Category: Middle Grade Fiction Review

BONUS REVIEW: Black Canary: Ignite by Meg Cabot

BONUS REVIEW: Black Canary: Ignite by Meg Cabot

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and DC Zoom in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Thirteen-year-old Dinah Lance has big plans for her life. They start with winning the Battle of the Bands with her best friends Kat and Vee. Then she’s going to join the Gotham City Junior Police Academy and make a difference in her city by stopping bad guys, just like her dad.

But Detective Lance is the first roadblock to her plans. He doesn’t want Dinah anywhere near criminals or danger.

Then there are all these weird accidents at school. Dinah always seems to be around when they happen like when the trophy case broke or the backboard shattered. Her principal is itching to hang the blame on Dinah and kick her out of school. And there’s also a creepy caped figure stalking around and causing trouble for Dinah and her family.

Could Vee be right? Could Dinah have special powers that are causing these accidents? Would powers make her dad trust her to help fight crime? Or would they make him more likely pack her off to her grandmother’s to keep her “safe?”

Review

This was so fun! It’s a pretty simple middle school story. There are background characters like Batgirl and the Joker who anchor this in the Gotham/DC Universe. But the focus here is on Dinah, her family, and a villain named Bonfire who has it out for Dinah’s mom. Most of the story takes place at Dinah’s home and school, which also helps keep the story simple.

The origin story for Dinah is pretty simple, too. Weird things happen, and Dinah learns she’s responsible. She’s eventually told that her powers come from her mother. She gets some training to control them, and then her parents try to send her away for safety. When Bonfire makes a move, Dinah has to decide if she is ready to be the Black Canary and stay and fight for her friends and her family.

Graphic novel fans will love the art in this and will be able to jump into Dinah’s story without any trouble. As superhero stories go, this is pretty light fare as it is setting up whatever DC might choose to do with the character in the future.

This is a great new graphic novel from the folks at DC, and I can’t wait to see what they do next. DC Zoom graciously provided some photos from the interior of the book, and I chose three of my favorite moments – check these out!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

REVIEW: Titans by Kate O'Hearn

REVIEW: Titans by Kate O’Hearn

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

After the destruction of Olympus, the Titans and the Olympians are sharing the world of Titan. It’s tricky – plenty of the Titans remember their imprisonment in Tartarus. But they are working at getting along.

A big part of the cooperative effort is the school – Arcadia. The hope is that the young Titans and Olympians will learn to get along and lead the way for everyone else. It’s the only way for their world to survive.

Astraea, a Titan, and her best friend Zephyr, a flying horse, are supposed to be at Arcadia for the first day of school. But nothing goes right. Astraea has heard rumors of humans on Titan – something dangerous and forbidden. So she sneaks away from the first day festivities in order to spy and then gets caught. And then she ends up in a fight with some bullying centaurs and gets detention. Her parents are going to be SO ticked!

But they aren’t. Her parents don’t seem to care about all the trouble at school – or that she stayed out way past her curfew. And her mom’s weird behavior is only one of several signs that something is really wrong on Titan. Astraea is determined to hide and protect the human boy she finds on Titan, but as more weird things happen, she’s not sure who she can even trust on her planet any more.

Review

This is the first book in a long time to get me excited about mythology again! I didn’t read the whole Pegasus series by this author, but what I did read I enjoyed. There are references to that series here, but I was able to follow the action even though I haven’t read it all. (Since that series is complete, and contains some big, meaty books, it would be great for readers to go back to while waiting for the sequel to this one.)

I thoroughly enjoyed this. Astraea and her friends are great heroes. They are smart, and they learn to use their combined strengths to deal with the issues they discover on Titan. And these are no small problems!

The story is terrific – tons of action, interesting creatures, and a great mystery to dig into. Riordan fans and fans of this author’s other series will not be disappointed with this one.

A major cliffhanger at the end will leave readers shouting, “NO!” And the book 2 teaser in the back promises a lot more peril for our heroes. The problems discovered in this book will not be solved quickly or easily. Book 2, The Missing, will release in the summer of 2020.

If you are a fan of mythology tales and/or action novels, don’t miss this one!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½

REVIEW: The Perfect Star by Rob Buyea

REVIEW: The Perfect Star by Rob Buyea

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Delacorte Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Eighth grade begins for the stars of The Perfect Score series.

  • Gavin is playing football after overcoming all the hassles from last year. After a summer with no coach, the team finally has one, but the unconventional choice leads to drama for the school and community.
  • Randi’s future in gymnastics is up in the air after a serious injury.
  • Natalie is leading the group once again, this time as they start up a school newscast in place of the newspaper.
  • Trevor and Natalie are still dating, but it’s causing a major rift in Trevor and Mark’s friendship.
  • Scott is enthusiastic about everything from being the weatherman on the newscast to being the stat guy for the football team. But his enthusiasm for protecting the new football coach leads to some issues.

And that’s just the beginning of an 8th grade year that is going to challenge these kids and draw them together tighter than ever.

Review

Wow. This was so good! It’s been delightful to watch these kids grow up and grow together over the three books in this series. And I LOVE this group of kids – even more than I loved the group in the author’s previous series. They are quirky and genuine and flawed and family to one another.

So much happens in this book (including at least one “suspend disbelief here” moment), but it all holds together around the idea of this core group getting older and gaining some maturity as well as compassion and empathy for others. Family, friendship, and football are major themes, but this also touches on homelessness, insurance and health care, grief, bullying, and dating (hand holding, peck on the cheeks/lips). This book is perfect for middle school readers in its richness and depth.

When I talk with readers about stories told from the perspective of several characters, I always end up talking about Rob Buyea‘s books. He writes these great, nuanced characters, and then turns them loose to tell their stories in their own ways. And I fall in love with the stories every time.

Don’t miss this one!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½

BONUS REVIEW: The Class by Frances O'Roark Dowell

BONUS REVIEW: The Class by Frances O’Roark Dowell

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Antheneum in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary and Review

Mrs. Herrera’s class of 6th graders is an eclectic group of students. She has popular kids, and jocks and nice kids and brainy kids. Ellie is one of the new kids. She’s a writer – an observer – a spy. And when something happens in the class, her observations are a foundation for the rest of the story.

This is an unusual book. There are a ton of perspectives in this. Twenty different kids chime in to tell the story. It was hard at times to keep track of everyone. Then it took half the book for the class-impacting event to happen. And when it did, it felt small to me. It didn’t have a very big punch.

From the description I thought this would be 20 perspectives on the same moment/day/event where each subsequent story would fill in what really happened. [I was expecting something like the first part of the amazing book, The Candymakers, where each of the four characters tells their version of the A part of the story before moving back to the main character’s perspective for the wrap up of the book. It’s part of what makes The Candymakers so brilliant.] Instead, this was one story arc, and each kid told part of it as it moved along.

This format and story didn’t work for me. I struggled to stay engaged. I didn’t know the characters well enough to have them drive me from page to page through the story. And then there wasn’t a lot of action or punch to the “event” to drive me on either. I struggled to stick with this. I won’t be posting a rating for this one.

When it comes to multiple perspective stories, I prefer a Rob Buyea story or something like The Reckless Club. I think those are stronger examples of the format – fewer characters and higher stakes.

Other readers have found this delightful, so if the premise sounds interesting to you, check it out. It wasn’t a good fit for me.

REVIEW: Friend or Fiction? by Abby Cooper

REVIEW: Friend or Fiction? by Abby Cooper

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Charlesbridge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Life was weird in Tiveda, Colorado. It was a small town, and no one every stayed there long. People there were generally passing through on their way somewhere else. For Jade, Tiveda was extra weird because her family was sticking around. That wasn’t the plan at first, but her dad’s been way too sick to move away, find new doctors, etc. And while she stays, her friends tend to come and go.

Until Zoe.

Zoe is a character Jade created. Jade’s a writer. And she writes stories about a fictional Jade and her best friend Zoe. All of the stories fit in a notebook that Jade takes everywhere so she always has Zoe with her. She can add to their adventures any time, which comes in handy when you don’t have a best friend at school any more. And Jade’s dad loves to hear any new Zoe story she writes.

When a kid named Clue takes Jade’s notebook for a “project,” she is beside herself. What dose she even do without Zoe? But the project seems to be a success because Zoe – Jade’s made up Zoe – has come to life, and she’s is living across the street from Jade and going to her school!

Review

This was great. There’s a touch of magic to the story that brings Zoe to life. But the rest is a realistic story about friendship, family and writing. And it all comes together so well.

I loved the revelations Jade encounters in the last part of the book – about her brother, about Zoe, about the kids at school, about storytelling, and about herself. There’s so much here, and it’s all so rich. Jade grows and changes so much from the start of the novel to the end. It’s a fantastic journey.

This would be great for classroom reading or a book group. This fits in the “older middle grade” category, for kids 10 and up. There are tons of friendship pieces to talk about, but so much more – cancer, grief, isolation, family. There are great pieces about writing and writers in this, too, that could have classroom connections. The fact that Jade is a writer, that she connects with a teacher at school who encourages her writing, and her dad’s enthusiasm about her stories – those were some of my favorite parts of the book. Don’t miss this one!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

BONUS REVIEW: Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee

BONUS REVIEW: Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Aladdin in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Mila is in 7th grade. She loves playing trumpet in the band. She has three best friends. And she’s getting some weird vibes from “the basketball boys.”

First, they’re weird about her fuzzy green sweater. She wears it a lot because it fits. Some of her shirts have gotten small and tight but her mom doesn’t have money for shopping. The boys keep trying to hug Mila when she wears the sweater, or they try to touch it, saying it’s “for luck.”

They crowd her. On the bus, one of them sits with her, bumping into her or leaving her only enough space to squeeze by. They move closer to her in class, touch her when she doesn’t want to be touched. And when she tries to speak up, they say she’s overreacting or can’t take a joke. Her friends fade away instead of back her up.

Each incident taken alone seems small and insignificant. But all of them, day after day, leave Mila feeling gross – like her skin is crawling – and dreading what might happen next.

Review

This was an emotional read for me. The beginning made me feel squirmy. Mila felt trapped and alone. She knew things felt wrong, but enough voices said she was overreacting that she second guessed herself. She had no language for what was happening to her. She felt the perpetrators would have more support from teachers and the administration. The stress of it all for Mila made my stomach churn.

I loved that martial arts was a factor in Mila’s solution – and not through fighting but in finding her voice! Middle school is so hard. Kids are testing identities and negotiating relationships and pushing boundaries. The confidence Mila gains through martial arts was a great piece to the story’s resolution.

Once Mila started sharing her story, I teared up through the whole rest of the book. Her bravery was inspiring. The adults took her seriously and took action. And the action seemed appropriate. (Although, if Mila was my daughter, I would have wanted a stronger response – I would have liked more on how the boys’ parents responded, too, but that’s an adult’s perspective.)

This is an important book for middle grade readers, especially upper elementary students and middle school students. It gives language to kids for this very specific and nuanced kind of bullying and harassment. It would be an excellent conversation starter at school AND at home. Do not miss this one! I feel like our kids will be better off having read this.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½

REVIEW: The Tornado by Jake Burt

REVIEW: The Tornado by Jake Burt

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Feiwel & Friends in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Bell Kirby is quite the engineer for an elementary school student. His favorite school activity is Creator Club. (This year they get to recreate some of Da Vinci’s creations!) Bell designed a habitat of tubes for his chinchilla to run through that travels all over his bedroom. Bell’s dad, who is deployed with the Army, sends him engineering brain teasers to solve. And his mom, who’s an engineer with the Army, has a garage workshop where Bell can work on some of his own designs.

But Bell’s biggest “system” is the one he uses at school to avoid a bully named Parker. Bell has a system for every hour of every school day. He has studied Parker’s schedule both for school and for extracurricular activities. Bell has alternate routes for his alternate routes to get him from class to class to home while avoiding Parker as much as possible. Bell has tried to get help for the bullying at school, but Parker’s dad is the principal. He always has an excuse for why whatever Parker did was an accident, or he doesn’t believe Bell because there are no witnesses willing to speak up.

When Daelynn Gower shows up at their school, her eccentric appearance and outgoing personality catches Parker’s attention. And a cafeteria accident makes her Parker’s primary target. So Bell is off the hook! Parker isn’t tormenting him any more. In fact, Parker wants Bell to help him in his schemes against Daelynn. What can Bell do now?

Review

What a great twist on the bullying theme getting a lot of attention in children’s literature these days! I loved that this wrestles with the question of what responsibility the formerly-bullied have to the new target. Do they bask in their own freedom, or do they try to stand up to the bully, risking a renewal of the torment? Anyone who thinks that is an easy question – or an easy task – has probably never been bullied.

I loved Bell! His engineering brilliance makes him a unique middle grade protagonist. I loved how adults and kids recognized that talent in him. I thought Bell’s parents reacted reasonably to his situation at school, walking the fine line of being his advocate while also giving Bell space to try to handle his own business.

I have enjoyed all of Jake Burt’s work to date. You can read my review of Greetings from Witness Protection (one of my top books of 2017) here and my review of The Right Hook of Devin Velma here. The Tornado is a must-read for Jake Burt fans. This would be a great read-aloud or book group selection. The bullying angle gives a lot of material for discussion both at school and at home. This is another great selection for older middle grade readers (ages 10-14). Don’t miss this one!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

REVIEW: The Camelot Code: Geeks and the Holy Grail by Mari Mancusi

REVIEW: The Camelot Code: Geeks and the Holy Grail by Mari Mancusi

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Disney-Hyperion in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

A young druid named Nimue, charged with protecting the Holy Grail, is on the run from Morgana’s soldiers. She and her sisters were taking the grail to Camelot where King Arthur is sick and in need of its miraculous powers. But Morgana struck, and now Nimue is all alone and in fear for her life. Then she spies a familiar cave – the home of Merlin. Maybe he could save her life once again!

Sadly, Merlin is on something called “Spring Break.” There’s a boy in his cave – Emrys the Excellent – who says he is Merlin’s apprentice. Desperate, Nimue asks Emrys to use some magic to hide the grail from the men hunting for her. The good news is that Emrys succeeds in hiding the grail just in time and sends off the men with nothing. The bad news is that by the time Emrys is done with it, the grail is a young, gaseous dragon, and Emrys has no clue how to change it back.

Nimue summons the Companions by reciting the Camelot Code. Which means Sophie and Stu are summoned from our time to help. Only, Sophie and Stu aren’t together. He’s at home getting some surprising news while Sophie is trying on the world’s ugliest bridesmaid’s dress with her obnoxious soon-to-be step-sister, Ashley. When Sophie responds to the distress call, Ashley unexpectedly gets dragged along to Camelot.

Review

This is a fun second adventure for Sophie and Stu. The addition of Ashley, Emrys and Nimue was a nice touch. I enjoyed the larger cast and all the things the story was able to do with more characters working on a solution.

While this is solidly a fantasy story, it also deals with family issues and friendship concerns, both for Sophie and Ashley and also for Stu. Even Emrys and Nimue to a smaller extent are dealing with family – or lack there off – issues. There’s a fun back and forth again between our world/time and Camelot. Some funny situations develop as well as lots of suspenseful ones. There are a few unanswered questions at the end to pull readers forward into a third book in the series.

You can read my review of the first book, The Once and Future Geek, here. This is a great series for kids who love King Arthur’s legends, or for kids who enjoy fantasy and magic in their reading (think Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Wings of Fire, etc.). Fans of book one should not miss this sequel!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

REVIEW: Broken Strings by Eric Walters and Kathy Kacer

REVIEW: Broken Strings by Eric Walters and Kathy Kacer

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy from Netgalley and Puffin in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Shirli Berman longs to be a performer. She dances and sings AND acts. And for her 8th grade year she’s tried out for the school production of Fiddler on the Roof. She was hoping to get the part of Hodel and get to sing “Matchmaker, Matchmaker.” Instead, she will be playing Golde, Tevye’s wife – an old Jewish woman with no solo. It was hard not to be disappointed.

It’s been five months since the World Trade Center towers fell on 9/11. Some people thought it was too soon for something as festive as a musical. But eventually the school decided it would be part of “moving forward” from the tragedy. A way to heal and get back to some semblance of normal.

Shirli’s grandfather, who she calls Zayde, has some old clothes and furniture in his attic that Shirli thinks could be useful for the musical. But when she looks through everything, she also finds an old violin and a poster for a music group. And one of the little boys on the poster is Zayde.

When Shirli shows him what she found, Zayde becomes angry, saying those things shouldn’t be in the attic. They were supposed to be thrown away years ago. What happened in Zayde’s past, and why does he want to keep it secret?

Review

This is one of the best books I have read so far this year (and I’ve read over 270 books so far)!! What a delightful surprise this was. I loved all the typical parts – the rehearsals and preparation for the musical, and the sweet middle school romance that might blossom. But there’s so much more!

Since the story takes place in New Jersey in late winter and spring of 2002, the characters are still reeling from 9/11. And there are some powerful scenes with Muslim, Jewish and Hindu characters around the events of that day. The scenes are amazing on their own, but they also address how America struggles, still today, with Muslims and other “brown” people because of the terrorists who struck that day.

But the story truly shines in the ways it addresses Jewish history through the musical and also through Shirli’s family. I can’t tell you how many times I cried as Zayde opened up to Shirli about his past. I learned things about the Holocaust I’d never heard/read before. And the authors did a masterful job of ensuring those stories impacted more characters than just Shirli.

This is a phenomenal story – delightful characters, and moving scenes about family, music and friendship. It also addresses heavy topics like 9/11 and the Holocaust in ways that are honest while also being kid-friendly. I’ve noticed a trend lately from publishers to have books targeted to older middle grade readers – 10-14 year olds. These books have excellent storytelling and meaningful plots without engaging in some of the more mature teen behavior you might find in YA books for older readers. Broken Strings is one such book.

My only complaint about this book is something I hope was fixed in the final editing process. This takes place in a Jr. High School with 8th and 9th grade students, but the book frequently refers to the 9th graders as “seniors” instead of “freshmen.” It happens so often, I forgot that Shirli is supposed to be 14 instead of 16. Hopefully that is just a factor in my early review copy.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It would be an exceptional read aloud at school or at home, and would also be a fantastic choice for a book group. Don’t miss this one!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥+++

REVIEW: The Okay Witch by Emma Steinkellner

REVIEW: The Okay Witch by Emma Steinkellner

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Aladdin in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Founder’s Bluff’s history centers around the Kramer family – and witches. Judge Nathaniel Kramer led the settlers who founded Founder’s Bluff. And he led the witch hunt against a group of women who were seen as outsiders.

Turns out the women were witches. And they ran and hid as long as they could. But they eventually called on the goddess Hecate to help them find a safe haven where they could live free.

Moth Hush is a middle school student studying the history of Founder’s Bluff. On Halloween, she even dresses as a witch. But in a fit of anger after abuse by the usual bullies, something strange and magical happens.

What is Moth’s connection to the history of Founder’s Bluff and the witches who once lived there?

Review

This is a rich graphic novel that is a fantasy, but also an exploration of legacy, belonging, and identity. And I really enjoyed it!

Early on the book is all about the history of Founder’s Bluff, Moth’s questions, and her mom, Calendula. And that was fine. But as the story developed and we learned about Calendula’s life, it really grabbed my attention. Calendula longed for her own place – her own story and identity outside of magic. At the same time, Moth is longing for those things, also, but she wants the magic, too. It was fascinating!

If the story was just about Moth and magic, it would have been solid. But these deeper, richer themes really brought this up to the next level for me. Fantasy fans should be sure to check this one out! (Magic elements – witches, goddesses, spells, familiars, ghosts)

Rating: ♥♥♥♥