tweens

When the Whistle Blows

| Tasha

When the Whistle Blows by Fran Cannon Slayton

Every once in awhile a debut novel takes your breath away.  This is one of those novels.

Jimmy Cannon’s life is surrounded by trains.  His bedroom is right by the tracks, his father works for the railroad, and Jimmy plans to work the railroad himself as soon as he possibly can.  But Jimmy does not want to be like his father who focuses on rules.  Set in a West Virginia town during the era of steam trains in the 1940s, readers will happily follow Jimmy as he merrily breaks many of the rules.  From Halloween night to boyhood scrapes, this book has a timeless feel.

Slayton writes with a spirit and style that reads like a classic novel.  Offering a complex relationship of a boy and his father, she lightens the novel through the scenes that define Jimmy’s boyhood.  Every reader, boy or girl, will be able to relate to the escapades, enjoy laughing out loud about the close calls, and bite their nails when the tension gets thick.  This is a many layered book that teachers will look forward to reading in their classrooms.  There is so much here to discuss and yet it is so easy to read, understand and relate to.  It is frankly a masterpiece of ease and complexity not often seen in children’s books.

If there is one book you are going to read aloud to 4th and 5th graders this year, it should be this one.  Highly recommended, this should be a Newbery contender this year.  Appropriate for ages 10-14.

Reviewed from copy provided by publisher.

Check out Fran Cannon Slayton’s own blog.

Also reviewed by BookDads, Reviewed Here First, Reading, Writing, Ruminating, Susan VanHecke, WriterJenn, Charlotte’s Library, Confessions of a Bibliovore, Becky’s Book Reviews, Through the Wardrobe, The Reading Zone, Underage Reading, Sarah Miller, 100 Scope Notes, and Into the Wardrobe.

Museum of Mary Child

| Tasha

The Museum of Mary Child by Cassandra Golds

Heloise lives a lonely, subdued and severe life with her godmother.  She is not allowed to have toys, not allowed to play, and must spend her time being constructive.  Heloise yearns most of all for a doll and then she discovers a secret niche under a floorboard where a doll is hidden.  She succeeds for some time in hiding the doll from her godmother, but when her godmother discovers the doll, she flies into a rage.  Next door to their house is the Museum of Mary Child, a place where visitors come but Heloise has never been allowed to enter.  Her grandmother drags her there.  Stunned by the revelations of the museum, Heloise flees her godmother’s home with her doll in tow.  Ending up in the city, Heloise is taken in by a choir of orphans, where she begins to learn about what life is about and to feel like a real little girl.  But she cannot escape the mystery of her own upbringing for long.

This gothic tale owes a lot to folk tales with birds who guide humans, and a prince in prison.  These elements weave themselves into Heloise’s tale, offering glimpses of magic and wonder  against the darkness of madness and solitude.  Just as Heloise is a unique child, so this book is unique and fascinating.  It doesn’t fit into a genre niche neatly, offering so many different but well-worked elements.  Because of this, it is a very fun read.  Readers will be unable to figure out how the novel will end because they won’t be sure if they are reading fantasy, gothic, horror or fairy tale – perhaps it is all of them at once.

Heloise is a great character with her fierceness and inquisitiveness.  She carries this book forward, gradually learning along with the reader what her story is.  It is a delicately balanced story, never moving too far into horror, never too far from its fairy tale elements.  The setting is such a large part of the tale from the museum to the city itself and its madhouse and prison.  Golds does a great job creating and sustaining a mood though the entire book along with a tension that makes it difficult to put down and impossible not to puzzle about even when not reading.

Recommended for tweens who are a little too young for Twilight, this book has quality writing and an intriguing premise.  Children as young as ten who are looking for a little horror and creepiness will find a great read here.  Appropriate for ages 10-14.

Reviewed from copy provided by publisher.

All the Broken Pieces

| Tasha

All the Broken Pieces by Ann Burg

Matt Pin was airlifted from war torn Vietnam to the United States and has been adopted into a loving family.  Now at age 12, Matt is struggling with the internal scars of war, combined with his questions of identity.  He has haunting memories of his mother and brother whom he left behind in Vietnam.  Matt has trouble giving a voice to his internal struggles, while externally he is having difficulties at school and is being bullied by boys on his baseball team.  Can Matt manage to make peace with his past so he can embrace his future?  Or are the two so intertwined that they are one and the same?

A searing verse novel, this book offers powerful poetry that clearly conveys the emotional scars of Matt and of the community around him.  Vietnam is a multi-faceted subject and Burg does an admirable job in paying tribute to its many aspects.  Poetry is a wonderful medium for this sort of exploration, allowing things to be said clearly that would have to be danced around in prose.  Burg’s poems create a cohesive novel yet offer verses that will linger in the memory and mind, that speak to our humanity and our past.

Here is one verse from the early part of the novel that captures the power and talent of the writing:

He never saw my face.

But she was already swelled

with love for him when he left,

taking with him

his blue-eyed promise

that it would not end there,

with the smell of burnt flesh

and the sound of crying children.

Highly recommended for tween and teen readers, this book covers powerful subjects without turning away or flinching.  Readers who are not poetry readers and those who claim not to like verse novels should be encouraged to try this one.  Appropriate for ages 12-15.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by A Year of Reading.

Franny Parker

| Tasha

Franny Parker by Hannah Roberts McKinnon

Franny has grown up in a small Oklahoma town surrounded by her loving family.  She has become known for rescuing baby animals and the entire town now brings her tiny furry bundles.  When Lucas moves in next door, Franny naively thinks that his past is similar to hers.  But readers will realize before Franny does that Lucas and his mother have serious problems that they are running from.  Rescuing Lucas proves much more difficult than rescuing animals, and Franny is not sure that they even want to be rescued at all.

McKinnon’s debut novel is very strong.  Her characterization of the rather naive Franny also shows Franny’s wisdom about certain things.  Lucas is portrayed as much more than a troubled teen with his own way with animals and children.  The adults in the small community are drawn with history, clarity and style.  This is a family that I loved spending time with.

Small touches in the novel make it even more grounded and real.  The annual reading contest at the library, the local fair, and a strong connection to the rural landscape bring the setting fully to life.  McKinnon has a strong sense of place and character.

And the cover!  Love it!  It has a freshness, a friendliness, that perfectly matches what is inside.

Franny is a character readers will love meeting.  She is inspirational, interesting and unique.  Highly recommended for ages 11-13.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by A Patchwork of Books.

Wild Girl

| Tasha

Wild Girl by Patricia Reilly Giff

Lidie lives with her aunt and uncle in Brazil, and now is being reunited with her father and brother in the United States.  In Brazil she spends her time riding horses and she hopes to be able to show her father, a horse trainer, and her brother, a jockey-in-training, that she can ride too.  Reaching America, she finds that so much is different.  From the language barrier, to her skills at school, to her relationship with her father.  Everyone expects her to be the small girl they left behind in Brazil, but she has changed.  Her father gives her an old horse to teach her to ride, not knowing that she can ride well.  But Lidie wants to ride Wild Girl, the new spirited and unbroken filly.  How can Lidie show everyone who she really is without betraying everything she once was and where she came from?

Lidie is a fantastic character.  Her voice is strong and consistent, her dilemma understandable and relatable, and her actions true to who she is.  I love having a heroine in books who is flawed, struggling and gloriously real.  Lidie is a voice for many girls who come to the United States, struggle with the language, and are bright, vivacious and fascinating. 

By combining girlhood and horses, Giff has created the perfect setting.  Everyone can relate to a love of horses and riding.  It is a language that translates across all of us.  A world we are all a part of.  It was a brilliant choice of setting and character melding together.

Giff has also excelled at creating a home filled with love where there are communication problems and misunderstandings.  She has written all of our homes into this one, a universal home for children who are seen as younger than they really are and are struggling to reveal who they have become. 

With her universal themes combined with a vivid characterization, Giff has created a book that should be in the hands of almost every pre-teen girl.  I guarantee that they will see themselves on the page no matter what their first languages are.  Highly recommended for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from copy provided by Random House.

Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Practicing the Piano

| Tasha

Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Practicing the Piano by Peggy Gifford

This third book in the Moxy Maxwell series continues with the same spirit and humor as the first two.  In this book, Moxy is getting ready for her piano recital, or she is supposed to be.  But she has a long list of things she has to do, which doesn’t include practicing her duet with her little sister Pansy.  So she must make a Green Grass Power shake for upper body strength, she must warm up her voice in case she is asked to sing, she must try on the cape that her grandmother is making for the recital, and much more.  Plus her mother expects her to practice the hard part of her song and her piano teacher expects her to stop at the end of the song and stop the banging in the middle.  Even with everyone’s great planning and expectations, things do not work out as Moxy envisioned them at the recital.

I adore Moxy’s character.  She is headstrong, unique and vivacious.  In each book, she remains true to herself and no one else.  Every other character is also written with great spunk, giving Moxy a canvas to really shine against.  All of the book feature the skilled photography of Valorie Fisher, who manages to take pictures just like a gifted young person would.  Her great eye mixes flawlessly with the great voice of the novel. 

Laugh-out-loud funny and a great hoot for this daughter of a pianist, I highly recommend you head out and read all of the Moxy books.  Right now!  If you are already a fan, this third novel will not disappoint at all.  Appropriate for ages 8-12.

Reviewed from copy sent by the publisher.

Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell in Love

| Tasha

Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell in Love by Lauren Tarshis

If you were as charmed by the first Emma-Jean Lazarus book as I was, then you want to make sure to pick up this second novel.  Remembering what went wrong when she tried to help Colleen before, Emma-Jean is amazed when Colleen comes to her and asks for help again.  Emma-Jean now has a little group of friends in her 7th-grade class but she is much more comfortable observing them from afar than being in their midst.  When shown the unsigned love note that Colleen found in her locker, Emma-Jean is immediately drawn into solving the mystery.  But Emma-Jean is distracted by this strange fluttery feeling whenever Will Keeler walks by.  What could be wrong with her?  And will she be able to concentrate long enough to figure out this puzzle?

I adore Emma-Jean.  She is quirky, wildly intelligent, and entirely herself.  Even better, she doesn’t really understand or care that others find her odd.  She does know that she isn’t like the other girls who smell of daisies and bubble gum.  But at the same time, she is not filled with a yearning to be anything but true to herself.  Very refreshing in a heroine this age! 

Tarshis’ writing is filled with sensory touches.  We know what things smell like, sound like, feel like.  This draws readers deeper into the story and offers surprising insight into characters and situations.  The writing is deft, interesting and never dull. 

An ideal novel for those who enjoyed the first, this book is strong enough to stand on its own.  Tweens ages 10-13 will enjoy both novels and both are ideal for classroom readalouds and ripe with things to discuss.

Slob

| Tasha

Slob by Ellen Potter

Owen is the butt of everyone’s jokes.  Other kids make farting noises when he passes and he’s not sure if a suggestion to get a fat exemption from gym class was meant nicely or cruelly.  Now someone is stealing Owen’s one pleasure in life: the three Oreo cookies he is allowed each day.  Owen is also working on Nemesis, a television that will show the past.  And he has one specific day in mind that he has to see.  But things are getting out of hand.  Owen is being bullied by his gym teacher, his best friend might just be turning on him, and his little sister belongs to a group that has her dressing in boys clothes and insisting on being known as Jeremy.   Owen has tried sitting still and not reacting to things, perhaps it’s time to take a different approach.

Potter has written a pitch-perfect novel of the miseries of middle-school.  Filled with sarcasm and lots of humor, the story is filled with intriguing characters, believable and unique.  Each character including the adults has a small memorable feature that is part of the story.   The mystery of the missing cookies may take center stage in my synopsis, but the book is far more about relationships, anger, revenge and heroism.  All of which make this funny book deeper than most.

The characterization here is so strong that readers will have no trouble with the rather large cast of characters.  Owen is a traumatized boy whose life slowly is revealed to the reader.  Jeremy is a savvy take on a girl who wants to be in control but can’t figure out how.  Nima, the Buddhist who lives in Owen’s building, adds a vehicle for Owen to begin to question his way of life.  It all comes together into a wonderful mix of great people all seen through Owen’s wry lens.

Appropriate for ages 11-13, this book has a winning cover and its humor will have readers sharing it with friends.  A must-have for middle school libraries everywhere.