Speculative middle grade fiction! June 2021

 We FINALLY finished school this past week.  We were three weeks later than usual, due to a late start because of the disease that shall not be named.  I'm so happy to have a little time off of school to do a little reading!  

This one started off the summer with a bang, metaphorically speaking.  It's called The Orpheus Plot by Christopher Swiedler.  This is his second book, his first one called In the Red was also an exciting science fiction story set in outer space.  I liked In the Red, but I think this one might be even better.  It's about Lucas, who has grown up on a mining ship in the asteroid belt.  This is kind of a dodgy job-the miners aren't actually supposed to be mining in random places around the galaxy, but it provides a kind of living, even though people in the Navy look down upon them.  Lucas has dreamed of joining the Navy, but that's pretty much impossible for a Belter.  Except that his adopted sister got in.  She was born on Mars and through some fairly perilous circumstances, ended up living with Lucas and his dad.  She was able to get into the Navy and has basically cut ties with Lucas and his dad.  When they reconnect, Lucas is able to get his dream shot at joining the Naval AcademI did y but Tali, his sister, is acting like she doesn't even know him. It's hard getting used to the luxuries of the Navy (like hot showers and plenty of food) and not all the kids are super nice, but he makes friends with his two bunkmates and they begin to trust each other.  Lucas also catches the eye of the commander, who is impressed with his skills and encourages Lucas to be a leader.  Except, there are some strange things afoot.  Lucas catches Tali planting a device outside.  One of the crew of the Navy ship is also a Belter and gives Lucas a chip with data that Lucas wants.  When the mysteries start to pull together, Lucas has to use all his newly found leadership skills to try to help everyone.  

This was a wonderfully exciting story.  The characters were interesting and well conceived.  The plot twists were terrific.  I loved some the scientific ideas that were included as part of the story, like how Lucas's bones were really fragile because he'd grown up in an environment with very little gravity or having to learn to brush your teeth in zero gravity.  I think kids will like the setting and the story.  I can't wait to put it in my library. 

The second one is also speculative fiction, but this one based on stories from the Navajo culture.  It's called "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young.  It's about Nathan who is going to spend with his grandmother, whom he calls Nali.  His parents are divorced and both have things that are keeping them busy during Nathan's summer vacation (his dad has a new girlfriend and his mom is busy with her job).  Nathan is glad to get to spend the summer with his grandmother-he's planning to work on a science fair project about growing traditional corn versus modern corn.  Except that the traditional corn seeds keep disappearing!  Nathan sees one of the characters from Navajo folklore stealing the seeds and finds a Navajo Holy Being, a Water Monster, who is in big trouble.  Pond, as Nathan calls him, is really sick.  Pond has been self medicating with medicine from his mother, but it's not enough.  Pond convinces Nathan to go and visit his mother so he can be healed as well as healing the world.  Nathan agrees, but wants the Navajo Holy Beings to help his uncle Jet, a war veteran who is struggling with alcoholism.  This is a very interesting and compelling story.  Nathan is a well developed character and so are the Holy Beings as well as Nathan's family.  It's interesting to have a story that has so much Navajo culture as a main part of the story line and it's great for readers to have exposure to the specificity of Navajo culture.  I wish there was a place online that I could listen to the Navajo language because the way the Navajo words are written is really different from English.  I did try the link from the author's note, but that only gives the phonetic spellings.  The videos and recordings that I did find online just confirmed what I DID know, which is that Navajo is a very complex language and it's hard to show that using the alphabet and sounds of another completely different language.   Overall it was a very exciting story and I think the kids will like it a lot.