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Gone Fishing.  by Tamera Will Wissinger. 2013. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN: 978047820118

Sam is really looking forward to fishing with his dad, just the two of them. When his sister, Lucy, decides she wants to join in, he’s sure the trip will be ruined with all her twirling, jumping, and playing. On the trip itself, though, Lucy and Sam surprise each other with their fishing abilities, and the bond they form as siblings. This book is told entirely in different forms of verse, in the voices of Lucy, Sam, and their dad.


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The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. by Kate Messner. September 1, 2009. Walker Children's. 208 pages. ISBN: 9780802798428

Gianna is a procrastinator. She knows she has to collect 25 leaves for her science project to avoid being kicked off the cross-country team, but as the deadline approaches, she finds herself becoming more and more distracted and less and less prepared to complete the assignment. To make matters worse, her grandmother has started to become very forgetful, to the point that she gets lost in familiar places and forgets the names for household objects. Gianna’s mom doesn’t want to admit that anything is wrong, which makes Gianna even more anxious and even more distracted. There’s also a mean girl at school who seems determined to sabotage any progress Gianna makes. It’s a good thing Gianna has a great friend like Zig to help her get through the tough times - he might be her only hope for things to work out!

I enjoy Kate Messner’s Marty McGuire books, and her mystery-adventure books about the Jaguar Society, and I was curious to see what her early middle grade novels are like. Though I couldn’t get into Sugar and Ice, The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. grabbed my attention from the very start. Gianna is a likeable girl whose flaws seem very real to me. It seems like I have read a lot of books about girls who are really bookish, responsible, and focused, but not as many about sports-minded athletes who struggle to finish homework assignments and whose lives are somewhat up in the air. I like that Gianna doesn’t have it all together, but that her heart is in the right place, and she never stops trying.

I also enjoyed the relationships Gianna has with the supporting characters. Gianna’s mom, grandma, and best friend, Zig, each came strongly to life, and I loved the gentle ways they supported Gianna even when she was driving them crazy with her disorganization. It was also very satisfying to see Gianna eventually forge her own path where she gets her assignment done in her way, with her own style, instead of in a traditional format that might work for more traditional thinkers.

The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. is a great middle grade novel about a very real girl. Readers will easily empathize with Gianna as she struggles to conquer her homework assignment, and they will fully understand her frustrations and triumphs on the road to success. I would recommend this book to girls who have enjoyed Ann M. Martin’s Ten Rules for Living with My Sister and Tricia Rayburn’s Maggie Bean books. It’s a perfect choice for middle school girls, especially those who might not relate to more picture-perfect fictional heroines.

I borrowed The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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The Pinballs. by Betsy Byars. 1977. Harper Collins. 144 pages. ISBN: 9780060209186

On the same day, three kids arrive at the same foster home: Thomas J. who has been raised by elderly twins after being abandoned by his birth mother, Harvey, whose own father ran over his legs with the family car, and Carlie, who has been removed from her home because of an abusive stepdad. Though they are supposedly just pinballs, existing together in one space without any particular regard for one another, these three kids form a bond that helps all three of them look hopefully toward the future.

I have known of this book for years because it was assigned reading in my own sixth grade language arts class, back in 1993, but the only thing that sounded at all familiar about it when I picked it up again was the name Thomas J. Otherwise, this may have been my first reading of the book. It was a much quicker and more engaging read than I remember. As I’ve mentioned before, I didn’t tolerate sadness very well as a kid, and knowing that kids were treated badly by their parents would have automatically kept me from investing myself too much in the story. As an adult, though, with lots more books under my belt, I can really appreciate the value of this book, and its continued relevance more than 35 years after its publication.

I think what makes this book stand the test of time more than anything else is its honesty about how the characters feel. As they settle into their new foster home, two of the characters cope by making lists about their lives. Harvey writes “Bad Things That Have Happened To Me” while Carlie starts one entitled “Big Events and How I Got Cheated Out of Them.” Carlie asks pointed questions of her foster mother, revealing her fears and confusion about why this woman wants her to live in her home. Harvey expresses real disappointment when he is promised Kentucky Fried Chicken and his foster father forgets to bring it home. Thomas J. worries about his inability to express love because the elderly twins who cared for him never really demonstrated their feelings. These anecdotes from the lives of the three foster kids are very real, and they help kids relate to the difficulties the characters face, even if they have never had the same experiences. There are some really dated pop culture expressions and references that might put off some contemporary readers, but beyond those are three well-developed characters with three-dimensional personalities and distinct identities.

This is the third book I have reviewed on this blog that depicts children in the foster care system. One for the Murphys describes an almost sugary-sweet situation in which a young girl slowly acclimates to her completely loving and perfect foster family. The Story of Tracy Beaker focuses on a more difficult little girl, who has been left at the children’s home for a long time, with little hope for a foster family to take her in. The Pinballs strikes a balance between these two more extreme scenarios and focuses on the friendships formed among the kids rather than their relationships to the adults who try to improve their lives. Though there are positive things to be said for all three books, I think The Pinballs is the one that is most likely to stick with me. For me, it’s the most real, and in some ways, the most hopeful, because it empowers the kids to take control of their own destiny and to focus on themselves instead of the adults who let them down.

I would recommend the The Pinballs to readers in grades 4 to 8 who prefer realistic fiction and character-driven stories, and who are ready to grapple with heavier issues.

I borrowed The Pinballs from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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Kelsey Green, Reading Queen. by Claudia Mills. June 4, 2013. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. 128 pages. ISBN: 9780374374884

Kelsey Green is great at reading. Her best friends are good at math and running. In this first of three books exploring each of the girls' special talents, Kelsey's class learns that they will be entering a school-wide reading competition, with prizes for the best readers in each class as well as the best class of readers in the entire school. Kelsey desperately wants to beat her class's other star reader, Simon, but she always seem to be a book or two behind, even when she reads the skinniest books she can find on her reading level. To make matters worse, the fifth grade's star readers are carrying their class ever-closer to first place. The only thing Kelsey can do now is try to motivate the reluctant readers in her class to read more books, even if it means being a little bit bossy in the process.

Claudia Mills consistently writes wonderfully relevant school stories at both the chapter book level and the middle grade level. In this story for the early elementary audience, she demonstrates her keen understanding of how children compete with one another, and how acutely aware kids are of reading levels, both their own and those of their classmates. Most elementary school students I know are at least slightly obsessed with reading levels, so for me, this book has its finger firmly on the pulse of what is happening right now. Since kids like to see themselves in the books they read, especially when they are just learning, this feeling that the story is happening right now is really important. I also think Mills does a nice job of creating a flawed character. Kelsey might be the reading queen, but she has a lot to learn about compassion, patience, and good sportsmanship, including how not to be a sore loser.

Interestingly, it's not completely clear from the story itself whether Kelsey herself learns a lesson, but I think the reader definitely does. Through Kelsey's behavior as she tries to teach her classmate, Cody, to love reading, kids learn how to be understanding of the differences between themselves and their classmates, and how to use their strengths to help others, not to show them up in front of everyone in order to be the best.

This book and its companions have a place in every elementary school classroom, and they might be especially useful in those where heavy competition among students of differing abilities has become a problem. Read-alikes for this series include the Polk Street School Kids books and the Clementine series.

I borrowed Kelsey Green, Reading Queen from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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Runt. by Nora Raleigh Baskin. July 23, 2013. Simon & Schuster. 208 pages. ISBN: 9781442458079

Elizabeth, Stewart, Matthew, Maggie, and Freida are all students at the same middle school, and each one has had a different experience with bullying. In this novel, author Nora Raleigh Baskin shifts between each of these characters’ points of view to convey the complicated nature of bullying and victimization, and to compare it to the aggressions displayed in the animal kingdom.

As I was reading, I reacted to this book on two different levels. First, I noticed how much I liked the writing. I like the way Baskin identifies each speaker by a unique style of writing rather than simply labeling each chapter with a character’s name. I like that there is a chapter devoted to a teacher’s own childhood experience with bullying. I also like that much of the book is very subtle, so that the reader has to draw his or her own conclusions about the author’s message. From a literary standpoint, this is a beautifully written, rich novel, with lots of strong images related to the subject of bullying.

My other reaction to this book, though, was from the standpoint of someone who works with kids and regularly recommends books to them. When I look at the book from that perspective, I find it harder to appreciate. While subtlety is artistic and interesting, I think many young readers would find that the story lacks direction. Since the characters are not named at the start of each chapter, they are harder to keep track of, and I could see kids giving up on the book simply because they couldn’t remember who was who, or what each character’s overall story arc was about. I also thought the connections between tween bullying and aggression among dogs felt forced and contrived. Particularly cheesy is the last bit of the book, which shares a dog’s thoughts on how we all treat each other. There is definitely a lot of value in this book, especially for kids who have been victimized by bullies, but for most readers, I think the almost experimental writing style would be off-putting, or at the very least would somewhat obscure the message Baskin tries to get across.

Runt is well-written, but strange, and I think I would be more likely to suggest a more accessbile title, such as The Misfits by James Howe or The Bully Book by Eric Gale to kids looking for bullying books. Fetching by Kiera Stewart and Boys Are Dogs by Leslie Margolis are two more great titles that address the parallels between dogs and middle schoolers in a more straightforward and humorous way.

I received a review copy of Runt from Simon & Schuster.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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Mister Max: The Book of Lost Things by Cynthia Voigt. September 10, 2013. Knopf Books for Young Readers. 400 pages. ISBN: 9780307976819

Max’s parents are actors with a flair for the dramatic, and his father has often insisted that a twelve-year-old boy is more than capable of taking care of himself. Still when both his parents go missing under mysterious circumstances, Max isn’t quite prepared to be left on his own with just his grandmother as an ally. It doesn’t take long for Max to realize how difficult it is to keep enough money in his pockets and enough food on his table. While looking for work, he accidentally gains a reputation as a young man who is able to find lost things. Realizing that people will pay him to locate lost items and solve difficult problems, Max begins to advertise himself as a “solutioner” under the name of Mister Max. While solving problems for others, he also tries to figure out the best way to bring his parents back home.

This historical fiction mystery novel is a huge departure from Voigt’s beloved Tillerman cycle, but it works very well and proves the author’s immense talent. The entire concept of the story is something I haven’t really seen before, and I really enjoyed immersing myself in this new world and getting to know Max, both as himself, and in character as Mister Max. Each of the supporting characters, from the schoolgirl who wants to be Max’s assistant, to the university student Max hires to tutor him, to Max’s librarian grandmother, are interesting people with deep backstories and well-realized roles in the story. I found myself becoming as invested in their problems as in Max’s, and I eagerly read through each chapter, wanting to know how everything would turn out.

Since this is the first book in a trilogy, I was wary from the beginning, because I was sure the book would end on an unresolved note. I was pleasantly surprised, therefore, with the way Voigt wraps up this first installment in a way that keeps the reader interested in the overall story, but that doesn’t make it completely painful to wait for the next book. This book will not ultimately stand on its own, but it does have its own conclusion, where all mysteries except the major one about Max’s parents, are resolved.

Voigt has always been a talented writer, and I have enjoyed the relationships among her characters in her realistic fiction novels. There are some similarities between Max and Dicey Tillerman, considering both kids are left to fend for themselves by missing parents, but Max’s story is more colorful and in some ways more fanciful than anything else Voigt has written. The Book of Lost Things is one of the best middle grade novels I have read this year, and I can’t wait to see where Max’s story will take us in the remaining volumes. Recommend this book to readers in grades 5 to 8 who like adventure, mystery, and history.

I was invited by Random House to read Mister Max: The Book of Lost Things on NetGalley. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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The Story of Tracy Beaker. by Jacqueline Wilson. 1991; 2006. Yearling. 224 pages. ISBN: 9780440867579

 Tracy Beaker lives in a children's home. She has had two failed attempts at making things work with a foster family, but because she is an older child and a bit unruly, she has had trouble making a long-term connection. When she begins writing her life story in a book given to her by the home, she discovers some writing talent, and even has the chance to meet a real-life author, but when it seems like she and the author might just hit it off, she finds that her behavior might keep her from truly enjoying this new friendship.

Tracy is the plucky kind of character kids love to read about, whether they have anything in common with her or not. She is smart-mouthed, funny, sarcastic, and authentic, and her difficult situation gives kids a lot of reasons to root for her right off the bat. She is not always a reliable narrator, but her lies and half-truths are always obvious to the reader, and I think the reader can easily understand that they arise from a desire to protect herself. Even her misbehavior – getting into fights, breaking others' belongings, having angry outbursts – is presented in a realistic way that presents things for what they are, without glorifying disobedience or immediately passing judgment on Tracy as a “bad” kid.

Though this book was originally published in the UK in 1991, it didn't make it to the United States until 2006. Though I suspect the publisher probably could have updated some things to bring the story up to date, there is no obvious evidence that this has been done in the US edition that I read. I recall no references to cell phones or other gadgets, and honestly, I'm not sure Tracy or her friends would realistically have those things even if this book were written today. Everything in the story felt very contemporary, and I think most middle grade readers would feel the same way.

Last year, when I reviewed One for the Murphys, I criticized it for its overly happy ending, which to me, felt forced and unrealistic. The Story of Tracy Beaker seems much more in tune with what a real-life foster care experience might be like, and I think anyone who reads One for the Murphys should read this book as well to ensure a more balanced look inside the lives of kids who are in the foster care system.

There are several other titles about Tracy Beaker, and though they don't seem to be available in the US, I'd definitely like to read them. They include: The Dare Game, Starring Tracy Beaker, Tracy Beaker's Thumping Heart, and Ask Tracy Beaker and Friends.

I borrowed The Story of Tracy Beaker from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Princess Posey and the Tiny Treasure. by Stephanie Greene. February 21, 2013. Putnam Juvenile. 96 pages. ISBN: 9780399257117

There is a rule in Miss Lee’s classroom that students are not allowed to play with their treasures from home during class time. Toys are only permitted at recess, and the rest of the time, they need to stay in desks and backpacks. Posey knows this rule, and she wants to follow it, but when Grandpa buys her a tiny pink pig named Poinky, she just can’t keep him to herself. When Miss Lee sees Posey with Poinky, she takes him away and locks him up inside her desk, without even given Posey a warning like she is supposed to! It’s a good thing Posey’s tutu can help her turn into Princess Posey, so she will have the strength to ask for Poinky back.

Amazingly, this is already the fifth book about Princess Posey. Though the series has been around for a while now, the stories continue to feel fresh and true to life in the first grade. Stephanie Greene continually does a wonderful job of tackling those issues that, to first graders, feel like life and death situations. I can definitely remember having teachers in elementary school who would take things away from students when they became distractions, and reading Posey’s reaction when it happens to her took me right back to the feeling of powerlessness I had when a fellow classmate lost a prized possession to the teacher’s desk. I also remembered how scary it was to approach the teacher with a question, or with my side of the story when I hadn’t been treated fairly, and I was impressed that Posey handled the situation so well!

Learning to navigate the world on one’s own is part of life for every child who attends school outside of the home, and Stephanie Greene gives kids a great road map and a great role model to help them figure things out. This book reminds kids that there are consquences when rules are broken, but also that adults can be fair when mistakes are made and kids calmly explain their positions. I really loved this book, and I continue to believe that this is one of the best and most realistic early chapter book series out there.

Keep an eye out for yet another Princess Posey book, Princess Posey and the New First Grader, which came out on June 27th.

I borrowed from Princess Posey and the Tiny Treasure my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Star Wars: Jedi Academy. by Jeffrey Brown. August 27, 2013. Scholastic. 160 pages. ISBN: 9780545505178

Roan, a native of Tatooine has always expected to be accepted to the Pilot Academy, where he will learn to fly just like his grandfather, father, and older brother before him. When he is accepted to the Jedi Academy instead, he doesn’t understand why - and neither do his classmates, many of whom have been training as Jedi from birth. Nonetheless, Roan shows up at school for the most difficult year of his life, which will involve gym class taught by a Wookiee, cryptic advice from a short green guy called Yoda, and learning to use something called the force, without trying to learn how to use it.

While Tom Angleberger brings Star Wars characters and references into the middle school environment in his wildly popular Origami Yoda books, Jeffrey Brown does just the opposite - he brings middle school to the Star Wars universe. What a great idea! This book combines the two things male readers in grades 3 to 8 love more than anything else: the Star Wars franchise and stories told in drawings and diary entries. If I were a nine-year-old boy, I doubt I could imagine a more perfect book.

Roan’s story is pretty typical of most school stories, in that it follows him through an academic year as he becomes accustomed to new friends and a new environment. To be honest, not very much about that aspect of the story is all that memorable. What keeps the story moving is the reader’s curiosity about how Roan’s story fits into the Star Wars canon. Though I am by no means a die-hard fan, I think Brown does a great job of telling a new story set in this universe without deviating too much from George Lucas’s vision. Readers who know a lot about Star Wars will be pleased to find that the references Brown makes to places and characters created by Lucas make sense in this new context, and that the Jedi Academy does not exist in a vacuum. Readers who don’t know much about Star Wars won’t be lost, though, because Roan is as new to the way of the Jedi as any Star Wars novice. He can’t even understand Yoda when he first meets him!

Finding this book an audience won’t be difficult. Recommend it to fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Big Nate, Smile, Drama, Dear Dumb Diary, and Clueless McGee. Libraries should plan to purchase multiple copies - I expect this book to be popular and for kids to “forget” to bring it back.

I received a digital ARC of Star Wars: Jedi Academy from Scholastic via NetGalley.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Toppling. by Sally Murphy. 2012. Candlewick. 128 pages. ISBN: 9780763659219

John is in fifth grade, and he loves dominoes. He doesn't play games with them; instead, he likes to line them up in complicated patterns, then knock them over to watch how they topple. His hobby becomes a metaphor for a precarious situation in his best friend, Dom's life, when John and his classmates learn that Dom has cancer and may die.

This book is very nicely done. It looks at a serious situation from the masculine point of view, and portrays all the complex emotions associated with childhood cancer without becoming maudlin. Though John worries about his friend's future, he remains hopeful and positive in a way that I think shows the resilience of real kids. He and "the guys" show real compassion for Dom, and the ending, though uncertain, sounds a real chord of hope and happiness. 

Kids are naturally curious about serious situations, and I think this book will appeal to that curiosity. Though the main focus is how John reacts to Dom's diagnosis, there are also plenty of great details about classrooms and childhood interactions that make the entire world of the story very vivid. I was reminded, at certain points, of the Calvin Coconut series, where Calvin's classmates and classroom also come to life in unique ways. I think kids will also appreciate the open-ended ending to the story, which allows them to decide for themselves whether Dom will beat his illness.

I enjoyed Toppling much more than Murphy's previous book, Pearl Verses the World. While Pearl's story left me feeling very sad, this book infused a sad situation with enough good humor to make me want to keep reading. This book was originally published in Australia in 2010 by Walker Books with a slightly different cover illustration. Readers who enjoy Toppling might also like Julie Sternberg's Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie and Like Bug Juice on a Burger and Eileen Spinelli's The Dancing Pancake and Summerhouse Time. Though these books are not about cancer, they focus on kids dealing with difficult emotions and finding ways to cope. 

I borrowed Toppling from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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Where the Steps Were. by Andrea Cheng. 2008. Wordsong. 143 pages. ISBN: 9781932425888

In this novel in verse by Andrea Cheng, third graders at an underperforming elementary school move through their final year in the school before the building is torn down. The kids have a variety of family situations and personal problems, but they all love their teacher, who is a stable and loving presence in their lives.  

Though the book refers frequently to the fact that the school will be torn down, this story is more of a portrait of an inner city school than a story about saying goodbye to a beloved school. The characters, though interesting, are not very three-dimensional. Rather, each one is defined according to the situation he or she lives in, making them all seem like stereotypical representations of the author's impressions of this type of school. The emotions do ring true. I felt terrible for the kids in the scene where they are thrown out of a theater on a field trip for spitting, when none of them actually spit. The things the kids worry about - their parents' health, their own futures, their weight, etc. - are also realistic, but the characters who have these worries do not have distinct personalities.

Where the Steps Were is definitely timely, but I question whether the intended audience is really children. To me, it felt like the story was trying to convince adults that keeping schools like this open is important because of kids' attachments to their teachers and because kids like these have a lot of disappointments in their lives already. I think that is a perfectly fine message to send, but I wished the story was more focused on the development of individual characters than on this almost clinical analysis of what is lost when a school closes. I think teachers might be able to use this book as a read-aloud to prompt discussions about school community and fairness, but overall, it doesn't strike me as especially kid-friendly.

Andrea Cheng is a talented writer, and I see hints in this book of the style that made me fall in love with last year's The Year of the Book, which is written in prose, but with very lyrical and poetic language. This book is not my favorite of hers, but for kids who attend a school in danger of closing, this might be the story that will help them cope with their feelings of confusion and loss.


I borrowed Where the Steps Were from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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Gone-Away Lake. by Elizabeth Enright. 1957. Harcourt. 272 pages. ISBN:  9780152022723

 Portia is excited to spend the summer with her cousin, Julian, but she never expects that they will discover an abandoned lakeside community, or that they will make friends with a pair of elderly siblings who still inhabit two of the rundown houses. At Gone-Away Lake, as their friends Aunt Minnehaha and Uncle Pindar call it, Portia and Julian discover life as it was 50 years ago, while having their own summer of modern-day adventures they will never forget.

In this book, as in The Saturdays, Elizabeth Enright celebrates childhood independence. Whereas the Melendy kids explore New York City unsupervised, with just their allowance to pay their way, Portia and Julian are given free rein in the country, where they can enjoy the secret of a forgotten village, and make new friends without sharing them with their parents or with Portia's little brother, Foster. Especially interesting about this story are the connections Portia and Julian feel to Minnehaha and Pindar as children. They never tire of hearing about their friends' fights, friendships, and adventures, and they engage with those stories so fully that they are inspired to create a club of their own in the hopes of recapturing some of that fun and excitement.

Some things about this book bothered me. I couldn't quite buy into the notion that an entire group of fairly wealthy families would abandon not just their homes, but all the contents of those homes, and never return for them. I thought this might be explained at some point, but it never was, and I was distracted by the feeling that there should have been some big reveal of the "truth" about Gone-Away. I also couldn't help but feel that Minnehaha and Pindar  were living like Miss Havisham - waiting for the return of a day that would never be again. Perhaps this was intentional, as I think Portia and Julian breathe some fresh air into the lives of the two older people. Still, I wanted the characters in the story to feel disturbed as I did, and instead they were almost too accepting of the whole strange scenario.

That said, this is a well-written book full of interesting situations, well-described characters and settings, and everything a child wants in a summer story. I am not surprised that it was a Newbery Honor book in 1958, and I think, of the Newberys I've read, it's one of the older ones that still holds up well enough for contemporary audiences. It is similar in some ways to Miracles on Maple Hill - both books are even illustrated by the same artists, Joe and Beth Krush - and I think it also compares well to the Swallows and Amazons books, A Lemon and a Star, and The Railway Children. There is also a sequel, Return to Gone-Away, published in 1961.

I borrowed Gone-Away Lake from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Seasons: A Book of Poems. by Charlotte Zolotow. 2002. Harper Collins. 64 pages. ISBN: 9780060266996

In this easy-to-read poetry collection, prolific children's author Charlotte Zolotow shares her impressions of the four seasons. The book is divided into four parts. Winter Bits talks of snow, wind, and warm clothes.  Spring Things focuses on birds, plants, and breezes. In Summer Thoughts, Zolotow describes butterflies, flowers, and bugs. Finally, in The Feel of Fall, the year winds down with Halloween, falling leaves, and golden fields.

I was surprised when I read the jacket of this book and found out that this collection, written just 11 years ago, was Zolotow's first book for beginning readers! She has done so many wonderful picture books that I guess I just figured she must also have written a few titles for kids who are learning how to read. Also amazing is the fact that she is still living, at age 97, and that this book was published in the year that she turned 87.

This book shares much in common with Zolotow's quiet, thoughtful picture book texts. Many of the poems consist of just one sentence, but those single sentences are filled with truth and beauty. Though her poems are very much about real things, mostly in nature, she has a lot of fun with language, making up words like "windrushing," "funnytime" and "beez." Her poems rarely rhyme, but each one has a distinct rhythm that shows how thoughtful she is about the placement of each word. She is also a very economical writer, using the most appropriate word for each sentiment, and no extras.

Zolotow has a lovely way of getting inside the mindset of a child. She articulates thoughts that children have in a way that makes them easy to understand, even if her child readers could not have put them into words themselves. In a poem called "Grown-ups" she poses questions: "Do mothers ever feel lonely? / Do fathers ever feel sad?" In "Birthdays", which is on the very next page, she takes note that mothers enjoy flowers more than the birthday cake preferred by kids. These wonderings and observations resonate very strongly with children who are just figuring out how the world works.

Though her poetry, Zolotow also compels kids to think differently about their worlds. In a poem called "Me" the speaker points out that if she were someone else, "there would be other things / to hear and see / for I'd be someone else / not me." This short sentence seems obvious to adults, but for children this might be a startling thought, and the beginning of empathy for people in circumstances unlike their own. In "My Cat" the speaker wonders about what her cat might think about. "Some Days"  talks about how things might have been different in a child's day if he or she had not "done something mean."

Though these poems claim to be about the seasons, they are about many things: emotions, family, friendship, solitude, nature, home, and happiness. Zolotow captures each of these things on just the right level for an early reader and provides lots of food for thought, something lacking in many readers for beginners. I recommend this book very highly, especially for teaching poetry in kindergarten and first grade classrooms and library programs.


I borrowed Seasons from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Seeing Emily. by Joyce Lee Wong. 2007. Abrams. 288 pages. ISBN: 9780810992580

Emily is a Chinese-American  teenager who is an artist, a good student, and a hard worker in her parents' Chinese restaurant. Though her immigrant parents don't approve of her dating, wearing lipstick, or defying their rules, when Emily meets Nick, she begins trying on different identities and getting a feel for life as Nick's girlfriend. She likes how it feels when he kisses her, until she realizes Nick only sees her ethnicity, not who she truly is. 

The book jacket makes it sound like this is a story about a prim and proper young woman who throws caution to the wind and becomes a rebel in order to impress her boyfriend. The story inside the cover is quite different. This is not a wild romance, or a tale of teenage rebellion. Rather, it is a story about identity, and about coming of age as one's true self. At the start of the book, Emily is struggling to create an "interior self-portrait" for her art class. She is meant to draw an interior space that represents who she is, but everything she draws comes out darker than she expects. As the story progresses, Emily explores that darker side of her personality, not as a meaningless demonstration of her independence in the face of strict parents,  but as a personal journey of discovery. Emily ends up exactly where she belongs, in the end, but not until she has satisfied her curiosity about those sides of her personality she has not yet uncovered.  

I appreciate the subtlely of Wong's style. She addresses many issues in the three sections that comprise Emily's story, but she doesn't draw clear conclusions for the reader. Nick's behavior toward Emily - and his father's reception of her - are certainly examples of pretty egregious racism, but the author lets the reader figure that out based on context clues. She lets us understand, from Nick's words and Emily's reaction to them, that she is uncomfortable in the relationship, and that his behavior is unacceptable, but she doesn't give a lecture to the reader. This kind of open-endedness makes this a great book for discussion about cultural identity, and about the subtleties of human relationships that sometimes make it hard for girls to realize when they're in a bad one. Some readers might be turned off by the uncertainty of not being told what to think about various events. Myself, I had some trouble with the ending, which, while happy, does not tie things up that neatly or satisfyingly. Still, I can't imagine a different ending working better. Wong remains true to her style all the way through her book, and what emerges is a portrait of one girl doing her best to grow up into the person she is meant to be. 

Seeing Emily will appeal to female young adult readers from all backgrounds, especially those who feel at odds with their parents' ideals, and those who have been in relationships with boys who don't really see their true selves. It would also make a great addition to high school poetry lessons. There is a lot of beautiful figurative language throughout the book that would provide interesting opportunities for analysis, while also allowing students to enjoy a relevant and interesting story.

I borrowed Seeing Emily from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Where I Live. by Eileen Spinelli. 2007. Dial. 112 pages. ISBN: 9780803731226

Diana loves where she lives. A family of birds has a nest over the back door, and her best friend, Rose, lives close enough that they can wave to each other from their windows. When Diana's dad loses his job, and the family decides to move in with Diana's grandpa, Diana just can't imagine what it will be like to live somewhere else. It is only after she says goodbye to her old house and old friends that she realizes that change brings happy things along with the sad.

This short chapter book in verse covers very familiar ground. There are countless children's books about moving, and many of them repeat the same events and emotions over and over again. This story is different, though, because it's not just about the moving process. About half of the book actually occurs before the move, so the reader gets a sense of Diana's life in her old house. Because the reader is invested in her old life, he or she is able to sympathize that much more with Diana when she learns she is moving. This means that Diana's feelings about where she lives - not the move - become the central focus of the story. The book becomes less of a "moving" book and more of a presentation of how our lives are affected by where we live.

The unique language of Spinelli's verse is another notable feature of this book. I picked out several lines and phrases that struck me as particularly evocative and interesting. One such phrase was "purpy flopple," which is the nickname Rose has given to the floppy purple hat she allows Diana to keep as a going away present. This is such a small, silly phrase, yet it's one of the most memorable in the book. I also thought Spinelli did a lovely job writing the moment at which Diana and her family drive away from their old house and Diana watches as Rose gets further and further away.

I watch her from the back window
until she is a tiny speck -
the hardest goodbye of all.
There is also a wonderful description of Diana's little sister, Twink, that sums up her personality perfectly.

Twink's tub water
turn blue...
dark...
dreamy...
like a lake
after midnight.
Twink is always
making stuff like this happen.
Accidentally.

I love these specific moments of insight into the characters. I also enjoyed the friendship between Diana and Rose, where they share each other's diaries and manage to get along despite their major differences of opinion about subjects like astronomy. I also like that, when Diana does make a friend at her new house who likes things that Rose does not like, she does not feel guilty or assume that she is replacing her best friend. This is yet another plot point that separates this book from others on the same subject.

Where I Live is similar to Julie Sternberg's Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie, and its tone also reminds me of Lulu and the Duck in the Park and Lulu and the Dog from the Sea. Though it is written in verse, I think it will appeal mainly to girls in grades 2 to 4, especially those with little sisters and fun best friends of their own.

I borrowed Where I Live from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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A Lemon and a Star. by E.C. Spykman. 1955. Harcourt Brace. 214 pages. ISBN: : 9780152447137

A few weeks ago, after reading Miracles on Maple Hill, I realized that while I enjoy children's novels from the 1950s, I have read very few. This inspired a visit to my local library with the specific goal of choosing some Old School Sunday reading material published in the 50s. A Lemon and a Star was a particularly exciting discovery both because I had never heard of it before, and because it ended up being such a great story.

A Lemon and a Star is about the four Cares children - Theodore (Ted), Hubert, Jane, and Edith (Edie), who live with their widower father and his household staff in Summerton, Massachusetts in the early 1900s. Because they have no mother, and because they are each mischievous little people, the Cares kids run rampant around the countryside, getting into fights, falling into the reservoir, capturing foxes, wallowing in mud and even occasionally sneaking into the city by train. Much of their time is spent bribing each other into keeping information from their dad, and in trying to keep Edie happy so she doesn't spoil all their plans before they even get off the ground. They have their own codes of loyalty and friendship, and their own ideas about how the world works, and they employ these rules as they look after themselves and each other.

Like Swallows and Amazons and The Boxcar Children, this book is appealing because it shows kids on their own doing things for themselves. The Cares children are not as responsible as John and Susan Walker, or as Henry and Jessie Alden, but that just adds to the fun of the reading experience. Most kids - whether they grow up in the early 1900s, the mid 1950s, or the early 2010s - will never have the freedom given to the Cares kids, and it's a lot of fun to live vicariously through them as their adventures unfold. I also think kids like to be shocked by the bad behavior of other kids, even if it the behaviors are not something they would do themselves. My husband and I read this book within a few days of each other, and as we discussed it, we just kept laughing and saying, "They're so bad!" Our enjoyment of their behavior reminded me a lot of reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Nobody wants to act like the Herdmans, but everyone wants to know what they'll do next. The same is true for Ted, Hubert, Jane, and Edie.

For a book about so much mischief, the writing is very beautiful. Images of the red house where the family lives, the reservoirs full of sparkling water, and Ted's black eye after a fight are just a few of the moments in this book that bring it fully to life and make it so easy to imagine really being in Summerton watching these kids playing. The personalities of the four kids come across very well. Ted is portrayed as the frustrated oldest child who is stubborn and annoyed by his younger siblings. Edie is the spoiled baby of the family who can be bought but not controlled. Hubert and Jane fall somewhere in the middle, trying to do the right thing and keep their father happy, but also endlessly fascinated by thir older brother and filled with concern for him when he is in danger. Every child reader can find a character to sympathize with in every scene.

Like many books for kids published in the 1950s, A Lemon and a Star is a great celebration of the adventures kids can have in their own backyards. It makes a nice read-alike for The Moffats, The Railway Children, and Swallows and Amazons, as well as for books by Carolyn Haywood and Beverly Cleary. Though I think they will be somewhat hard to find, I hope to track down and read the other three books in this series: The Wild Angel, Terrible, Horrible Edie and Edie on the Warpath, all of which sound wonderful.

I borrowed A Lemon and a Star from my local public library.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Something Sleeping in the Hall. by Karla Kuskin. 1985. HarperCollins. 64 pages. ISBN:  9780060236342

Though the title at first suggests something sinister, Something Sleeping in the Hall is a collection of poems about a child's desire to have a pet. Short, easy-to-read poems celebrate birds, cats, pigs, dogs, dragons, elephants, and every other kind of animal imaginable. Some poems are sweet, others funny, but they all relate to that universal wish kids have for a pet to love and care for.

The poems in this collection are untitled, and visual cues are used instead to mark where one poem ends  and the next begins. I missed the cues at first, because  I tend to look more closely at text than images, but kids who are just learning to read are more likely to do the opposite, so they would probably be tuned into those cues much more closely than I was. I'm not sure it wouldn't have been more effective to just name the poems, but the tiny illustrations marking when the poem is about a bird, when it is about a pig, when it is about multiple animals, etc. are a distinctive feature of  this book that I think kids will like.

Kids will  also like some of the dark humor in a few of  the poems. For example, there is a hog in one poem who eats both a dog and a frog. The end of that poem says, "And then he lay down / bang - / and died." Other poems joke about a cat eating mice and a bear who walks down the street greeting and eating every creature he meets.  Early elementary schoolers love to be grossed out, and they love to be surprised, and these poems really deliver those two key components.

This collection is a great introduction to poetry for the youngest readers. It shows that poems can be playful, and that they can talk about everyday things in interesting ways. Some of the poems in this collection are only one or two sentences long, such as "It makes me squirm / to watch a worm." Even older kids who are intimidated by poetry might find relief in the fact that such a short and simple sentiment is actually a complete poem. I also like the way some of  the poems toy with the conventions of early reader books, such as the one on pages 14 and 15 that talks about a "blue bird on a branch," a "wild bird on a wig," and a "third bird in a bunch." The illustrations for that poem are almost like a rebus and they help kids decode the words while also letting them laugh over the silliness of the text.

Though Something Sleeping in the Hall is almost as old as I am, it still holds up for today's beginning  reader audience. The book is out of print, but my library system still has a copy and I suspect many others will as well. I plan to use at least two of the poems at my beginning  reader story time - either as rebuses or flannel boards. Share this book with animal lovers who are learning to read and watch them enjoy their first experiences with poetry.

I borrowed Something Sleeping in the Hall from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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Make Lemonade. by Virginia Euwer Wolff. 1993. Henry Holt and Co. 200 pages. ISBN: 9780805080704

This distinctive novel in verse tells of two young women - LaVaughn and Jolly- whose lives intersect when fourteen-year-old LaVaughn answers seventeen-year-old Jolly's ad for a babysitter. LaVaughn needs to make as much money as she can so she will be able to get out of this neighborhood and go to college. Jolly needs a babysitter because though she is not yet eighteen, she has two little ones at home. What starts out as a mutually beneficial employment situation evolves slowly into much more, as LaVaughn helps Jolly to see herself in a new way and to seek the help she needs to make a life for herself and her children.

There is no other book in all of YA literature like this one. Each of the characters is fully three-dimensional. Jolly, in particular, comes to life as a person, rather than just a statistic, and the reader is able to really empathize with her and understand her worries and suspicions about welfare and going back to school. Though LaVaughn is an outside observer for much of what happens to Jolly, she, too, is remarkable, because she goes above and beyond a babysitter's call of duty. Even though her mother - herself a presence looming large on the edges of the story - suggests time and again that LaVaughn would be better off away from Jolly, LaVaughn feels such sympathy for her she can't let go until she knows she  will be okay.

Books like this often have the misfortune of being "issue" books. It's easy for an author to become preachy and start using his or her books to caution kids against the dangers of pre-marital sex and teen pregnancy. Though this book certainly didn't make me want Jolly's life, it also didn't read like a cautionary tale. This book isn't just about the path down which our mistakes can send us. It's also about the unlikely people who can make differences in each other's lives, through the most unusual of circumstances.

This book is amazingly well written. Not only is the language beautiful, but I think the poetry makes it easier to get lost in the world of the story. Poetry gets at the heart of LaVaughn's feelings for Jolly, and also captures the rhythm and flow of how  each of the characters sounds to LaVaughn. There is also a beautiful metaphor of a lemon tree that is mentioned many times throughout the story.  LaVaughn tries to help Jeremy plant a lemon tree, but no matter what they do, it just can't bloom until, finally, his mother gets her life together.

The story also doesn't draw any easy conclusions, making it a great one to discuss in high school English classes or in book discussion groups. Does LaVaughn take advantage of Jolly when she takes the babysitting job? Is it wrong for Jolly   to place such heavy burdens on  LaVaughn? Would the average teen have the strength and courage to help someone like Jolly? The author provides no answers, but the readers' love for the characters prompts them to consider the morality of the entire story, and to consider what the truth is for them.

Make Lemonade is one of the best young adult books I have ever read, and I recommend it very highly. I loved it so much, I am almost afraid to read the sequels - True Believer and This Full House - because I'm afraid they might not measure up. Still, I care so much about these characters now, I think I will have to take the risk just to find out what happens to them going forward. Make Lemonade contains mature content and will be best appreciated by readers who are prepared to grapple with difficult questions and who can maturely respond to discussions of sexual violence, poverty, and teen parenthood.

I borrowed Make Lemonade from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Like Bug Juice on a Burger. by Julie Sternberg. April 2, 2013. Amulet Books. 176 pages. ISBN: 9781419701900

This short novel in verse is the sequel to Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie. Eleanor, now fully adjusted to life with a new babysitter, has been given an unexpected treat by her grandmother - the opportunity to go to sleep-away camp at Camp Wallamwahpuck, where her mother went as a little girl. Eleanor has heard from her friend Katie that camp is all about eating candy, riding horses, and jumping on a floating trampoline, so it comes as a bit of a shock when her camp experience is somewhat different. The food is gross, and candy is forbidden. There is a floating trampoline, but Eleanor has to wear a life jacket if she wants to go anywhere near it. Even nighttime sounds upset Eleanor. All she wants is to go home! But through her friendship with a girl named Joplin, and her connection to a goat she has secretly named Cornelius, Eleanor learns that though she might not love camp, maybe she can still make the best of it.


Like the first book about Eleanor, this story focuses on the complicated emotions kids sometimes experience in new situations. Though it might sound like Eleanor is a pessimist, the story is not a depressing meditation on the woes of going to camp. Rather, it is an exploration of healthy ways to handle unfamiliar and uncomfortable situations. Especially noteworthy is the way the adults in Eleanor's life take her feelings seriously, but also give her little boosts of encouragement to help her get through the difficulties she faces at camp. Kids are comforted when they know they have supportive adults to turn to, and this book is a great reminder that kids are never alone with their feelings of frustration or confusion, and that there is usually something to be gained from every new experience, no matter how unpleasant it seems.


Julie Sternberg does a nice job of getting inside the nine-year-old mind. The passages describing Eleanor's humiliation about being in the lowest swimming category of anyone in her cabin reminded me of similar experiences from my own summer as a nine-year-old camper who could not swim. Sternberg understands how little things can seem big to a child, and her story manages to validate the feelings of kids in those situations, and to provide advice on how best to survive them.


Though it is a sequel, Like Bug Juice on a Burger will stands on its own. Nervous new campers who sympathize with Eleanor might also enjoy Justin Case: Shells, Smells, and the Horrible Flip-Flops of Doom by Rachel Vail and Alvin Ho: Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters by Lenore Look. Eleanor is also sure to become a new friend to readers who love Clementine. Like Bug Juice on a Burger is a great follow-up to Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie, and I hope we'll see Eleanor conquer more of her fears in future stories!

I received a digital ARC of Like Bug Juice on a Burger from Amulet Books via NetGalley. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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Anastasia Krupnik. by Lois Lowry. 1978. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 128 pages. ISBN: 9780395286296

Anastasia Krupnik keeps an ever-changing list of things she likes and hates. Sometimes she hates her grandmother for losing her memory and not knowing who she is. Other times, she loves the opportunity to sit down and get to know her better. Sometimes she loves Washburn Cummings, an older boy in her neighborhood, and other times, he makes her so unhappy she adds him to the hate list. Her teacher, her parents, and even her soon-to-be-born baby brother all jump back and forth between the lists as Anastasia navigates life as a ten-year-old.

I remember the Anastasia books from childhood, but I couldn't swear that I've ever read one. As a kid, I tended to be turned  off by older books, and I think this series has always had an unfortunate set of covers that make the stories seem even older than they actually are. Reading it now, as an adult, this book was a surprise. I was surprised by the fresh writing and the main character's strong voice, and I was surprised by how quickly  the story moves, and how easy it was to get lost in it. There isn't much of a plot, really, but what makes the book stand out are all the great details Lowry uses to paint the Krupniks as real people. I loved learning about Anastasia's father, Myron, through the dedication pages in each of the poetry books he has written. I loved Anastasia's brief flirtation with the idea of becoming Catholic, and her impression of what that would mean. Anastasia's family life reminds me of many other families from middle grade series, including the Clementine,  Ramona Quimby, and Alice McKinley books. Somehow I've never thought of the Anastasia books as being in the same class with these "classics" - but I should have guessed that Lowry would write just as well in the realistic fiction genre  as she does in science fiction. 

Anastasia Krupnik will appeal to fans of the books I just mentioned, as well as to readers who like Johanna Hurwitz, Ann M. Martin, and Megan McDonald. It's tricky for me to promote books to kids when their covers look so old and strange, but it's worth giving them a great book talk - or even reading one aloud to a group in order to get kids excited about reading them once again. Very little stands between Anastasia and 21st century girls, and I'm not even sure anyone could tell just from the text that this book is older than I am! If you missed these in childhood, as I did, give them a try now - you won't be disappointed.


I borrowed Anastasia Krupnik from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.  

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Relish: My Life in the Kitchen. by Lucy Knisley. April 2, 2013. Macmillan. 192 pages. ISBN: 9781596436237

Lucy Knisley's mother is a chef, so naturally, Lucy grew up around food - first in New York City, then in the more rural Hudson Valley. The result of Lucy's childhood is not just a great recipe collection, but also a collection of wonderful food-related memories that shape Lucy into her adult self. In this memoir, Lucy recalls the times she and her mother stood in the kitchen and ate cherry tomatoes right from the bowl. She reflects on the disagreements she and her parents have had over junk food,  and waxes poetic about a croissant she has never been able to replicate. Each chapter is topped off with a detailed recipe, explained in words and pictures with a touch of humorous commentary.

I initially chose to read this book because I wanted to get back into reading graphic novels, and the cover art caught my eye on NetGalley. I had no idea that the author had actually lived in Rhinebeck, NY, not far from Poughkeepsie, where I attended college and only an hour or so from where I actually grew up. Though I did not recognize the specific places Lucy had visited, I still enjoyed feeling that personal connection to the book, which is part of what motivated me to read it.

While I enjoyed the concept of this book, I didn't connect with the episodes from Lucy's life as well as I would have liked to. I am not a cook, nor am I a particularly adventurous eater, so the details of all the food didn't necessarily excite me, and I was disappointed that I couldn't connect with Lucy and the other "characters" of her stories through another avenue. I got some glimpses into Lucy's family life - such as the fact that her father misses her mother's cooking and still occasionally eats meals with her - and into her longest friendship, with the friend who moved to Japan and helped her explore Japanese food - but I wanted to feel more invested in her life, and that never quite happened.

On the other hand, the artwork is everything the cover promises. I enjoyed the detailed lines in each panel, and though I skimmed much of the text of the recipes, I loved the way she included a visual component for each ingredient and each step in the cooking process. I'm not sure these would be the most practical recipes to follow in the kitchen, but I thought including them as part of the story was a unique and effective approach.

Relish is most likely to appeal to readers who love food as Lucy does. Teens who aspire to be chefs or bakers will find a kindred spirit in Lucy, and all readers will be inspired to reflect on the ways food has shaped their identities. Most of the content in the book is appropriate for middle grade readers, but I think the tone is more YA, and at least one chapter includes content mature enough that parents might not want their nine-year-olds to read it just yet. Recommend this book to teens who loved Raina Telgemier's Smile, and also consider it as a read-alike for Ayun Halliday's Peanut and The Crepe Makers' Bond by Julie Crabtree.

I received a digital ARC of Relish: My Life in the Kitchen from Macmillan via NetGalley.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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Hide and Seek. by Kate Messner. April 1, 2013. Scholastic. 256 pages. ISBN:  9780545419758

At a ceremony honoring them for their role in saving the original American flag from thieves, junior Silver Jaguar Society members Anna, Henry, and Jose learn that another valuable artifact is missing. The Jaguar Cup, an important piece of Jaguar Society history, has been replaced with a counterfeit. The senior members of the Society must head immediately to Costa Rica to investigate. Their parents want to keep them safe, so the three kids are left with a society member named Michael and his daughter, Sofia,  but that doesn't stop them from gathering evidence. When the senior members of the society are stranded due to an earthquake, and suspicious people start appearing at Michael's lodge, the kids find themselves in serious danger, as the thieves do their best to get away with what they've done.

Though this book seems like a mystery at first, I think it's better to think of it as an adventure novel. The kids do spend some time gathering clues and analyzing evidence, but the truly exciting parts of the story have them running around the rainforest in the dark, accidentally petting giant spiders and wielding machetes at poisonous snakes. There is some character development, particularly involving Jose's role as the "smart kid" of the group, but the plot is the main focus. The story is action-packed, filled with moments of triumph and exhilaration, as well as frustration and defeat. Readers have the chance to learn about the culture and climate of Costa Rica while also watching with their hearts in their mouths as the cup slips out of the kids' reach again and again.

When I was a kid, I used to imagine all the heroic things I would attempt to do if I were ever kidnapped or chased by an evil criminal mastermind. I suspect these kind of ridiculous scenarios are common in the imaginations of a lot of kids, and this book taps into those thoughts. Jose, Anna, and Henry have unlikely experiences, but I can't imagine a child who wouldn't enjoy living vicariously through them. Everything that happens to them - even the scary things - seems like it would be very exciting!

The story has a fast pace and straightforward writing, making it a quick, enjoyable read for even the most reluctant of readers. Reading the first book is not required to follow the story, so Hide and Seek would even work as a classroom aloud for fourth or fifth graders. Hide and Seek is a perfect choice for kids who like The Boxcar Children, Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys, and for readers who enjoyed Madhattan Mystery and Chasing Vermeer.
 
I received a digital ARC of Hide and Seek from Scholastic via NetGalley. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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The Big Six. by Arthur Ransome. 1940. 367 pages. ISBN: 9781567921199

In the eight books of the Swallows and Amazons series published prior to The Big Six, Arthur Ransome’s wonderful characters have imagined themselves in a whole host of situations. Sometimes they are sailors; at other times, they’re miners, at still other times, they’re explorers. This time around, the Death and Glories (Joe, Bill, and Pete) and Tom Dudgeon as well as Dick and Dorothea, fancy themselves detectives, and they’re not too far off from becoming the real thing. Someone has been casting off boats, and almost everyone believes it is the Death and Glories. They have been in the vicinity of each boat set adrift, and Mr. Tedder, the local policeman is sure he will be able to prove it was them and disband the Coot Club. Dorothea, with her wild imagination, and Dick, with his new interest in photography team up to help their friends prove their innocence and catch the real culprit.

While I will always love the Swallows the most of all of Ransome’s characters, I really grew to love the Death and Glories in this book. In their first appearance, back in Coot Club, the three boys seemed very much like one entity, with very few obvious details to differentiate one from another. In this book, the three boys’ individual personalities are much more pronounced, and I enjoyed seeing the ways they related to one another. I also enjoyed seeing Dick and Dorothea in leadership roles in this story. In all the previous books they have been in, it seems like they have always taken their cues from someone else - namely Nancy, Tom, or Mrs. Barrable. To see them as heroes in this book was a nice change of pace. I also thought it was neat to introduce a mystery element into a sailing story, and I didn’t miss the technical sailing jargon that seems to permeate most of Ransome’s other writing.

I am now just three books away from completing this series, and The Big Six is definitely among my favorites of all the books. At some points, the repetition of the evidence and the lack of action is a bit tedious, but for the most part, the fresh dialogue keeps things moving, and the slow revelations about the different clues help to build suspense so that the reader doesn’t know the outcome of the mystery until the absolute last second. Though the reader can easily guess early on who the true criminal is, it is still entertaining to see the kids solve the mystery and prove their case even when none of the adults around them could manage. Just like all the other Swallows and Amazons books, this one celebrates what kids can do on their own and proves that they should be taken just as seriously as adults.

I own a copy of The Big Six. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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Mallory and Mary Ann Take New York. by Laurie Friedman. March 1, 2013. Darby Creek Publishing. 159 pages. ISBN:  9780761360742 

In Honestly, Mallory, book eight of her series, Mallory got into big trouble when she lied to her classmates about winning Fashion Fran's design contest. In this latest book, the nineteenth of Mallory's adventures, she wins that same contest - for real this time. Her prize includes a trip for four to New York City, and the opportunity to model the outfit she created for the audience at Fashion Fran's show. There is just one problem. Before winning the contest, Mallory made a pinky-swear with Mary Ann that if one of them won the contest, the other would come up with a way for both girls to be on the show. Though Mallory manages to convince her mother to bring Mary Ann and her mom on the trip to New York, she has more trouble than she imagined keeping the rest of her promise. And Mary Ann is very upset. Will they still be friends if Mallory can't live up to her pinky swear?

The storyline in this book is a refreshing departure from the trends of the last few books of the series, where Mallory is boy-crazy and obsessed with her brother's private life. It also represents a turning of the tables in Mallory's friendship with Mary Ann. In most of the books, Mallory is pouty and petulant, but this time Mary Ann takes on that role, and Mallory must cope with it. I also think a lot of elementary school girls can relate to the problems that are created by making promises that are too big to keep. I do wish the story taught a clearer lesson about the consquences of making those promises (the girls basically get their way in the end), but kids who read the story will probably like the happy ending better than any life lesson that could have been offered.

According to a 2010 interview with Laurie Friedman at From the Mixed Up Files of Middle-Grade Authors, there will be 20 books in all in the Mallory series. That means there's only one more to go! I will be sad to see it end, since I've been reading them for so long, but I am curious to see how everything will be wrapped up. I also look forward to learning what Friedman might work on next!

Suggest Mallory McDonald to readers who are outgrowing chapter books and ready to start moving onto middle grade titles. Read all my reviews of books in this series by clicking here.

I received a digital ARC of Mallory and Mary Ann Take New York from NetGalley. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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The Perfect Guy. by Ann Herrick. 2013. Books We Love, Ltd. ASIN: B00BB2E0U2

The Perfect Guy is a new edition of a young adult romance novel previously published in 1989 and again in 2005. Like Twisted Window by Lois Duncan and Fog by Caroline Cooney, this book has apparently been modernized from its original form in the hopes of reaching a new, 21st century teen audience. The main character of the story is Rebecca, whose mother has just remarried to the father of Rebecca's crush, Pres. Rebecca is naively convinced that this new family dynamic is sure to cause Pres to finally in love with her. She keeps trying to make up reasons to spend more time with her stepbrother, but despite her best efforts, he always seems to respond in a brotherly way. What Rebecca doesn't realize, though, is that another guy in her life is ready to give her everything Pres won't.

I have to confess that I could tell right away that this was a not a brand-new contemporary novel. Even before I learned that it was originally published in the 1980s, I noticed that all the modern-day technology in the story felt out of place. I also thought the characters' names - Pres, Celeste, and Rebecca - sounded nothing like names that teens commonly have in 2013. This isn't necessarily a flaw, but for me, these things were slight distractions. I also questioned whether it was necessary for Rebecca to be in love with her stepbrother, as I don't know how common a problem that truly is for real teens.

That said, the story itself is easy to read, with straightforward writing, lots of dialogue, and short, fast-paced chapters. Herrick captures that sense of obsession some girls develop when they have crushes, and very realistically portrays how  blind they can become to the reality of the boys' lack of interest in them. Middle school girls - and even some high schoolers - who are reluctant to read will enjoy the interpersonal drama that emerges as the story progresses, and they will be just as pleased with the happy ending, even if they will see it coming a long way off. The story also offers a lot of sympathy and comfort for girls adapting to new stepfamilies, which is always a relevant topic for this age group.

Learn more about  Ann Herrick and her books at her website.

I received a copy of The Perfect Guy from the author.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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