Book review - Tristan Strong Destroys the World

Title: Tristan Strong Destroys the World

Author: Kwame Mbalia

Genre: fantasy

Similar books: Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

                     The Lost Wonderland Diaries by J Scott Savage

Rating:

 

a pretty excellent sequel

 

Summary (provided by publisher): Tristan Strong, just back from a victorious but exhausting adventure in Alke, the land of African American folk heroes and African gods, is suffering from PTSD. But there's no rest for the weary when his grandmother is abducted by a mysterious villain out for revenge.
Tristan must return to Alke--and reunite with his loud-mouthed sidekick, Gum Baby--in order to rescue Nana and stop the culprit from creating further devastation. Anansi, now a "web developer" in Tristan's phone, is close at hand to offer advice, and several new folk heroes will aid Tristan in his quest, but he will only succeed if he can figure out a way to sew broken souls back together.

My opinion: The best thing about the Tristan Strong series is that it's more than just mythology in the real world. It's an exploration of culture and cultural memory. It thrills me to see an author take that on for a middle grade audience. Mbalia doesn't underestimate his audience but rather challenges them with ideas and allows them to rise to the occasion. This volume not only continues to address grief and PTSD, as in the first one, but adds in the nature of story and culture and how they inform one another. We see how grief and shame can twist the soul, break people down perhaps beyond repair. There are fun and heroic characters, of course, but even the silliest have depth. There's enough action to keep the plot moving and the reader engaged but doesn't skim on messaging and depth. 

More information: Tristan Strong Destroys the World releases October 6.
Find my review of the first book, Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky here.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Graphic novel spotlight - Frankie and the Creepy Cute Critters

 

Frankie and the Creepy Cute Critters by Caitlin Rose Boyle

Most of the time, fairies in books are sweet and delicate creatures clad in pastels. We don't get many like Frankie with bat wings, fangs, and a fondness for insects. Now, at heart this is a fairly standard fish out of water story. Frankie is judged by her new classmates by their first impression of her. Feeling lonely, she explores the creatures surrounding her new town. She judges many of them "creepy" at first glance but learns lots of fascinating positive traits about them. By observing nature, she learns not to judge by first glance and to appreciate or respect things that frighten her. While the message is a bit heavy handed, it's a quick appealing read well supported by charming illustrations. A great choice for upper elementary readers.

 More information: Frankie and the Creepy Cute Critters releases October 13.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Non-fiction book review - The Screaming Hairy Armadillo

 

The Screaming Hairy Armadillo and 70 Other Animals with Wild, Wacky Names by Mathew Murrie and Steve Murrie

I've seen a number of different ways that authors have gone about grouping animals for a book: ugly animals, gross animals, extremes of all kinds. This may be the first I've seen that arranges them just by name. Obviously, the focus is on creatures with amusing names. But it's more than just curiosities. We learn some basics about the animals, of course. There's also a fair amount of information about how animals get named. We learn about historic misunderstandings and name based puns. Both amusing and informative. A book that can be enjoyed a little at a time or all at once.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley 

Book review - The Case of the Loathsome School Lunches

Title: The Case of the Loathsome School Lunches

Author: Angie Lake

Genre: mystery 

Similar books: The Case of the Maker Mischief by Liam O'Donnell

                     The Amazing Life of Azalea Lane by Nikki Shannon Smith 

Rating:

 

a pretty standard kid's mystery

Summary (provided by publisher): Introducing schoolgirl detective, Mina Mistry...
Being at school is boring. It’s really boring when you already know what you’re going to be. It’s really, really boring when you’re going to be something cool like a Private Investigator.
Until then, Mina’s going to practise for her future. By keeping notes on all her classmates, spying on suspicious teachers, noticing every little—
Wait ... 
Aren’t school lunches a bit strange? Chicken nuggets? Again? On Pizza? Covered in chocolate? Nobody wants to live on lettuce and broccoli, but children are losing teeth over this! This needs investigating. 
This looks like a case for Mina Mistry.

My opinion: Let's be frank. The plot of this book is a little bit nonsense. It takes the idea of a kid detective discovering a conspiracy to something of an extreme. Accepting this plot requires a fair amount of suspension of disbelief. I'd say it qualifies as wish fulfillment. Mina snoops around and uncovers a conspiracy perpetrated by supposedly responsible adults. She and her friends are deeply involved in organizing events for their school. The topics skew a bit older than the reading level. Interesting but not compelling in the long term.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley 

Custom masks

 I got a decent deal on a bulk pack of basic fabric masks. But not only were they plain, they were a bit thin.

With a little fabric from my scrap stash and using the masks as a pattern, I added another layer to each mask, providing both filtering and flair.

 

Book review - Alone in the Woods

Title: Alone in the Woods

Author: Rebecca Behrens

Genre: realistic fiction

Similar books: Red Fox Road by Frances Greenslade

                     The Bigfoot Files by Lindsay Eager

Rating:

 

mostly what you'd expect

Summary (provided by publisher): Jocelyn and Alex have always been best friends...until they aren't. Jocelyn's not sure what happened, but she hopes the annual joint-family vacation in the isolated north woods will be the perfect spot to rekindle their friendship.
But Alex still isn't herself when they get to the cabin. And Jocelyn reaches a breaking point during a rafting trip that goes horribly wrong. When the girls' tube tears it leaves them stranded and alone. And before they know it, the two are hopelessly lost.
Wearing swimsuits and water shoes and with only the contents of their wet backpack, the girls face threats from the elements. And as they spend days and nights lost in the wilderness, they'll have to overcome their fractured friendship to make it out of the woods alive.

My opinion: There's a subset of authors that love survival scenarios as a catalyst for addressing emotional or interpersonal issues. It becomes apparent pretty early on that's where this book is headed. We have livelong friends in their middle school years finding that their paths are diverging in a big way. Their interests have become vastly different and the things that they once shared are no longer enough. Small hurts are quickly blown out of proportion. One has become interested in fashion and popularity, the other in ecology. The portrayal of their flaws is unbalanced, Jocelyn getting significantly more positive traits than Alex. We do see a fair amount of guilt on both sides and ways they both can make more of an effort. A decent read with enough action to keep the reader engaged.

More Information: Alone in the Woods releases October 1. 

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGslley

Pick 6: Ghosts

 Culturally, we have something of an obsession with ghosts. Sometimes it's a malicious haunting. Others, it's a spirit imparting wisdom to the living. These stories run the gamut from scary to funny and appeal to a wide ranging audience. Here are six books featuring ghosts published in the past six months.

Six new stories with ghosts:

1. Ghosted in LA by Sina Grace
2. Prelude for Lost Souls by Helene Dunbar
3. Paola Santiago and the River of Tears by Tehlor Key mejia
4. Beetle and the Hollowbones by Aliza Layne
5. Scritch Scratch by Lindsay Currie
6. Double the Danger and Zero Zucchini by Betsy Uhrig