The Book Search

Strong female characters are one of the things I love about middle grade fiction.  Girls trying to find their way as they grow and mature.  These two are a perfect example of those young women.   The first one is "The Queen's Granddaughter" by Diane Zahler.  I loved her books "The Blackwood Magicians" and "Baker's Magic" so I was excited to read this new one.  This is the story of Blanca, the granddaughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine.  Blanca has been living a happy life with her sister, Uraca, her loving parents, and her new baby sister Eleanor.  Blanca understands that her job is to marry well but at 12, she hopes that it's going to be awhile until she gets married.  Her oldest sister is already married and so when her grandmother shows up at the castle, ready to announce the latest arranged marriage, Blanca doesn't want Uraca to go, so she badmouths her sister to her grandmother.  When her grandmother makes her announcement, it's Blanca,...

 There have been SO MANY new books that came out in the last month!  So lucky us!  Here are two of my newest favorites. "When Tomorrow Burns" by Tae Keller is about three middle school kids who are trying to figure things out.  They have been friends for a long time, but are struggling to remain friends because of the things they haven't felt confident to share with each other.  Nomi, Vi, and Arthur each have the own opportunity to tell their stories and through that story telling, readers get a full picture of how their relationships crisscross and intersect and divide.  And each of them believes in a prophecy that they read in a book that they found at the Museum of Lost and Found, a gallery where people could drop off paintings, sculptures and poems that one of Arthur's dads runs in the first floor of their apartment.  Part of the story line that keeps the kids together is trying to find the second book to try to figure out the true meaning of the p...

  There have been some amazing books that came into the world in the last month.   Here are two of my favorites! The first one is called “Glory Be” by Jamie Sumner.  Jamie has such a gift for giving a voice to people with big hearts and quirky personalities.  You might remembers some of her other work, like “Roll On”.  This one is a new set of characters and  you are going to love it.  Glory lives with her mom and her dad and their dog Roux.  Except that Roux is missing and Glory is heartbroken.  It takes until almost the end of the book to find out really what happened and it is super fun ride.  The story is written in free verse and as usual, Sumner has a wonderful way of describing not only the setting but also helping readers to understand the depth and complexities of the feelings of the characters.  This would be a great one for teaching personal narrative, for character analysis, for foreshadowing and inferencing.  There...

 How lucky I am to get to read some of these amazing new books that are just coming out?  Wait till you read these!   The first one is a novel in verse and it's historical fiction.  It's called "A Year without Home"  and it's written by V. T. Bidania and according to the author's notes, is a story about her family's experience as they traveled from their home in Laos, to a refugee camp in Thailand, to a second refugee camp in Thailand and then to the US.  The story is told by Gao Sheng, who is the oldest child in her family and as a girl, she is not considered as important as her brother, Yia.  She is expected to be hard working, dutiful, and well behaved and she tries hard to fill that role.  Her home in Laos contains most of her immediate family-her grandmother, her aunts and uncles, her parents and siblings and they have most everything they need.  Her father is an officer in the Laotian military and when the Laotian government falls to th...

 So even though CYBILS isn't doing an award this year, people are still reading and recommending books.  I'm so happy I got to read this two, because they're wonderful! The first one is called "Candace, the Universe, and Everything".  It's written by Sherri L. Smith, who has written several other books, but this is the first one I've read (and it will NOT be the last).  The story is told by Candace, a middle schooler who lives with two loving parents.  She's having a hard time adapting to the new relationship she has with two girls that she considers her best fiends.  She missed out on a camping trip with Becca and Deen and it seems like Becca and Deen are bonded in a way that they hadn't been before.  Candace feels left out.  And then, a bird flies out of her locker, leaving behind a purple notebook full of advice that seems surprisingly on point, especially when Candace finds out that the notebook is 40 years old and that the writer had the same...

 Usually this time of year, I'm knee deep in middle grade speculative fiction as part of the CYBILS award list, which is super fun.  But this year, they are taking a break (sad face emoji) but I'm still finding some fun things to read, it's just not the overwhelming glut I'm accustomed to, with stacks of books on hold for me at my local library and the stacks of books on my coffee table giving me the stink eye every time I sit down.  Luckily, here are two amazing ones that just came out. The first one is in a category I like to call "not exactly speculative fiction".  There are no ghosts or magical creatures in these books, but the kids face obstacles that I hope are not realistic.  This one is called "The Free State of Jax".  It's written by Jennifer Nielsen, an author whose work I admire greatly.  Jax is a kid who has lived with his grandmother since he was a little boy.  But his grandmother developed Alzheimer's disease and he was sent to ...