The Book Search

 Middle grade fiction is such a terrific place to find interesting characters and challenges.  These three brand new books have an amazing variety of those!   The first one is a graphic novel.  It's called Plain Jane and the Mermaid by Vera Brogsol.   Here's her website if you're interested.   She's written and illustrated a number of books, including one of my favorite picture books "Leave Me Alone", which I found hilarious.  This one is longer and more detailed and I thought it was just wonderful.  It's about Jane, who lives in a place that seems like fairy tale times, in a heavily paternalistic society.  Her parents don't think too much of her because she's not beautiful and when they die, she's forced out of her home by her horrible cousin.  In desperation,  she proposes to Peter, a handsome boy from the village.  Peter isn't exactly enthusiastic and as he's storming off, a mermaid appears and takes him under the sea. ...

 I might have mentioned before that I'm not typically a fan of graphic novels.  I like creating my own mental images of characters and settings and so I don't usually choose graphic novels. BUT, holy cow, these two new ones have such interesting story lines and the art work is SO compelling, you have to look for them! The first one is called Atana and the Firebird by Vivian Zhou .  This is her first book, but it better not be her last!  The cover is stunning and that's exactly what made me want to read it.   All the art work has this magical, glowing quality to it, which is perfect because it's about Atana, a mermaid, who is living alone on an island.   One day, a Firebird comes to earth.  Her name is Ren and she has been hearing stories all her life about how wonderful Earth is and so even though it's been hundreds of years since a Firebird has come to earth, Ren has come to experience Earth life.  But there are evil forces afoot and it's not saf...

 Still reading for the CYBILS award, but coming down the end of the pile.  Today I found this really great one lurking! It's called "If you meet the Devil, Don't Shake Hands" by Sylvia Whitman.  I'd never read anything by Whitman before, so this one was a very pleasant surprise.  The narrator is Gavin, a worrier who is in middle school.  His best friend, Javi, is an excellent support system because Gavin's dad has been deployed in the military and Gavin's worrying has really ramped up.  He has a big (annoying) sister and his mom, but Javi is his closest ally.  Javi lives upstairs from Gavin and they are in and out of each other's homes all the time.  But when Javi's mom sends Javi a text that the Devil has returned, Javi's grandfather, who left when Javi's mom was a little girl.  A magician and card sharp and general rogue.  Gavin goes with Javi to his apartment as support for him.  But the man sitting at the table doesn't seem that...

 I just finished two graphic novels you might want to be on the look out for.  My students really love graphic novels that are realistic fiction, like Smile and Drama by Reina Telegmeier or the Baby Sitter's Club, so these two new ones are right in that sweet spot. The first one is by one of my favorite authors, Wendy Mass.  Wendy has written some amazing middle grade fiction like 11 Birthdays and the Candymakers that are perennial hits in my elementary school library.  Her first foray into graphic novels is called Lo and Behold.  Like many of her books, the story is based around a middle schooler, Addie, who is going to spend the summer with her dad who is a futurist, which is a scientist who helps people plan for the future.  His current line of study is augmented reality and he's super into it.  Addie's mom is out of the picture-of course Wendy doesn't tell you the whole thing at the beginning, but it involves a bike accident and pain killers. ...

 Did you think I forgot how to write a blog post?  I did not.  Well, maybe I did, but COVID seemed to have scrambled my brain a little...  or maybe a lot and between trying to go to work, to go to our state librarians convention, to spend 10 days  with my parents here and suddenly it was today!  I'd like to tell you that I've done something heroic, but it would be a lie or at least a really big stretch.  Anyway, I HAVE been reading and here are two new ones that you should definitely look for. The first one is called Sardines.  It's written by Sashi Kaufman and it is wonderful.  It's about Lucas who is in middle school and struggling.  His older brother, Charlie died after he'd left to go away to college and he left a big hole in the community as well as in Lucas' family.  In fact, Lucas' mother has left the family without any big discussion with Lucas, so he doesn't really know why she left or where she went or why.  Lucas fee...

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. ...

  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 f...

It's so much fun to have time to read over the summer.  Here are some brand new ones you might want to look for! The first one is called The Book of Fatal Errors.  It's targeted at middle graders and it's a really fun, exciting read.  It's about Rufus, who is just starting summer vacation after a tough year in 6th grade. He's a little worried about summer vacation because his mom is going to be gone, but he's hoping that means he'll get to spend all summer with his grandfather at his house, which is Rufus's happy place.  Except that his grandfather has an accident on the first day of vacation and his dad thinks Feylawn (which is what Grandpa's place is called) is not safe for anyone.  He wants Rufus to spend his summer learning new things, like his cousin Abigail, who has attended a number of different camps each summer, knows several languages and seems to spend all her time making sure the adults like her.  But it turns out Grandpa's accident w...

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 ...

I got some terrific new books this week from Netgalley-compelling, adventurous books! The first one is called "The Okay Witch" by Emma Steinkellner.  It's a graphic novel (not my favorite) about a girl named Moth, who is 13 and struggling with all the usual middle school issues-friends, clothes, her mom, teachers.  But on Halloween, Moth discovers that she's actually a witch and her mom is a witch too.  Her mom chose to give up being a witch because her coven had been chased into hiding hundreds of years ago.  Her mom wanted to live life in the real world and not in the utopia that her own mother had created.  Moth is stunned at this revelation and has to decide if she wants to live a magical life or if she wants to live in the magic free zone her mom has created.  Complicating matters are a cute new boy in town and the evil doers that chased Moth's family into hiding in the first place.  It's a really fun, adventurous story and I liked it a lot, eve...

After having plunged into the dark heart of middle grade fantasy fiction for the past few months, I'm coming out on the other side, ready to read some new things!  I happened to get a hold of some realistic fiction for upper middle grade or YA, bigger than what I've been reading and what a treat.  Here are two I read this week. The first one is a graphic novel called "Illegal" by Eion Colfer and Andrew Donkin.  I find graphic novels are not usually my first choice.  I read really fast and I love creating my own mental images.  I find the graphic novels require me to slow down, read the text and interpret the pictures because they are usually a big part of the story.  This one was worth slowing down for.  It's about a boy named Ebo.  It's told in two different parts and it flashes between the two parts of the story.  The story begins with Ebo finding that his brother, Kwame, has left the family home (which is pretty short on family-their par...