Waiting on Wednesday: The Chaos Curse by Sayantani Das Gupta

Image: Scholastic

The Chaos Curse by Sayantani Das Gupta. 360 p. Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond series, #3. Scholastic Inc., March 3, 2020. 9781338355895.

Publisher synopsis: Kiranmala must leave the Kingdom Beyond and travel to her hometown of Parsippany to save Prince Lal, who has been spirited to the unlikeliest of places -- a tree in the yard of her best-enemy-for-life. She also faces evil serpents (of course!), plus a frightening prophecy about her role in the coming conflict between good and evil. Most troubling of all, though, is the way reality all around her seems to waver and flicker at odd moments. Could it be that the Anti-Chaos Committee's efforts are causing a dangerous disruption in the multiverse?

Kiran must grapple with the increasingly tangled threads that threaten to ensnare her...and everyone in the world and the Kingdom Beyond.

Fans of Rick Riordan will eat this series up. It's fast-paced, laugh-out-loud fun!

Teen Tuesday: Are You Experienced? by Jordan Sonnenblick

Image: Macmillan

Are You Experienced? by Jordan Sonnenblick. 304 p. Feiwel & Friends/ Macmillan, September, 2013. 9781250025647. (Own).

Happy Tuesday TMS Readers! Thursday marks the 50th anniversary of The Woodstock Music Festival, which occurred on Max Yasgur's farm in Bethel, New York August 15 through 18, 1969. An estimated 400,000 people attended this outdoor event. Teen Tuesday features Are You Experienced? by Jordan Sonnenblick. 

Fifteen-year-old Rich Barber jumps at the chance to play his guitar at a protest rally even though his overly strict and overly protective parents wouldn't approve. What could go wrong? He gets busted in a raid along with his father and the two spend the night in jail. Of course, he's grounded for life. It also doesn't help that the anniversary of his uncle's death is coming up. He never met his uncle, but his dad becomes terribly depressed around the anniversary. 

But Rich is furious. He breaks into his father's locked cabinet and decides to play his dad's most prized possession. Jimi Hendrix's guitar. When he strikes that iconic chord, Rich finds himself dropped naked in the middle of a road in upstate New York where he is nearly hit by a car. Who's in the car? His fifteen-year-old father, eighteen-year-old uncle and his uncle's girlfriend and they are trying to get to the Woodstock Music Festival. 

Rich is a musician and student of Rock and Roll. He cannot believe he's actually at Woodstock! He knows the line-up of all the musicians and what they are going to play. Unfortunately, he also knows what's going to happen to his uncle in the near-1969-future. 

If you're a Sonnenblick fan, you already know about his signature combo of humor and depth and you will enjoy this YA offering. If you're a student of Rock and Roll history, you should definitely check this out. Sonnenblick vividly recreates the weekend. 

Middle Grade Monday and Audiobook Review: Aru Shah and the Song of Death by Roshani Chokshi

Image: Disney

Aru Shah and the Song of Death by Roshani Chokshi. Pandava Quartet #2. Unabridged downloadable e-audiobook, ~ 12 hours. Read by Soneela Nankani. Books on Tape/ Listening Library, April, 2019. 9780525587620. (Review of finished downloadable audiobook borrowed from public library. Own hardcover.)

Middle Grade Monday features book two of the Pandava Quartet, Aru Shah and the Song of Death by Roshani Chokshi.  Aru Shah is back! Shortly after her adventures from book one, Aru Shah and the End of Time, Aru finds herself accused of stealing Cupid's bow and arrow and shooting humans with them causing a zombie apocalypse. Aru and Mini have 28 days to find the real culprit or Aru will be forever banned from the Otherworld. She teams up with Brynne and Aiden, both of whom have secrets of their own. Together they face a series of perils, such as a giant swan attack, fiery cows and nightmare hounds. Aru also contemplates good and evil as she quests.  

Fast-paced and humorous, this series will definitely appeal to fans of Rick Riordan. (The series is published under his imprint at Disney.) The stories have a terrific blend of pop culture and Indian mythology. Soneela Nankani's narration was well paced and engaging - a very nice match. Book two ends nicely, but this is a quartet and I am primed and waiting for book three, Aru Shah and the Wish Tree, which is due in the spring of 2020. 

Fact Friday: Fever Year: the killer flu of 1918 by Don Brown

Image: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Fever Year: the killer flu of 1918 by Don Brown. 96 p. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, September 3, 2019. 9780544837409. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Happy Friday TMS Readers! Just three full weeks left of summer vacay! What are your plans - reading and otherwise? 

Fact Friday features Fever Year: the killer flu of 1918 by Don Brown. Brown is the award winning author illustrator of outstanding non-fiction graphic novels and picture books. His subtle watercolor panels and excellent storytelling affect and inform readers. Last year, he won a Siebert Honor (Informational literature award) for The Unwanted: Stories from Syrian refugees. 

In Fever Year, Brown meticulously recounts how the U.S. simultaneously entered World War I and contended with a national outbreak of what was called "Spanish Flu." The aggressive virus killed an estimated 5% of the world's population between 1918 and 1920. The arc I read did not have final art, but sample pages reveal a muted palette that effectively conveys the horror as the numbers of sick quickly outpaced the numbers to care for them or even to bury them. 

As usual in a Brown offering, back matter is excellent. I can't wait to see this finished volume come September. Another first purchase! If you are a graphic novel fan, you must check out Don Brown's work. If you are a student of the first World War, you should check Fever Year out as well! Happy reading! 

#tbt: The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

Image: Penguin Random House

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. His Dark Materials book one. Alfred A. Knopf/ Penguin Random House, July, 1995.

#tbt features The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. This is book one of a trilogy entitled, "His Dark Materials." It was originally published in the U.K. under the title, Northern Lights. It won the Carnegie Medal there, which is like winning the Newbery Medal here. This epic high fantasy is the story of an orphan named Lyra Belacqua who lives with the scholars of Jordan College, Oxford. She is a curious, free spirit. Something which worries her daemon, Pantalaimon to no end. All humans in this world possess a daemon companion. Until puberty, these beings can change shape. Lyra eavesdrops on her uncle, Lord Asrial giving a talk about something called "dust." Her best friend, Roger also goes missing. She fears he has been snatched by "the gobblers," a ring of child-abductors. When the powerful socialite, Mrs. Coulter decides to adopt Lyra, the Master gives her a strange device called an alethiometer, or truth teller. 

The world-building is brilliant and suspense builds as pieces of the puzzle begin to fit together. The cast of characters is large and eventually introduces an exiled polar bear king. The book was turned into a film in 2007, which did not do it any justice. It has been recently redone as a Netflix series and has been adapted as a graphic novel. If you enjoy high fantasy, you will love The Golden Compass and its sequels. 

Waiting on Wednesday: Rick by Alex Gino

Image: Nerdy Book Club

Rick by Alex Gino. Scholastic Press/ Scholastic Inc. April, 2020.  9781338048100.

Publisher synopsis: Rick's never questioned much. He's gone along with his best friend Jeff even when Jeff's acted like a bully and a jerk. He's let his father joke with him about which hot girls he might want to date even though that kind of talk always makes him uncomfortable. And he hasn't given his own identity much thought, because everyone else around him seemed to have figured it out.

But now Rick's gotten to middle school, and new doors are opening. One of them leads to the school's Rainbow Spectrum club, where kids of many genders and identities congregate, including Melissa, the girl who sits in front of Rick in class and seems to have her life together. Rick wants his own life to be that ... understood. Even if it means breaking some old friendships and making some new ones.

As they did in their groundbreaking novel George, in Rick, award-winning author Alex Gino explores what it means to search for your own place in the world ... and all the steps you and the people around you need to take in order to get where you need to be.

While the cover reveal by the author was several months ago, the actual publication date is (at the time of this writing)/ was (at the time of posting) nearly a year away. I have also been finding and linking images to the publisher, since they are the owners of the original image. In this case, Scholastic still hadn't added the image to its website at the time of this writing, so the image is linked to the author's post on Nerdy Book Club. 

I was so darn happy about this announcement. My students adore George and Jilly P.

Teen Tuesday and Arc Review: Frankly in Love by David Yoon

Image: Penguin

Frankly in Love by David Yoon. 408 p.G.p. Putnam's Sons/ Penguin Young Readers Group, September 10, 2019. 9781984812209. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Teen Tuesday features another fantastic book whose audience is older teens. Frankly in Love is David Yoon's debut novel and due out on September 10. Frank Li was born and raised in Southern California and is about to begin his senior year of high school. He was given a Korean name,  Sung-Min, which no one ever uses, not even his parents. His parents own "the store" in a mostly Black and Hispanic neighborhood. They work 365 days a year and have all Frank and his older sister, Hannah's lives. They do this so that their children will attend a prestigious college. Hannah went to Harvard and then went to law school, where she met the love of her life. The only problem was that Miles wasn't Korean and now Hannah is disowned. When nerdy Frank falls in love with Brit Means, a classmate from calculus class, he knows he can't bring her home. She's not Korean either. Joy, a family friend, is also hiding her relationship with a boy who is not Korean. The two concoct a plan - they will pretend date each other without either their parents or significant others knowing. Yeah.


I fell in love with the voice on page one. This first-person novel is wry, whip-smart, hilarious, and poignant. The diverse cast of characters brim with life. Issues of family, identity, culture, classism, racism, micro-aggressions, and duty are hashed out intelligently, offering no easy answers. 

You will laugh, sometimes out loud and hysterically. You will cry as well. This brilliant book is about high school seniors doing what high school seniors do - stressing about SATs and college apps, dating, crushing, cursing, and drinking or choosing not to drink. Frankly in Love is more suitable for former TMS students who have begun their own high school-to-college journey. 

The book has been heavily hyped and the hype is real. I can pick up my arc and open it anywhere and just fall back into Frank's world with ease and stay awhile. This is also one for the "reread with my ears" list. Frankly in Love leads my "Favorites of 2019" list and I expect it to receive tons of awards come awards season - Morris Award, Printz Award, National Book Award... Additionally, I believe it has already been optioned for film. And, that cover! Doesn't that cover just pop?