Middle grade fiction

Mothman’s Curse by Christine Hayes, pictures by James K. Hindle

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Published by Roaring Brook Press

Summary: While their father is running a sale at the family auction house, Josie and Fox discover an old Polaroid camera. Trying it out, they discover a ghostly man appears in all the photos they take.   They buy the camera, and it turns out to be the first in a series of events that spins out of control. The old man in the photos has a connection to Mothman, a red-eyed monster who has appeared in different towns for the last 100 years right before a huge disaster. Now he’s come to Josie and Fox’s town, and they only have a few days to break his curse before disaster strikes. Grades 3-6.

Pros: Plenty of kids love creepy stories, and this story has plenty of creepiness. It will definitely give some shivers, yet isn’t scary enough to be disturbing to most middle grade readers.

Cons: The ghost in the picture has committed suicide, which may be a bit disturbing to some readers.

Awkward by Svetlana Chmakova

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Published by Yen Press

Awkward : Chmakova, Svetlana, 1979- author, illustrator : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Summary: New girl Peppi accidentally bumps into nerdy kid Jaime on her first day of school, and he ends up getting made fun of as a result. For weeks, she agonizes over how best to apologize to him. In the meantime, she finds new friends in the school art club. The art club’s big rival is the science club, and wouldn’t you know it, Jaime is the star of the science club. The principal, in one of those clueless educational administrator moves, pits the art club against the science club in a competition for table space at the annual school club fair. War clouds gather on the middle school horizon until Peppi and Jaime are able to resolve their differences and come up with a solution that allows the two clubs to work together peaceably. Grades 4-7.

Pros: Awkward will happily share shelf space with graphic novels Smile, El Deafo, and Roller Girl. The art is near perfect and the story line impeccably captures the agonizing awkwardness of adolescence. Svetlana Chmakova uses several pages at the end to show the design process of creating characters and settings.

Cons: There are a couple incidences of mildly PG language.

Nooks and Crannies by Jessica Lawson

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Published by Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers

Summary: When Tabitha Crum gets a weekend invitation to the estate of the mysterious Countess of Windermere, she thinks it will be a fun interlude before her despicable parents drop her off at the orphanage. Five other children have been invited, and at their first dinner, the Countess reveals that all six were adopted by their parents. One of them is her long-lost grandchild, heir to a fortune. The lights go out, somebody dies mysteriously, children start disappearing, and Tabitha has to use all of her best detective powers to figure out what is going on…before it’s too late.  Grades 4-7.

Pros: Agatha Christine meets Roald Dahl in this old-fashioned page-turner. Tabitha is a lovable character, unfortunately stuck with the worst parents to disgrace the pages of a children’s book since Matilda Wormwood’s. She’s also a fan of detective fiction, and with her sidekick Pemberley the mouse, is able to puzzle out the many twists and turns this story takes. The grand finale is completely satisfying, with all loose ends neatly tied up and a happy ending for those who deserve it and just desserts for the ones who don’t.

Cons: Tabitha’s reactions to her horrible parents occasionally seemed a little to kind to be true.

The Double Cross and Other Skills I Learned as a Superspy by Jackson Pearce

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Published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Summary: Hale Jordan has grown up at the Sub Rosa Society (SRS) where his parents both work as spies, and he and his younger sister Kennedy are being trained to follow in their footsteps. Unfortunately, Hale is a bit slow and out of shape, and he hasn’t been able to pass the physical exam to become a junior agent. What he lacks in brawn, he makes up for in brains, which comes in handy when his parents disappear. When Hale starts to investigate their last mission, he discovers the shocking truth about SRS. Teaming up with Kennedy and the allegedly villainous League agents, Hale has to not only rescue his parents, but prevent SRS from taking over the world. Right before they left, Hale’s parents told him, “Heroes don’t always look like heroes, and villains don’t always look like villains.” Hale discovers the truth of this over and over in a plot filled with twists and counter twists. Grades 4-7.

Pros: Told in Hale’s smart and laugh-out-loud funny book, this action-packed adventure will appeal to reluctant readers.

Cons: The ending seems to set up a sequel possibility, but no mention of it yet in the book or on Amazon

Escape from Baxters’ Barn written and illustrated by Rebecca Bond

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Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Summary: Burdock the barn cat hasn’t had the easiest life, but he’s always been able to look out for himself. Then one night, he overhears Dewey, the farmer, discussing his plan to burn down the barn and collect the insurance money. Burdock realizes that, even though he can get away, the lives of the other barn animals are in danger. He shares the news, and the animals begin to look for a way to escape before Dewey can carry out his dastardly plot. As their plan grows more complicated, Burdock finds himself increasingly participating in it. Should he continue to go his independent way and save himself, or allow himself to be drawn into becoming part of the barn family? Grades 2-5

Pros: With its memorable animal characters, exciting storyline, and expressive illustrations, this would be a great read-aloud for kids as young as first grade. The story of the animals conspiring to outwit the humans’ deadly plans, the warm friendships, and the realistic pen-and-ink drawings invite comparisons to Charlotte’s Web.

Cons: Dewey’s extreme and potentially deadly plan to burn down a barn full of animals may be a little much for younger readers.

Wrap-Up Wednesday: Books for Wimpy Kid Fans

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Okay, I’ll admit to a little Wimpy Kid burnout (I actually hid the books in my library for a brief period last winter to get kids to check out something else).  But my literary tastes can be pretty low-brow, and I actually enjoy many of the books in the whole genre that seems to have spun out from this series.  Good news: every book on the list is part of a series (or is the first book in a new series):

The Rat With the Human Face by Tom Angleberger.  Published by Harry N. Abrams.

Lyle, Marilla, and Dave go on their second adventure as the Qwikpick Adventure Society, a quest to see the rat with the human face rumored to live in the basement of an old research facility.  There are just enough quirky details to make this story seem realistic.  By the author of the Origami Yoda series.

The Terrible Two by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Kevin Cornell.  Published by Harry N. Abrams.

Miles hopes to keep his prankster reputation when he moves to a new school.  Little does he know his school already has a prankster with capabilities far exceeding Miles’.  The mystery trickster turns out to be the last person Miles would have suspected, and the two of them join forces to pull off the biggest prank ever.

The Worst Class Trip Ever by Dave Barry.  Published by Disney-Hyperion.

On the flight to Washington, D.C., Wyatt and his best friend Matt witness two men acting like terrorists, and decide to take matters into their own hands.  There are plenty of laughs, but also a pretty good adventure story with a number of twists and turns.

Katie Friedman Gives Up Texting (And Lives to Tell About It!) by Tommy Greenwald, illustrated by J. P. Coovert.  Published by Roaring Brook Press.

When Katie Friedman accidentally sends a nasty text about her boyfriend to the boyfriend himself, she vows to give up texting.  On top of that, she gets an offer she can’t refuse if she can get ten friends to join her for a week.  Can she really pull it off?

My Life As A Gamer by Janet Tashjian, illustrated by Jake Tashjian.  Published by Henry Holt and Co.

Derek and his friends get an amazing opportunity to test a hot new video game before it’s released.  He breaks the rules by telling his new tutor some things about the game.  When details about it are leaked to the gaming world, Derek finds himself in hot water.

Katie Friedman Gives Up Texting! (And Lives to Tell About It) by Tommy Greenwald, illustrations by J. P. Coovert

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Published by Roaring Brook Press

 

Summary: After Katie Friedman accidentally sends a snarky text about her boyfriend Nareem to Nareem himself, she vows to give up texting. Her favorite singer, Plain Jane, has spoken out about too much phone time, and when Katie has a chance to meet her, Jane offers her a deal. If Katie can get ten of her friends to join her in giving up their phones for a week, Jane will perform one of Katie’s songs at her concert and give the whole group a backstage tour. The only catch is, Katie can’t tell anyone about the reward. It seems like an impossible task, but Katie’s lifelong dream is to a rock star. Can she possibly find a way to pull this off? Grades 4-7.

Pros: This latest installment in the Charlie Joe Jackson series is the first to be told from a girl’s perspective. Katie is a likeable narrator, and the plot is fast-paced and (aside from meeting your favorite singer) pretty realistic. The arguments for and against texting are interesting and potentially discussion-provoking.

Cons: Some of the heart-to-heart talks between the kids who give up their phones seemed a little unlikely to happen in middle school.

Amazon

Watch the Sky by Kirsten Hubbard

~ Janet Dawson ~ 1 Comment

Published by Disney-Hyperion 

Summary: Jory is tired. Tired of keeping secrets, like the secret that he has a 9-year-old sister whom his family found in their pumpkin patch three years ago. And tired from digging in the canyon behind his house for five hours a night. His stepfather Caleb says the whole family has to dig. He doesn’t say why exactly, but it has to do with the signs Caleb says are all around them. Signs that danger is coming soon. It’s scary, but for the first time in his life, Jory begins to see that there are other people in the world who are different from him and his family. He’s beginning to make friends at school and to learn more about the world around him. So when Caleb tells him the biggest secret of all, Jory wonders if he has the courage to question the life he’s always known.  Grades 4-7.

Pros: 262 pages, 24 hours. I couldn’t put it down. Caleb is a real creep, but the author makes him human, too, with some understandable reasons for his actions. Jory is such a likeable character, you will be rooting for him right up to the last page.

Cons: Not all of the questions raised are answered by the end of the story.

The Detective’s Assistant by Kate Hannigan

~ Janet Dawson ~ 2 Comments

Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers 

Summary: 11-year-old Nell Warne has had a tough life, seeing her mother die, then her two brothers, and finally, her estranged father. With no other family left, she is unceremoniously dumped on her dead uncle’s widow, Aunt Kitty, in Chicago. Aunt Kitty has no interest in taking in an orphan. First of all, she blames Nell’s father for her husband’s murder. And secondly, she’s too busy with her career as the first woman detective in America, working for Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency. But there’s no other place for Nell, so the two of them end up traveling undercover to Philadelphia, Mississippi, and New York City to solve a series of mysteries. Their final case brings them to Baltimore, where Nell proves herself once and for all by helping Aunt Kitty thwart an assassination attempt on the new president, Abraham Lincoln. Grades 4-7.

Pros: The author’s note explains that Kate (Kitty) Warne was a real person, the first female detective in America. Both she and Nell are strong, spunky characters that are fun to read about, and their adventures read like a series of 19th-century Nancy Drew mysteries. The subplot about Nell’s father, Kate’s husband, and their involvement with the Underground Railroad just before the Civil War add interesting historical details.

Cons: Although the letters between Nell and her friend Jemma helped explain some necessary background, they sometimes felt like an interruption of the main plot.

Mystery in Mayan Mexico by Marcia Wells

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Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Summary: Fresh from solving his first case with the NYPD, Eddie Red and his friend Jonah are ready to relax in Mexico on a vacation with Eddie’s parents. But on their first day, a valuable Mayan mask is stolen from the hotel lobby, and Eddie’s father is a prime suspect. Using his photographic memory and drawing skills, Eddie teams up with Jonah and a Mexican girl named Julia to try to find the real thief. When the Mexican police chief puts Eddie’s father under house arrest, Eddie knows he’s running out of time. Will he be able to solve the mystery before his father ends up in jail? Grades 4-6.

Pros: The introduction draws the reader in quickly, with a blood-covered Eddie in a Darth Vader costume calling his parents from a Mexican jail cell, accompanied by an unconscious Jonah. From there, the action shifts back two weeks to reveal how they got there. Eddie’s voice is frank and funny, and Jonah is a perfect sidekick.

Cons: The clue that allowed Eddie and Jonah to finally figure out the solution to the mystery seemed a bit far-fetched.