Middle School

Review: Jinx’s Magic by Sage Blackwood

| Tasha

jinxs magic

Jinx’s Magic by Sage Blackwood

In this second book in a trilogy, Jinx’s entire life has changed since his death.  He can now listen to the voices of the trees in the huge Urwald forest and they tell him things.  But his life is also in danger still.  The Bonemaster has been defeated but Jinx’s master, Simon believes he is stronger than the bindings that surround him.  Yet none of the other magic wielders of the Urwald will help Simon keep the Bonemaster restrained.  Jinx is sent to Samara, a land reached via a portal in Simon’s house and also the place where Simon’s wife lives.  Jinx must find a way to enroll in the school in order to discover the magic he needs to save their own world.  But magic is forbidden in Samara and Jinx may put the Urwald at risk as he desperately tries to save it.

Blackwood takes her already impressive world and adds onto it with Samara, a desert land where knowledge and magic intertwine.  She also deepens the readers’ understanding of the Urwald and its own sort of magic.  This interplay between different types of magic and societies makes for a book that is rich and layered. 

Blackwood also takes time to develop Jinx’s own character further, pushing him to reach the extent of his power and yet also allowing readers to see that there is more there as well.  Jinx is a hesitant hero and never quite believes he is doing the right thing along the way.  Even as his power grows, he remains fully the same character and yet changes and grows in a real way throughout. 

A web of magic and mystery, this book is a fitting follow up to one of my favorite reads of 2013.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from digital galley received from Edelweiss and Katherine Tegen Books.

God Got a Dog by Cynthia Rylant

| Tasha

god got a dog

God Got a Dog by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Marla Frazee

Taken from Rylant’s previous book of poetry, God Went to Beauty School, this smaller collection is completely disarming and dazzling.  Repackaged for a younger audience, this book celebrates God in a wonderfully homely and down-to-earth way that manages at the same time to make Him/Her all the more wondrous.  In a series of poems, God goes to beauty school because he loves hands so much.  She goes for a ride in a boat for the first time and gets an entirely new perspective on water.  He goes to the doctor.  She tries out a desk job for awhile.  He visits India.  She writes a book.  They are small moments, small things to do, but in the end they are all profound and beautiful.

As someone who is trying to slow down and enjoy the small things in life, this book truly speaks to me.  It is about God himself doing exactly the same thing.  Rylant injects each of the poems with a lovely quiet humor and a softness that enriches each moment.  Her poems are completely relatable, understandable by elementary children but also deep enough to be appreciated by adults.

Frazee was the ideal person to illustrate this book.  With her soft colors and natural humor, Frazee captures these moments in God’s day.  Each is beautifully set up, but also simple and honest.  They are singular but also create a lovely whole.

Smart, funny and above all kind and radiant, this book will make a great holiday gift for all ages as well as a wonderful way to start talking about spirituality.  Appropriate for all ages.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle

| Tasha

better nate than ever

Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle

Nate lives in Jankburg, Pennsylvania probably as far from Broadway that you can get.  But Broadway is where he dreams of being.  So when an opportunity to go to an open audition for E.T.: the Musical comes around, he and his best friend figure out how to get him to New York City without anyone knowing.  It involves taking an overnight bus from Pennsylvania, taking his mother’s ATM card, and fooling his older brother.  Then when he reaches New York City, he has to figure out how to get to the auditions all on his own.  There’s a lot that can go wrong in a plan like that, but Broadway and being a star is worth the risk! 

Federle has created a tremendously cheery book that is filled with humor and a wonderful light-heartedness.  Nate is a character that will speak to many kids who are interested in theater.  He describes himself as “undecided” about his sexuality which makes this a very friendly book for middle schoolers who are either questioning their own sexuality or gay.   Nate has a wonderful inner voice that he doesn’t allow to speak aloud.  His funniest moments are things that he says to himself about circumstances and other people. 

While the book remains consistently positive, Federle does also deal with deeper issues like bullying, being the kid at school who doesn’t fit in, alcoholism, and broken families.  All of these issues are dealt with seriously and yet at the same time aren’t allowed to make the book dark in any way. 

There is humor and hope everywhere in this book.  It is a delight of a middle school read.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Words with Wings by Nikki Grimes

| Tasha

words with wings

Words with Wings by Nikki Grimes

Gabby has always been a daydreamer, but when her parents started fighting and then separated, she started retreating into her daydreams more and more.  Now Gabby lives with just her mother, who is not a daydreaming type at all.  So the two of them clash.  Gabby also gets in trouble at school due to her dreamy ways and not paying attention to what is happening in class.  But along the way, readers will see that Gabby is much more than a daydreamer, she is a poet.  Eventually, her mother will come to terms with her way of thinking and she will find that she has a teacher who not only supports Gabby’s daydreaming but makes it part of his curriculum. 

Grimes writes in short free verse, some of the poems only a handful of lines long.  Yet because these are poems written by a master poet, they each speak truth.  There are poems that talk about moving and autumn, others that celebrate family members, and at the heart of the book are the many poems that celebrate dreaming, lingering and Gabby herself.  Grimes was clearly the sort of child who also daydreamed, since she captures it so well. 

I deeply appreciate that this book does not “fix” Gabby’s daydreaming.  Instead it is the adults who adopt a new attitude towards her once they realize that she is thinking and processing and writing in her head.  Gabby is expected to change some of her behaviors in class and is supported in doing this by a very engaged and kind teacher who promises that she will have time to dream and to record those dreams she has.  Gabby is the sort of heroine that one loves immediately, and she is also one that readers will cheer to see succeeding on her own terms.

Beautiful and strong poems support a world where imagination and creativity is accepted and poets survive their childhood intact.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Salt by Helen Frost

| Tasha

salt

Salt: A Story of Friendship in a Time of War by Helen Frost

In 1812 in Indian Territory, two boys forge a friendship over hunting, fishing and survival of their families.  James’ family runs the trading post at Fort Wayne, living right outside the walls of the fort.  Anikwa’s family, members of the Miami tribe, has lived on this land for generations.  Now two armies are heading right to Fort Wayne to battle, the Americans and British will meet for a critical battle.  The question becomes whose side the Miami will be on when the battle occurs.  But even more deep is the question of whether the friendship between the two boys and their two families can survive this battle and the losses that it brings.

Frost has mastered the verse novel, creating a work that functions as beautiful poetry with profound depths and also as a complete novel.  Frost puts a human face on history in this novel that tells the story of a major battle in the war of 1812.  By the time the soldiers arrive, readers care deeply for both boys and their families.  So when the destruction starts, the wounds are real and the losses far beyond numbers.  The poems show readers the beauty of the landscape, the bounty of the land, and all that is possibly lost afterwards.

Frost writes from both boys’ points of view in alternating poems.  So the lifestyle and losses of both families is shown from their own points of view.  Anikwa’s poems are done in a poetic form that creates a pattern on the page.  Frost explains in her notes at the end that this is to mimic Miami ribbon work.  Without knowing this while reading, I could still see the square form of James’ poem representing the fort and the home he lived in next to the motion-filled form of Anikwa’s poems that exuded nature. 

An exquisite verse novel that fills history with real people and war with real loss.  Appropriate for ages 11-13.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

| Tasha

counting by 7s

Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Willow Chance didn’t fit in well at her elementary school, so she is attending a middle school across town which none of her previous classmates will be attending.  But Willow is just not made to fit in with others.  She does fine with her adoptive parents who are accepting of her obsession with gardening and medical conditions as long as she doesn’t tell them everything since that would make them worry.  And one of the things she doesn’t tell them is that the middle school thinks that she cheated on a major standardized test because she got a perfect score.  So she is sent to counseling though Dell, the school counselor has no idea what to do to help her.  Two siblings who also go to see Dell have their own ideas though and that is how Willow comes to be out driving with Dell and the others when she finds out that her parents have been killed in a car accident.  Now Willow has lost her parents, her home, her garden and her will to explore.  This is a story that is about community, building your family one person at a time, and the wonder of what having people in your life that care can do.  It is the story of the amazing Willow Chase.

Sloan’s writing verges on verse at times with its short lines, lined up neatly and speaking profoundly and honestly.  It is writing that examines and explores but also moves the story forward at speed.  It is imminently readable with plenty of white space and few if any dense paragraphs of text.  Rather it has a wonderful lightness about it, even when describing tragedy.  And this book is filled with loss and grief that is handled with a gentle depth.  Yet it is also a book filled with joy and overcoming odds and inspiration. 

Sloan creates not just one incredible character in this novel but an entire group of them.  At first the book seems disjointed with the various perspectives shown, since we get to see things not only from Willow’s point of view, from the other teens, but also from the adults as well.  But those disparate parts come together in a way that a book from just Willow’s point of view never could have.  They add an understanding of Willow’s appeal to others that would not have been possible without it.

This is a tragic story with an indomitable heroine that will leave you smiling through the tears.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: The Great Trouble by Deborah Hopkinson

| Tasha

great trouble

The Great Trouble: A Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eel by Deborah Hopkinson

Things have been a lot worse for Eel in the past, he now has a place off of the streets where he can sleep safely and he only goes to the River Thames to dig for things to sell to make ends meet.  He has serious responsibilities that he keeps entirely private.  It helps that he faked his own death to get Fisheye Bill Tyler off of his trail.  But Eel still keeps his street smarts and listens, so he knows that Fisheye is back after him.  Then in the summer of 1854, his entire world turns upside down and the Great Trouble begins as the Blue Death of cholera comes right into his neighborhood in London.  Everyone knows that it is spread through the air, but one doctor, that Eel does small chores for, thinks differently.  Now it is up to Eel to help the doctor prove that it is the water that carries the disease before hundreds more die.

Celebrating the visionary Dr. John Snow on the 200th anniversary of his birth, this book successfully mixes historical fact with historical fiction resulting in a dynamic book with engaging characters.  At the outset of the book, Hopkinson takes care to make sure that readers understand what living in poverty and parentless was like in Victorian England.  She shows the filth, the danger, the loneliness and the skill that it took to survive. 

Eel is a wonderful protagonist.  He is incredibly smart, driven to help those he cares for, and a mixture of brave and desperate, something that keeps him at the center of this medical mystery.  Hopkinson does a great job of keeping all of her characters true to the time period, offering no modern sensibilities into the equation, but presenting it just as it would have been. 

This is a dark and thrilling novel that will not let you escape until the epidemic is over and the mystery solved.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from copy received from Random House Children’s Books.

GoodReads Nominess of Best Middle Grade & Children’s

| Tasha

Join in voting on the 2013 Opening Round to select the Best Middle Grade & Children’s book on GoodReads.  Voting for this initial round runs through November 9th.  Here are the 15 nominees:

15801381 Counting by 7s Doll Bones

Chasing the Prophecy by Brandon Mull

Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Doll Bones by Holly Black

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library Fortunately, the Milk Fyre (Septimus Heap, #7)

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Christ Grabenstein

Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman

Fyre by Angie Sage

12127810 The Enchantress Returns (The Land of Stories, #2) Navigating Early

The House of Hades by Rick Riordan

The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer

Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool

Prisoner B-3087 The Runaway King (The Ascendance Trilogy, #2) The Screaming Staircase (Lockwood & Co, #1)

Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz

The Runaway King by Jennifer A. Nielsen

The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

The Sun Trail (Warriors: Dawn Of The Clans, #1) Dork Diaries 6: Tales from a Not-So-Happy Heartbreaker Trust No One (The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers, #5)

The Sun Trail by Erin Hunter

Tales from a Not-So-Happy-Heartbreaker by Rachel Renee Russell

Trust No One by Linda Sue Park

Review: Explorer: the Lost Islands

| Tasha

explorer lost islands

Explorer: The Lost Islands edited by Kazu Kibuishi

This second book in the Explorer series again takes a single theme and has short illustrated stories that center on that.  The book is a collection of different illustrators and authors, so one story to the next is very different both in the story itself and in the style of the art.  It makes for a very compelling book to read.  I had several favorite stories in the book, including The Mask Dance by Chrystin Garland where the setting is dark and looming and people are disguised by masks.  The reveal of the truth is great fun while still being dark and eerie.  Another favorite was Desert Island Playlist by Dave Roman and Raina Telgemeier.  Readers of Smile and Drama will enjoy seeing another piece of work by Telgemeier.  This story too has a mystery at its heart all set on a desert island.  This is another strong graphic novel that young readers are sure to enjoy.

This second book loses some of the darkness and wonder of the first which was a masterpiece.  At the same time, it is a book worth getting because it displays such a wide range of art styles and story types.  Both books in the series are like unwrapping presents when you turn to a new story, you are sure to be surprised.

Amulet fans, graphic novel readers and students interested in art should all find something to love in this new collection.  Appropriate for ages 10-13.

Reviewed from copy received from Abrams.