Middle Grade

Audiobook: Let it Glow

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by Marissa Meyer and Joanne Levy
Read by Gabi Epstein & Rebecca Soler
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is the relative safety issue of the girls switching places that some parents might have a problem with. Also, one of the grandparents in the story has a fall and ends up in the hospital. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Aviva Davis wants to have the perfect Hanukkah, something which her not-very-observant Jewish family doesn’t seem to do. She wants everything perfect from the menorah to the latkes. And while she wants to participate in the pageant her grandmother’s retirement center is putting on, she’s not sure she’s quite qualified to be the Jewish representation. Holly Martin is just at the retirement home because her mom is trying to convince Holly’s grandpa that he needs more help than they are able to give him at home. Holly has no intention of being a part of the pageant, but then she stumbles on Aviva, who is a carbon copy of Holly. They’re both adopted, they both have the same birthday, they both look alike… is it possible they are twins?

From there, the plot spins out in a very Parent Trap-like direction: Aviva and Holly trade homes to experience what the other holiday is like (Holly celebrates Christmas), while trying to figure out if their parents knew about being twins and just didn’t tell them. It’s a lot about blood family versus adopted family,

This was a very sweet holiday story, made better by the narrators, who were just amazing. I liked how they brought both Holly’s and Aviva’s personalities to life, how they made all the improbabilities of the whole situation make perfect sense. It was charming and adorable, and I enjoyed every minute of the audiobook.

The Bletchley Riddle

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by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
First sentence: “First things first: a riddle.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy pilfered from the ARC shelves at work.
Content: There are some intense moments, and talk of a small crush. It’s also a bit on the longer side for middle grade books. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore, but is probably for the older end of the age range.

Lizzie Novis is supposed to get on a boat to America to be with her grandmother because London is evacuating in preparation for Hitler’s invasion. Except she believes her mother is not dead and wants to look for her, so she evades getting on the boat and heads to Bletchely Park (or rather, the address she has for her brother which turns out to be Bletchley Park) to be with her brother Jakob, who has been working at the top-secret code-breaking facility.

Once there, Lizzie has the unwelcome job of trying to convince Jakob of her belief that their mother is still alive, and part of that is finding proof. All the while, Jakob is part of the team that is trying to figure out the codes for the Enigma machine so they can break the coded transmissions they’re getting from Germany. And Hitler’s army is on the march, coming closer to Great Britain. It’s all a lot to handle.

I have been selling this book for months solely on the basis of the authors’ names. Seriously: any book written by Sepetys and Sheinkin HAS to be good, right? And, dear reader, it was. Of course it was. They just have a way of writing historical fiction and history that makes it seem exciting, that brings it to life. And this book – with spitfire Lizzie and anxious, concerned Jakob, plus the rest of the cast of kids and code breakers – did exactly that. It was fun, intense, often funny, and a page-turner. It didn’t exceed my expectations, which were admittedly high, but it did absolutely meet them.

And you can’t ask for more than that.

The Wildcat Behind Glass

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by Alki Zei
Translated by Karen Emmerich
First sentence: “Winter Sundays are the most boring days of all.”
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Content: It’s a little long and talks bluntly about fascism. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

It’s 1936 in Greece and all Melia wants is to run and play, listen to their grandfather tell stories about his “ancients”, and hang out with her sister, Myrto. But, it’s 1936, and the adults are all concerned about the rise of fascism and the overthrowing of the king. It really doesn’t help when their older cousin Nikos ends up in hiding because he’s wanted by the government. Or, when, in the fall, they go to a public school for the first time (they were homeschooled before), and Myrto gets sucked into their school’s phalanx, which is kind of like the Hitler Youth Program. Melia doesn’t quite know how to process everything.

And, honestly, after finishing this book, neither do we. It was initially written in 1968, and you can feel that when reading it. It’s a lot of everyday stuff happening, and not a lot of conflict and resolution. In fact, the book just kind of ends, and peters off without any real resolution. (Well, spoiler: Nikos gets away, but that’s about it.) Also, a bone to pick with the marketing: the back reads as if the titular wildcat- a taxidermied cat in Melia’s house – was magical and took them on adventures. It’s not. I wanted it to be. But there is no magic adventures here. I think the author wanted to tell Nikos’s story, but someone told her that it would be better if you made a young girl the protagonist and so she did that. Nikos was a much more interesting (and less whiny!) character. Oh well.

At least it wasn’t terribly long.

Grow Up Luchy Zapata

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by Alexandra Alessandri
First sentence: “It’s a well-known fact that Colombians living outside the motherland will find a way toward each other like magnets.”
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Review copy pilfered off the shelves at work.
Content: There is some bullying. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Luchy and Cami have been friends their entire lives – it comes from being Colombian in Miami and having parents who are good friends. But, the summer before sixth grade, Cami goes to Colombia and comes back different: she’s into make-up and boys, and wants to “reinvent herself” now that they’re in middle school. Except Luchy likes things the way they are. She’s content with herself and where she is, and she doesn’t want things to change.

But what starts as a change becomes a huge rift, and things escalate until they get out of control. How does Luchy figure out how to navigate middle school without her best friend.

I was talking to a librarian of a K-8 school in a nearby town at the store the other day, and we were lamenting how many middle-grade books had characters who have crushes in them. It’s all fine and good to write characters with crushes, but sometimes, you just need to have a story about kids who are friends and not make it about relationships. Thankfully, Alessandri stuck to the friendship element of the story (Cami has crushes, but it wasn’t a big deal to the story) and doesn’t go down the “who likes who” road. I’m not saying there’s not a place for that; I’m just a little tired of reading books where that is a main element. I like that this one focused on Luchy’s struggle with her heritage – her parents didn’t speak Spanish at home and so she never learned, and she doesn’t really feel connected to Colombia – as well as her friendship with Cami. It’s a good portrayal of the struggle that sixth grade and middle school often is, and I’m glad Alessandri didn’t gloss over the friendship struggles that come along with that.

A really solid middle grade book.

The Pumpkin Princess and the Forever Night

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by Steven Banbury
First sentence: “She ran.”
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Content: It’s a little long, and mildly scary at moments. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Eve was in an orphanage, but she was incredibly unhappy. She had several failed escape attempts, but one Hallows Eve night, she ran away and straight into the path of the Pumpkin King. He was impressed with her spirit, and adopted her on the spot: he needed an heir, she needed a home. It was perfect. Except that she’s living and Hallowell Valley is a haven for the undead – witches, ghosts, gouls, vampires, and werewolves, and the like. She stubbornly makes her home there, and even makes a couple of friends. That is, until things go sideways, and it looks like someone it trying to take the Pumpkin King’s kingdom away. Can Eve and her friends figure out what’s going on before it’s too late?

To be honest: I thought this was a graphic novel when I picked it up. It’s not – just in case you were wondering. But it is a very cozy, very sweet little story of found family and learning to love and making good change where you’re at. I thought it was cute and charming, but I’m not entirely sure it’s going to be one that kids will gravitate to. Maybe certain kids, and I’m sure it would be a very fun Halloween read-aloud. But, I am not sure that it’s one of those books that kids are going to love. I might be wrong. At any rate, I thought it was a clever idea, well-executed, and very sweet in the end.

Audiobook: The Hotel Balzaar

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by Kate DiCamillo
Read by Allan Corduner
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Others in the series: The Puppets of Spellhorst
Content: It’s a short book, and there isn’t anything objectionable. It’s in the Beginning Chapter section of the bookstore (grades 1-2) but it could go older.

Lest you think this is a continuation of the puppet story in the first book, it’s not. I think it’s only a “series” because it’s so similar in feel and tone as the first one. There are no continuing characters and you absolutely could treat this as a stand-alone.

Marta is a girl that lives with her mother in the attic of the Hotel Balzaar. Her father is in the war, and has gone missing, and Marta has been told to not make any disturbances. But when an elegant Countess comes to the hotel, Marta finds herself entranced and spends time with the old woman, as she tells her seven stories.

That’s it for the plot. But, much like the first one, the charm is in the telling of the story. Again, like the first one, I think it’s best read aloud/listened to – Corduner does a fantastic job – because it’s not the plot or the characters that drive this book forward, it’s the telling. There’s an anti-war message and a bit about how telling stories gets us through hard times. It’s slight, but it’s enjoyable.

I’m curious to see what DiCamillo does with the next book in the series.

Audiobook: The Sherlock Society

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by James Ponti
Read by Marc Sanderlin
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There are some intense moments. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Alex Sherlock has taken inspiration from his last name and started The Sherlock Society at his middle school. It’s mostly just him and his friends Yadi and Lina, until the last day of school when Alex’s sister, Zoe, joins. She’s the one who comes up with the plan to take this society out into the larger world. With the help of their former-reporter grandfather, they set out to find a mystery to solve.

What starts out as trying to find Al Capone’s buried treasure in the Miami area turns into a discovery of corporate corruption and environmental disaster. Can they prove their case, or will the end up taking the fall?

Oh, this one was a lot of fun. I really liked Sanderlin’s narration; it was a good combination of earnest and deadpan to reflect the middle-grade book. Some moments were intense (I can see a younger kid being on the edge of their seat!) and it was often hilarious. I liked that the kids all had good parents (it was the grandpa out there helping them get into trouble, of sorts) and that their lawyer mom kept things mostly above board. It was a solid mystery, too; I guessed the ending but not too long before the characters got there.

I’ve had a coworker who has been trying to get me to read James Ponti’s spy series, and after this one, I think I really need to give it a try. He’s a fun writer, and I’m impressed with this book.

On a Wing and a Tear

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by Cynthia Leitich Smith
First sentence: “Hesei, cousins!”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There are a couple of intense moments. Otherwise, it’s a short book with short chapters. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) Section of the bookstore, but I’d give it to a good younger reader as well.

Mel and Ray are off for spring break, and the only thing they want to do with Grandpa Halfmoon is go to a Chicago Cubs game. Except they are thrown a loop: Great-Grandfather Bat was injured and is recuperating in Mey and Ray’s backyard. And he’s been summoned to another Birds vs. Animals baseball game, and it’s up to Grandpa, Mel, and Ray to take Great-Grandfather Bat from Chicago to Georgia.

It’s a road trip!

There are adventures on the way, as they make the trek, stopping to see relatives in Kansas and Oklahoma, before getting Great-Grandfather Bat to his game.

On the one hand, this was a sweet modern folk tale. It has the cadence of a Bre’r Rabbit tale – the omniscient narrator talking directly to the reader, with folksy asides. And I do like the way Smith weaves in Native traditions, cultures, and challenges throughout the book. But it wasn’t quite a straight-up fantasy (Smith even says it’s not fantasy, it’s fiction, even though she warns not to interact with wild animals the way these characters do) but it wasn’t a realistic fiction book either. Maybe it was that there was a little bit of everything and the whole didn’t quite add up.

I didn’t hate the book, but it wasn’t my favorite either.

Magnolia Wu Unfolds it All

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by Chanel Miller
First sentence: “Magnolia Wu was almost ten.”
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Content: It’s heavily illustrated, short, and with lots of white space. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore, but I’d give it to a precocious younger reader as well.

While Magnolia likes her family’s laundromat, she feels like nothing ever happens. Then, the summer that she turns 10, she and her new friend Iris decide to return all the lost socks that have been left. What follows is an adventure as Magnolia and Iris learn about their neighbors in their New York City neighborhood.

It’s a cute little book, full of fun illustrations. There’s not much depth to it: Magnolia and Iris solve one little sock mystery after another while Magnolia learns the value of hardworking, caring parents, and Iris and Magnolia navigate a friendship.

Cute, especially for those beginning/struggling readers.

The Night War

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by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
First sentence: “I could hear sirens.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There are intense moments, including a round-up of Jews to go to concentration camps. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Miri and her parents are living in Nazi-occupied Paris in 1942, after fleeing Germany after the kristalnacht. They’re making do in a small apartment, but they have Jewish neighbors and it’s working. That is, until the French police raid the neighborhood and round all the Jews in France up. Miri escapes with her neighbor’s 2-year-old daughter, Nora, and after finding refuge in a nunnery (the nun saved her from an interaction with a Nazi soldier), she is separated from Nora and sent to a Catholic school in the French countryside. She has to pretend to be a Catholic, which is hard. The only bright side is that she’s close to the Vichy border, and escape. Can she find Nora and get across before she is found out?

On the one hand: this is a well-written book. (I have issues with the ghost, but aside from that.) Bradley knows how to pace a story and knows how to make a historical story relatable (in this one: all religions are valid, we shouldn’t be afraid of those who are not like us, we shouldn’t believe the propaganda we hear). However, I am just so tired of World War II books. I just am. I know these stories need to be told, but I am so so very tired of them. And, I don’t think that the ghost in this one was necessary. Bradley used the ghost as a narrative cop-out – Miri was the only one who could see the ghost and it helped her get out of sticky situations.

I just wanted more (or something entirely different) from this one.