Middle school drama

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Stand Up! by Tori Sharp (Little, Brown Ink, 336 pages, grades 5-8). Kyle and Clay are best friends who also live together with their moms in an apartment over the local cafe. They’ve both been part of stage crew through middle school, but Clay decides she’s ready for the spotlight and auditions for the last eighth grade show, Gals and Dolls. The performance brings all kinds of new experiences, including Clay’s crush on fellow actress Daria and the creation of a popular podcast by Kyle and Clay. Although Clay enjoys being in the play, her ADHD makes her struggle with focus, and she’s heartbroken when she learns that leading man Nate is asking Daria to the eighth grade dance. But the show must go on, and not only is Gals and Dolls a sold-out hit, but Kyle and Clay’s podcast takes off as well, resulting in them getting to do a live show opening act for their own favorite podcast. Includes an author’s note describing how her own autism (like Kyle) and ADHD (like Clay) influenced the story, and encouraging readers to embrace who they are and find their own people.

Fans of Raina Telgemeier’s Drama will enjoy this graphic novel that offers a behind-the-scenes look at a group of lovable thespians figuring out life, middle school, and how to put on a play. The plot is a bit meandering at times, but the characters carry the story and will have readers turning pages until the end.

Take It From the Top by Claire Swinarski (Quill Tree Books, 256 pages, grades 4-7). For Eowyn and Jules, summers at Lamplighter Lake Summer Camp have always been the best part of the year, a time when they get to live and breathe musical theater. Eowyn’s first summer at camp, when she was 8 years old, was a welcome change of scenery following her mother’s death. There she met Jules, who sees camp as an escape from the poverty of cramped West Virginia apartment and worries about her father’s disability. But their sixth summer, when the girls are 13, is different. Jules has been cool to Eowyn all year, and she remains distant when they get to camp. Eowyn is dealing with crippling stage fright, which has meant smaller parts each year in the big camp production, as well as family issues with her dad and her Broadway star older brother Nick. When it’s announced that this year’s play will be Wicked, a show the girls have always dreamed about co-starring in, Eowyn fears that she will have to put many of her dreams on hold forever.

Told in chapters that alternate between Eowyn’s first-person narrative of the present and Jules’s third-person accounts of past summers, the story slowly reveals the cracks in their friendship, as well as some of the family issues both girls are dealing with. Everything comes to a head during Wicked‘s dress rehearsal week, and some honest communication begins the healing process for everyone. Musical theater fans will love the behind-the-scenes look at putting on a big play, and everyone will enjoy the idyllic summer camp vibes. I was surprised this summer-y book was released in November, but then I realized the release date was well-timed to coordinate with the Wicked movie.

Creature features

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Narwhal: Unicorn of the Arctic by Candace Fleming, illustrated by Deena So’Oteh (Anne Schwartz Books, 48 pages, grades 1-5). Narrated in second person (“Scientists call you unicorn of the Arctic”), the text tells the story of a narwhal, starting in the Arctic, where he and another male joust with their tusks before slipping under the ice into the sea. When the weather turns warm, the narwhal pod migrates to summer grounds; by September, it’s time to return to the Arctic. Dangers lurk, with orcas and polar bears hunting the narwhals and a sudden blizzard blocking the air hole in the ice. If the narwhal survives, he will make the journey back and forth for fifty years. Includes two pages of additional information and a bibliography.

As she did in Giant Squid, Honeybee, and Polar Bear, Candace Fleming has crafted an exciting nonfiction narrative that teaches kids a lot about a fascinating animal, while keeping the pages turning with plenty of adventure. I was disappointed at first that Eric Rohmann didn’t do the illustrations, but debut illustrator Deena So’Oteh did a magnificent job that deserves both Caldecott and Sibert consideration.

Beware the Dragon and the Nozzlewock: A Graphic Novel Poetry Collection Full of Suprising Characters! by Vikram Madan (Wordsong, 128 pages, grades 2-5). This madcap collection of poems features a wild and crazy cast of characters, such as ghost guppies, squishosaurs, and the salesmoose. Making multiple appearances throughout the book is the fearsome Nozzlewock, about whom a group of children is repeatedly warned, and from whom they have to ultimately save their teacher. There’s a bunch of crazy science going on, too, from laboratory shenanigans to wormholes, which in the end helps the kids rescue the teacher. Many of the characters reappear from time to time, adding to the fun and continuity of this poetry collection.

This would be a great introduction to poetry for those who may not consider themselves fans of the genre. The poems are hilarious, and the graphic novel format will appeal to all kinds of readers.

Two books about Palestine

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A Map for Falasteen by Maysa Odeh, illustrated by Aliaa Betawi (Henry Holt and Co., 40 pages, ages 4-8). When Falasteen’s teacher invites students to look at a map and share where their families are from, Falasteen can’t find her family’s homeland, Palestine. At home that afternoon, she tells her grandparents what happened and asks why Palestine isn’t on the map. Her grandfather, Jido, draws her a map and tells her that her teacher needs teaching, while Teta tells Falasteen how soldiers forced her and her children from their home and shows her the key to their old house she has kept all these years. When Falasteen asks her mother about it at bedtime, Mama tells her that “sometimes people live in countries and sometimes countries live in people,” and that Palestine lives in each of their hearts. She promises Falasteen that one day they will be able to visit their homeland. Includes an author’s note telling of her own family’s experiences being displaced from their home in Palestine in 1967, as well as a concise history of Palestine from 1948 to the present.

Maysa Odeh tells a compelling story that shows readers the history of Palestine, both through Falasteen’s story and her author’s note. Each of Falasteen’s family members adds a different element to the narrative, and Odeh’s personal story creates another layer. I felt like Mama’s speech could have been edited a bit for length (more power to her for having that much energy at bedtime), but at the same time it is incredibly moving and stirring.

Although it’s not a children’s book, I want to mention another new Palestinian book coming out this week, If I Must Die: Poetry and Prose by Refaat Alareer (OR Books, 288 pages). Refaat Alareer was a Palestinian poet and professor who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza in December 2023 at the age of 44. After his death his poem, “If I Must Die” went viral. There is currently a campaign to make his book a best-seller by pre-ordering it before Tuesday.

Heartbreaking/heartwarming stories

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I Know How to Draw an Owl by Hilary Horder Hippely, illustrated by Matt James (Neal Porter Books, 32 pages, ages 4-8). Belle’s teacher holds up her picture of an owl for the class to see. “How did Belle make his eyes so wise? Belle’s owl almost looks alive.” Belle doesn’t want to tell the class, but she shows the reader how she learned to draw an owl. She and her mom have been living in their car in a deserted park. At night, they hear an owl hooting, and her mom tells Belle that the owl is keeping an eye on them. One night, there’s no sound, but suddenly the owl appears in a nearby tree and locks its wise eyes with Belle’s. She’s sure she’ll never tell the story to any of her classmates, but one day a new boy gets dropped off in a car that looks just like the one that she and her mom live in, and just like the owl, she vows to keep an eye on him.

This moving story shows a girl and her mom surviving a tough time with courage and resilience, resulting in Belle’s kindness when she sees another child who may be going through something similar. The owl adds an interesting element to the story, which will engage kids and build empathy for others who may be experiencing homelessness.

Shark Teeth by Sherri Winston (Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 304 pages, grades 4-7). At age 12, Sharkita has far too many responsibilities weighing on her, often being forced to care for her younger siblings while Mama is out drinking and partying. The family has been split up before, the kids sent to foster care, and Sharkita’s mom has been given a last chance to prove herself. At first, things seem pretty good, and Sharkita is cautiously optimistic that she can lead a normal middle school life, hanging out with friends, being a baton twirler, having her first boyfriend, and maybe even getting help for her hyperdontia (extra teeth). But soon, Mama starts disappearing, leaving Sharkita to take care of 5-year-old Lilli and 8-year-old Lamar, who has fetal alcohol syndrome. When Sharkita defies her mom one night to go out with her friends instead of babysitting, disaster strikes, and the kids are placed in foster care once again. Ultimately, they’re split up, but end up in loving homes. Sharkita begins to receive therapy for her panic attacks and sleep paralysis, learning that it’s okay to take care of herself as well as her siblings, and that the three of them will always be a family no matter what.

I could not put this book down, and I hope it will be considered for awards. Sharkita’s family is, as she learns, in crisis, and the brunt of that has fallen on her. The topics are not easy to read about, and I was on the edge of my seat for most of it. It seems like there have been more middle grade novels this year with terrible mothers, whether they are unrepentant criminals or criminally neglectful. It does make for rewarding reading to watch their resilient kids, like Sharkita, find their own way and manage to connect with loving adults who can actually support and take care of them (which sadly is not always how things turn out in real life). Sharkita’s support all comes from staff at her school, serving as a reminder of how much social work schools are doing these days.

That holiday glow

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Winter Solstice Wish by Kate Allen Fox, illustrated by Elisa Paganelli (Beaming Books, 32 pages, ages 4-8).  On the shortest day of the year, a group gathers on a beach to watch the sunset and build a bonfire.  In the darkness, people long for light and the connection to each other.  “Around the globe, other hands reach out, holding hope, holding space, holding one another” is accompanied by people in three different countries reaching out to pass a light from one place to the next.  At the same time as the shortest day, in other places on Earth it is the longest day.  And on the winter solstice, we know that soon the days will start getting longer and daylight will return.  Includes information about both the winter and summer solstices and the winter solstice celebrations that are pictured in the book.

Both the poetic text and the illustrations provide a luminous introduction to the winter solstice, with a nod to the summer one and what causes both solstices.  There are lots of celebrations pictured, and readers may want to think about how they want to observe the shortest day and wishes that they may want to make.  This would be a nice December book to pair with Hanukkah Upside Down, which shows kids celebrating Hanukkah in both the northern and southern hemispheres.

Let It Glow by Marissa Meyer and Joanne Levy (Feiwel and Friends, 304 pages, grades 4-7).  Aviva and Holly take turns narrating the story of how an unexpected meeting at a holiday pageant audition leads to the discovery that they are identical twins separated at birth.  While Aviva is getting ready for Hanukkah with her parents, brothers, and bubbe, Holly and her single mom and grandfather are preparing for Christmas.  When they decide to do a Parent Trap-style switch, each learns about the other one’s family, personality, and holiday.  They’re able to hold off on a grand reveal to their families until they bring down the house with an original song and the pageant.  Although they don’t get all the answers about their birth and separation, it’s clear that the two families will be connected going forward, especially since there seems to be a budding romance between the grandparents.

This feel-good book has some serious Hallmark vibes and is sure to be a best-seller that will undoubtedly be unwrapped by many tweens by the light of the Christmas tree or Hanukkah menorah.  While a little suspension of disbelief may be needed (the girls figure out they’re twins that were separated at birth in about five minutes–and are immediately fine with it), there are enough hilarious hijinks, cozy winter scenes, and touching family interactions to satisfy readers.

Two novels about Indigenous communities

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The Ribbon Skirt: A Graphic Novel by Cameron Mukwa (Graphix, 192 pages, grades 4-7). Anang is a two-spirit (non-binary) 10-year-old, who wishes to make a ribbon skirt to wear for powwow. Because Anang is perceived as a boy, they have had bullying issues at school, resulting in a decision to homeschool. When Sherry, a former friend turned mean girl, comes to stay at Anang’s house, there’s some tension between the two kids. Anang is afraid they’ll be made fun of for wearing a ribbon skirt, but their kind grandmother offers support and advises them to consult with spirits. Various animals assist Anang in their quest for skirt materials, and as the items seem to magically appear one by one, Anang and Sherry are also able to work out their differences. The skirt is complete in time for powwow day, and Anang joyfully participates in the dancing before inviting Sherry to join them. Includes a glossary of Ojibwe words and additional information about ribbon skirts, two-spirit, powwows, and a recipe for manoomin, a wild rice and berry salad.

This fairly short graphic novel covers a wide range of topics, with a main character who has struggled with others’ acceptance of their gender identity but seems to have emerged stronger from the experience. I loved the supportive community Anang is part of, and readers will enjoy the helper animals who all seem to have pretty healthy senses of humor.

Find Her by Ginger Reno (Holiday House, 224 pages, grades 5-8).  Wren’s Cherokee mother has been missing for the last five years, ever since Wren was seven years old.  Her white father, the local police chief, is a stickler for protocol, frustrating Wren who wants to know all the details of the investigation.  Her grandmother Elisi has lived with the family since Mom’s disappearance, taking care of Wren and her dad, and instilling in Wren pride in her Cherokee heritage.  Wren has a natural instinct for finding lost things, especially animals, and when pets are found dead or tortured, she wants to find out what is going on.  With a new friend Brantley, she starts to investigate the animal crimes and eventually makes a discovery that turns her and Brantley’s worlds upside down.  While Wren and Brantley are able to solve the mystery, her mom remains missing at the end of the book, strengthening Wren’s resolve to find out what has happened.  Includes information on the Missing or Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls database and Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, the town in Cherokee Nation where the story takes place.

This is a riveting mystery by debut author Ginger Reno (Cherokee), which shines a light on the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women.  There are some pretty heavy issues in the story, including bullying, child abuse, and animal abuse, making it perhaps a better choice for middle school readers.

The magic of friendship

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The Best Friend Bracelet by Nicole D. Collier (HarperCollins, 272 pages, grades 3-6). While Zariah has a booming friendship bracelet business, she herself has been without a best friend since entering middle school. When she realizes one of her bracelets is magic and will cause the wearer to instantly become her best friend, she embarks on a series of experiments to try out different friends. Each relationship teaches her something new about friendship and moves her closer to the real thing. As she gets to know a girl named Theo who claims to have no interest in making friends, Zariah begins to realize that best friendship is based on shared experiences, trust, and having each other’s back. By the time she and Theo realize that they have a real best friendship, Zariah has discovered that she no longer needs the magic bracelet.

I could really relate to Zariah’s obsessive overthinking about friendship from my own middle school days, and I loved how she got to experiment with different types of relationships with her magical bracelet. Both Zariah and Theo are interesting characters with lots of quirks and interesting hobbies. I was hoping they would expand their friendship circle to include Willow, a best friend runner-up who was the last bracelet wearer, and her friend Clara.

Split Second by Janae Marks (Quill Tree Books, 256 pages, grades 4-7). After an evening of fun at the fall carnival, Elise happily falls asleep in her sleeping bag at a slumber party with her two best friends, Ivy and Melinda. She wakes up in bed, with Ivy and Melinda gone, and soon realizes that it’s now spring and six months have passed. No one else seems to notice anything’s amiss, and Elise soon realizes that she’s lived through that time period, even though she has no memory of it. Elise learns that she and Ivy and Melinda are no longer friends, but that she’s reconnected with an old friend, Cora, who she drifted apart from during the pandemic lockdown. Cora’s the one person she confides in about the time jump, and as they try to puzzle out what happened with Ivy and Melinda, it soon becomes clear that Cora has some secrets of her own. After revealing one of those secrets to Elise, Cora takes up the narrative to tell her side of what happened that night and what she knows about the time jump and the magic that made it happen.

I was drawn right into this book by the various mysteries involved in the time travel and enjoyed the way the author wove together middle school friendship issues and magic. Splitting the book between two narrators allowed for interesting shifts in perspective. This is the second book this year where the narrator lives through a time that she subsequently forgets, a premise that I find both intriguing and disconcerting.

‘Tis the season

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Uri and the King of Darkness: A Hanukkah Story by Nati Bait, translated by Ilana Kurshan, illustrated by Carmel Ben Ami (Kalaniot Books, 32 pages, ages 4-8). Uri, his sister Shir, and their mom are awaiting Dad’s return home as it starts to get dark and rain is falling. Uri begins to worry about what could have happened to Dad: is he stuck in traffic? Did he get a flat tire? As darkness falls, Uri’s imagination kicks into overdrive, envisioning an evil king leading an army to attack their house. When he and Shir rush to fight off the invaders, the door swings open, and Dad is home! His delay was caused by a stop at the bakery for jelly donuts, a Hanukkah treat, and as Uri lights the first candle and the family sings together, the king and his army retreat back into the darkness. Includes the story of Hanukkah and the blessings that are recited when lightning Hanukkah candles, in English and Hebrew.

This Israeli import both celebrates the first night of Hanukkah and shows how a child deals with his anxieties and draws comfort from a loving family. The illustrations look like a kid’s drawings, especially the ones showing the king and his army. The rhyming text (translated from Hebrew) is catchy, although it wouldn’t have been my first choice for telling this story.

Santa’s First Christmas by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Sydney Smith (Viking Books for Young Readers, 40 pages, ages 3-8). Used to be, Santa Claus made toys all year, delivered them on Christmas Eve, and got right back to work on December 25. But when a polar bear learns of this situation, he convinces the elves that Santa deserves a real Christmas. Starting with breakfast in bed, the elves take Santa step by step through Christmas preparations, including a tree, stockings, and colorful outside lights. A white furry creature in a Santa suit stops by to deliver gifts (Santa knows who it is but doesn’t say anything). When everyone sits down to a big Christmas feast, Santa looks around the table and declares, “We should do this every year.”

Beloved author Mac Barnett has another Christmas book this season, teaming with Sydney Smith for a lovely story that touches on many familiar holiday traditions. The illustrations strike a perfect balance of light and darkness to create cozy holiday scenes, and everyone will get a kick out of the polar bear stand-in for Santa Claus.

Oh boy!

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Boy vs. Shark by Paul Gilligan (Tundra, 240 pages, grades 4-7). Paul is already struggling with a best friend named David who wants to hang out with the local bully, Swain, and a dad who wants him to toughen up and stop spending so much time drawing and reading comics. The last thing he needs is the new movie Jaws that everyone is talking about, and the peer pressure he feels to go see it himself. But off he goes to the theater with his dad, and the film proves to be every bit as terrifying as he was afraid it would be. Before long, the shark is haunting Paul’s imagination, telling him he needs to be cooler and go along with what David and Swain want to do. When Paul listens to the shark and gives in, he finds himself in a world of trouble and discovers that doing his own thing and being honest with his parents is actually what works best for him. And when Swain’s shenanigans result in David falling off a roof and breaking his arm, David begins to see the light as well, saving his friendship with Paul. Includes a pictorial glossary of such Jaws-era terms from the story as The Six Million Dollar Man and the Easy-Bake Oven.

As someone just a year older than David, I could relate to his terror of Jaws. While I didn’t see it at the time, just the knowledge of its existence was enough to cast a dark shadow over my happy Jersey shore summer vacations. The story is a fun romp through the 1970’s (no glossary necessary for this boomer), but it’s also a timeless tale of growing up, peer pressure, and friendship, and it’s nice to see this kind of graphic novel written with boy main characters.

Boy Here, Boy There by Chuck Groenink (Tundra, 56 pages, grades K-3). A boy living in prehistoric times leads a nomadic life with his family. While they set up a home in a cave, he explores the surrounding environment, encountering animals like wolves and mammals, and enjoying running, jumping, and rolling in the grass. His most surprising find is a boy similar to himself, whom he sees across the river. That boy waves to him, then walks off with his family. Back at home that night, the boy eats dinner with his family, then blackens his hand with the smoke from the fire and makes handprints on the cave walls to commemorate the wave from the other boy. An author’s note gives more information about Neanderthal people, which is what the boy is, and Homo sapiens, the group the other boy belonged to. Includes a list of sources.

Readers will be fascinated at this glimpse of prehistory, written in short phrases that feel like early language. The Neanderthal boy’s adventures as he explores his new neighborhood have many elements that kids will relate to, and the illustrations do a great job of capturing his joy and wonder at what he sees. It’s not clear from the text who the other boy is, but the author’s note adds the necessary additional information.

Grandfathers

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Coming Home: A Hopi Resistance Story/Tutuqaykingaqw nima: hopisino pahan tutqayiwuy ep yorhomti by Mavasta Honyouti (Levine Querido, 48 pages, grades 1-5). The narrator starts with his childhood memories of his grandfather, or kwa’a, then goes back to what he later learned of his kwa’a’s own early days. When his father was threatened with arrest, his kwa’a was forced to leave home and go to a boarding school, where his hair was cut, he had to take a new name (Clyde), and he was forbidden to speak the Hopi language. At first, he tried running away, but that resulted in beatings, and eventually things got easier at school as he learned the rules and how to speak English. Finally, he was allowed to return home, where he chose a simple life focusing on farming and family. The narrator concludes by acknowledging the lessons his kwa’a taught him that have helped him as he’s grown up. Includes additional information about boarding schools and their impact on the Hopi, as well as notes about the art and the translation (the text is written in both English and Hopi).

Add this to the growing list of books that describe the cruelties of Indian boarding schools. The author’s admiration for his kwa’a is evident, and readers will be inspired by how Clyde overcame such a difficult experience to value his own culture and family. The unique art and Hopi translation add to this beautiful story.

The Blue Pickup by Natasha Tripplett, illustrated by Monica Mikai (HarperCollins, 48 pages, ages 4-8). Ju-Girl loves working with her grandfather at his Jamaican garage. She helps fix radiators, switch out car batteries, and change oil, but her favorite job is organizing the socket wrench set. When they take a break on the tail of Granddad’s old blue pickup truck, he tells her about his younger days making deliveries all over the island. Ju-Girl encourages him to fix up the truck so it will run again, and one day she arrives at the garage and hears that sound of its engine. Granddad drives her around town, reminiscing about people and places, until they make a stop at a store where the owner has shined up Granddad’s first set of socket wrenches to pass on to Ju-Girl. She uses them immediately to fix the pickup’s battery, and Granddad tells her that she’s reminded him of the importance of taking care of old and forgotten things, and that one day the truck will be hers. Includes an author’s note about her own grandfather and his pickup that inspired the story, along with a photo of her standing in front of the truck.

Another excellent memoir featuring a pair of memorable characters; I particularly liked how competent of a mechanic 7-year-old Ju-Girl is. The illustrations capture the gorgeous island colors from the countryside to the bustling city.