What are you currently reading?
Freaks by Brett Riley - Bullied teens find themselves with superhuman abilities, on the hunt for creatures that have accidentally entered our world.
What did you recently finish reading?
It's Watching by Lindsey Currie - While researching a story for the school paper three kids get the attention of a ghost. Now they have a very short time to figure out what the ghost wants.
What do you think you'll read next?
Wicked Darlings by Jordyn Taylor
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
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
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
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
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
