The Book Search

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 ...

 Need to take a little adventure this summer?  Here are two titles that might be right up your alley!   The first one is called Champion's Quest: The Die of Destiny by Frank L. Cole.  It starts with Lucas, a 12 year old in foster care.  He is convinced that he would be better off away from the foster home where he has been living, so he hatches a plan to run away by train.  Except that one of the other foster kids, Miles, is meant to give his story credence, and Miles doesn't really want Lucas to go.  They end up in what seems like a store but is actually the offices of a magical adventure group.  Two girls join them-one is Jasmine, a girl who seems to be perpetually in trouble, and Vanessa, the daughter of the foster parents where Lucas and Miles are living.  The game sounds like some of the role playing games that people play on line like Dungeons and Dragons-there are magical beasts that can either help or hurt you, your welfare depends on...

 It's so lovely to have time to read.  I talked to a lovely woman today at the doctor's office who was telling me she loved to read to and there are so many good ones to recommend!  Here are some of my newest favorites! The first one is called The Verdigris Pawn by Alysa Wishingrad.   It's Wishingrad's debut novel, so I hope there are more to come!  It's a fairy tale (squee!!!) about Beau, who is the son of the ruler, called Himself.  Beau's mom died when he was very young and his dad has set him up with a series of tutors.  Himself sets some very high standards for academic performance and behavior that Beau finds hard to meet.  Beau has been playing a strategy game called Fist that involves trying to unseat the king.  Himself seems to be worried that Beau (or maybe someone else) is trying to unseat him through magic and charms.  The Fist set belonged to his mother, so Beau feels connected to it in surprising ways.  When Himself tu...

 We FINALLY finished school this past week.  We were three weeks later than usual, due to a late start because of the disease that shall not be named.  I'm so happy to have a little time off of school to do a little reading!   This one started off the summer with a bang, metaphorically speaking.  It's called The Orpheus Plot by Christopher Swiedler.  This is his second book, his first one called In the Red was also an exciting science fiction story set in outer space.  I liked In the Red, but I think this one might be even better.  It's about Lucas, who has grown up on a mining ship in the asteroid belt.  This is kind of a dodgy job-the miners aren't actually supposed to be mining in random places around the galaxy, but it provides a kind of living, even though people in the Navy look down upon them.  Lucas has dreamed of joining the Navy, but that's pretty much impossible for a Belter.  Except that his adopted sister got in.  ...

 OOOOOO, it feels SO good to have some time to read!  I found some really great science fiction this week in my Netgalley pile!  And guess what?  These two are on the SSYRA 3-5 list for 2022-2023! This one is called "The Lion of Mars" by Jennifer Holm.  I'm a big fan of Jennifer Holm-I love Turtle in Paradise and Babymouse and the Fourteenth Goldfish and Sunny.  The list is long and I'm so happy to see there's a new addition to the list!  The Lion of Mars is set on Mars.  The American government has sent a group of people to set up a colony there.  There are adults and children who grow their own food (with occasional resupplies from Earth) and make do with what they have.  There are strict rules about living in the colony and one is that there is no contact with the other colonies.  (Wait, what?  I hear you asking!) Yep, there is a French colony, a Finnish colony, a Chinese colony, and a Russian colony.  The Americans don...

The new SSYRA lists (and FTR) have been announced and what a great job the committees did choosing books!  I know the kids are going to be super excited to see what fun books there are to read this year!  I'd read (and reviewed) a few of them already, including Inkling , but there were a lot more that I hadn't read.  Here are two that I was able to read this weekend. The first one is called Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat #1 by Johnny Marciano and Emily Chenoweth.  It's about a cat named Klawde, who lives on a planet called Lyttyrboks and it turns out that he's a pretty terrible cat.  He's been dethroned by General Ffangg and has only one loyal minion left-Floofee-Fyr.  He has been banished to Earth, a planet known to be desolate and inhabited by ogres.  Lucky for Klawde, he ends up in an ogre's house that actually wants him to be there-Raj's family has just moved to Oregon (where Klawde lands) and Raj has always really wanted a cat.  Raj convinc...

I might have mentioned before that I'm actually not a big fan of science fiction.  It's not my jam, but actually, after this round of the CYBILS reading, I might have to rethink that label, because there has been some righteous science fiction this year. The latest one I've read is called "The Time Traveler's Theory of Relativity" by Nicole Valentine.  It's about Finn, who's a middle schooler and a bit of a loner.  His mom has left the family and no one is talking about where she is or how long she'll be gone and she's not answering her phone or responding to text messages.  Finn is worried.  His dad sends him to stay with his grandmother in rural Vermont and that's kind of a good thing.  He adores his grandmother, it puts him closer to his best friend, Gabi, and since his dad has been really distant and kind of unresponsive, it's kind of good to be away from him.  Except that once he's there at his grandmother's, really weird...

I am not usually attracted to science fiction.  I blame a steady diet of fairy tales and magically related books in my youth, but one really great thing about CYBILS is that it sends you places you didn't even know you wanted to go, reading books you didn't even know you should look for.  So here are two of my new favorites (go ahead, call me fickle). The first one is called Cog and it's written by Greg Van Eekhout.  It's about COG, which is short for cognitive development.  Cog is a robot with artificial intelligence, so he's meant to learn things and he looks exactly like a 12 year old boy.  He lives with his inventor, Gina and she's trying to teach him lots of things, like shopping and smiling.  Gina tells him that he learns from his mistakes.  So one day Cog decides to make a mistake to learn something new.  He goes outside by himself.  He sees a dog in the street and car coming straight for the dog.  He calculates the speed at whi...

I'm super excited to get to be a part of the CYBILS awards this year.  In case you don't know what that is, CYBILS is a group of people who blog about literature for young people and each year, they give out several awards in different categories.  I'm SO lucky this year to get to be part of the first round panelists for speculative fiction (which some people call fantasy fiction).  I've got a lot of reading to do over the next few weeks, but I thought I'd share a couple of the best ones here. My first new favorite is science fiction.  It's called "We're Not From Here" by Geoff Rodkey.  This story starts with Lan, who is living with his (or possibly her-in the book, Lan's gender is never specified, which was amazing to me!) family on Mars.  Earth has become uninhabitable and Mars is on it's way to also becoming uninhabitable.  Happily, there is another planet (very far away) that is willing to take them.  So Lan's family along with an...

Summer vacation just started and so has the blissfully un-pressured reading!  I don't usually read science fiction (although I'm always surprised that I like it more than I think I will!).    There are two that I read that I really enjoyed. The first one is not brand new.  It's one on the Sunshine State Young Reader Award List this year.  It's called "Enginerds" by Jarrett Lerner.  It's a short, fast read about Ken who is part of a group of kids that he's known since he was in kindergarten.  They all like science and engineering and each of them has a different strength.  One day, Ken comes home to find a box on his front step.  He often gets presents from his grandfather so it's not too big of a shock, but the box is really heavy.  So he calls his best friend, Dan, and Dan helps him lug the box and start putting the thing together. It turns out the thing is a robot, but the robot seems to have a pretty limited skill set.  All it ...