Super Villains

Thomson, Jamie. Dark Lord: School's Out (Fiend in Need in the UK)
4 February 2014, Walker Children's
E ARC from Netgalley.com

In the wake of Dark Lord: The Early Years,  Dirk is dismayed to find that he hasn't been sent back to the Darklands, but Sooz has! He is stuck with Christopher back at the Purejoie's house, under the care of the malevolent nanny, Dumpsy Deary, aka The White Witch. While Dirk makes his plans to travel back home, reconfiguring a cell phone so he can communicate with Sooz, Sooz is doing her best to stay firm with all of Dirk's loyal minions. At first, they think she is just a little girl and are ready to destroy her, but when she shows them the ring that Dirk gave her, they figure she is his betrothed and make her the Moon Queen. She manages to have the Iron Tower repainted, and makes allies of everyone from Orcs to Paladins. She even advocates getting rid of slavery and paying humans to do work! Things go well until Hasdruban attacks and captures her; luckily, Dirk and Chris manage to make it back to the Darklands. Will Dirk revert to his evil ways? Will Sooz and Chris stay in the Darklands? More importantly, does Orc snot ever stain the floor?
Strengths: Lines like this "a big breakfast of bacon, pancakes, and maple syrup. Or as Dirk called it: "The crispy flesh of his slain enemies with pancakes made from the Dough of Doom, and covered in the sweet succulent syrupy blood of angels." (pages384-85, E ARC) Once again, this was a funny, convincing story of a typical fantasy Dark Lord sucked into our world, and a human sucked into a fantasy one. While not video gamed based at all, this would be a great read for students who have played too much Runescape.
Weaknesses: This got a little long, although it never became so complicated that I couldn't follow the story, for which I was grateful.


Kraatz, Jeremy. Villains Rising (The Cloak Society #2) 
October 1st 2013 by HarperCollins

In this sequel to The Cloak Society, Alex and the remainder of the Junior Rangers are hiding out at Amp's house, but of course they are imperiled. They take in another kid with superpowers, Bug, and infiltrate the underground base of the Cloak society.

Then I lost the rest of the notes I took on the book, and by that time the book was already checked out again. The students really like this series, and I appreciate the gray area in which it exists. Not overly wild about the new cover (Ghost looks a bit odd), but this is a great series to add if your readers like Anderson's Sidekicked, Cody's Super, or books with a lot of action, adventure, and random super powers.

Families in Difficulty

Strasser, Todd. No Place. 
January 28th 2014 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers 

Dan has everything going for him-- he's a baseball star with promises of scholarships for college, he has a great girlfriend, and he is popular in school. Things are a bit tight at home because his mother has been out of work for four years, but when his father loses his job working with disadvantaged youth, the family loses their home and has to move in with an uncle. Things don't go well there, because the uncle thinks the father is a loser who's not trying hard enough to support his family, and soon the family moves into a tent in Dignityville, a shanty town set up by the city government. Dan had previous met a girl at school, Meg, who is in the town because her father has cancer and his bills have crippled the family. Her brotherAubrey helps with the administration of the tent city and also works in a restaurant. Dan's family settles in better than he does. Dan has to shower at school, get free lunch, and worry that college is not even a good choice. His mother wants to start a community garden and his father is off acting mysterious. To make matters worse, the uncle is advocating that the tent city be dismantled because it is bringing down property values. When Aubrey is badly beaten, Dan starts to suspect his father might be somehow involved, and things come to a head when a protest does indeed cause all of the residents to move out and no longer gather in one place.
Strengths: This is a timely story of a family on hard times. Luckily, Strasser has reigned himself in and it is also middle grade appropriate, even though the main character is older. This will be well received by readers who like Can't Get There from Here and If I Grow Up. Read alikes would include Bauer's Almost Home and Cooley's Shelter.
Weaknesses: This started with the beating up of Aubrey and then flashed back, which was just a bit confusing.It also would have been helpful to have a page or two of real life tent cities at the back.


Osborne, Jill. Riley Mae and the Rock Shocker Trek
January 28th 2014 by Zonderkidz
E ARC from Netgalley.com

Riley Mae's father is in advertising, and one of his clients is developing a line of athletic shoes for girls. When Riley is asked to try some on, the company is impressed with her and wants her to be their spokesperson. Her mother, a policewoman, is unsure whether this is a good idea, but the family prays about it and decides to let Riley do it. The whole line of shoes bears Riley's name, and there so many photo shoots that Riley is not able to play as much softball as she would like, and she is resigned to being a "floater" on the team. Her friend T.J. isn't happy, especially when Riley's replacement, Rusty, doesn't do a great job. Riley finds out why-- Rusty's father has been out of work for a year. There's no money for shoes, and sometimes no money for food. Riley tries to help out, getting a pair of pricey shoes from her company in Rusty's size and even going to WalMart and buying food for Rusty with her own money. Riley enjoys being a spokesperson, but it's a lot of hard work. Flip, the photographer, and Fawn, the make up girl and personal assistant, make it fun, and Riley becomes close with both of them. When the company wants to do a photo shoot at the Half Dome, Flip, Fawn, her father, and a magazine reporter all accompany her, but the hike turns treacherous, especially since Flip and Fawn are not quite the people they appear to be.
Strengths: This had some good moments. I liked how Riley had to struggle with time management to get everything done and to hang out with her friends. I liked how she wanted to help Rusty. The gender roles in this were good; having her mother be a police officer was a nice touch. The mystery.thriller at the end was well done, too.
Weaknesses: This could have been two books; one concerned with Rusty's family, and one with the mystery of Flip and Fawn. Having both in this book seemed rushed. And, while I know that Zondervan is a Christian press, this had a lot of rather boring details about church and the family praying, and even got into some rather rude territory. Riley asks her mother what she would say to someone who doesn't believe Jesus died for her, and the mother replies basically that such a person is just crazy. Rather offensive, especially since I have a fair number of readers in my school who are not Christian.

Guy Friday-- New Kid

Green, Tim. New Kid.
March 4th 2014 by Harper Childrens

Tommy Rust is doing well in his baseball game when his father appears, orders him to come, and drives off to a new life where Tommy becomes Brock Nickerson. This has happened before, but Brock is getting sick of it, and when loser Nigel picks a fight with him, Brock wallops him. Of course, Brock's father is furious that Brock has brought attention on himself, but Nigel now thinks that Brock is cool and invites him to smash the windows of the gym teacher/coach who broke up the fight and ripped their shirts. Coach Hudgens is an unorganized alcoholic who is reeling from the death of his son in an auto accident 16 years before, and his travel baseball team hasn't had a winning season since Barrett Malone, who now plays pro ball. Brock is such a good ball player that even though Coach caught him and Nigel throwing rocks at his house, he wants Brock to be on the team. Brock's father doesn't want him to travel because people want him dead-- the same people who killed Brock's mother. Things go well with the ball season, although there are ups and downs, but before long the past catches up with the Nickersons. What is more important to Brock-- having a life, or staying with his father and all his mystery and danger?
Strengths: Green can write a compelling story with all sorts of good elements: strong characters, bit of mystery, lots of sports details. My favorite part of his writing is always the great girl characters. In this, we have Bella, the coach's niece.
Weaknesses: These err a bit on the cheesy/over the top side for me personally, but the students don't think so. The coach is flawed right down to his yellowed teeth, and we're never exactly clear on what Brock's father has done to lead to their life on the lam. Still, I always buy a copy of these when they come out, and buy two if they are about football.

Pet Peeve/Rant of the Day: 
Death is not amusing. Not amusing to have to deal with, and not amusing to read about. I'm tired of reading about characters dealing with death, mainly because they seem to deal with it so poorly. Over the past weekend I read On the Road to Find Out, where the girl is devastated by the death of a pet, and The Chapel Wars where the boy is grieving his father and the girl her grandfather. Hung Up had a missing sister and a brother trying to hurt himself. In A Horse Called Hero we have a dead mother, and the foster father/reverend dies. That's just my reading during the past week.(And last night-- Wish You Were Italian, where older teen dealing poorly with death of father. I left off where grandmother was in coma, so I hope she survives, at least!)

Can we PLEASE let some middle grade parents live?

But, if you want super depressing and young adult (a couple of f-bombs), there's There Will Come a Time coming out in May that deals with a boy whose twin sister has died, and he's having trouble moving on.

People move on. It's the only thing that can be done. That the coach in New Kid dealt so poorly with the loss of his son that 16 years later he is still alcoholic-- it's not a good message. It's like reading Judy Blume's Deenie when she goes nuts and cuts off her hair when she gets a back brace. I didn't do that when I got my back brace. If we've got to have people die in middle grade literature-- and I think that it's been done enough that we can call a moratorium on it for a while-- let's at least have people dealing with it in a constructive and helpful fashion.

Of course, where's the drama in that?

I Get to be the EVIL Twin

Apparently, I was on Jeopardy.

No, I wasn't, but ANOTHER middle school librarian was. All I can say is that she has awesome fashion sense.

We all have a doppelganger somewhere!

Binge Reading Phoebe Rivers!

Well. We are having quite the love affair with Saranormal in my library. I have a group of about ten girls who  are all working their way through the first books in the series. I've stopped reshelving the books because they are always on reserve for someone, and it's absolutely crucial I take the book to the next person in line immediately! These weigh in at about 150 pages each, need to be read in order, and take the girls about one day to read.

We had a snow day on 5 February, and we had just gotten most of the rest of the series in (still missing book 10! Wah!). I had bought book 6 with an Amazon gift credit because it was twice backordered by Baker and Taylor. I spent the morning reading the rest of these, which took me about 20-30 minutes each. So! Whew! Here's my brief description of each.

Read the review of Ghost Town (#1) HERE.
Read reviews of #2 and #3 HERE. 

Rivers, Phoebe. Spirits of the Season (Saranormal #4)
October 2nd 2012 by Simon Spotlight 

For twelve days around Christmas, the spirits can get closer to Sara than is comfortable. She does meet the ghost of Franklin, Lady Azura's first love, and has to help solve his problem. Sara's dad is dating Janelle, but her daughters Chloe and Dina want Sara to help break the two up. Sara is concerned about what to buy for Jayden's Christmas present, and finds out the really big family secret that I already knew, having read book #5 already. This is why the books kind of need to be read in order. Nice holiday feel to this one.




Rivers, Phoebe. Giving Up the Ghost (Saranormal #5)
October 2nd 2012 by Simon Spotlight

There's a lot of negative energy surrounding Sara and Azura, and accidents keep happening around the house. Sara begins to realize that she can hear people's thoughts! This is a problem, especially since her birthday is coming up and she can't have a party because one is being held for Jayden's going away. Sara keeps having bad dreams, and a former client of Lady Azura's keeps showing up-- Nina Oliver, who was a lawyer who could hear people's thoughts. She won lots of cases, but alienated all her friends and family. She's given the power to Sara, who must get rid of it. (Even though the power is not strong enough to hear what people are really thinking about Jayden's party. Hmmm.)

Read reviews of  #5 and #8 HERE.

Rivers, Phoebe. The Secrets Within (Saranormal #7)
Published April 16th 2013 by Simon Spotlight

Lily's mom is doing a fund raiser for the school-- a huge flea market along the boardwalk-- but Lady Azura refuses to donate any of her possessions, although she's willing to write a check. Lily soon finds out why: she can get vibes from things she touches, and they give her visions of the person who had them before. This makes wearing vintage jewelry impossible. (This would make my thrift store wardrobe VERY complicated!) A lost dog shows up at Lily's, and Lily really wants to keep him, but Sara knows she could find the owners, one of whom may be a super cute boy! One of Lady Azura's former clients comes back to haunt Lily and wants her to help find out who stole her jewelry, using her new found power of psychometry. Due to a convoluted series of events, Sara manages to find the pearls and the owners of the dog AND meet the cute boy, so everything works out perfectly.

Rivers, Phoebe. Playing With Fire (Saranormal #9)
Published August 6th 2013 by Simon Spotlight 

Mason and Sara have been texting, but she hasn't told Lily about this, even though they are mainly just friends. When Lily's family invites Sara to spend time at the Helliman House hotel, the girls set off to have a good time, meeting cute boys Owen and Wyatt, along with their friend Kayla. Things are bad at Helliman House, so the owner has brought in Laura, who can't see ghosts but does a decent job at dispatching them. Sara can tell that Laura is effective, but she can also tell that one of the ghosts is targeting Lily and wants to harm her. There was a fire in the 1920s that killed the family, and the daughter, Belinda, has her mind set on Lily. Sara is able to stop anything bad from happening, but Lily is slightly peeved that Sara has been keeping secrets from her. At least now Lily knows that Sara can see ghosts!


Rivers, Phoebe. A Perfect Storm (Saranormal #10)
October 15th 2013 by Simon Spotlight 

Even if I wanted to walk through eight inches of snow to get to the library, they are closed until noon AND they don't have this series. RATS!!! Must obtain.

From Goodreads: A hurricane hits the New Jersey shore, and while Sara’s hometown of Stellamar is spared from any major damage, things will still never be the same. At home, a spirit reveals to Sara that he has a secret about her mother...but then the spirit is spooked by the storm and leaves before Sara can find out more. Sara enlists the help of her best friend, Lily, and together they try to find out what other secrets might be hidden away in the old house.

At school, there are some new faces as kids from a neighboring town start attending Stellamar Middle School since their own school was damaged in the storm. One of the new kids is Mason, Sara’s summer crush. Will sparks continue to fly between Sara and Mason?

Rivers, Phoebe. Yesterday and Today (Saranormal #11) 
December 3rd 2013 by Simon Spotlight  

Lily and Sara have found a diary that Sara's mom Natalie wrote, and Sara starts to read it. Of course, her psychometry means that she sees scenes of her mother as she is reading, so she has a very vivid feel for what things were like for her mother in 1984, complete with flashdance outfits (But no mall hair? Come on!) Sara also starts seeing young men on the boardwalk who warn her that she has to prevent a tragedy, which turns out to be involved with the shady business deal Lily's dad is getting involved in. Luckily, the girls are able to employ research skills and present copies of old newspaper articles in order to avoid a costly tragedy, and they don't have to tell that they got the information from ghosts. On the Mason front, he is trying to ignore his own powers, so things don't work out with him and Sara. Sara also finds out a lot about her mother, who at one point had powers but wished them away. A convergence of events leads Sara to believe that she, too, can have a wish, but her wish is to meet her mother. 

And then it all ENDS!!! All of the other books have included a preview chapter, but there's NOTHING. NOTHING!!! Not that I'm ridiculously addicted or anything. I think it may be the END. (**Sobbing quietly into afghan.**) Okay. Here's the scoop.

Strengths: I like how the series builds on itself and does offer explanations for why Sara keeps getting new powers. Lady Azura is very helpful, although Sara's father is rather clueless. I like that Sara doesn't stay with Jayden, but moves around to other boys; that seems realistic, as does her friendship with Lily. Nice sense of place, and good mysteries. I can see why my readers are so fond of these. .
Weaknesses: Obviously, a lot of preoccupation with death in these. I do feel that there's too much palpable longing for Natalie. The father can't seem to move on, and Sara is just obsessed even though her mother died giving birth to her. I'm not sure this is healthy.

Also, in the flashbacks to 1984, Natalie talks about going to the mall with a friend, but in Spirits of the Season, Franklin can't find Lady Azura because of a mall built nearby in about 2003. Are there two malls this close together? Hmmm.

Susan Marcus Bends the Rules

Cutler, Jane. Susan Marcus Bends the Rules
March 14th 2014 by Holiday House 
ARC from Baker and Taylor

Susan and her family move from New York City to Missouri when the company he works for goes out of business in 1943. A small town in the South is a big change, and when Susan realizes that she won't be allowed to be friends with Loretta just because Lorretta is black, she is angry. Her friends Liz and Marlene think that this is fairly normal, just like the fact that black people can't go to the pool, movies or live in the same buildings as white people do. When Susan investigates, she finds out that the Jim Crow laws don't extend to the bus, and the four girls make plans to "bend the rules" and ride the bus together.
Strengths: The real appeal of this book are the details about daily life at this time. The war affects each family in different ways, form Loretta's mother wanting to move to California to work in a factory to the rationing that causes everyone difficulties. There is a Chinese restaurant in town that is attacked because people think the owners are Japanese, and there are also descriptions of writing letters, skating, and other bygone everyday activities. The Civil Rights plot line is fine.
Weaknesses: Holiday House's book formatting makes me not want to purchase their books again and again. 1980s style artwork, tiny font, and inadequate white space make these very unattractive. Really, clip art appeals more to students than drawings and paintings. The stories are not bad, but I can spot Holiday House cover art at fifty paces.


Something like this (maybe with some color, now that I think of it, a 1940s green, perhaps) would almost be better.

Sky Raiders

Mull, Brandon. Sky Raiders (Five Kingdoms #1)
March 11th 2014 by Aladdin 
ARC from Baker and Taylor, along with nice t shirt I gave to student.

Cole is at a haunted house on Halloween with his friends from school when many of them are taken by creepy people through a portal... and he follows, trying to rescue them. He ends up in the Outskirts (which is made up of five kingdoms), and gets captured by the same slavers that have his friends. On the way to the main city, Cole is sold to the Sky Raiders who board floating castles and loot them before the buildings escape into the cloudwall. It's dangerous work, and Cole must complete 50 missions before he can do less dangerous chores. He meets Mira, who is a Shaper. The High King is after her, and when her protector dies in a castle raid, Cole and Mira make plans to escape. They later find out a secret about her background which explains why the Legionnaires are after them. Eventually Cole and Mira, along with Jace and Twitch, get through a bizarre place called Brady's Wilderness and head to Greta in Middlebranch, who will supposedly help them. Cole finds out that people from Earth have more Shaping powers, which is why so many of them are stolen as slaves, and he still plans to rescue his friends.
Strengths: Mull's books are very popular in my library, and he does some fun characters. There is also a lot of action adventure, and the Outskirts is an interesting place. I'll have to buy the series; already, students are drooling over the ARC I have.
Weaknesses: Frequent Readers know how I am with fantasy books. After a while, I just can't take any more. While I adored Fablehaven, I haven't vibrated to Mull's other series as well. I thought this one in particular was not solid on world building. The Outskirts is explained in bits and pieces, and is comprised of a random assortment of parts that is confusing. I would have liked this a lot better if things were explained more and (I hate to say this) if there were a map at the beginning of the book.


Head on over to Writer's Digest if you are an author and would like a shot at their contest.

Fun fact-- the only money I ever made from my writing was when WD paid me $40 for a poem in 1984!

MMGM-- World War II

What better way to celebrate Middle Grade Monday than to head over to Middle Grade March  at Deb Marshall's blog, or perhaps hop over to read a lot of good book reviews at  Middle Shelf Magazine.

You can also check out the list of Middle Grade Bloggers on pages 52-53.




Farrell, Marie Cronk. Pure Grit:How WWII Nurses in the Pacific Survived Combat and Prison Camp
March 1st 2014 by Abrams Books for Young Readers
E ARC from Netgalley.com

There are so many facets of WWII that haven't been addressed as much in literature for children, and both the role of women and the Pacific theater are covered in this well formatted nonfiction title. Based on extensive research from first hand accounts, the lives of a group of Army nurses stationed in the Philippines is described in detail. From the country club atmosphere before the war to the extreme deprivations of being held captive by the Japanese, the struggles of daily life are depicted in a sensitive but unflinching way. There are lots of great pictures and copies of letters that add a lot. I certainly learned a lot, and the readers who want more information about anything related to WWII will find the accounts of  Corregidor and Bataan fascinating. The fact that the women not only survived he bombings, fighting and deprivations but then went on to live long and productive lives was inspiring.
Strengths: This was extremely readable, with interesting anecdotes well strung together. Again, the research and use of primary resources was great. The illustrations and format of this book were well done, even reading it on an e reader. I can't wait to get my hands on the print edition.
Weaknesses: This is a bit on the long side, and may take some selling to students, but it is a must have for any middle school and high school collection.



Sax, Aline, Strzelecki, Caryl (Illustrations), Watkinson, Laura (translator). The War within These Walls  
October 16th 2013 by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers

Misha is living in the Warsaw Ghetto with his family, and even though conditions are worsening for everyone, Misha thinks that his father's job as a doctor will keep them safe. For a while, this means a little bit of food and safety, but as the Nazis confine people more and more, even this disappears. Misha starts using the sewers to leave the Ghetto to find food, and his young sister follows him. This works well until the Nazis start to use flame throwers to clear out the sewers, and his sister never returns. When Misha finds that people are being sent to camps, he starts to work with the Resistance, who feel that if they are going to die anyway, they might as well die fighting. Many of them do, but Misha survives and manages to flee the Ghetto.
Strengths: This is not a graphic novel, but has lots of pictures that accompany the text. This will appeal to many readers. The descriptions of the deprivations and inhumanity are again unflinching. Our 8th grade studies the Holocaust, and this will be a good addition to the collection, but it is not for the faint of heart.
Weaknesses: Other reviewers have said that the narrow format represents the narrowing of prospects for the Jews, but it also caused the words to be rather small. The pictures didn't add much to the story for me, and the extensive use of blue ink is perhaps the reason for the odd smell of the book. This is also a paper-over-board hardcover without a dust jacket, which will not hold up well. I liked the story, and the translation was good, but I wasn't fond of the format of the book.

Setterington, Ken. Branded by the Pink Triangle
April 15th 2013 by Second Story Press
Stonewall Children's and Young Adults' Literature Award, 2014

This is certainly a very well researched book about the plight of homosexual men during the Holocaust. Starting with an explanation of the accepting culture in Berlin from the late 1800s until after the first world war, this gives a very complete account of why and how the Nazis persecuted men who were perceived to be homosexual. The inclusion of information about individuals who have recounted their tales makes this especially poignant, and there is a chapter dedicated to the state of the homosexual movement after that time. Definitely deserving of its award.

It's Marvelous Middle Grade Monday at Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe and What Are You Reading? day at Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers. It's also Nonfiction Monday at Anastasia Suen's blog.

Dogs.

Selbert, Kathryn. War Dogs: Churchill & Rufus
February 1st 2013 by Charlesbridge

Okay, sad but true fact: I read books to my dog. Since Sylvie looks a bit like Rufus (but with less of a poodle hair cut), I had to pick this one up. It was absolutely adorable, and had good information about Churchill during WWII as well.  It's hard for those of us in the US to really understand how the British feel about their dogs-- they often aren't just members of the family, as we claim here, they are truly best friends. I attended an Anglican church in Athens, Greece where the minister's dog came to the service every week. Just trotted right up the aisle and sat under the first pew.

Of course, a sadder book, and one that would be harder to write, would be a book about Hitler's last dog, Blondi. At one point, Hitler even got another dog, Bella, to keep Blondi company.

Dogs bring out the best in even the absolute worst people.

http://www.dogits.com/winston-churchill-and-rufus-poodle/

http://ww2db.com/image.php?image_id=10878 

Boyer, Cecile. Run, Dog
March 11th 2014 by Chronicle Books 
Copy provided by publisher. 

In this mainly wordless picture book, children are jumping on a trampoline when a red ball gets thrown off, and the dog goes after it. The path of the ball is cleverly followed by use of quarter and half sized pages that show the reactions of the people (who are shown in silhouette) who get in the way. There are a few action words (Jump! Catch!) to show transition, and there could be some good discussion about how the people who have the ball thrust in their midst react to it.. The illustrations pop on plenty of white space and and are simply drawn in bold colors that include not only the primary colors shown on the cover, but also some 1960s inspired purples, pinks and turquoises.

I was never a fan of wordless books, but  I can see this being a good addition to a collection if libraries have an audience for them.

Saturday Morning Cartoons-- Photoplay!

Bronstein, M.J. Photoplay!: Doodle, Design, Draw
March 4th 2014 by Chronicle Books
Copy provided by the publisher

It's been a long, cold winter, and when my children were small, this kind of weather necessitated a lot of drawing. There were the Ed Emberley Thumbprint Art books that left me with permanently stained digits, rolls of paper for murals, regular coloring books, "outside the box" coloring books, and some math oriented tessellation and pattern related tomes. Photoplay! is an excellent addition to this type of drawing book. Each page consists of a photograph and a prompt ( "Grace is walking her pet.", "Dylan sees a snow monster.", "There are zombies in this house.") with considerable white space left for a drawing. Bronstein includes a brief forward about drawing on photographs and has an interesting web site, Inthisplayground.com

Taylor, Chloe. Cute as a Button (Sew Zoey #5)
January 14th 2014 by Simon Spotlight

Zoe starts to realize that her sewing requires a lot of money, and she's not willing to ask her father for any more money. After she makes cute clothes for her Aunt Lulus dog, Draper, and people want to buy them, Zoe has an idea. She decides to start a Myfundmaker.com campaign to get followers of her blog and others to contribute so she can raise $500 to start a dog clothing business. Things go pretty well, and she and her brother work on videos and incentives to get people interested, when the unthinkable happens. Draper, who is 14, passes away. Zoe is devastated, as is her aunt. Zoe has some other drama in her life-- her father starts dating, and her friend Libby thinks that Zoe doesn't like her because of some mishaps involve their "twin" dresses. Eventually, Lulu decides to adopt a new dog from a shelter, and "Buttons" is a new source of inspiration for Zoe, whose business gets so many orders that she has to contact another business to do her sewing. The next book, A Tangled Thread, comes out 18 March 2014.
Strengths: There are some nice and realistic relationships portrayed. Zoe misses her mother, but wants her dad to be happy. Her aunt is supportive. Her friends have the normal ups and downs of middle schoolers. It's also nice to see that Zoe is willing to work hard for what she wants and doesn't expect everything to be handed to her.
Weaknesses: The crowd sourcing, while certainly timely, seems unrealistic, but then so did the blog, the contests Zoe has won, and the secret admirer who sends her things. That's probably the fantasy element that readers like best.

Guy Friday- The Great Day

Gomi, Taro. The Great Day.
March 4th 2014 by Chronicle Books 
Previous published in 1984
Copy provided by the publisher

Using his trademarked simple drawings in bright colors that made Everyone Poops! such a favorite in my house years ago, Taro Gomi shows us the enthusiasm one young boy shows as he rushes through his day, wanting to be first in everything from eating breakfast to leaping out the door to taking a bath and going to bed. 


This is a simple to read book that early readers would take to well, but I had some trouble with the dated illustrations. When I showed them to Picky Reader, she was able to quote from one of our favorites, Little Mommy: "Billy is Daddy/ He works in the city./ He has a new car./ Isn't it pretty?" I guess this goes to show that reading books with gender stereotypes doesn't necessarily harm them (she's an ardent feminist), but I would have thought this book would have been updated. This picture no longer even makes sense!

Guy Friday- Skin and Bones

This is not one for the middle school crowd, but it is a good addition to an underserved market-- problem books for teen boys. If books about eating disorders are popular at your library, definitely take a look at this one. Whitman is getting into some interesting Young Adult ground lately!

Shahan, Sherry. Skin and Bones
March 1st 2014 by Albert Whitman & Company
E ARC from Netgalley.com

Jack ends up in residential treatment over the summer for his anorexia. At 5'11" and barely 100 pounds, he still wants to keep his weight down, having been traumatized by a sales lady who thought husky jeans would fit him. He is resistant to treatment, and keeps trying to eat as little as possible and exercise as much as he can. His roommate, Lard, is a compulsive over eater but has lost some weight and is back for the summer to do a brush-up on his coping skills, which included helping out in the kitchen and nurturing his passion for healthy foods. Jack (nicknamed "Bones" by Lard) meets Alice, a ballerina with severe anorexic problems, and starts to hang out with her at night, encouraging her with her ballet. While he gains a little weight, Jack still isn't over the issues that have caused him to start restricting his diet so severely. When Alice is hospitalized after Jack substitutes menus for her, he feels badly, but it takes Alice's running away and eventual collapse into a coma before he starts to realize that he can't let the disease control his life.
Strengths: This is one of the best depictions of eating disorder that I've read, and the fact that it addresses a male with an eating disorder is great. Like all books on this topic, it clearly points out that these situations rarely end well. I also liked that there were teens who ate too little and who ate too much in the same program.
Weaknesses: This has multiple uses of the f-bomb, marijuana smoking, and way too much talk about sex (and some action) to be appropriate for middle school. This is frequently the case with topics of eating disorders, and is really too bad, since it is a topic that interests middle school students, usually starting in February of 7th grade, when all of the girls want to read depressing books. For boys, this starts about a year later!

Busy Bunny Days

Britta, Teckentrup. Busy Bunny Days: In the Town, On the Farm & At the Port
February 25th 2014 by Chronicle Books 
Copy provided by the publisher

I never thought of this before, but this book is sort of like a mystery for the prekindergarten crowd. The delightfully bright and fun pictures are dense with details of people going about their business, but every page has some questions at the top, such as "What kind of boat is helping Peter Puffin? How many umbrellas are there? Where did Benny Badge take cover during the storm?"  This is a fantastic book to keep in the car for long rides or in case you end up having to spend lots of time waiting around with small children. Hours can be spent looking at the pictures and pointing out the different characters and what they are doing.

I know this because I spent lots of quality time with Richard Scarry's What Do People Do All Day, or something like it. I got a Richard Scarry treasury for Christmas in about 1972, and lugged it around with me when my own children were small. Busy Bunny Days reminded me very strongly of Scarry's work.

Double Digit

Monaghan, Annabel. Double Digit (Digit #2)
January 7th 2014 by HMH Books for Young Readers 

Digit is off to MIT and gets off to a good start; she finds a group of hackers on her floor, her roommate is awesome, her RA is kind of hot and works for the professor whose work enthralls her, and John is willing to visit with her on weekends. However, when he visits the first time, he tells Digit that she needs to have the full college experience, which she won't have if she keeps visiting with him. Fresh from her broken heart, Digit tries to throw herself into her work with a professor, and ends up hacking into the Department of Defense to get information for which she has clearance. It's all an issue of timing, she insists: if she had to wait around, she would be late for a toga party. Several people have been watching her every key stroke, so this little incident brings her to the attention of not only John's father, but the evil Jonas Furnis. John and Barbie-like agent Spencer come to relocate her, but instead Spencer works for Furnis and take her (along with her visiting brother, Danny) off to a remote farm from which Furnis hopes to bomb New York City in an effort to convince the US to start living in harmony with the earth. Once again, only Digit can save the world from a certain apocalypse. Once she does, she returns to MIT to check in with her parents, fight a bit with John, and manage to get into yet another critical situation from which she can escape only by using her mad code breaking skills.
Strengths: It's SO hard to find books set in college for middle grade readers, but this one does a great job of using innuendos about Digit and John's relationship, and being mercifully clean when it comes to language. This series is an absolute must if you have a fan base for Ally Carter's Gallagher Girls series. It's also a great book for showcasing a girl with awesome math skills.
Weaknesses: The back and forth with John about whether they should date or not gets wearisome. After all, Bass is a cutie, smart, and seems to like Digit. Romantic tension, I guess, but not my favorite.

N.B. Rare instance of a cover change for the better; unfortunately, I have the first book with the original cover. 

World Wednesday- At the Same Moment, Around the World

Perrin, Clotilde. At the Same Moment Around the World.
March 11th 2014 by Chronicle Books

I loved the cover of this book, with the events occurring around the world on it!  Starting at 6:00 a.m. in Senegal, we go around the world hour-by-hour, which is actually at the same time. We get very brief glimpses of local culture-- Ravshan and Yuliya ride a horse to market in Uzbekistan, Lilu eats lunch on a Himalayan mountain, Keiko sees carp streamers in Japan, and Ana sees a snake in a tree in the Amazon Rain Forest at 2:00 a.m. At the back of the book, there is a fold out map that shows where each of the countries and people would be, and there is even a brief bit of information about time and time keeping through history. Small children will take repeated exposures to this to understand how it can be both noon and midnight in the world at the same time, but this book is a good way to introduce the concept.

This brought to mind the around the world New Year's celebrations in 1999/200. My daughter was 6, and would have benefited from this book!

World Wednesday-- Big Air

Nicholson, Lorna Schultz. Big Air
3 March 2014, James Lorimer and Company
E ARC from Netgalley.com

Jax is glad to be at the Podium School, where he can concentrate on his snowboarding and not have to worry about his alcoholic brother or mother. He loves teaching and competing in snowboarding events, and living with the Martinos (who billet students from Podium) and his friend Rob is fabulous.  When his brother Marc shows up, though, Jax knows there will be problems. Marc is constantly in trouble with the law, and wants money from Jax to support his drug habit. When Jax refuses to give him anything, Marc shows up at the Martino's house with his friends while Jax and Rob are having a small party. At first, Jax is able to fend them off, but eventually the group breaks into the house and starts to steal things. When Rob confronts Marc, he is hit in the head with a snowboard and badly injured. Jax doesn't tell the police about his brother's involvement, which gets him in trouble later. One of the policemen is very negative about First People, and Jax is framed as being involved. Will Jax's involvement with his brother mean getting kicked out of Podium?
Strengths: I love the Lorimer sports books. This had such good details about snowboarding, but also a very riveting story.  Jax's cultural heritage is mentioned and is important to the story, but is not the entire story. This is a high interest/low level book, so while there are more "mature" topics mentioned (alcohol, drugs), good choices are always made. This makes this popular with some struggling readers who want "older" books instead of having to read Nate the Great.
Weaknesses: There are always a few instances in these books that show clearly that things are slightly different in Canada, but not so many that students can't understand the plot. May have to see if there are any Lorimer lacrosse or hockey books. Many of these even have Accelerated Reader tests.

I Didn't Do My Homework!

Cali, Davide and Chaud, Benjamin. I Didn't Do My Homework!
4 March 2014, Chronicle Books
Copy provided by the publisher

A teacher asks her student why he didn't do his homework, and he has an entire book of excuses, from a living room full of monkeys, to another dog eating his dog necessitating a trip to the vet, to grandpa having a jam session. At the end, his teacher doesn't believe him... because she has read the same book, which she has in her hand, giving the whole story that infinite number of reflections in the mirror quality of the woman on the Land O'Lakes butter box holding a butter box.

The translation of the original Polish text is very smooth, and the illustrations have an oddly 1970s vibe to them, reminiscent of Edward Gorey, but with more avocado. Very fun for elementary school students.

Game Over, Pete Watson.

Schrieber, Joe. Game Over, Pete Watson.
Illustrations by Andy Rash
March 11th 2014 by HMH Books for Young Readers
E ARC from Netgalley.com

Pete is all set to sneak over to the game store and purchase Brawl-a-Thon 3000 when he realizes that his mother has borrowed a much needed $20 from his savings. Ever the quick thinker, he hauls junk out of the basement and has an impromptu garage sale. Luckily, he gets $20 from an exterminator for his father's old CommandRoid gaming system. When he goes off to the store to buy the game, he sees his father kidnapped in front of him, and when the president appears on television spewing nonsense, Pete is informed by neighbor and retired teacher Mrs. Wertley that his father is a CIA data analyst, and the CommandRoid is really a portal to top secret CIA information. Pete's mother doesn't believe him that his father has been kidnapped, and sends him off to a birthday party at his friend Wesley's. Wesley's dad also has a CommandRoid, and the boys (along with three other friends and Wesley's sister) try to figure out what is going on. Too late, though-- they get kidnapped by the bug man and Wesley's father and taken to GameCon, where the men plan to release Brawl-a-Thon SuperMax as a multiplatform download and infect all of the computers in the world. Pete's father has already been "digitized" and is a character in the game, and when he realizes that time is running out, Pete also gets digitized in hopes of saving the world from mass destruction.
Strengths: Well, okay. This is a notebook novel about video games that has lots of action and adventure. Excuse me while I go preorder five copies out of my own pocket, since they will never be on the shelf. Really, this is pure brilliance, right down to the cover that looks like that video game with the blocky swimming pigs. (Minecraft, my daughter tells me. Minecraft.) I love Pete's single minded focus, and I especially love Mrs. Wertley. I want to be Mrs. Wertley, who at last sighting was "traveling with a rogue syndicate of retired teachers who have turned to high-tech computer crime to fund their international travel." With her Warriner's English Grammar. *Snerk*
Weaknesses: Does it matter? Okay. Supporting characters are a bit one dimensional, and there is a certain level of suspension of belief that has to occur to believe that people can be "digitized". Not that anyone will care, since there are about three middle grade novels that involve video games, and this is just plain funny.

This book just BEGS for the video trailer to be included. 

MMGM- Fighting Fire

Head over to Deb Marshall's blog for more about Middle Grade March!

So, the read-a-thon did not go well. My daughter and I were both flirting with sore throat/hit by truck type colds, and the forecast was for 8-10" of snow, and we got...TWO. So we were just out of sorts all weekend. I did get some reading done, but only nine books, since I spent most of Sunday staring listlessly at the pages of The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw. I wanted to finish the ARC because I have about five students who want it desperately, but that just did not happen. You know that's a bad weekend in my world!


Cooper,  Michael. Fighting Fire!: Ten of the Deadliest Fires in American History and How We Fought Them
March 4th 2014 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
E ARC from Netgalley.com

I must admit that I blanched a bit when I saw that this was over 200 pages long; it's tough to get students to read nonfiction over 64 pages. However, the way this book is set up, I think that students find this interesting. There are ten very different fires described, from a 1760 Boston fire I'd never heard about, to a New York pleasure boat fire in 1904 that killed over 1,000 people, to fires in San Francisco and California. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory and Cocoanut Grove fires, as well as 9/11 are covered as well. Each chapter describes vividly the circumstances that contributed to the extent of the fire, the main events of the fire, and how these fires were fought. How each shaped the ways that fire departments deal with fires made this especially interesting. This is a great book to have to use for Common Core nonfiction-- there are so many fiction books that would be paired well with chapters of this.

Klimo, Kate. Togo (Dog Diaries #4)
January 7th 2014 by Random House Books for Young Readers

Togo is a sickly pup who is not expected to survive, although sled dog racer Leonhard Seppala thought he had what it took to become a sled dog and didn't give up on him. After a misspent youth that included a very brief stint as a house pet, Togo's energies are harnessed into dog sled racing, and he proves to be a valuable asset to "Sepp". After winning several races, Togo has to be part of a team that takes medicine to Nome, Alaska for a diptheria epidemic. The leader of the team that did the last leg of the journey and arrived in Rome got all of the attention, and while we have all heard of Balto, few know that it was really Togo who did the largest sections of the journey.
Strengths: This series covers interesting topics of history from the dogs' points of view without veering into the weird or overly precious. The historical notes at the back about the real events (and in this case, accompanied with actual photographs of Togo) add a lot to this and make this series another good examples of books that can be used for Common Core. Great for reluctant readers as well .
Weaknesses:  A bit too much information on Togo's puppyhood for me, but still charming. I'm just sad that I didn't get Barry or the fifth book in my last order of the year.


Page, Stefan. We're Going to the Farmers' Market
March 4th 2014 by Chronicle Books
Copy provided by the publisher

If you need a board book as a present, this is a lovely and beautifully illustrated book about farm markets. Highly recommend.

But I'm old. My girls are old. They ate deadly peanut butter and full sugar jelly sandwiches on nonhomemade whole wheat bread packed in reusuable Bishphenol A spewing containers and nonorganic apples well scrubbedof alar, and washed it all down with hormone ridden, plastic encased COW milk. Reading books like this very vibrant and lovely board book makes me feel older than dirt and full of defunct and deadly parenting advice.

That said, this is a VERY pretty book, which would be great for young kids. My only real objection to the book is that the scansion of the verse is really quite off, but then I am even pickier about poetry in books than I am about the Latin, and that's saying a lot.

Reading nonfiction can't start too young ; this board book to introduce the children of hipsters to the joys of the farm market. The family buys and cooks fruits and veggies, Dad ices an organic, possibly carob and agave nectar laced cake, and everyone is excited about returning next week after putting on their cotton and recycled rubber Toms.(Not that, you know, I'm reading anything into the text...)

It's Marvelous Middle Grade Monday at Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe and What Are You Reading? day at Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers. It's also Nonfiction Monday at Anastasia Suen's blog.

Sunday Drive, Part II: The Tweedles Go Electric

Kulling, Monica. The Tweedles go Electric.
1 March 2014, Groundwood Books
Copy received from the publisher. 

Even after many of their neighbors have cars in 1903, the Tweedles hold out, preferring to ride bicycles until Mr. Tweedle decides to buy an electric car. Franny isn't all that excited, but her brother Francis is. When the family buys an electric car, people on the street make fun of them. They might get blown up! Still, the family enjoys driving around, and when a neighbor needs to go to the hospital suddenly, he is grateful that the Tweedle's car is working and that it is so simple to operate that Franny is able to drive it!
Strengths: To me, the point of historical fiction is to introduce children to what the world was like at different points in time. Children today can't begin to understand what it is like to not have automobiles around, or why people might have been afraid of electricity. This is a good introduction to what the world was like when cars were a new thing.
Weaknesses: The pictures in this book are a bit odd-- I was not understanding the mother's hair at all! I also thought that Franny was given a bit too much of a feminist outlook; certainly some women at the time would have become race car drivers, but there is a quote on one page, "Like most girls, she is more interested in higher education", that struck me as odd. In 1903, I don't think that most of the population in general was terribly interested in higher education, much less women. That said, my grandmother would have been almost exactly the same age as Franny, and while she went to college and became a teacher, she never learned to drive a car!

Sunday Drive-- Find Momo

 Has anyone taken a Sunday drive since the energy crisis in 1974? Probably not, but this is a fuel efficient substitute. Or a good reminder that some day, we will once again be able to see the grass!

Knapp, Andrew. Find Momo: Hide and Seek with an Adventurous Border Collie
March 4th 2014 by Quirk Books
Copy provided by the publisher

While I am not a very visual learner, I was very impressed by Mr. Knapp's photographs. His ability to locate interesting color and texture combinations in his travels and photograph them beautifully is impressive. The lighting in the pictures is really superb, as well. The fact that he can then hide his dog in these great pictures in amusing ways will intrigue people who grew up with Where's Waldo.

This is a really beautiful book of photographs. I'm debating whether to put this book in my middle school library, where the children will look for Momo but not fully appreciate the photography, or give it to a thirty-something friend who will appreciate the Neo Hipster Aesthetic of the entire project.

All I know is that I have to get the book out of my house. If my twenty year old daughter reads this, she will drop out of Kent State where she is majoring in accounting, try to find a Volkswagen van and a large dog, and take off across the country to try to be a freelance photographer. Or to find Andrew Knapp and say "Hey". Anyone who would support her dream of living on a self sufficient organic farm and escaping the routine life that, um, some of us have is quite the role model for her.

I used to be 20. Now even my dog prefers a comfortable chair. 













I adore getting books in the mail, and certainly Quirk (Find Momo) and Chronicle Books are very generous. I do get to keep books sent to me, so they usually end up in my school library, which is great, since I have spent all of the money from the school board for the year. I do try to write honest reviews in return.

That said, if other publishers would like to send me books, please keep in mind that my primary focus is fiction and nonfiction for students ages 10-14, with a focus on books for boys. I can't tell you how many paranormal romances I get through the Baker and Taylor ARC program, and I can't even review most of those. To save money, publishers should definitely e mail me first to see if I am interested in a book.  I love Netgalley.com because I don't have to worry about the paper ARC if a book isn't right for my blog or library.

That said, many thanks to Lara Starr at Chronicle Books for a fabulous box of goodness that arrived in the depth of winter storms and -25 degree weather that kept us home. I spent the good part of a snow day reading and reviewing these beautiful books, and I am just sorry that I am not competent at reviewing things outside of my demographic.

Arndt, Michael. Cat Says Meow: And Other Animalopoeia
March 4th 2014 by Chronicle Books
Copy received from publisher

This was really very clever.  The silhouettes of the animals include the letters in their names. The colors are vibrant, the text is simple, and this is a great book to use when teaching children animal sounds in United States English. The end papers in this book would make awesome nursery wallpaper, and I appreciated the inclusion of a squirrel (CHOMP) and rabbit (THUMP), which while still not answering the question of what they really "say", at least addresses the issue.

What I really want is an animal sounds around the world book. I never enjoyed reading these to my girls, though, because I felt an odd compulsion to completely make things up. I never gave in to it, since that might have ruined their early school careers, but every time I pick up one of these books, I want to say "The cow says 'oink'."

Saturday Morning Cartoons-- Nothing Left to Ooze

Kloepfer, John. Nothing Left to Oooze (Zombie Chasers #5)
January 21st 2014 by HarperCollins 

With most of the country rezombied, Zach and his team need to make it to Canada to find Madison's cousin Olivia, so they can use her vegan properties to formulate another antidote. Of course, the Canadians don't want to let them across the border, but they manage to make it across the ice, with only Madison being nommed on by a zombie. They manage to swaddle her in a vegan sweatshirt and drag her along to Olivia's house, only to find that her family, for some bizarre reason, has gone to Florida on a vacation to Bunco's Fun World. Unfortunately, after the group is flown their by the Mounties, they find that it, too, is besieged by zombies. They manage, against all odds, to find Olivia, and run into Bunco himself, who is also working on an antidote. The groups starts experimenting with eyeball shaped gumballs infused with, among other things, gingko biloba and Spazz cola. This may be an antidote, but will it unzombify the super zombies? Well, not quite yet, because there is another sequel being published in October 7th 2014 by HarperCollins, Zombies of the Carribbean.
Strengths: So many middle grade zombie novels get it wrong and err on the side of being very long and philosophical. Oddly, this is not what the average 12 year old boy wants. THIS is what they want-- gory but not gruesome pictures, lots of action and adventure, some gross stuff, and a series of short books that they can grab without too much thought.
Weaknesses: I thought the series wrapped up nicely in book 4, and it's hard for me to believe the rezombification. Still, this will not stop me from picking up Kloepfer's first book in a new series, Galaxy's Most Wanted out July 22nd 2014 from HarperCollins.