New speculative middle grade fiction Summer 2020

Boy, does it feel good to read some fantasy fiction.  I like realistic fiction, but things have been very real around here for awhile, so it was good to dig into some books where problem solving is based on magic rather than the hard work that requires here in the real world!

The first one is a graphic novel.  I'm going to confess right now that graphic novels are not my favorite.  I think I create pretty good mental images and the images of a graphic novel sometimes slow me down.  But this one was SO GOOD. It's called Doodleville by Chad Sells.  You might have read Chad's earlier book called Cardboard Kingdom, which was really fun.  In my opinion, Doodleville is even better.  It's about a group of kids who are in an art club.  They typically draw super heroes and each of them has their own character that is their most well developed.  Drew, the main character, has a friendly group of characters that can escape their pages and end up in some pretty funny places.  They also can alter themselves and the environment they inhabit.  So when the group goes on a field trip to the art museum,  Drew takes along her notebook and the doodles have a really good time hanging out in some of the famous works of art.  Their art teacher encourages the young artists to think bigger, to push their own boundaries.  Drew does that by drawing a gigantic monster, a leviathan, Levi for short.  He's friendly at first, clumsy and struggling with boundaries, but he becomes evil and more destructive as the story goes on.  Drew is unable to control him, but together with the other artists in the club, they save the day.  This is a really fun story to read.  Besides Drew, there is a very diverse group of artists and they draw a wide variety of characters, which adds a really fun, accepting element to the story.  There are themes of acceptance, friendship, and using your own experiences to create art.  I really loved this one and I know my students are going to love it too.  Even better, it looks like this the start of a series!  YAY!!!  These characters are so awesome, it's great to think we'll get to spend even more time with them.  

And here's Chad Sell reading the first chapter!  Woo Hoo!

The second one is not a graphic novel, but that is completely ok with me.  It's called The Girl and the Witch's Garden by Erin Bowman.  She has written a number of other books, but this is the first one I've read by her (I think!  It's a long list!).  Anyway, the girl in this story is Piper.  She's been living with her dad since her mom left the family several years ago.  Her mom wanted to focus on her scientific work and apparently, there wasn't room for Piper or her dad in that mix.  But Piper's dad was diagnosed with lung cancer and the news is not good.  For summer vacation, Piper is going to spend it with her mother and grandmother at the family estate, while her dad tries another round of more terrible chemotherapy.  But when Piper gets to the estate, she finds several other kids living there.  Apparently, her mother was too busy to be a mom to Piper, but had plenty of time to help other kids.  Piper's mom also seems really cold and kind of mean.  The kids are taking up the slack of care-taking, including cooking (Camilla is an amazing cook) and Piper's grandmother is nowhere to be found.  It turns out that the kids have been brought to the manor because they each have a special magical power.  The kids tell her about a magic elixir that Piper's mom and grandmother have been searching for that is in the garden.  Except to Piper, the garden looks like a waste land and the magic elixir is for immortality, which Piper could use to save her dad.   So the chase is on!  This is a really exciting story with fun magic elements and themes of trust, friendship, living your life on your own terms, parenting, and loss.  I liked this one a lot too and I think the kids who like magical stories are going to like this one too.  AND it looks like this one is also the beginning of a series.  YAY!!!