#WeNeedDiverseBooks: The Name of the Blade

Marriott, Zoe. The Name of the Blade
November 11th 2014 by Candlewick Press
E ARC from Netgalley.com

Mio needs a sword for her costume as an anime character, so borrows the 500 year old katana that her grandfather told her not to touch until she was 16. Odd things happen (lights going out, attacks) when she has the katana, and she eventually figures out that her late grandfather was very wise but died before he could give her all of the details. Mio's parents are on their second honeymoon, and Mio is conveniently staying with her friend Jack's family, so the two girls are able to deal with the evil cat monster that wants to sword and keeps attacking everyone around Mio, even dragging off Jack's sister Rachel. Luckily, Shinobu shows up to help. He looks familiar, but that is because his spirit has been trapped in the sword and calling to Mio since she was young. Together, with the help of Hikaru, a kitsune (fox spirit) who is not terribly reliable, they must figure out how to save not only themselves from the monster, but the whole world. 
Strengths: I really liked this one. I liked Mio, I liked the way the book was written, and I liked the inclusion of Japanese folk lore and characters. The London setting was great as well, and there was lots of action and adventure. Jack (who is a girl) seems to perhaps be more interested in girls, but this is mentioned in passing and not dwelt on, which was a great way to deal with it. Definitely going to invest in this series. There are so many fantasy books out there, but this one stood out for me. 
Weaknesses: The Walker UK covers are SOOOOO much better. What's with the weird blue and yellow cat? May see if Baker and Taylor has the UK version, which show more action and generally look more intriguing. If this is a case of whitewashing covers for the US market, it was the wrong decision!





Rock, Gail. A Dream for Addie
February 28th 1975 by Random House (NY)
Visit a fun Addie Mills Page.

Okay, it's not unicorns pooping rainbows, but it was certainly a lot happier than most of what I've read lately! Also very, very dated. Alas.

Addie and her friend Carla Mae (who is eating at her own house and also at Addie's, therefore getting "a bit on the chubby side". On second helpings of oatmeal, mind.) are thrilled to find out that Constance Payne, a famous Broadway actress, has come back to town to sell her parents' home. Her parents were a wreck, her father a drunkard, but they had a huge house. Addie's goes over and not only asks Constance for an autograph, but asks her to dinner. Constance also ends up judging a 4-H sewing contest/fashion show where Addie showcases her "Rickrack Rhapsody" dress, but unfortunately, Constance is drunk as a skunk there. Undeterred, Addie asks Constance to give her friends acting lessons. Again, Constance ties one on and is inappropriate, so of course Addie decides she is a troubled woman. With her grandmother's help, Constance moves into Addie's father's bedroom, where she stays for three days in Grandma's best nightgown being waited on hand and foot. It turns out that she is only a waitress in NYC, and not even at a very nice place, which is why she is such a hooch hound. Not wanting to go back to NYC, Constance takes Addie's suggestion to stay in town and giving acting and piano lessons to the local children, which she does for years and years and enriches everyone's lives with her culture.
Strengths: While the premise is depressing, I loved the "can do" attitude. Neighbor in trouble? We can fix that! Addie is headstrong, loves her father and grandmother, doesn't obsess over the fact her mother is dead. Her dress is laughable, but she thinks it's great. Nice details of everyday life.
Weaknesses: Today, Constance's alcoholism wouldn't be treated as lightly (anyone see Arthur when people thought it was actually funny instead of sad?) or cured so quickly. The father would be considered borderline emotionally abusive. And poor Grandma. They are just going to work her until she's dead, aren't they? Still, this was a fun read. I loved that there was a problem, but it just got solved with a minimum of handwringing!

Again, Open Road Media has republished this series. The first two have been checking out in my library because they have Accelerated Reader tests, but I don't know if anyone will pick up this one.

Seriously! What's with all the depressing books?!!!

Just looked through my "new book" carts on the Baker and Taylor school web site, but had to quit going through them after about 20 titles because I wanted to go crawl under the circ desk and SUCK MY THUMB!!

Happy. I want some happy books. No more dead parents, no more depression, no more horrific dystopias. Happy. Sunshine. Birds singing. Unicorns pooping rainbows. I don't care! As long as it is not as depressing as this list:

• Blackmailed by a ruthless hacker who threatens to harm his family if he does not do as bidden…
• Living within a lawless labyrinth dominated by crime lords and street gangs where teens are forced to traffic drugs and work in brothels…
• Having lost everything in a tidal wave in 1169 Sicily…
• Seeking to overthrow her tyrannical mother to restore equality to faeriekind…
• Devastated by her betrothal to a violent boy she does not love…
• When their car breaks down, teens walk through a winter storm to take refuge in a nearby deserted town, but in the morning they see the town is populated with a deadly cult…

  La la la la la! No more! Off to think happier thoughts with the following titles...

  

The Rule of Thoughts

Dashner, James. The Rule of Thoughts
August 26th 2014 by Delacorte Press
Copy received from Young Adult Books Central and reviewed there.

In this sequel to The Eye of Minds, Michael wakes up and finds himself in the body of Jackon Porter, put there by Kaine, whose evil plans is to highjack human bodies for the use of tangents, "people" who are sentient but really computer programmed intelligences who lack physical being. Kaine wants Mike to work with him, but Mike is understandably apprehensive about this. He tries to figure out how to use Jackson's body (as well as his parents' financial resources) to find Sarah and Bryson, either in the real world on in the Sleep, and figure out how to fight Kaine. Agent Weber appears many times, but always has a confusing message for Mike. Jackson's girlfriend, Gabby, suspects that all is not right with Jackson, whose face is plastered all over the NewsBops as being a criminal. Once Mike finds Sarah, her parents are kidnapped, and the two hole up trying to locate Bryson. Once they do, they get caught by Kaine, who demands their help OR ELSE. They manage to escape, and embark on more voyages into the Sleep to try to figure out how to best defeat Kaine. They end up changing things in the Wake and getting into big trouble. The adventure continues in the fall of 2015 with The Game of Lives.
Strengths: Lots of action and adventure, lots of working in the virtual world, and of course, young people who are the only ones who can save the world from destruction. This is a great book for a wide variety of readers, especially those who are great fans of The Maze Runner series.
Weaknesses: Sometimes the action overshadows the plot. For example, when they escape from Kaine (after he said "work with me or I will kill you AND your little dog, too Sarah's parents"), why didn't he just, you know, kill them? It seemed like he had the power and was serious about the threat, but of course the book would have stopped there! Students will love all of the video game details, but it was not really my favorite thing to read personally.

MMGM- Diamond Boy and Biographies

Williams, Michael. Diamond Boy
2 December 2014, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
E ARC from Edelweiss Above the Treeline

Patson's father is a school teacher in Zimbabwe, but the school has been paying him in worthless cash, and Patson's stepmother is unhappy. When his father gets a job offer at a school near Marange, the family makes the perilous journey there with the help of Boubacar, a driver. Eventually, they end up at the home of the Banda clan, and the stepmother moves into the house while Patson, his father, and his younger sister Grace move into a tobacco shed. Patson misses his old life, his mother, and the girl from his school with whom he would run. The job at the school falls through, and soon both Patson and his father are working in the diamond mines. Patson makes some friends, and they tell him how to smuggle out smaller diamonds to sell on the black market to get US dollars. Things are going fairly well until the mine is taken over by soldiers under President Mugabe. His father is presumed dead, and Patson is kicked out and eventually loses his leg to a land mine. Patson wants to escape and take Grace with him, but his injury slows him down. With the continued help of Boubacar, he does manage to escape and eventually reconnect with his sister.
Strengths: Like Now is the Time for Running, Diamond Boy takes us right into the problems of South Africa from the point of view of a young person who is struggling to survive. Williams' writing is brisk and evocative, and unsparing with the details of life in this troubled country. I think it's important for students in the US to realize how lucky they are to be able to go to school every day and live, for the most part, in relative safety. I especially liked the twist in the end, even though I knew that Patson's life turned out far better than most children's would.
Weaknesses: Debating whether or not this is really for middle school students. It's gripping, definitely, but includes (discretely written) scenes with prostitutes, a child who was born with HIV, and an f-bomb which, while not gratuitous at all, is there. (Patson, a cross country runner, falls while trying to learn to walk with crutches after losing his leg, hence the justifiable swearing.)

Rubin, Susan Goldman. Stand There! She Shouted: The Invincible Photographer Julia Margaret Cameron

September 9th 2014 by Candlewick Press

This was an interesting book about a woman who was born in 1815 and became interested in photography when it was a very new art form and she was almost 50! It was interesting to read her biography and realize that while some of her life was typical (she was English, but lived much of her life in India and Ceylon), a lot of her ideas and actions were unique. It was also fascinating to see that she had many friends who were famous at the time for their writing or art (Thackery, Tennyson). Since this was in picture book format, there were nice illustrations from Bagram Ibatoulline, but there were also a fair number of Cameron's photographs. That's where the book failed for me. The jacket flap claims that Cameron "has been revealed as one of the greatest and most original portraitists in the history of photography", but I found the photographs to be rather similar and... creepy. I know that sitting for photographs at this time was excruciatingly boring and long, but everyone in her pictures has the same glazed, pained expression.

So, trouble with the subject of the book, not the way the book was written or formulated at all.

Denenberg, Barry. Ali: An American Champion
September 23rd 2014 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Using a lot of primary source newspaper articles, pictures and letters, Denenberg has created a scrapbook of Ali set against the events of his time. This makes for an interesting read, although for research, this would be a harder book to use than a traditional biography. Letting Ali speak for himself on topics like the Nation of Islam and the draft makes it possible to show that he was not always an admirable person without saying so! My feeling about Ali at the end of this book was that he was a rather horrible, not very intelligent person, (at least in his younger days) which was an unusual feeling to have after reading a biography! I will probably purchase this, since students are still interested in him and the book was very well done, but it was a bit unsettling.

Ruby Redfort: Take Your Last Breath

Childs, Lauren. Ruby Redfort: Take Your Last Breath
May 14th 2013 by Candlewick Press

Ruby is back, and this time her parents are going on a yacht and leaving her with Mrs. Digby. This is good, because there are odd things afoot in Twinsford. Cargo shipments being sent by sea are being rerouted, and the sea life seems to be having problems. There's also an odd whispering sound, and when students from Ruby's school attempt a swim-a-thon, there are more dangers than expected. When Ruby's parents' yacht is beset by pirates, the two are thrown overboard, and at one point, Ruby believes they may be dead. She perseveres with her investigation with the assistance of Clarence and Hitch, and eventually realizes that the problems can be tied to her old nemesis, as well as a generations old lullaby that her mother sings to her. There are a good number of puzzles for readers to work out, including a musical one.
Strengths: There is always a need for mysteries, and many students prefer ones in a series.
Weaknesses: I could not get into this one at all. At all. It went back and forth between Ruby calmly going to school and eating doughnuts, and nearly drowning in the ocean. Her parents seemed like horrible people; I was surprised that Ruby even cared when they were missing, because once they came back, they continued to ignore her. I didn't care much for the first one, and only read this because I ended up with a free hard copy. Sometimes, certain books just don't vibrate with me personally.

Plenty of people DO like this series (there is a third book out, Ruby Redfort: Catch Your Death); I usually like the same things that Katie at Secrets and Sharing Soda likes, so maybe I just read this on the wrong day!

5th Grade Reading
Beesley Buzz
Once Upon a Book Case
Secrets and Sharing Soda
Serendipity Reviews

Saturday Morning Cartoons-- House of Robots

Grabenstein, Chris. House of Robots.
December 1st 2014 by Little Brown and Company
ARC from Baker and Taylor

Sammy Hayes-Rodriguez has enough trouble fitting in, but when his scientist inventor mom sends him to school with E, her robot prototype, things get even harder. The robot misbehaves and ends up getting sent home. Things are difficult at home, too-- Sammy's sister Maddie has Sever Combined immuno-deficiency, which means she is home schooled and that the house has to be kept clean at all times (in this case, by a robot). When E is fixed and returns to school, all the children love him and this brings a whole new set of problems. Sammy's friend Trip is jealous and brings his own remote controlled robot to school. There is a stereotypical larger-than-average bully who threatens physical violence to deal with, as well as Maddie's illnesses.
Strengths: We have some cultural diversity, as well as Maddie's physical infirmity, robots, and lots of pictures. Patterson could pick a writer and illustrator to help him do a version of War and Peace and they would read it. The paper over board binding is inexpensive, so two copies are indicated if they can be afforded. Often, students do buy these for themselves-- maybe I can talk some of them into donating their copies!
Weaknesses: This was told in a bit of a disjointed way at first-- Sammy is narrating, and is not an organized recounter of the story, which made it hard to follow. I'm still not entirely sure why his mother chose to send a robot to school, for example.

Guy Friday- Red Zone Rivals

Howling, Erc. Red Zone Rivals.
September 17th 2014 by James Lorimer & Company 
E ARC from Netgalley.com

Quinn and Luke are both quarterbacks on their high school team. Their coach quits, and the new coach is a businessman who had played for the school when he was a student. The team is struggling because the school is small, so the coach challenges the student body to try out. One of the boys who does is Walker, whose father was killed in the car crash that cost him his leg. His upper body strength is fantastic, and he can throw a football further than anyone else on the team, but he has trouble running. Quinn is at odds with Luke, breaks up with his girlfriend Emma, and is struggling in math. Walker helps to tutor him, and Quinn stands up for Walker when he tries out for the team and the other players, including Luke, give him a hard time. A fight with Luke gets Quinn suspended from the team for three games, and there are still more problems in his future, including his father's poor health.
Strengths: This had lots of good football plays (I judge books on whether or not I can understand what goes on on the field-- if I can't, I know my students will be happy!) plus some really interesting drama. I could guess what would happen to Quinn's father, but students might still be surprised. I need a TON of these high interest/low level sports books for my reluctant readers.
Weaknesses: ONLY AVAILABLE IN PAPERBACK!!! IN CANADA!!! ARGGGGGGGH! I loved this author's Hoop Magic. Don't taunt me on Netgalley if I can't get copies in the US, Lorimer!

The Lorimer Sports books are awesome. I wish we had a US version, since some of the terms and settings are a bit foreign to my students.

The Thanksgiving Treasure

Rock, Gail. The Thanksgiving Treasure
September 12th 1974 by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young

Addie and her friend Carla Mae want to make flower arrangements for Thanksgiving for their teacher and for home, so they go on a slightly forbidden bicycle ride to the other side of the Platte River in 1947 to get cattails at Old Man Rehnquist's farm. He refused to pay her father after he dug a pond on the property, and is generally the kind of old man who waves his shotgun around at people who trespass on his property, but Addie sees his horse, who looks like she needs exercise, and after listening to her teacher's discussion of the real meaning of Thanksgiving, decides to befriend the old man and take him a holiday dinner. She manages to hide enough food to take out to him, and Mr. Rehnquist reluctantly eats and and agrees to Addie's plan to exercise the horse, Treasure. In a development that should shock no one who grew up reading books like A Girl Called Al, Mr. Rehnquist becomes ill, Addie brings over her doctor uncle... but it's too late. She is left the horse, and the father is left the money he is owed.
Strengths: There are very few middle grade holiday tales, and students still ask for them. This is a short, easy read, and would be great for students reluctant to read historical fiction. It is one of the few books I remember reading in middle school, and I have The House Without a Christmas Tree as well.
Weaknesses: Both (hangs head in shame) of my copies look a bit ragged, having been in the library for over 40 years. The copy in my hand hasn't left the shelf for seven years. Sigh. They should go. I'm sure there were two copies because of the television programs with Jason Robards and Mildred Natwick. Even those programs look extremely dated, having been videotaped instead of filmed, and suffering from a 1970s lack of action!

Interestingly, also an eBook published November 4th 2014 by Open Road Media Teen & Tween.

#WeNeedDiverseBooks- Oh, Snap! (The Cruisers #4)

Myers, Walter Dean. Oh, Snap!
August 1st 2013 by Scholastic Press

The students who run the "underground" newspaper at DaVinci Academy Middle School in Harlem are pretty pleased that their paper, the Cruiser, comes in third place in a survey by the School Journalism Association, but Ashley, who is editor of the official paper, the Palette, is less than pleased. The two papers start running competing editorials about a number of things, and when the Palette manages to arrange with a well known British school newspaper to run copies of their articles, the staff of the Cruiser contacts the school to see if they can connect somehow as well, mentioning that they have a picture of Phat Tony, who may or may not be involved in a gang related robbery at the local mall. Phat Tony, who has been arrested in conjunction with the suspected event, has capitalized on his "gangsta" status to try to gather would-be rappers at DaVinci, but the British school contacts Scotland Yard, which contacts the local police, and soon the staff of the Cruisers must explain themselves to the local authorities. More light is shed on the event, and Fat Tony is exonerated. and the newspapers agree to disagree.

Other books in this series are The Cruisers, Checkmate and A Star is Born.

Strengths: It's great to see inner city GIFTED children portrayed, and while gangs are addressed, the book is about journalism and things other than race. These books are all very short. I only have the first one in my library, but I'm going to order the other two now that I have a copy of the fourth. They are reminiscent in size and type face to Paulsen's Liar, Liar series, and while not funny like that series, will appeal to the reluctant middle grade reader who doesn't want to read "baby books". There were several other issues, like a mother who did modeling and commercials and was irritated that her ex-husband found an acting job, that readers will like.
Weaknesses: It's hard for me to believe that a middle school has ONE newspaper, let alone two, but that could be the case. The language seemed a bit off to me. There was some slang, not a lot, and it seemed somehow forced. Does anyone use the word "dig" to mean "understand" anymore?

The Forbidden Flats

Eddleman, Peggy. The Forbidden Flats (Sky Jumpers #2)
September 23rd 2014 by Random House Books for Young Readers
Copy received from Young Adult Books Central and reviewed there.

In this sequel to Sky Jumpers, Hopes community of White Rock is hit by an earthquake. The damage to the buildings is  bad enough, but the real danger lies in the fact that the Bomb's Breath, a fifteen foot wall of deadly gas, is lowering dangerously and will affect the community very soon. Local scientists decide that this can be reversed if they introduce seforium into the atmosphere, but the closest place this can be found is 500 miles away across the Forbidden Flats, in the Rocky Mountains. With the help of guide, Luke, several townspeople, including Hope and her friends, take off to try to get the seforium in time, taking with them Ameiphus (the medicine they discovered in the last book) to trade. The journey is treacherous, but Hope finds out information about her birth mother from an unlikely source.
Strengths: This series is a great dystopian one for middle grade readers. I liked the details about what happened during WWIII to make the climate and topography so treacherous, and the structure of the various towns and settlements that the group encounters gives a good cross-section of how people in a post-apocalyptic world might reimagine civilization. The children being the brave ones who save the day never hurts, either!
Weaknesses: The story line about Hope's mother wasn't all that necessary, and slowed down the narrative for me and felt a bit interpolative.

Coolest video EVER!

Is there any doubt remaining that Rick Riordan is a rock star? I love this video! Now if I could just get my hands on a copy of Blood of Olympus! There's been such demand in my library that when a copy comes back in, I have to immediately check it out and deliver it to whomever is next on the reserve list.

Best moment last week: standing behind a student while he was at the lunch table and lowering the book in front of his face. I could see the HUGE grin, and the grab he made for the book was perfect!

MMGM-- Lady Liberty

Rappaport, Doreen, and Taveres, Matt. Lady Liberty: A Biography
May 13th 2008 by Candlewick Press
Copy received from Young Adult Books Central and reviewed there.

Told from multiple viewpoints in free verse, this slim volume covers a lot of little known and interesting facts about the design and implementation of the Statue of Liberty. Starting with Eduoard de Laboulaye, a Frenchman who wanted to thank the US, on the occasion of our 100th birthday, for setting France on their own road to independence, this book considers the points of view of workers, people who donated money, and people who saw the statue upon their arrival to the US. Accompanied with illustrations, this brings to life the importance of this national landmark.
Strengths: This is a topic that is good for students to know about, and this is a good length and reading level for a wide range of younger students.
Weaknesses: Like One Beetle Too Many: The Extraordinary Adventures of Charles Darwin, this suffers from horrible formatting. The words are crammed on one side of a two page spread in maybe an 8 point font. The pictures are okay, but not fantastic enough to crowd out the text. This would have benefitted significantly from being a larger format book with larger type, or even from giving an entire page to the text. It may sound ridiculous, but students base a lot of their choices on the size of the text. I have not been able to get anyone to check out the Charles Darwin book, which is a shame. Good text should not have to suffer from bad formatting choices.

Brown, Jennifer. Life on Mars
August 5th 2014 by Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Nominated for the Cybils by Bibliovore

Arcturus Betelgeuse (Arty) and his friends Tripp and Priya are working on the Clandestine Interplanetary Communications Module (CICM) that might allow them to talk to Martians. Arty's dad works at a planetarium, and the whole family is nuts for space, except for sisters Vega (who is more interested in her boyfriend) and Cassie (who is more interested in cheerleading). When their father loses his job and finds a new one in Las Vegas, Arty is mortified because the skies will have too much light pollution for him to continue his work. When the parents have to look for houses in Las Vegas, they leave the children with a pregnant aunt, who of course goes into labor. The sisters go visit friends, but Tripp and Priya are busy, so Arty goes to the home of a new and shadowy neighbor, Cash. His parents don't even know Cash's name, but it turns out that Cash was in the space program but never got to space. He and Arty start hanging out together before the family has to move, and Arty tries to make his peace with leaving his friends and his home.
Strengths: Lots of nice curriculum tie ins and good details on the friendships both with the children his age and with Cash. It was nice to see a story about a boy with a particular interest and passion for a topic. Good cover.
Weaknesses: Found it hard to believe that Arty's mother would send him to be with a neighbor she didn't even know, and the beginning of the book was a tad science heavy. I'll encourage students to struggle through the odd family names and get to the story.

Side note: Even I was not crazy enough to name my children Aurelia and Zenobia, which I was tempted to do. That's just mean, to give your children weird names.

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. 

Black Flame

Blackcrane, Gerelchimeg. Black Flame
April 30th 2013 by Groundwood Books 

Kelsang is an enormous Tibetan mastiff puppy who is born to a shepherding family. His mother is killed early on, and his master is tricked into selling him to an unscrupulous buyer, He gets taken to Lhasa, where he escapes and runs wild in the city. An elderly artist lets him stay in his courtyard and brings the dog food when he comes home, but the two mainly ignore each other. Since mastiffs arevery valuable, other men take him and keep him locked up, which is horrible, since mastiffs like to run. Eventually, he is found by Han Ma, who is a volunteer working to save antelopes, and Kelsang proves to be a great asset in many ways. When Han Ma has to go back to work at a school for disabled children, Kelsang stays with a friend of Han Ma's, and has various adventures guarding a store. When Han Ma and Kelsang are finally able to be together, the two are very glad, and Kelsang is able to roam the mountains, get his exercise, and love his human.
Strengths: This is a great book for #WeNeedDiverseBooks since it was translated (very beautifully) from the Chinese. It is a must read with Secret of the Mountain Dog by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel, since both have Tibetan mastiffs! Readers who like classic animal tales, like Jim Kjelgaard's books or Farley's The Black Stallion series will adore this.
Weaknesses: US readers might struggle to make sense of the setting at first, since they won't have prior knowledge of this area of the world.

I'm just glad that I don't have a Tibetan mastiff! What an enormous dog! It probably sheds the equivalent of my Yorkie Poo every single day!

http://www.cutestpaw.com/images/tibetan-mastiff/

Saturday Morning Cartoons-- Lowriders in Space

Camper, Cathy and Gonzalez, Raul. Lowriders in Space.
November 4th 2014 by Chronicle Books
Copy received at Kidlitcon

Lupe (an anthropomorphic fox?), Elirio Malaria (a mosquito), and Flapjack Octopus all work long hours at a car dealership, where they wish that they could open their own store. A way to do this presents itself-- there is a lowrider competition, and the three find a junk car and use their skills to trick it out. Using parts from an abandoned airplane factory, they create a vehicle that manages to go into space, where it gets further embellishment from the stars and scientific phenomena the group runs across. Coming back to earth, their car is deemed the best, and they are able to contemplate new adventures once they have their own shop.
Strengths: The artwork in this is great-- it's done in three colors of ball point pen, which gives it a very unique look. It was great that the main mechanic was female. There is a lot of Hispanic culture as well as some Spanish language in this book. If there is a strong interest in cars in your library, this is a must have.
Weaknesses: The octopus and mosquito seemed like slightly odd character choices, and there's not much interest in cars at my school. Still, middle grade readers will pick up just about anything in comic/graphic novel format. Be interested to see how this does.

Book trailer available here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO15SU2XBmM

Guy Friday- Zombies of the Caribbean

Kloepfer, John. Zombies of the Caribbean (Zombie Chasers #6)
October 7th 2014 by HarperCollins

Now that Rice's addition of Spazola Energy Cola to the antidote has not only rezombified everyone but made them into Super Zombies, the crew must find a way to save everyone. Luckily, they have a boat and can sail around the Caribbean, hopefully avoiding most of the zombies. They look for scientist Nigel Black, and find him in a zombie proof fortress. He tells them that they need to find a frilled tiger shark and bring it back to him so he can work on an antidote. After much adventuring, the group does, but the zombie plague is not over yet-- the back of the book warns us that book seven will be The Zombie Chasers: Chews Your Own Adventure.
Strengths: Students LOVE this series. It's goofy and gross, and the cartoons of zombies with eyeballs popping out, people throwing up, etc. is part of the... charm. Lots of action/adventure and children saving the world. Also, a cute dog.
Weaknesses: Not my personal cup of tea. Glad that every single book by this author is always checked out, but getting a bit weary of having the read the books! Seven books is plenty in a series!

Dangerous Deception

Kehret, Peg. Dangerous Deception
October 16th 2014 by Dutton Juvenile

Emmy's mother works in a department store, where she is in charge of selecting the winner of a yearly contest that grants someone's dream (available at the store, of course!). When Emmy snoops through the entries when the mother is sick, she finds a letter from a girl who says her family is hungry. Her mother can only turn over the details to a social service agency because the store policy is to not contact people individually, but Emmy not only decides to help, but takes the letter to school AND shows her teacher, who decides to turn a blind eye and let Emmy's group collect food for the family as a service project even after Emmy explains the situation. Emmy and her friends collect food from neighbors and arrange with Jelly Bean's brother to drive them to a bad part of town to deliver the food. They do this again, and Emmy talks to the girl, Sophie, who explains that her mother is sick. Things escalate, and Emmy not only talks to an elderly neighbor and climbs into a dumpster to rescue the family cat, but she talks to another creepy neighbor who seems suspicious, and takes a photo of what seems to be stolen merchandise in his apartment. She then leaves her contact information all around Sophie's abandoned apartment and goes to the police with the photo. Jelly Bean's brother crashes his car, and he and his brother end up in the hospital, and things go even more wrong from there.
Strengths: Kehret has done good suspense novels for years, and her following at my library is immense. Her writing is smooth and intriguing. I'm Not Who You Think I Am is in tatters, but the students still check it out. This book certainly has suspense, and the requisite children getting kidnapped and surviving by their wits.
Weaknesses: There are so, so many poor choices made by Emmy that this book just alarmed me from start to finish. Your mother could lose her job if her employer finds out she shared the entries? By all means tell your class and your teacher, as long as you instruct them to keep it a secret. Driving illegally with a teenager who is texting? No problem. Do it several times. Climb into a dumpster. Take a cat on the bus even if it scratches you with it's filthy claws. Make sure creepy criminals with stolen goods can find out exactly where you live. Argh! There are notes in the back of the book for various support organizations, and the mother says at the end that she would have gone through official channels to get the family help, but this included too many bad decisions for my taste. Also, what's with the horrible, computer generated cover? If we make it dark enough, no one will notice how bad the picture is?

Ehrlich, Esther. Nest.
September 9th 2014 by Wendy Lamb Books

I strongly suggest reading this personally before putting it into a school library.

Admittedly, my problems with this were predominately personal. My best friend has lived with Multiple Sclerosis for over twenty years. My family has been affected by suicide. I cannot imagine giving this book to middle grade readers.

First, this is a historical novel, set in 1972. When the mother is diagnosed with MS, she becomes depressed in the extreme. While I'm sure this is still common, the treatment differs a lot today. We don't necessarily send people right to residential care, and I really don't know that electroconvulsive shock therapy is used to treat either condition. If this book were handed to a student whose parent had MS, I think it would be unnecessarily alarming. Notes at the end of the book (about past and current treatments) would be helpful.

Second, there are a growing number of books about suicide and its aftermath, and I don't think they are entertaining or helpful. I am at the end of my patience with books about parents who can't see past their own grief to help their children.

Most adult readers adore this book, but I would advise adult readers to look at this one and fully understand it before handing it to younger readers.

Ship of Dolls

Parenteau, Shirley. Ship of Dolls.
August 5th 2014 by Candlewick Press
Copy received from Young Adult Books Central and reviewed there.

In 1926, Lexie is sent to live with her grandparents in Portland, Oregon because her mother has remarried and is working nights. The grandparents love Lexie, but are angry with her mother because they feel her lifestyle led to the death of their son in a fast automobile. Lexie is having some difficulty fitting in at school, even though she has a good friend in neighbor Jack. Her class is involved with raising money to pay to see Emily Grace, a blonde, blue-eyed doll, to Japan as part of a peace initiative. Snotty rich girl Louise bedevils her all the time, and the two both want to win the letter writing contest because the winner gets to go to San Francisco to see the dolls off to Japan. This is important to Lexie, because her mother will be singing at the ceremony. When Lexie takes the doll out of her teacher's room at Jack's boarding house so that she can understand her better in order to write the best letter, her teacher "punishes" her by making her sew a new dress for Emily Grace. This is not without its difficulties, but Lexie manages to do this with the help of her grandparents, and also manages to write the best letter... but Louise steals it and passes it off as her own, winning the contest. Lexie's grandmother decides that Lexie should go to San Francisco as well, and accompanies her on the boat there. During the trip, Louise is very ill and eventually owns up to her deception. Things don't go as smoothly as Lexie hopes they will in San Francisco, but she realizes which adults in her life care for her the most. A sequel, Ship of Hope, is in the works and will be from the point of view of a Japanese girl who gets one of the dolls.
Strengths: This would be a good companion to Kirby Larson's The Friendship Doll, and is a great introduction to a fascinating bit of history, since there were apparently more Japanese-American doll projects going on than I ever knew. Over 12,000 dolls were collected and sent to Japan, and although they were ordered destroyed during WWII, around 300 survive. Fun fact: more dolls were sent from Ohio than from any other state!
Weaknesses: There were parts of the book that were VERY slow. I loved dolls as a child, and loved to sew, but some of the descriptions of sewing the doll's dress dragged even for me. Also, the ending didn't ring true to me. I thought Lexie would have made a different choice.

Evil Librarian

Knudsen, Michelle. Evil Librarian
September 9th 2014 by Candlewick Press
Copy received from Isobel Brown at publisher.

Completely hysterical. NOT for MY middle school library.

Cynthia's best friend Annie is smitten with the new, hot librarian, Mr. Gabriel, But Cynthia gets a weird vibe from him... because he's a demon. He wants to make Annie his bride and suck out the souls of everyone in the high school, and Cynthia is not about to let him. With the help of her crush, Ryan, the two consult the adults they think can help-- their Italian teacher, who ends up being killed, and the owner of an occult bookstore who gives them good advice but has his own demon-related agenda. They come up with a workable plan, but fighting demons isn't really covered in the curriculum, and when the new principal and a bunch of substitutes also turn out to be demons that have found the high school to be a handy portal into our world, will Ryan and Cynthia be able to fight them all?
Strengths: Clearly, Ms. Knudsen knows her library humor, but what I liked best was Cynthia's obsession with Ryan. She knows it's wrong; she doesn't need a guy; but she can't stop herself. Lived that! Their shared interest brings them closer, and I loved how they both came to respect each other. Predict this will be wildly popular in our high school library, where I am sending this one. Sadly.
Weaknesses: The first f-bomb was used under mitigating circumstances. The second... okay. But at one point they were just being dropped everywhere. Add to this a lot of demon violence AND Cynthia giving us a bit too much information about her, um, feelings for Ryan, as well as the bookstore owner's.. passion for the female demon, and I would not be comfortable if  6th graders ended up with this in their hands.

This is a shame, since a few editing choices COULD have rendered this just as enjoyable AND ALSO suitable for younger students.

MMGM- At Your Service

Malone, Jen. At Your Service.
August 26th 2014 by Simon & Schuster/ Aladdin M!X
Copy from Young Adult Books Central and reviewed there.

Chloe loves living in the St. Michele hotel in New York City, where her father is the concierge. She also likes helping out, and is made a junior concierge by the owner, Mr. Buttercup, so that she can help with the younger guests. She manages to make even the brattiest children happy by scheduling things like practice sessions with the Rockettes for them. When King Robert of Somerstein and his three children stay at the hotel, Chloe is put in charge of their itinery, and accompanied by bodyguards, the royals (along with Chloe's friend Paisley) set off to see the sights. Prince Alex turns out not only to be cute, but also very nice; Princess Sophie seems stuck up at first, but warms to the adventure; but Princess Ingrid, the youngest, decides to run off from the group to investigate all of the penny smashing machines in the city. Chloe doesn't want to tell her father, thinking she will get in trouble, so the children band together to find Ingrid but not alarm anyone back at the hotel. Adventures ensue, there are some nice romantic moments, and everyone is okay in the end.
Strengths: This is a fantastic middle grade adventure. I love that Chloe is empowered to deal with other concierges and businesses in the city, and given opportunities to see New York, but always under some kind of supervision. I think this is probably the sort of book that my readers enjoy the most-- ordinary children who DO something.
Weaknesses: M!X publishes most of their books only in e book and paperback format, which doesn't work well for a school library!

The best thing about this book is that it's HAPPY. There are just not enough happy books for middle grade readers this year. The Cybils nomination list (my own choice included) is enough to drive adults to antidepressants. One 8th grader finished up a book the other day, returned it, and said, in all seriousness "Ms. Yingling, I know you don't hug people, but that book was so sad that I REALLY NEED A HUG!" So I hugged her and gave her a book with pictures of the 100 cutest cats, as well as Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.

So hear this, middle grade writers: We need happier books. I know they are harder to write. I know that humor doesn't feel as literary. But looking back at my past week of reading, there's been mental depression, economic depression, suicide, genocide, fantasy kingdoms going belly up, and dead or dysfunctional parents in nearly every single book. Gah! I really can't take any more sad books, and my students are getting weary of them as well.

Leave the title of the happiest book you can think of in the comments. Please!

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. 

Letting Ana Go

Anonymous. Letting Ana Go.
June 4th 2013 by Simon Pulse

When her cross country coach makes her keep a food diary to make sure that she and the other girls on the team keep up their calorie counts and DON'T descend into an eating disorder, our unnamed character starts to lose weight. Her best friend, Jill, is a ballerina on a dangerously restrictive diet, and her mother has gained weight and is given a hard time about it by her father. When her father ends up leaving her mother for another woman, and she starts to run faster times after losing about ten pounds, she starts to work with her friend on ridiculously low calorie amounts. This brings her the attention of a boy she likes, and she's determined to lose weight to get into a size two dress, even though she is 5'7". Vanessa, another girl on the team, is worried about her, but she attributes that to jealously. After collapsing at a meet, she has to bring her weight up, her mother starts working days in order to be with her, and her friends watch her more closely, but she is now struggling with anorexia and finds it hard to break the cycle. Her friend Jill is hospitalized, as is she, and she does gain weight for a while, but the book has a very sad ending.
Strengths: My readers are already craving a lot of problem novels-- this doesn't usually occur until deep into February! This was a good read, along the lines of The Best Little Girl in the World. There is some kissing and touching, but nothing too bad.
Weaknesses: I was bothered that this is an "anonymous" diary, when you know it was written by an adult somewhere. It's just too specific and message heavy to have been a real diary. I also wish there had been some information at the back of the book about eating disorder support.

I struggle with giving girls books about eating disorders, but in 17 years of teaching, I have only had two girls who had to go into treatment. In the one case, the girl came to my attention BECAUSE she was reading so many books about the topic, and she is doing better now. This book certainly didn't make an eating disorder look in any way attractive, although the fact that the father left the mother in part because of her weight (or at least that was her daughter's perception) was a bit alarming.) At any rate, a good spring board for discussion.