Tag: Judy Moody series

BONUS REVIEW: Judy Moody, Book Quiz Whiz by Megan McDonald

BONUS REVIEW: Judy Moody, Book Quiz Whiz by Megan McDonald

Posted on by Jaymie

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

Summary

Judy, Stink, and some of their friends make up the Virginia Dare School’s book quiz team, the Bookworms.

The Bookworms have been competing at school, and now they’ve made it all the way to the Book Quiz finals. Judy, Stink, Sophie, Frank and Jessica have been reading like crazy to prepare. Judy has even tried speed reading, although it didn’t go very well.

The Bookworms are feeling pretty confident, aside from some tummy butterflies – until they hear about their competition. The Bloodsucking Fake-Mustache Defenders have a 4th grader on their team! “Mighty Fantasky” is supposed to be a for-real speed reader. And she’s already read the 5th Harry Potter book. That’s almost 900 pages long! How can the Bookworms – three 3rd graders and two 2nd graders – compete against that?

Review

This was a delight! It felt like a Mr. Lemoncello book with all the book references, but for a younger audience. There’s supposed to be a book list in the back of the final copy, but it was not in the reviewer’s version.

Kids who read a lot will have a great time answering the book quiz practice questions along with the characters. And the book list is pretty vast. Readers will probably find some new titles to try as well. The only potential negative here is that the emphasis is on reading fast and accumulating knowledge to answer questions rather than on enjoying reading for the stories and the characters, being transformed by what we read, etc.

It’s fun to watch Judy and Stink working together in this story. They encourage each other in their reading, and Judy helps Stink with his nervous feelings. Fans of both characters will find something to love here. This is the 15th book in the Judy Moody series.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½

REVIEW: Judy Moody and the Right Royal Tea Party by Megan McDonald

REVIEW: Judy Moody and the Right Royal Tea Party by Megan McDonald

Posted on by Jaymie

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

Summary

Judy’s imagination gets quite the work out when her class does a family tree project. Judy’s grandmother brings her all the family research they have, including the Moody family crest. Judy learns that one of her relatives was on the Titanic and another broke someone out of the Tower of London.

Judy decides this means she must be related to the Queen of England. She writes to the queen, visits a castle (in Virginia, where her family lives), and plans a royal tea party for her friends where she could be crowned queen.

But the tea party doesn’t go the way Judy planned. And a classmate’s family tree project shares new information relating to Judy’s family that changes everything.

Review

Overall, this is a solid story, but not my favorite. I’ve not enjoyed the latest books as much as I adored the earlier ones in the series. This one is cute, with lots of British references, including a list of fun terms at the back. The castle tour and family tree projects were fun parts of the story. The kids had really clever ideas for their projects. This could be a great classroom tie in for lessons on the British monarchy or for family tree projects. It could also be fun for a tea party or tea-party themed birthday celebration. The illustrations were not available in my early review copy, but Peter H. Reynolds always does an excellent job!

If you’re new to Judy Moody, I would start with the earlier books to get to know the characters. Judy Moody Goes to College is my favorite. Readers could start with this one, though, without issue. The books don’t have to be read in order. If you enjoy Judy’s books, be sure to check out the series starring her brother Stink as well as the Judy Moody and Friends Early Readers.

Rating: ♥♥♥

SATURDAY SMORGASBORD: Transitional Chapter Books

SATURDAY SMORGASBORD: Transitional Chapter Books

Posted on by Jaymie

One of the most important audiences for children’s books are the kids who are ready to branch out from picture books and early readers/beginning readers. These kids are ready for CHAPTER BOOKS! And they are SO excited when they get to that stage. I know when my teenager was little, we started with Magic Tree House, which are sort of a staple for this age group. But I got tired of reading them very quickly. So we started branching out to a few other series. Then, when I was teaching, I discovered even more. Here are some books and series to get you started if you are looking for reading material for this age group:

Old School

Some of these are the early chapter books we read when my son was little. These are still available and still a lot of fun to read.

Bad Kitty is still going strong, with new books releasing about once a year.  Dragonling has been around for awhile, but they are re-releasing them with new covers. The story is great! I wish they had redone the interior illustrations, too. Some of the Jigsaw Jones mysteries have recently been re-released. Judy Moody has gotten a makeover this year, too. The whole series has new covers, and new books are still coming. My teen didn’t read them, but I loved them. We loved the Melvin Beederman Superhero stories. Jack Stalwart books were fantastic because they were fairy simple, but the vocabulary was strong (great for strong readers who aren’t ready for the more intricate plots of middle grade), and the spy and travel aspects were fun. Stink Moody was probably our favorite back in those days. Book 2 is my favorite of the series, and that series continues to grow.

Branches

These are my go-to books for this age group. There are MANY series, but these are some of my favorites.

Boris, Haggis and Tank, and Kung Pow Chicken seem to be finished as series. I believe they have 2-4 books each. Dragon Masters, Owl Diaries and Hilde Cracks the Case are series that continue to put out new books. You will find these on a lot of my Book News posts.

Favorites

Some of my other favorite recommendations for these readers

I recently read my first Bad Guys story and I loved it! It’s almost more of a graphic novel than a traditional chapter book. But whatever format you want to call it, it was all sorts of funny! The Chicken Squad series is a spin off of a book called The Trouble with Chickens. I love the books because they are funny which is a great selling point for this age group. The Deckawoo Drive series (Baby Lincoln) is a spin off of the Mercy Watson books. Dog Man is a graphic novel series from the author of Captain Underpants. So far I have only read the first one, but it was a lot of fun. Zoey and Sassafras books are a great combination of fantasy and science. The Dragonsitter books are told in emails. I love them. They’ve been around for awhile. Galaxy Zack is basically a new-kid-at-school series about moving and making friends, but it takes place in space. My students enjoyed this sci-fi series. King and Kayla and Magic Bone are great dog stories, which is always a crowdpleaser. I thought the Magic Bone books were  hilarious. Marvel Superhero Adventures are fun stories with familiar heroes. Princess in Black is a fantastic series about a princess who has a secret identity for fighting monsters. So fun! Ranger in Time is another dog series. I describe it to kids as Magic Tree House with a dog. I love them. Finally there’s Ricky Ricotta’s Might Robot. My teen read these as a kid, so they could go in the “Old School” category, but they’ve recently received an upgrade with all new full-color art by Dan Santat. These are NOT to be missed!

Coming Soon

These are some series that are just getting started or coming out later this year.

Beatrice Zinker, History Pals (Ben Franklin), and Strange Scout Tales all have books out now with new ones coming later this year. The rest are series starting this fall. I have several of these on my wish list, including the Time Jumpers book which is the latest from Branches.

SATURDAY SMORGASBORD: What Is "Middle Grade?"

SATURDAY SMORGASBORD: What Is “Middle Grade?”

Posted on by Jaymie

Publishers Weekly recently published an issue that focused on the “Middle Grade” market for books. This category is defined as books for 8 to 12 year olds who are reading independently. This sparked a fascinating discussion on Twitter about how different 8 to 12 year olds are, and also about the kids in the 10 to 14 year old range who sometimes are forgotten in the publishing world because they are ready for more mature reading experiences, but not necessarily ready or interested in some of the material found in Young Adult books.

After reading the article and participating in some of the Twitter talk, I looked at my middle grade reading very differently. I love this category in general. Middle Grade books are what kicked off my love of children’s literature. But the professionals – teachers, librarians, authors – on Twitter are right. It’s a diverse category trying to be all things to all readers who are at a pivotal time in their development as readers. I’m not sure there is any other reading category that has to cover the same sort of spread as Middle Grade.

When I was teaching, the books my third graders wanted (8-9 years old) and the ones my sixth graders wanted (11-12 years old) were vastly different. Here are some examples:

Middle Grade Books for the Average Third Grader

These books tend to be illustrated, shorter, and focused on kids close in age to the reader – around 10 years old. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule (stronger readers, genre preferences, etc.), but in general these books would have appealed to my third graders.

Middle Grade Books for the Average Sixth Grader

These books tend to be longer and focused on kids close in age to the reader – more in the 12 or 13 year old range.  They tackle more mature topics – race relations, death and dying, mental illness, etc., but at a level appropriate for the reader. The stories – and the emotional issues – are often more nuanced and intricate. These books will often work for 7th and 8th graders, too – the 10 to 14 age group. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule (struggling readers, genre preferences, etc. – and some kids in this age group will push toward teen/YA books like Maze Runner and Hunger Games), but in general these books would have appealed to my sixth graders.

Middle Grade Books that Span the Age Range

Theory of Small Things mysteryBrilliant Middle School Detective

Then there are the books that work for the whole range – Dork Diaries/Wimpy Kid, animal stories, graphic novels, super hero stories, mysteries and fantasy stories that are mostly action-focused. I had kids at both ends of the Middle Grade age range that would dig into books like these. If they could handle the length of the book and the vocabulary, they could handle anything the story might have dished out, no matter what the age. (Wings of Fire might push the envelope a little on the younger end because of the violence.)

I would love to see publishers push a different sort of division for Middle Grade that reflects the different needs and interests of the kids in this age range. Some of the authors on Twitter said their publishers were marketing their books to the older 10-14 group, which seems like a wise sub-category to me. There are things you can explore with middle schoolers that you wouldn’t want to tackle with younger kids, but you can keep some of the more mature features of Young Adult books out of those stories, knowing that the kids who are ready for that material will seek it out on their own.