Published by Amistad

Summary:  Clayton Byrd is happiest when he’s playing the blues with his grandfather, Cool Papa Byrd.  Cool Papa gives Clayton a harmonica, or blues harp, and lets him play it in his band; Clayton dreams of the day he’ll be allowed to play a solo.  When his grandfather suddenly passes away, Clayton is overcome with grief, intensified by his mother’s apparent lack of caring.  When she declares, “no more blues”, and takes away his blues harp, Clayton knows he has to do something.  He takes a day off from school, steals back his harmonica, and boards the subway in search of Cool Papa’s old band.  Along the way he loses both his blues harp and the treasured hat that belonged to his grandfather, falls in with a group of hip-hop artists that take their music onto the subway cars, and almost ends up in jail.  His mother comes through for him in the end, and the two of them develop a new appreciation and understanding of each other.  An author’s note tells more about blues, hip-hop, and how she came to write this book.  176 pages; grades 3-7.

Pros:  Newbery and Coretta Scott King honoree Williams-Garcia has created another sympathetic character in Clayton Bird, exploring the richness of blues and hip-hop cultures through his experiences and interactions with other fascinating characters.

Cons:  The story was too short to be as fully developed as One Crazy Summer and its sequels.

Published by Aladdin

Summary:  Izzy Cervantes is apprehensive about her month at Camp Foxtail, even though her best friend Mackenzie is going with her.  Things seem a lot different from Camp Sweetwater, where Izzy has been a leader for the past several summers.  For one thing, she and Mackenzie are put in different cabins.  But she’s excited to learn that her cabin, the Willows, has a traditional prank war with the Wolverines, one of the boys’ cabins.  At Camp Sweetwater, Izzy was known as a prank queen, but the other Willows, all Foxtail veterans, don’t seem interested in her ideas.  So Izzy invents an older brother, Tomas, claiming he was a Wolverine and a pranking champion.  She pulls off a pranking victory, and finds herself in the middle of a popular group of Willows.  But their friendship comes with a price, and Izzy can’t understand why Mackenzie is acting so cool toward her.  By the end of the month, Izzy has learned a lot about friendship, telling the truth, and herself.  352 pages; grades 3-7.

Pros:  A highly readable summer book, filled with a host of diverse characters, and a narrator whose voice rings true.  Readers will be ready to sign up for summer camp after reading about the activities and hijinks and Camp Foxtail.

Cons:  There are a lot of characters to keep track of.

Published by Aladdin

Summary:  Jeremy Wilderson calls himself the “retrieval specialist” of Scottsville Middle School–if someone steals your wallet or a teacher confiscates your phone, Jeremy will get it back without leaving a trace of evidence that he was there.  So when eighth-grader Mark hires him to find his missing key, Jeremy isn’t a bit suspicious, and it is mission accomplished within 24 hours.  But when he overhears teachers discussing the stolen master key that opens every locker in the school, he realizes that he’s been duped.  By the next day, locker robberies are sweeping the school, and Jeremy knows who is responsible.  But how can he bring down Mark without indicting himself?  There’s only one person who can help him: self-styled sixth-grade detective Becca, who also happens to be Jeremy’s #1 nemesis.  Can the two enemies come together to catch a thief?  256 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  Part of Aladdin’s MAX imprint targeting middle grade boy readers (I’m guessing, since two other titles in the series are entitled I Am Fartacus and 33 Minutes Until Morgan Sturtz Kicks My Butt), this is a fun middle school adventure told in Jeremy’s humorous voice. Recommended for fans of Swindle and The Great Greene Heist.

Cons:  The plot occasionally drifts into too much talk and not enough action.

Published by HarperCollins

Summary:  On page 214, Callie has just gotten to school late after trying, unsuccessfully, to defend her younger brother from a bully.  She’s (sort of accidentally) skipped school all week.  Placement tests for eighth grade are about to start, and her history teacher is ordering her to get to her homeroom so she won’t be late.  Callie is failing history, a fact that she has hidden from her parents, who already have enough to worry about since her father lost his lucrative new job.  At that moment, Callie’s new friend Cassius, who is going blind, calls to tell her he’s lost in the subway and needs her to come help him.  There’s more, including a grandmother still mourning the loss of her son, who was estranged from his parents after coming out as gay; two wealthy friends who keep asking Callie for the $250 she owes them; and the man in Apartment 1986 of her grandmother’s building, who might be her grandmother’s new boyfriend, and whose apartment seems to be a sort of time machine back to the year 1986.  272 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  The pace is fast and furious, all told in Callie’s funny, honest voice.  Callie tries to be an optimist, no matter what, but by the end of the story, she’s learned that life is both sunshine and shadows, and the best you can do is try to tell the truth about it and hang on to the people you love.

Cons:  As someone who actually lived through 1986, I wouldn’t choose it for a time-travel destination.

Published by HarperCollins

Summary:  Since birth, Chester has aspired to be a service dog like his mother was.  He’s got everything it takes, except that he can’t overcome his fear of loud noises.  When a thunderstorm rolls in on the day service dogs are being chosen, Chester is left behind.  Instead, he is sold to a family with an autistic son, Gus.  Although he is brought into the family as a pet, Chester takes it upon himself to serve Gus.  Gus is almost completely nonverbal, but Chester can occasionally communicate with Gus through their thoughts.  Eventually, Chester is allowed to go to school with Gus, where the dog sees things that the humans are missing.  When the principal discovers Chester isn’t a certified therapy dog, he’s barred from the school, unable to help Gus when he’s beaten up by a bully with no witnesses around.  When Gus starts having seizures, his parents are at their wits’ end, but Chester may have the answer to turn the situation around and move Gus’s life in a positive direction.  272 pages; grades 3-7.

Pros:  Chester is funny and lovable, as one would expect of a dog narrator.  His insights about Gus and his parents will give readers a new understanding of severely autistic kids.  I flew through this book in two days.

Cons:  At times, Chester’s intelligence and communication with Gus strained credulity.  Also, I’m pretty sure dogs can’t perceive what’s on a TV screen to pick up the many lessons about humans that Chester does.

Published by Greenwillow Books

Summary:  Four kids from the same neighborhood share the story of an early summer day.  Valencia, whose voice is the only first person one, loves spending time observing the natural world, but sometimes feels cut off from other kids because she is deaf.  Virgil is the only quiet member of a loud, boisterous family and struggles at school, both academically and socially.  Kaori believes herself to have psychic powers and uses them to try to help Virgil.  Chet is a bully who picks on Virgil.  When he throws Virgil’s backpack in an old dry well, Virgil climbs down to rescue his guinea pig who is in the pack and can’t get back out.  Meanwhile, Valencia and Kaori have met for the first time, on a day Virgil had an appointment with Kaori.  When he doesn’t show up, they suspect something is wrong, and the wheels are set in motion for all four characters to come together.  Their lives intersect in the woods, where a dramatic rescue sets the stage for a happy ending.  320 pages; grades 3-7.

Pros:  Kelly does a masterful job of creating fully developed characters through the dialogue, actions, of memories of each child.  Even the bully becomes more understandable as the story unfolds.  Virgil’s plight is enough to keep the pages turning to the end.

Cons:  There’s (possibly) a bit of magic for Virgil in the well that might be confusing to younger readers.