What are you currently reading?
The Song of the Bees by Tim Chapman - Sent to live with his grandmother in Wisconsin, a boy and his new friends investigate what is happening to local bees.
What did you recently finish reading?
Found Sound by Meg Wolitzer and Charlie Panek - A boy living in the shadow of his prodigy younger brother investigates a mystery with his summer neighbor.
What do you think you'll read next?
When the Rain Came by Matthew Eicheldinger
When it comes to kid appropriate mysteries, picking a book can be a bit dicey. Some are too intense. Others don't have much in the way of stakes. The most successful mysteries often center around school. Missing items or mysterious vandalism are relatable and can feel, in the context of a child's social world, meaningful. And that is the approach this book takes. Harper investigates defacement of posters in his school. If it were just the mystery this would be an acceptable but probably forgettable book. Williams elevates the novel by incorporating a great deal of economics in the plot. As he investigates, Harper is also learning the ins and outs of running a business. With brightly colored, dynamic illustrations this is a fun read.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
What are you currently reading?
Morbid Curiosities by S. Hati - A girl attending an elite science academy discovers there is more to the school, it's experiments, and the strange happenings in the surrounding communities.
What did you recently finish reading?
Auntie Q's Golden Claws Nail Salon by Van Hoang - After getting in trouble a girl is sent to work off her debt at her estranged aunt's nail salon.
What do you think you'll read next?
Harper Sharp, Kid Detective by Jarrett Williams
Title: Eureka
Author: Victoria Chang
Genre: historical fiction/verse novel
Age range: middle grade
Similar book: One Big Open Sky by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Summary (provided by publisher): The year is 1885. San Francisco is dangerous for Chinese immigrants like twelve-year-old Mei Mei. She must venture on her own, without her family or friends, to Eureka, California, where it is supposedly safe.
But 300 miles from home, Mei Mei misses her Ma Ma's kindness, helping out in her Ba Ba's store, and playing hide-and-seek with her best friend, Hua Hua. Despite her fear and the increasing violence against her community, she finds hope in an unexpected friend, the giant Redwood trees, and a new dream: learning how to read in English. As the world around her grows more scary, Mei Mei discovers her own power, as well as the joy of found family, the importance of courage, and the nature of freedom.
What I liked: Oftentimes a verse novel focuses only on a character's thoughts and emotions, leaving us with little action or setting. This book manages to balance description with reflection. The resulting text is sparse but meaningful. It is able to reflect dangers and cruelty without becoming exploitative.
What I didn't like: The problems and solutions are a bit over-simplified and the exploration is, necessarily, fairly shallow. This is the sort of book you might use in conjunction with other, more in depth, information about racial violence in the 1880s.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
I've long been a fan of survival stories, so this book about sisters stranded on a mountain during a volcanic event sounds right up my alley. Let's give it a listen and see if it lives up to it's promise.
What are you currently reading?
Where Ella Went by Laurie Morrison - When their friend and soccer captain leaves town without warning, a group of middle schoolers dig into what happened and why she left.
What did you recently finish reading?
Penelope Positano Sees it All by Katie Cotugno - Penelope is finally allowed to get a dog. She doesn't know what her perfect dog will be, just that she'll know it when she sees it.
What do you think you'll read next?
Coyote Queen by Jessica Vitalis
Title: Tested
Author: Anna Monders
Genre: dystopia
Age range: middle grade
Similar book: Flawed by Cecelia Ahern
Summary (provided by publisher): For as long as Mikayla can remember, her future has been laid out for her. As an Elite in a world divided by genetic Elites, Defectives, and Expendables, she’ll live up to her stellar Genetic Report Card score of ninety-four by excelling academically, gaining acceptance into the Elite Scholars program, and eventually working for GenIn, the company that saved humanity after the catastrophic Great Dying.
All seems to be going as planned until a surprise assignment during Mikayla’s class changes everything. Soon, she’s reconnecting with a friend she thought she’d lost forever and—for the first time in her life—questioning the society she has put her trust in.
But if Mikayla isn’t the model citizen she always believed herself to be, then who is she?
What I liked: Monders doesn't fully follow the standard dystopian fiction pattern. Most authors would have the protagonist realizing that the system is flawed and then leading a revolution against it. That's not where this book goes. Instead it's a bit slower, more about Mikayla beginning to question the system and the narrative she's always heard about the importance of the division. This is a book more about small changes and beginning to think for yourself than about true revolution.
What I didn't like: The small revolution approach cuts both ways. While it's more realistic, it also is less compelling. There isn't the excitement of taking down a damaging system. And the realizations that Mikayla has about human value are equally small and nebulous. The book is trying to help us see that everyone has value but never truly shows that.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
