Mysteries

Battle, Craig and Ramon Perez. Max Finder Mystery Collected Casebook #6

10 April 2012; Reviewed for Young Adult Books Central

This book is a collection of ten mystery comic strips from Owl Magazine that involve Max Finder and his multicultural cast of friends and associates. There are also two short story mysteries. The comic strips are about four pages long, with a page at the end that describes how Max solves the mystery, reminiscent of Encyclopedia Brown. There is a section at the end on how to set up a mystery party, which is interesting! The mysteries are also similar to ones Encyclopedia might have solved; a toilet papering prank, a garden and a garage messed with, some stolen bikes.

Strengths: Anything in graphic novel format is a hot ticket in my library, and the mysteries in this series are short but interesting.

Weaknesses: This is another Canadian publication that makes me wonder if Canada is experiencing a paper shortage. The margins are tiny and the words are tiny, giving the format a very cramped feeling.

Harrington, Kim. Partners in Crime.

1 May 2012, Reviewed for Young Adult Books Central

This is the first in a new middle grade series by Kim Harrington, who did the extremely popular YA series Clarity and Perception. Best friends Darcy and Norah have a class project requiring them to set up a pretend business. They decide to create a web site for a detective business, since the dark, edgy side appeals to the borderline Goth Darcy and the good girl Norah who likes to help people. Even though their web site is available only on the school Intranet, they get an e mail from someone asking for help locating her lost twin sister. It turns out that the fashionable Fiona has found a birth certificate for a baby named Bailey born the same day, so the girls do some sleuthing and turn up a lot of irregularities. Someone doesn't want them involved in the mystery, but they continue on despite the threats. Sleepover Stakeout (1 June 2012) and Framed and Dangerous (1 July 2012) are forthcoming.

Strengths: Norah and Darcy have distinct personalities but get along well. Most of their detective activities are very realistic, but more involved than solving missing bikes, which is good for middle school. Also, there is a little romance, and the very nice touch of the girls thinking Fiona is stuck up but becoming friends once they get to know her.

Weaknesses: The girls uncover a very big and rather dangerous secret that should result in Fiona moving, but the parents trust the girls to keep the secret, which seemed slightly unrealistic. Small thing, and I am very much looking forward to this series. Just really bummed that it's a Scholastic paperback series, which means waiting for the prebinds.

Middle Grade Monday

What exactly IS middle grade? Both of these books are, even though the represent the extremes. Squish is suitable for 8-11 year olds, although older students might be amused or seek it out as comfort reading, and Rush for the Gold is fine for any readers who can read well enough and have an interest in Olympic swimming, although would be most suitable for ages 12 and up. There is that one big kiss, and any one under the age of 12 would probably go "Ewwwww!" For more middle grade titles, head over to Shannon Whitney Messenger's Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe to see a list of bloggers with middle grade reviews.

Feinstein, John. Rush for the Gold.

Random House, 22 May 2012
Reviewed for Young Adult Books Central. 

Susan Carol and Stevie are back, and this time Susan Carol is very close to making the Olympic team. She is approached by all sorts of agents and sponsors because she is not only a fantastic swimmer; she is also pretty. Her father is bowing to the pressure for her to wear logos at every interview, which confuses and angers her. Stevie, writing for the Washington newspaper, manages to go to the Olympic trials to be with her (their long distance romance seems to be working better than most), and when she makes the Olympic team, he goes to London as well. While in London, the politics and agent anxiety increase-- Stevie is yelled at for talking to Susan Carol and not getting proper permission to speak to other swimmers. He has to struggle with balancing his reporting with wanting to be with his girlfriend all the time. Susan Carol has to struggle with an increasingly overbearing father who wants her to fire her long time coach because he isn't "big time" enough, and with the pressure to win a gold--so that she can earn the big bucks in sponsorships. When it is clear that another girl, Elizabeth, is a better swimmer but not as pretty and personable as Susan Carol, Susan Carol becomes angry that looks count for so much. Is someone sabotaging Elizabeth because she isn't as attractive? Stevie and Susan Carol are able to use their well-honed investigative skills to figure this out.

Strengths: Even though this book is about a girl, the guys will still pick it up. I was oddly intrigued by all the swimming descriptions as well as the machinations of the agents. Feinstein's background as a sports news writer is always apparent, and that's a good thing when trying to hook reluctant readers. I also liked Susan Carol's ambivalence about her newfound fame.

Weaknesses: While the inclusion of actual athletes as characters will add immediacy to the story now, it will also cause it to date, like Zan Hagen's Marathon. Also, because I am not at all familiar with swimming personalities, I wasn't sure which characters were based on real people and which were purely fictional.

Holm, Jennifer L. and Matthew. The Power of the Parasite.

While Pod and Peggy are off at ballet camp, Squish is stuck at summer swim camp. He doesn't want anything to do with the water after a previous terrible experience, but the conselour is annoyingly perky and keeps encouraging everyone to have "super awesome fun". Luckily, he meets a friend who also doesn't want to swim, Basil, and the two try to avoid swimming and read comic books instead. Squish is also reading about his favorite comic superhero who has taken on a sidekick who has some evil tendencies... just like Basil has a bad habit of using his stingers to inflict pain on unwary suspects. Can Squish survive swim camp? And will Pod manage to open a black hole... with a pirouette?

Strengths: *Snerk* When I took swimming lessons with my brother in 1974, he spent every lesson hiding out in the bathrooms because they were WAY warmer than the northeastern Ohio lake! Squish is a bit anxious (like Mason Dixon), but I find his defensiveness about his fear much more believable that elementary grade neuroses!

Weaknesses: Squish, as well as Dragonbreath, are a bit too young for middle school. They are funny enough, but the small size of the books and the aggressive cartoonishness make the students (even those who want nothing but notebook novels) not want to pick them up. Very sad.

Guy Friday-- Goofy Guys

Ah, armpit odor and flatulence. What 6th grade boy DOESN'T want to read about those things? To varying degrees, both of these books embrace these middle grade interests. Too bad I didn't include The Fourth Stall, so we could have had the great Boy Troika of Disgusting.

Rex, Michael. Fangbone: Third Grade Barbarian
5 January 2012, Putnam Juvenile
In order to keep the toe of the evil Drool safe from his followers, young Fangbone is transported from his medieval, Vikingesque world into modern times, where he is befriended by Bill and the other students in class 3G at Eastwood Elementary. At first, they think Fangbone is a bit strange, but soon even the principal is donning fur boots. Invaders from his world keep seeping in to try to harm Fangbone, but with the help of his classmates, he keeps them at bay. His classmates want Fangbone to help out in the bean ball tournament, which they always lose, but he does not want to needlessly endanger the Toe of Drool. Can Fangbone successfully save his world AND class 3G?
Strengths: This is a very funny graphic novel, and I liked how there were no excuses made for the time travel of a weird kid showing up at school. I think even middle school students would like this one.
Weaknesses: I wouldn't have specified a grade, in order to broaden the appeal.

Harkrader, Anne. The Adventures of Beanboy
14 February 2012, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Tucker loves reading and drawing comics, hanging out with his friend Noah, and his family. Unfortunately, things are very difficult right now, because his father has left and moved away, his mother is struggling to keep up with a full time job and college course work, and Tucker has to spend a lot of time taking care of his younger, developmentally delayed brother Beecher. To make matters worse, he has to put up with a variety of bullies at school. When he decides to enter a contest to create a super hero and wants to attend an after school art club, one of the bullies, a quirky girl named Sam, is hired to babysit Beecher. Tucker comes up with the idea for Bean Boy, who harnesses the powers of beans, including inducing flatulence! He works hard on the contest, hoping that by winning, he can ease his family's financial situation. He also begins to realize that Sam is struggling with her own issues, and tries to help her out as well. Can Tucker keep up with his drawing and help his family stay afloat?
Strengths: I think it's great that there are more books coming out about students with family financial problems. This happens a lot, and there haven't been many books covering this. I also liked that the author did the drawings (including lots of comic panels) herself. This can be sold to students as a notebook novel, but really is much deeper.
Weaknesses: Not quite as funny as the author's book Airball: My Life in Briefs, which I just adored. Also, there have been a lot of books lately about boys who hang out at comic book stores, and none of my students have mentioned this as an interest. Still will buy.

Saturday Cartoons (and personality leakage)

Whew. Back from DC and getting  ready to wrap up things in the library. After arriving home late on Thursday evening, I went in at 5:00 a.m. Friday to help set up for Bulldog Breakfast, which honors students who make our day. My nominee was Katie, who is such a dedicated library helper that when she was voluntarily dusting the tops of the bookshelves the other day, she didn't think the duster was enough and wet wiped them! The substitutes who were in for me did an amazing job, although I had to laugh when both said how busy the library was, and when I checked the stats, they had checked out only a quarter of the books that normally go out! 

All books were due yesterday, so any check outs had to be accompanied by sad stories, preferably with puppy dog eyes. Had my regular classes in as well as students taking end of year assessments on the computers, and book fair was delivered, so I got that set up, and made a dent in my hundred e mails.

Must admit that I haven't read a book in a week, but my box from YA Books Central arrived, and I will spend the weekend getting my upcoming reading organized, just in time for Mother Reader's 48 Hour Reading Challenge on June 8-10. Oh, and Nonfiction Monday will be hosted here this week.

Roman, Dave and John Green. Teen Boat.

Teen Boat has more problems than the average high schoolers-- not only do bullies like Harry Cobbs bother him, they want him to host parties on himself when he is a boat-- parties that end up with gambling in international waters and running into ice bergs! Teen has a big crush on Nina Pinta Santa Maria, an exchange student, but no matter what he does, she doesn't like him... but his friend Joey (who is, of course, less hot because she wears overalls instead of midriff baring tops) does. The gang get into all sorts of improbable scrapes, travel to Italy, get involved with pirates, and use Teen's ability to turn into a boat at every available opportunity. As we are reminded frequently, it's all about "The angst of being a teen; the thrill of being a boat."

Strengths: This is certainly innovative and original. The artwork is well done and brightly colored, and the odd story line should appeal to high schoolers who were Pilkey aficionados when younger.

Weaknesses: Since someone gave us a Teen Boat t shirt, this was a family read. We were all amused by the book, but also a little confused as to what was really going on. I think this may have been the authors' point!

Stickman Odyssey: The Wrath of Zozimos

Ford, Christopher. The Wrath of Zozimos.
Philomel, 10 May 2012

Zozimos is back, and his Uncle Nestor is trying to get him back to Sticatha quickly so he can take over the kingdom from the evil witch Krata who killed his father and turned his sisters into crows. Nestor thinks that Zozimos has been dallying, helping his friends Atrukos and Praxis on their quests. He has also been distracted by Alexa, on whom he has a crush. When Nestor is killed, he helps his friends and then makes his way to Sticatha, where he finds that Krata is a beloved queen. Nestor has lied, and in order to get on Krata's good side and regain his rightful throne, Zozimos must travel to obtain a golden feather and bring it back. There are wrinkles in that journey, too. Will Zozimos make it back in time?
Strengths: My students love the first book in this series, and the books are a funny retelling of a new version of the Odyssey.
Weaknesses: My concern is that students will not be able to tell the Classical version of the Odyssey from this-- some things are changed, but others are not. I would have preferred, for the sake of clarity, that characters and timelines of the Homeric version were kept, with the addition of stick figure drawings and humor. Still, a must have for graphic collections in elementary and middle school.

Saturday Cartoons

Torres, J. and Elbert Or. Lola: A Ghost Story.

Jesse has to go to the Philippines for his grandmother's funeral. He doesn't like being there-- he's not used to the crowd of relatives, the heat, the bugs, or the horrible feeling that his cousin and former playmate is haunting him from beyond the grave. Jesse is afraid that he has inherited his grandmother's abilities to see ghosts, which is especially frightening when he thinks about all of the scary stories that she told him. His aunt and uncle are not doing well after the death of their son, and Jesse being there upsets them further until he is able to find a toy that his cousin lost before his death, and put his cousin's ghost to rest.

Strengths: This was an intriguing look at Philippine culture and folklore, and these elements were incorporated into the story of a family's loss very well. The illustrations complement the story in the graphic novel.
Weaknesses: There were some aspects of life in the Philippines that could have been explained a bit more.

Himaruya, Hidekaz. Hetalia: Axis Powers 1

My exchange student is a huge fan of manga and loaned me this one. She was pleased to have gotten a Hetalia bookmark of the Iceland character from this series. I tried valiantly to read this, but was so put off by the stereotypes of the characters that it was very hard to follow. This is a Japanese publication; I can't believe a US author would get away with this many ethnic slurs and jokes. Also, it's nice that TokyoPop rates these books by age, since manga frequently include bad language and naked women.

From the publisher:" During World War I, gruff Germany finds Italy hiding in a wooden box of tomatoes. Germany takes Italy as prisoner, but instead of war-like interrogation, Italy becomes more of the nuisance and unwanted guest. World War I quickly comes to an end, but World War II is right on its heels!"

Saturday Cartoons

Gownley, Jimmy. Amelia Rules: The Whole World's Crazy.
Amelia is not pleased to have been transplanted from New York City to live with her Aunt Tanner after her parents' divorce, but she does find some friends over the summer. When school starts, however, she finds that they are in the nerd statrum of the school hierarchy, and she's not pleased, especially since she doesn't much care for Rhonda. Still, the group hangs together, going trick or treating, surviving gym class, and discovering the real meaning of Christmas. The first in a fairly lengthy series of graphic novels.
Strengths: Has some clever moments that adults will get, even though Amelia is nine. Since my students would read graphic novels about bat guano, I will get this series as I can afford it.
Weaknesses: As always, am struck that struggling readers are attracted to these, and worry that they don't actually read the text. I struggle with separating the pictures from the text, and they are hard for me to read, so when a student turns the book back after one period, I do strongly suspect they have only looked at the pictures. Sigh. Not the fault of the book.

Holm, Jennifer and Matt Holm. A Very Babymouse Christmas.
Babymouse really, really wants a Whiz Bang, an electronic device that does everything including folding the laundry. She schemes and schemes to get one, but it's not looking good. One of her classmates even gets one in the class gift exchange, but Babymouse of course gets whisker conditioner! She dreams A Christmas Carol sort of dream, and can't concentrate on anything in the weeks leading up to Christmas. When she finally does get the gadget she desires, it has no batteries, so she ends up playing with a dollhouse and bonding with her family.
Strengths: Bought this one because I had children asking for holiday books and I had nothing. Of course, the order didn't come in until last week! It will get worn out very quickly!
Weaknesses: Guilty confession-- I don't like Babymouse. Love Boston Jane and Middle School is Worse than Meatloaf, but Babymouse character is high on my slappage meter. I do have the first Babymouse book, but it's not been that popular. Perhaps just too elementary for my tastes.

Ozma, Alice. The Reading Promise.
When Alice's librarian father was afraid that she, like her older sister, would stop wanting to be read to, he proposed that they start a "streak" and read every night for 100 nights. Or so. The beginning of the streat is lost to the mists of time, but every night for about 3,218 days, they read books aloud, ending when Alice went off to college. Through this time, Alice and her father struggled with the departure of Alice's mother, financial problems, and the teen years.
Strengths: It's great that Alice is championing reading, and was so greatly affected by this effort by her father to stay connected to her by sharing what he loved.
Weaknesses: I thought this would make me feel like the worst mother in the world. I HATE to read aloud. Hate to be read to, as well. This made my ineffective parenting look good. Not that the level of dysfunction in Alice's family was horrible, it was just sad, and really not all that interesting. I was hoping that she would tie in how the books they read affected their lives, but there wasn't much of that. Great concept for a book, but a little weak in the execution, which is surprising since Alice clearly read a lot of good books. I feel mean saying this, but I had higher expectations.

Things I read half of...

Because it's been that kind of week/month/year. Life.

Frost, Helen. Hidden.
From the Publisher: "Years after Darra Monson's father stole a minivan with Wren Abbott hiding in the back, the girls come face to face at summer camp and together they try to work through what happened to them and the impact it had on their lives. "
Usually adores Frost's work even though I generally dislike novels in verse. Frost is a master of form and poetic device. Keesha's House and Spinning Through the Universe should be read by everyone attempting a novel in verse so they can see how it's done. However, the poetry in this one didn't blow me away. While the plot line is stronger than the other previously mentioned works, it was also creepy. Usually, I give creepy things to Picky Reader and she loves them, but there was just something about the story that didn't work for her, either.


Napoli, Donna Jo. Lights on the Nile.
From the Publisher: "Kepi, a young girl who was content staying at home helping her father who was wounded while building a pyramid for the pharaoh Khufu, is kidnapped along with her baboon, Babu, and taken to the capital city, where she is separated from Babu, sets out to find him and appeal to the pharaoh, and discovers she has powers she never knew about."

Again, an author I adore. Spinners, Zel, Stones in Water, The King of Mulberry Street-- all awesome. The 6th grade does a unit on Ancient Egypt, and this did have great descriptions of every day life (Napoli always does very thorough research). I also have more students who are interested in books about animals, but the pet baboon didn't do anything for me, and the veering into the fairy kingdom was a bit confusing. I already bought this-- we'll see how it circulates.


Jolley, Dan and O.T. Nelson. The Girl Who Owned the City.
Coming out in spring 2012 from Graphic Universe.
The reason I read half of this was because I had it on the Nook and the words were all in 8 point font! This 1975 post-apocalyptic novel still does very well in my library, and I was surprised to see this graphic treatment. Jolley did the Warriors manga adaptations, which are quite nice, and this seemed like a good reworking. I prefer to buy graphic novels that have regular novel tie ins as a sneaky way to entice children to read, so I'll buy this one if I can.

Cooper, Rose. Gossip From the Girls' Room, Rumors From the Boys' Room.

*Sigh*. Wimpy Kid. Dork Diaries. Big Nate. My Life as a Book. I get that the students like to... page through them. I just don't fully credit that they are reading them. This is another hand lettered look novel with pictures. I had trouble believing the premise from the first (From Booklist review) "Sophia becomes determined to use her anonymous school blog to post gossip about the popular kids in hopes that at least her blog will find popularity." Really? What school hosts anonymous blogs for their students? And the whole gossip and rumor spreading... sigh. These would circulate well. Just have to see.

Wednesday

Lee, Ingrid. Cat Found.
Feral cats are roaming around Billy's town and making everyone angry, expecially Billy's father, who seems angry at everything, including Billy's mother trying to earn a degree so she can get a better job. Billy is lonely and unhappy, so when he finds a stray kitten in bad shape, he nurses it back to health and comes to take great comfort in Conga's presence. When things in the town heat up and plans are made to kill the feral cats, Billy knows that he must take action. He hides the pregnant Conga in an abandoned church, but realizes he has put her right in the path of the town members who want to shoot the cats.
Strengths: Like Dog Lost, this delivers good messages about spaying and neutering animals and not thinking that all pit bulls or feral cats are bad. These books are both very short, but I have had a lot of my struggling readers wanting books about animals this year, which is a departure.
Weaknesses: This is not for the faint of heart, and I would be very careful about having it in an elementary school. There is one scene in particular where a pregnant cat is shot and dies in a gruesome way while giving birth that upset even me, and I think cats are kind of creepy.

Shreve, Steve. Stan and the Toilet Monster.
When I read the publisher's description to my daughter ("When Stan's pet chameleon, Fluffy, who was accidentally flushed down the toilet by Stan's dog, encounters a growth formula flushed by mad scientist Doctor Rrhea, disaster follows and only Stan, with his best friend Larry, can save the day."), she said "Do you want a sharp object to poke your eyes out with now?" This is yet another Wimpy Kid style novel-with-pictures, and it involves toilets, so no, this was not a book that I would want to read for myself. That said, it's a decent one. There is an evil professor, the gross out humor is not just throw-away, and the illustrations are clear, engaging, and do add to the story. *Sigh* We all need to order two copies. This isn't Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Not Reading, but it isn't The Day My Butt Went Psycho, either.

Guy Friday- Picture This (or more aptly, Philosophical Friday)

My three children all ran middle school cross country for two years each. My older daughter also ran for three years in high school. That's 9 years of cross country running. How many pictures do I have of them?

Two.

I don't have any of my younger daughter, mainly because it's hard to juggle a clipboard and stopwatch AND camera while running back and forth across fields to yell times at 20 runners per race. I intend, at some point, to get some pictures from other parents. The good parents.

The larger point of this, aside from my many deficiencies as a parent, is that I don't really care about pictures. Graphic novels annoy me because I have to ferret the text out from the drawings. Have to turn more pages. It's more efficient to skip the pesky pictures and put more text on each page.

The students, especially the boys, don't feel this way. They LOVE pictures. Guinness World Record books. Lunch Lady graphic novels. Books about cars and sports and World War II, as long as they have pictures.

My only reservation about this is that I am not entirely sure that boys read the words in these books. There's a lot of page flipping that indicates the information presented is not being absorbed. I believe strongly that all middle school students need to read 30 minutes a day in order to strengthen their reading skills. That way, when they are forced to read East of Eden or The Canterbury Tales in high school, they can at least get through them. If they actually read the story in Magic Pickle books, great. If they only look at the pictures, will this help them?

I always tell students that my job is to make their reading as enjoyable as possible by picking out books about things that interest them. But they have to do the actual reading. This year, I seem to have more students than ever who don't want to read ANYTHING.

The point of this? What do you hand to the hard core reluctant readers? Are there graphic novels or books with pictures that you think students actually read?

Opine. Obviously, today it doesn't have to make a lot of sense!

(And have to laugh; immediately after posting I had to help my daughter find a quote by Robert Browning, and came up with this as well: "There, that is our secret: go to sleep! You will wake, and remember, and understand.")