Kids
THE CURSE ON SPECTACLE KEY by Chantel Acevedo
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Frank Fernández was looking forward to finally spending a second year at the same school. As fifth grade ended, he had plans with his best friend and the prospect of a cool summer internship at the public library. But then his parents blow his plans to smithereens: they finished their renovation job early, so they will all be moving. Again.
The only consolation is that this time, the historic landmark they’ll be living in and fixing up won’t be a place they plan to sell. It will be their forever home, a lighthouse in the Florida Keys, close to Frank’s grandfather and more connected to his dad’s Cuban culture. But when the family arrives on Spectacle Key, things immediately start to go wrong. The local historical society is protesting their renovations, the dilapidated lighthouse itself seems to be trying to drive them away, Frank’s parents are always arguing, and to top it all off, Frank stumbles upon an old ruin inhabited by a scared, lonely girl who can’t remember who she is or where she came from and who no one but Frank can see. As strange happenings multiply, Frank and his invisible friend suspect that the key to breaking the Spectacle Key curse must be to discover the girl’s true identity–even if it means facing the unpleasant possibility that she might be a ghost.
Atmospheric and spooky, Acevedo’s speculative mystery focuses on uncomfortable truths in personal and community histories and the importance of confronting them to bring about healing and growth. Although creepy, the story stops short of being a truly terrifying horror, keeping friendship and hope in the forefront throughout. I’d recommend this one to fans of middle grade ghost stories and eerie mysteries. It could also suit for a middle grade book club.
IF YOU READ THIS by Kereen Getten
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Since her mother’s death three years ago, Brie has felt forgotten by her family. Her Nana and aunt and uncle try to be there for her, but they never take her on the kind of adventures her vivacious mother used to imagine up. And her father is always working.
On her twelfth birthday, Brie receives a surprising gift: three letters from her mother, inviting her on one last adventure to her grandfather’s house on the rocky coast of their Caribbean island home. The only problem is that the letter insists that her father join her, and he’s never willing to take the time off work. Starting the journey with her extended family and two best friends, Brie feels her father’s absence keenly. But before the summer is over, her mother’s secret treasure might unlock a deeper connection, not only with her spirit but with all those who love Brie.
Once again, Getten has delivered a deeply moving, community-driven story with a genuine, authentic middle grade voice. The mystery keeps readers turning pages while Brie’s love for her family and longing for a relationship with her dad forges deep emotional connections. This is a must-read for middle grade fans of contemporary fiction!
MY VERY (VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY) SILLY BOOK OF GAMES by Matt Lucas
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I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from the publisher in order to write this review.
Interspersed with jokes, spirited illustrations, and hilarious commentary, Lucas provides a list of children’s games, both well-known and more obscure, including games from around the world. What sets this book apart from many books of games is not only the humor, but the emphasis on variation and imagination. With many of the games, especially the old standards like “Pin the Tail on the Donkey,” Lucas riffs off of the original, suggesting ways to modify the game to make it sillier, and directly invites the readers to come up with their own variations. This is not a book of descriptions and rules, but an invitation to creative play. I’d recommend this one for library collections and for families planning birthday parties–or dreading a long summer with bored kids. My 6-year-old also gave this one her whole-hearted stamp of approval once she stopped laughing long enough to catch her breath.
TREX by Christyne Morrell
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The new boy has a superpower. Mellie was watching from her bedroom window–the perfect spot for a detective to sit and observe–and she saw the blue lightning streak from his fingertips. It’s the first big mystery she’s ever encountered in the neighborhood, and even though she usually avoids school and the crippling stomachaches she often gets when she leaves her house, Mellie knows she has to take the risk. If she’s going to solve the mystery, she has to make contact with Lightning Boy.
All Trex has ever wanted to do is go to school like a normal kid. Unfortunately, the electric charge built up by his mechanical brain can lead to mishaps. For example, accidentally shooting blue lightning from his hands when he touches a metal statue. The lightning is new, and kind of alarming. Trex knows he should tell his mom, but she’ll just insist they move. Again. They’ve been on the run from the mysterious company that gave him his bionic brain after the catastrophic car accident that killed his father (and almost killed him) and she’d never let him go to school if she knew about the lightning. So Trex decides to keep his secret. Unfortunately, he’s not the only one with secrets. There’s a prowler in the neighborhood, and a gang of bullies at the school, and if Trex wants to keep his secret safe, he might have to team up with the girl who has come the closest to exposing him.
This extraordinary middle-grade sci-fi thriller is a page-turner from beginning to end. Though action and danger sometimes rise to the forefront, Morrell never neglects the character depth that drives the story and uses the sci-fi adventure as a vehicle to explore mental health issues and bullying. With a message of “you are not broken,” she creates a therapy-positive storyline for her character with an anxiety disorder and addresses the issue of mental health medication with sensitivity and nuance. I stayed up way too late reading this one because I couldn’t put it down! I highly recommend it to middle grade fans of sci-fi and/or thrillers and to book clubs.
THE HOLE STORY by Kelly Canby
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I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from the publisher in order to write this review.
When a boy finds a hole in the ground he is delighted to put it in his pocket. But he soon discovers that a hole in your pocket is not as wonderful as he thought. In fact, holes don’t seem to be very useful anywhere. But there is one creature eager to get the hole back in the ground…
This adorable, punny picture book will delight parents as much (or more) than their children. Ideal for older preschool or kindergarten audiences, the story hinges on knowledge of common expressions involving “holes” and will get kids thinking about the flexibility of language. The simple, colorful illustrations with ample white space are eye-catching and easy to follow–with added bonus puns in shop names in illustrations of the town. Released in Australia in 2018, the charming book will be coming to the U.S. in August.
JENNIFER CHAN IS NOT ALONE by Tae Keller
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Mallory doesn’t believe her friends’ stories about the new girl. I mean, there’s no way she could have karate-chopped a kid into a full body cast. And if her mom were really a murderer, would they have been allowed to move into her nice, quiet neighborhood? But when Mal’s mom makes her go across the street to introduce herself, she learns that Jennifer Chan might not be the karate-expert daughter of a murderer, but she is definitely weird. Jennifer Chan believes in aliens, and Mallory knows two things: 1) middle school is going to eat her alive, and 2) if Mallory is Jennifer’s friend, she’ll be going down with her.
Then, a few months into the school year, Jennifer Chan disappears, and Mallory is the only one who seems willing to consider the possibility that Jennifer found the aliens she was so desperately searching for. She doesn’t dare bring up the possibility to her popular friends, and the science nerds that might be able to help her aren’t even willing to talk to her. Not after what she did. But Mal isn’t going to give up. She needs to prove that the aliens took Jennifer.
Because if it wasn’t aliens, then Jennifer Chan’s disappearance is all Mallory’s fault.
Through a cast of nuanced characters and a protagonist who won’t give up hope for finding her friend–or the goodness inside herself–Keller tackles the complexity of the middle school social hierarchy and the bullying that can leave the targets frightened and isolated and the bullies themselves empty and hurting. By taking the perspective of one of the bullies, Keller truly explores the why behind middle school social cliques and the power dynamics of bullying without being didactic or moralistic, and by making the bullies’ target honest, forthright, and outspoken, she ensures that her perspective gets heard. Readers will likely be able to identify with both Mallory and Jennifer at different moments in their lives–and the added perspectives of targets like Kath and Ingrid and bullies like Pete and Rachel add even more depth and nuance to the narrative. I could not put this emotional and ultimately hopeful story down, and I highly recommend it to readers of middle grade contemporary fiction and to all upper-elementary and middle school book clubs!
JUST HARRIET by Elana K. Arnold
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Harriet’s dad promised that the new baby wouldn’t change anything. But the baby isn’t even born yet, and things have already changed. A lot. Harriet’s mom isn’t allowed to leave her bed for two whole months, and Harriet will be spending the summer after third grade far away from her parents at her grandmother’s bed and breakfast on an island. At first, Harriet is determined not to enjoy herself during her island summer. But when she finds an old key in the basement, she begins an investigation that will bring her closer to not only the eccentric island community but to the dad she left behind.
This sweet early middle grade story is bursting with personality and family love. A dash of mystery and a colorful cast of characters (plus cat and dog frenemies) keep the plot engaging as Harriet wrestles with her feelings of abandonment and disappointment over the unexpected changes in her family. Ultimately, Harriet will realize that no matter how many things change, the love of her parents is always a constant. I’d recommend this story to readers in grades 2-4 who enjoy contemporary fiction.
PAY ATTENTION, CARTER JONES by Gary D. Schmidt
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When Carter tells his mom about the stranger on the doorstep, she panics, wondering if it’s a representative from the army bringing terrible news about Carter’s dad. But when Carter assures her that the guy isn’t in a uniform (or at least not a military uniform, though the tux and bowler hat combo is a bit much) and that also the guy is definitely British (like, really, really British), she returns to the chaos of preparing Carter’s little sisters for school and tells Carter to send the stranger away.
But the stranger has no intention of going away, not even when Carter’s dachshund pukes right in front of his shoes (it’s a dachshund thing). In fact, the stranger is there because of the chaos. Apparently, Carter’s grandfather assigned his butler to move to America and help out during their dad’s deployment–even if “helping out” means cleaning up dachshund puke on Carter’s first day of sixth grade. Unfortunately, cleaning up after dogs isn’t the main part of the butler’s job description. He seems bent on turning Carter into “a gentleman,” educating him in the arts, and even teaching him how to play Cricket, which is apparently “the most gentlemanly” of all sports even though no one has ever heard of it. Carter initially resists the changes the butler brings to his life, but when unexpected news from his father makes him confront some difficult truths about his family’s past, Carter realizes that some changes can’t be stopped–and others might be exactly what he needs.
Snarky, whimsical, and heart-wrenching, PAY ATTENTION, CARTER JONES is a story of how love and community can bring a family through a tragedy. The humor kept me laughing even as the story took its more serious turns while Schmidt’s poetic storytelling created emotional swells, ultimately lifting the reader up in hope. I highly recommend this novel to upper-elementary and middle school readers who enjoy contemporary fiction.
PREMEDITATED MYRTLE by Elizabeth C. Bunce
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Myrtle Hardcastle is not at all surprised to see the constable at the manor across the road. After all, she was the one who phoned the police after noting that the science-minded spinster next door, Miss Wodehouse, and her cat had not undertaken their usual morning routine (a future detective must be Observant of such things if she hopes to uncover Crimes-in-Progress). Alas, Myrtle was too late to help Miss Wodehouse, who was dead in her bathtub when the police arrived, but she is determined to solve the murder–for it is a murder no matter what the police might say to the contrary. No obstacle will stop the intrepid young detective–not the inexplicable vanishing of Miss Wodehouse’s life’s work, not the weary attempts of her prosecutor father to reign in his unconventional daughter, and certainly not the fact that the only witness to the supposed murder is a runaway cat.
Funny, quirky, and thrilling in exactly the right balance, the Myrtle Hardcastle mysteries will delight middle grade fans of Enola Holmes, Flavia de Luce, and even more modern girl detectives. A deserved Edgar Award-winner, PREMEDITATED MYRTLE is an excellent mystery with an even more excellent protagonist and the promise of thrilling series to come.
THE BEATRYCE PROPHECY by Kate DiCamillo
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Answelica the Goat is a demon. At least, that’s what the monks believe. She’s certainly given them enough bites and bruises over the years. So when Answelica takes a liking to a mysterious girl who showed up at the monastery with no memories, the monks can hardly turn her away–even when they find out that she can read and write, a pastime forbidden to the common people and especially to all girls. But when the girl’s memories start to come back, she realizes that the king’s soldiers are searching for her, and she can endanger the monks no longer. Accompanied by Answelica, a prophetic monk, and a village boy who is eager to learn to read, Beatryce embarks on a journey to uncover her past and change the world.
This medieval adventure story is funny, suspenseful, and heartfelt with the classic feel of a folktale. It is a quick read, and I loved every minute of it. I highly recommend it to upper-elementary aged fantasy fans.
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