Category: Middle Grade Fiction Review

REVIEW: Goodbye, Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea

REVIEW: Goodbye, Mr. Terupt 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

Mr. Terupt’s favorite students are back for another year of middle school. Their summer is full of camp and festivals and babysitting Mr. Terupt’s daughter, Hope. But when their 8th grade year starts, Mr. Terupt is teaching 7th grade science. All the kids are disappointed to not have him as their teacher for another year.

But when the school announces a one hour advising block every two weeks, the “Babysitters Gang” is thrilled to find out their advisor is Mr. Terupt. The kids are looking forward to the projects Mr. Terupt comes up with for them, like the time capsule, before they move on to high school.

In the midst of their season of change at school, the kids are also dealing with personal issues:

  • Peter is maturing, getting in less trouble, and doing well in school and wrestling. But he’s also watching his friends struggle, not aware that his own crisis is coming.
  • Jessica’s dad is moving back to town, hoping to reconnect with his family. But will he stick it out this time?
  • Anna misses the quality time she used to have with her mom before she got engaged to Danielle’s older brother.
  • Jeffrey is determined to make varsity wrestling as an 8th grader, in a lower weight class, no matter what it takes.
  • Lexie wonders if she carries the breast cancer gene now that her mom is in remission, so she steals a test to find out.
  • Luke is trying to excel in his advanced courses, which includes spending a lot of time with Danielle on the farm for a project.
  • Danielle is adjusting to the logistics of an insulin pump and wondering about her new feelings for Luke.

But the kids don’t know Mr. Terupt has his own changes on the horizon – and those changes will impact them most of all.

Review

What a perfect send off for this delightful series! Oh, how I cried. It’s been years since I spent time with these characters, but I felt like I was with old friends. They are older, wrestling with more mature life moments. But they are still sweet and loyal and compassionate. Wonderful friends. And they are soaking up time with the teacher who loves them and has drawn out the best in them over the years. (I wrote a post about my favorite teachers in children’s literature, and Mr. Terupt is on the list. You can read that post here.) And aside from some coaching, literally and figuratively, he gives them the space to step into their own opportunities to care for others and make a difference.

The focus of the book is relationships – the relationships between the kids, including some dating relationships (hand holding, a couple kisses), as well as the kids with their families, and ultimately their relationship with Mr. Terupt and his family. Through the lens of relationships, the book addresses communication, warning signs of trouble, service, friendship, and loyalty. There’s also a faith component for some of the characters that is lovely and feels genuine. With the dating and relationship pieces and some of the other material these 8th graders face, this might appeal more to the older end of the middle grade age range, even pushing up to “Older Middle Grade” readers between 10 and 14.

Fans of the series will NOT want to miss this final installment. Mr. Terupt even gets a point-of-view chapter in this book! If you are a parent or teacher planning to read this aloud, bring your tissues. I cried often. This is a beautiful story! If this series is new to you, be sure to grab all of the books – Because of Mr. Terupt (♥♥♥♥♥), Mr. Terupt Falls Again (♥♥♥♥♥), and Saving Mr. Terupt (♥♥♥♥♥) – and read them in order so you can enjoy the evolution of the relationships and watch the impact of this great teacher on his beloved students. You can read my reviews of the author’s other series, The Perfect Score, here. (TW: Eating disorders, cancer remission)

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½*

♥♥♥♥½* = I loved it! Would re-read.

BONUS REVIEW: The Smartest Kid in the Universe by Chris Grabenstein

BONUS REVIEW: The Smartest Kid in the Universe by Chris Grabenstein

Posted on by Jaymie

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

Summary

Once upon a time, a ruthless pirate entrusted his treasure to his cabin boy. He forgot he killed the boy’s father; the boy had no loyalty to the pirate. The cabin boy hid the treasure and left a trail for his descendants to follow to find it.

Riverview Middle School is a shabby, derelict building whose best days were long ago. The district will likely sell the building off at the end of the year rather than invest what it would cost to bring it up to snuff. At least, that is what a certain land developer and his cohort are counting on.

Jake McQuade attends Riverview. Jake is cool and popular. And he’s at school to hang out with his friends. He figures if he needs to know something, he can just look it up on his phone rather than put a lot of effort into learning things. He’s the poster child for apathy and slothfulness.

For example, one night when his mom is working late, she tells Jake he’s responsible for making sure he and his younger sister have dinner. Rather than cooking something from the fridge – too much work – he and his sister take a bus to the hotel where his mom works. She’s working a big banquet where there’s always extra food, cooked by someone else. While Jake waits, he eats a small jar of jelly beans from the hotel’s green room.

Jake has no idea that those were no ordinary jelly beans. They were a science experiment! By the end of the night, Jake is spouting random facts and speaking foreign languages. But he doesn’t know why.

When word starts getting out about Jake’s intelligence, everyone wants Jake for something. The scientist who made the jelly beans wants to study him. His crush at school wants him to join the quiz bowl team. His best friend wants him to use his brain to make money. And the FBI wants his help solving cases. All Jake wants, though, is to go back to his normal self and his old life.

Review

This was so fun! Jake’s a great kid – both the apathetic version and the brilliant one. I loved his friends and his relationship with them and with his family.

The villains were exactly right for the audience of the book. And I enjoyed the three distinct pieces of the story – the jelly beans and Jake’s intelligence, the missing treasure, and the school pieces (quiz bowl, the principal, etc.). Everything fit together like a perfect puzzle, well-balanced and well-paced. The short chapters added to the sense of adventure and urgency of the story. This would be a fun class read-aloud because of the story, but those short chapters would be an advantage for teachers as well when kids ask for “one more chapter.”

This is another fun, captivating story from the author of the Lemoncello Library books and many others, Chris Grabenstein. Don’t miss this one!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥*

*♥♥♥♥ = Great! Might re-read

REVIEW: The Rembrandt Conspiracy by Deron Hicks

REVIEW: The Rembrandt Conspiracy by Deron Hicks

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Book Group in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

An iced mocha and 42 steps.

Those were the things that convinced Art that something was wrong and the National Portrait Gallery was going to be robbed. Art had grown up around and in art museums. His dad worked at the Portrait Gallery. And after a week of watching, Art knew something was up. But his hunch was going to be hard to prove.

Art remembered another robbery – one from before he was born. The Gardner Museum. The thieves had explicit inside information. Major pieces of art were stolen – and never seen again. This could be something similar. And it would be devastating – to the art world and to Art’s dad and his co-workers at the Gallery.

So Art and his best friend Camille team up to track down the would-be thieves.

Review

Another fun art-based mystery in the Lost Art Mystery series after The Van Gogh Deception.

Art is brilliant, and Camille is clever and bold, making them a good team to work together and try to thwart a heist. Their parents are appropriately involved and typical parents. There’s an interesting epilogue to this one. I am curious to see where it leads for a third book.

Once again, the use of QR codes that take readers to pictures of the art being discussed is brilliant. My QR reader didn’t care for the ARC on my tablet, but when it worked, it was great. I think this feature will be perfect in print versions of the book.

The mystery here – with ties to an actual real-life heist – was twisty and engaging. Mystery fans and art lovers should be sure to check this series out.

Rating: ♥♥♥½*

*♥♥♥½ = Good +

REVIEW: Con Quest by Sam Maggs

REVIEW: Con Quest by Sam Maggs

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

Cat – 12 years old. Daughter of 2 famous comics writers. Geekicon pro. And this year at Geekicon, she is determined to win the Quest – an unsanctioned scavenger hunt set at the con. Winners get to do charity work for a week with a major movie star.

Alex – Cat’s twin brother. Artist. Gamer. On the autism spectrum. Megafan of Epic, the comic. Alex would be happy to spend the day in Artist’s Alley talking to other creators. But at Geekicon, he can get the autograph of his favorite artist. The fact that he can use that opportunity to help his sister in the Quest is icing on the cake.

Fi – 14 years old. The twins’ older sister. Charged with watching them at the con. If she can show her responsibility here, her parents might let her go on a camping trip with the cool kids from school. But first she has to survive the wall-to-wall people at the smelly nerdfest – and not lose track of the twins.

Review

This was SO FUN! I am a huge fan of comic and fan conventions. And a huge fan of books set at conventions. This is a great addition to that book niche. The convention here is clearly a SDCC-ish event, although the description easily fit my smaller con experience, too.  Con fans will recognize the cosplay, con food, the thrill of discovering a new artist, and meeting a celebrity experiences. There’s tons to love here!

Alex, Cat and Fi take turns telling the story, which is great. There’s a lot of sibling stuff going on here. Alex wants Cat to treat him as an equal partner. Cat is so used to behavioral hiccups with Alex that she bulldozes over him a lot of the time. This dynamic between Cat and Alex was one of my favorite parts of the book. And Fi is so desperate to fit in with the popular kids, it makes her a tyrant with her younger siblings at this convention. Fi changes the most over the course of the story, but Alex and Cat get to grow as well.

At times, the Quest feels like it’s taking the fun out of the con. Cat gets so driven that she rushes Alex away from things he enjoys but aren’t achieving anything for her. Thankfully, the scavenger hunt is only during one day of the event, so there’s always hope that they will get to just enjoy themselves after it’s over. There’s a lot of push and pull here about the goals of the characters for this event.

I’m not used to middle grade books having romantic plot lines beyond crushes. I read another one this year where there was a romance between the main characters, and for me it felt like it pushed the audience up into the 10-14 range rather than the typical 8-12 for middle grade. I tend to fall on the more conservative side, though, when it comes to dating and boyfriends/girlfriends in elementary school. That said, there is a romantic element here between Fi and a girl she knows from school who is at the convention. The fact that Fi is a point of view character draws the romance a little closer to the reader. But the fact that Fi is older might also give it some distance for the typical middle grade reader. It’s something to keep in mind. Third graders reading middle grade might have a different reaction to the romantic plot than 6th graders. Personally, I would set this for the older 10-14 crowd.

Convention fans should be sure to check this one out. I enjoyed the journey with Alex, Cat and Fi, especially in 2020 when the only cons we are attending are virtual! (LGBTQ+)

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½*

*♥♥♥♥½ = Loved it! Would re-read.

REVIEW: Upside Down Magic: Hide and Seek

REVIEW: Upside Down Magic: Hide and Seek

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

When a fifth grade spot comes open at Sage Academy, Nory’s father, the headmaster, brings her in for another audition. Thanks to her work at Dunwiddle in the UDM class, Nory displays enough control over her magic to get the spot. After winter break, she’ll be a student at Sage with her brother and sister.

Nory’s friends from Dunwiddle get the chance to check out Sage, too, when a flooding issue sends all the Dunwiddle students to alternate schools for the last few days of term.

While the UDM kids expect some trouble from the mean kids from Dunwiddle who always hassle them, they aren’t sure what to expect from the Sage kids. They are in for some surprises – maybe Nory most of all when she sees the impact Sage has on her magic.

Review

I have enjoyed this series from the beginning. Each of the kids has interesting magic. But the core of the series is Nory. And this book brings Nory and her family dynamic back to the forefront.

It’s still tragically sad that Nory’s father doesn’t “get” her or really even listen to her when she expresses how she feels about Sage. At least her friends truly see and hear her.

I liked how the kids at Sage responded to the UDM kids. Sure, there were some who were sticklers for the rules. But otherwise, the Sage kids were more kind than even some of the “normal” magic kids at Dunwiddle.

A major cliffhanger at the end of this will leave fans FRANTIC for the next book in the series. (At the time of this writing, there is no release date posted for book 8, Night Owl!) Readers who love ensemble stories or middle grade fantasy as well as fans of this series should not miss this one!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥*

*♥♥♥♥ = Great! Might re-read

BONUS REVIEW: Teen Titans Go!: Roll With It

BONUS REVIEW: Teen Titans Go!: Roll With It

Posted on by Jaymie

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

Summary

Robin convinces the rest of the Teen Titans to play his favorite role playing game, Basements & Basilisks. Yes, they need a tutorial on the rules and some LARP practice, but they are 100% in it to win it.

But in typical fashion, Robin goes to extremes. He takes everything seriously and makes the game impossibly hard. His friends threaten to quit if Robin doesn’t find them a different game master. For the sake of the game, he agrees. He asks his crush, Becky, to help them.

But “Becky” isn’t who anyone thinks she is. And she has her own special game planned for the Teen Titans.

Review

I was eager to read this one because of the D&D-like game play but I forgot to remind myself that Teen Titans Go is often more over-the-top than I enjoy. It took some time to get into this one. Robin is controlling – as usual. And just as he made the game less fun for the Titans, he made it less fun to read about. But once the external villain was revealed, I enjoyed this a lot more.

Raven continues to be my favorite of the Titans, but the ensemble was in good form, too. Cyborg’s issues with the villain were a fun wrinkle to their adventure.

This is a long, meaty campaign for the Titans. Fans will enjoy spending this time with the characters.

Rating: ♥♥♥½ – Good+

REVIEW: Absolutely Truly by Heather Vogel Frederick

REVIEW: Absolutely Truly by Heather Vogel Frederick

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

Truly Lovejoy was devastated by her family’s move to Pumpkin Falls, NH. It’s January, so the weather is awful. It’s so cold, a waterfall is freezing, and it snows all the time. They were supposed to be living in their very own house in Texas, down the road from Truly’s cousin/best friend after years of military housing. After her father’s accident, days before he was supposed to come home and retire, though, everything changed.

Now, Truly’s father and his sister are running the family bookstore for their parents who have joined the peace corps. That means a mid-year school change for Truly and her siblings. A new town, a new school, and tons of new people.

Truly usually tries to blend into the background. It’s been pretty easy at home since she’s the middle kid of five. It’s harder in public when she’s almost 6 feet tall and not quite 13 years old yet. Usually she can manage to fade into the woodwork anyway. But when she finds a letter with a scavenger hunt clue tucked into a rare book at the store, Truly will need the help of her new classmates to solve the mystery.

Review

I had heard great things about the Pumpkin Falls Mystery series for years, but this was my first chance to try it out. What a delight!

The mysteries are fun. The 20 year old scavenger hunt pushes Truly to get to know her new home town and her classmates. There are also some fun references to Much Ado About Nothing, one of my favorite Shakespeare plays.

The family bookstore is a great place for characters to meet, story elements to unfold, and Truly’s family to start to heal. I adored the shop and all of the activities centered there. And Truly’s family (and her friends) are a treat.

The characters are what makes this book special. From Truly’s dad who is adjusting to a disability and the change in all of his ideas of what his retirement would look like to each of Truly’s friends who are distinct and delightful, there are tons of great characters in this. But Truly is my favorite of them all. She may not tell the adults in her life everything she is thinking and feeling, but she is very clear in her own mind. I loved watching her process the changes in her family, the transition to her new school, and the mysteries she stumbles into. I can’t wait to read the other books in this series!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½*

*♥♥♥♥½ = Loved it! Would re-read.

BONUS REVIEW: Serena Says by Tanita S. Davis

BONUS REVIEW: Serena Says by Tanita S. Davis

Posted on by Jaymie

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

Summary

Serena and JC have been best friends since 4th grade. But when JC gets a transplant in 6th grade, things start to shift. Serena gets sick so she can’t visit JC at the hospital. They can only see each other online for awhile. Then JC starts spending time with Leilani instead. Pretty soon, Serena is feeling like Leilani has pushed her out of everything – her class ambassador position at school, her WinterFest project plans, and her friendship with JC.

This leaves Serena wondering where she fits as she joins the Student Senate at school and deals with conflict with another classmate. But it’s possible that Serena has places where she could shine – opportunities she might never have tried if her friendship with JC hadn’t changed. Maybe there’s a silver lining in all of the 6th grade drama.

Review

I enjoyed this finding-your-voice story! There are lots of friendship pieces to this as well as some lovely family moments, but my favorite moments were the ones where Serena speaks up, sets a boundary, advocates for a peer, and carries the mantle of leadership.

There’s a vlog thread to this where Serena is learning to be confident speaking on camera and off the cuff. I think kids who also want to be You Tube stars will get a kick out of watching Serena find her voice through her videos. It’s a nice support piece to the work she does in the novel to find and use her voice in her school relationships.

I was pleasantly surprised that one of the friendship messages in this is that people grow apart. I would have liked a little weightier empathy for Serena’s hurt feelings to go with it. Sometimes the advice seemed too dismissive of her feelings. But I liked the normalizing of friendships that stretch and change and grow and drift over time. These things don’t only happen because someone is mean or thoughtless. Sometimes it just happens from growing up.

Be sure to add this to your home or classroom library if you are in the market for a smart friendship story where the main character finds her voice – and uses it!

Rating: ♥♥♥½*

*♥♥♥½ = Good+

REVIEW: The Mouse Watch by J. J. Gilbert

REVIEW: The Mouse Watch by J. J. Gilbert

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

Bernie lives in the secret mouse village of Thousand Acres with her family. It’s her dream to work with Gadget Hackwrench and the Mouse Watch to defend the mouse world AND the human world from evil. Evil, like Dr. Thornpaw. Bernie has seen first hand what that rat can do.

When Bernie gets her chance to join Mouse Watch, she’s not just looking for a way to help others and to fight evil. She wants a place to belong. And maybe some mice who really get her.

Bernie’s first obstacle at Mouse Watch is the partner she’s assigned. The second is the attack on New York that is launched right in the middle of her first training exercise. While all the agents go to investigate, Bernie and her partner are left behind. Without training, they have to figure things out as they go. But Bernie is not about to sit on the sidelines when the world is in danger!

Review

This was delightful! The world building is extensive and shows excellent attention to detail. I feel like this would be a fun book to read aloud thanks to those details and the action. And I was tickled to find that this is a spin off from the Rescue Rangers TV show with Chip and Dale. We watched that when my son was young, and I enjoyed the small connections to this story.

Bernie’s dilemmas were pretty typical – her conflict with the villain, her mistrust of her partner. The author does a great job of balancing Bernie’s internal processing of these issues with the action of the story. I never felt like the story dragged from too much introspection, yet Bernie’s thought process was thoroughly covered. There were times, though, where the details of the mouse world or Mouse Watch headquarters cut into the momentum of the story. But the details were so clever, I wasn’t too bothered by it.

This feels a bit like The Mouse and the Motorcycle and a bit like Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, which were additional selling points for me. I think kids are going to adore this book. The sequel, Mouse Watch Underwater, is currently scheduled for Spring 2021, and I will definitely be checking it out! Don’t miss this one!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥*

*♥♥♥♥=Great! Might re-read.

REVIEW: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

REVIEW: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

Carter Kane and his dad are in London for Christmas to visit Carter’s sister, Sadie, who lives with their mom’s parents. After their mom died, the grandparents sued for custody, taking Sadie in. This left Carter to travel the world with his archaeologist father and only see his younger sister twice a year.

Going to the museum on Christmas Eve wasn’t Sadie’s idea of a great visitation plan. The whole evening had been weird. Carter and her dad had been late. There was that Amos guy who talked to their dad and then disappeared.

But all of that weird was nothing compared to the Rosetta Stone exploding in a bit of magical combat. Now their father is gone, the police are threatening to arrest them, and their uncle has magically whisked them away to Brooklyn.

Turns out, the Egyptian gods are real. And two of them are working with Carter and Sadie to help take down the evil god, Set. But the Egyptian magicians of the day don’t trust anything to do with the gods. So they, too, are trying to stop Carter and Sadie.

Review

This book is 10 years old this year, and it’s been close to that long since I read it. At my first reading, I liked the story and the characters, but I preferred Percy Jackson’s world of Greek mythology. This is written for older middle grade readers – 10 and up.

My son assigned this to me as part of our Summer Reading Challenge, and I loved getting to read it after also reading the first five Percy books this summer.

The world building here is extensive. I don’t know if the magic system in Percy Jackson is just easier, or if Greek mythology is just more familiar. But grasping the details of the Egyptian gods as well as the magic system here felt like more work than with Percy.

I did like the other differences in this book. Carter and Sadie take turns telling the story, and there’s an interesting framework for readers that is more extensive than in the first Percy books. I also liked that Carter and Sadie have two fronts for battle – the magicians who don’t trust them and then the gods. I’d like to re-read the rest of this series – The Kane Chronicles – soon. I have enjoyed the return to this world.

I had forgotten the references to racism that are sprinkled throughout the book. (Carter’s parents were an interracial couple. Carter presents as Black, and Sadie presents as white.) Considering the discussions of race and racial justice from this summer, this book felt like a timely read. Sadly, little has changed in the last 10 years.

I think it’s easy for readers to dive into Percy because it’s more well known. But kids who love mythology stories should not miss this series. In the last 10 years, Riordan has expanded into Roman mythology and Norse mythology as well as launching a publishing imprint which has explored other racial and ethnic groups. There is a beautiful library of mythology stories to choose from these days. Don’t miss the Egyptian ones in this series.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½*

*♥♥♥♥½= Loved it! Would re-read