Category: Fiction

Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Middle Grade, mythology, Tween Reads, Uncategorized

Zaria Fierce returns in the Dragon Keeper’s Golden Shoes!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

zariaprologue-360x570Zaria Fierce and the Dragon Keeper’s Golden Shoes, by Keira Gillett, (Jul. 2016, Keira Gillet Books), $14.99, ISBN: TK

Recommended for ages 10-13

Keira Gillet’s Zaria Fierce trilogy comes to a huge conclusion with the final book in her adventure, Zaria Fierce and the Dragon Keeper’s Golden Shoes. Picking up where Zaria Fierce and the Enchanted Drakeland Sword left off, Zaria and her friends need to rescue the Stag King’s son, Hart, stop Koll and his fellow dragons, and save Zaria’s birth mother, Queen Helena. No pressure, Zaria.

Zaria also feels the crushing weight of these responsibilities – and the part she played in them, when tricked by the dragon, Koll – and it’s taking its toll on her. Thankfully, her friends aren’t going to let her confidence flag; they’re there for an adventure, and they’re not going to let anyone, be it a dragon that personifies fear, or a fierce water-wyvern, stop them.

That’s the great thing about the Zaria Fierce trilogy: adventure is fast, furious, and loaded with Norse mythology, but the friendship between Zaria and her group of friends is the heart that drives this story. They won’t give up on Zaria, even when she’s ready to give up on herself; in turn, she will do anything to keep her friends safe. Even fight a dragon.

There are so many wonderful moments in this book, but to start talking about them would lead to spoilers. Suffice to say that Keira Gillett takes us on a hero’s journey, in the guise of a young girl whose entire life is upended one morning as she crosses a bridge to get to school. Zaria Fierce and the Dragon Keeper’s Golden Shoes brings us to the end of one story, and a wish to return to this universe soon.

Recommended for middle grade collections where fantasy is popular. I’d book talk this with other hero’s journey tales like CS Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia and Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson/Magnus Chase series; they’ll have a firmer frame of reference when you present the series with these popular fantasy tales. Talk up Zaria as a strong female character who overcomes her fears and self-doubts to outwit monsters, and save herself and her friends!

Posted in Fiction, Fiction, Humor, Intermediate, Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction

Pippa Morgan returns in Love and Chicken Nuggets

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

pippaPippa Morgan’s Diary: Love and Chicken Nuggets, by Annie Kelsey (June 2016, Sourcebooks Jabberwocky), $12.99, ISBN: 9781492631415

Recommended for ages 8-12

Pippa’s back, and she’s still BFFs with Catie, despite The Voice Factor debacle from her first book! This time around, Pippa’s got two missions: to find her newly single mom a boyfriend, and to get Catie to discover the joy of chicken nuggets. Oh, and she has a school project about “love” – gross.

Pippa’s second outing is just as much fun as her first one. She’s funny, unexpectedly introspective, and I laughed with her more than at her, because she’s so likable. Written in journal format, with black and white illustrations, this fits very nicely on series shelves with Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Rachael Renee Russo’s Dork Diaries, and Jim Benton’s Dear Dumb Diary. These books appeal to kids because they’re so relatable: they all have their own family wackiness to deal with, but they win at the end of the day. Pippa’s big imagination is sweet and well-intentioned, if sometimes a bit off radar, and that’s what makes her work so well.

Get this series on your shelves: it won’t be there long.

 

Posted in Adventure, Fiction, Middle Grade, Tween Reads

STEM Siblings: Nick and Tesla are back!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

nick and teslaNick and Tesla’s Solar-Powered Showdown, by “Science Bob” Pflugfelder and Steve Hocksmith/Illustrated by Scott Garrett (May 2016, Quirk Books), $12.95, ISBN: 978-1-59474-866-0

Recommended for ages 8-12

Super smart siblings Nick (short for Nicolas) and Tesla are back, and so is Uncle Newt, plus friends Silas, and DeMarco! Nick and Tesla are having a heck of a summer: their parents are still missing, and all signs point to them being kidnapped, possibly by an evil mastermind. This latest installment in the popular middle grade mystery series has brother and sister working together to create all sorts of solar-powered gadgets that will get the attention of their government contact, distract the bad guys, and save the day. Let’s hope it’s enough!

This is such a fun series for middle graders, because it puts the power in their hands. Nick and Tesla are competent, smart kids that aren’t middle school pariahs; they have fun, wacky friends, and they have a strong, supportive – if eccentric – family. They can MacGuyver a solution to seemingly every problem: from getting a secret agent’s attention, to cooking hot dogs using a Pringles container and solar power. The best part? The kids can recreate the experiments! As with the other books in the Nick and Tesla series, Solar-Powered Showdown features five projects readers can make along with the twins: a a hot dog cooker, listening device, nighttime LED signal cannon, range rover, and alarm bell. All solar-powered, and all easy to make (with adult supervision).

You don’t need to be intimately familiar with the series to pick this one up – this is the first book I’ve read in the series; it’s been on my “to get to” list for a while – because the text will fill you in, usually via humorous footnotes, on what’s happened in the previous books. A note at the beginning of the book lets parents and kids alike know that project instructions should be reviewed by an adult, and that adults should supervise and assist on each project. The instructions are detailed, numbered, and illustrated, really encouraging kids to go for it and create exciting, sustainable things!

The Nick and Tesla website has videos, educator guides, book excerpts, and downloadable shopping lists, by book, for each of the projects featured in the novels. You can submit your own work for them to check out, too.

I’m working on a lot of STEM/STEAM ideas for Summer Reading, so this series will be on display, along with Gene Luen Yang’s Secret Coders and HowToons graphic novels (the second Secret Coders book is due out in August!), and Jon Sciezska’s Frank Einstein series of novels. Get kids thinking and creating this summer!

Need more ideas? Science Bob has tons of them on his own website, and his Instagram has some very cool science facts and videos, like Tesla coils at work and BB8 droids under construction.

Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Fiction, Intermediate, Middle Grade, Tween Reads

Science, Mystery, and Magic: The Peculiar Haunting of Thelma Bee

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

thelma beeThe Peculiar Haunting of Thelma Bee, by Erin Petti/Illustrated by Kris Aro McLeod, (Sept. 2016, Mighty Media), $16.99, ISBN: 9781938063725

Recommended for ages 9-13

Eleven year-old Thelma Bee is always doing something. She’s reading, she’s working on science experiments, she’s hanging out with her best friend – a guy! – Alexander. Her father runs an antique shop in town and her mother is always off on some kind of adventure, exploring and searching for different animals, so she’s got adventuring and imagination in her blood. When a dour woman shows up at her father’s shop with a small box, things start going very, very wrong: her father is kidnapped by a ghost that very night, and it’s up to Thelma, Alexander, and a local group of ghost hunters to get him back safely. It’s a scary mission, but one Thelma has to undertake – and she’ll learn a lot about herself in the process.

The Peculiar Haunting of Thelma Bee is so much fun! Middle graders are going to love the smart, spunky middle grader that doesn’t care about the mean girls and their dopey fashion choices – she has better things to do. When her dad is kidnapped by a ghost, right in front of her, she charges into action, amassing the facts she knows and researching what she needs to fill in the gaps of her knowledge and save her dad. She’s a great heroine for middle graders, girls and boys alike, because she shows that science, facts, and a clear path of reasoning will get you through some tough times.

The book is fast-paced, leading us into action pretty quickly, and not letting any lag set in. I’ll be booktalking this one hard, and pairing her with Hermione (Harry Potter) and Annabeth (Percy Jackson) for my fantasy-loving readers. Put this one right next to Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, Sally Gardner’s Wings & Co. series, and Karen Foxlee’s Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy to create a solid girl-power reading display.

The book trailer is below, and you can visit Mighty Media’s Thelma Bee page here. Erin Petti’s author page is here.

If you’re going to be at BEA/Book Con this week, I am SO envious! Have a great time, and visit Mighty Media at Booth 2170 when you get a chance! They’ll be at BookCon from 10am-6pm, and Erin Petti will be signing ARC’s of The Peculiar Haunting of Thelma Bee at 1PM, with a bookstore event to follow at 5pm at (Uncharted Books). 

Posted in Fiction, Fiction, Humor, Intermediate, Middle Grade

Diary of a Wimpy Kid 11 Cover Reveal!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

I know I’m late to the party, but the latest Wimpy Kid cover reveal took place last week via webcast with Scholastic Reading and author Jeff Kinney. Double Down will be the eleventh book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, and hits shelves on November 1.

wimpy

You can pre-order the book and find things to do and read at the Wimpy Kid website, and you can check out the Wimpy Kid islands on Poptropica, Jeff Kinney’s kid-friendly website. Most of the website is free, but members get access to the Wimpy Islands. Enjoy!

 

xx

 

Posted in Fiction, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Humor, Intermediate, Middle Grade

Little Knight is back in Ogres Awake!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

ogres_1Ogres Awake!, by James Sturm, Alexis Frederick-Frost, Andrew Arnold (July 2016, First Second), $14.99, ISBN: 9781596436534

Recommended for ages 5-10

Little Knight and her faithful steed, Edward, are back for another installment! This time, the two discover that ogres are sleeping in the castle courtyard! Knight rushes to the castle’s defense, but finds out that there’s already an army assembled, and they’re wielding potato peelers and spoons instead of swords and shields. Knight and the gnome army have a LOT of stew to make before the ogres wake up… HUNGRY.

This is the fourth outing for the Drawn and Quarterly gang; the third Little Knight Adventure. I love this series: it’s a great way to introduce graphic novels to young readers and they’re fun stories that have a little bit of drawing instruction, a la Ed Emberley’s old step by step books, that I used to love when I was a kid.

Little Knight is a kid that kids will recognize: she’s excited, she wants to jump right in and be in the center of the action, and learns a valuable lesson in each outing. This time around, she learns that not every confrontation needs to be handled the rough way. Sometimes, an act of kindness is all you need to avoid things getting ugly. It’s a great message, communicated with fun, bold, cartoony art and witty writing. Add this series to your shelves; your kids will love you for it. I read this with my 3 year-old, who thoroughly enjoyed it; if you’ve got preschoolers in your life, curl up with them and read it! It’s a great opportunity illustrate sequencing and talk about doing nice things for people: even ogres.

Make sure to check out Gryphons Aren’t So Great and Sleepless Knight, the other Little Knight books by Sturm, Frederick-Frost, and Arnold, as well as Adventures in Cartooning, where we first meet Little Knight and Edward. Don’t forget to check out Drawn and Quarterly, too! Take a look at a few pages from Ogres Awake right here:

ogres_3 ogres_4

Posted in Fiction, Middle Grade, Middle School, Tween Reads

Framed! Gives us a new tween sleuth, Florian Bates

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

florian batesFramed! A Florian Bates Mystery, by James Ponti (Aug. 2016, Aladdin), $16.99, ISBN: 9781481436304

Recommended for ages 8-12

Florian Bates is a 12 year-old seventh grader in Washington DC. He’s the new kid in school, he likes pizza and egg rolls, he’s in the Scrabble Club, and he’s on the FBI’s speed dial. Florian is like a young Sherlock Holmes: he notices all the small details that people often overlook. He’s even got a cool acronym for it: TOAST, short for Theory of All Small Things. His dad designs security systems for museums and his mother restores paintings, so he’s developed an eye for the details.  When he teaches his TOAST theory to his new friend, Margaret, they foil an art theft that saves the National Gallery millions of dollars, Florian finds himself on the FBI’s speed dial – and possibly on a crime syndicate’s hit list!

Framed! is a fun whodunit for tweens. Florian is Sherlock Holmes without the intimidating presence, and Margaret is a sidekick with the promise of becoming more involved in future books. I love the TOAST theory and the detail with which Ponti describes and illustrates various ways to apply it; it’s a great talent to hone and a smart and fun way to communicate it to readers. As the mother of a tween who can stare into a refrigerator and tell me there’s no milk, simply because the container isn’t dancing and jumping into his arms when he opens the door, I thoroughly support teaching kids the importance of noticing the details.

The story is light and fun, and kids will appreciate that, FBI consultant or not, Florian’s parents aren’t letting him solve any mysteries until he gets his homework done. This is a good selection for libraries (personal, school, or public) where kids need a good mystery and are ready to move on from A to Z Mysteries.

James Ponti is the author of the Dead City series, a middle grade series that follows the adventures of Molly, a tween zombie hunter, in New York City.

Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Middle Grade, Tween Reads

What is the Secret of Dreadwillow Carse?

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

dreadwillowThe Secret of Dreadwillow Carse, by Brian Farrey (Apr. 2016, Algonquin Young Readers), $16.95, ISBN: 9781616205058

Recommended for ages 8-12

In a fantasy kingdom where all the subjects are deliriously happy, two girls bond over their mutual feelings of sorrow, helplessness, and ultimately, determination. Princess Jeniah is a 12 year-old Queen Ascendant; her mother is dying and she’s got very little time left to learn to be a queen, let alone to process the grief she’s feeling. Her mother’s cryptic message about the mysterious bog, Dreadwillow Carse, fires up her curiosity: “If you enter the Carse, the monarchy will fall.”

At the same time, a village girl, Aon, loses her father when the Crimson Hoods come and take him away, ostensibly to become the next advisor to the monarchy. The villagers barely recognize that he’s gone, and Aon – who’s already lost her mother to the Carse – is bereft. Aon is not like the other villagers. She feels a sadness she can’t explain. All the time.

When the two girls encounter one another, Jeniah asks Aon for a favor: explore the Carse. The monarchy can ask someone else to enter the Carse, after all, can’t they? In return, Aon asks Jeniah to send her father home. This meeting sets each girl off on her own personal voyage of discovery, where they’ll uncover long-kept secrets of the Carse, the monarchy, and most importantly, about themselves.

On the face of it, this is an interesting middle grade fantasy tale, with multicultural characters and a Big Secret to be uncovered. Read a little deeper, and you discover that this is an interesting portrayal of pre-adolesence set in a high fantasy setting. A villager and a monarch bond over their mutual sadness, that they feel they can never show to others. The people around them are either keeping secrets from them, as with Jeniah, or are wandering through life in a false delirium, refusing to see what’s going on around them, as with Aon. Aon feels a sadness no other villager can grasp, and she feels frustrated and ignored. The Carse’s presence holds so many answers, but they’re discouraged from venturing in. They have to work together to find answers, and those answers will reveal terrible truths about those around them.

Tweens will identify with the girls and their feelings of frustration; many will understand the undercurrent of seemingly inexplicable sadness and the pressure to put on a smiling face. They’ll share Jeniah’s frustration with her tutor, who answers all of her questions with questions – she has to learn not only to question everything, but to weigh the answers in front of her before she acts. The character development is built steadily through the book, with small plot reveals throughout leading readers further and further, until they reach the conclusion that hits hard and leaves a lot of questions in its wake. This is a great book to hold a discussion group with. I’ll be booktalking it for sure.

A good addition to middle grade collections and fantasy fans’ TBRs. Author insights and an excerpt are available on the Algonquin website. The Secret of Dreadwillow Carse has received a starred review from School Library Journal.

Posted in Animal Fiction, Fiction, Humor, Middle Grade

Go on an adventure with Stick Cat!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

stick catStick Cat: A Tail of Two Kitties, by Tom Watson (May 2016, HarperCollins), $12.99, ISBN: 9780062411006

Recommended for ages 8-12

A spin-off of the popular Stick Dog series, Stick Cat introduces us to… well, Stick Cat, who lives in an apartment with his human friend, Goose, and hangs out during the day with Edith, the cat next door. The two love to play games and listen to Mr. Music tune pianos at the factory next door, but one day, Mr. Music has an accident! His arms are trapped in the piano when the top of the instrument crashes down, and Stick Cat has to figure out a way to save him.

Introduced by the same middle grade narrator that draws Stick Dog, we learn Stick Cat’s origin: he wants to impress a classmate who suggests that he draw a Stick Cat. We launch into Stick Cat’s adventure, which will grab Wimpy Kid, Dork Diaries, and Big Nate fans right away. It’s a similar format, with line drawings accompanying text, and filled with humor. Stick Cat and Edith banter back and forth during their daily playdate; Edith is a little dense and self-centered, and Stick Cat plays off of that while trying to spare Edith’s feelings and accomplish his rescue mission.

Readers can visit the Stick Dog/Stick Cat website for videos, downloadables, quizzes, and the author’s blog. A Tail of Two Kitties is the first Stick Cat book, with two more in the planning stages. There are currently four Stick Dog books.

Both series are a fun addition to middle grade collections and will likely appeal to reluctant and struggling readers – I know my Big Nate and Wimpy Kid books are always off the shelves, so this may help stem the tide a bit this summer!

Posted in Fiction, Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Tween Reads

Ruby Lee and Me looks at friendship and social change

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

ruby leeRuby Lee and Me, by Shannon Hitchcock (Jan. 2016, Scholastic), $16.99, ISBN: 9780545782302

Recommended for ages 8-12

In 1969, a segregated North Carolina town is facing integration, and not everyone is happy about it. Set against this backdrop is the story of 12 year-old Sarah Beth, who is plagued with guilt when her younger sister is hit by a car while under her watch. Sarah’s family moves to a house on her grandparents’ property to save money, which means a new school – one that’s about to undergo integration. On the plus side, that means that Sarah will be able to go to school with her friend, Ruby Lee, an African-American who will be a student at the integrated school. Enthusiastically, the girls decide that they will be best friends in public – something not very common in the area – just like the Freedom Riders; but the girls have a falling out, leaving Sarah feeling more alone than ever. She’s lost her best friend, she’s facing a new school alone, and she’s certain her sister’s accident is her fault.

A work of both historical and realistic fiction, Ruby Lee & Me is a good coming-of-age story set against a time of huge social change.While this is Sarah’s story, first and foremost, friendship and integration amidst the upheaval of segregation and prejudice is a strong subplot. An upsetting incident involving the school’s first African-American teacher is a powerful moment in the story.

The history of race relations speaks volumes in the relationship between Sarah’s and Ruby’s grandmothers: they “gossip like best friends” when they’re together on the farm, but merely nod politely to one another in town; Sarah’s grandmother says, “The creek don’t care what color feet wade in it, but the town pool surely does. It’s easier to be friends away from wagging tongues”. Sarah’s ambitious daydream of she and Ruby being public friends sends both grandmothers into a tizzy; they discourage the girls from inviting trouble into their lives. Ruby Lee is annoyed when she sees her grandmother “trying too hard” around whites; Sarah sees Ruby as trying to be “the boss of her” in their interactions, yet always seeks her out when she needs someone to talk through a problem with.

A note from the author on historical accuracy briefly explains her connection to events in the story and points out little bits of tweaking made for creative license.

Ruby Lee and Me received a starred review from Booklist. The author’s website offers discussion questions for educators.