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. ...

 These two brand new middle grade books are all about games- and you know that since it's middle grade fiction, it's really about way more than the game.  Bigger stakes and bigger rewards!  Both of these books are high reward books!   The first one is called The Mystery of Locked Rooms by Lindsay Currie.  I was lucky enough to get to talk to her at our librarians conference (FAME) back in November and I was super excited to read it.  It did NOT disappoint.  The story is told by Sarah, a 12 year who loves doing puzzles, especially locked room puzzles with her two best friends-West and Hannah.  Sarah compares their friendship to a triangle-each one of the friends has different strengths that make them good at solving the puzzles to get out of an escape room, which is how they get their name for their threesome-The Deltas.  But Sarah is working on a different problem-her dad has been sick and her mom is working extra hard to make ends meet. It a...

 It's funny how sometimes there's kind of a "thing" in middle grade literature.  This week, I read two different books that were published in the same week and both were about kids who were dealing with a missing mom.  It's fairly often that children are left to their own devices, particularly in middle grade literature-think James and the Giant Peach, Harry Potter, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, to name a few, so it's not really surprising to find missing parents, but these two books both showed the emotional toll this can take on kids, particularly if the leaving hasn't been explained to them.  Let me show you what I mean. The first one is called Olivetti.  It's written by Allie Millington and it appears that this is her first book but she has several that are coming out in the next year or so.  Here's a link to her website if you want to find out more.  This story is told from two perspectives, one is Ernest, who is 12 and is having a ha...

 I'm branching out from all the speculative fiction I've been reading to catch up on some realistic fiction.  Here are two of my new favorites! The first one is called "The Partition Project" by Saadia Faruqi.   She also wrote this one that I liked a lot too called "A Place at the Table"  It's about Maha (short for Mahnoor) who lives in Texas with her loving parents and her older brother.  The story opens with the family at the airport getting ready to pick up Dadi, who is Maha's dad's adoptive mother.  Dadi is going to come and live with the family and Maha is meant to act as a kind of a baby-sitter to Dadi.  Maha is not happy about losing her bedroom (she gets her own room, but it's up in the attic) to Dadi and she's struggling to connect to Dadi, who is often abrupt and and kind of cranky.  Maha's deepest passion is journalism and she's very excited when her teacher assigns them a documentary project.  Except she has no idea w...

 Need some great new middle grade books with relatable characters?  Wait till you hear about these! The first one is called Shark Teeth by Sherri Winston.  I've loved Sherri Winston's writing since I first discovered her when she wrote a column for the Sun Sentinel.  She has such a terrific voice in her writing and her latest story is no exception.  Shark Teeth is about a 12 year old named Sharkita.  She is the primary caregiver for her 5 year old sister, Lily and her 8 year old brother Lamar, who has fetal alcohol syndrome.  She's the primary caregiver because her mom is unreliable as a parent.  Kita loves Lily and Lamar and would do anything to protect them.  But awhile back, things were pretty terrible.  Their mom disappeared for 9 days and Lamar had a giant melt down and knocked Kita out.  Kita called 911 to get some help and all three kids ended up in different foster homes and their mom wound up in jail.  Kita is determin...

 There are (at least) two amazing new books out for elementary students that revolve around African animals, come check them out! The first one is the third from Katherine Applegate about a group of animals that lived in a mall in Seattle, Washington.  The first one was the One and Only Ivan about a silverback gorilla, told from the gorilla's point of view.  The second was The One and Only Bob, about a stray dog that lived with the gorilla and told from the dog's point of view.  This one, The One and Only Ruby is told from a baby elephant's point of view.  Ruby and Ivan have been relocated to a zoo that has spaces that mimic their natural habitats.  Ivan lives in an enclosure with other gorillas and has a wonderful companion gorilla.  Ruby lives in an adjoining enclosure, with a herd of other female elephants.  Ruby is anxious about her coming of age ceremony-Tuskday, where the other elephants will celebrate her getting her tusks.  It turns o...

 We just finished our spring break and we had a great time!  One of the best things was having some time to catch up on some reading and wow, were there some great ones in my TBR pile!  Check these out! (no, really, go to the library and check them out!). The first one is by the amazing Angie Thomas.  You might remember a little book she wrote called The Hate U Give that a few people read (and then made a terrific movie about it).  I love the immediacy of her writing and her new one is no different.  It's so different!  It's called Nic Blake and the Remarkables.  It's speculative or fantasy fiction book about Nic Blake, who lives with her dad in Jackson, Mississippi.  Nic and her dad have moved around a lot and Nic really likes living in Jackson.  She finally has a best friend and that feels great.  She's super stoked because her favorite author is coming to town, he writes magical mystery adventures and she'll do anything to meet h...

 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...

 I always feel so lucky to get to read for the CYBILS award.  I love being a first round panelist where we read EVERYTHING.  I'm not going to tell you that all the nominees are wonderful because that would be a straight up lie, but there are SO many terrific surprises as we read.  Here are two of my new favorites. The first one is called Roll for Initiative by Jaime Formato.  This is her first novel and I really hope it's not the last, because this one was terrific!  The main character in this one is Riley, who lives with her mom and her older brother, except that her older brother, Devin, has left to go to college and Riley misses him terribly.  Riley's mom works A LOT and Devin really held the family together.  Riley is unhappy with having to ride the bus, fix her own meals, do the laundry and her homework all on her own but as luck would have it, a friendly girl named Lucy has moved into her apartment complex and she's looking for some new frie...

 I'm so excited that I was chosen to be a first round panelist for CYBILS again!  This year, I'm doing middle grade fiction (instead of speculative fiction like last year).  It's so awesome to get to read realistic fiction with all the cultural issues that are typically a part of middle grade fiction.  I've read a few so far, and these are two of my new favorites.   The first one is by Amy Sarig King, you might know her work- The Year We Fell from Space and Me and Marvin Gardens.  She has a terrific voice, but wait until you read this one-It's called Attack of the Black Rectangles.  It's about Mac who is navigating his final year of elementary school with his two best friends, Marci and Denis.  He lives with his mom and his grandfather.  His dad does not live at their house, but he comes over every week for dinner and to work on an old car in the garage.  His new teacher writes a column for the newspaper that supports conservative values...

 I LOVE reading for the CYBILS award.  The list of books we read is virtually the entire catalog of everything that's been printed in the year of the award so I end up digging deep into one category of books, this year, it's middle grade fiction.  A lot of social issues appear in middle grade fiction-these are books written for kids in upper elementary and middle school and those kids are trying to figure out a lot.  Often times books like these end up offering pathways for kids they didn't even know they wanted.  So imagine my surprise today (literally, I read these two books today) that two of the books are centered around kids who want to see themselves or people like themselves in the Civil War.  Yep, the American Civil War, the one that was fought over states rights or slavery?  That ended in 1865?  That one.   I KNOW.  And they're BOTH terrific. The first one is called The Secret Battle of Evan Pao.  It's written by Wendy Wan-...

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...

 I've been trying desperately to get caught up on some of my reading.  It sounds ridiculous to feel pressured to read but there it is.  I've been having trouble sleeping so it's a good time to dig around in Netgalley and see what is on the to-do list!  Here are two amazing ones! The first one is called Those Kids of Fawn Creek by Erin Entrada Kelly.  Erin has written some AWESOME books-I'm not the only one who thinks so, her book "Hello Universe" won a Newbery award and before that "Blackbird Fly" won a CYBILS award.  I think this new one is going to be a big hit too.   It's about a small community in Louisiana where people don't come and go very often.  The kids there have known each other their entire lives and will likely be friends forever.  That constancy can be a comfort but it can also be difficult if you are a kid who doesn't feel like he or she belongs.  Greyson is one of the main characters.  He is relentlessly bullied by ...

 In digging into the children's literature buffet, I found two very different, but equally wonderful stories!  Check these out! The first is called "To the Front" written by Claudia Fridell and illustrated by Christopher Cyr.  It's a picture book biography about Clara Barton at the Battle of Antietam.  I thought I was pretty well versed in Clara Barton, having read dozens of books about her in my youth, but this book was such an interesting take on her life.  The story is told in two ways-one is poetic text  and the other is quotes from Clara Barton's papers, so you have this amazing juxtaposition of information about Clara right next to her own words.  For elementary students.  Genius!  The information is immediate and so clearly written, you almost feel like you're right next to her.  And then there's the art work.  Luminous, clearly rendered art work with the most amazing light sources.  It gives you the feeling that you're ...

 Do you think middle grade fiction can be escapist?  I'm starting to think that's what I find so appealing about middle grade fiction-going back to a time when the things that I worried about were my grades at school and who liked who.  But some of these middle grade books tackle big topics-domestic abuse, gender identity, and aging-and they still feel escapist to me.  Here are two you might like to escape into! The first one is called "These Unlucky Stars" by Gillian McDunn.  McDunn wrote a lovely book last year called Caterpillar Summer that was terrific and this new one is also great.  It's about Annie, who feels invisible to her dad and her brother Ray.  They live in a very small town near the mountains of NC that are beautifully described.  Annie believes that all the negative things that happen to her are due to bad luck, because her mom used to blame things on bad luck.  But her mom left the family five years earlier.  Her brother...

 Social issues and building empathy have been hot button topics in middle grade fiction. The current way of thinking about this is windows and mirrors.  Some books show us people who are like us and some show us people we never really thought about before.  Reading some of both kinds of books is important for kids, so I'm happy to share some new ones with you! The first one is called A Fish Out of Water by Joanne Levy.  It's about 12 year old Fishel who is living with his mom, his stepdad and his baby sister.  Fish is getting ready to celebrate is bar mitzvah and he needs to do a  kind of community service project.  His friends have ideas and would like Fish to do the project with them, but Fish really wants to think up his own project.  He gets a great idea from his grandmother.  He wants to knit socks and give them to people who need them.  His grandmother says that boys don't knit.  His stepdad agrees and encourages him to take w...