Middle Grade Monday-- Athletics

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. It's also Nonfiction Monday, hosted this week at Wrapped in Foil.


Mack, W.C. Athlete Vs. Mathlete
19 February 2013, Bloomsbury USA
ARC From Netgalley.com

Owen and his friends are really annoyed because the new basketball coach is requiring them to try out for the team even though they were on it last year. Not only that, but when the coach sees Owen's twin brother, mathlete Russell, he asks Russell to try out for the team because he's tall. Unfortunately, Russell is uncoordinated and prefers to spend his time working on a Masters of the Mind team. When the twins' father finds out that Russell might finally be interested in a sport, he gets so excited that he takes Russell to buy athletic gear. Russell enjoys his father's enthusiasm, and feels uncharacteristically cool in the gear. He puts in some effort to train for tryouts, and actually makes the team. Owen isn't thrilled, but Russell has even more problems. Basketball practice conflicts with his Masters of the Mind ones, and gives him very little time to do homework. When Russell finds that he has more basketball abilities than he thought, Owen feels threatened. His performance on the team is clouded by his anger at his brother, and the boys no longer get along. Russell backs off from the team a bit, but is that really the answer?
Strengths: It's official-- I'm turning into a 12-year-old boy, reading-wise. I had to chose between this book and one about Emily Dickinson and read this! I really liked it because I think my students will. Russell and Owen are both successful in their own circles, but not as successful in other areas. The tension between the boys is realistic, and neither are overly stereotypical. Not enough middle grade books touch on time management and exploring other activities. What I liked best was Russell's struggle with personal identity. He was perfectly happy with who he was, but would he be even happier including basketball? This is going to be a series, and I hope some romance is on the way!
Weaknesses: A little cliche. I didn't like the new rich kid who tries to buy his way on to the Masters of the Mind team. Supporting characters lacked a bit of depth. Still, very excited about this one! Adore the cover.

Whitehead, Erin and Walters, Jennipher. A Girl's Guide to Fitting in Fitness.
26 March 2013, Zest Books
E ARC from Netgalley.com

It's amazing how life much the world has changed since I was a preteen. I can't imagine Seventeen magazine telling me in 1977 that I should eat well and exercise not because it would make me thin and able to attract boys, but by telling me that exercise would make me feel more confident, so I could even ask out that cute senior. This book is very practical and gives lots of good advice about nutrition and various forms of exercise, all leading to the fact that taking care of one's body is about feeling good and strong, not looking good in a bikini. This book is fairly short, with the good book design I have come to expect from Zest, although I could have done with a little more color than just the lavender (but hey, it wasn't pink). The drawings will age well, but there were a few colloquial phrases that would have been better dropped-- a reference to Justin Bieber will be obsolete in ten years. There are some web sites mentioned; hopefully those will stay around for a while.  Still, this is a very good and practical book for girls who want to take care of themselves better. Since I grew up thinking (with parental permission) that two chocolate chip cookies for breakfast was fine as long as I didn't gain weight, perhaps I need to read this again more closely!

The Friday Society

Kress, Adrienne. The Friday Society.
6 December 2012, Dial
Book from Young Adult Books Central and reviewed there.

In early 1900s London, Cora is the lab assistant to the opium addicted Lord White, who has taken her off the streets and raised her to be his helper, only to ignore her contributions to his inventions when he hires Andrew Harris as his assistant. Nellie is the assistant to The Great Raheem, a magician, and Michiko works for the nasty Callum, who trains Londoners in Japanese martial arts. The three meet up when all of them are at a ball. On the way home, Nellie and Cora happen upon an injured Michiko... and the dead body of a scientist who had also performed at the ball. The three find themselves again and again in situations where there are dead bodies... to the confusion of Officer Murphy, who takes a shine to Nellie. Cora continues inventing and starts regularly making out with Andrew even though she resents his presence; Michiko, whose grasp of English is rather weak, trains a young Japanese man to be a samurai; and Nellie finds herself kidnapped! The dead bodies continue to mount, and when St. Paul's cathedral is blown up, the girls decide they must use their skills to try to uncover who is behind all of the destruction... and why. At the end of the book, they decide that they did such a good job at this that they will form a business as The Friday Society (since they are all "gal Fridays", ensuring that another book is to come. 
Strengths: Lots of adventure and a Jack the Ripper, Edwardian era vibe. Steampunk gadgets (cavorite-- which glows and makes objects impervious to gravity!), martial arts, kick butt heroines, mad scientists, and some steamy kisses make this lots of fun.
Weaknesses: If you suspend all thought that this is a historical novel, it will go down better. This was the suggestion of Charlotte's Library, and it did help. While there was a general air of historical fiction, there were frequent lapses in language that struck me as really awkward. (Page 68 "But the fact was, she did look charming. She looked smokin'.) This won't bother the target demographic, but it did make me enjoy the book a bit less.

Who's on First-- Blogiversary

Abbott and Costello. Ilustrated by John Martz. Who's on First. 
19 February 2013, Quirk Books
Book received from the publisher.

When I was in graduate school, one of my classmates, David Ball, used to try to talk other students into doing this skit with him. I was always amazed at how many (usually) men were able to do this skit from memory, since I had never heard it, but then, I knew a lot of graduate students who could recite whole Monty Python films, if given the chance.

This picture book does a great job of introducing the work of Abbott and Costello, the only nonbaseball players to be included in the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame, to young readers. The crisp, bright drawings make the story less confusing, with diagrams and the dialogue broken down visually in ways that make things more clear. I love the color palette of the front cover (as my daughter pointed out, baseball's is "America's game", so the red, white and blue make sense), and inside the addition of avocado and orange backgrounds make the bear and bunny really pop. Different fonts and sizes also help the dialogue along. A brief history of the skit is included at the back. I can see this being a really popular read-aloud for second graders, who will no doubt giggle a LOT.

Sadly, David passed away last year.  At his memorial service, I found out that he was a member of the Scholars for American Baseball Research, and had contributed many articles to various publications. Few of us who were in the Classics department with him knew this about him. I am glad that Quirk sent me this book; I will be donating it to my local elementary school in David's memory.

 Since it's Saturday, I can be a little self indulgent with posting about my seventh blogiversary. Looking back at my original posts is rather embarrassing, but I think I have improved.

During this past year, I feel like I made some significant strides. Baker and Taylor sends me review boxes, and publicists and authors occasionally contact me. I became a Young Adult Books Central reviewer in April, and that has been a good learning experience. Serving as an organizer for the Cybils Awards was also vastly interesting and helpful in so many ways. As much as I would like to review for School Library Journal or to be a Newbery Award panelist, I'm not sure that I'm that good yet, or have the kind of stature that would cause me to be chosen.

I have settled into a somewhat discernible pattern in reviews-- Monday is realistic middle grade and nonfiction, Tuesday is fantasy, Wednesday is multicultural books, Thursday tends towards mysteries, Fridays are Guy books. The weekends are reserved for blathering, picture books, girl books, and anything else I can't fit in to other days. I do post in advance, and right now have a TBR that consists of books coming out in April and later, so I feel pleasantly organized.
 

Occasionally, fun things happen because of my blog, like Betsy Bird calling one of my posts "required reading" for the day. Ego boosts-- isn't that why we blog?

Wish I could send all of my loyal readers some cake. If I were a more organized person who could manage to get to the post office, I would do more giveaways and perhaps have more than 220 followers, but I hope that those of you who read this blog find my reviews helpful to you!

Guy Friday: Play Makers

Lupica, Mike. Play Makers (Game Changers #2)
5 February 2012

Ben and his teammates have just finished a successful football season (in Game Changers) and are heading right into a basketball scrimmage with their biggest rival. New to that school is Chase Braggs, who is an even better player than Ben but is cocky and mean as well. Not only that, but Ben's friend (and crush) Lily hangs out with some friends of Chase's and thinks he's okay. When the basketball season gets progressively worse instead of better, Ben's playing goes downhill as well. He's not having any fun. In one extra angst-fueled practice session, his friend Sam sprains his ankle and is out for a while. Coop and Shawn try to rally, and MJ, who has never made the team before, gets a chance to finally play, but the team can't pull it together. Ben starts acting out on the court, and comes to blows with Lily over her friendship with Chase and Ben's actions on and off the court. Can Ben bring himself out of the funk before the end of the basketball season?
Strengths: Like the first book, the emotions in this surprised me but then rang very true. Students get very invested in sports, and their performance on the field can affect their school work, and vice versa. I liked Lily a lot (although we are still told repeatedly that she's cool "for a girl"), and the parents have brief and understandable appearances. Excellent basketball action-- or it must be, because there were a lot of games described and I really didn't quite understand! I even like the name of Ben's nemesis-- it's a name that could really exist and not overly goofy. Chase Braggs. Good stuff.
Weaknesses: I would have liked to hear more about Shawn, and seen Ben at school a little more. I know this was busy with games, home life, and hanging out, but school is such an integral part of the middle grade experience that I would have liked to see how Ben acted there.

Happy Valentine's Day

For a REAL Valentine, none of us can look any further than our furry ones, so I'm excited about another great looking dog book! Terry Lynn Johnson is revealing her cover for Ice Dogs today! The book will be published one year for today, and I can't wait. What a gorgeous cover!

Here's the publisher's description: "A 15-year old dogsled racer and sled dog owner loses her way on a routine daytime outing with her dogs; with food gone and temperatures dropping, her survival and that of her dogs and the mysterious boy she meets in the woods, is up to her."

 
Farrar, Josh. A Song for Bijou
12 February 2013, Walker Children's
EARC from Netgalley.com

Alex goes to an all boys' school in New York City, so he is intrigued by girls and yet utterly clueless about them. When he sees a new girl who is attending the neighborhood sister school, he is inexplicably smitten with Bijou Doucet and uses his network of friends to find out about her. Bijou has moved to NY from Haiti to live with an aunt, uncle, and older brother. She finds the girls and the school confusing enough-- she doesn't really want anything at all to do with Alex, especially since her uncle is very strict about such interactions. Alex, however, is fairly intense in his pursuit of her-- he talks to her friends, hangs out in her neighborhood, even befriends her brother and starts playing Haitian drums in an effort to connect with the object of his affection. He's not gross and insulting like some of the boys in his school-- he's truly smitten and just wants to be with Bijou. For her part, Bijou finds Alex truly likeable, even if the situation is difficult for her. Also adding to her problems adjusting to American culture is Bijou's past experiences in Haiti, which are not fully explained until the end. Any romance is difficult, and Alex and Bijou are trying to figure out romance while they are still trying to figure out themselves.
Strengths: This is a romance book FOR BOYS!! While chapters are told from both Bijou and Alex's viewpoints, the story really does center on Alex. Hooray! How many books like this are there out there? The description of Haitian culture in New York was really interesting, and I liked how Bijou's background does have an impact on her relationship with Alex but is not the entire focus of the book. I also appreciated that she was from a fairly well-to-do family in Haiti, and how a few characters from the Dominican Republic are also included.Very well balanced.
Weaknesses: Will boys pick this up? The cover is really cute, and not overly girly-- it's perfect for the story, really-- just wondering about the appeal.

The Awards Are Here!

Head over right now! You know you want to!

http://www.cybils.com/2013/02/the-2012-cybils-awards.html

The Middle Grade Fiction judges were all awesome, and we were all happy with the selection of R.J. Palacio's Wonder as the winner of the division. Congratulations to all of the winners! It's a tough competition, and you should be proud!

Common Core Question

Here's a good one. Our district is looking to purchase some class sets of books to support the seventh grade language arts curriculum.

The two books that are commonly used are Lowry's The Giver and Hinton's The Outsiders. We are looking for nonfiction to support those, and aside from Discovering Wes Moore and Myer's Bad Boy (for The Outsiders), I'm having trouble thinking of more interesting, literary nonfiction to support these titles.

Getting a list of other themes; I wish we could pick any nonfiction and use something like The Secret of the Yellow Death: A True Story of Medical Sleuthing.

All thoughts welcome!

World Wednesday-- Dominican Republic

Joseph, Lynn. Flowers in the Sky
5 March 2013, HarperTeen

Nina is quite happy living in the Dominican Republic seaside town of Samana, but her mother thinks that Nina would be better of in the US, where she might be able to find a rich husband and send money back home. Nina's brother, Darrio, has been in the US a number of years, and when Nina's mother thinks Nina is becoming to forward with men, Nina is packed off to Washington Heights, New York City to go to high school and then college. Since Nina's favorite thing to do is to garden, her brother's barren, asphalt surrounded apartment is a grim place to be. The neighborhood is full of other Dominicans, and Nina finds a local barber, Luis, very attractive. Her brother doesn't approve of him, however, so Nina briefly dates a boy from her high school, Carlos, who wants to be a doctor. The owner of a local grocery, Senora Rivera, also loves gardens, and encourages Nina to grow orchids. Darrio, however, seems to have unhealthy business connections, and having observed drug deals going down in the neighborhood, Nina becomes concerned that he is involved with shady people and will come to grief. It's hard enough to adjust to life in a big city, and even harder when Darrio finally gets into trouble, but with the help of Luis and Senora Rivera, Nina will be able to prosper.
Strengths: This was a nice, short romance book with lots of interesting cultural touches. My students have little idea what life is like in NY City, much less in the Dominican Republic. I liked that Nina would rather be on the island, that she had issues with her mother, and that she had a particular interest(gardening) but still wanted to do well in school.
Weaknesses: The print seemed small on this one, and I preferred Carlos to Luis!

World Wednesday Round Up

Thanks for joining us for World Wednesday. If you have a post about a middle grade book set in another part of the world or with great multicultural characters, please tell us about it in the comments. Here are some titles I found this past week:

Reviews:
African American Poetry at 5 Minutes for Books
Arrival: The Phoenix Files at Jean Little Library
Bobby vs. Girls (Accidentally) at TMS Guys Read Book Club
Celebrating Chinese New Year at Great Kids Books.
The Deadly Royal Recipe at Saffron Tree
Eleanor and Park at Her Life with Books
A Game for Swallows at Kiss the Book
Gift Day at Sal's Fiction Addiction
Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow at Kiss the Book 
The Lost History of African-American Inventors. at A Wrung Sponge
A Voice of Her Own at Teach. Mentor. Texts. 
 
Lists:
Favorite Books for Black History Month at Ms. O. Reads Books

Interviews:
A new interview every day this month at The Brown Bookshelf. 
G. Neri at Middle Grade Ninja

Conversations:  
Debbie Reese asks libraries to consider what dated books they are including in their list of "best" titles in the 2/6 posting at American Indians in Children's Literature.

Mitali Perkins works with students to create multicultural picture books at Mitali's Fire Escape.

I feel like I must be missing a lot, and I didn't necessarily put all the lower than middle grade books on the list. Well, this is why I started a "global literature" list (I learned at a meeting that we aren't supposed to call it multicultural because...well, I forget why). Sometimes, it's hard to find middle grade stuff!

Magicalamity

Saunders, Kate. Magicalamity. 
11 December 2012, Delacorte
Book received from Young Adults Books Central and reviewed there.

Tom had no idea at all that he was a demisprite until he wakes up and finds that his father, Jonas, has been arrested by the fairies for the murder of Milly Falconer and taken back into the Realm. Tom's mother is being hidden in a jar of tomatoes, and one of Tom's fairy godmothers, Lorna, has come to take care of him. Lorna is bound and determined to help Tom get his father free, but she has to call his other two godmothers, Iris (who has been hypnotizing the girls in the school she runs to steal for her) and Dahlia (who has hypnotized twelve former husbands to be her slaves) in order to do this. Also on the scene is Pindar, Tom's cousin, whose father is the one who is ruling the Realm and who wants the land that Jonas owns. Acting on a dream about his mother, who tells him that Milly is "just like Snow White", Tom et al. travel into the realm to steal Milly in her glass coffin. When they come back to the mortal world, the coffin breaks-- and they find out that Milly is still alive! This puts Jonas' arrest in a whole new light, but innocence is not enough in a fairy world gone awry. Soon, it is clear to Tom that his newly discovered fairy heritage is in danger, and working with his motley crew of new friends, he tries to save both his father and the Realm.
Strengths: Very British fantasy romp that plunges right into an improbable world with no apologies but plenty of tea and beans on toast! I liked Tom and his willingness to believe his godmothers, and I especially liked his cousin Pindar, who was discarded by his evil family and just wants to help his new found cousin. I saved this one for a leisurely read on a snowy Friday evening, and it was great fun. I did adore Saunders' other book, Beswitched.
Weaknesses: I could have done without all of the nudity once the group gets to the Realm. The Nude Ball was bad enough, but then the lawyers in the trial are also nude. It's explained that this is a sign of status, and perhaps this played for laughs better in a country where people's bare backsides get shown on television, but it's a weird thing to include here in the states.

Even though I read this one slowly, I must have been tired and missed some things. Please look at Kiss The Book's review of this-- I totally missed the sexual innuendo, and was thinking the gun under the pillow was a magical one.

Middle Grade Monday-- Losing It by Erin Fry

Fry, Erin. Losing It. 
4 September 2012, Amazon Children's Publishing
E Book Provided by  Publisher

Bennett and his father have managed to carve out a peaceful existence after the death of Bennett's mother from cancer when he was five. They watch sports, and both eat too much unhealthy food and are overweight but happy. When Bennett's dad has a massive stroke, Bennett has to go live with his Aunt Laura's family. Laura thought that her sister's cancer was mismanaged, and has not spent much time with Bennett because she is at odds with his father, but hopes to help Bennett and his father through this difficult situation. Once school starts, Bennett begins to worry about his own health, and after several runs with his uncle, decides that he will join the cross country team. His friend P.G., who is also overweight, resents this and feels it is a dig against him. Other factors making life difficult are Luis and his gang, who constantly make fun of Bennett at lunch and in the locker room, and Taylor, a girl whom Bennett likes who starts to take an interest in him. Bennett's father's recuperation is complicated and taking longer than hoped, and the insurance money may run out and the family home may need to be sold. Cross country becomes something that motivates Bennett in many ways, and even though it is difficult, running makes Bennett feel that he is in control of something in his life.
Strengths: Pitch perfect middle grade novel. Bennett's concerns are all realistically portrayed, and well balanced. He loses weight, but there is no magical transformation. His friend is angry at him, but their reconciliation rings true. The bullying, which I normally hate in middle grade novels, is all done underneath the radar of adults, and is predominately emotional. The resolution to this is also understated. The cross country descriptions clearly show that Ms. Fry is not only a coach but a runner as well, and my own cross country runners are desperate for books on their sport. Add to this the main theme of the book, which is dealing with the severe illness of a remaining parent, and this is a great novel for language arts units on challenges. Definitely buying two copies of this!
Weaknesses: Title could have been less generic, and I would have put tennis shoes where the paper heart is. Also, I wish that Taylor would have been a stronger character. I thought that her relationship with Bennett was realistic, but I didn't quite buy that they had a lot in common. Small complaint for an excellent book!

Best thing about this-- it bears NO similarities to my own attempts at a cross country novel!

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. Even though I don't have a nonfiction review this week, remember that it's also Nonfiction Monday, hosted this week at Abby the Librarian.

Mason, Paul. Improving Speed.
15 January 2011, Power Kids Press.

Don't you love it when your library catalog gives you a one line summary? "Discusses speed in various sports, provides exercises to improve it, and profiles athletes known for their speed."

I think half of my cross country team has read this book. I don't know if it made them any faster, but it showed them that nonfiction can be relevant to their lives. There is also an Improving Strength and Power book that the wrestlers have been checking out.

True Colors

Kinsey-Warnock, Natalie. True Colors.
13 November 2012, Knopf Books for Young Readers
Book received from Young Adult Books Central and Reviewed there.

Blue was found by Hannah on the day Pearl Harbor was bombed, wrapped in a quilt and stuffed in a kettle near Hannah's rural Vermont house.Blue is happy with her small town life- she has her haunts, like the newspaper office, and her friends, like the mentally challenged Raleigh and Mr. Gilpin, the newspaper editor. She even has a summer friend her own age, Nadine. Nadine comes to visit every summer, but this summer she is different. No longer interested in playing outside, Nadine prefers to talk about movie stars and hair styles, and indicates that Blue's life is really rather backwards. True is too busy to worry too much about what Nadine thinks-- she's writing the weekly gossip column for the newspaper, saving her cow from being slaughtered, trying to keep local bullies from giving Raleigh a hard time, and helping with preparations for the town's 150th anniversary. She is also intrigued about her mother and accompanies Hannah to her quilting group in hopes of finding clues to her identity. Hannah falls and is badly injured, and many events collide at the town's celebration. Can Hannah handle all of the things that are happening around her as well as uncomfortable information about her past?
Strengths: This was similar in some ways to The Moon Over Manifest, but I liked it better than that one. (Newspaper writing, family mystery, town goings on.) There is a very distinct feeling of time and place, but this adds to, rather than detracting from, Blue's search for identity.
Weaknesses: There are too many books with this title, which reminds people of a certain age of the Cindy Lauper song!

The Dead and the Buried

Harrington, Kim. The Dead and The Buried
1 January 2013, Scholastic Point

Jade is glad that her father and stepmother have finally moved to a bigger town and into a larger, nicer house, even though it is her senior year. She makes friends with the quirky Alexa, and attracts the attention of both the attractive arty boy, Donovan, and the attractive athletic boy, Kane. Others act a bit oddly around her, however, and she soon finds out that her home was the scene of former Queen Bee Kayla Stone's death. What's worse, her younger brother Colby claims to see a girl in his room, and Jade soon feels the ghostly presence as well. Donovan was a suspect in the death, but was cleared and is now a persona non grata. As things heat up in Jade's social life, things get weirder and weirder at home, and she knows she has to find out who killed Kayla before the ghost will leave her and her brother alone.
Strengths: Harrington does a brilliant job writing YA books that are also appropriate for middle grade. The fact that this is a ghost AND a murder mystery makes this especially brilliant. The stepmother and busy father are a nice touch, as is the big new house that would be unaffordable if not for the murder.
Weaknesses: Don't like the cover. Too many covers with languid/dead looking girls on them.

Guy Friday-- If We Survive

Klavan, Andrew. If We Survive
6 November 2012, Thomas Nelson

Will is in a small, South American country helping to rebuild a school through a combined school/church group. Just as he and his coworkers are getting ready to leave, Mendoza, head of the local rebel group, bursts into the cantina where the group has met, and shoots the owner dead. Pastor Ron advises praying, Palmer (a former Marine and local pilot) seems to be about to abandon the group, Nikki screams annoyingly, Jim thinks that Mendoza is in the right, and Meredith is oddly quiet and controlled. When Pastor Ron is taken off and killed, the group realizes they have to escape. Palmer does first, and, surprisingly, comes back with a van to rescue the others. They can only take the van so far, and when they realize that Palmer's plane has been destroyed, they take to the woods and attempt to reach the border to escape. This isn't easy, and it's necessary to do things to survive that Will would not normally consider. However, his faith and his desire to see his parents again keep him strong, and he tries to learn from the members of his group how to survive in tense situations.
Strengths: Klavan's The Last Thing I Remember (Homelanders) series is very popular in my library, and for good reason. There is nonstop action, lots of suspense, and a teenage boy who is determined to do what's right.  I appreciated that Will was excited at first, but once he kills a man, he feels remorse.
Weaknesses: Thomas Nelson is a religiously affiliated publisher, and sometimes this makes parts of their books a bit of a slog. Doesn't matter what a student's religion is-- when an action book stops to philosophize about religion, it makes the book less popular. To Klavan's credit, he has a much lighter philosophic touch with this than he did in the Homelanders series, which did get rather bogged down with agenda. Will's religion and actions related to it are much more organic in this book.

You Can't Come in Here

Night, P.J. (Teitlebaum, Michael) You Can't Come in Here (Creepover #2)
7 June 2011, Simon Spotlight
Copy loaned to me by Jaida T.

Emily likes her new neighbors Drew and Vicky even though her parents are not happy with the disheveled state of their house and the fact that they haven't met Drew and Vicky's parents. Emily spends a lot of time with the siblings, but since they are homeschooled, her good friends from school haven't met them. Emily plans a start-of-summer sleepover party, but creepy things keep happening, including a howling wolf that is frequently running about Emily's yard. When she tells her new friends about these things, they always seem to discover that they are caused by explainable phenomena-- an owl or a gust of wind. Eventually, though, Emily unearths the creepy secret of her neighbors, but not soon enough to escape her own undoing!
Strengths: I've been looking into getting this set in PermaBound, because students do like creepy things like Goosebumps and Poison Apple books. There are 12 so far, so I might not get all of them. This was pleasantly creepy and would be especially good in an elementary school for precocious girls who want to read Twilight. The student who loaned me this said it was her favorite book EVER!
Weaknesses: Definitely very cheesy, and I liked the writing in the Poison Apple books a bit better.

World Wednesday--Offside

Higgins, M.G. Offside (Counterattack)
28 January 2013, Darby Creek (Division of Lerner Publishing Group)

Faith Patel (people made fun of her name, Astha, so she has anglicized it) loves to play soccer and is good at it, but things are really tough at home. Her father passed away from cancer, so her mother works night shifts as a nurse and Faith has to watch her three young siblings. Money is tight as well, so she can't play club soccer or hang out after practice with her teammates. One of the other players, Caitlyn, is angry because Faith is moved to a different position without even asking, and tells Faith that it's because the coach has a crush on her. Faith thinks this is ridiculous... at first. But when the coach allows her to turn a paper in late and is the only adult around who shows concern for her, she starts to think that maybe there is something romantic going on. When her young brother becomes gravely ill and all of her hopes of going to college or even moving into an apartment of her own seem far away, Faith thinks that approaching the coach is a good plan, but luckily realizes in time that he is concerned only as a teacher.
Strengths: This is a short, easy-to-read book that really packs an emotional wallop. It will be great for busy 8th grade girls who would rather be playing soccer than reading about it! I will have to look into the other Counterattack novels because I think they will be really popular.
Weaknesses: While I really liked this, I was a bit concerned that the photo of the girl on the cover didn't align with how she was described in the book. After the brouhahas over the covers of Justine Larbalestier's Liar Liar and Jaclyn Dolamore's Magic Under Glass, I thought this needed to be addressed, but I was curious as to what the publisher's thoughts were. I e mailed Andrew Karre, the editorial Director of Carolrhoda Books, Carolrhoda Lab, and Darby Creek books, and he very kindly responded. 

I found his answers very interesting, and he was nice enough to agree to share them today. As a librarian, it's all too easy for me to forget that publishers are in business to make money, not to provide me with exactly the books I want. The other thing that I found interesting was how the publication process is different for a concern like Lerner (which sells mainly to schools and libraries) and other publishing houses that sell to individual readers as well as corporate ones.

I appreciate the attempts by Darby Creek and Mr. Karre to portray ethnically diverse characters. Here is what Mr. Karre says about the challenges involved in this process:

First, I guess I don’t completely agree with you on the cover. I too was worried about that image, but I thought the girl’s race was unclear. (And, yes, I read her as having an Indian background too). My sense is probably based on seeing the same girl (I think) on the cover Under Pressure (#7 in red), where to me she is not at all clearly Caucasian. But in any case, I agree with you  that  she does not perfectly align with how a reader would naturally imagine Faith in the book. And that’s not ideal.   

Ideally, we would commission the books, get manuscripts, and then do a photo shoot so that the character on the cover matched perfectly the character on the book. Unfortunately, if we had to do that, we could never publish these books. The costs would be far, far too great.

  Here’s what we actually do: We dream up the series based on what we hear from librarians and teachers (and we heard a girls soccer series loud and clear). We commission authors to write stories based on a set of parameters and suggested plots. We tell them we want diverse and realistic characters. We want racial, economic, and sexual-orientation diversity. This is the easy part, actually. Writers are happy to do this. 

Meanwhile, designers and photo researchers scour stock photography libraries for a set of images that might conceivably work for covers for a six book set. It’s important to remember that a consistent look is critical for a series, and that amplifies the challenges. None of what I’m saying applies to a single title. For a series, ideally, we want the covers to come from the same shoot, so everything looks consistent. But we still need diversity, and that limits our options. The set we found for Counterattack was almost a miracle (we had a much harder time with our previous sports series, Travel Team). The images were modern and dynamic. They were racially diverse. We could generally reconcile the stories with the covers with minimal changes to the text (and this is the final step for any such series: making any changes to the story we can to make text match cover). And to give you a sense of the difference between stock photos and a photo shoot, to get these photos in a photo shoot would have cost many thousands of dollars and weeks of prep. All six of the stock photos we used cost a couple hundred, and one person could find them in a few hours. Economically speaking, it’s the difference between being able to make the books and not.

   So here’s the answer to your question. When we got to Off Side, I had to make a decision. I wanted very much to have Faith as she was in the book. And I wanted use the excellent, appealing set of photos we found (and could afford). In the end, I decided there was enough ambiguity in the photo and in the story that the image wouldn’t distract readers.  I don’t know if I made the right decision, but I hope I did. (And it should be clear that no one in sales or marketing had any input on this specific decision. And Barnes & Noble doesn’t affect our decision making on series like these. This was a call I made.)

   I know these are excuses, and I would certainly rather have a better match between words and picture on this title, but that wasn’t an option, given the rest of the series.  I do still believe the world is better off with the book as it is than if I had elected to take the other option, which was to turn Astha into Samantha and move her roots from India to Indiana. But that’s my take. What’s yours? I would genuinely appreciate your perspective. (And of course I’m happy to explain further if I’ve been unclear.)

  
Thanks again, and I hope you’ll continue to give Darby Creek series your attention. 

Andrew Karre 

Editorial Director
Carolrhoda Books, Carolrhoda Lab, and Darby Creek

World Wednesday Round Up

Thanks for joining us for World Wednesday. If you have a post about a middle grade book set in another part of the world or with great multicultural characters, please tell us about it in the comments. Here are some titles I found this past week:

Book Reviews:
Abirached, Zeina. A Game for Swallows at A Teaching Life 
Curtis, Christopher Paul. The Mighty Miss Malone at Not for Lunch.
Erdich, Louise. Chickadee at A Wrung Sponge.
Gratz, Alan. Prisoner B-3087 at Becky's Bookshelf
Grimes, Nikki. Barack Obama at A Wrung Sponge 
Hand in Hand at The Brown Bookshelf. 
Lake, Nick. In Darkness at We Sat Down
Lasky, Kathryn. Vision of Beauty at Teach.Mentor.Texts. and The Fourth Musketeer
Look, Lenore. Alvin Ho at Boys Rule Boys Read
Manzano, Sonia. Revolution of Evelyn Serrano at Next Best Book.
Myers, Walter Dean. Riot at A Foodie Bibliofile in Wanderlust
Nelson, Kadir. Various Titles at Portable Teacher 
Neri, G. Ghetto Cowboy at Middle Grade Ninja 
Nakhi Stories of China at The Saffron Tree
Pipe, Jim. Hoping for Peace in Sudan at Provo Library Children's Book 
Shelton, Paula Young. A Child of the Civil Rights Movement at A Teaching Life 
Sheth, Kashmira. Boys Without Names at Next Best Book

Lists 
Coretta Scott King Award and Pura Belpre Awards at Mrs. F-B's Book Blog
Coretta Scott King Awards at Great Kid Books.
Interviews 
 The Brown Bookshelf  has interviews with various authors every day this month, starting with Malaika Rose Stanley.

Dead City and Son of Slappy

Ponti, James. Dead City.
2 October 2012, Simon and Schuster

Molly has a full life-- she fences, enjoys her school (MIST-- Metropolitan Institute of Science and Technology), and hangs out at the local morgue in an effort to feel closer to her mother, who worked there but has passed away from cancer. When an odd occurrence happens at the morgue, Molly finds out from school mate Natalie that Molly's mother was an Omega, or a zombie killer, and Molly is, too. This is why Molly's mother had her take martial arts classes and memorize the periodic table, which the Omegas use to construct codes. New York City has been plagued by zombies ever since 13 workers were killed while digging subway tunnels, since the city is build on a layer of schist that keeps the zombies fresh. After undergoing Omega training, Molly is ready to fight zombies if she needs to, and when the evil Marek shows up and puts the city in danger, all of her skills are handy. The ending leads me to believe that there might be a second book in the offing.
Strengths: Anything with zombies is popular right now. I should probably buy Zombiekins, but can't bring myself to! I love that Molly is capable and well trained, and fairly unflinching when it comes to killing zombies, although she does have enough humanity to question the need to kill them at first. The zombie mythology is well developed and makes sense. Nice twist at the end.
Weaknesses: I don't have any girls asking for zombie books, so the scene at the beginning where Molly does a zombie in with her flat iron, and the one where she and her sister bond over make up, are not going to go over well with the zombie target demographic. While I love strong female characters, I would definitely have gone with a boy as the main character of this one. Maybe that's just my school, though, and there is a crying need for zombie books with girls as the main character. In that case, this is an awesome addition to the zombie genre.

Stine, R.L. Son of Slappy (Goosebumps: Most Wanted #2)
1 January 2013, Scholastic
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central and reviewed there

Jackson is a good kid-- he really believes that it's easier to do nice things than to get in trouble all the time. It's his sister, Rachel, who is a problem child. When the two go visit their wacky grandfather at his spooky house, they are both kind of creeped out by their grandfather's weird collections. Historical nooses are pretty calm, but the collection of ventriloquist dummies are frightening. Jackson mentions that he might want to do a show with one at the Youth Center to his grandfather, but he's still surprised that the dummy is in his suitcase when he gets home. Supposedly the doll is just a copy of the evil Slappy, but when Rachel says the nonsense words on a piece of paper, Slappy comes to life. Not only that, but he starts to control Jackson and make him do bad things all the time! All Jackson has to hear is a "click" and without being able to control himself, he's ruining paintings, covering neighbors kitchens with cake batter... and even worse. Can he manage to break free from Slappy's hold on him before something truly terrible happens?
Strengths: Stine is a master of juvenile horror-- creepy things that happen that could never happen in real life. It's fun to be scared by the thought of an evil doll possessing someone and making him do bad things. I'm starting to get the appeal of these more and more!
Weaknesses: Cheesy goodness, not great literature. From a library standpoint, I was hoping that this series would continue to be published in hardcover, since the first one was, but it looks like they only come in paperback now.

Nonfiction Monday-- Miles to Go For Freedom

Osborne, Linda Barrett. Miles to Go for Freedom: Segregation and Civil Rights in the Jim Crow Years.
1 January 2012,  Abrams Books for Young Readers

This well illustrated and researched book (published in association with The Library of Congress)is a fantastic overview of the changes in African American rights from the 1800s up through Brown vs. Board of Education. It is especially interesting to find out that before the Civil War, African Americans were making some group in integrating into society, but after this time period their freedoms were greatly curtailed. Separate by Equal is discussed at length, as is the topic of African Americans fighting during the wars. The accompanying photographs, and copies of documents and other ephemera are especially interesting. This would be great to read aloud during Black History Month.

Holm, Jennifer and Castaldi, Elicia. Eighth Grade is Making Me Sick.
7 August 2012, Random House

I read this, I understood it, and it's hard to write a review. This and the first book in the series, Middle School is Worse than Meatloaf, are great fun.There is a plot to this-- Ginny's mother has remarried and is pregnant, the family has moved into a big new home, but then the step father loses his job, Ginny's brother is born prematurely, and all of the changes stress Ginny out so much that she doesn't eat and becomes ill. I was never a fan of wordless picture books, and these have a similar effect, although there are words in the memos, cartoons, etc. It's still a very impressionistic way to get a story. By big beef-- Ginny's brother is named Ballou. Ballou is not a good name for a child. But don't Google it! The Disney bear is spelled Baloo, and the other spellings is apparently for a gentleman who models... somewhat scanty things. Oops.

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. It's also Nonfiction Monday, hosted this week at Apples With Many Seeds.

Super Secret Evil Plan, Year 4!

In February of 2010, hard up for entertainment, I decided to encourage boys to read books with girls as the main character. The next year, I did this again, creating a logo. Last year, we had Charlie Joe Jackson as our "celebrity sponsor". This has become a yearly tradition in our school, and the boys seem to enjoy the fact that they "have" to read books about girls. There's some middle school psyche at work there that I'm not getting, but don't ask me to explain. The highlight of this initiative was getting mentioned by Geek Dad, but I'd love to hear of more libraries trying to get guys to read "girl" books and vice versa-- the more we do that, the closer we are to not having "guy" and "girl" books.

This year, Sneed Collard, the author of Governor's Dog is Missing, Double Eagle and Cartwheel, as well as a ton of nonfiction books, agreed to step up as our celebrity endorser. He's a great person to pitch this, because his books, while popular with guys, have great girl characters as well, and are enjoyed by both genders. He also has middle grade children of his own.


What books with girls as main characters do you remember reading? Does your son have any favorites?

Growing up, I recall reading almost NO books with female lead characters--except perhaps Charlotte's Web. Then again, other than the Hardy Boys and books by Roald Dahl, very few middle-grade/YA books existed for readers like me. As soon as I read The Lord of the Rings in fourth grade, that was it. Adult books for the rest of my teenage years--and almost all with male leads. Think The Godfather, Battle Cry, Hiroshima, etc…

In the past 15 years, however, I've been fortunate to read quite a few middle-grade and YA books with great female leads. The Hunger Games stick out strongly, of course, but so do books by Adrian Fogelin, Margaret Peterson Haddix, Richard Peck, and Donna Jo Napoli.

I asked my son which books he liked with strong girl characters, and the first thing he thought of were The Seekers series by Erin Hunter (which I also enjoyed). He also mentioned Annabeth in the Percy Jackson books, Annie in the Magic Tree House series, Ella and Meghan in The Secret Zoo, and Hermione in Harry Potter. It's interesting that he doesn't have a strong preference for boy characters. He'll read anything that's a good book!

Do you feel it's important for your books to have interesting female characters?

Some stories demand interesting female characters and some do not. In my book Dog Sense, the mother is a vital character in the story, but she's much less important than the two main characters, Guy and Luke, and really, there's no need for any other major female characters in the story. In my mysteries The Governor's Dog is Missing and Hangman's Gold, however, I wanted to create a female "co-star" that is just as important as the narrator. I had several reasons for this:

1) Girls are just great and should be in the story unless there's a reason to omit them.

2) The girls I've known have strengths that boys don't have, and it makes a much more effective "detective squad" to have both male and female elements solving a case.

3) There's always that romance thing!

4) Again, girls are great.

Boys and girls also have a great capacity to learn from each other, and because characters need to grow throughout a story, having both genders often helps facilitate this character growth.

Do you feel that nonfiction has any gender bias?
Not nearly as much as fiction. Books about science, history, and to a lesser extent, sports, are filled with wonderful female characters. The best middle-grade science series, the Scientists in the Field series (Houghton Mifflin), features inspiring female scientists who serve as wonderful role models for ALL readers. In fact, I've more often written about women scientists than about men. 

What are some of your best Super Secret Evil Plans? 

I'm very interested in dystopic novels, and have already worked on one for several years. I have a new Top Secret plot in mind, however, that is brewing as I write this. Another of my Super Secret Evil Plans is to get people interested in plants! (Insert evil laugh). Although we'd all be dead in a week without plants, it is VERY difficult to get people interested in these amazing organisms. I've just finished a really cool mystery about a teenager who is obsessed with orchids. One day, while waiting to see the world's rarest orchid at the United States Botanical Gardens, a giant crane comes crashing through the glass roof and crushes the woman in front of him. in the ensuing chaos, the rare orchid gets stolen. Will the main character find it? Will I be able to sell this book to a publisher? Stay tuned!

Another of my Super Secret Evil Plans is to visit schools in ALL FIFTY states. I'm up to about 40, but Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Delaware, Mississippi, Kentucky, Indiana, Oklahoma, South Dakota, New Mexico, and Arkansas have really fallen down on the job. If you have Top Secret connections or can sneak me across the borders of these states, email me at collard@bigsky.net! 

I want to add a few words about strong girl characters. In GENERAL, it is very difficult for a person of one gender to write effectively about the opposite sex. Some writers pull this off beautifully (Richard Peck and Lois Lowry pop to mind). Others, however, end up writing very annoying characters when they cross gender lines. As an author, it helps to know what your limitations are. For instance, one reason I am able to create strong female characters in my Slate Stephens mysteries is that I am viewing Daphne through Slate's eyes. I probably would never attempt to get inside Daphne's head and write her in First Person. This is also true for my novel Cartwheel, which features Annie, a strong, independent 13 year-old. 

Other authors get around this by casting their characters as animals. Others create an ensemble of male and female characters. Both of these methods work pretty well.

I do wish, however, that most authors would quit trying to write in First Person from the opposite sex perspective, because it usually doesn't work. Several times, I've finished 3 or 4 chapters of a book thinking that the narrator is a girl--only to find that the author has made him a boy! I know why authors do this. Women writers especially think they will attract more boy readers if they write about boys--and maybe they're correct. Still, I like to think boy readers will enjoy a well-written girl character more than a poorly-written boy character. I hope that more boys out there will give girl characters a chance. If you don't, you'll be missing out on a lot of incredible books!

Lemonade Mouth Puckers Up

Hughes, Mark Peter. Lemonade Mouth Puckers Up.
13 November 2012, Delacorte
Copy received from Young Adult Books Central and reviewed there.

This sequel to Lemonade Mouth (book, 2007; movie, 2011) finds the quirky band still doing local gigs and enjoying themselves. Told from multiple view points, we reconnect with Olivia, Wen, Stella, Charlie and Mo as they plan on a rather boring summer, only to have their lives become very complicated when legendary agent Earl Decker wants to sign them. He has a vision for the band, and they are happy enough to be made over with funky new clothes, and thrilled to be given more exposure, even though they decline to continue in a talent competition because they declare publicly that the judges are mean. They are less thrilled with shilling for a brand of chapstick, especially when the ad airbrushes all of their flaws. When the band complains to Decker, he says that in order to get publicity, they need to fully embrace his vision. They don't, however, and contact a talk show host to air their song about the phony ad. While this gets them in trouble with Decker, it makes them an overnight YouTube sensation, and they feel that they have been true to their own vision of the band. There are lots of other things going on with families and friends that add interest to this book.
Strengths: I liked the main idea of this-- the band had its own vision and wasn't willing to give it up even in order to be famous. There are very few books about rock bands, and it is something that middle grade readers are interested in. Even though the characters are high schoolers, this would be fine for middle school. A lot of clever turns of phrase, and the songs are so much fun I almost want to check out the videos.
Weaknesses: I had a lot of trouble following the multiple view points, and there was a lot of information to process.Also, the first book in the series seems to be out of print. Must investigate. This could stand alone.

Thought Provoking Novels

Green, John. The Fault in Our Stars
10 January 2012, Dutton Juvenile

Hazel has struggled with cancer for three years, first undergoing surgery for thyroid cancer, which then spread to her lungs. She is no longer in high school, but taking some college courses, and is tired and wants to disconnect from everything. Her parents make her go to a cancer support group, and it is there that she meets Augustus. He was a basketball player who lost a leg to cancer but is doing well, and the two become friends. Hazel's favorite book is the avant garde An Imperial Affliction, and August reads it as well. The two decide that they have to contact the author, Peter Van Houton, who lives in Sweden, to find out what the rest of the story is. Augustus still has a "Make a Wish" he hasn't used, and plans to take Hazel and her mother to Amsterdam to meet the author. The trip goes well in some ways, but the author is a drunken, difficult man who frustrates them both. When they return from the trip, things take a turn for the worse.
Strengths: Green knows his core audience. Hazel and Augustus are really smart kids who love books and are able to grasp the reality of their situations without being sentimental or maudlin. The new kid-with-cancer stereotype seems to be the kid who complains occasionally but is grateful to be alive, and who makes fun of the perception that kids with cancer are noble and brave. The love for this book is unending-- I have heard from several high schoolers who have enjoyed this.
Weaknesses: Aside from An Abundance of Katherines, I've never been fond of Green's work, which is weird, because as a teen I would have been his target demographic-- smart, quirky, outspoken. This was certainly clever, had its moments, was well-written, but didn't knock my socks off. Since this is not a middle grade book due to sex, occasional language, and polysyllabic introspection, it doesn't really matter.

Singer, Nicky. Under Shifting Glass. 
19 February 2013, Chronicle Books
Copy Received from the Publisher

Jess is still struggling with the death of a beloved great aunt with whom she shared a love of piano playing when she has to deal with another family hardship-- her mother gives birth to a set of conjoined twins. Jess' supportive family pulls together to deal with this, but it is still difficult. It doesn't help that her best friend, Zoe, is kind of grossed out by the twins and increasingly interested in things that Jess isn't. When Jess finds an odd glass bottle in a desk left to her by her great aunt, she feels that it is somehow imbued with special powers. For a school project, Jess and Zoe interview a woman at a Buddhist temple about her beliefs, and Jess becomes more and more convinced that the bottle somehow holds the fate of the twins. Clem and Richie are scheduled for surgery to separate them, but share a liver, and have numerous health crises before the surgery can occur. Jess employs a lot of magical thinking to help the twins (making snowmen in their likeness, playing the "sidewalk crack game"), and discovers secrets about her great aunt that she didn't know. Will the bottle really help the twins survive?
Strengths: This is a beautiful book (Chronicle uses the best paper around) and is written in very lovely, lyrical prose. Jess' emotional state is realistically and painfully portrayed, and I can't think of another middle grade book that includes conjoined twins.
Weaknesses: Very British and rather odd. I can't for the life of me think of a single student in my school who would want to read this, so I'm sending it on to the public library. I found the Buddhist philosophy interesting, but students will probably just be baffled at the discussion of what happens to spirits when they die. (They hang out until a man and woman have sex, and then go into new babies.)

Boyne, John. The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket.
2 August 2012, Random House
Book from Young Adult Books Central and reviewed there

Eleanor and Alistair Brocket are perfectly normal, as are their children, Henry and Melanie. When Barnaby is born, however, he upsets their perfect life because he does not obey gravity-- he floats. This poses many problems, especially as Barnaby grows older. He is sent to a school with very low expectations-- Graveling Academy-- where he doesn't learn much but at least makes a friend before the school burns to the ground. Barnaby's parents make him wear heavy sandbags so he doesn't float away, but after he inadvertently calls attention to the family, his parents decide that dealing with him for eight years is enough, and his mother takes him on a walk and cuts holes in his sandbags. Floating away, he runs into two friends who are in a hot air balloon. They think that being different is a fine thing, and take Barnaby back to their coffee plantation in Brazil before putting him on a plane back to Australia. Instead of going there, Barnaby goes to New York City, where he has several adventures while trying to locate a friend of the coffee plantation owners. Barnaby continues his travels, meeting all sorts of eccentric people who embrace their own differences, but eventually comes to the attention of an evil man who runs a "Freak circus". In escaping that, he ends up being rescued by a space shuttle. When the astronauts bring him home and reunite him with his parents, doctors examining him after his adventure tell his parents that his antigravity condition could be fixed. While his parents are ecstatic, Barnaby is sure that he doesn't want to change who he is, and decides to set off on his own yet again.
Strengths: This book would be good for fans of Roald Dahl who enjoy reading about really horrible adults. This also struck me as a bit like The Little Prince. Barnaby is able to travel all around the world and meet people who have very large differences, but can still celebrate those differences.
Weaknesses:  This was a rather odd book. While fans of British children's fiction will adore this, it might be a hard sell to the average US young reader. I will probably be sending my copy on to another school library.

Guy Friday-- Cartwheel

Collard, Sneed. Cartwheel: A Sequel to Double Eagle
13 December 2013, Bucking Horse Books
Copy received from author.

Mike is trying to settle in for the summer with his father, stepmother, and baby brother, but he'd rather be home than spending time in Florida. When Kyle shows up at his door in a beat up Bel Air, he's certainly up for a road trip and to renew the friendship the two formed in Double Eagle.  While Mike's father is a little reluctant to let him go, it's 1975, and young people were allowed a lot more freedom then! Kyle is now an emancipated minor after the death of his mother and desertion of his stepfather, and is determined to go to Alabama to pick up his sister, Annie. Annie is staying with an aunt and uncle, but claims that the uncle is abusive and she can't stay with them. Once the trio is assembled, they decide to investigate another coin related mystery, this time concerning the "cartwheel" a silver dollar manufactured by the government but supposedly destroyed before they could be distributed. If one of these existed, stolen from the mint somehow, it would be worth a huge amount. The best place to locate one of these, the group decides, is to head to the mint in Denver. Unfortunately, Mike's parents aren't thrilled about this trip, and the group spends a lot of time avoiding the police as well as buying and selling coins to get enough money for gas and food. When they make it to Denver, they connect with a coin dealer named Dan who was working at the mint at the time the cartwheels were produced, and who thinks that if the group can locate the original presses, some coins might have been stuck in them. Time is running short, however, and if coins are to be found, the group needs to hurry before the authorities catch up with them.
Strengths: Ah, the open road out west in a Bel Air. Could anything be better? Yes! Searching for long lost coins that could be worth huge amounts of money! I do like the fact that for Mike, the search is really more important than actually finding the coins. Readers today will have a hard time grasping that Mike was not connected to both his mother and father by cell phone every step of the journey, but that's the beauty of the story. All of the details of place are vivid-- I could just see the coin shops they visited and feel the heat and dust wafting through the windows of the Bel Air as they cruised down the back roads.
Weaknesses: Both Mike and Annie's lines are written in a slight dialect, and dialect always drives me a bit batty. I think that's just me, though.