Book review - Back to the Bright Before

 

Title: Back to the Bright Before

Author: Katherin Nolte

Genre: magical realism

Similar books: Looking for True by Tricia Springstubb

                      The Midnight Children by Dan Gemeinhart

Rating:

 

I'm not fully sure about this one

Summary (provided by publisher): When eleven-year-old Pet Martin’s dad falls from a ladder on their family farm, it isn’t just his body that crashes to the ground. So does every hope her family had for the future. Money is scarce, and Pet’s mom is bone-tired from waiting tables at the local diner, and even with the extra hours, it’s not enough for a third surgery for Pet’s dad. Her five-year-old brother, Simon, now refuses to say anything except the word “cheese.” Worst of all? The ladder accident was Pet’s fault.
She’s determined to fix things—but how? Good old-fashioned grit…and maybe a little bit of magic.
When a neighbor recites a poem about an ancient coin hidden somewhere on the grounds of the local abbey, Pet forms a plan. With her brother, a borrowed chicken, and a stolen pony, Pet runs away from home. If she can find the coin, Daddy can have his surgery, Momma can stop her constant working, and Simon might speak again. But Pet isn't the only one who wants the coin…which means searching for it is more dangerous than she ever imagined.

My opinion: There are solid elements at play here. It's a quest for a treasure - a special coin that can solve all of this family's problems. We have a lurking villain and a charming, if somewhat strange, assortment of details. Nuns, taffy, a chicken, a treasure, and chainsaw carving are not things we expect to see together but Nolte makes them work. It's the quest itself that gives me some pause. Because when Pet and Simon set out on their quest they seem to leave the natural world behind. They encounter a series of increasingly odd beings that tell them stories about their parents, shedding light on their past and the influences on their current situation. The journey feels far more symbolic than literal, even in the world of the book, and that creates an emotional distance that may make it difficult for young readers to engage.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Pick 6: history

 Sometimes history can be a struggle to understand. It tends to be presented as a series of facts, disconnected from everything else. We may not recognize why it matters. And that's why I like historical fiction. A good book set in the past helps to personalize the past, to make it real and remind us that these dry events we learn in class happened to regular people. Here are six historical fiction novels published in the past six months.

Six new historical novels

1. For Lamb by Lesa Cline-Ransome
2. The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh
3. Wild Bird by Diane Zahler
4. Bea and the New Deal Horse by L M Ellis
5. A Sky Full of Song by Susan Lynn Meyer
6. When Clouds Touch Us by Thanha Lai
   

Non-fiction book review - Stamped from the Beginning

 

Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X Kendi; adapted by Joel Christian Gill

Unraveling racism and it's place in our history and culture is a huge task. Expecint anyone to grasp all of the nuance seems nearly impossible. This book will help. By explaining concepts visually as much as with text we have an easier time digesting the concepts. Of course, the graphic novel format is limited in some aspects and means that a lot of nuance will be left out. That is to say, this is by no means a full exploration of the ideas and history. Instead, think of this book as a primer. It's an introduction that will get the reader thinking critically about racism and culture so they can go into a traditional text with some understanding.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Book review - Falling Out of TIme

 

Title: Falling Out of Time

Author: Margaret Peterson Haddix

Genre: dystopia

Similar books: The Town With No Mirrors by Christina Collins

                      The List by Patricia Fforde

Rating:

 

a bit of a let down

Summary (provided by publisher): Twelve-year-old Zola thinks she has the perfect life. She thinks everyone does, now that it’s 2193, and humanity has solved all its problems. Insta-Closets deliver new clothes every morning, Insta-Ovens deliver gourmet meals on demand, and virtual reality goggles let her have any adventure she wants, with friends from all over the world.
Then one day Zola finds a handwritten note in her Insta-Closet:
If you want to see things as they really are, come find me.
What if Zola’s wrong about everything—even the year? As she struggles to figure out who wrote the note, she discovers a printed book in her Insta-Closet called The Jessie Keyser Story: How One Girl Escaped from Clifton Village. Zola wonders: Who is Jessie Keyser, and why does she look like her . . . and what else do they have in common?

My opinion: I feel like I should preface this by saying that I read Running Out of Time when it was still fairly new and I was a young teen. I loved the book and it made Haddix one of my "must read" authors for several years. But that's been a couple of decades and I haven't read it since. So maybe this book is suffering for me in comparison with an idealized memory. That being said, most of my criticisms remain. My biggest complaint is that this book didn't feel necessary. I do understand the desire to revisit the world of a book, especially taking into account how attitudes have shifted in the intervening years. You want to explore how new issues and ideas would influence the culture of the book. The problem for me is that this book basically follows the same plot as the first one. While the details are different, the thrust of the plot remains essentially the same. Additionally, the villain lacks focus and proper motivation. There are seeds for a more complex exploration of class structure, grief, and responsibility but they don't get much beyond introduction.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Listen with me

 

The Chaperone by M Hendrix

It felt like, in the wake of The Hunger Games, everyone got a little burnt out on dystopian fiction. Enough time has passed, though, that we are primed for a renaissance and authors have begun to oblige with more innovative stories. Take, for instance, this novel that promises a future world where girls are "protected" by constant supervision. I'm ready for explorations of safety, gender roles, and authority.

Book review - The Labors of Hercules Beal

 

Title: The Labors of Hercules Beal

Author: Gary D. Schmidt

Genre: realistic fiction

Similar books: The Hurricanes of Weakerville by Chris Rylander

                     A Duet for Home by Karina Yan Glaser

Rating:

 

Schmidt at his best

Summary (provided by publisher): Herc Beal knows who he's named after—a mythical hero—but he's no superhero. He's the smallest kid in his class. So when his homeroom teacher at his new middle school gives him the assignment of duplicating the mythical Hercules's amazing feats in real life, he's skeptical. After all, there are no Nemean Lions on Cape Cod—and not a single Hydra in sight.
Missing his parents terribly and wishing his older brother wasn't working all the time, Herc figures out how to take his first steps along the road that the great Hercules himself once walked. Soon, new friends, human and animal, are helping him. And though his mythical role model performed his twelve labors by himself, Herc begins to see that he may not have to go it alone.

My opinion: If you know me, you know of my admiration for Gary D Schmidt. I count The Wednesday Wars and Okay For Now among my top ten favorites. So it is no small praise for me to say that this volume approaches them in excellence. In this book Schmidt has recaptured the magic of The Wednesday Wars - a run of the mill kid who is forced by a teacher to have encounters with classic literature and in the process learns about the world and himself. The lessons he learns from classics helps him decide the kind of person he is going to become, what it means to be brave and honorable. Along the way he begins to see the people around him in a new light and to accept change no matter how much it hurts. These are big ideas and the plot does not attempt to simplify the world. This is one kid finding his own ways forward, not the easy answer that fixes everything. This is a book you can reread and appreciate every time.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Book review - The Do-Over

 

Title: The Do-Over

Author: Rodrigo Vargas and Coni Yovaniniz

Genre: realistic fiction/graphic novel

Similar books: Zebrafish by Sharon Emerson

                      Shark Summer by Ira Marcks

Rating:

 

a cute twist on a standard set-up

Summary (provided by publisher): Shy Mariana is looking for her chance to shine. She's having trouble making friends after a cross-country move to Ohio, plus, her dad refuses to let her help out at his hair salon, despite the fact that she's a social media expert!
So when she meets science whiz Zoe and creative maven Everly, and the three decide to start their own hair styling studio, she finally finds the friends—and the calling—she’s been searching for. The trio's studio, True Colors, is a smash hit, and the girls are having a blast. Not to mention, Mariana loves helping her fellow middle-school clients express themselves.
But with the town Harvest Fest on the horizon and a line of customers always at the door, the friends have to scale up quickly, and they don't always agree on how. Can Mariana find the courage to speak up for what she wants? And does True Colors have what it takes to succeed in business and friendship?

My opinion: Middle grade fiction is full of stories about kids moving to a new town and finding "their people". This narrative skews a little young but doesn't suffer for that fact. Instead it provides us with a fairly straightforward example of being true to yourself while also learning to care about the concerns of other people. The messaging alone makes it worth a read but it's presented with appealing illustrations and quirky characters. A solid choice for young middle graders.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley