by Barbara Wright
ages: 11+
First sentence: “The buzzard knew.”
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Review copy provided by my place of employment.

It’s 1898, and eleven-year-old Moses Thomas has a good life in Wilmington, North Carolina. He enjoys school, having a perfect attendance record, has friends he likes hanging out with, and a good relationship with both his parents and his grandmother, whom he calls Boo Nanny.

Then things start to change: Moses’s idyllic life falls apart when the white people in Wilmington decide — for what reason we’re not ever really, fully told — that having a black middle class is no longer something they want, and the Red Shirts, North Carolina’s answer to the Klu Klux Klan, performs a coup d’etat, rigging an election, and running the mayor, the chief of police, and most of the African American businessmen out of town, before massacring a number of blacks.

Unfortunately, that paragraph was true. The Wilmington Massacre really happened, and to see it through the eyes of Moses was heartbreaking. However important the massacre, it’s really only the last third of the book. Up until that point, we get glimpses of Moses’ life. His friendship with a white boy named Tommy. His attempt to win a bicycle thwarted because he’s not white. His pride in his father’s college education and involvement in the only black daily in the South. But most of all, his relationship with Boo Nanny, a former slave and the most important person in Moses’ life. It’s a book of little things, small moments, culminating in something horrible and sad.

It’s an interesting look at a time period in history not often explored.

by Hilary McKay
ages: 10+
First sentence: “There were the four girls who were best friends:”
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Review copy snagged from the galley shelves at my place of employment
Others in the series: Saffy’s Angel, Indigo’s Star, Permanent Rose, Caddy Ever After, Forever Rose

I adore the Cassons. (Seriously. Don’t want to live with them, though. But in a neighborhood with them on one side and the Penderwicks on the other? Sounds fabulous.)

It’s five years before Saffy’s Angel, and Caddy (whose real name is Cadmium Gold) is 12 years old and perfectly content with life. At home it’s her and mum and Saffy and Indigo (dad Bill is often in London, but he does come home sometimes). And at school it’s her, Alison (who hates everyone), Beth (who’s perfect), and Ruby (who’s clever) creating a perfect foursome:  AlisonRubyanBethanme. It was a charmed life.

Then the genie who controls everything (not really, but sometimes when you’re 12 it feels that way) shakes the bottle and turns Caddy’s world upside down. First, her mother gets pregnant, and before Caddy has a chance to really deal with that (she’s dealing mostly by pretending it doesn’t exist), the baby is born. Prematurely. On top of that, it doesn’t help that her friends are drifting apart: Alison is more surly than usual, Beth has gone on a “Norman Diet” (which means she’s trying to starve herself so she’ll get shorter, but didn’t tell anyone about it), and Ruby is dealing with the idea of having to leave her friends in public school for a private one that will better cater to her abilities. It’s perfect chaos.

Like the other Casson books, this one deals with heavy subjects — premature births, anorexia, boy troubles — with a light hand. Everything is delightfully chaotic and charming and mildly hilarious (Saffy and Indigo really do steal the show out from under Caddy). And even though it’s nominally about Caddy, it’s really Rose’s story; in the other books, you get hints about Rose’s birth, and how she didn’t quite know whether to stay or not stay, and finally, McKay saw fit to tell the the story of Rose’s birth. You can read this one first or last in the order; I think it would be a good introduction to the series, but it also works as a coda at the end.

Either way, it’s delightful.

by Polly Horvath
ages: 9+
First sentence: “By nighttime Hornby Island would be a blaze of lights.”
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I have to admit that when I first saw this book, I kind of went, “Huh.” I don’t get it. There’s not much about the cover that says “READ ME!” and the idea of the story: girl’s parents get kidnapped by foxes, she hires two bunnies to find them. It just comes off as weird. But, Confessions of a Bibliovore and one other (I swear! I don’t know where, though) said the magic words: slapstick and hilarious.

And so, I picked it up.

Did you ever see those Thin Man movies? The ones that are just one implausible, silly situation right after the other? If so, then you have a good idea about the feel of this book. Yes, Madeline is a girl whose silly, hippy parents (aren’t all hippy parents silly?) (“Madeline lived there with her parents, Flo and Mildred, for so they asked to be called by everyone, including Madeline, even though their names were Harry and Denise.”), manage to get kidnapped (parent-napped?) by a group of foxes (including the Grand Poobah) in order to get the address of Uncle Runyon who happens to be the best (well, not the best, but the most available) decoder on the islands off of Vancouver. (Bonus points for being Canadian, here.). Except Flo and Mildred (being hippies, and not caring about reality) have no idea. They leave those things up to Madeline. So, parentless, responsible Madeline decides to go searching for her parents. And somehow she kind of stumbles into acquiring the help of one Mr. and Mrs. Bunny, who have lately decided (because the fedoras are so smashing) to become detectives.

Confused yet?

Because it just gets more zany (yes, that is the best word) from here: absurd neighbors, twelve-inch purple glitter platform shoes, The Marmot in disguise, being called before the Bunny Council, white shoes made of dental floss and the old rubber factory all come into play. Eventually, sure, Madeline’s parents do get found (much to the Bunnys’ disappointment; they were hoping to keep Madeline as a pet), and all is happily-ever-after.

Or maybe it should be ridiculously funny ever after. Great for those with an absurd sense of humor. I do hope that eventually kids will pick this up and love it for it’s oddness.

by Marie Lu
ages: 11+
First sentence: “My mother thinks I’m dead.”
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It’s sometime in the future and what was the United States has dissolved into two warring countries: the Colonies, and the Republic, where our story takes place.

Day is the Republic’s most wanted criminal. Not the most dangerous: he specializes in terrorizing the Republic’s military, and has a bit of a Robin Hood schtick going on: he robs the bank and passes the money out to the people in his districts, the poorest of the poor. He became this way because at age 10, he failed the Republic’s Trials: tests given to determine what your future will be.

June, on the other hand, is the Republic’s best and brightest: she got a perfect score on her trial, she’s graduated college at age 15, and is now — at the death of her brother by Day — is appointed to one of the Republic’s military guards. Her goal: find day, hunt him out, and get justice (and revenge) for her brother’s death.

So, yeah: it’s Romeo and Juliet (of course they fall in love! You were expecting something different?) in a dystopian world. Told in alternating chapters (in which the font colors drove me to distraction), we get the story of June and Day and the Repulic’s mounting atrocities. Even though the characterizations weren’t the strongest — I never really connected with either Day or June, or even the “baddies” — the world building and the ideas behind the book were enough to keep me turning pages. There’s a bit of a mystery, as we delve deeper into the world and the story. The whole idea of the country at war with each other — though we are never given reasons for this — and the fact that the Republic is essentially a militaristic state — which brings up questions of obedience and trust and freedom — are both quite intriguing.

I felt like it was a grand set up, that there’s more to come in later books. (Which, considering the way these things go these days, it will be.) However, it does work as a stand-alone story; there is a natural arc and an ending, though there are questions — to ask would be to spoil — left unanswered.

I can only hope the next book provides more clues.

A note: I’m calling this middle grade, though it’s the upper ranges of it. While it’s violent at times, and there are complexities, it’s really much more innocent than other dystopian novels. More along the Percy Jackson lines than Hunger Games.

by Erin Dionne
ages: 10+
First sentence: “Dad, seriously.”
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Elsie is a (french) horn player. First and foremost, before absolutely everything else. She is driven to play, and even though she’s only 13 years old, she’s ambitious. As a freshman in high school, she is determined to get into an elite music program, Shining Birches, which is something usually reserved for upper classmen. The only hitch is that she needs an extra music group, and because of her father’s gig in Austria (life is tough), she missed out in applying for the Boston Youth Symphony. Which means she’s stuck with (horror of all horrors) marching band.

I picked this up for C for Christmas because she’s basically fallen into band. She never wanted to be in band, but the way our middle school is, band is really one of the better options. That, and the teacher is fantastic. Much like Elsie, C went into band with a bad attitude, and is actually having a surprisingly good time.

Elsie, however, was an incredibly tough character to enjoy. She’s self-centered, snobbish, and competitive. She couldn’t understand why people asked for her opinion and then got offended when she gave it to them. And while she was competitive with her classmates, the person she was always at odds with was her father, who was also a french horn player.

On the one hand, all these things that grated on me came honestly to the character, and she really did go through a growth arc over the course of the book. Yes, it did get all wrapped up in a nice little bow, but not in the way you would expect given the beginning of the novel, which was nice. And, thankfully, there were interesting side characters that helped soften Elsie’s abrasiveness.

Even though Elsie was one tough pill to swallow, it was a fun little book. Dionne really got the value of marching band (not to mention its inherent coolness), and anyone who’s ever marched will find themselves nodding in agreement.

And that makes an already good book that much better. (Granted: I marched, so I may be a bit biased, here.)

by Uma Krishnaswami
ages 8+
First sentence: “Dolly Sing’s fabulous face floats across the screen of the TV in the family room.”
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Dini is in love with Bollywood movies. She loves the music and the scenery and the stars. Especially Dolly Singh. Even though she really loves everything about the movies, they are just that, movies: fictional, far away in India, which is a place to visit not to stay.

Then her mom tells her that they will be moving to a village in India, Swapnagiri. For two whole years. It’s traumatic! How can Dini leave her best friend, Maddie? How can she adapt to living in a small village instead of big Tacoma Park, Maryland? How can she make new friends? And she doesn’t even have a chance of meeting Dolly because Swapnagiri isn’t anywhere near the Bollywood capital of Mumbai.

And yet, almost like a Bollywood film, things seem to work out. There’s a girl close to Dini’s age that may be an okay friend — though Dini would never, ever forget Maddie. There seems to be some sort of Bollywood magic at work when they find out that Dolly is actually staying in Swapnagiri. And, maybe, just maybe, Dini can work some magic herself and get Dolly and her estranged fiance back together again.

The key to this one, if you haven’t already noticed, is Bollywood. It really is a Bollywood movie in book form: magical, sweet, a bit of humor, with everything all nice and tidy wrapped up in a neat little bow. There are no song-and-dance numbers, but music does play a role. And Dini is our perfect Bollywood heroine: sweet, kind, and yet not quite perfect. She does mess things up, but she’s doggedly determined to make the best of things.

Cute and sweet, it’s a good one to hand to hand to girls, especially ones who are Bollywood fans.

by Stephanie Burgis
ages: 10+
First sentence: “I was twelve years of age when I chopped off my hair, dressed as a boy, and set off to save my family from impending ruin.”
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Before I get started, I ask you: how can a first sentence be more perfect than that? It doesn’t.

What it does, however, is give you high expectations that this book will be 1) charming and 2) have some adventure in it. Throw in a little bit (or a lot at times) of magic, and you’ve got a pretty good winner.

It’s Regency-ish time (never really got a date, but it felt Jane Austen-y to me), and Kat’s family is in a pickle: her older brother, Charles, has been sent home from Oxford in disgrace due to gambling debts that their father, a mere country clergyman, can’t pay off. So, one of Kat’s older sisters, Elissa or Angeline, is going to have to do the noble thing and marry for money (to save the family). Unfortunately: that means one of them will have to marry (the dastardly) Sir Neville, who is rich, yes, but around whom rumors of his first wife’s death swirl.

I promised a bit of magic, didn’t I? Well, it seems that Kat’s mother was a witch, something which Angeline has taken up (to find her True Love, of course), and something which Kat is becoming increasingly curious about. See, Kat’s mother died when she was a baby, and it’s always been her sisters’ policy to Protect Kat from Things. Except that Kat’s 12 now, and she’s no longer a baby.

Which means that she can take Things into her very capable hands.

That, in fact, what my favorite part of this book. Although it seemed to have a lot of set-up for not very much pay-off, the pay-off was brilliant. If you ever want a book where there’s a kid who takes control (and believable, capable control) of a situation to bring it to its Right and Proper end, this is it. Kat is a great character: fun, smart, and stubborn in all the right ways. This one made me eager (now that the background work is done) to have more adventures with Kat.

I can only hope there is more.