Middle Grade – Page 85

Fantasy, Fiction, Middle Grade, Middle School, Tween Reads, Uncategorized

Fairy Tale Reform School – but are the teachers scarier than the students?

Posted on March 13, 2015February 13, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Fairy Tale Reform School: Flunked, by Jen Calonita (March 2015, Sourcebook Jabberwocky) $15.99, ISBN: 9781492601562

Recommended for ages 10-14

Gilly isn’t bad, really. She’s just a little light-fingered. But she’s doing it for her family – her father’s a shoemaker, and she’s got a LOT of brothers and sisters. (Sounding like a familiar tale yet?) Unfortunately for Gilly, she gets caught one too many times, and ends up at Fairy Tale Reform school, where Cinderella’s stepmother is the headmistress and faculty include the Evil Queen (Snow White’s stepmother) and the Big Bad Wolf. Gilly makes two friends, Kayla and Jax, who give her the inside scoop on FTRS; just as Gilly’s gut told her, there’s more going on than meets the eye. There’s one villain on the loose, and she’s bringing the fight to the school. Are the teachers really reformed, or is there someone on the inside helping the wrong side?

I’m a big fan of this flipped fairy tale trend happening in juvenile and YA fiction. It’s a great way of keeping a little spark of childhood wonder with us, and there really are some great stories to build on. Flunked – which reads, at points, like Scared Straight for fairy tales – is an interesting entry into this genre. We’ve got the big guns: Cinderella, Snow White, and their antagonists here, and we have one of the children of the old woman who lives in a shoe. We’re firmly rooted in the mythology, so we can slip right into the tale.

Gilly is a likable character; she’s the thief with a heart of gold, the maligned daughter who just wants to help her family. She’s the most developed character, but there are reasons for that which become clear as the book progresses. There were some good plot reveals and characters that you never quite trust – it’s a good suspense, where the reader is left to guess where loyalties truly lie. I’m interested in seeing where future stories take us, now that we’ve got an established storyline, characters, and plot.

Jen Calonita is a popular tween/YA author. Her Secrets of My Hollywood Life series is hugely popular at my library, and I’m super-excited, because I just found out that she will be speaking to my son’s middle school, Russell Sage JHS in Queens, on March 13th!

While you’re waiting for your copy of Flunked, check out the book’s website, and find your FTRS mentor. Professor Wolfington is mine, which makes me pretty happy. The book’s Facebook page offers fun shots of the “police blotter”- news clips that appear, along with newspaper articles about incidents taking place within the school and the village, in Flunked. This could lead to a fun program at a library or in class – create your own newspaper article with a modern-day spin on a fairy tale! There’s a great activity kit with some ideas that I may use in my own library for Summer Reading.

Fiction, Middle Grade, Puberty, Realistic Fiction

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Realistic Fiction Books for Middle Graders

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

I’ve encountered some great Top Ten Tuesday lists on my fellow book bloggers websites; it’s a meme, courtesy of The Broke and The Bookish, so I thought I’d join the fun.

For this week’s Top 10, I’m featuring realistic fiction for middle graders. Having just served as a first round judge for the 2014 Cybils Middle Grade Realistic Fiction panel, I thought this would be a great place to spotlight some books I’ve read!

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg One of my all-time favorites. Kids run away, live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, unravel a mystery.

Wonderstruck, by Brian Selznick Have a box of tissues ready. Beautiful story, with parallel narratives that come together over a span of decades.

Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume Another classic, this one tackles deep questions like religion, puberty, and family through a growing young woman’s eyes.

All Four Stars, by Tara Dairman I love this book! A young foodie being raised by convenience food junkies decides to take matters into her own hands, with hilarious results.

Amelia Rules series, by Jimmy Gormley This graphic novel series is great – Amelia lives with her mom and aunt, wishes her dad took a bigger role in her life, and hangs out with friends. There are hilarious and tear-jerking stories to be told here.

The Popularity Papers, by Amy Ignatow This hysterical series is written in journal format from the points of view of two best friends who conduct “research” into how to be popular (i.e., hanging around the popular kids to find out how to get in with the in crowd). I give this series to girls who love Dork Diaries and want more.

Bindi Babes, by Narinder Dhami This middle grade series about a group of sisters who have their father wrapped around their finger, when their Auntie shows up to rein things in, is light and fun, perfect summer reading.

Abby Spencer Goes to Bollywood, by Varsha Bajaj What would happen if you discovered, one day, that your dad is a Bollywood heartthrob! This emotional, feel-good story looks at families, fame, and life in the spotlight – even when you’re not the famous one.

Al Capone Does My Shirts, by Gennifer Choldenko Moving story about a family living on Alcatraz Island in the 1920s. Moose’s dad is a guard at Alcatraz, and all he wants to do is make new friends and play baseball – but he’s responsible for his sister, Natalie. He has to balance his love and desire to protect her with his frustration and desire for independence.

I Am A Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want To Be Your Class President, by Josh Lieb Uproariously funny story about a real-life evil genius dealing with minions, middle school, and the insanity surrounding class elections.

Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Middle Grade, Teen, Tween Reads

Hinges, Book One: Clockwork City : a steampunk, fantasy fairy tale for all ages.

Posted on February 26, 2015February 25, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

I recently read and reviewed the Image book, Hinges, Book One: Clockwork City for WhatchaReading, and had to crosslink here. This book is a gorgeously illustrated fantasy that kids, tweens, and teens will love.

Image is blowing my mind with the books they’re coming out with for all-ages. I love a good rated “T” or “M” book as much as the next comic book fan, but when there’s an intelligent, beautiful-looking book available for kids, I am all over it. We all started reading comics when we were kids, and we need to keep finding books that elevate the dialogue and bring them more into the fold. Hinges, Book 1: Clockwork City is one of those books.

A doll named Orio arrives in the city of Cobble. She has to choose a familiar, called an Odd, and it looks like one of the Odds has its eye on her. Bauble, who kinds of reminds me of Stitch from Disney’s Lilo & Stitch, makes sure he ends up with Orio – to the displeasure of a few of the people she encounters.

Check out the rest of my review on WhatchaReading!

Graphic Novels, Middle Grade, Teen, Tween Reads

HowToons shows how makerspaces will save the world – A WhatchaReading Review!

Posted on February 25, 2015February 25, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Everyone’s talking about STEM these days – or STEAM, depending on which library or classroom you’re hanging out in. What’s STEM? It’s the new thing for education – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (with an “A” for Art, if you’re talking STEAM). It’s going beyond the three “Rs” to get kids ready for this crazy future we’re heading toward. It’s LEGO Robotics, it’s NASA mentors for kids, it’s teaching kids to code in languages like HTML, Python, and Ruby on Rails.

Beyond that, it’s starting with what’s around you. I had a duct tape crafting workshop at my library that the kids went berserk for. We made wallets, change pouches, even little mustaches on popsicle sticks. If you don’t have funky, leopard-spotted duct tape, you can still make stuff – show me one home that doesn’t have a roll of duct tape laying around, right? With that base, you can create.

And that is the idea that HowToons works with. HowToons is more than a comic, it’s a movement. It’s taking comics one step further and bringing kids into the adventure, by creating a story that shows kids how to create – using things around them – to save their own world.

Read the rest of my review over at WhatchaReading!

Fiction, Fiction, Middle Grade, Tween Reads

Seti’s Charm starts off an exciting middle school adventure series!

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Seti’s Charm: A Max Carter Adventure, by Chris Everheart (2014, Yellow Rocket Media) $12.99, ISBN: 9780985912581

Recommended for ages 9-12

Fourteen year-old Max Carter has lived with his grandfather since being orphaned at a young age. He adores his grandfather, and works alongside him in the family Egyptology museum, with plans to be an archaeologist himself one day. When smugglers attack the museum, putting his grandfather in the hospital and burning the museum to the ground, Max knows he has to recover the funeral charm of Pharaoh Seti I from the thieves and see it safely back to Egypt. Max seemingly has all the odds against him – his grandfather’s younger wife wants to see him sent to military school and the museum sold off for good, and the thieves – whom Max traces to a tropical island – certainly aren’t going to make it easy for him.

This is a great middle grade adventure. We’ve got a young hero who will appeal to Alex Rider fans, with a touch of Indiana Jones to spark some interest. There’s intrigue, action, and enough Egyptian history in here to give readers a beginning foundation of Ancient Egyptian funeral rites, which will make the next family trip to the museum a lot of fun. (Possible spoiler alert: I found myself wondering if a character was going to get his or her brains pulled out through his or her nose at one point, so I may spend a little too much time on that sort of thing.) English teachers and school librarians, this would be a good book to talk up during a history class unit on Ancient Egypt.

Chris Everheart’s author page has information about his books, plus links to his bio, blog, and events.

Fiction, Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Tween Reads

Dear Hank Williams: A young girl copes with life through letters.

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Dear Hank Williams, by Kimberly Willis Holt (April 2015, Henry Holt & Co.) $16.99, ISBN: 9780805080223

Recommended for ages 9-13

Tate Ellerbee is a sweet kid living in rural Louisiana in 1948. She’s a big fan of Hank Williams, a country-western singer she’s started hearing on the radio show, Louisiana Hayride, so she writes him a fan letter, telling him that she’s chosen him to be her pen pal in a class project introduced by her teacher. She lives with her aunt and uncle – her mother’s siblings – and tells Hank Williams all about her life as she waits for him to respond.

The thing is, things aren’t as wonderful for Tate as she initially lets on. Writing these letters to Hank becomes a kind of journal, helping Tate cope with events in her life. Through these letters, we see a vulnerable but determined young lady emerge, someone who’s dealt with more than most children should have heaped on them, but who’s determined to push back and smile at life.

This book started out, for me, as a cute piece about a young fan developing a one-sided crush on a celebrity – totally relatable! – and became much deeper than that. We get a view of a celebrity on the rise from the fan’s point of view, and we see the impact of history on a younger community that didn’t fight the war, but were affected by it – the kids. One of Tate’s classmates is excited to have a pen pal from Japan, which doesn’t sit well with another classmate or, initially, with Tate. There’s solid character development and storytelling here, with three big elements: Tate’s story, Hank Williams’ rise to fame, and the pen pal project – all blending together to tell a good story that will satisfy fiction readers.

Hank Williams is experiencing a resurgence in popularity, with the biopic I Saw the Light hitting theatres later this year. It’s a great time to start talking up this book and playing some of Williams’ music – Tate mentions a few in Dear Hank Williams that could serve as a nice link back to the book.

Kimberly Willis Holt is an award-winning author of children’s literature, including a National Book Award for When Zachary Beaver Came to Town. Her author website offers teacher resources for many of her books, writing tips, and school visit information.

Early Reader, Fiction, Fiction, Middle Grade

The Joker’s Dozen: A Batman Choose Your Own Adventure!

Posted on February 11, 2015February 11, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Joker’s Dozen, by Laurie S. Sutton/illus. by Ethen Beavers (2015, Capstone) $6.95, ISBN: 9781434297112

Recommended for ages 7-12

The Joker is back! This time, he’s turning the good people of Gotham City into giggling thieves! It’s up to you to help Batman this time- is he outnumbered, or are the odds pretty evenly matched? What weapon should he use? Will he save the city, or will Joker have the last laugh? You make the call, you choose the adventure!

This is a pretty quick and easy read for young readers who are comfortable with chapter books. Unlike traditional Choose Your Own Adventure Books, these are really just different scenarios, not really affected by the choices you make. Which, for a younger reader, is probably the best way to go. With 12 different endings, this will be a book that kids will get a different experience with time and again- there are a multitude of different choices and stories readers can create!

This is a fun book to have handy for the kid who’s always bored. (You know the kid.) There’s some great Batman artwork from DC comic artist Ethen Beavers, with fast-paced storytelling and a sense of control over the story. For only $6.95, expect this book to see some action, in your home, classroom, or library.

Fiction, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Tween Reads

World War II fiction reminds us that there are stories outside of Germany and the U.S.

Posted on February 8, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

A lot of WWII fiction takes place in Germany or the U.S., with good reason – Germany and the U.S. were two big players in the war, after all. But how many people remember that the Nazis occupied Norway? Or that Anne Frank wasn’t the only little Jewish girl with a story to tell, coming out of Amsterdam?

I recently read two great books taking place during World War II, both nominated for the first round of Cybils consideration.

Odin’s Promise (2014, Crispin Books, $13.95, ISBN: 978-1-883953-65-2) by Sandy Brehl, looks at life in Norway under Nazi occupation. All signs of nationalism are illegal, but young Mari’s family finds a way to resist – and it becomes a family-wide effort.

Mari and her dog, Odin, find themselves under Nazi scrutiny on a few occasions. Fiercely protective of Mari, Odin is severely beaten by the soldiers, which only strengthens Mari’s resolve to get these men out of her country.

Odin’s Promise is a novel that also gives us a glimpse – briefly, but skillfully – into what life was like for young Nazi soldiers, shuttled to a country where they were actively hated, and “assigned” to families. Not every soldier wanted to be there, and not every soldier was personally detestable, no matter how awful their agenda was.

The story is a slow build to several outcomes – some bittersweet, some awful, some happy – and it’s the story of a young girl’s coming of age in a brutal time.

Sharon E. McKay’s The End of the Line (2014, Annick Press, $12.95, ISBN: 9781554516582) is based on a true story that I’ve never heard before, but blew me away.

Beatrix, a 5 year-old Jewish girl in Amsterdam, is on the run with her mother. Her Christian father has been taken away, and her mother tells her to trust no one. But when her mother is taken off the train by soldiers, what is she to do? Two elderly brothers, Lars and Hans, who work for the railroad, take the girl home and feed her. They realize what’s happened to her mother and see the heartbroken, malnourished little girl, and decide, with the help of their neighbor, Mrs. Vos, that they will keep her, telling neighbors that she is their niece.

This is an amazing story of what happens when a community comes together to take care of a child. The brothers and Mrs. Vos protect, feed, and clothe Beatrix. They make sure she receives an education, including a religious education, so that she can answer Christian questions if she’s pulled aside at any time.

The End of the Line is one of those stories that makes your heart feel like it’s beating out of your chest with each turn of the page. It’s wonderfully descriptive with emotion, and brings home how the people the Nazis supposedly felt kinship with (like the Norwegians) suffered under their watch. You’ll be angry, you’ll be horrified, but ultimately, you will feel incredible love and relief. I loved this book.

I’ve had a recent spate of middle graders coming into my library and asking for historical fiction related to both the Holocaust and World War II. In addition to Jane Yolen’s Devil’s Arithmetic and Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars, I’ll be recommending these titles.

Fiction, Graphic Novels, Middle Grade

The Lunch Witch will have you looking at your lunch ladies in a whole new light.

Posted on February 5, 2015January 30, 2026 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Lunch Witch, by Deb Lucke (PaperCutz, 2014) $14.99 ISBN: 978-1-62991-162-5

Recommended for ages 8-13

Remember those lunch ladies when you were in elementary school? Remember how so many of them would slop that unidentifiable morass of…something onto your plate, almost gleeful at your confused or terrified expression. Meet Grunhilda, everyone. With fewer and fewer people believing in magic, she’s out of a job and down on her luck. So what’s a poor witch, with generations of experience stirring up cauldrons of trouble (and possibly, children) to do? You guessed it: she puts on a hairnet and an apron, and goes to work as a lunch lady in a school cafeteria. You’re seeing things from your childhood a lot more clearly now, aren’t you?

Being a cafeteria lady is awesome. Grunhilda cooks up awful pots full of foulness that turn kids’ stomachs upside down, and almost no one seems the wiser. Except for Madison, a quirky kid that kind of sees Grunhilda for who she really is, and attempts to blackmail Grunhilda into helping her. When things go awry for Madison, will Grunhilda actually help a kid? And if she does, how will the witch community feel about that?

The Lunch Witch is one of those graphic novels that works great for readers of all ages. It would go so well with a unit on fairy tales, as a kind of epilogue – what happens to the wicked witch when everyone else lives happily ever after? Fairy tales, and re-tellings of fairy tales, are experiencing a renaissance in media and in the classroom these days, so teachers and parents, jump on this!

I loved the look of this book. The book itself looks like an old tale, with stained-looking pages and black, white, and grey/olive artwork. The occasional use of color is impactful, whether it’s to draw attention to a frog or show the jarring blue of a cafeteria door.

There is some delightfully morbid humor, too. After all, witches aren’t known for being sunshine and flowers, unless you’re talking about Glinda the Good Witch. Any original Grimm’s fairy tale will tell you that these ladies were formidable in their own right. Ms. Lucke uses these awful characteristics to make Gruhhilda’s plight even more desperate in this day and age. You really can’t get away with grave robbery, and how many kids are getting left in the forest to happen upon a candy house these days?

I’d love to see some more Lunch Witch adventures! In the meantime, give this book to your younger readers, and get ready for some laughs when they start looking at the lunch lady differently.

The Lunch Witch is on sale in stores now.

Fantasy, Fiction, Humor, Middle Grade

The Imaginary: Peek into the world of imaginary friends

Posted on January 28, 2015January 28, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Imaginary, by A.F. Harrold (March 2015, Bloomsbury USA) $16.99, ISBN: 9780802738110

Recommended for ages 9-13

Ever have an imaginary friend when you were growing up? Do you remember when you grew out of your friend? The Imaginary looks at what happens to imaginary friends when children move on.

Rudger is Amanda’s imaginary friend. He just appeared one day, when she dreamed him up. But when there’s an accident, Rudger finds himself alone – and fading! He has to find Amanda, because his very existence may depend on it – but there’s also a super-creepy man who can see Rudger, and I’m pretty sure it’s not because he’s in the market for a new friend.

The Imaginary is huge fun for middle graders. They’re probably at the age where they remember having an imaginary friend (or… shhh… maybe still have one), so this will spark recognition and sympathy. As Rudger tries to find Amanda, they’ll love seeing other imaginary friends he comes in contact with, and the “big bad” is deliciously creepy, ala Lemony Snicket. It’s a solid story about friendship, loyalty, and growing up, with some chuckle-worthy humor mixed in. Emily Gravett’s illustrations add some beautiful depth to the story and the reader’s imagination.