Book review - The Secret of Moonrise Manor

 

Title: The Secret of Moonrise Manor

Author: Stephanie Bearce

Genre: mystery

Age range: middle grade

Similar book: Premeditated Myrtle by Elizabeth C Bunce

Summary (provided by publisher): Raven Gallows lives in a funeral home and is determined to become a famous detective. Her first case is one close to home—find the truth surrounding her mother’s puzzling death six years ago. 

When a mummified man is discovered behind a wall at the Moonrise Manor Hotel, Raven is shocked to see that the body is clutching her mother’s gold and silver locket.  

Raven gathers her friends—Cosmina Wilde, who thinks she can talk to ghosts; Miles Farnsworth, who works at the haunted hotel; and Eric Wong, who possesses unparalleled computer skills—and sets out to learn the identity of the mummy. As they follow the clues, they discover more than they bargained for, including a stash of stolen art and a legend of a secret society. 

What I liked: It can be difficult to create a kid friendly mystery with meaningful stakes. After all, murders and crime can be too intense for some kids. But this book handles it well. After all, the central elements of this plot are a major art theft and a hidden corpse. By carefully avoiding any unnecessarily grim details we get a mystery with meaning without becoming gross or overly intense. 

What I didn't like: I wouldn't call it a negative, exactly, but there are some elements of the book that are perhaps too open ended. It doesn't decide, with any certainty, whether ghosts are even real much less secret societies and the truths about Raven's mother's death. This is the first book in a series so if you're wanting closure, don't start on this one yet.

More information: The Secret of Moonrise Manor releases February 5.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Book review - Everything We Never Had

 

Title: Everything We Never Had

Author: Randy Ribay

Age range: teen

Genre: realistic fiction

Similar book: Age 16 by Rosena Fung

Summary (provided by publisher): Watsonville, 1930. Francisco Maghabol barely ekes out a living in the fields of California. As he spends what little money he earns at dance halls and faces increasing violence from white men in town, Francisco wonders if he should’ve never left the Philippines.

Stockton, 1965. Between school days full of prejudice from white students and teachers and night shifts working at his aunt’s restaurant, Emil refuses to follow in the footsteps of his labor organizer father, Francisco. He’s going to make it in this country no matter what or who he has to leave behind.

Denver, 1983. Chris is determined to prove that his overbearing father, Emil, can’t control him. However, when a missed assignment on “ancestral history” sends Chris off the football team and into the library, he discovers a desire to know more about Filipino history―even if his father dismisses his interest as unamerican and unimportant.

Philadelphia, 2020. Enzo struggles to keep his anxiety in check as a global pandemic breaks out and his abrasive grandfather moves in. While tensions are high between his dad and his lolo, Enzo’s daily walks with Lolo Emil have him wondering if maybe he can help bridge their decades-long rift.

What I liked: We have four generations of men in this narrative. Four time periods and sets of challenges. Each generation influences the ones to come. And they all make mistakes. No single character is portrayed as fully wrong or fully innocent. They are human and have understandable motivations. Even as we see characters making choices that we know will harm themselves or others we can see why they make them.

What I didn't like: There's very little negative about this book. It is perhaps a bit long and slow paced for some readers but overall it's worth the effort.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Non fiction book review - Secrets of the Dead

 

Secrets of the Dead by Matt Ralphs

The appeal to this book is pretty clear. We take the mild ick/spook factor of the word "dead" and the clear influence of ancient Egypt in the central image. That alone is probably enough to get many kids to pick up this book. If they do, they won't be disappointed. There's plenty to read and learn about there. We of course get the exploration of the big discoveries - King Tut, Otzi, that sort of thing. But there are many other discoveries in this book as well from often over-looked cultures. With each entry we learn about the associated culture, the circumstances of the discovery, and what we have learned about history as a result. This is a solid read for fans of science and history alike.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Book review - The Forgotten Magic of Zoey Turner

 

Title: The Forgotten Magic of Zoey Turner

Author: Erin Stewart

Age range: middle grade

Genre: realistic fiction

Similar book: When Wishes Were Horses by Cynthia Voight

Summary (provided by publisher): Zoey Turner used to see magic everywhere. With a dad like Zoey’s, it was hard not to. Not only did they read The Magic of Ever After series together every day, they also used to create original stories together. Used to. Ever since her dad died unexpectedly last year, all Zoey sees is danger.

Fear has shrunk homeschooled Zoey’s life to the span of one block, where she keeps close to the people that she needs the most. Her mom is almost never out of sight, and Jada, the owner of Ever After Books, is always around to talk about their favorite fantasy trilogy. Zoey finally ventures outside her comfort zone for the chance to meet famed author Raven M. Wells, only for the outing to lead to a panic attack.

Instead of a signed book, Zoey ends up with a novelty pencil embossed with the phrase make your own magic that she uses to cope with her disappointment by writing a story like the ones she and her dad shared. The next day, Zoey is shocked to find her fantastical tale has come true. Emboldened by the pencil, Zoey takes risks she thought were long behind her in pursuit of her happy ending. But is she really in charge of how the story ends?

What I liked: For all of it's overtures towards magic, this book is quite grounded and realistic. The characters are believable, their motivations fairly typical of middle grade fiction. It doesn't push us to accept anything too weird.

What I didn't like: While it's a largely believable plot it does rest a bit too heavily on some coincidence. While the depiction of grief is nuanced, the relationships are otherwise fairly simple.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

WWW Wednesday

What are you currently reading?

Everything We Never Had by Randy Ribay - Four generations of Filipino men living in the United States

What did you recently finish reading?

All the Blues in the Sky by Renee Watson - A girl copes with grief after the sudden death of her best friend.

What do you think you'll read next?

The Secret of Moonrise Manor by Stephanie Bearce

Listen with me

 

Our Shouts Echo by Jade Adia

I can't quite settle on how I feel about this book. From the start, when it was clear that the protagonist's prepper tendencies were rooted in a traumatic incident, I was anticipating a dramatic reveal. Because Adia very carefully talks around what happened without ever making it clear. And that reveal never came. There were a couple of other grand dramatic encounters that I expected that were never realized. In that way Adia defies the cliche scenes but it may not be to the book's ultimate benefit. There is no emotional resolution to some pretty significant set up. While the characters are compelling and the line by line reading is engaging, the book on the whole left a little something lacking.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Book review - Needy Little Things

 

Title: Needy Little Things

Author: Channelle Desamours

Age range: teen

Genre: mystery

Similar book: To Whatever End by Lindsey Frydman

Summary (provided by publisher): Sariyah Lee Bryant can hear what people need—tangible things, like a pencil, a hair tie, a phone charger—an ability only her family and her best friend, Malcolm, know the truth about. But when she fulfills a need for her friend Deja who vanishes shortly after, Sariyah is left wondering if her ability is more curse than gift. This isn’t the first time one of her friends has landed on the missing persons list, and she’s determined not to let her become yet another forgotten Black girl.

Not trusting the police and media to do enough on their own, Sariyah and her friends work together to figure out what led to Deja’s disappearance. When Sariyah’s mother loses her job and her little brother faces complications with his sickle cell disease, managing her time, money, and emotions seems impossible. Desperate, Sariyah decides to hustle her need-sensing ability for cash—a choice that may not only lead her to Deja, but put her in the same danger Deja found herself in.

What I liked: I love this variant of the psychic ability. I've seen a lot of restrictions on abilities but they usually are limits on the moment a person sees or a need for physical contact. Sariyah's ability and its intrusive nature make for an excellent plot device.

What I didn't like: The mystery here, while initially compelling, never made a lot of sense to me and that only deepened as the plot progressed. It goes in directions that are too extreme. While it makes an effort to highlight the unequal treatment of missing persons based on race, the plot follows dubious logic that ultimately harms its message.

More information: Needy Little Things releases February 4.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley