are drawn to graphic novels often have a hard time processing text and stories, so having larger print, fewer words, and fewer extraneous characters and events really helps. There are some good messages about the importance of love and family, right alongside Stanky Dog's potent reeking breath, so this will make young readers and teachers alike very happy. 
Weaknesses: I loved Tatulli's Short and Skinny so much, and wish that he would turn his talents to more realistic humorous graphic novels, but am glad to see anything he can publish. 
What I really think: This is a must purchase title for elementary libraries where Pilkey's Dog Man books or Barnett and Harris' The First Cat in Space series are popular. Make sure to get prebound editions so they hold up to the frequent check outs it is sure to see. 

Setting the Stage (Cast vs. Crew #1) and Chris Makes a Friend

Champion, Lindsay. Setting the Stage (Cast vs. Crew #1)
October 21, 2025 by Pixel+Ink
ARC provided by Young Adult Books Central

Ella Amani has been dreaming for years about becoming the stage manager for her middle school drama production, so when she is finally picked by Ms. Pickler, she is thrilled. Her best friend, Levi, also would rather be in the crew than on the stage, but he has bigger things on his mind than Curie the Musical. Ella is a bit stressed herself, since her Iranian parents have set up their own business and expect her to watch out for her three younger sisters. In addition to the awesome responsibility of listening to auditions, and having keys and the prompt book, Ella has to turn her hand to managing a diverse crew, not all of whom want to be there, as well as snotty actors. Sixth grader Sebastian joins the crew because his older sister Rose is one of the stars, and he has a bit of a crush on Levi. Willow's corporate lawyer parents are making her do an activity after she got in trouble for vaping. Kevin was homeschooled on a boat. The crew does a good job with their various tasks, even though stars like Jordan keep playing practical jokes and aren't at all grateful for all that the crew does. As her parents put more and m ore responsibility on her when she has the least amount of time to deal with it, Ella does not appreciate being taken for granted! She often vents to Levi, but he has limited patience; he's been in kinship care with Sam and Pearl, second cousins on his mother's, since she and his father have struggled with issues that complicate raising him. He's gotten a call from his mother, who wants to meet up, and while Levi would like to live with her again, in his heart of hearts, he knows he is better off with Sam. As with any play, there are always complications, like Ella having to take her sister to a dentist's appointment during Hell Week. Will Curie the Musical go off without a hitch? We'll have to wait until book two to find out. 

This book is told from multiple perspectives, so we get to see the inner workings of the worlds of several characters, and observe similar scenes in different ways. Ella's life seems stressful to her, but Levi thinks she has it particularly good, since he's worried about whether or not he will be able to finish the school year at the same school. Ella is trying to do a good job, but being sabotaged by her parents, who are rather oblivious as to what being the stage manager means. Side characters, like Rosa, Sebastian, and Willow also get to share their views of the production. 

The ending is definitely a cliff hanger, and sets the stage for the next part of the trilogy. There is a real play of Curie the Musical, but I'm not sure that the songs and scenes in this book are based on the real one. 

 

Readers who know all of the lyrics to Hamilton! and Wicked will devour this backstage look at the theater world. Put this on the playbill alongside Otheguy's Sofía Acosta Makes a Scene, Brown's Dream, Annie, Dream, Miller's Shannon in the Spotlight, Stroker and Davidowitz's The Chance to Fly, and Asher's Upstaged, and make sure to keep the ghost light burning! 

I did find it hard to believe there are schools anywhere where the stars of the play are "middle school royalty", but since the author has a lot of theater experience, maybe this is based on her life, or maybe on wishful thinking. We do have one play a year, but they are usually very different from the ones portrayed in books. Theater books are not very popular with my students. 

Gino, Alex. Chris Makes a Friend

November 4, 2025 by Scholastic Press

ARC provided by Scholastic

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Chris is going into 6th grade and is pretty sure she identifies as a cisgender girl, and lives in New York City with her mother and younger sister, Becca. As the school year ends, her mother, who suffers from chronic back and neck pain, and her girlfriend Frank, have big news: the mother is undergoing surgery to help her condition, and Chris and Becca will be spending the summer with their father's parents, Nana and Papa, in rural Massachusetts. Chris is angry that she won't be able to spend time with her best friend, Vicky, with whom she has planned the Great Summer 72 Book Challenge. Since there are 72 days in vacation, they plan to read that many books together when they are not playing video games. Vicky says not to worry, since she is going to a theater camp, and they can still read independently. It doesn't help that Chris will have to spend a lot of time with her sister, who is annoying in the extreme, and will only be allowed to have screen time in the mornings, before Nana takes away her tablet. There are upsides; Papa makes delicious waffles in the morning, and when Chris is forced outside in the afternoons, she does find a nice spot by a creek to read. Eventually, she even finds a friend, Mia Yaring, who is also staying with her grandmother, and who also enjoyes the Magical Mystical Vidalia fantasy series that Chris does. Chris' mother recuperates more slowly than expected from the surgery, and the visit is extended when she has to go back for another procedure, although Frank says that everything is going fairly well. At the end of the story, we do learn some secrets about Mia, but Chris has learned that her sister isn't all bad, and that her upcoming middle school experience won't be so terrible, especially since Vicky has remained her friend. 

Strengths: There are very few depictions of parents with chronic health conditions that impact the lives of their children, although there are probably more parents in this situation than there are deceased middle grade parents, so the mother's chronic pain was an informative inclusion. Summers with grandparents are always interesting, even if Chris is annoyed that Nana takes away her tablet and refers to her and Becca as "girls". There is lots of modern thought and language surrounding gender, which is not surprising given Gino's body of work. Mia ask Chris "So you're a girl?" to which Chris replies "As far as I know", and there are other inclusive moments. It is good to see that Chris and Becca get along better at the end of the book. I'd love to see more books that involve subplots that deal with sibling relationships. 
Weaknesses: This seemed a bit young because of the major twist in the plot (that I don't want to reveal). While this is probably an accurate depiction of summer for modern day tweens, it made me sad. Most of the time, the girls seem to be on screens. Nana lets them play the entire morning, and there are often family movie nights. While Becca practices soccer, neither of the girls seem to have any initiative to do much. This makes for a rather slow moving story. There are not grand adventures. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who like gentle summer time tales like Kendall's The True Definition of Neva Beane or Guillory's Gus and Glory. There is a list of the 72 books that Chris reads over the summer at the end; only two are imaginary! 

A historical note: The grandparents get the newspaper delivered, and Chris enjoys reading the Parade Magazine, so this means the book is set before 2022.