#tbt: Holes by Louis Sachar

Image: Macmillan

Happy Thursday! #tbt features Holes by Louis Sachar. Holes was published in August of 1998, so it is twenty-five-years-old this month. Stanley Yelnats III's family is cursed and the curse has finally landed on him. Wrongly accused of stealing a pair of valuable sneakers, Stanley is headed to Camp Greenlake. This isn't camp. It's a juvenile detention facility. And there isn't a lake. That dried up over a hundred years ago. The juveniles detained there must did holes in the hot, Texas sun all day. They are looking for something, but they don't know what. The Warden is brutal and on a mission.

The narrative moves back and forth in time as well as between the U.S. and Latvia. The cast of characters is large and colorful and connected to each other. It's wry and funny, especially the dialogue between the boys.

Holes won the 1999 Newbery as well as the National Book Award and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction. It was named to numerous state book awards lists and the New York Times Notable Books list. It was adapted for film by Disney in 2003 and is remarkable in its faithfulness to the book. It's no wonder, because Mr. Sachar wrote the screenplay! He also had a cameo in the film. Holes is one of those rare Newbery winners that is also popular with kids.

Happy reading!

Waiting on Wednesday: The Prisoner's Throne by Holly Black

Image: LBYR

The Prisoner's Throne by Holly Black. Stolen Heir Duology, Book 2. 384 p. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, March 5, 2024. 9780316592710.

Happy Wednesday! It's the penultimate Wednesday of my summer break and I'm gearing up to return to school. I was very excited to learn about this conclusion to the Stolen Heir duology some weeks ago and now that there is a cover, an absolutely gorgeous cover, I can post. I read The Stolen Heir with my ears in late April and missed my exit home from a trip to Boston because the ending was intense! 

The synopsis for The Prisoner's Throne is very short, but fans need only know that it's coming.

Publisher synopsis: An imprisoned prince. A vengeful queen. And a battle that will determine the future of Elfhame.

Middle Grade Monday (a day late): The Probability of Everything by Sarah Everett

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

The Probability of Everything by Sarah Everett. 336 p. Clarion Books/ HarperCollins Publishers, June, 2023. 9780063256552. (Review of finished purchased copy.)

Happy Tuesday! I posted this book talk yesterday and forgot to crosspost it here! Summer break is turning my brain to mush! Middle Grade Monday features The Probability of Everything by Sarah Everett. I usually pick books to read (and buy for the library) based on reviews and word-of-mouth on social media, but sometimes, I just go into a book blindly. For some reason, I chose to read this without much pre-knowledge. I just kept seeing it popping up on social media. Man, did this book blindside me! This might be my favorite middle grade book of the year for the sheer ingenuity of the plot and the utterly endearing characters, especially our narrator, Kemi, who is a science nerd obsessed with probability.

I've spent the last half hour deciding whether or not to add more to this uncharacteristically short book talk and decided to leave it short. Discover it for yourself. Hand it to your readers who love sad. I usually end my book talks on my school's learning platform with, "Happy reading!" I didn't yesterday. This is not a happy read. It's a gut-punch; but it's exquisite. 

Waiting on Wednesday: Spying on Spies: How Elizebeth Smith Friedman Broke the Nazis' Secret Code by Marissa Moss

Image: Abrams Books

Spying on Spies: How Elizebeth Smith Friedman Broke the Nazis' Secret Code by Marissa Moss. 224 p. Abrams Books for Young Readers/ Abrams, March 12, 2024. 9781419767319.

Happy Wednesday! I just looked at the calendar and noticed that students will be back in school in three Wednesdays! We teachers are back on the first for two teacher workdays bookending the Labor Day weekend. Summer break is winding down! My summer reading has contained more than the usual big books written for adults, so I am way behind for my GR goal for the year. 

Waiting on Wednesday features Spying on Spies: How Elizebeth Smith Friedman Broke the Nazis' Secret Code by Marissa Moss. I am super-excited to read this not only because I enjoy Ms. Moss' books, but also because I learned about Elizebeth Smith Friedman through a picture book! #nevertoooldforpicturebooks! Code Breaker, Spy Hunter: How Elizebeth Smith Friedman Changed the Course of Two World Wars by Laurie Wallmark is part of my sixth grade picture book biography unit and a popular choice among sixth grade students! I always tell students that a picture book biography can inform, but also inspire reading further. Ms. Moss' fuller length biography will be the perfect next step for students.

Her picture book biography of Allan Pinkerton, The Eye That Never Sleeps, is also popular in the unit, and I really enjoyed her biography of Lise Meitner, The Woman Who Split the Atom.

Spying on Spies isn't due out until March 12, 2024, but that leaves plenty of time to read Ms. Moss' other biographies. Here's the publisher synopsis:

One of the founders of US cryptology who would eventually become one of the world’s greatest code breakers, Elizebeth Smith Friedman (1892–1980) was a brilliant mind behind many important battles throughout the 20th century, saving many lives through her intelligence and heroism. Whip-smart and determined, Elizebeth displayed a remarkable aptitude for language and recognizing patterns from a young age. After getting her start by looking for linguistic clues to the true authorship of Shakespeare’s writings, she and her husband, William Friedman, were tasked with heading up the first government code-breaking unit in America, training teams and building their own sophisticated code systems during the lead-up to World War I.

Elizebeth’s solo career was even more impressive. She became the Treasury Department’s and Coast Guard’s first female codebreaker and created her own top-notch codebreaking unit, where she trained and led many male colleagues. During Prohibition in the 1920s, her work solving and intercepting coded messages from mobsters and criminal gangs lead to hundreds of high-profile criminal prosecutions, including members of Al Capone’s gang. Her crowning achievement came during World War II, when Elizebeth uncovered an intricate network of Nazi spies operating in South America, a feat that neither law enforcement nor intelligence agencies had been able to accomplish. Despite her unparalleled accomplishments, she was largely written out of history books and overshadowed by her husband. Only in very recent years has her name begun to receive the attention it deserves, including the US Coast Guard naming a ship in her honor and the US Senate passing a 2019 resolution to honor her life and legacy.

Back matter includes codes for kids to learn!

Middle Grade Monday and ARC Review: Barely Floating by Lilliam Rivera

Image: Penguin Random House

Barely Floating by Lilliam Rivera. 240 p. Kokila/ Penguin Young Readers, August 29, 2023. 9780593323120. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Happy Monday! I spent a lovely weekend with my youngest sister up in her home in the Berkshires. It was lovely family time filled with good food and lots of walks and talks. Middle Grade Monday features Barely Floating by Lilliam Rivera. Twelve-year-old Natalia de la Cruz Rivera y Santiago goes by Nat and is unapologetically fat. She's also athletic. She uses people's assumptions about her size to her advantage in a side hustle at the town pool, where she challenges unsuspecting mean kids to a swim race. She's planning on earning bank this summer and reading endless manga, but when the LA Mermaids perform at the pool, she falls hard for synchronized swimming. When she asks her activist mom and professor dad for permission to join, she's dismayed to learn that they view the sport as a "pageant in water." Sure, the sport is dominated by very thin white girls, but the LA Mermaids is a mostly Black team and there's even a boy who wants to try out! So, Nat tries out secretly and, when she makes the team, talks her cousin into helping her attend practices and meets without her parents' knowledge. Surely, once her parents see her dedication, they will change their minds! Won't they?

Nat is a sassy, saucy narrator with a strong sense of self and a strong sense of social justice that occasionally gets her in trouble. Readers will find her hilarious, endearing and occasionally annoying. I loved her complicated friendships and her supportive family. She's a lucky girl. Barely Floating goes down real easy, but has depth. It releases on August 29. Put it on your radar. 

#tbt: Eight Keys by Suzanne LaFleur

Image: Penguin Random House

Eight Keys by Suzanne LaFleur. 216 p. Wendy Lamb Books/ Random House Children's Books, 2011. (Own)

Happy Thursday! #tbt features Eight Keys by Suzanne LaFleur. On Monday, I mentioned this book when I recommended Seven Clues to Home. Elise's mother died when she was born and her father died three years later. She has been living with her aunt and uncle on their farm. The second floor of the barn has eight locked doors, which Elise never wondered about until keys started appearing after her twelfth birthday. Middle school has been tough for Elise. She's being bullied, her best friend, Franklin, has become embarrassing and she's falling behind academically. What will she discover behind those locked barn doors?

Eight Keys was Ms. LaFleur's second novel and was published in 2011. Her debut, Love, Aubrey was published in 2009 and is one of my favorite books to give to readers who want sad books.

PS: I linked the cover image to the audiobook on the PRH website. This is the cover of the book in my library. I don't love the paperback cover. It's fine, but something about the original cover speaks to me. 

Waiting on Wednesday: Maid for It by Jamie Sumner

Image: Simon & Schuster

Maid for It by Jamie Sumner. 240 p. Atheneum Books for Young Readers/ Simon & Schuster, Sept. 5, 2023. 9781665905770.

Happy Wednesday! I hope you have plans to spend some time outdoors today! It looks like a great one here in northern NJ. Waiting on Wednesday features Maid for It by Jamie Sumner. Many TMS Readers are fans of Ms. Sumner's 2019 debut, Roll with It, which had a sequel, Time to Roll released earlier this year. Maid for It will be published on September 5. 

Here's the publisher synopsis: Now that Franny and her newly sober mom have moved to a cozy apartment above a laundromat, Franny’s looking forward to a life where her biggest excitement is getting top grades in math class. But when Franny’s mom gets injured in a car accident, their fragile life begins to crumble. There’s no way her mom can keep her job cleaning houses, which means she can’t pay the bills. Franny can’t forget what happened the last time her mom was hurt: the pills that were supposed to help became an addiction, until rehab brought them to Mimi’s laundromat and the support group she hosts.

Franny will not let addiction win again, even if she has to blackmail a school rival to help her clean houses. She’ll make the money and keep her mom sober—there’s no other choice. But what happens if this is one problem she can’t solve on her own?

Middle Grade Monday: Seven Clues to Home by Gae Polisher and Nora Raleigh Baskin

Image:  

Seven Clues to Home by Gae Polisner and Nora Raleigh Baskin. 198 p. Alfred A. Knopf/ Random House Children's Books, June, 2020. 9780593119617. (Review of finished, purchased copy.)

Happy Monday! Today's rainy morning was perfect for hunkering down and reading! I had appointments earlier, but brought my current book with me for the waiting rooms. We had a run of beautiful weather here in northern NJ, so the rain was good. I forgot to shut the sprinkler off though.

Middle Grade Monday features Seven Clues to Home by Gae Polisner and Nora Raleigh Baskin. I learned about this book on a Twitter discussion about books that released during the pandemic, but didn't get the marketing they deserved despite good reviews, and thus, didn't do that well. I hadn't heard about it and am a fan of both authors! 

Joy and Lukas became bffs way back in second grade when Joy discovered that they both had summer birthdays within days of each other. She asked, "What are the odds of that?" Lukas endearingly tries to figure it out. He's a math guy. From that point on, they always celebrated together with a scavenger hunt to their gifts. But Joy is dreading the approach of her thirteenth birthday because it marks the first anniversary of Lukas' death. She has been grieving deeply for the past year and never did open the envelop he left at her house as her first clue. She decides to open it and set out on a belated scavenger hunt.

The nonlinear story shifts from the previous year to the present and POV shifts from the present day, present tense narration by Joy to Lukas' story of how he planned the gift and the hunt. They both reflect on their growing closeness and the fear that it might ruin their friendship if the other doesn't reciprocate. The story is moving and emotionally intense and perfect for middle school readers who love sad, sad books like Suzanne LaFleur's Eight Keys or Wendy Mass' Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life.

There was one nit that pulled me out of the story, but no tween reader will notice, nor will many adults, since most drive cars with automatic transmission. (I suppose not many who work in publishing even drives a car.) "The tires grind over the gravel; she steps on the clutch, flips the shifter into park, and shuts the engine." (p.107) As someone who has driven manual vehicles most of my adult life and whose four sons all learned on manual transmission (very painful with lots of rage, but gratitude now), let me just say, there is no park. You shift the car into first gear and put on the emergency brake. It pulled me right out of the story and made me wonder why that little detail of a clutch was even there. The sentence works without it. Again, small nit that most won't notice.