Middle grade fiction

Soar by Joan Bauer

~ Janet Dawson ~ Leave a comment

Published by Viking Books for Young Readers

Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2meh6h7BaE

 

Summary:  Jeremiah has been through more than his share of difficulties, starting when he was abandoned by his mother at the age of nine months and continuing through a series of heart problems that ultimately resulted in a transplant.  Lucky for him, his mother left him in an office building where he was discovered by nerdy but loving Walter, who adopted him and has been by his side ever since.  Jeremiah’s greatest love is baseball, but his heart hasn’t gotten healthy enough for him to play.  When Walter and Jeremiah move to Hillcrest, Ohio, they look forward to cheering on the town’s championship baseball team.  Within days of their arrival, though, scandal has swept through the town, shutting down the team.  When Jeremiah discovers a few kids at his middle school who still love to play, he gets the idea to become their coach.  Step by inching step, the kids work together to build a middle school team and to repair the damage done to Hillcrest.  With Jeremiah leading them on, the Hillcrest Eagles prove there’s more than one way to have a winning team, and that talent isn’t nearly as important as heart.  304 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  “You’re weird…but I like you,” says one of Jeremiah’s teammates, perfectly capturing Jeremiah’s voice as he narrates this story.  Quirky, humorous, and refusing to be kept down, Jeremiah gives the people of Hillcrest and the readers of Soar plenty to cheer about.

Cons:  Occasionally Jeremiah seems a bit unbelievably wise and mature for a sixth-grader.

 

American Ace by Marilyn Nelson

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Published by Dial Books 

Summary: When Connor’s grandmother Lucia dies, she leaves a letter for his father, revealing that Connor’s grandfather wasn’t the Italian man his father grew up with; instead, he was an American pilot who was in Italy during World War II. Connor’s father was raised in a tight-knit Italian family, and the news is devastating to him at first.  Along with the letter, Lucia left a school ring that belonged to the pilot.  Connor uses the ring to research his grandfather.  Eventually, he learns that this man was African American, one of the famed Tuskegee Airmen.  Just as the mystery is about to be solved, Dad has a stroke and is hospitalized.  Connor helps him heal, both physically and emotionally, by learning and sharing more and more of the courageous history of the Airmen.  117 pages; grades 7-10.

Pros:  In an author’s note, Marilyn Nelson writes how she wanted to tell the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, and eventually had the idea to write a book in which the main character gradually learns their history.  She achieves this brilliantly in just 45 poems told in Connor’s voice.  The history is fascinating, and so is the story of this family who must rethink their entire identity in the light of revelations about their cultural heritage.

Cons:  The structure of Part 7, in which Connor tells his father the story of the Tuskegee Airmen while his dad is convalescing in the hospital, is a little bit confusing.

The Big Dark by Rodman Philbrick

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Published by The Blue Sky Press 

Summary: Charlie Cobb is enjoying an unusual display of the northern lights with the other townspeople of Harmony, New Hampshire, when a massive solar flare knocks out the power. Not even batteries work, so all vehicles and cell phones are gone.  The town has to come together to try to survive the cold and dark.  In the midst of the chaos, Charlie realizes his mom is almost out of her diabetes medication, and if he can’t find more, she may not survive.  Determined to save her, he sets off on a cross-country skiing trip to find a city that may have the prescription they need.  As the people of New Hampshire move into survival mode, their true colors start to be revealed, and a show-down between good and evil seems inevitable.  The final page describes solar flares in history and their potential for damage in the future. 192 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  Charlie is a likable and resourceful character.  The suspense builds from the first few pages, with almost every chapter ending in a cliff-hanger.  Even reluctant readers will find this hard to put down.

Cons:  The villain, living on a well-armed compound complete with camouflage-clad sons and their subservient wives, seemed a bit out there.  Even for New Hampshire.

Paper Wishes by Lois Sepahban

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Published by Farrar Straus Giroux 

Summary: Ten-year-old Manami lives happily with her parents and grandfather on Bainbridge Island, Washington in 1942. Her whole life changes when her family is ordered to leave the island for a Japanese American prison camp in the desert.  Hardest of all is leaving Yujiin, the family dog.  On an impulse, Manami hides Yujiin under her coat, only to have him confiscated when the family gets to the mainland.  Overcome with grief and guilt, Manami stops talking.  Her family is loving and supportive as they try to adjust to life in the barracks and the harsh desert climate.  Manami is a gifted artist, and she draws many pictures for Yujiin, sending them out on the wind with the hope that they will help him find the family again.  When tragedy strikes her family, Manami must find the courage to move beyond her guilt and try to help those around her.  An author’s note tells a brief history of Japanese immigrants to America and why some of them were imprisoned during World War II.  181 pages; ages 9-12.

Pros:  A beautifully written story of a loving family supporting each other through unimaginably difficult circumstances.  Manami’s present tense voice gives an air of immediacy to the story, and helps the reader watch events unfold through her eyes.

Cons: Although her family members were kind and loving, no one really explained to Manami why they were forced to move.

Under Their Skin by Margaret Peterson Haddix

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Published by Simon and Schuster 

Summary: Nick and Eryn are surprised and dismayed to learn one morning that their mother is getting married to Michael, her boyfriend of two years. To add to the upheaval, their mother tells them they’re moving into a new house.  Then she drops the real bombshell—unbeknownst to the twins, Michael has two children, Jackson and Ava.  Nick and Eryn have never met these two, or even heard of their existence.  They’re further mystified when they learn that each set of twins will spend alternate weeks at the house, so that they will never see each other.  Mom and Michael plan to elope, so there will be no meeting at the wedding.  Nick and Eryn are determined to learn the truth about their mysterious stepsiblings, little realizing that the truth will change everything they thought they knew about themselves, their families, and the world.  311 pages; ages 10-14.

Pros:  Fans of Haddix’s other science fiction books won’t be disappointed as she sets up a mysterious situation that unravels into more and more bizarre and unsettling revelations.  As in past stories, two ordinary kids are inadvertently thrust into a situation in which they basically have to save the world.  A cliffhanger ending all but guarantees at least one sequel.

Cons:  The adults in the story all seem somewhat stiff, with forced conversational skills.  You’ll have to read about half the book to figure out why.

The Tale of Rescue by Michael J. Rosen, illustrated by Stan Fellows

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Published by Candlewick Press 

Summary:  When a family of three from Florida gets caught in an Ohio blizzard, things go downhill pretty quickly.  Unable to find their way. and exhausted from plowing through the deep snow, they finally dig a hole to take shelter and huddle together to wait out the storm.  From time to time, the father stands up to whistle, hoping someone will hear this call for help.  On a nearby farm, the whistle catches the sharp ears of a cattle dog, and she sets out to locate the source.  Finding the family, she stays with them long enough to warm them a bit, then heads back to her farm.  She drives the cattle across the snow, flattening it enough that the family is able to walk across it and at last find shelter with the old farmer who owns the dog.  Many years later, the boy in the family, now 18 years old, returns to the farm to try to reconstruct the miraculous rescue.  What he finds there changes the course of his life going forward.  103 pages; ages 9-13.

Pros:  Dog fanciers will fall in love with the courageous, intelligent cattle dog, who, along with the other characters, is nameless until the very end of the story.  The color illustrations perfectly capture the feel of the blinding snow and the warm farmhouse.

Cons: While the short text and plentiful illustrations make this feel like an early chapter book, the vocabulary and inferencing skills needed make it more appropriate for an older audience.

A Year Without Mom by Dasha Tolstikova

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Published by Groundwood Books 

Summary:  12-year-old Dasha is crushed when she learns that her mother is spending a year at the University of Illinois, leaving Dasha with her grandparents in the Soviet Union.  Her father is living in Los Angeles, so Dasha feels lonely, despite her loving grandparents and two best friends.  During the year, she goes through some friendship difficulties, develops an unrequited crush on an older boy, and works hard to get into a better school.  Meanwhile, political unrest results in a few anxious days until Boris Yeltsin replaces Mikhail Gorbachev as the Soviet leader.  Things are beginning to fall into place by the spring, when her mother returns, announcing that Dasha will be joining her for the second year of her master’s program.  The book ends on an uncertain note, as Dasha arrives in Urbana, Illinois, and meets a girl who just might be a new friend.  168 pages; grades 5-8.

Pros:  Even though she is from a different place and time, Dasha’s feelings will be familiar to 21st century American tweens.  A cross between a graphic novel and an illustrated chapter book, A Year Without Mom will appeal to both reluctant and avid middle school readers.

Cons: Some of the Soviet references may be a bit confusing for post-Cold War readers.

In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse by Joseph Marshall

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Published by Harry N. Abrams 

Summary:  11-year-old Jimmy gets teased at his reservation school for having light skin and blue eyes, not looking like a real Lakota.  His grandfather decides to help him one summer by taking him on a journey through Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana to learn about the famous Lakota warrior Crazy Horse.  Through the places they visit and his grandfather’s stories, Jimmy learns about Crazy Horse’s life, his courage in battle, and his wisdom in knowing when not to fight.  Grandpa’s stories, in italics, make up the majority of the narrative.  When Jimmy returns to school and faces the boys who have bullied him, it’s clear he has absorbed the lessons Grandpa was trying to teach him.  176 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  History buffs will enjoy this recounting of various battles between Native Americans and the “Long Knives” who gradually took over their lands in the nineteenth century.  The stories are told from the Lakota perspective, undoubtedly a bit different from what appears in a lot of history textbooks.  Ultimately, there’s no getting around the sadness of this part of American history, but the courage and strength of the Native Americans are what is emphasized.

Cons:  Jimmy seemed a little young for an 11-year-old, hanging on his grandfather’s every word, and frequently asking, “For reals?”.  It would have been interesting to get a more detailed look at his life on the reservation.

Five Books I Never Got Around to Reading in 2015

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Happy new year!  In answer to a couple questions I had yesterday, yes, I plan to continue a daily review of books in 2016.  Unfortunately, I’m not on the publishers’ lists for advanced reading copies (yet!), so I have to wait until books are released to read them.  I’ll continue with 2015 reviews for the next 2-4 weeks, then move into 2016.

You might think that reviewing a book every day, I’d have gotten to all the books I wanted to read in 2015.  Not so.  With the end in sight, there are a few I’m pretty sure I’m not going to get to before I switch over to 2016.  But I’d like you to know about them in case you want to read them.  Here they are, with descriptions based on what I’ve read and heard:

My Diary from the Edge of the World by Jodi Lynn Anderson.  Published by Aladdin.

Gracie lives in a parallel world, recognizable as Maine, but co-inhabited by Sasquatches and dragons.  Led by her absent-minded scientist father, who is sure of the existence of the Extraordinary World (i.e., our own world), the family goes off on a cross-country adventure, seeking a safer haven.

 

The Astounding Broccoli Boy by Frank Cottrell Bryce.  Published by Walden Pond Press.

The story of two boys–formerly a bully and his favorite victim–who are hospitalized together when they both turn green.  Certain they have new superpowers, the two of them sneak out of the hospital each night to seek adventure.

Rules for Stealing Stars by Corey Ann Haydu.  Published by Katherine Tegen Books.

Silly and her three older sisters seek refuge from their alcoholic mother when they discover the closets in their house lead to alternate worlds.  At first the closets seem to be a refuge, but soon a darker side appears.  When one of the sisters gets trapped in another world, the other three must figure out a way to rescue her and to learn to survive in their real world.  (Okay, this sounds REALLY good.  Why didn’t I ever read it?).

Firefly Hollow by Allison McGhee.  Illustrated by Christopher Denise.  Published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

The story of a friendship between a cricket, a firefly, and a boy, and how they work together, mentored by a wise old vole, to make their dreams come true.

The Marvels by Brian Selznick.  Published by Scholastic Press.

As he did in Wonderstruck, Brian Selznick has created two stories, one told in text and the other, in the middle of the book, related with pictures.  One story tells of the Marvel family from 1766 to 1900; the other begins one hundred years later.  Kids who love Hugo Cabret and Wonderstruck won’t want to miss The Marvels.

Five More Favorite Chapter Books

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Well,  you never know with the Newbery, but these are less likely contenders.  Nevertheless, they were among my favorites in 2015.

 

The Detective’s Assistant by Kate Hannigan.  Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

Nell was one of the feistier characters to grace the pages of 2015 books.  Teaming up with her based-on-real-life Aunt Kate, a Pinkerton detective, the two of them solve murder mysteries and prevent an attempt on the life of newly-elected President Abraham Lincoln.

 

Watch the Sky by Kirsten Hubbard.  Published by Disney-Hyperion.

And here we have one of the year’s creepiest characters.  Jory’s stepfather Caleb sees signs of end times everywhere.  His solution?  Put the whole family to work digging night and day to create a protective bunker and bury themselves before the world comes to an end.

 

Masterminds by Gordon Korman.  Published by Balzer + Bray.  Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aljgBApiwM

Serenity, New Mexico seems too good to be true.  And you know what they say, when something seems too good to be true, it usually is.  Five kids unravel the secrets of their perfect town and end up running for their lives.

 

A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen.  Published by Scholastic Press.

During the few days Gerta’s father and brother are in West Berlin looking for jobs, the Berlin Wall goes up.  Their family remains divided for years, until one day Gerta sees her father on top of the wall, pantomiming for her to dig.  Now it’s up to her and her older brother to tunnel under the wall to freedom before neighbors and East German officials can catch on to what they’re doing and put a violent stop to their plan.

 

The Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands.  Published by Aladdin.  Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InHiOzdWRD0

A story about 17th-century English apothecaries?  Yeah, it didn’t really catch my eye at first either.  Turns out it’s a mystery full of complex codes, secret societies, and a serial killer who is targeting…you guessed it, 17th-century English apothecaries.  All told in apprentice Christopher’s lively and humorous voice.