More new magical middle grade fiction!

We're on winter break now and winding down the CYBILS awards.  In fact, I was really surprised to come home from school on our last day and find two new books to read!  They were SO worth waiting for!

The first one is "Homerooms and Hall Passes" by Tom O'Donnell.  It's about a group of adventurers who live in a magical, medieval kind of realm called Briandalor, where they spend their days searching for treasure and battling vile monsters.  To relax, they spend Thursday evenings playing a role playing game called Homerooms and Hall passes, which has each of the players assume the role of a student in a 21st century middle school.  The students have to try to navigate middle school without getting thrown out.  The leader of the group, a good wizard in training named Albiorix, is a big fan of the game (he has 26 reference books about the game that he carries with him).  The group also includes a second leader, Vela the Valiant, a paladin (or knight), as well as Devis, the thief, Sorrowshade, the assassin, and Thromdurr, the barbarian.  They raid a tomb and find riches, but Vela talks them out of taking them because of the curse.  Except Devis can't quite resist - one teensy, weensy jewel, which he takes out as they are playing their weekly game.  The curse takes effect, and they are thrust into the middle school world of Homerooms and Hall Passes, with no way to get back except to survive middle school.  This is one the freshest ideas I've read in quite some time-the idea that people would be thrust into a video game has kind of been done, but characters from what we would consider a role playing video game coming and trying to make it in the real world, I hadn't thought of before.  The way the characters interact with each other and the 21st century is absolutely hilarious.  The commentary on middle school and middle school peer relationships is right on the money.  The final epic battle is so perfect for the story.  I really don't want to spoil even a little bit of this for you, because it's that good.  I can't wait to start handing this one to my students.  I'd better make sure I buy more copies....

The second one is called "A Sprinkle of Magic" by Alma Meriano.  It's the second in a series called "Love, Sugar, Magic".  I'm going to tell you that normally, I don't read the second book in a series.  I read the first one and then I have to move on-too many books to read!  Usually the second book in a series spends a lot of time flashing back to the first one.  If you didn't read the first one, you might end up like me, feeling a little lost and out of place and wondering why you actually picked up the book to begin with.  Hence the not reading of many number twos.  So I DIDN'T read the first one of this series and it still made perfect sense, in fact, not only did it make perfect sense, I never got that feeling of "HUH?" that I often get in reading books that are second (or later) in a series.  It's about Leo and her family who come from Mexico.  They run a bakery called Love and Sugar (or in Spanish, Amor y Azucar).  Leo is the youngest sister and often feels a little ignored or left out.  Her older sisters are given more responsibilities in the bakery and Leo is left to run the cash register.  Her best friend Caroline has been away for awhile and her sisters think that's a good thing-they think Leo spends way too much time with Caroline and that Caroline spends too much time in the bakery, which is a bit of a problem for Leo who wants everyone to be happy.  Leo's family are witches or brujas and their magic is supposed to be a secret from everyone, including Caroline.  But Caroline found out about their magic (in the first book) and thinks it's perfectly ok.  So one morning, Leo wakes up and finds her grandmother in her bedroom, which is a little weird, because her grandmother has been dead for quite some time.  Her grandmother is not just a spirit either, she's fully corporeal and doesn't really know why she's come back to Leo.  So together they try to figure it out.  It turns out, Abuela is not the only ghost that's come through and each of the ghosts has some lesson to learn or to teach.  This is a lovely story about family and traditions and food (yum).  The characters are nice people that are concerned about each other.  There's a nice message about living your life without regret and being able to say goodbye.  I also really liked the part of the story line that focused  on the differences between Hispanic cultures (in this case, between Mexico and Costa Rica).  I liked this one enough that I'm going to look for the first one!