Feeling Blue

Wells, Rosemary. On the Blue Comet.
This is a gorgeous book. The cover is shiny, the paper is a heavy, brilliant white, and the full plate illustrations are highly evocative of children's books of the 1930s.

Which was deliciously appropriate, since we meet Oscar Ogilvie in 1931. His father has been working in Illinois for John Deere, and the two have been collecting trains to take their mind off the death of Oscar's mother, but when the economy worsens and Mr. Ogilvie loses his job, things change. The father heads to California to find work, and Oscar goes to live with his sour and demanding aunt. While she is off giving elocution and music lessons to the more fortunate, he befriends as out of work teacher, who helps him with his homework in exchange for food. Eventually, however, the aunt finds out, and Oscar has to meet Mr. Applegate at the bank where he works as a night watchman-- the same bank where Oscar's beloved trains have ended up on a Christmas display. When a bank robbery goes terribly awry, Oscar finds himself on a train to California, in the company of a college athlete named Dutch who is headed out west to become a movie star. All Oscar wants to do is find his father, but when he realizes that it is suddenly 1941 and he is ten years older, he realizes that there are strange forces of time travel at work.

Strengths: The writing was beautiful, the historical story was compelling, the characters were charming, and the whole book just made me sigh with pleasure.

Weaknesses: Can't see this appealing much to students. I may bring this one to school to see what the students think of it, but it might be a hard sell.

Lord, Cynthia. Touch Blue.
Tess lives on a small island off Maine. Since her best friend's family has left, the island no longer has enough students to keep a school open, which would mean that Tess' mother would lose her teaching job and the family would have to move to the mainland. To try to avert this, families on the island agree to take in foster children. Tess is excited that an older boy will be placed with them, and plans excursions and activities for him (while realizing that he will need some time to adjust) but is disappointed when Aaron arrives and is nothing at all like she imagined. He does warm to her father, a lobsterman, a bit, but pines for his mother. When Tess invites the mother to a fourth of July concert in which Aaron is playing the trumpet, things could go terribly wrong for Aaron, and for Tess' family as well.

Strengths: This was a strong problem novel with realistically portrayed characters. There are a decent number of books about children in foster care, and this would be a good addition to a collection where books like Wolfson's What I Call Life and Dowell's Where I'd Like to Be are popular.

Weaknesses: Might not have enough problems for readers who like to read about them, and it's not really a funny book at all. I will try this one on Picky Reader and see if she likes it. The cover is quite nice.

Stewart, Bracegirdle, Batson and Hopper

Stewart, Paul and Riddell, Chris. The Immortals.

Nominated for the Cybils by Brigan Del.

Even though I have only read the first in this series (Beyond the Deepwoods), this finale made sense. Nate is a lamplighter in the phrax mines, and when his best friend is murdered, he takes off for Great Glade, and has multiple adventures. In one paragraph, it's hard to give more synopsis than this, because there are so many subplots, characters, places and everything has a strange name! The writing is very descriptive and rich, and there are is a lot of action and adventure. Readers who love this series will have no trouble telling the banderbears from the skyworms, and will understand that this takes place about 500 years after the last book in the series (There are three trilogies; Twig, Quint and Rook). I just struggled to get through the 669 pages!

Strengths: The pictures in this are great, even if there are multiple maps! Hard core fantasy fans are enthralled by these, since the world of the Edge is vividly described in all its Steampunk glory.

Weaknesses: The first book came out in 1998, (with reissues in 2004) and by the time it came across my radar, it was tough to assemble the entire series. Follett does have the Publishers Hardcover set of all ten books available for $115.63 now. However, I am lacking hard core fantasy readers and will stick to these authors' Barnaby Grimes series, which is a little more accessible.

Bracegirdle, P.J. Unearthly Asylum (The Joy of Spooking)

Nominated for the Cybils by Susan Mitchell.

What a difference a cover can make! Although I enjoyed Fiendish Deeds, the cover has made it difficult to circulate. Once again, the evil Phipps of Darlington has his eyes on the property of Spooking. Not only would they like to see the houses made into fancy condos, they would like to turn the local insane asylum (there is discussion of how politically incorrect this title is) into a spa and resort. They're out of luck, however, because Joy, her brother, and her friend Gustave are wise to what's going on, especially since Joy wants to keep Spooking the way it is, as a tribute to writer and former resident E.A. Peugeot. Evil adults are constantly annoying Joy, and she has little patience for their antics, especially when they get in the way of her finding her lost pet frog, Fizz.

Strengths: There is a lot of fun action, and this is certainly a fresh story. Spooking is a great setting-- I would like to visit. I'd even mow Joy's lawn for her!

Weakness: Some strange subplots involving the adults distract from the story, and there are some overly precious moments, like a teacher gushing about how wonderful the "classic" book Tubey Dave is.

Batson, Wayne Thomas and Hopper, Christopher. Curse of the Spider King: The Berinfell Prophecies Book 1

Nominated for the Cybils by Deborah

It's never a good thing when portals open between worlds, especailly when evil spider minions find them, too! Because elf lords were sent to Earch as babies to save them after their kingdom was attached, the Spider King has traveled here to try to find them all, since they are approaching adolescence and coming into their powers. The seven children (of varying ethnic backgrounds and interests) are not alone; they are accompanied by sentinels, elves disguised as humans, such as the school librarian, Mrs. Galdarro. Obviously, saving two worlds requires a lot of fighting and action, and this book moves along at a nice clip. Sequels are sure to come.

Strengths: The characters are realistically drawn, which makes the fantasy element a bit of a surprise. Batson and Hopper obviously know some actual children! Big points for the fun librarian character.

Weaknesses: It was difficult to follow so many characters. Anytime I see lists of characters and places at the beginning of a book, my stomach sinks a bit. They are all well-developed, but having so many takes away from the story.

Kid Vs. Squid

van Eekhout, Greg. Kid Vs. Squid.
Nominated for the Cybils by Sarah Prineas (See yesterday's reviews!)

Poor Thatcher. His parents have dumped him with his great uncle Griswald at his seaside "dime museum" for the summer, and the most thrilling thing he does is dust the shrunken heads. That is, until a girl breaks into the museum and steals the "what-is-it". Accompanied by Trudy, a smart-mouthed local girl, he tracks down the thief, only to find that she is Shoal, the daughter of the king of Atlantis, and the "what-is-is" is the head of Skalla, a sea demon who has cursed Shoal's people to a life of wandering. Griswald also turns out to be more than he seems, and the story rollicks along as the three children try to defeat Skalla's attempts to construct and rule a new Atlantis.

Strengths: Absolutely laugh-out-loud funny at points, in a snarky, middle school goofy way that the students will adore. If we put van Eekhout and Sonnenblick in a room together, we probably couldn't breathe for laughing. Great, quotable funny lines, hysterical situations. No only was the book funny and action packed, but Thatcher and Trudy had a lot of good character building moments as well. Will definitely buy this one and suggest that my public library does as well. (Thanks again, Cuyahoga County Public Library!)

Weaknesses: Students are enthralled with the idea of Atlantis, and working in more mythology would have made this a sure hit.

What? More fantasy?

Prineas, Sarah. Found. (Book 3 of The Magic Thief)
Nominated for the Cybils by Madigan

While Nevery's house is being rebuilt, Conn must live in Twilight because no one trusts his magic after the explosion and fire. He is trying to fight the rising evil magic, Arhionvar (which once was a city) which is trying to ruin Wellmet. This fight takes Conn and his friend, the princess Rowan, to a dragon lair in the far away mountains and puts them in constant danger of being arrested by the Wellmet guards, who don't seem to understand what they are trying to do.

Strenghths: Like the first and second books, this has good characters, a breezy plot, and a fair amount of action. The books have circulated well in my library, and several students are waiting eagerly for this volume.

Weaknesses: The plots are somewhat difficult to follow, and there is little fresh about the setting or events. Sage's Magyk and even Rodda's Deltora Quest books are all too similar.

Rutkoski, Marie. The Celestial Globe.
Nominated for the Cybils by Jessalynn Pinsonault


Since Petra ruined the Prince of Bohemia's Plans in The Cabinet of Wonders, his first act in this sequel is to have his Gray Men attack her. The spy John Dee (whose daughters can bend time and travel through it) takes her to London to keep her safe, and doesn't allow her to return home. Instead he compels her to stay and train while her friends Neel and Tomik search for her with the help of sea bound Gypsies who are looking for the Celestial Globe, a time travel device also wanted by the Prince of Bohemia.

Strengths: This has a steam-punk feel to it (the cover is indicative of that), and a lot of good magical/mechanical gizmos, like Petra's tin spide Astrophil. The rollicking adventure keeps the story going.



Weaknesses: Petra is not very likable, and the different directions in which the story goes can be hard to follow. Something about the quest for the globe seemed inconsequential.



Lairamore, Dawn. Ivy's Ever After.
Nominated for the Cybils by Linda Joy Singleton

Ivy is a standard nonstandard princess-- she runs around and gets brown, doesn't do what she's told, and uses all these skills when she is needed to save the kingdom. In Ivy's case, she escapes from a tower where she is being held until a prince can rescue her and help her take over the kingdom (it's a family tradition) with the help of Elridge, a small dragon. The two try to find Ivy's fairy godmother to help them defeat the evil prince and regain control of the kingdom.

Strengths: Decent enough medieval quest with dragons, and the strong female character of the Modern princess.

Weaknesses: Pales in comparison to stronger stories with fresher empancipated princesses like Alanna: The First Adventure and Wrede's Dealing With Dragons. Have we reached the age of the Post-Modern Princess?

Got a lot of reading done!

Cole, Henry. A Nest for Celeste.
Nominated for the Cybils by Dotz Johnson.

Celeste is a mouse living on a plantation near New Orleans where the naturalist John James Audubon is staying in 1821 with his young assistant, Joseph. Aside from her talent at making baskets, Celeste lives a standard mouse life-- being bullied by rats and chased by cats-- until she is rescued by James and becomes his pet. She helps him with his drawings and befriends several other animals during different circumstances. An osprey brings her home after a flood, and she frees him when Audubon captures him to draw, and some small birds also becomes her friends. There is a fair amount of information about Audubon's drawings, and good historical notes at the back.

Strengths: This will win awards all over the place because of the drawings. Rather like Selznick's Hugo Cabret, pictures play a large role in this story, and when Celeste finds a doll house in the attic, they are adorable and reminded me a lot of Kathleen N. Daly's A House for a Mouse. (1990) The story interested me.

Weaknesses: Not a lot happens. Aside from the plethora of pictures, it's got very little appeal for middle school students. Odd historical time.

Ullman, Barb Bentler. Whistle Bright Magic.
Nominated for the Cybils by Sarah Ullman.

After the death of Zelly's grandmother, her mother takes a leave of absence to move to remote Plunkit and take care of the grandmother's bookstore. Zelly meets two of her mother's friends children, Frederick and Lupine, and start to notice that there are strange things going on that only they can see. They soon meet Whistle, on of the Nutfolk, and when the town's nearby woods is threatened, they rely on his help to keep the woods from being ruined by evil developers. Zelly's estranged father moves back to town and is instrumental in this plan.

Strengths: This was more engaging than I thought it would be, and the story stood alone without reading The Fairies of Nutfolk Wood (2006). While the action is gentle, the characters are interesting without being too quirky, the environmental message strong, the fantasy understandable, and the family problems not too overwhelming.

Weaknesses: The story was light on action, and wasn't all that original. I kept humming the song to The Gnome-Mobile as I was reading it.

Horowitz, Anthony. Legends: Battles and Quests.
Nominated for the Cybils by Summer Ogata.

This update of The Kingfisher Book of Myths and Legends includes the stories of Romulus and Remus, the Minotaur and the less well known stories of The Great Bell of Peking, Geriguiaguiatugo, and two others. It's interesting to see how Horowitz's writing has matured over the last 20 years. He says in the preface that he was enticed to republish this because he was promised better pictures and even better glue-- he got gypped on the pictures, which are still not great. Students love mythology and will pick this up, especially since it's done by Horowitz, but it's not anything ground-breaking or fabulous. Beasts and Monsters is being republished as well. I bought both volumes.

Radiance by Alyson Noel

Noel, Alyson. Radiance.
ARC provided by publisher.
Nominated for the Cybils by Jennifer Donovan.

After Riley, her mother and father, and her dog, Buttercup, are killed in a car accident, they all end up in a version of heaven called Here. Riley is able to manifest her house from earth, a variety of clothing, and anything else that she would like, but she still has to go to school. She is also able to look back on earth and see her sister, Ever. Eventually, she finds that everyone in Here is given a soul task, and since she spent her time on earth copying and pestering Ever, Riley's job is to return to earth to convince a ghost to cross over. She is allowed to take her dog with her, but is accompanied also by an annoying boy named Bohdi, whom she thinks is a dork. She manages not only to get the ghost to leave earth, but helps Bodhi in his assignment as well. Since both Bodhi and Riley were successful on their missions, they pick up a "glow" and are all set to return to do more soul work in the upcoming sequel, Shimmer.

Strengths: Like Mass' Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall and Zevin's Elsewhere, this will appeal to students who think there may be a heaven and are curious about what other's perceptions of it are. After Riley goes back to earth in chapter ten and starts to deal with the ghost, it is a suspenseful and interesting book.

Weaknesses: Bit of a slow start, with a lot of explanation Here that doesn't seem pertinent to the rest of the story.

Nielsen's Forbidden Sea

Nielsen, Sheila A. The Forbidden Sea.
Nominated for the Cybils by Rebeca Herman
When Adrianna's sister runs away from home when their aunt threatens to sell a beloved dog in order to help the impoverished family, she almost drowns. Adrianna manages to save her, but is herself attacked by a mermaid. The mermaid continues to call to Adrianna, who has better things to worry about-- ever since the death of her father, the family has struggled with pverty and now has barely enough to eat. With the help of friends, such as the kind and handsome Denn, they have survived, but when the news of Adrianna's dealings with the mermaid become known to the town, the family's precarious situation is threatened. Adrianna is taken to the mermaid's world, and finds out that the mermaid is not evil and is willing to let Adrianna make the choice about whether to stay in the underwater paradise or return to her family and all of their travails.

Strengths: This is a beautifully written tale, and will appeal strongly to girls who like paranormal romance. I appreciated that it was different from many of the tales out their, and the fact that it dealt with mermaids is a plus, as such stories are popular but few and far between. The Victorian setting, and the utter hardships faced by Adrianna somehow added to the appeal for me.

Weaknesses: The extremes of the story-- the paradise promised by the mermaid and the destitution Adrianna faces in the real world-- are slightly overdone. Most readers prefer their paranormal romances with fewer problems and a little more romance.

THANK YOU to the Cuyahoga County Public Library for sending this through OhioLINK. By the time the Cybils are over, I may have to make a big donation to that library system. They have everything.

Wiff and Dirty George: The Z.E.B.R.A. Incident

Swinburne, Stephen. Wiff and Dirty George: The Z.E.B.R.A. Incident
Nominated for the Cybils by Elizabeth Bird

Wiff and George, two poor English boys, are in Paddington Station when everyone's zips and buttons give way and an evil rabbit pops up to take pictures of everyone's embarassment. They return home, where they manage to figure out that the rabbit is really Wiff's grandmother's long lost brother, Basil. The two take off to Brighton to track him down, but are kidnapped by Basil's evil henchmen and taken off to the laboratory where the Zipper Extraction Button Removal Atom-Smasher was developed, along with other instruments of evil. The two boys meet Daphne, Basil's granddaughter, and with her help fly in a giant carrot to Kew Gardens to stop Basil's plot of kidnapping the Queen and substituting someone in her place in order to put an end to Bangers and Mash day celebrations. The reason? Not only was Basil embarassed as a boy when he came out of the bathroom with toilet paper on his heels, but he was kicked out of the secret service because he married a Russian spy. Since Wiff and George were successful but did not neutralize Basil, there may be a sequel.

Strengths: Fast-paced, and has an easy to follow plot. Can't say I've read anything like it.
Weaknesses: Very, very British, and completely nutty. If the cover were stronger, I might be able to sell it, but the cover is all kinds of bad. Elementary students might go for this, but I don't see it being successful for middle school.

Majix: Notes from a Serious Teenage Witch

Rees, Douglas. Majix: Notes from a Serious Teen Witch.

(Watch the cool trailer.)Susan would prefer to be called Kestrel. Now that her disinterested mother has sent her to live with her aunt in the wake of her father's heart attack, Kestrel has decided to embrace her true self, which includes wearing all black, multiple piercings, and practicing "majix". It helps a little that her aunt is also a witch, but Kestrel's new school does not look kindly upon her decision to not wear the school uniform, and the students give her a hard time for being different. Will she have to resort to black magic after all, or will her new friends help her to navigate the treacherous waters of high school?

Strengths: Rees always writes with wry humor, and Kestrel's take on things, even when they aren't working out for her, is fresh and amusing. Even though this is set in high school, even middle school students will find her search for friends who accept her and her dealings with bullies interesting and true to life.

Weaknesses: Having been to too many anti-bullying seminars, I did want to slap Kestrel a little bit, because she brought a lot of the bullying upon herself. It's clear from Rees' writing that he understands this, but it's always uncomfortable as a teacher to read this sort of thing!


Selfors, Susanne. Smells Like Dog.
Nominated for the Cybils by Becky's Book Reviews.
Homer Pudding is mourning the death of his well-loved treasure hunting uncle when his uncle's lawyers drop off the uncle's most prized possession-- an unnamed basset hound. Homer begins to think that perhaps the coin that the dog has around his neck is the prized possession instead, especially when weird things start to happen, such as a man appearing out of the clouds to warn Homer of danger. After recieving an invitation to the Museum of Natural History in The City, Homer, with the help of his sister, takes off, only to find that people ARE after him because his uncle's bequest is really an invitation into a society of adventurers.

Strengths: This is a fast-paced novel, and rather engaging.

Weaknesses: This has a HIGH level of quirkiness. The names and characters (Milkydale, Lorelei with pink hair, a very tall, very sad woman named Zelda) and the situations are just odd. This always bothers me, and when reading this, I figured out why: it seems condescending. Selfors didn't take this approach in her Coffeehouse Angel, and it didn't add to the story for me.

Fergus, Maureen. Ortega.
Nominated for the Cybils by Naseem Hrab or Kids Can Press
Ortega is a gorilla who has been raised by scientists who have made him as human as possible. He can speak, walks upright when pressed, and is being sent to elementary school so he can learn to interact more effectively with humans. The problem? Ortega is huge, hates wearing pants, and smells really bad when he is afraid. The children at the school make fun of him, and Ortega fights being at school the same way that children who are bullied fight it. In the end, however, his classmates and handlers come to understand that Ortega isn't just a gorilla trying to be human-- he is an individual with opinions and emotions.

Strengths: This is a very good imagining of what it would be like to have a high functioning gorilla attend school.

Weaknesses: Although Ortega talks, this doesn't read all that much like science fiction or fantasy to me; it's primarily a problem novel. This would also be a hard sell to my students.


Myers, Walter Dean. The Cruisers.
This slim volume follows the workings of students from DaVinci Academy for the Gifted as a group of them tries to mediate between two factions who are researching and defending different views on slavery during the civil war. Interspersed with student writing, this discusses the problems that the entire school faces when the discussion becomes deeply personal and emotional.

The cover of this is very similar to Game, which is hugely popular with my students. While the viewpoints of the Civil War might be useful to 8th graders who are studying it in social studies, this philosophical bent is not what Myers' fans will be looking for. There is probably a sequel coming.

Guy Friday-- Football

I have not seen an entire football game since 1979, when I attended a Super Bowl party in high school. My brothers was a huge Steelers fan. It's hard for me to get into the whole insane OSU Buckeyes thing, too, but boys seem to love their football.


Norwood House Press has a whole series of college team books-- I ordered two of the Buckeyes and one of the Wolverines for the rebels or the foreign born.



James Buckley's Ultimate Guide to Football: Facts, Stats and Stars is available from Scholastic for a reasonable price. Capstone has a variey of hi-lo books on sports; Terri Dougherty's The Greatest Football Records is one that the boys pick up frequently.

Maybe it's just me, but the quality of the book doesn't seem to make much difference. If it has a good enough picture on the cover, it gets checked out.

Cross Country, now, I get. I was at a meet last night, which is why nothing got read!

Medieval and Modern

Walsh, Pat. The Crowfield Curse.

First saw mentioned by Mr. Elzey at The Excelsior File.

Will is collecting firewood when he hears an injured creature and rushes to the aid of a hob. While frightened, he knows if he does not rescue it, the small, furry creature will die, so he takes it back to a sympathetic monk at the abbey where he has lived since the death of his family in a mill fire. The hob survives and becomes instrumental in figuring out the mystery of a strange man who comes to live at the abbey: Jacobus Bone, a leper, arrives with his strange, henchman Shadlok, and an overwhelming curiosity about the abbey's biggest secret. Because will has magical abilities, he is chosen to help the two find where an angel is buried, but Will is not entirely sure is going to use this discovery for good or ill. The ending sets up an almost certain sequel; unfortunately, the URL for the author does not work.


Strengths: This drew me in right from the very beginning, with Will's compassion. I wanted to know what happened to him and the hob. Also, Ms. Walsh's writing was described as "effortless" over at My Favourite Books, and it was deliciously easy to read, sort of like sinking into a warm bath. Not that the story was easy, but the sense of place was so clear, and the magic felt perfectly normal. Even though it's not really anything like Joseph Delaney's The Last Apprentice series, readers who like that will enjoy this one.


Weaknesses: There were some historical references that many readers will not understand that could have been better explained, but there is a helpful glossary in the back.

I thought this had been nominated for the Cybils Award, but it hasn't.

Dougherty, Brandi. Miss Fortune.

After spending the day at the fair, Mia and Zoe are approached by a strange woman to have their fortunes told. While Mia is interested, Zoe is rather rude to the woman, who gives her a bad fortune as well as a creepy snake head amulet. Over the next few days, bad things occur-- Zoe has an accident on her bike, a fire starts in the oven even though it's not turned on, and a mean e mail is sent to the boy she likes from her account. After this boy recieves a ton of calls from her cell phone and the bad things don't stop, she and Mia investigate the curse, find a spell to remove it, and set off to find the woman who bestowed it so life can get back to normal before 7th grade starts!


This Scholastic title is part of the new Poison Apple series, a take off on this company's Candy Apple series, which is very popular among my 6th graders. These series has been heavily promoted in girls' magazines and Scholastic flyers,

Cybils Nominees

Holt, K.A. Brains for Lunch: A Zombie Novel in Haiku.

Nominated for the Cybils by E. Kristin Anderson

Loeb, a zombie in middle school, is struggling with fitting in. His (nicely portrayed) school librarian thinks he is very smart even though zombies generally are not academically inclined, and encourages him to take part in a poetry competition. Loeb also is interested in a Lifer (non-zombie) girl, and his zombie friends make fun of him because there is a clear delineation between zombies and nonzombies in his school. Ultimately, Loeb decides that it is more important to be himself than to align himself with the practices of his peer group.

Strengths: The haiku format lends itself nicely to replicating the halting speech patterns of a zombie. I usually dislike novels in verse, but this works. The message is a good one, and the behaviors of middle school students are realistically portrayed.

Weaknesses: It will be hard to find an audience for this, and part of the problem is the packaging. The illustrations will lead students to believe that this is a goofy book. Also, students who are interested in zombie books aren't necessarily looking for a life lesson. The haiku format is somewhat limiting in setting up the parameters of the zombie world, which is always the most interesting part of books like Generation Dead for me.

Orlev, Uri. The Song of the Whales.
Nominated for the Cybils by Sarah Rettger.

In this slim volume by the author of many excellent Holocaust novels, Michael moves from the US to Jerusalem so that his father can keep an eye on Michael's grandfather, a Holocaust survivor who is elderly and involved in what the family considers to be an inappropriate relationship with his housekeeper. Michael is reluctant to move but becomes very fond of his grandfather. Soon, he is sharing dreams with his grandfather, learning about the man's past and improving the dreams of others. The housekeeper is not overly pleased with the relationship, because the grandfather had shared his dreams with her before Michaels arrival. In the end, the grandfather's talent for improving dreams passes to Michael.

Strengths: The close relationship with the grandfather is warmly portrayed, and the setting in Jerusalem is unusual and refreshing.

Weaknesses: Again, the audience is difficult. Michael is nine, but the discussion of the grandfather's relationship is more mature. The grandfather tries to influence Michael to be a vegetarian by involving him in a rather disturbing dream where animals eat Michael's parents, making me leery of handing it to a child Michael's age.

Turner, Megan Whalen. A Conspiracy of Kings.
Nominated for the Cybils by Jenny Moss.
This is the fourth book in The Thief (1997) series. Sophos' country, Sounis, is at war with Attolia. If that weren't bad enough, his home and family are attacked and he is kidnapped into slavery. After surviving brutal conditions, his father shows up, and Sophos arranges with a sympathetic woman to be allowed to meet with him. After a fight, both escape and go about the business of fighting the war. There are many military alliances and strategies, and once Sophos' uncle dies, Sophos becomes the leader of Sounis.

I tried very hard to follow this book but had a difficult time, perhaps because I don't have a good memory of the previous books. I started taking notes on page 9 and still was unable to follow the story. It didn't help that the perspective changed from chapter to chapter, and that the leaders of the countries were called by the names of their countries. I only read about 2/3 of the book, and even that took me three hours. Normally, I would read a 316 page book in half that time.

Strengths: Tolkien fans will love this, as will Risk players and readers who enjoy Flanagan's The Ranger's Apprentice series but want more of a challenge. The world of the book is well-developed and the strategy and intrigue are rich.

Weaknesses: The vast majority of middle school students will have trouble following this complex book.

The Wide Awake Princess

Baker, E.D. The Wide-Awake Princess.
Since I have had Ms. Baker's Frog Princess series on and off my Perma-Bound list for several years (not much interest in princess tales, and the books were originally published in paperback), I didn't think I would care much for this new story about the sister of Sleeping Beauty. Was I ever glad that I ran out of things to read last night and had to pick this up.

Since Gwendolyn's christening went so poorly, with the whole death-by-spinning-wheel thing, Annabel's mother and father agree to let a fairy give her the gift of being resistant to any magic. Annie is safe, but she also isn't beautiful like her sister, because their is no illusion about her. When Gwendolyn does succumb to a spinning wheel on her 16th birthday, everyone in the castle falls asleep except for Annie, who decides to take off into the world to find Gwendolyn's fiance, Digby, and perhaps pick up a few extra princes along the way, just in case. Early in her travels, she meets up with Liam, a guard in the palace, who was out on an errand. After saving him from an enchanted horse, the two stumble upon many recognizable fairy tale characters, with fun and interesting twists. Annie beguiles several princes with her no-nonsense personality and complete lack of "princessy" behavior, and Liam also comes to care for her as an equal in their adventure. When the group arrives back at the castle, however, will Gwendolyn awake? And which prince will be the one with the magic kiss?

Adored this one!!! Girls who like stories with strong female characters, like Friesner's Nobody's Princess or Pierce's Alana series, will find Annie a good role model. The 6th grade studies fairy tales, and there are always a few girls interested in princess stories, so this will be a good purchase even though it won't see quite as much circulation as some books. I might even be able to get Picky Reader to take a look at it.

White Cat

Black, Holly. White Cat (The Curse Workers, Book 1)
Cassel finds himself on the roof of his dormitory, after he has dreamt of a white cat that stole his tongue. The school, thinking he is a liability, sends him to live with his grandfather and brothers, because his mother is in jail. The complication? Cassel's relatives are all workers, who can touch people and steal their memories, influence their emotions, or kill them. Cassel is not a worker. Or is he? Years previously, he had woken up to find that he had killed his best friend, a girl named Lila. When the dreams of the cat persist, he is sure that a stray cat whom he adopts is actually Lila herself. Could it be that Cassel is a worker as well, and just has not been told?

Black has an interesting writing style, and this was deliciously dark and convoluted, but it definitely is more of a YA book. It's not just the occasional reference to drinking or kissing, it's more the psychological tone. Instead of saving the world, Cassel is interested more in saving himself. This would be a fine book for high school, but the audience in the middle school would be more limited.

New series books

Pfeffer, Susan Beth. This World We Live In.
Started this last weekend on MP3, and it was just so slow that I was very happy to get my hands on the book. I will also say that listening to the book made me like it less-- the reader was very good, but listening to the diary entries made it seem somehow more whiny than reading them.

Miranda's family is still struggling to survive after an asteriod has knocked the moon out of alignment. The world is cold and gray, there is no electricity, nothing grows, and even the mice are dying out. When her father arrives with his family in tow, she is thrilled, even if it means he also brings Julia and Alex, who appear in the second book. Miranda's brothers travel to a nearby river for fish, and one of them brings back a wife, which also complicates matters. The thing that students will like is the depiction of the struggle to survive-- looting other houses for toothpaste and soap, washing clothes during the brief times when electricity in on, and stealing vehicles in order to travel. The romance was a little too desperate and one sided for my taste, but teens might feel differently. There were also a lot of unanswered questions, such as what was going on with the rest of the world? Where did the food come from? It was hinted that there were safe towns and government involvement, and I would have liked more information on the whole picture.

Delaney, Joseph. Rise of the Huntress.
Thanks to Dylan for loaning me this! Normally I tire of series after about five books, but I am still loving this and can't wait until Rage of the Fallen comes out on April 19th!

The Spook's house has burned down, and with it all of his books representing generations of research. Not only that, but Bony Lizzie has been freed and seems to have amassed tremendous power. Tom, Alice and the Spook flee to the island of Mona, but the local inhabitants have no tolerance for witches, and they are soon captured and thrown to a succession of monsters, including an abhuman who is Alice's half brother, and the buggane, who inhabits the island. Lizzie is their worst enemy... and perhaps their best hope at escaping. The Spook's powers are no longer strong, so the challenges to be faced all come down to Tom, who can't be parted from Alice because of his pact with the fiend. This book seemed to have a lot more violence than the last books, and many more desperate attempts at survival, but I still enjoyed it. It is starting to be harder to see how this will ever resolve, but eventually Tom has to defeat the fiend and regain his soul. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds.

Worked with the other Kindle that teachers at my school obtained with a grant. I have downloaded a number of sample chapters on one, and disabled the credit card so that they can't accidentally buy things. Students only use it in the classroom; in the library I may have to sit students behind the check out desk so I can keep an eye on them. For now, we are using the Kindle as a "hook" to get the students reading the books on their own.

Oh, and in the line of more shameless self-promotion: head over to Story Snoops for their Banned Books Week series of interviews. They did a nice job at balancing authors whose work has been challenged with librarians who have to deal with these challenges, and everyone interviewed was understanding and reasonable. Since I often feel that I am overly cautious, this made me feel slightly less bad! Also, I will never again be mentioned on the same web page as Judy Blume and Meg Cabot! And the Story Snoops actually sent me the coolest mug and Story Snoops M&Ms to thank me for this honor! Wow.

Toot, Toot!

I'm on the elementary/middle grade science fiction and fantasy panel for the 2010 Cybils!

There aren't enough exclamation marks to express how excited I am about this opportunity! The nominations are open today, so hop on over and take a look. I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of great books I have somehow missed!

Guy Friday-- Murder and Mayhem

First, many thanks to Mark Peter Hughes, who e mailed and offered to send me a copy of The Crack in the Sky since my funding was cut this year! I know that authors have to pay for copies of their own books, so my students and I really appreciate this!

This year, murder mysteries have been the big thing that everyone is asking for. They are surprisingly hard to find for middle grades-- most mysteries concern someone's cat going missing or something equally as juvenile. At first I was a little concerned, until I remembered that a huge amount of adult fiction is murder mysteries. Here are a couple of new titles, as well as old favorites from my library.

Smith, Alexander Gordon. Lockdown: Escape from the Furnace.
This is a Scholastic choice for the new young adult cart for the book fair, so I wanted to make sure I read it. Alex, who is not the best kid in the world, is framed for the murder of his best friend while trying to rob a house. He is sent to the Furnace Penitentiary for life, since even children under 18 can now be incarcerated for certain crimes after a horrific slaughter. Life in the Furnace is brutal-- Alex is made to chip stone all day, there are frighteningly vicious dogs on the prowl, and every so often, the screams of an inmate being taken away reverberate through the jail. Yes, this has violence, but Alex is trying to do the right thing and survive, and I liked this more than I thought I would. This might be a good one for students who liked The Hunger Games, and Solitary comes out on December 12. I want to know why Alex and the other inmates were framed!

Fahy, Thomas. The Unspoken.
This has a good premise-- children who escaped from a brutal cult by setting fire to the complex after the leader killed their parents are being killed. Told from the point of view of Allison, it follows her attempts to come to terms with her past and try to survive the current situation. While this was well-written and intriguing, it is more of a high school book. The print is painfully small (seriously, this can make or break a suggestion), there is more introspection than action, and there are some mature themes and language. If I were getting mysteries for high school students, I would buy it.

MacHale, D.J. Morpheus Road: The Light
Did not get very far on this book, but was really enjoying it, which surprised me because I have no recollection of the Pendragon plots even though I read all the books (which have recently become hugely popular in my library). It's included today because it fits the theme. The trailer (on Amazon) was really cool: "Do you like ghost stories? Try living one." If I had an LCD projector in the library, I could show things like that.

In fact, I'm going to have a student competition where students have to come up with a one sentence book talk. This is because I had one boy in line who wanted a mystery, and another boy was just returning Teri Fields My Father's Son. I said "Hey, you describe it!" and Weston said "This dude's dad is a serial killer...but maybe he's not." The other boy checked it out. So much for long plot summaries!

Here are some other popular murder mysteries in my library:
Avi. Wolf Rider: A Tale of Terror
Bennett, Jay. The Executioner
Bowler, Tim. Blade: Playing Dead
Brooks, Kevin. Road of the Dead
Carter, Dean Vincent. The Hand of the Devil
Cooney, Caroline B. Wanted!
Cormier, Robert. The Rag and Bone Shop
Duncan, Lois. Killing Mr. Griffin
Ferguson, Alane. Overkill,The Christopher Killer (series)
Ford, John C. The Morgue and Me
Harazin, S.A. Blood Brothers
Holm, Jennifer. The Creek
McNamee, Graham. Acceleration
Michaels, Rune. Genesis Alpha
Morgenroth, Kate. Jude.
Nixon, Joan Lowery. Any of her mysteries!
Plum-Ucci, Carol. The Body of Christopher Creed
Reiss, Kathryn. Blackthorn Winter
Richards, E.E. The Devil's Footsteps
Roberts, Willo Davis. Nightmare
Simmons, Michael. Finding Lubchenko.
Sorrells, Walter. Fake ID, First Shot
Werlin, Nancy. The Killer's Cousin

A Variety of Books

Pierce, Lincoln. Big Nate: In a Class By Himself

I hesitate to compare new books to really popular titles ever since Barbara Brooks Wallace complained that everyone compared her (vastly superior) books to Lemony Snicket, so I will say this: Big Nate is vastly superior to the Wimpy Kid books, but will satisfy readers who don't want to pick up anything else.

Nate is not overly fond of school, but when he gets a fortune cookie one morning that claims he will "surpass all others", he launches into his day with vigor. Unfortunately, with too much vigor for many of his teachers, who don't appreciate his doodles, outbursts, or his green bean eating record setting attempt. He manages to accumulate more detentions in a single day than any other student has ever managed-- thereby "surpassing all others". This book is just the right shade of realistic goofy for middle school boys, and the sorts of things that Nate does, and the opinions of the people in his life that he holds, will ring very true. I liked Nate. He was a good kid who meant well, and there are so many of those. I'm sure there will be sequels. Instead of buying too many copies of The Ugly Truth, I think I'll put the money into extra copies of these!

Stevens, Chris. Thirty Days Has September: Cool Ways to Remember Stuff

During the library lesson on reference books last week, I tried to come up with a mnemonic for print reference books, but all I could come up with EDATA (encyclopedia, dictionary, almanac, thesaurus, atlas), which wasn't quite right. This little paperback from Scholastic has a lot of hints for how to remember spelling, grammar, and items from different curricular areas. It wasn't a fabulous read, but if you are ordering from Scholastic for your classroom, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have one on hand for children to browse.

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis.

This graphic biography is the story of the author's childhood in Iran during the Islamic Revolution in the late 70s and early 80s. It was a tremendously fascinating look at a well-educated, middle class family caught in the tumult of changing values. While not middle school appropriate (both subject matter and interest level), it was a fascinating read. Marjan'es family protests the changes in the government until the personal toll becomes too much, and they send Marjane to Austria. There are sequels that I may have to pick up during the summer. Interestingly, my public library has this shelved in the graphic novel collection.

Instead of waiting to get the actual book in my hand from the public library, I read sample chapters of some titles I wasn't all that excited about. For example, John Cusick's Girl Parts didn't seem like it would be middle school appropriate (it wasn't), but I was intrigued nonetheless.

Milford's Boneshaker lost me with its 1913, Southern setting, but other people liked it:

The Book Aunt

The Musings of a Book Addict

A Patchwork of Books

Brody's The Karma Club was more of a high school book, and my older daughter would love it:

Book Babblers

Coffee, Books and Laundry

Linus's Blanket

Hughes' A Crack in the Sky was a pretty decent futuristic/dystopian novel, but I just don't have students wanting very many of those. Can't even get the Susan Beth Pfeffer trilogy to circulate. I will keep it in mind if I have enough money, though.

Middle Grade Ninja

Random Acts of Reading

Voracious YAppetite

My book buying is all predicated on what I have requests for. Since students are asking for medieval-ish/dystopian/ paranormal/fantasy-type books as much, I have a growing impatience with them and that's why nothing grabbed me about the following three. Other people really liked some of these titles, so check them out.

O'Brien's Birthmarked

Book Smugglers

Bookworm Boulevard

Lucid Conspiracy

Cypess' Mistwood

The Compulsive Reader

Dark Faerie Tales

The Story Siren

Bracken's Brightly Woven

Angieville

Chick Lit Teens

Truth Be Told

Is it helpful for me to mention titles I DON'T intend to buy? Unless a book is wretchedly bad, I don't feel a need to write a disparaging review, but I pick up many books that don't suit my needs that may be just what someone else wants.

Grease Town

Towell, Ann. Grease Town.
Titus stows away with his older brother and travels to Oil Springs, Ontario in 1863, seeking adventure. He is tired of his life in the US with his aunt, and tired of having trouble with the other boys in school. The work in the oil fields is hard and unpleasant, but life is even more unpleasant for Moses, a free black boy who lives in a shantytown, whom Titus befriends. When bounty hunters come from the US to look for escaped slaves and precipitate a riot in order to drive the black population from town, Titus realizes how difficult life is for Moses, and decides to do the right thing and testify against the hunters.

This is a Canadian book, so offers a different view from books about slavery around the time of the Civil War in the US. It would have been helpful if the time frame had been mentioned before the very end of the book, and at first, I was laboring under the delusion that Titus was black, which didn't make much sense, but this is still an interesting read about a period of history often covered in the 8th grade curriculum.

A Sign That You Have Been Reading Too Many Vampire Books: As I was coming across the creek on my way to work, there was a mist rising in the moonlight, and I thought "Hmm. This would be an excellent place for vampires to hang out and attack me!" When Rick Yancey's The Curse of the Wendigo comes out on October 19, I may just have to walk to work with a poker instead of biking, although that probably would offer little resistance to the anthropophagi!

Classroom Uses For a Kindle: I've been playing with the school Kindle a bit, and one of the language arts teachers used it to read the sample chapter from Rick Riordan's upcoming The Lost Hero to a class studying The Lightning Thief. I'm investigating how to use it with struggling readers, since it has text-to-speech capabilities for some books, which is why the Kindle was bought with grant money. Does anyone have any hints for using a Kindle in the library?

Middle School vs. High School Again

Tashjian, Janet. My Life As A Book.
This is a clever book. It looks like a regular novel-- same size, same heft, same sort of cover-- but on the inside, the font is about 14 point, with an inch and a half of white space on the side. There are cartoons illustrating various vocabulary words in some of this space. Right away, students will pick this up. Nothing kills interest faster than miniscule font.

As for the story: Derek is looking forward to a summer of highjinks, until his parents sign him up for Learning Camp, where he will have to read three books AND not go to Martha's Vineyard with his best friend. There is a mystery involved, spurred by an old newspaper article that Derek finds, and this comes perilously close to being "meaningful", but is saved by Derek's energy and humor. I was also a little concerned that Bodi the dog would die; I was sure it would happen before the end of the book, but Bodi survives! This is a great choice for students stuck in certain series and reluctant to move on, and once they read this, perhaps they can be enticed with The Gospel According to Larry, which I adore, and which has the same level of middle school appropriate, realistic goofiness going on.


Willner-Pardo, Gina. The Hard Kind of Promise.
Marjorie and Sarah have been friends for years, but when they hit 7th grade, Sarah starts to notice that Marjorie's quirks are not only causing others to make fun of Marjorie-- her "weirdness" is rubbing off, and Sarah hears herself refered to as a "loser". The two girls start to develop interests and friends of their own, and grow further apart. Even though they clearly miss each other, they come to realize the inevitability of not being best friends forever. This rings true on so many levels, and middle school girls will certainly relate to it. Since I was Marjorie in middle school, I told my own girls that it was a good bet they would lose at least one good friend in middle school, which is why I enjoyed this line "Maybe it's [losing a friend] just supposed to happen. Like getting taller," Marjorie said. "Only no one told us."

This lost a little steam for me when Sarah takes off for a protracted choir trip, and I find it hard to believe that there is anywhere in the US where middle schools still have Cotillion style dance lessons, but it is still a strong book.

Benway, Robin. The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May and June.File this one under the inexplicable difference between middle school and high school books. It sounded really good-- "Sisters April, May, and June, dealing with their parents' divorce and a move to a new town, recover special powers they had in childhood to help them through a difficult year, but when April, who can see the future, has a vision of disaster, the girls must somehow save the day."-- but I just couldn't get into it. The print is tiny, and the tone was more introspective. When I read the reviews more closely today, the book is billed as grades 9-12, and "Mature elements include teen drinking, drug use, impaired driving and casual sex." Just as well it had that teen vibe going for it.