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
   

Non-fiction book review - Black Heroes of the Wild West

Black Heroes of the Wild West by James Otis Smith

I'd had previous exposure to all three figures in this book but that doesn't make the reading any less cool. We need to learn more about important historical figures, people who stand out from the crowd. People with strong morals. And this scratched an old itch from my childhood obsession with cowboys. This book will make an excellent addition to any school or library collection.
 Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

 

Book review - Dear Justyce

Title: Dear Justyce

Author: Nic Stone

Genre: realistic fiction

Similar books: Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi

                      Tyler Johnson Was Here by Jay Coles

Rating:

 

compelling reading

Summary (provided by publisher): Vernell LaQuan Banks and Justyce McAllister grew up a block apart in the Southwest Atlanta neighborhood of Wynwood Heights. Years later, though, Justyce walks the illustrious halls of Yale University . . . and Quan sits behind bars at the Fulton Regional Youth Detention Center.
Through a series of flashbacks, vignettes, and letters to Justyce--the protagonist of Dear Martin--Quan's story takes form. Troubles at home and misunderstandings at school give rise to police encounters and tough decisions. But then there's a dead cop and a weapon with Quan's prints on it. What leads a bright kid down a road to a murder charge? Not even Quan is sure.

My opinion: Dear Justyce is the sequel to Dear Martin, but it's not really necessary to read that one to understand this one. While there are references to the events of the previous novel, this plot stand fairly well on it's own. Let's be clear: this is a novel with a pointed political agenda. It seeks to point out the failings of the prison industrial complex and the school to prison pipeline. How those born "disadvantaged" have little chance to make it out of that hole. None of these things are especially surprising. More compelling to me is the portrayal of Quan's involvement in a gang. We see not only how he got involved but his continued dedication to his crew. How they took care of him and his family, his reluctance to betray them even when he disagrees with their actions. It is not a perfect book and has some rather over the top plot elements. Even so, it's a valuable addition to the conversation about race, justice, and the prison system.
 Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley