Book review - The Candy Mafia

Title: The Candy Mafia

Author: Lavie Tidhar

Genre: mystery

Similar books: The Amelia Six by Kristin L. Gray

                      The Great Shelby Holmes by Elizabeth Eulberg

Rating:

 

unique format

 

Summary (provided by publisher): In a city where candy is a crime and sugar is scandalous, Nelle Faulker is a 12-year-old private detective looking for her next client.
When notorious candy gangster Eddie de Menthe asks for her help to find a missing teddy bear, Nelle Faulkner is on the case. But as soon as the teddy turns up, Eddie himself goes missing! As a seemingly innocent investigation unravels into something more sinister, Nelle and her friends quickly find themselves swept up in a shady underworld of sweets smugglers, back alley deals, and storefront firebombs.
If Nelle has any hope of tracking down her missing client, first she'll have to unmask the true faces behind the smuggling ring. Can Nelle and her friends find a way to take the cake? Or will they come to a sticky end...?
 

My opinion: I've read my share of kids mysteries, ranging from lost objects to actual crimes, but this may be the first I've encountered with organized crime (Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew aside). And that's not the only thing that sets this book apart from the pack. The biggest difference is the tone. Tidhar has really captured the feel of the noir story. Nelle aims to be a traditional hard boiled detective, so her approach to investigation mimics the classic Sam Spade style. The whole book follows that standard format, the characters all extreme versions of their assorted types. Following a pattern means that the plot is fairly predictable but that's not too much of a problem. There's a large cast of characters and plenty going on to keep the plot moving. A fun little read.

More information: The Candy Mafia releases September 1.

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Book review - Scritch Scratch

Title: Scritch Scratch

Author: Lindsay Currie

Genre: horror

Similar books: The Ghost in Apartment 2R by Denis Markell

                      Mothman's Curse by Christine Hayes 

Rating:

lacking in atmosphere

Summary (provided by publisher): Claire has absolutely no interest in the paranormal. She's a scientist, which is why she can't think of anything worse than having to help out her dad on one of his ghost-themed Chicago bus tours. She thinks she's made it through when she sees a boy with a sad face and dark eyes at the back of the bus. There's something off about his presence, especially because when she checks at the end of the tour...he's gone.
Claire tries to brush it off, she must be imagining things, letting her dad's ghost stories get the best of her. But then the scratching starts. Voices whisper to her in the dark. The number 396 appears everywhere she turns. And the boy with the dark eyes starts following her.
Claire is being haunted. The boy from the bus wants something...and Claire needs to find out what before it's too late.

My opinion: What an excellent title for a horror story. Just reading those words, one can imagine the creepiness of hearing an unexplained scratching sound in the walls or the ceiling. It sets us up for a highly frightening atmosphere. And then rather lets us down. There are plenty of frightening events, of course, but there's no slow build, no constant underlying dread. The plot is pretty solid, teaching us about the history of Chicago tragedies. We have a cast of characters working together to identify and pacify the ghost and free them from the haunting. I like many of the elements, it's just missing that one vital piece.

More information: Scritch Scratch releases September 1 

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Pick 6: series

 There's something wonderful about finding a good series. A solid adventure with the promise of more to come. Especially for young or reluctant readers, if you can get someone started on a series you've guaranteed months of reading. With that in mind, here are six new books that are part of series.

6 series books published in the past 6 months

1. Jasmine Green Rescues a Piglet Called Truffle by Helen Peters
2. The Accursed Inheritance of Henrietta Achilles by Haiko Hornig 
3. Lobizona by Rommy Garber 
4. Doodleville by Chad Sell
5. The Secret Explorers and the Lost Whales by S J King 
6. The Last Lie by Patricia Fforde
   

Non-fiction book review - Eye By Eye

  

Eye by Eye by Sara Levine

We see plenty of books about individual animals. Or about animals that share a trait. Or about extremes in the animal kingdom. We don't get many that explore differences in a single body part. We don't put much thought into the differences between eyes other than color or maybe size. But there is so much to learn here. We learn that owls have cylindrical eyes. That a sea star's eyes are at the ends of it's arms. That a cuttlefish has W shaped pupils. But Levine does more than tell us these unusual facts. She gives us a basic explanation of why. This book is accessible to very young readers and the illustrations are quite appealing.

More information: Eye By Eye releases September 1.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley 

Book review - Isaiah Dunn is My Hero

Title: Isaiah Dunn is My Hero

Author: Kelly J Baptist

Genre: Realistic fiction

Similar books: Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate

                      Hold Fast by Blue Balliett

Rating:

an important read

Summary (provided by publisher): Isaiah is now the big man of the house. But it's a lot harder than his dad made it look. His little sister, Charlie, asks too many questions, and Mama's gone totally silent.
Good thing Isaiah can count on his best friend, Sneaky, who always has a scheme for getting around the rules. Plus, his classmate Angel has a few good ideas of her own--once she stops hassling Isaiah.
And when things get really tough, there's Daddy's journal, filled with stories about the amazing Isaiah Dunn, a superhero who gets his powers from beans and rice. Isaiah wishes his dad's tales were real. He could use those powers right about now!

My opinion: I feel like the most important part of this book is the opening scenario. The Dunn family begins the book without a home but feeling like their situation is only temporary. They'd been living right on the borderline of poverty, barely holding on. It doesn't take much to tip them over the line, to start them down the downward slope to a point that they can't pull themselves out of. Grief and addiction compound an already difficult situation. We see Isaiah trying to cover his situation in school, with adults, and even masking it's extent with his closest friends. This won't be immediately relatable for upper middle class kids but those who've lived around the poverty line will recognize themselves in this narrative, a fact alone which will make it valuable. But we also get a lot of Isaiah's inner life here. We see his anger and resentment, pointed primarily at his mother but a little at his dad and and Sneaky, resentment for the things he's lost that others still have. We see the fissures that develop between lifelong friends and which cannot be fully repaired.

Book review - Bear

Title: Bear

Author: Ben Queen

Genre: graphic novel

Similar books: Edison by Torben Kuhlmann

                      Trash Mountain by Jane Yolen

Rating:

a fascinating combination

Summary (provided by publisher): Bear is a guide dog who would do anything for his owner Patrick - and embarks on an epic quest from the forest to the city to regain his sight so he can protect his best friend.
Bear is a service dog who would do anything for his owner and best friend Patrick who is blind. But when Bear suddenly loses his vision, he worries he’s lost his purpose in life—protecting Patrick! Following the misguided advice from some self-serving raccoons, Bear embarks on a transformative journey to regain his eyesight. Out of both necessity and survival, he learns to tap into his other senses and begins to see the world from a new perspective that is at times more rich and colorful than the world he’s always known.

My opinion: We see stories about animals separated from their families. Stories about relationships between guide dogs and their human companion. Not often do we find an intersection between the two concepts. Even more rare is the idea that the guide dog finds himself suddenly impaired. This complication allows Queen to explore a number of ideas. Bear is question his role in Patrick's life. If he cannot see, cannot guide, what is his purpose? Through his adventure he learns new ways of navigating and understanding the world, just as Patrick had to do. We also have an exploration of perception. When he cannot see, he interprets life based on what he hears, smells, remembers, and imagines. A solid story with some bits of animal biology and sociology interspersed.

More information: Bear releases August 18.

 Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Picture books for everyone

The Egg by Geraldo Valerio

If any book is truly all ages, it's a wordless picture book like this one. Valerio has done a masterful job of breaking down actions and moments into multiple illustrations so we can follow the story without having to speculate about transition moments. We can see essentially every action that the stork takes. We also get a clear idea of it's emotions, between body postures and facial expressions. It's fear, desperation, loss, and love are clearly portrayed.And given the simple illustration style, the details don't get lost in background noise. Quite lovely.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley