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Gale Galligan’s graphic novel for tween readers, Fresh Start shares the story of siblings Ollie and Cat Herrison. Because the sisters are the mixed race children of a father who works internationally, they move frequently. Ollie has always seen this move in a positive light since she can start over in a new place without carrying the baggage of embarrassing moments. However, once she enrolls at Chestnut Falls Middle School in Virginia and begins to make new friends, she isn’t sure. Besides communicating key themes about social development, friendship, and the tumultuous years of early adolescence, Galligan coveys the importance of cultural connection. Being Thai,Read More →

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With allusions to people like Mary Bethune, Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, Jessie Redmon Fauset, James Weldon Johnson, and Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Kwame Alexander commemorates Black History with his latest book: Black Star. But this novel in verse for middle grade readers goes beyond that preservation to tell the story of Charlene (aka Charley) Cuffey. The only thing Charley enjoys more than listening to her Nana Kofi tell stories about courageous ancestors and epic journeys is playing baseball with Willie Green and Henry Jones. With Grandpa’s inspiration, it’s impossible for Charley not to dream big. Charley’s mother, on the other hand, admonishes her asthmatic daughter for “getting allRead More →

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A sixth grader at Jefferson Middle School, Desdemona Hillman Diller (aka Dee) is navigating friendship issues and the changing social roles experienced during pre-adolescence in Alex Thayer’s recent novel Happy & Sad & Everything True. Juniper Green has been Dee’s best friend since they became neighbors, so when the two enter sixth grade and are in separate sections, Dee does not share her mother’s enthusiasm that this is an interesting turn of events and a wonderful opportunity for Dee to make new friends. At school, Juniper seems to have moved on with new friends who won’t allow Dee to sit at their lunch table. ConfusedRead More →

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A typical adventure/survival story for middle grade readers, Off the Map by Meika Hashimoto will reaffirm the value of keeping one’s head in a stressful situation. Hashimoto tells the story of Marlo, her dog Cheerio, and her best friend Amos. Marlo has been abandoned, first by her dad and then by her best friend Amos; consequently, she feels unlovable and confused by why Amos left her stranded in the lunchroom at the end of the school year. When Marlo’s mother, a river guide in Alaska, suggests a canoe trip on the Yukon River, Marlo is super excited to escape into the wilderness to use herRead More →

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With every detention and expulsion and with every scorch mark and emotionally scarred staff member, the legend of twelve-year-old Lavina Lucas continues to grow. Mostly abandoned by her parents who often travel for their work, Vin has not received guidance on how to use and control her magic, and she yearns to figure it out. After all, the Treaty of 1695 does say that “magic must be controlled” (4), and the purpose of magecraft education is to teach discipline, restraint, and control. Because of her infractions, Vin’s latest emotional outburst at Strictland School of Magic has landed her into the last resort for delinquents. SuchRead More →

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Players of Dungeons and Dragons (D and D) will likely enjoy Garth Nix’s recent novel for middle grade readers: We Do Not Welcome Our Ten-Year-Old Overlord. Set in an alternative version of Canberra, Australia, in 1975, Nix’s novel features the Basalt siblings: Eila and Kim, who are friends with the Chance siblings: Bennie and Madir. On one of their excursions wading in a nearby lake, they encounter a peculiar object just beneath the surface. Resembling a “cut-off head with long hair” (10) or maybe an abandoned cannonball, the muddy object captivates Eila.  When Kim tries to wrestle the now glowing orb away from his ten-year-oldRead More →

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The writing life is one focus for Francisco X. Stork in his recent novel One Last Chance to Live. It tells the story of Nico Kardos who wishes to be a great writer. However, Stork’s book is also a murder mystery that explores the purpose of life. Seventeen-year-old Nico is finishing his senior year at Stonebridge Charter School in Hunts Point, New York, and his writing teacher Mr. Cortazar has assigned the class the task of writing 500 words per day in their journals. The practice is intended to teach self-knowledge, which “will make you a better person and a better writer” (18), according toRead More →

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Seventeen-year-old Sal Amani lives in a haunted house, and everyone at Holden High knows it. However, Sal is keeping secrets, and his sister Asha—who is a talented writer with dreams of attending university and becoming a journalist—has put her life on hold while their mother deals with the loss of her husband. When the house keeps Sal awake, he runs. Sal’s good friend Dirk Madden tries to help, but he’s worried about social capital. Then, there’s Elsie, who has wrongly been labelled a slut.  When Pax Delaney moves to town, he claims he’s good with ghosts. Although weird and unbalanced is Pax’s normal, Sal isRead More →

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With a name like Grimsbane, a person is bound to find connections to death, destruction, woe, and gloom. And readers will find all that in Joan Reardon’s The Grimsbane Family Witch Hunters. Set in Witchless, Indiana, this novel for middle grade readers features Anna and Billy Grimsbane, twin siblings who are about to turn thirteen. Billy is a “nerd extraordinaire” and a lover of scones. He is also organized, intelligent, and fearless. Anna, on the other hand, is more impulsive. She is also naturally agile, protective, and loyal. Both are eager to enter the family business, although for very different reasons. A family of witchRead More →