Middle Grade Monday-- For What It's Worth

It's Marvelous Middle Grade Monday at Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe and What Are You Reading? day at Teach Mentor Texts. Both sites have lots of links to reviews about books that are great for the 4th through 8th grader.

Couple of people had questions about the age level on the following title-- I think that any fans of Tashjian's other books will like For What It's Worth. I don't remember anything inappropriate, but the in depth descriptions of the 1960s California rock scene will make it appeal to 7th grade and up.

Tashjian, Janet. For What It's Worth.

1 July 2012, Henry Holt and Company (BYR)

It's 1971, and Quinn, who is living in Southern California, is hugely enamored of the music scene there. His mother is friends with Cass Elliott, Frank Zappa hires him to do musical transcription, and he and his friends are working on getting a band of their own together. But things are complicated. A girl from the East Coast, Caroline, moves to town, and even though she's a little weird with his pleated skirts and blouses, Quinn likes her. Are they or aren't they boyfriend/girlfriend? His sister Soosie goes off to college, but sends a draft dodging friend to get Quinn's help. What's going on with his parents? Whatever is going on in his life, music is a constant companion, the backdrop to his days, and the obsession that takes all of his money. But is music really the most important thing? When Quinn realizes how horrible the war in Vietnam is becoming, he must decide which is more important-- his music, or helping someone avoid the draft.

Strengths: The research involved in the music portion of this book must have been intense. Even though Tashjian would have been a contemporary of Quinn, there is so much detail about the interworkings of musicians and bands that some serious research was done. The story with Quinn and Caroline was my favorite part, and the historical setting added another level of interest. I have a student who read all three The Gospel According to Larry books in a week who will like this, although I don't know if Larry and Quinn would have been friends. 

Weaknesses: The book really needed a CD with it. I could easily have spent hours looking up the obscure bands mentioned, but I restrained myself. The wealth of detail might be too much for the casual reader who is not interested in "old" music.

Funny how collecting records and working on cars used to both be HUGE interests for teen boys. Now they just have computers. Sad.

Haworth, Danette. A Whole Lot of Lucky.

4 September 2012, Walker Chidlren's

Hailee's family is doing okay-- her father has a rug cleaning business and her mother delivers newspapers. This is enough to keep Hailee and her baby sister in thrift store clothes, but not enough for things like new bicycles. When her father buys a winning lottery ticket, the family is not entirely sure how to proceed with the three million dollars, but is cautious. The mother quits her job, but the father keeps his. There are no new bikes, but there are a few new clothes. Most importantly, Hailee is enrolled in a private school. This angers her friend Amanda, and the two have a series of misunderstandings. Hailee does make friends with a neighbor who goes to Magnolia, Emily, but manages to irritate her by insisting on hanging out with Nikki, a girl who smokes and generally gets into trouble. It's also hard for Hailee to fit in with the private school girls, and she doesn't agree with her parents' insistence that they not spend the money. Like any middle school experience, there are moments of angst, but in the end, things work out.

Strengths: I liked how realistic this book was. Three million seems like a lot, but Hailee's parents realized it really wasn't. Hailee, however, didn't see it that way and wants a lap top AND a computer AND a cell phone AND a new bike. I also liked how the cell phone and Facebook were used here, even if it dates the book later.

Weaknesses: Hailee runs on high alert all the time, and many of the scenes are very overwrought. I didn't quite understand her fascination with Nikki, and I didn't really like her very much. I will still buy the book.

O'Connor, Barbara. On the Road to Mr. Mineo's
2 October 2012,  Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Nominated for the Cybils by Mary Lee Hahn.

When one of Mr. Mineo's homing pigeons, a one-legged male named Sherman, goes astray, he becomes the focus of thought for several citizens in Meadville, South Carolina. First, Stella tries to catch it with the help of her friend Gerald, because she really wants a dog, and she has nothing better to do. Stella's brother Levi see the bird, and think it would be a good idea to catch it. Mutt has the bird land on his head, but no one believes him, so he wants to catch it. The pigeon hides a lot of the time in the barn of an argumentative old couple, the Ropers, who also have a small brown mutt staying there. Mr. Mineo is oblivious to the sightings of Sherman around town, and is sad that Sherman is missing, because he got the pigeons from his brother, who passed away. Eventually, the people who are trying to catch Sherman figure out the connection to Mr. Mineo, and everyone works together to get the pigeon where he belongs.
Strengths: This is very well-written, and I can see it being the sort of book that fourth grade teachers read aloud to their classes. The cadence of the paragraphs changes nicely, there are lots of good descriptions of people and places, and it's just the right length.
Weaknesses: I had a hard time getting away from the "pigeons are rats with feathers" point of view, and the quirky Southern setting was something I never enjoy. Elementary students could be sold on this, but for middle school students, there is not enough action. 

Nonfiction Monday-- Frederick Douglass

Sanders, Nancy I. Frederick Douglass for Kids: His Life and Times, with 21 Activities 
June 1st 2012 by Chicago Review Press
Copy provided by the publisher.

With extensive information as well as photographs and other illustrations, this book on the life and times of Frederick Douglass is about as complete a coverage as anyone could want. Douglass's life from birth to death and everything in between is documented and explained in an engaging way that middle grade students can easily understand. Sidebars with biographical information and pictures of minor historical figures are helpful, and I especially appreciated the photographs of sites where Douglass lived, many taken by the author.  There are also sidebars explaining historical situations that students may not have encountered in previous reading. Resource lists at the back include books, websites and places to visit.
Strengths: This would be an excellent resource for home schoolers who want to do an in-depth study on Douglass, or for students doing a research paper on him.
Weaknesses: The activities sometimes seem a bit desperate (a biscuit recipe might be fun to try, but I'm not sure about the "paste to keep flies away" from The House Servant's Directory from 1827.), and don't really add much to the book. Again, perhaps these would be helpful for home schoolers, but I would have preferred the book without them. This is available only in paperback or Kindle edition. Given the large size, a paperback would wear very poorly in a school, but Follett does have a prebind available. Given the extensive sidebars and pictures, I imagine a Kindle edition would be difficult to read, although I have not seen a copy in this format.


Also by this publishing house: Hollihan, Kerrie Logan. Rightfully Ours: How Women Won the Vote, 21 Activities

Freaks Like Us

Vaught, Susan. Freaks Like Us.

4 September 2012, Bloomsbury.

Copy from Young Adult Books Central, also reviewed there.

Jason is an "alphabet". He is schizophrenic and likes to go by the name "Freak"; his best friend Derrick is "Drip" is ADHD and his other friend, Sunshine, is selectively mute. They stick together and try to protect each other from the kids in school who give them a hard time. Jason lives with his dad, who is fairly understanding of his limitations, and sees his mother when she is not deployed in the military. When Sunshine goes missing, Jason is understandably upset, and just wants the authorities to find her. Jason knows more than he is telling them, however, and strongly suspects that she might have left on her own. After being suspected in her disappearance, being between up by bullies at school, and generally having a horrific experience, Jason tries to settle into life without Sunshine, and is helped by the detective in charge of the case to get to the truth of Sunshine's disappearance.

Strengths: Like Going's St. Iggy and Klass' You Don't Know Me, or Vaught's own Trigger, this is a book that gets the reader inside the main character's head and goes through the panoply of chaotic emotions. I could kind of guess what was going on with Sunshine (abuse at home), but situations are circumspectly described.

Weaknesses: This is somewhat more of a young adult book because of the purposely confusing voice, but I think that older middle grade students will like it as well.

Chasing the Skip

Patterson, Janci. Chasing the Skip.
2 October 2012, Henry Holt. ARC from Baker and Taylor
Reviewed at Young Adult Books Central

After Ricki's mother takes off, her grandmother gets tired of caring for her and hands her over to her father. Ricki's father abandoned her when she was young, and now works as a bail bonds enforcer, so his life is not really conducive to watching a young teenage girl. Ricki goes along with him on his travels to pick up parolees who haven't made their court dates. Usually they come quietly, but when they pick up seventeen-year-old Ian, he gives them a lot of trouble, escaping, stealing their keys, and making them travel out of their way to find him again. Still, Ricki is attracted to him and helps him out a bit, until she realizes that he can't really help her find her mother, and that she will have to stick with her dad even though he isn't perfect.
Strengths: This was an intriguing novel to read, and very different from anything else I've read. I think that Picky Reader will enjoy this one, because it certainly has a lot of problems.
Weaknesses: Definitely more YA. Two f-bombs late in the book, and Ricki makes such supremely poor choices. At first I thought this was unrealistic-- how could she be so stupid?-- but then decided that given her rocky past, this might be exactly how she reacted. Older teens will definitely like this one.

Guy Friday--More monsters

Skye, Obert. Potterwookie. (Creature from My Closet #2)

18 September 2012

Rob's closet from Wonkenstein is back, and this time it has disgorged a smelly combination of Harry Potter and Chewbacca, which Rob calls Hairy. Apparently, a chemistry set left too long in the closet bonded in a weird and mystical way with some books stored there, helped along by a heavy new closet door with a creepy guy on the doorknob. Once again, the creature gets Rob in trouble as he and his friends go about their daily lives, which include a lot of annoying school bullies and annoying siblings. The parents are also kind of quirky.Rob tries to get onto a cooking show, which is disastrous, and Hairy helps out a little bit.
Strengths: This will never be on the shelf. I am amazed by the number of 6th graders who will ONLY read books with pictures. This limits their choices a lot, but this is at least something other than reading Wimpy Kid for the 47th time.
Weaknesses: Not my cup of tea. One of those guy things I don't understand.



Shan, Darren. Zom-B

27 September 2012, ARC from Little, Brown.

B lives with an abusive father who holds violently anti-immigrant views, and a cowering mother. When the news shows clips of an Irish town being attacked by zombies, people in London are concerned, but many more think it is a hoax. B goes to an inner city school where (like in Kevin Brooks iBoy), academics take a back seat to gang violence and general thuggery, and frequently gets in trouble for fighting, especially with Taylor, who is black. Even though B's best friend Vinyl is black, and B knows that the prejudiced views held by the father's groups are wrong, it's still hard to get along with the immigrant students in school. B does save an immigrant baby from mutants with yellow eyes, and has to deal briefly with the notoriety (and father's disapproval) for that, but when zombies attack the school, that is less of an issue. This is the first book in a series that promises to be ridiculously popular with my students. The front of the ARC has a note from Mr. Shan begging reviewers not to give away the big twists in the book-- I hope I suceeded, because they are BIG twists!

Strengths: Wow. If any zombie book ever won the Newbery, this would be it. It is brilliant how Shan works in the story about prejudice into extreme zombie gore and violence. Even though the vast majority of the story is really about prejudice, Shan knows just when to throw in ....yech, can't even really repeat the graphic, eyeball crunching gore that the zombie scenes include. Zombies eat lots of brains, and if this is going to bother you, don't read the book.

Weaknesses: Extreme zombie gore and violence. I view violence in the same way that I viewed weaponry with my children when they were young. Nothing modern and realistic-- only historical weapons (swords) or futuristic ones (ray guns and light sabers). If the violence is perpetrated by creatures that are not real, I'm much better with it. Human against human violence for thrills is not something I can tolerate.

And yet, that's what so many of my students want to read. At least they get a lesson along with the violence in this book.

Wrestling books-- Pinned and One Shot Away

Flake, Sharon. Pinned.

1 October 2012, Scholastic
ARC from Netgalley.com

Autumn struggles in school but does a great job on her middle school wrestling team. She has an enormous crush on Adonis, who is very academically gifted, the manager of the wrestling team, and in a wheel chair because of a birth defect that resulted in his lack of legs. Autumn's biggest academic struggle is her poor reading skills, which result in her dislike of reading of any kind. She makes some attempts at improving, mainly so that she can stay on the wrestling team and impress Adonis, who finds her very annoying... at first. Autumn volunteers in the school library to be near him, and he comes to find her rather attractive, especially when another boy, Roberto, also likes her. Autumn does get put off the team and makes more attempts to improve herself.

Strengths: I liked so many of the characters. Adonis is brash and cocky, Autumn is like so many of my students who struggle with reading and vocally "hate it" as a response, and the parents and teachers are supportive and interesting. Autumn's parents dropped out in the tenth grade and don't want her to repeat their mistakes, so do try to read with her at home. The depiction of a girl wrestling is great.

Weaknesses: This lacked focus. Autumn's struggling with being a girl wrestler are touched on but never discussed enough. While she has all sorts of supportive people around her, none of them do anything effective--- why isn't she tested, identified, given tutors? Her coach says he will work with her, but never does. Her parents fall through. Even the librarian is ineffectual. I know this happens again and again, but it was painful to read. 

I will still buy this, because it has a nice mix of romance and academic struggles, and there's not a lot of that in middle grade literature. I do wish the picture on the cover weren't of such a very thin girl. Look at her arms! Twigs! And she wrestles?

Coughlin, T. Glen. One Shot Away.
12 October 2012 
ARC from Young Adult Books Central and reviewed there.

Diggy's father is living vicariously through his sons. Diggy's older brother did very well, but is now in college and enjoying his studies and NOT wrestling. The biggest problem Diggy faces is that he is always hungry and has gone up a wait class, so he may lose his spot at 152 to Trevor unless he can cut enough.

Trevor's father died in a car accident, and he and his mother are running a seedy motel for a man interested in Trevor's mother. Trevor gets constant grief for being Native American, but he is a better wrestler than Diggy.

Jimmy is hoping to become a PE teacher, but his father is involved in some shady thefts at construction sites, and has taken Jimmy along with him. When the police start investigating, Jimmy knows that this could ruin his chances at a college scholarship, which is his only chance out.

Not only do we learn lots of interesting things about each of these characters, who are struggling so hard to make their way in the world, we get a good look into the team dynamics of wrestling and absolutely terrific descriptions of wrestling. Coughlin clearly paid a LOT of attention when he attended his son's wrestling meets. I have decried the lack of wrestling books for middle grade students repeatedly; unfortunately, some of the topics in this book make it more appropriate for high school, so I am once again disappointed. I don't have the book here in front of me (already have given it to a wrestler whose parents I know-- he was beyond thrilled!), but I seem to remember a scene with a prostitute that I could have done without. Still, readers who love Alfred C. Martino's Pinned (had a pregnant girlfriend in that one) and other titles like Wallace's Wrestling Sturbridge, will love the vivid descriptions and flawed characters in this book. Now, Mr. Couglin, can you PLEASE write a middle grade appropriate wrestling novel for me?

Faces to the Wind

I love it when covers look thematically linked when I haven't planned it at all. the second title is my first review for the Cybils middle grade fiction. Head on over to look at the nominations. Remember, if you haven't nominated yet, that Middle Grade Fiction is for REALISTIC titles. I've seen a lot of nominations with ghosts or magic; that belongs in Middle Grade Science Fiction Fantasy. ("Middle grade fiction encompasses a wide range of stories that do not have magical elements and are geared toward the 8 to 12 year old age group. Mysteries, histories, humor, sports, adventure and other tales set in the real world are all part of this category.)

Mariconda, Barbara. The Voyage of Lucy P. Simmons.
2 October 2012, Katherine Tegen Books

In 1906, Lucy is quite happy with her loving father and retired seaman father, but a happy outing turns to tragedy when her father tries to rescue a drunken boater and both he and Lucy's mother are killed. Luckily, Lucy has kindly family retainer Addie to watch out for her when, in the absence of a world traveling aunt who is supposed to gain custody of her, her aunt and money-grubbing uncle are installed in her beloved family home as her guardians. A small dog, Mr. Puggsley, also makes her feel a little better. Her uncle is demanding and probably looking into ways to kill her so he can get her father's money, and Lucy strongly suspects he is hiding mail from her aunt. Lucy tries to behave, but finds it impossible, but is rescued by the mysterious Marni, who masquerades as a school teacher and offers to take Lucy to her "school". She is really caring for the three children of the man Lucy's father rescued. The man was abusive and is still trying to locate them, which causes problems. Lucy must somehow prove that her uncle is not acting in her best interests, and finds another unlikely ally-- the house itself, which seems to have the magical ability to know when bad things are occurring and to fix them. Will the house be able to help Lucy, Addie and Marnie make everything right?
Strengths: This was a fun read with a good cover; it reminded me a tiny bit of A Drowned Maiden's Hair for some reason. The magic was believable, Lucy was a pleasant character, as were her supporters, and it seems like there may be a sequel.
Weaknesses: There's not much of a "voyage" in this first book, so the title bothered me a bit. Journey, yes; voyage, no. The ending was a tiny bit abrupt and somehow caught me by surprise.

Pennypacker, Sarah. Summer of the Gypsy Moths
24 April 2012, Balzer and Bray
Nominated for the Cybils by Livania

Stella's mother is unreliable, so she is left in the care of her great aunt, Louise, who has also taken in a foster child, Angel. Neither Stella nor Angel are terribly thrilled to be living with Louise, but when she passes away, the girls both know that if they tell the authorities, they will go to other foster families. They decide to try to stay on their own, taking care of four summer cottages with the help of George, a neighbor and friend. There is the small problem of what to do about Louise' body, and this has gotten a lot of discussion. It was handled very realistically but not too gruesomely, although I could have gone without some details like the use of Febreeze! The girls have to spend a lot of time putting off George's questions, and are desperate for food from time to time, but they manage to take care of themselves. Stella tries to get her mother to come to take care of her, but eventually the two are discovered. The moths in the title refer to an infestation that is killing blueberry bushes that Stella is trying to save.
Strengths: This reminded me of The Boxcar Children, but with more lyrical writing. Even with the death, the cover makes a fair amount of sense-- the story is about freedom, and in middle grade fiction, this has to be achieved through the absence of adults. Lots of good turns of phrase, and a thought provoking story.
Weaknesses: I found it hard to suspend disbelief over several plot elements: George really doesn't inquire further about Louise for that long? Nothing happens to the girls when they are discovered? I have to concur with Betsy Bird on this one-- it would have made the news.

Fantasy Tuesday- Son and Amber House

Lowry, Lois. Son.(The Giver #4)
2 October 2012, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review copy from Baker and Taylor

***SPOILERS*** Maybe. Look away if you're ultrasensitive.
Claire is completing her first assignment as a birthmother, but when she produces her first newchild, things go very wrong. While the infant is okay, the birth is a Cesarean, and she is reassigned to work at the fish hatchery. She has found out that her product was a boy, and number 36, and she feels a strange and overpowering longing to see him. She hangs out at the nursery, befriends one of the workers who is particularly fond of her son, whom she believes is called Abe, and volunteers to help feed and play with the babies so she can be close to her son. It turns out that Claire was never given the pills that everyone in the society takes, so she is still able to feel emotion. When the man who has been caring for Abe finds out that he is not going to be placed with a family because he is fractious and has failed to thrive, the man's son, Jonas, steals the infant and runs away with him. Claire is not sure what happens to her, but she is washed into the river and is taken in by a community where the people nurture her and eventually help her to get up a cliff to another community to find her son. In order to do this, she has to make a trade with the Trademaster, who takes her youth. When the much older version of Claire makes her way to Jonas' community, they take her in. She finds her son, whose name is really Gabe, right away, but it is a long time before she confides in Jonas the events that brought her to him. It turns out that Gabe has a gift of "veering" into other people, and he has a longing to be loved by a mother. The two don't have much time to find each other, and in order for them to be together, they must overcome enormous obstacles.
Strengths: Lowry's writing is always beautiful, intriguing, and hard to put down. English teachers everywhere will be glad of this final book in the Giver cycle. I like the redone covers very much.
Weaknesses: I had trouble with this book on several levels. I found it hard to believe that a fourteen year old who had parents who didn't love her would feel so strongly that she wanted her baby back that she would give up her youth. Really, really couldn't buy into this. It has been a very long time since I read The Giver, so there were many things that I didn't remember about the world of this book, and that made it hard for me to feel overly worried about getting rid of the Trademaster. I was not fond of The Giver or Messenger, although Gathering Blue was pleasant. I know that this will be highly anticipated, but it just didn't work for me.

Moore, Kelly and Tucker and Larkin Reed. Amber House.
1 October 2012, Scholastic.
Review copy from Young Adult Books Central

When Sarah's grandmother dies, she and her mother, along with her four-year-old brother Sam, travel from Oregon to Maryland to prepare the house for sale. Sarah's mother and father are having marital difficulties, her mother doesn't care at all for the multi-generational history and family connections that the house has, and is rude to the family retainers who are trying to help. Sarah's brother is difficult to take care of, since he is on the autism spectrum, and much of his care falls to Sarah. She is glad for the distraction of Jackson, whose grandmother works at the house and who wants to work with Sarah to try to find diamonds that were lost in the house years ago, but also likes the attention of Richard, the really attractive son of a senator whom her mother likes. While all of this is going on, Sarah starts to realize that when she touches objects in the house, she can read the emotions of the people who owned them, and she gets glimpses into a huge array of personal histories. She also has the problem that ghosts appear to her, and some of them are somewhat threatening. She would like to save Amber House from being sold, so cooperates with her mother when she wants to throw an elaborate birthday party for Sarah and invite all of the local wealthy people who might be interested in the house. Can the mysteries and ghosts of the past work in Sarah's favor to keep the house from being sold?
Strengths: This reminded me of some of Lois Duncan's writing (such as Down a Dark Hall). I liked the history of the house and the appearance of all of the characters from the past. The romances were a nice touch, as was the rarefied atmosphere of wealthy families and coming out parties. This would be a great summer read, or a book to curl up with while drinking a cup of cocoa by the fire.
Weaknesses: There were a lot of ghosts from the past that had issues, and I found myself getting a little bit confused.

Also took a look at Friesen's Aldo's Fantastical Movie Palace, which had a great cover and sounded really good, but somewhere between the grandfather shooting a grandson and the fantasy kingdom involving blind people named Retinya, it just wasn't for me. If you need a lot of magical realism in your library, take a look at it. Also read Lange's Butter, which was riveting, but definitely not for middle grades. Too much profanity, and the subject matter of a boy so miserable he wants to eat himself to death is a bit much, especially since he comes up with some ways that it might actually work. Excellent for high school, though.

Nonfiction Monday-- Food Dudes

Mattern, Joanne. Ray Kroc: McDonald's Restaurants Builder

Mattern, Joanne. Ben and Jerry: Ice Cream Manufacturers

1 January 2011, Abdo's Checkboard Books

These short (32 pages) books in the Food Dudes series are great fun. Food companies of interest to students are profiled, and the founders' brief biographies tell a little bit about what motivated them to start the business that they did. Plentiful photographs, clean layouts, and bright accent colors on the pages make these appealing. I would love to have all 8 books, but at $18.95 each, I'll have to think that through. The reading level on these is fairly low (4.5 or so), and the text somewhat stilted as a result. The Birdseye, Wrigley's Gum and Gatorade ones would be especially fun, since I don't know anything about those companies. Certainly, for a public or elementary library, these would be a must.

Nonfiction Monday was started by Anastasia Suen and is hosted this week at
Shelf-Employed.

Don't forget to nominate your favorite books for the Cybils Awards!

 

Middle Grade Monday-- The Dogs of Winter

Pyron, Bobbie. The Dogs of Winter.
1 October 2012, Scholastic. E Arc from Netgalley.com

When five-year-old Ivan's beloved babushka (grandmother) dies, his single mother lapses into depression and ends up with an abusive boyfriend. Eventually, the mother disappears, and the boyfriend takes Ivan (whose mother called him Mishka) to the city, where he attempts to hand him over to an orphanage. Mishka feels that if he stays there, he will not not be able to find his mother, so he lives instead on the streets. The other children are mean because he is so small, although for a while he falls in with a small band of children who report to Rudy and give him their money. Of course, if they don't collect enough during the day, they are beaten. Mishka would love to have a dog (the children take dogs with them because they get more money that way), but Rudy won't let him keep one, so he runs away. He ends up with a pack of dogs who protect him from the cruel Russian winters, older street children, and all manner of threats. In turn, he protects the dogs as much as he is able. He lives this way for quite some time, moving to the city in the winter, where they can ride the trains and be warm, going to charity when he desperately needs clothes, and begging for money for food because he doesn't feel right stealing it. He makes a few human friends, but the dogs are the ones who become family. When he meets an elderly woman at the edge of the woods, she becomes concerned for his well-being and asks her policeman son to find Mishka, who does not want to go to an orphanage. Eventually, the police catch him, and he is separated from the dogs and raised in a facility for troubled children. This is based on the true story of a feral Russian boy in the 1990s, Ivan Mishukov.
Strengths: This is a brilliantly written book. I felt cold and could practically feel my scalp itch when Mishka had a lice infested hat! Without ever lapsing in to oversentimentality, Pyron describes the privations of life on the streets and the love that the dogs and Mishka feel for each other. Students who like stories about survival, dogs, child abuse, or life in other countries will all find this to be a riveting read.
Weaknesses: At first, I wasn't sure who the audience would be for this, since it starts off with Mishka's fairly comfortable life with his mother and grandmother. Once I got through the first couple of chapters, though, it was riveting and full of nonstop excitement and action.

It's Marvelous Middle Grade Monday at Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe and What Are You Reading? day at Teach Mentor Texts. Both sites have lots of links to reviews about books that are great for the 4th through 8th grader.

Skinny

Cooner, Donna. Skinny
1 October 2012, Scholastic

Ever, grieving the loss of her supportive, artistic mother, has seen her weight balloon to over 300 pounds, despite the love and support of her father and stepmother, Charlotte. She is a talented writer and singer, but the voice in her head (which she refers to as Skinny) is always telling her that she can’t succeed, that people don’t want to be friends with her, and that she will never, ever measure up because she is fat. Even her supportive best friend, Rat, can’t convince her of anything else, and her thin and attractive stepsisters Linsey and Briella don’t help at all. After an embarrassing incident of breaking a chair, Ever decides that she wants to try gastric bypass surgery in a last ditch effort to control her weight. Her father is reluctant but wants Ever to be happy. Rat is extremely supportive, monitoring Ever’s very specific food requirements, and making her spread sheets detailing her weight loss and exercise. Oddly, Briella’s best friend Whitney adopts Ever as a project, and as the pounds drop off, help Ever with new clothing and hair styles. When school starts again in the fall, Ever is fitting in size 16 clothing and has a new confidence. She hopes that Jackson, with whom she was friends before her mother died, will be interested in her romantically, and hopes that she can get a part in the school production of Cinderella. Even though she is thin, the voice of Skinny haunts her, and Ever learns that just because she is thinner, life does not become easier or less complicated.
Strengths: There are lots of good details about gastric bypass surgery, the dangers it entails, and the very complicated diet that needs to be followed. Ever is a very sympathetic character—in fact, I think it is all the nuanced characters that made me really enjoy this book. Books about eating disorders are always popular with middle school girls.
Weaknesses: If any book deserves to have a picture of an overweight girl on the cover, this would be it, and I am disappointed. Something intriguing could have been done with a picture of the skinny person inside the overweight person. As for the writing, very few weaknesses.

Rivers, Karen. The Encyclopedia of Me. 
1 September 2012, Scholastic

From the Publisher: "Tink Aaron-Martin has been grounded AGAIN after an adventure with her best friend Freddie Blue Anderson. To make the time pass, she decides to write an encyclopedia of her life from "Aa" (a kind of lava--okay, she cribbed that from the real encyclopedia) to "Zoo" (she's never been to one, but her brothers belong there).

As the alphabet unfolds, so does the story of Tink's summer: more adventures with Freddie Blue (and more experiences in being grounded); how her family was featured in a magazine about "Living with Autism," thanks to her older brother Seb--and what happened after Seb fell apart; her growing friendship, and maybe more, with Kai, a skateboarder who made her swoon (sort of). And her own sense that maybe she belongs not under "H" for "Hideous," or "I" for "Invisible," but "O" for "Okay."

Written entirely in Tink's hilarious encyclopedia entries, THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ME is both a witty trick and a reading treat for anyone who loves terrific middle-grade novels."

I mention this one even though the format drove me crazy for two reasons. One, notice that on the cover the girl's feet are slightly darker complected, since she is biracial. Bonus points for paying attention. Two, it is perfect for fans of Louise Rennison. 

Gravel Road

Tillit, L.B. The Edge of Ready.
Saddleback, 1 January 2012

Here's the thing. I teach in a middle school, and yet I had students ask me for Fifty Shades of Gray. Really? It sounds so appallingly graphic that I don't even want to read it. Yet some girls had borrowed copies from their aunts and wanted to know if they would get in trouble if they brought them to school. Yes. Yes you will. And if you bring in Judy Blume's Forever, make sure it doesn't have the cover on it.

When I got the ARC for Unchained, in the Gravel Road series, I had a couple of boys who would not read anything else devour it. This book will be the same way. Dani is trying desperately to get through school, because her mother has told her the only way she can improve her life is to get an education, but when her mother can't find a babysitter for Dani's young brother so that she can go to work, she has Dani stay out of school to babysit. To complicate matters even further, Dani gets involved with her friend's brother, who coerces her into having sex (nothing graphic is described at all) and later rapes and then forces her into prostitution. The friend's other brother is a good guy and tries to save Dani. Despite the gritty situations, the book is circumspectly written. We know what is going on, and there are a few words that some people will find objectionable (Rape, pimp, etc.), but no f-bombs and no graphic descriptions. It is an ultimately hopeful story, too, with Dani's grandmother showing up and helping her get an education.

Do I really want kids to read this book? Not particularly. But for the reluctant middle school reader whose life makes something like, oh, Lily B. completely incomprehensible, this fits the bill.

Tillit, L.B. 2 Days.
Saddleback, 1 January 2012

Neema is very attractive and happy with school and her boyfriend Nate, but when her mother's boyfriend puts the moves on her, her mother takes the boyfriend's side and Neema ends up on the streets. She moves in with Nate's family for a couple of days, and his family is not happy. With good reason-- Neema is on the pill, but misses two days of taking it and does end up pregnant. Luckily, she is able to move in with an aunt, and when Neema realizes she is pregnant, the aunt takes her to a health clinic right away. Neema's mother had also been 16 when she had Neema, so no one is particularly surprised. Neema tries to keep up with her school work, with the help of Mike, whom she meets in her English class while assigned a project on I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and Eddie, who acts like a player at school but is really busy taking care of his younger siblings. Neema's mother eventually drops her boyfriend and moves in with Amina as well, and after baby Maya is born, the three women work together to take care of the infant and allow Neema to go to school.
Strengths: Again, girls will be interested in this topic, and nothing is graphic and the language is tame.
Weaknesses: This would have been far more interesting if Neema had had an abortion, or if things hadn't gone quite so smoothly for her. Granted, things aren't easy- Nate won't have anything to do with her, she has trouble in school, she finds out that you can't take infants to parties-- but it all seemed too easy to me. Unfortunately, this book accurately describes the experience of many teen moms.

Guy Friday-- Stealing Air

Reedy, Trent. Stealing Air.
1 October 2012, Arthur A. Levine Books.
ARC from Netgalley.com

Brian is not happy about leaving Seattle and all of his friends just because his father is trying to get a new material named Plastisteel off the ground. Because money is tight, the family has to move in with the grandfather. Brian runs afoul of school bully Frankie on his first day, putting him to shame with his skateboarding moves, and escapes being beaten up only with the help of Max and his rocket powered bike! Max's mother is working on Plastisteel as well, and Max has stolen a piece in order to make an airplane. When Brian's dad is unable to secure funding from Mrs. Douglas, Max and Brian, along with their friend Alex, approach her with information about the plane. She won't fund anything until she sees that the plane can actually fly, so the boys get to work on making the prototype work. Brian is still at the mercy of Frankie, who gives him a hard time at every turn, but also is interested in Wendy, Frankie's sister, who seems to like him as well. Can Brian and his friends get the airplane to work, secure funding for the parents AND stay out of Frankie's evil clutches?
Strengths: This starts out with skateboarding and moves quickly into the rocket powered bike... awesome. While there was a lot of information about constructing and flying a plane that didn't interest me, I think that boys will find this intriguing. Brian holds his own with Frankie, and the romance with Wendy is a very nice touch. Strong sense of place and good writing make this second book from Mr. Reedy a very good choice for middle grade boys.
Weaknesses: The theme of bullying seems overdone to me, and it was slightly hard to believe that Max was both that geeky (few of my students are still interested in Star Trek) and that mechanically talented. Will students feel the same way about these topics? Probably not.

Library Ramblings:
Whoa. Had a moment when I almost felt caught up. Amazing what a volunteer every day and two afternoons without cross country practice can accomplish! Books to be shelved not overflowing, Accelerated Reader labeling project ticking along, even TBR pile at home manageable. Fridays are the slowest day of the week, since I purposefully scheduled all of the language arts classes Monday-Thursday. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I have nine classes a day and check out over 300 books, so I am working hard enough! My original thought was to have research classes on Friday, but we can't have any during 4th or 5th period because of the study halls, so teachers don't want to come at all. Sigh. There are enough four day weeks in the year that this scheduling does make it easier to move classes if necessary.

And then there's that 100 slide power point on 100 Great New Books I need to have done for November. Well, being caught up was nice while it lasted.  

As Dead As It Gets

Alender, Katie. As Dead As It Gets (#3)
15 May 2012, Hyperion

In this third installment after Bad Girls Don't Die and From Bad to Cursed, things are even worse for Alexis. It's been a while since she witnessed Lydia's death, and she's trying to move on, but it's hard because she keeps seeing dead people in photographs. To make matters worse, a girl in her class disappears, and Alexis sees Lydia's calling card on the news... yellow roses. Alexis is also trying to move on from her boyfriend Carter, and is dating Jared instead, and is on the newspaper staff, headed up by the quirky Elliot, as a photographer. When one girl after another starts turning up murdered, and Alexis herself has some bad run ins with ghosts, she tries to investigate and find out what is holding Lydia in limbo and trying to set her free. What she finds is that Lydia is not the force behind the hauntings and killings... the force is even closer and more dangerous than she could imagine.
Strengths: Very creepy, with lots of murder and suspense, which my students ask for A LOT. Most of the murders are done by the ghosts, which makes it somewhat better, and I did not see the real murderer coming. Probably book four in the works.
Weaknesses: The murders were a bit too much for me. I liked the first book because it was more psychological horror, and I'd like it more if the ghosts were just scaring people. The murders (and there are two graphic ones) were too much for me.

The Sherlock Files

Great minds think alike! Over at Project Mayhem, there is an interview with Tracy Barrett! Head over there to say hello!

Barrett, Tracy. The Missing Heir. (Sherlock Files #2)
12 May 2009, Henry Holt and Company

Xena and Xander's family is on a short vacation from London. Their mother is interested in buying some items from an estate sale, so they stay at a bed and breakfast in the country. They hear odd noises at night, and find that Sherlock himself came to Blackslop one hundred years ago to investigate the very same creature. Using their detective skills and the help of new friends that they make in the area, the two consult old newspapers, Sherlock's notes, and the clues they can gather, and solve not only the mystery of the beast in their own time, but in Sherlock's as well. 

Barrett, Tracy. The Missing Heir. (Sherlock Files #4)
7 July 2011, Henry Holt and Company

There's a lot of excitement when one of Xena's classmates, Alice, finds out that she is the heir to the throne of Borogovia. She's not overly excited about it, since she would rather go on the British version of American Idol, but her guardian  is pleased. Alice's parents were killed when she was quite young, and she has been raised by an aunt and a nanny, who has a daughter with whom she is friends. When Alice goes missing, Xena and Xander find that Sherlock was involved in a mystery concerning the disappearance of a baby in the royal family-- and the nanny at the time was an ancestor of the Alice's nanny. Again using the resources at their disposal, and with a little help from the Society for the Preservation of Famous Detectives, they once again solve both the new and the old mystery.

Strengths: These are a manageable length for younger readers, and have a lot of action and suspense without being gory or scary. Xena and Xander are appealing characters who rely upon their own skills but consult adults when they need to.
Weaknesses: A little too much coincidence for me in both of them, but that is sort of the point. The two try to solve the cases that Sherlock was not able to, and while doing so solve current mysteries.Hard to believe that several generations of a family served as nannies for another family, but it might happen!

It's been a while since The 100 Year Old Secret was published (Published May 27th 2008 by Henry Holt and Co.), and I like these new covers much better! I just got in book three, The Case that Time Forgot and need to read it!

The High Skies Adventures of Blue Jay the Pirate

Nash, Scott. The High-Skies Adventure of Blue Jay the Pirate.
25 September 2012, Candlewick. ARC from Baker and Taylor

Blue Jay is the pirate captain of the Grosbeak. He has an odd attraction to collecting eggs, which is helpful when trying to get crew members, but now that he has enough he is trying to stop collecting so many. One intriguing egg he can't resist ends up hatching a gosling,Gabriel, whom the other birds consider a god. Luckily, the motherly Junco takes care of him and instructs him in the facets of pirate life. When a doldrums causes the ship to almost crash, Gabriel (who is not yet fledged) falls from the ship. Junco goes after him, and the two end up at the tavern of Poppa Fox (a bird) after surviving attacks by crows and fisher cats. Poppa Fox thinks that he can help the two find their ship mates, and a mole, Hillary, helps them. The pirates are trying to plot their next move and uncover a plot to attack the village. Can Redwall Abbey (erm, the bird village) be saved?
Strengths: Very lovely book design, even in ARC form, and the fighting and swashbuckling with appeal to elementary boys who like pirates and the Brian Jacques books.
Weaknesses: Pirates are an oddly hard sell in the middle school, and even Jacques is waning in popularity. 

Time Slip Tuesday-- A Mutiny in Time

Dashner, James. A Mutiny in Time (Infinity Ring #1)
28 September 2012, Scholastic

In the near future, best friends and geeks Dak and Sera mess around in Dak's parent's labs and manage to get the Infinity Ring, the time travel device his parents have been working on for twenty years, to be operational. They think that the parents will be pleased, but they are terrified that having te device working will put them all in danger. TAfter traveling back to the Revolutionary War with his parents, Dak and Sera get separated from them and discover that there is a group of Hystorians who need the device to travel back and fix Breaks in time, historical events that go wrong and cause natural disasters and Remnants (something akin to really bad dreams)in the present day. The Hystorians were founded by the philosopher Aristotle who felt that Alexander the Great should not have been killed as a child. Brint and Mari introduce the two to Riq, who is adept at languages, and decide to send the three back to the time of Christopher Columbus to make sure that he explores the New World rather than the Amancio brothers who discovered America. Or is there job to make sure the Amancio brothers are the ones to sail? Aided by Time Wardens and a series of clues, the three need to make the appropriate change to history and make is back to the Hystorians for their next assignment. Extensive online activities accompany this, and the seven book series by different authors will be released from August 2012 until March 2014.
Strengths: Decent time travel explanations and device, good team of characters. This is Scholastic's next attempt at a Thirty Nine Clues phenomenon, and perhaps it will interest a new group of readers in time travel books.
Weaknesses: Voyagers!, anyone? While I am willing to believe that the number of time paradoxes make it impossible to get our minds around time travel, I still have trouble believing that history goes wrong and needs to be fixed. I might feel differently if I could stand computer games; the online accompaniments could be interesting from a historical information perspective.

Middle Grade Monday--John Coy

There can never be enough sports books for struggling middle school readers, and I particularly like the 4 for 4 series by John Coy. Top of the Order (#1) and Love of the Game (#3)  are ones I got earlier; these next two were back ordered. My only real objection is that the cover format changed at some point, so I have two of the cartoon covers, and two of the photo ones.

Coy, John. Eyes on the Goal(#2)
13 April 2012, Feiwel and Friends

Friends Jackson, Gig, Isaac and Diego are just about to start middle school, but they spend a week at a soccer camp over the summer. Diego has played before, and Gig does well enough, even though he would rather stay home and take care of his family since his father is deployed in Iraq. Jackson (from whose point the book is told) and Isaac get put into a group of players who don't do very well, and they aren't happy about it. Jackson is also struggling with the fact that his mother has a boyfriend. Further complicating matters between the friends is the fact that the soccer camp has some girls nearby, and some of the boys are interested in the girls, and some are more interested in teasing their friends about them. Luckily, their friendships are strong enough to weather both the sports and personal difficulties.

Coy, John. Take Your Best Shot (#4)
28 February 2012, Feiwel and Friends

The boys are still together, and now struggling through classes, detentions, dealing with more girls, and trying to hold the basketball team together after the best player, Isaac, leaves to join a traveling team in order to improve his game. Gig's father is injured, and Jackson's mother gets remarried, so the boys have plenty of difficulties to work through. There is plenty of basketball, however, easily identifiable characters who are likable, and many other qualities that make this series a great one for middle school students. Fans of Rich Wallace's Winning Season series will enjoy these.

Nonfiction Monday-- Biographies

Norwich, Grace. I Am Sacagawea, I am Albert Einstein
Scholastic, 1 August 2012.
Also reviewed at Young Adults Books Central; I Am Sacagawea, I am Albert Einstein




This new series from Scholastic also includes I am Helen Keller and I am Martin Luther King, Jr.

There is little documentation about the life of Sacagawea, who was kidnapped by another tribe, sold as a teenager to be the second wife of a French trader, and who ended up on the Lewis and Clark expedition because her husband wanted to go with them and knew her skills could be valuable to the team. The information we have is mainly from the log notes, which detail the birth of her son, an illness from which Clark nursed her back,  and her help and calm attitude during the trip. Little is known about her life after the trip-- she may have died within a few years of returning, or she may have lived to be 94! This book, with its black and white illustrations, covers the basics of her life in 124 pages and includes other resources at the back.

Einstein's life, on the other hand, is well-documented, and the biography of him skims the existing story and presents the bare basics about his scientific work in a way that students can understand. It delineates simply the circuitous route his life took, and addresses but glosses over the nitty gritty of his divorce from his first wife, and talks about his interest in pacifism after World War II. In this book, the drawings were a disappointment, since there are many photographs of Einstein that could have been used.

Both books remind me somewhat of the Childhood of Famous Americans series, although much more detail is given to the adult life and accomplishment of the subjects. The engaging narrative and understandable presentation of often complicated facts makes these good books for reports and leisure reading in grades 3-6.

It's Marvelous Middle Grade Monday at Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe and What Are You Reading? day at Teach Mentor Texts. Both sites have lots of links to reviews about books that are great for the 4th through 8th grade.

Head over to A Teaching Life  which is hosting Nonfiction Monday. This meme was started by Anastasia Suen.

The Other Normals

Vizzini, Ned. The Other Normals.
25 September 2012
Reviewed at Young Adult Books Central; ARC from there.

Peregrine, aka Perry, is very involved in a Role Playing Game, Creatures and Caverns, to the extent where his divorced parents decide it would be best if he spent the summer at  Camp Whisiska Lake . Perry doesn't want to go, because he's concerned about his brother, who seems to be slipping further and further into alcohol addiction, and because he has recently made a friend, Sam, who is also into RPGs. When he gets to camp, he finds that Sam is there but doesn't want to talk to him, especially about gaming. The other kids are tough, and Perry gets into a fight. When he ends up at the nurse's office, he meets Mortin Enaw, the author of the manual for Creatures and Caverns, and is suddenly whisked into the world of The Other Normals. Perry is thrilled at first, but soon finds out that things are not going well; Martin has a problem smoking "earth pebbles", and the whole world is in danger of collapse because the princess Ophisa has been captured. In order to get her back, he needs to go back to his own world and kiss a girl named Anna. He tries, but it ends very badly, and he heads back to the Other Normals. There, he and a group of Martin's compatriots, including a beautiful girl named Ada, have a number of adventures while trying to avoid being arrested, eaten, and otherwise abused while trying to restore Ophisa. Juggling the two worlds is difficult, especially since going from one to the other usually ends in Perry being naked. After the various journeys, Perry begins to realize that what happens in the World of the Other Normals effects what happens in his world. Can Perry solve the problems in both worlds AND get a girl in one of them?
Strengths: There isn't a lot of fiction about RPGs, and big fantasy readers are often interested in this games. This was fairly funny and adventurous, and I could see the Geek Contingent enjoying this one a lot.
Weaknesses: This is definitely a Young Adult book-- at least two f-bombs, Perry exposing himself at a school dance, and several other sexual references, not to mention the confusing details of hopping from world to world-- make this more appropriate for high school students.