The Book Search

 Magical mysteries?  Yes please!  And these have a side helping of social issues!   The first one is called "Raven, Rising".  It's written by Christine Hartman Derr.  I haven't read any of her other books but I really liked this one.  It's about Raven, a 13 year old girl who lives with her aunt because her parents were killed 8 months ago.  Raven and her aunt Coral have relocated to the Cherokee Nation in NC from Oklahoma because of an amazing job opportunity for Coral.  They had been living in the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, and this is an important part of both Coral and Raven's lives.  Raven misses her parents desperately and one of the things Raven used to do with her mom is bake, but the accident that killed her parents was a gas leak and Raven was the last one who used the stove, so she blames herself.  She has vowed to never bake again.  Except that ingredients seem to be following her around, trying to get noticed, and...

And the hits just keep coming!  Boy, have I read some great books lately!  Here are two of my favorites. The first one is "Max in the House of Spies" by Adam Gidwitz.  I haven't read all of Gidwitz's works, but I loved "The Inquisitors" so I was excited to see this one come up in my Netgalley feed.  It did NOT disappoint.  It's about Max, an 11 year old living with his parents in Berlin in 1939.  The family is trying to figure out how to cope with the limitations on their lives that the Nazis are putting in place.  After Kristallnacht, Max's parents insist that he go on the Kindertransport to London.  He doesn't want to leave his parents, but they don't give him a choice, so he goes.  As he's traveling on the ship, he finds he's picked up two immortal beings, Stein and Berg (who sound a bit like tiny vaudevillians) that are now sitting on his shoulders, simultaneously trying to throw him under the bus and help him get through all this...