Monday, March 18, 2024

MMGM- Unstuck and The Enigma Girls

It's
Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
 at 
and #IMWAYR day 
at
Dee, Barbara. Unstuck
February 27, 2024 by Aladdin
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Lyla is struggling in 7th grade; her best friend from elementary school, Rania, attends Dickinson Middle School, while Lyla attends Whitman. Lyla still hasn't found a new friend, but does eat lunch every day with Journey, a quirky girl who is very interested in animals and a bit less interested in Lyla's concerns. Lyla's older sister, Dahlia, is a senior in high school, and struggling with writing her college application essays, which causes a lot of friction between her sister and her parents. This also causes Lyla to feel that her parents don't really care about her. For her language arts class, her favorite teacher, Ms. Bowman, is having the students do whatever creative writing makes them happy, and this is a bright spot in Lyla's world because she has a fascinating and complicated fantasy novel she is working on. She has the most amazing first sentence, character studies, names, and even maps... but she can't get beyond that first sentence. She envies others in her class, like Stella, who seems to churn out writing effortlessly. She becomes very stressed with the whole process, especially since she wants to enter-- and win!-- a local writing contest that Dahlia had done well in when she was in middle school. Not only that, but she feels disconnected from Raina. When the two finally plan a sleepoever, Lyla is disappointed that some of Raina's new friends from the track team at her school are also there. Lyla really wants to discuss her story with Raina to help figure out the direction she should take, but when she talks about it briefly, she comes across as bragging, since Raina's new friends make her feel less accomplished. The tensions at home increase, and Dahlia confides in her that she doesn't want to go to college right away, but is afraid to tell her parents. Not only that, but she is failing some of her courses! She begs Lyla not to tell, which puts her in a difficult position. When Lyla finds out that Raina's new friends bullied Journey so much that her parents pulled her out of school and homeschooled her, Lyla wants to confront her old friend, but isn't sure quite how to approach the topic, especially since the two rarely talk. As her stress levels rise, Ms. Bowman tries to help, having the whole class do free writing, letting Lyla go to the library for a change of scenery, and letting her know that all writers occasionally struggle and that Lyla should be kind to herself and "write her feelings". This helps, and Lyla begins to work on her story, using it as a way to process her emotions about what is going on in her life. Dee includes 25 tips for writers at the end of the book.  
Strengths: Dee is always on trend with issue of friendship, mental health, and family dynamics; in fact, she may set the trends. Dahlia's college application process is no doubt exactly what many post-pandemic high schoolers are going through right now. Who knew that gap years were even an option? The fact that the parents are supportive but also really irritated with her is perfect. Ms. Bowman is a great teacher (and also plays bass in a rock band!), and will be a big draw for adult readers who love her approach to the writing process. The friend drama is definitely on point for today's tweens as well; everyone loses at least one friend during middle school, and when you only HAVE one friend, it is especially devastating. There is a nice balance of the different plot threads. 
Weaknesses: This was a hard read for me personally, and we're supposed to share these emotions with people or they get angry because we're holding back, right? I was Lyla in middle school. I wrote the world's worst novel in 7th and 8th grade, and was probably just as irritating to my friends about my process. Does Dee capture middle grade sensibilities and emotions? Absolutely. This just hit a little close to home for me, but was certainly very well written and insightful. I certainly did not become a writer. 
What I really think: Dee's novels are very popular in my library, and I will definitely purchase this one. It's a good choice for readers who are working on their own fantasy novel, or who enjoyed Baptist's Isaiah Dunn Saves the Day or Mills' Write This Down

Fleming, Candace. The Enigma Girls: How Ten Teenagers Broke Ciphers, Kept Secrets, and Helped Win World War II
March 5, 2024 by Scholastic Focus
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Fleming's Scholastic Focus titles like The Curse of the Mummy (2021) and Crash From Outer Space: Unraveling the Mystery of Flying Saucers, Alien Beings, and Roswell (2022) are popular in my library, but since this involved World War II, it will be even MORE popular! 

Focusing on just ten of the young women who worked at Bletchley Park in a variety of roles, this book gives a great overview of the different types of jobs held by women from different social classes who had a range of abilities. There were debutantes who had been to school abroad, and so spoke language, girls who signed up for the WRENs, and even tall girls who were assigned to the bombe machines because of their height! Given that, according to the book, there were four hundred men and a thousand women working at the facility, this is just a fraction of the stories that could be told. 

While all of the women signed the official secrets act, and in general, held their tongue and work their work was (two women who got in a fight in the canteen and mentioned some of the secrets out loud were summariliy dismissed!), there is a lot of information about the types of work they did, and even pictures of some of the Enigman machines, German cipher books, and notecards. While there were a number of steps that the higher ups knew in their entirety, the workers at each step were unaware of what the other divisions were doing, to the point where messages were pushed through openings so that the workers couldn't communicate with each other. Some of the more significant accomplishments of the code breaking at Bletchley included taking down the Italian navy and sinking the German Bismarck. The depiction of how the women would feel when codes didn't get broken, knowing that it meant that the British army didn't have information about what attacks might happen, was heartbreaking. 

There was a good mix of information about the code breaking that went on and how daily life unfolded. I loved that one of the more well-to-do women found a family friend with an estate eight  miles away who was able to billet a number of the women. The feeling that everyone had to do their part makes the story intriguing, and there is even some romance. It is amazing how young some of the women were. The research to uncover information about them had to have been daunting, but Fleming is a master at this. 

It's hard to even get my mind around all of the information in the book, but it is presented in a very engaging way. Young readers won't have seen the television program, The Bletchley Circle, about women who had been working in decoding and didn't tell anyone about their wartime activities even when they came back to haunt them in various ways in the 1950s, but will still be interested in the sort of work that was done. Not as many of my female readers are interested in WWII, but that makes this book even more valuable. Keep this one available for readers who enjoyed Farrell's Standing Up Against Hate: How Black Women in the Army Helped Change the Course of WWII (2019), Wein's A Thousand Sisters:The Heroic Airwomen of the Soviet Union in World War II (2019), and Pearson's Fly Girls: The Daring American Women Pilots Who Helped Win WWII (2018).

Sunday, March 17, 2024

A Stinky History of Toilets and Gut Reaction

I would feel somewhat bad about listing these two books together, since the history of toilets might seem to be less serious than the medical issues addressed in Gut Reaction, but a parent recently thanked me for pairing fiction and nonfiction titles for her son, who had previously refused to read fiction books. 

Meikle, Olivia, Nelson, Katie, and Kasperowicz, Ella (illus.) 
A Stinky History of Toilets 
March 5, 2024 by Neon Squid
Copy provided by the Publisher

Sarah Albee's fantastic 2011 Poop Happened: A History of the World from the Bottom Up includes just about everything this new title does, but with more detail. For readers who are more inclined toward shorter snippets of information as well as colorful, infographic style illustrations, this is just as informative, and a tiny bit sillier. 

If you're familiar with the classic Taro Gomi Everyone Poops from 1981, you will not be surprised that there are lots of pictures of poop, done in a somewhat similar style. That will be a big draw for younger readers, who find much humor in this, but the real value is in the complete history of the development of toilets and attendant sanitary facilities. This goes around the world and talks about the differences in practices, and how sometimes people are at odds over these. 

Everything from the well known practices of the Romans, to the Viking midden at Jorvik, to a brief description of John Snow's work with cholera is presented with statistics, maps, and lots of facts. Sure, there are lots of pictures of people sitting on toilets with their pants around their ankles, but if King Louis of France could entertain people in his throne room like this, there's no reason these circumspect illustrations can't point out how things have changed in the world of lavatories. 

Middle school and elementary school libraries need this as a nonfiction accompaniment to all of Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants books, along with Yomtov's The Gross, Grimy History of the Toilet, Perdew's How the Toilet Changed History, and Marsico's Stinky Sanitation Inventions, and Gregory's 2006 collection of photographs of Toilets of the World. 


Larson, Kirby and Wyatt, Quinn. Gut Reaction
March 5, 2024 by Scholastic Press
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Tess and her younger sister Gracie have moved to a new place after her mother gets engaged to Scott. Scott is fine, but Tess is still dealing with her father's sudden death from a heart attack three years ago. He was a baker, and Tess has followed in his footsteps, although since he died when she was in the middle of a children's baking competition, it's sometimes hard. Her stomach has been bothering her, sometimes a lot, and she suspects that all of the stressors are piling up. She tries to watch what she eats and avoid things that trigger her, but doesn't tell her mother about her problems. Things get off to a rocky start at her new school, but she eventually makes friends with Elly, who is into older music by artists like Nina Simone and Jimi Hendrix, and her friend Rajit, by bringing baked goods to school. There's also Emmett, who also lost his father, and Brooklyn, who is trying very hard to get their language arts teacher to update the books that the students have to read. When Tess gets an invitation to another competition, she really wants to go, but knows that her mother is struggling with money, and also that this reminder of her father might be difficult. There's also her worsening health condition. Her mother eventually catches on and notices that Tess has lost weight, but it takes a medical emergency to really finally get answers. Still on the mend, Tess has to practice for the baking competition with the help of her new friends. This is tiring, but she manages to come up with some good ideas. The competition is tough, and it doesn't help that Flora, a winner of a previous competition, is a nasty participant. Still, things go well until the final round. 
Strengths: I am all about weaponizing baked goods, even if I will never have enough patience to measure flour by ounces instead of cups! It was good to see that Tess managed to integrate into her new school, and eventually found some friends, and also to see that her stepfather to be was a good guy who was supportive. These are both important messages for young readers; there are too many books where these occurrences are portrayed in very dire ways. Tess' health problems unfold in a realistic way, with enough drama to appeal to young readers. Author Wyatt's own struggles add a nice level of depth to the experience. It's been almost ten years since the We Need Diverse Books movement; now that we have more variety in the ethnic and cultural connections, the new frontier seems to be health issues and LGBTQIA+ characters. It's nice to see a growing number of books with these concerns, and there's certainly room for more of them. 
Weaknesses: I wish there had been more about Tess and Emmett's interest in each other, especially since Elly also had a crush on him, but we don't hear much about that after the competition begins. While I loved that Tess was involved in the competition, I could have used more information about Crohn's disease and fewer details about the baking competition. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who found Arlow's The Year My Life Went Down the Toilet or Eliopolis' Will on the Inside informative, but has more in common with books involving cooking competitions, like Harper's Lights, Cameras, Cook!, Delaney's Alice Fleck's Recipe for Disaster, LaMotte's Measuring Up, Schroeder's It's Raining Cupcakes, or Negron's The Last Super Chef. 

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Amy's Big Brother and The Lucky Poor

Jeong, BonHyung. Amy's Big Brother   
December 12, 2023 by JY
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

In this companion to Kyle's Little Sister, we meet Andrew, who is a friend of Kyle's. He struggles a bit with issues at home, since he was adopted as an infant, but his parents then had a biological child, his younger sister Amy, who is not well behaved. He feels that his parents baby her, and always take her side whenever there is an altercation. Often, Amy makes a small issue into an altercation to get attention, which is endlessly frustrating to Andrew. He just wants to play basketball with his friends, but he is also interested in a girl in his class, Hannah. After an awkward start, they start "going together", but even this is not easy. Hannah has less time to spend with her friends, and Andrew wishes he had more time to spend playing basketball. He wants to be a "good boyfriend", however, and pays lots of attention to Hannah, waiting for her after class and texting her frequently, but this starts to feel oppressive to Hannah. They eventually break up because of this lack of communication, but the two do talk things over (with a little help from Amy) and come to an understanding. 
Strengths: This has a fairly pleasing illustrative style that is reminiscent of Speed Racer and manga, so there is a built in audience for it right away. This does a good job at capturing how all consuming romantic relationships can be in middle school, and how fraught with anxiety tweens can get in such situations. The push and pull between competing desires is not terribly well represented in middle grade literature; too many books concentrate on the emotion of grief, when really, the desire to be liked and wanted is probably much more prevalent in this demographic, and is no less powerful because adults might think it's silly. Adults view loss as death; tweens view it slightly differently, and this book shows some very realistic feelings about being in a budding relationship. 
Weaknesses: I personally found the yelling and over the top emotions to be wearying, but then, even in middle school I had no patience for dramatic hystrionics. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who want graphic novels with lots of tween angst and emotion, like Misako's Bounce Back or Chmakova's Berrybrook Middle School series. 

Lovie, Mazie. The Lucky Poor
March 12, 2024 by Iron Circus Comic
ARC provided by the Publisher

In this graphic style memoir, we follow the various housing and life experiences of young Mazie. While her family managed to stay housed, the quality of the dwellings was often sub-par; there was the "bug house", apartments with the mother's boyfriends, and apartments with mice in sketchy neighborhoods. The author still considers her family "lucky poor" because of the support of grandparents, who not only had a farm but also access to a summer cabin, and were supportive of Maizie and her autistic younger brother Jake. Maizie even had the opportunity to go to a summer program for siblings of children with autism, that provided her with a break from having to be patient with her brother. Maizie's grades were decent, and she had some friends, including ones who accept that she may be a lesbian or bisexual. After several years with an unkind boyfriend, her mother applies for a Habitat for Humanity Home, and the family spends a lot of time working on the house. Maizie is glad to have a larger, safer place to be, and wonders why this opportunity isn't extended to everyone, and not just people who know to apply to the program.
Strengths: The topic of housing challenges doesn't come up in middle grade literature as often as it could, and this is a good representation of different situations that young people might find themselves in. The information about the Habitat for Humanity process of applying and providing "sweat equity" was interesting. Jake's behaviors are challenging, but the family does a good job at helping him process situations, and I was glad to see that Mazie was able to understand his needs and be helpful to him even when he was somewhat burdensome to her. The depiction of a supportive extended family was good to see.
Weaknesses: The illustration style is certainly different from recent graphic novels; the pictures are clear, and in bold colors, but somehow simpler than many I've seen.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoy books like Lesage's AWOL or Knisley's Stepping Stones that deal with a sometimes difficult living arrangements for tweens.

Friday, March 15, 2024

Guy Friday- Walkin' the Dog

Lynch, Chris. Walkin' the Dog
March 12, 2024 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
ARC provided by Young Adult Books Central

During the summer before high school, things are not going exactly the way Louis would like. His father is a fisherman, and needs Louis to walk Old Man Dan's dog so that Dan can go out and work on the boat. Both Dan and his dog, Amos, are both rather odiferous, for various reasons, but the dog is commonly called "Anus" because of his smell. While Louis isn't thrilled with getting up early and walking the dog, it's a pleasant enough way to spend time, and it might get him out of visiting his mother. His mother worked at a women's shelter, and after an injury sustained at work, became addicted to pain killers. She's been recuperating at the Knoll, but isn't ready to come home yet. Louis' slightly older sister, Faye, is determined that they will visit their mother, especially since another brother, Ike (who is training to be a policeman), doesn't get along with her quite as well. While out walking Amos, he meets Agatha, who forcibly becomes his friend. She even tags along to a new dog walking client that Dan has arranged for Louis, in exchange for a discount, of course! The friendship with Agatha is amusing, and a good thing for Louis, because he has been homeschooled and struggles a bit with making friends. Faye especially is amused by Agatha, and encourages the two to spend time together. There are plenty of dogs to walk, and Louis even finds a couple of unusual dogs at the edge of town. One of these seemingly belongs to Agatha, but she's not always telling the entire truth, especially about where she lives. Louis misses his mother, and desperately wants her to come home. He meets up with Cy, who is a few years older, and who had been tutored by his mother for some tests a few years back. Cy lives in the same apartment building as Agatha, although Agatha has claimed to live in a mansion. It's not always easy to deal with the dogs, his mother, his older brother, or the thought of going to public school for high school. Will Louis find the support he needs to continue to make progress in his life? 

Lynch, who has written a wide variety of young adult novels, including the I Pledge Allegiance series and the fantastic 1995 Slot Machine, gives us an interesting look at a very mundane yet impactful summer in  one young man's life. It's good to see Louis put his freedome to good use, walking dogs, visiting his mother, and hanging out with Agatha and Cy. The problems he has to face are interspersed with amusing activities and dogs, and his relationship with Agatha is peppered with witty repartee and an eventual light romance. 

Louis is such a great character, and shows a lot of reluctant resilience. He doesn't want to get up early and walk the dog, but his mother has inculcated in him that he should help others, so he does it with good grace. He doesn't like Ike or the way his brother treats him, and copes with this by avoiding his brother, which is sometimes the only thing to be done. He and Faye get along well, and seeing the juxtaposition of the sibling relationships adds another layer of interest to the book. 

There are some sad things; not one but two dogs die, Louis' mother struggles all summer with dealing with her addiction, and Ike is not at all pleasant to his brother for most of the book. The publisher lists this as being for readers ages 8-12, in grades 3-7, but I think that the book will resonate most with slightly older readers who will appreciate the introspection and the descriptive quality of Lynch's fantastic writing. There is one f-word, and lots of description of dog effluvia, so is perhaps not the best choice for tender readers. 

Older readers who enjoy combining human social drama with dog shenanigan's will love this one; I need to let one of my readers who would ONLY read dog books know about this one, now that he has moved on to the high school. He read everything I could find, like Cameron's Zeus: Water Rescue (Dogs With A Purpose #1), Northrop's Rotten, and Jennifer Li Shotz's various dog books like Scout. I liked that Walkin' the Dog focused a little more on Louis' journey with the dogs as sidekicks, instead of focusing on what the dogs were thinking and feeling! 

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Goblin Monday and Evil Spy School: The Graphic Novel

Stine, R.L. Goblin Monday (Goosebumps House of Shivers #2)
March 5, 2024 by Scholastic Paperback
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Mario Galagos has moved to Philadelphia from Florida, where he has never seen snow. His new neighbors are Todd and Jewel Simms, and he's super excited to be traveling to Vermont over winter break to visit his new friends' grandparents. He even brings a snow blower so he can do snow sculpting. Tweety and MomMom are a little quirky, but it's nice to be away from the city, so Mario can put up with MomMom's constant barrage of stew and grandpa Tweety's strange stories. The cat, Firefly, is often on edge, and Tweety claims is is because of the goblins in the garden. Todd and Jewell brush this off, but after he is attacked by one in the garden, Mario takes the warnings seriously. Tweety has given each of the kids an amulet filled with nutmeg that he warns them to wear, since goblins are put to sleep by the aroma of the spice. As the days pass, Mario see Tweety eating birds in the garden, and is creeped out by the fact that when birds in his glass aviary die, he saves their feet. Mario also finds a lot of small green outfits knit by MomMom that seem to fit the goblins! When things goes badly wrong, Mario learns new things about the Simms... or did he know these things already? 
Strengths: Are goblins scary? To me, these books are just sort of goofy, but to third graders, this might be scary. My own personal children were really frightened by Debbie Dadey's Bailey School Kids books. There is an undeniable appeal to these quick reads, and it is sort of nice that the series can be read out of order. Mario's experience is rather odd, but his character seems very grounded, because he is so enthralled with the concept of snow in Vermont. This somehow made the odd behavior of the grandparents seem all the creepier. There's a fun twist at the end. 
Weaknesses: I'm not sure how this relates to the first book with Betty and Billy in the woods. Doesn't particularly matter, but it would be nice to be able to tell how the books in the series relate to one another. Also, the ending was a bit strange since the book is written in the first person. This is one of those instances where one just has to suspend disbelief to make the story work. 
What I really think: These are not quite my favorite, but I'll definitely be buying most of this series. Stine's writing is always fast paced and easy to read, and I think that James Patterson has copied his cliff hanger chapter endings. Do think that the covers are not attractive, but they do embrace the style of the original 1990s titles. 

Gibbs, Stuart and Sarkar, Anjan. Evil Spy School: The Graphic Novel
March 5, 2024 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Reader
ARC provided by Young Adult Books Central

Ben Ripley is doing his best at beginning of the year exercises at spy school when he is blamed for blowing up the principal's office. It's really a plan by Erica and her family to get him to infiltrate SPYDER's spy school, and Ben suspects as much. First, though, he has a disastrous day back at his old middle school before SPYDER does approach him and whisks him away to their ultra secret and very posh training center in New Jersey. There, Ben is in a house with Nefarious, who is always playing video games, and Ashley, the 6th best gymnast in the US who has turned to a life of crime after her failure to make the Olympic gymnastics team. He learns some of SPYDER's ways, takes a bit of a liking to Ashley, and finally is contacted by Erica, who tells him that SPYDER is up to something, and it's his job to find out what. The what ends up involving a lot of bombs, counter spying, and some unpleasant reminders of Ben's past. Which side is offering Ben a better deal?

The graphic novel adaptations of this popular spy mystery series are very dense, both visually and textually, so they are all extremely close to the storyline. Often, adaptations gloss over a lot of the emotional journeys of the characters or background information, but that is not the case here. The illustration style is well suited to the tone of the text; it's not as peppy and cartoonish as many titles, but not as serious as others, which is a good balance considering that as hard as Ben tries, he often has some humorous fails.

While 2023 brought a lot more diversity in genres of graphic novels, there is still a marked lack of spy and mystery titles. Johnston's adaptations of Horowitz's Stormbreaker series, Riordan's first 39 Clues by Ethan Young, and Blasco and Springer's Enola Holmes reboot are some similar titles. Spy novels have been popular with middle grade readers for over twenty years, which isn't surprising given the number of similar adult books. Fans of Gibbs' novels will like these as a quick refresher, and I hope that new readers will be enticed to pick up the longer versions after reading the graphic novels.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

One of a Kind and Uprising

Michelson, Richard and Green, Sarah (illus.)
One of a Kind: The Life of Sydney Taylor
February 13, 2024 by Calkins Creek
Copy provided by the publisher

Sydney Taylor is, of course, a well-known name in children's literature circles, because of her classic All-of-a-Kind Family books as well as the literary award named after her. What might not be as well known is the fact that she was a dancer and social activist. Her stories were started as a way to tell her daughter about her past, as well as to give her characters that were Jewish rather than Christian. It wasn't until 1950 that her husband sent in a long-shelved manuscript to a contest, winning a $3,000 prize and giving the world the wonderful stories of Taylor's childhood, growing up in an immigrant neighborhood in New York. 

I loved that there were some quotations from Taylor's diaries, and that the author was inspired to write the book after winning the Sydney Taylor award twice and meeting the author's daughter. It was also good to see that he grew up in a similar neighborhood and wanted to capture that. This is a good overview of life in the early twentieth century; Taylor was born in 1897, just a few years after my grandmother! 

Green, who also illustrated Hannigan's Josephine And Her Dishwashing Machine  and Barton's Bernice Sandler and Title IX, does an excellent job of capturing the wide range of historical settings in Taylor's life, from the New York neighborhood with her sisters in their pinafores, to the 1920s college scene, as well as Taylor's later life. While I wouldn't have minded  a nod to the Helen John illustrations in the originals (as Zelinsky did a bit in Jenkins' 2018 picture book, All-of-a-Kind Family Hanukkah), Green's illustrations are colorful and engaging. 

What better way to direct children to women authors during March than to put up a display of picture book literary biographies? Include this title with Lucy Maud and the Cavendish Cat by Manuel and Wilson, The Story of Maya Angelou by Obeng, Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller by McDaniel and Harrison, and Alabama Spitfire: The Story of Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird by Hegedus and McGuire.


Nielsen, Jennifer A. Uprising
March 5, 2024 by Scholastic Press 
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

In 1939 Warsaw, Lidia Durr has to deal with the new reality that the German Nazis are in control of her country. Her father, a veteran of WWI, has gone off to fight, Leaving Lidia, her mother, and her older brother Ryszard behind in a damaged house. The three take in an old family friend, Doda, and her mother, even though the women are Jewish. Right behind their house is the area the Nazis have set aside for the Jewish Ghetto, and Lidia is able to see how bad things are. While Lidia at first thought that things would improve fairly quickly, it's clear that this is not going to happen. She does continue to take piano lessons for a while; she is a keen player, and the family moved to Warsaw so that she could study at the same university where Chopin studied. As the situation in Warsaw worsens, and Doda and her mother are taken away, Lidia takes an interest in being part of the Resistance. Along with a neighbor, Maryna, she starts to deliver packages of wheat to the Ghetto, but eventually becomes a messenger for the Resistance. Things become more and more grim, and the chances of survival seem so slim that Lidia just hopes that she can make the Nazis regret having taken over Poland. Once she has packed her mother off to Sweden, and her older brother is killed, little stops Lidia from doing whatever it takes to help the Poles fend off the Nazis. Many of her friends die, but a cease fire finally occurs in October of 1944. After all the years of surviving, Lidia makes her way to Sweden, and eventually manages to locate her mother in the US. End notes describe the lives of the real Lidia Durr and her family. 
Strengths: Like this author's Resistance and Rescue, this is a well researched look at a slightly different facet of WWII. There are lots of books from the point of view of Jewish citizens in Poland who ended up in the Ghetto, but certainly there were many people who had to survive while still living in Warsaw. Lidia is a strong character who rises to the occasion and is willing to help in any way she can. Nielsen always provides really good details about not only the military actions, but about the conditions of daily life. 
Weaknesses: This was not a great choice for a gray, rainy day, and it just made me wonder why there are still wars. Didn't WWII teach us that was is bad? This was heart breaking to read, which is, after all, the point. 
What I really think: This was an excellent look at World War II, but there are so many books about that conflict that I wish we would see more on different historical events, especially since WWII is no longer in the 8th grade curriculum. I understand why writing about WWII is so popular; it's easier to know who is "good" and who is "bad", and my students still read the books eagerly. Still, there's very little on the military conflict in Vietnam and Korean, and given the current problems in Gaza, it would be helpful for my students to know some of the history of those areas of the world. 
 Ms. Yingling

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Millie (Best Friends Dog Tales #3) and Shadow Over Aetheria

Hoyle, McCall and Keele, Kevin (illus.) Millie (Best Friends Dog Tales #3)
March 5, 2024 by Shadow Mountain
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
 
Millie is a stray dog who lives on the street after a disastrous home experience where messing up the carpet and nipping at a young boy who was poking her with a stick got her driven out to the country and abandoned. She was befriended by Big Guy, who has disappeared, but has a companion in Little Pup, whom she is helping in the same way that Big Guy helped her; finding food and shelter for the younger dog. There is one alley near a bakery that is particularly nice, and Millie cautiously connects with a young girl, Tori. Sadly, Millie and the smaller dog are separated when Millie ends up in a shelter. She is very cautious, and the shelter despairs of placing her with a family. Luckily, Lee, who trains dogs and takes them to the local elementary school, sees the good in Millie and decides to take her home. She trains her along with another dog, Bella, and finally takes her on a visit to a school. Lee warns the students that this is Millie's first time, so they shouldn't approach her, but when Millie sees Tori and smells Little Pup on her, she is drawn to the little girl. Tori has problems of her own; she is living with her grandfather, who owns the bakery, because her mother is in rehab for a drug addiction brought on by a back injury. The grandfather doesn't want a dog, but Lee asks Tori to help train Millie. When another dog is brought into the shelter who needs help, Lee asks Tori's grandfather to take care of Millie for a few days. It goes fairly well, and Millie is glad that these new people are kind when she makes a small mess on the carpet. Little Pup lives not far away, and Millie sometimes sees her young friend. When Tori leaves one day, Millie follows her, and ends up having a terrible adventure after Tori shoos her away from the bakery. Eventually, Millie makes it back home. The two are so good for each other, and when Tori's poem wins a competition at an adoption event, her grandfather reluctantly agrees to adopt the dog. 
Strengths: I liked how Tori's mother's addiction was in the background, important, but not the point of the story. The grandfather was appealing; I wouldn't have minded seeing more of him and the bakery! Millie has a similar background to Tori, with humans who have done them wrong, but they are both resilient and learn to go on and to befriend new people. The tips on dog training are good, and the notes at the back with further information are a good addition. The cover is adorable, and I know this one will be picked up quickly. I appreciate that this is not connected to the author's other two dog books, so can be read in any order. 
Weaknesses: I would have preferred this more if it weren't written from Millie's point of view (why does Millie understand what bells are, but not what cell phones are?), but this won't bother my students. 
What I really think: Stella and Just Gus both circulate well in my library, and I like this one a bit better than the other two, so I will buy it. It's always a good idea to buy a couple of dog books and a couple of horse books every year. Even if I don't currently have as many readers who want books about dogs, there will be some in the future, and need to keep the collection fresh. (Just realized that Ibbotson's One Dog and His Boy is now as old as most of my students! Twelve years is a long time for a book to survive in a middle school library.)

Cube Kid. Shadow Over Aetheria (Diary of an 8-Bit Warrior #7)
March 12, 2024 by Andrews McMeel Publishing
E ARC provided by Netgalley

Runt seems like he knows everything that he could possibly need in order to vanquish illagers, villagers, and pillagers, but it's not enough! Along with Emerald, Ophelia, Stump, and Max he's heading off to the magical academy, where students receive training before they head off to save the kingdom, after meeting with the king and being assigned a job. The trip to the school is a long one, but luckily the group's bedrolls have a warming spell on them for when they are camping under the stars. There's a nice map of the kingdom, and the group finally arrives at Dawnsbloom, which is a good thing, because they run out of food. Eventually, they get to Dawnsbloom, which is very different from their village. At the school, Runt meets with an advisor who tells him he only has an MP of 3, but has some good skills. She also gives him some coins for the quest that he went on, which is a huge improvement from when he was a noob and had a single carrot. The dorm has a questboard, and Runt is super excited to be able to go on fairly safe quests in order to gain training, but he can't go quite yet. In true boarding school fashion, there is even a human who is very mean to him, Bayard. Runt often struggles to stay awake in class or answer questions, and gets very tired of always being with Emerald, especially when Stump and Breeze are away. When things start to go wrong in the kingdom, Runt learns about the evil wizard Herobrine, or the Eyeless One, who is causing destruction. He and Emerald learn that Otherworlders can be effective against him, and go in search of Mike and Steve, who are from Earth. They find Mike, but Steve has gone missing from the ruins under the city, most likely teleported far past the void by demons. Not only that, but Herobrine has a very evil plan involving monsters and experience points. Runt isn't able to solve that problem, but meets Elodi, the daughter of the King, and continues on with his education. It looks like his time at Greater Aetheria Academy isn't over yet, and I hope that we will see more adventures. 
Strengths: My readers who want Minecraft books usually want stories that read like playing the game. Given how much food is discussed, and how many times Runt and his friends talk about different skill levels or items they have to acquire, I'm going to guess that this will fill the bill. It is fun that Runt gets out of the village and learns information about the world around him. The school is very ornate, and has all of the elements that magical academies usually have, so fans of that type of story will appreciate the Greater Aetheria Academy. The art seems a bit different from the other books, and this is another full color, heavily illustrated novel with Geronimo Stilton type font that is larger when words and phrases are emphasized. 
Weaknesses: Runt still hasn't learned to think things through, so is goaded into doing silly things by Bayard the Bully. As much as he would like to be able to pick from the Questboard and increase him MP level, he doesn't seem to concentrate very well and use more discretion in his actions. I guess this makes him the quintessential middle schooler!
What I really think: I was sorry to hear that Cube Kid had experienced writer's block, but am glad to see him back. While these books are not my personal favorite (since I've never played Minecraft), my students enjoy them, and I'd rather have them reading the books than playing video games. They'll be glad to hear about this new volume. I always buy these in prebind, because they get a lot of use. 

Here are the reviews for most of the series: 
 
Forging Destiny (#6)

Monday, March 11, 2024

MMGM-The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry and Spying on Spies

It's
Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
 at 
and #IMWAYR day 
at

Johnson, Anna Rose. The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry
March 5, 2024 by Holiday House
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

In 1912, Lucy's father perished at sea a few years back, giving her a reasonable fear of water, and since her mother had died previously, she was under the care of Miss Mamie. When Miss Mamie also passes away, her friends are not quite sure what is to be done with the eleven year old. She's being cared for by Sarah, Miss Mamie's housekeeper, but when the will is read, it turns out that she is to be sent to Michigan, nesr the Keweenaw Penisula,  to be raised by the Martins, who share her Anishinaabe heritage. Mr. Martin is the keeper of the Harmony Lighthouse, and he and his wife are raising six children. Mr. Martin arrives to escort her "home", and is patient with her imaginative ways and her fears. The children, ranging from 15-year-old Maureen to two-year-old Orville, are less patient, especially when Lucy claims to be a princess of Acadia. Things at the lighthouse have to be kept in very neat order, since the lighthouse inspector is very strict, and Lucy has a bad habit of not paying attention when she is working. She drags laundry in the dirt, and even spills ink on the floor! She is also obsessed by a shipwreck from the 1880s that has some similarities to the one that killed her father. Her father claimed to have a note that he found in a bottle when he was young that had information about the wreck, and he always told Lucy that he wanted to find the ruby necklace that was supposedly in the cargo. The site of the wreck, Mermaids Corner, isn't far away, and Lucy even meets a mother and son who know two elderly women with a connection to the wreck. Lucy is devoted enough to her cause that she is willing to get on a boat to go and visit the women, but nothing goes smoothly. It's a very helpgul conversation, however, that leads her to uncover some surprising things. Unfortunately, this also causes some problems in the family, and the father's job is in danger. Luckily, the children all step up, and when people need help along the coastline, the family is able to rescue them and keep the lighthouse operating. While it's nice to have worked on her father's quest, the most important thing is that Lucy feels like part of the family, and is able to settle in to her new life with the Martins. 
Strengths: While many of the things that have happened to Lucy are sad, they are also very common occurrences for children in the early part of the 1900s. It was not unusual for children to be orphaned and left to others to be raised. Literature of the time period, like Fisher's 1916 Understood Betsy, often has these themes. Johnson does a great job of taking this classic format and infusing it with some Anishinaabe culture as well as a mystery, to keep modern readers interested. It's all upbeat, and the children, especially Frederick, all try to get along with Lucy, despite the number of "scrapes" she gets into. There's a lot of information about what it would be like to work at a lighthouse, and also about how important they were to coastal communities. 
Weaknesses: Modern readers, who don't have as much imagination as Lucy, might not quite understand her flights of fancy and claims of being a princess. Those of us raised on Langton's 1961 Her Majesty,  Grace Jones or Anne of Green Gables will recognize Lucy as a kindred spirit. 
What I really think: This is a great choice for readers who enjoyed this author's The Star That Always Stays or who want a bit of historical fiction that is fairly upbeat. A LOT of historical fiction is fairly depressing, so it's always good to read some that isn't. 


Moss, Marissa. Spying on Spies: How Elizebeth Smith Friedman Broke the Nazis' Secret Codes
March 12, 2024 by Abrams Books for Young Readers
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Elizebeth Smith was born in 1892, a year before my grandmother, so the challenges she faced in even obtaining employment were well known to me. What was impressive was Smith's drive to break free from her family and use her skills. Even though she didn't have any support, she put herself through college and set out to find a job in 1916. Through a bit of serendipity, she asked at a library about employment possibilities and was put in touch with an eccentric millionaire, Mr. Fabyan. Taking a huge chance, she drove with him to his estate, Riverbank, and learned about his many projects, one of which was solving a code that he believed proved that Francis Bacon wrote the plays of Shakespeare. Elizebeth wasn't keen on the project, but she needed the work. She learned a lot of good skills, and worked on a new field of study, cryptoanalysis, with William Friedman. The two didn't have much luck with the manuscripts, but found their decoding skills in great demand by the armed forces during WWI, and extended their partnership into marriage. Of course, William was treated much more fairly; at one point, Elizebeth was getting paid half what he was, just because she was a woman. Both ended up working various jobs that were so secretive that they slept in separate rooms so they wouldn't run the risk of revealing secrets in their sleep! Elizebeth was not only essential in WWI, but kept up her work during Prohibition, helping the Coast Guard and others figure out the messages of rum runners. WWII brought further challenges. Through all of this, Elizebeth raised her family, worked long hours, and loved the challenges that her work brought. Leery of publicity and bound by the secret nature of her work, not much was known about her until a few years ago, when some of the records of her career were declassified. 
Strengths: I've read that women were making inroads into the workforce starting in the 1920s, but the Depression made things difficult. The years that Smith Friedman was active make this a particulary interesting snapshot of feminine employment for me. The fact that she wasn't just a teacher, librarian, or secretary made this even better! There was a good mix of information about code breaking and what was going on in the world, and her own personal life and how it fit into those times. Moss' illustrations, at the beginning of the chapters, will make this easier to suggest to middle grade readers. This read quickly, and built on information I already knew about WWII, Bletchley Circle, and the Enigma machine. I'm just sad now that my math and puzzle abilities aren't any better, but if there's ever a need for me to dress up as a historical figure for a wax museum, I'm picking Elizebeth Smith Friedman!
Weaknesses: Smith Friedman was involved in so many projects it just boggles the mind, and now I feel like a miserable slacker who wasted the opportunities that the women's movement provided for me! 
What I really think: This is a great book for readers who enjoy nonfictional discussions about women's history and have read titles like Rubin's The Women Who Built Hollywood 12 Trailblazers in Front of and Behind the Camera, Maraniss' Inagural Ballers: The True Story of the First U.S. Women's Olympic Basketball Team, Blumenthal's Let Me Play, or my favorite, Dreilinger's The Secret History of Home Economics: How Trailblazing Women Harnessed the Power of Home and Changed the Way We Live. There are also a growing number of books about women involved in various aspects of spying, like 
Purnell's Agent Most Wanted:The Never-Before-Told Story of the Most Dangerous Spy of World War II, about Virginia Hall. 

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Coyote Lost and Found (#2)

Gemeinhart, Dan. Coyote Lost and Found (#2)
March 5, 2024 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Coyote thought that staying in one place after her adventures in The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise would be okay, but being new to middle school in the 8th grade is hard. She does have one sort-of friend, and the school librarian is nice ("There's a limit to how bad a school can be if it's got a library. That's just a fact."). While hanging out in Yager, the van they lived in for sevearl years, Coyote finds a box containing her  mother's ashes. She asks her father, Rodeo, about it, and he tells her that he hasn't had the heart to scatter them yet. Both her and her mother had written down where they wanted their cremains scattered in a copy of Mary Oliver's Red Bird, but Coyote is horrified to realize that she sold the book when they were traveling. When COVID shuts down her school for three weeks, she talks Rodeo into hitting the road. She doesn't tell him that she lost the book, but plots a course to revisit the shops where she might have left it during a small window of time. Of course, they are all over the US, but since Rodeo is very philisophical, he buys into the idea that the mother wanted the process to be a journey. Salvador, whom they met on their last trip, is invited along, but so is Candace, a neighbor whom Coyote likes, up to the point where she suspects the woman might be more than a friend to her father. Along the way, the group picks up Wally, a retired office worker who wants to travel but doesn't want to drive. His cultural background is Thai, and there is a racial incident because he is Asian and people are upset about COVID that mirrors so many of the horrible incidents that occurred during that time. The restaurants are only doing take out because of the pandemic, but the thrift stores are open. The book doesn't surface, and Coyote becomes more and more desperate. In Pittsburgh, the store is closed, so after some bowling, Coyote and Salvadore sneak out to try to break into the store. Coyote manages to break her arm, but the police and the store owner are kind about it after Rodeo pays for the broken screen door. Eventually, Coyote has to tell her father the truth about the book and the lack of plans for an exact place to scatter the ashes, and they realize that the picture of the book they've been referencing is actually of the very book that Rodeo had, and they manage to drive to the thrift store and talk to the owner. He's just given the book to a friend, but Doreen still has the book. They even ask her to continue back to the west coast to scatter the ashes over the family's favorite pond. While the trip doesn't go smoothly, it is an adventure. 
Strengths: It was interesting to see the pandemic portrayed in a book that wasn't ABOUT the pandemic. Life did go on in a limited way, so having Coyote on her journey during that time made sense. Candance was a reasonable addition, and Coyote's attitude toward her was very realistic; she liked her, but also resented her; she wanted to be kind, but struggled with actually acting that way. Coyote and Salvadore have to look at their relationship again as both have gotten older, and Wally and Doreen are reasonable travel companions. I liked the inclusion of books, and was glad to see that Coyote was a big reader. I was also glad that Yager didn't have any mechanical problems; during the pandemic, it might have been difficult to get it fixed! 
Weaknesses: During the pandemic, our thrift stores and bowling alleys were all closed, so that seemed unusual. Also, having had to deal with three sets of cremains recently, I would imagine that the ashes would have been delivered in a plastic bag, and it would be somewhat odd for Rodeo to pour them out of the bag into a box. 
What I really think: This is a great choice for readers who want to know what happened to Coyote and her father, for fans of Mary Oliver, or readers who enjoyed Lawrence's Fire on Headless Mountain or Burnham's The Infinite Questions of Dottie Bing.

I get Coyote's ambivalence about her mother's cremains; I do. My own mother is still in a cardboard box (and a bag) in my closet, and I always put my newest pair of shoes near her, which would make her happy. I haven't scattered the ashes because she said at my aunt's funeral in 1984 that the columbarium was nice because my aunt would always be warm. This book is a good reminder that I just need to stop being sentimental, move on, and put the ashes on my tomato garden. (A location okayed by both my late father and my brother. Mom was a big gardener.)
 Ms. Yingling

Saturday, March 09, 2024

Saturday Morning Cartoons- Beak to the Future, Finder's Creatures

Angleberger, Tom. Beak to the Future (Two-Headed Chicken #2)
September 12, 2023 by Walker Books US
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central
 
The Two-Headed Chicken is back, and ready to travel in time. Using the AstroCap, they travel back into the Timestream (also referred to as "Tammy") to visit prehistory. They have been warned about the Butterfly Effect, but tell a knock knock joke when they travel back in time, therefore changing the world. They are now a duckter cuckoo, and spend a great deal of time trying to change the world and get back to the way they were. The AstroCap's 45 second charging time makes for some narrow escapes as they encounter some of their old nemeses, including Kernel Antler (who looks like a crocodile). They also get stuck in a time loop (or do they?), meet Emily Dickinson and Sherlock Holmes, enter a role playing game called The Magical Gathering of Dragons in Dungeons, and even fight book banners! Eventually, they are restored to their original incarnations, and use a book of poetry to inspire a young artist named Tom Anklebarker, or something like that, to create a comic book with a two-headed chicken in it. 

Like the first book in the series, this is a frenetic goof fest of crazy adventures and silly conflicts, illustrated in a hyperactive style. There are close up photographs of brocolli to illustrate the time stream,  Victorian clip art and sepia toned pages with information about Bangerter's Marvelous Time Cap, and a lot of brightly colored comic style illustrations that are heavy on bright blue, purple, red and yellow. 

I especially appreciated the fact that on one of the activity pages, it is mentioned that if the reader has a library book, there are printable pages at https://twoheadedchicken.wordpress.com.

Not surprisingly, Angleberger gives a shout out to Daniel Pinkwater's work like the 1982 The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death, and this certainly embraces that stream of conscious style, replete with random characters, sight gags, and self referential jokes. This graphic novel would definitely be a good way to warm up younger readers for eventually picking up Pinkwater's 2007 The Neddiad: How Neddie Took the Train, Went to Hollywood, and Saved Civilization (Neddie & Friends, #1).

Readers who love Dav Pilkey's work or Green's Investigators will appreciate the frenzied art and nonstop jokes as the Two-Headed Chicken travels through the chronoverse getting into trouble. Things work out in the end, but who knows when further opportunities to POOOOOZB might occur! 

I thought it was interesting that while Bradbury's 1952 story "A Sound of Thunder" is one of the first instance of the "Butterfly Effect", but that the idea also appears in Norton Juster's 1962 The Phantom Tollbooth, when The Princess of Pure Reason says "whatever we do affects everything and everyone else, if even in the tiniest way. Why, when a housefly flaps his wings, a breeze goes round the world." 



Jones, P. Knuckle. Bog Gone! (Finder's Creatures #1)
August 8, 2023 by Penguin Workshop
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central

Finder is a frog in second grade who idolizes the detective Seymour Warts. Her best friends are a beaver, Chopper, and a turtle, Keeper. They all hang out together at the bog, but one morning they all wake up to find everyone GONE! They start their investigation with Big Al, an owl of whom they are all afraid. They know that since he is nocturnal, he might have seen something, and he gives them a hint: he saw headlights in the middle of the night. The trio also finds a carving on Al's tree, C.R.O.A.K., which stands for the Committe to Restore Order to the Animal Kingdom. The group believes in segregating animals, sort of like a zoo. They kidnap animals, lock them up, and leave a mysterious calling card. Their leader is the Zookeeper. Finder locates several clues, including a feather coated in goo, and a link to the Tickled Pink drink corporation. After meeting a variety of quirky characters, voyaging into suspicious basements, and having some fun during stake outs, will Finder and her friends be able to locate the denizens of the bog before it is too late?

This graphic novel is full of adventure and goofy hijinks. This has a whiff of film noir to it, especially when Seymour Warts, in his Sherlock Holmes' deerstalker cap comes on the scene. Finder is committed to solving the mystery, and her friends are along for the ride, even if they are not as serious as she is. There are lots of quirky supporting characters, like a mustachioed kangaroo covered in tattooes, Snapper, a local investigator who is a lizard of some sort, and Old-Lady Goose Liver. 

The colors are very bright, but with a darker palette suitable to the mysterious content. The outlines of the characters are in very thick black lines. I love how the illustrator can convey so much emotion even though the eyes are just dots! My one quibble is that the text is very wordy and in very small font. This makes it more of a middle grade novel, so I wish that Finder had been older than second grade. 

Green's Investigators, Kochalka's Banana Fox series, Eaton's Flying Beaver Brothers, Braddock's Stinky Cecil, and, of course, Blabey's hilarious Bad Guys books. 

Friday, March 08, 2024

Farewell Friday-- Freaky Friday

I feel like this book is one that people have fond memories of but haven't read recently. I certainly hadn't. Since I hoard older titles (although I have lots and lots of NEW books), it's not surprising that it was still in my library. But it's 52 years old. Ms. Rodgers is deceased. Does it hold up?

Probably not. But might I spend my Friday night hunting down the Jodie Foster version of the film?

Absolutely. 

Rodgers, Mary. Freaky Friday
May 2, 1972 by Harper & Row
(Former) Library Copy

**Spoilers ahead**

Annabel Andrews, of New York City, suddenly wakes up in her mother's body one day, and is surprisingly unshocked. She even has the realization that she was rather terrible to her mother, so this is no doubt pay back. She doesn't question how her mother could have done this, but instead glories in brushing her mother's orthodontia free teeth and donning a velvet pantsuit and lots of makeup after admiring her mother's body. She manages to get Mr. Andrews and young Ben (aka Ape Face) off on their day, and settles in to eat junk food and watch Little Rascals on television, complaining about the lack of good programming in the morning. Upstairs neighbor, 14-year-old Boris, stops by, and she entertains him for a while, trying to change his perception of Annabel, who is rather unpleasant to him. She does do a load of laundry, but adds too many things, and breaks the machine. When the housekeeper shows up, the two have some words, and Annabel fires the woman, partly because she drinks the family gin, and partly because she says nasty things about the state of Annabel's room. Heading to the liquor store down the street to buy an inordinate amount of liquor, she sees a hullabaloo on the street, which turns out to be Ben causing a fuss, since his mother has forgotten to pick him up after school. She manages to get him home without social services becoming involved and feeds him lunch. Mr. Andrews calls to remind her of her mysterious 2:30 meeting; it's at Annabel's school, to discuss her grades, and also tells her that he is bringing people home for dinner. She convinces Boris to babysit, and he also agrees to cook the dinner. She is late to the meeting, which discusses Annabel's poor performance in school, especially a very overdue English paper. After the meeting, Annabel finds out that while Boris has dinner ready, a "beautiful chick" has walked off with Ben! Annabel panics, complications ensue, and when her mother returns, Annabel finds out that her mother has spent the day shopping for new clothes for Annabel, getting her braces off, and having her hair done. Annabel has a new appreciation for her mother, has attracted the attention of her crush, Boris (really Morris; the vacillating stuffed up nose is never explained), and finishes her school work.

The most troubling portions of this book are the outdated, racist language. While Annabel's family is more liberal, the housekeeper makes the comment that "I'm not one of your colored", and when Annabel reprimands her, she replies "You call 'em black, right? Well I call 'em no-goodniks." The derogatory terms "spic" and "retard" are also used, and the television is referred to as "the boob tube". The ick factor with Annabel as the mother interacting with Boris, a 14-year-old, is quite high; he has a crush onher, but the whole incident is just glossed over. It doesn't help that the "new and improved" Annabel is objectified as a "hot chick".

There is some sexism as well; Annabel's mother does not seem to work outside the home, and must ask Mr. Andrews for money for the liquor. He complains about how she spends it, although the family must be very well off; Annabel wants to go to a summer camp that costs $900. At the time, my mother was probably earning $8,000 a year as a teacher. The teachers treat the mother in a way that I don't think we treat parents now.
 
Annabel is absolutely horrible to everyone; rude, slovenly, and very, very angry. She is cruel to her younger brother, who idolizes her. Ben even loves being called "Ape Face" and goes by that at school because no one else has a "cool" nickname, and his classmates also think Annabel is cool. While it seemed a bit clever for her mother to make Annabel go through the mother's day and attend her own meeting while the mother went out and "improved" Annabel, I couldn't help but thinking that the problems with attitude would not really be solved so easily.

I haven't seen the movie with Jamie Lee Curtis, which seems to involve a guitar, so much diverge from the original plot, and haven't seen the 1976 Jodie Foster version for ages (as of March 1, 2024, it looks to be available on Amazon Prime for 54 cents!), but I can only imagine they are somewhat more entertaining than the book. It's a clever idea, certainly, but the details don't hold up. Now that I have reread it, I don't feel comfortable handing it to modern children, so will be pulling it from circulation. There are only 2 other copies in my entire district, so it looks like it's time.

Call Me Al

Shah, Wali and Walters, Eric. Call Me Al
March 12, 2024 by Orca Book Publishers
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Ali Khan is in the 8th grade, and struggling with several issues. His family works hard, and there is a lot of pressure for him to do well in school like his older brother, Osama, who goes by Sam. His father was a doctor in Pakistan, but drives a cab, and his mother, who was a teacher, is the manager of the apartment building where they all live. His grandfather was a well known professor of literature, but now works as a security guard. There's some tension with his longtime neighbor and best friend, Zach, who is hanging out with a well-to-do crowd of white students, and even leaves school for lunch at a nearby mall. Al wants to tag along, but feels guilty the whole time, especially when he runs into his grandfather. Al also has a crush on one of the girls in this group, Melissa, and is inspired to write a poem about her, which he keeps to himself. His teacher, Ms. McIntosh, encourages his writing, but does constructively criticize his work when he writes about what it is like to live in a ghetto: she wants him to use his own voice instead of trying to sound like a rap song. After Al's father helps deliver a baby in his taxi while Al is tagging along, Al has a lot of conflicting emotions about the way his father is perceived. When he, his mother, and his younger brother Danny are verbally and physically assaulted on their way home from the grocery store, Al has conflicting feelings about Zach, since his friend has made similar comments but brushed them off as "jokes". Emotions are running high as these events pile up during Ramadan. When a mosque in the US is the target of violence, Al finds himself turning more and more to writing poetry even though his father wants him to concentrate on his school work, since it is more important to learn skills so he can eventually deliver babies instead of writing about delivering them. Ms. McIntosh, as well as Al's grandfather, understand the importance of writing as a way to deal with events around him, but his father still is more interested in his academic progress. The Khans invite a larger number of people for their Eid feast, and include the wealthier classmates, some teachers, and others with whom they have interacted, as a way to increase understanding in the community. Zach surprises them by encouraging Al's classmates to fast during the day of the celebration so that they know a bit more about what the process feels like. At the end of the school year, Al is named the valedictorian of his class and encouraged to share his poetry, and his father makes peace with this after learning about Lazarus, the Detroit, Michigan based rapper, songwriter and physician of Pakistani descent. 
Strengths: Walters is a prolific Canadian author who has done interesting collaborations with a number of others, in this case the poet and motivational speaker Wali Shah. This is a good look at how a middle school boy might struggle with racism, microagressions, and family expectations, on top of other pressures of middle school like crushes and fitting in. The story moves along quickly, and has a nice mix of topics. 
Weaknesses: My students are not particularly fond of poetry, so I wish there had been a tiny bit more basketball in this to hook them, especially since Walters does such a good sports novel. I also wish there were more books about Muslim students who are of Somali descent, since that's the background of most of my students. There are a lot of books by Pakistani authors, but relatively few by Somali authors. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for students who like Grimes' Garvey's Choice and Baptist's Isaiah Dunn is My Hero.  As of November, 2023, Follett does not list a prebound copy for sale, and paperbacks do not hold up in my library, so I'll have to wait to purchase. 
 Ms. Yingling

Thursday, March 07, 2024

The Voice Upstairs and Roses & Violets

Weymouth, Laura E. The Voice Upstairs
October 3, 2023 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central

Wilhelmina Price's life revolves around the Summerfield family in Thrush's Green, England not long after World War I. Her grandfather, who is the butler there, is raising her after the deaths of both of her parents. Her mother passed away under horrible circumstances (she drowned), and ever since Wil has been able to see the souls of people who are soon to die leaving their bodies. She's tried to intervene, but it rarely ends well, and when she sees the sould of a housemaid at the Summerfield's house, she doesn't say anything. Wil is also great friends with Edison Summerfield, whose older brother Peter died in the Great War, and whose spirit is haunting the house, destroying the nursery whenever Edison is home from school and forced to live in that wing. Since his sister Kitty is throwing a house party for her birthday, he is once again battling this ghost, and Wil has been unable to contact Peter and convince him to stop. Wil and Ed have always been friends, and know that their relationship would be tricky, Since things are changing for women, Wil has studied all of Ed's school texts, and has even earned money writing papers by mail for his classmates. She hopes to go to college herself, but after the latest death takes a job as a housemaid in order to earn some money and also get a better idea of what is going on. Her grandfather does not approve, but he doesn't approve of housemaids in general. Wil does a good job, and Abigail, who is now the head maid, is glad to have her help. Kitty's party is busy, but Kitty seems to be struggling with something big enough that she even talks to Wil about some things. When Wil sees Edison's spirit leaving his body, she panics, and tells Kitty. Kitty makes a cryptic comment that she will make sure her brother is okay... and then is found thrown from her horse. Clearly, something malevolent is leading to the deaths of all of these women, and Wil and Ed are even more motivated to find out after Kitty's demise. While Wil consults ghosts of the past, some ghosts that are more real surface and lead her to believe that both dark spiritual forces, as well as even darker human forces, are at work. Will she be able to combat them before even more deaths occur?

There's something comforting about an English country house, even if it IS inhabited by murderous ghosts! The cozy nooks, the servants' quarters downstairs, the hidden rooms, and palatial common spaces are something that most readers will never get to experience, so the next best thing is to be able to join Edison in his reading room! 

This had a fair amount of twists and turns, some of which were great surprises, and others which had been strongly suggested all along. We are never quite told why Wil has the ability to see ghosts, but the post WWI setting of this gives plenty of room for the belief in ghosts, as well as for a seance. The reasons for the ghosts are a bit dark, and while there is nothing graphic on the page, and the language is circumspect, the hinted history of sexual abuse and domestic violence might make this more suitable for upper middle grade or young adult readers. 

Readers who like historical novels filled with romance and mystery, like this author's A Treason of Thorns, Harvey's A Breath of Frost, Wallach's Hatchet Girls, or Johnson The Name of the Star series will enjoy the friends-to-lovers romance between Wil and Ed, the murderous ghosts, and the drama of the Upstairs, Downstairs social dynamics of  early 1900s. 

This could have used more period details; this could have been set today and been just as effective if the need for servants could have been spun a bit. There weren't any descriptions of the house, or many of the clothes, and fairly little about Wil's chances before she took a job as a maid. What had she been doing, other than selling papers? This was oddly unclear. 
 
Jensen, Gry Kappel. Roses & Violets
Translated by Sharon E. Rhodes
September 26, 2023 by Arctis
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central

Kirstine steals a letter from her father's desk, accepting her into Roseholm Academy. Even though she's too old to be in high school, she desperately wants to go, but her parents are very conservative Christians and don't want her to. Victoria also gets a letter, but since her mother is an alumna who works as a wise woman, she has  no problem. Chamomile's mother also attended the school, but Malou comes from a background of poverty and is distrustful of the others. Kirstine meets Jakob on the train to the school and thinks that he is also a student, but it turns out that he is a teacher. The school has a variety of tests that the students must take, and they are very odd. When all four girls pass, they find out that Roseholm is a school for magical arts, from blood magic to spirit magic, with some traditional Danish subjects thrown in. The girls are not supposed to consort with the boys from the school, since romance takes up too much energy, but this doesn't stop them from talking to Vitus and Benjamin, and jealousies are sometimes stirred. At a party on All Hallow's Eve, the girls have a seance after drinking a bit, and they find out about a girl named Trine who was killed back in 1989. Kirstine tries to coax information out of Jakob, and the girls do manage to find a little bit of information, which is crucial since Roseholm seems to be haunted in a particularly dangerous way. When another student, Anne, is attacked over Christmas, the investigation is continued, and comes to a climax during the spring dance in April. Will the classmates be able to solve the mystery before a tragedy occurs?

While this is clearly set in a country that is not the US, the translation is great, and most readers will not notice the difference. The cover is fantastic, and the shiny gold and dark purple will speak to readers who love paranormal romances. 

Told from each of the girls' points of view, we see a little of their backgrounds, and the different situations that brought them to the school. Kirstine's parents have thrown her out, Malou is suffering because the other girls are from more privileged backgrounds, and Victoria has the support of her mother. There's just enough romance to keep teens happy, and lots and lots of magical details. 

There seems to be a new trend in magical academies where the magic is rather dark. Even though the students at Roseholm are forbidden from participating in dark magic, they would be right at home with other magical schools like Aldridge's Deephaven and Alexander's Gallowgate. 
 Ms. Yingling