The Book Search

There have been SO many amazing speculative middle grade fiction books this summer.  Here are two of my new favorites!  If you've been reading my blog (and I KNOW you have been, thank you!), you know, I'm not a big fan of scary books.  There are so many scary things in the world, I'd really rather NOT spend my time reading about them, but this one called to me!  To let me tell you about it. The first one is called "This Appearing House" by Ally Malinenko.  Allie wrote this terrific creepy ghost story last year called "Ghost Girl" that I really enjoyed, so I was looking forward to this one.  There's an author's note at the beginning of the book from Ally that tells that the inspiration for this book was her own battle with cancer (which has been largely victorious) so right away, that sets up readers for a really different kind of experience.  The book is told from the viewpoint of Jac, a middle school girl who doesn't have many friends and is

It's been so hot out that I've been spending a lot of time indoors reading.  Hooray for awesome new books to read!   These two realistic fiction books could not be more different, but I thought they were both terrific.  The first one is called Thirst and it's written by Varsha Bajaj.  It's about Minni, who lives with her loving family in one of the poorest parts of Mumbai, India.  Her dad runs a tea stall, her mom works as domestic worker for a rich family, her older brother works in a restaurant and Minni goes to school, but it's hard!  One of the things the family has to do each day is wait in line for water.  There is a tap not far from Minni's house, but it doesn't operate consistently or very efficiently, so sometimes they wait a long time and other times, not as long.  Sometimes the water is discolored or bad smelling and they are told to boil the water before drinking it.  One day, Minni's brother gets invited for a ride in a friend's new car.

One of the best things about middle grade literature is the way that authors include social issues as part of their story lines.  These are topics that kids are typically trying to navigate in one way or another and even if they aren't, kids around them are.  These are stories are excellent opportunities to talk about how some people solve these challenges as well as how we might do things differently or maybe it's such a genius way they did it, we should copy them!    Here are two great ones you might really like!  The first one is from one of my favorite authors-Pablo Cartaya-he's from Miami, close to me and he's an amazing storyteller.  He's written books like "Marcus Vega doesn't speak Spanish" and "The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora" He has such a gift for writing characters voices.  This one is no exception.  It's science fiction with a side of dystopian future and  it's called the Last Beekeeper.  When you start reading, you'll

There are three graphic novels on the Sunshine State Young Reader 3-5 list this year.  That might give you an idea of the popularity of graphic novels among 3-5th graders, but it also speaks to the fact that graphic novels cover a greater range of topics than ever before and more of them are being published.  I already reviewed "Measuring Up" by Lily Lamotte here .  So let me tell you about the other two, because they were also terrific. "Katie the Catsitter" written by Colleen AF Venable and illustrated by Stephanie Yue is very fun fantasy fiction story.  Katie is 12 and wants to go to summer camp with her two best friends but her mom can't afford to send her.  Katie decides to earn the money doing odd jobs around her apartment buildings, except she's terrible at it!  Until one day, her neighbor notices that Katie is really great with her cat and asks Katie to cat sit and pay her a lot of money, which seems to Katie, to be the easiest job in the world.  Pa

 I might not have mentioned it before, but I married a chef.  My first job as a teenager was working at a local French restaurant and I had big dreams of going to culinary school, which, my dad, who was paying for my post high school education, shot down.  So I went to a four year school and became an elementary school teacher and librarian.  WAAAY better hours, retirement plan and health care benefits.  I even teased my chef into joining me as a teacher (he's been teaching cooking now for 25 years!).  Anyway, cookbooks were some of my favorite books growing up (Betty Crocker Cookie Book anyone?) and I still love a good cookbook, as evidenced by my latest round of books from Netgalley. The first one is called Gateau: The Surprising Simplicity of  French Cakes by Aleksandra Crapanzano.  Unsurprisingly, it's about cake.  Don't you kind of love the simplicity of cookbooks?  Eponymous titles, straightforward directions, gorgeous pictures.  Anyway, I read about this one online a

  I'm just NOW getting around to reading the new crop of SSYRA 3-5 books for the coming year.  It turns out, I'd already read a few of them.     Here's a link to two of the books I already reviewed.      The link has reviews for Amari and the Night Brothers by BB Alston as well as  The Lion of Mars by Jennifer Holm.  And I'm sure I'd already read some of the other ones but I just couldn't find...  oh well.  Anyway, here are two more that I think you're going to love.   The first one is a graphic novel and it's called Measuring Up by Lily Lamotte.  It's about Cici who moved to Seattle from Taiwan.  She desperately misses her grandmother and REALLY wants to figure out a way to get her to come and stay.  Moving anytime is hard, but moving to a new country with a different language and culture is even more difficult.  Cici worries that the kids will think she's weird (when she brings her lunch to school on the first day, some of the kids are really m

 I've been a librarian now for 12 years and I was a classroom teacher for 20 years before that.  As the librarian, I've made an effort to read the latest books.  I've also been lucky enough to have the opportunity to read for two different book awards (which pushes you to read all the latest books) and it's really interesting to see some of the gigantic changes in children's literature over the last few years, in response to cultural changes.  One of the changes is the conversation about social issues and middle grade fiction is brilliant at opening those conversations.  Here are two (not brand new, but pretty new) books that you might want to read. The first one is called Finding Junie Kim by Ellen Oh.  It's about Junie, a middle schooler, who is struggling with some big things.  The first is bullying.  The kids in her neighborhood and at her school bully her relentlessly.  They use Asian ethnic slurs and tropes to intimidate and anger her and it makes her feel