ARC Review: War Games by Alan Gratz

Image: Scholastic Inc.

War Games by Alan Gratz. 368 p. Scholastic Press/ Scholastic Inc., October 7, 2025. 978225000257. 

Any book by Alan Gratz was an automatic purchase for me until I retired as a middle school librarian recently. I continue to read books for middle and young adult audiences and will continue to read whatever Mr. Gratz publishes. My students adore his novels and I ordered multiple copies of most of his titles. 

Twelve-year-old Evie Harris hopes to help her "Okie" family out of poverty by winning gold in the 1936 Olympics in Germany as part of the U.S. Olympics gymnastics team. She thinks this is her ticket to Hollywood stardom, like her idol, equestrian and movie star, Mary Brooks. Unfortunately for her, her teammates ostracize her and she fails the qualifying rounds. Since her Olympic dreams are dashed, she considers joining the shady Solomon Monday with his plans to rob the Reichsbank of its gold. As Monday says, this is one way for Evie to bring home the gold. Only, she has to ditch the ever-present Hitler Youth guide, Heinz.

This layered, plot-driven heist novel illustrates the behind the scenes story of the 1936 Olympics. The main characters are fictitious, as is the heist, but the political precariousness of those Olympics are factual. A detailed Author's Note separates fact from fiction for the reader. 

Fans of the author and fans of heist novels will gobble this up. Due out on October 7. 

Waiting on Wednesday: Witchkiller by Ashlee Latimer

Image: Scholastic Inc. 

Witchkiller by Ashlee Latimer. 336 p. Scholastic Press/ Scholastic Inc. October 7, 2025. 9781546137689.

I absolutely love a great fairy tale retelling or spin-off and this one sounds amazing. 

Publisher synopsis: Gretel had no choice.

Her brother Hansel was in danger, and she had to kill the witch. Five months later, she is still ripped from her dreams and awoken by the noise of her sword tearing into the witch's flesh. Her waking hours are no better. Hansel has grown more and more like their monstrous father by the day. The society she now inhabits has trapped her in an endless cycle of balls with nobles who sneer at her family's new money. And worst of all, her greedy father has issued his newest ploy to increase his wealth. Gretel must marry, and soon.

Devastated at the prospect of a lifetime with an old, decrepit husband, she flees a ball...and runs right into Prince Wilfried. When Gretel divulges the reality of her situation, Wilfried comes up with a solution. He is also being pressured to find a suitable future queen -- they can both delay the inevitable by faking an engagement. Gretel agrees, and what starts as a ruse quickly deepens as she finds herself falling for the handsome prince.

But in the quiet of night, still trapped in her castle with her memories, Gretel feels the walls closing in and ventures into the neighboring woods. There, she meets Katharina, a beautiful witch who introduces her to the witch community. But these women aren't evil -- they're healers, and Gretel is drawn to them.

When information comes to light implicating her family's involvement in a traitorous plot and endangering the lives of herself and those she's grown to care about, Gretel must ask herself -- did the wrong person die in that cottage? And can the Witchkiller become a witch?

#tbt: Fat Angie by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo

Image: Candlewick Press

Fat Angie by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo. 272 p.  Candlewick Press, March 12, 2013. 9780763680190. 

#tbt features a favorite of mine, Fat Angie by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo. Angie is one of a handful of characters that are carved into my heart and I grew to love her more with each sequel, Fat Angie: Rebel Girl Revolution (2019) and Fat Angie: Homecoming (2021). The voice is riveting and raw. 

Fat Angie won a 2014 Stonewall Award and was named to the Rainbow list as well as several State Book Lists. 

Waiting on Wednesday: Coach by Jason Reynolds

 Image: Simon & Schuster

Coach by Jason Reynolds. 256 p. Atheneum/ Caitlyn Dlhouey Books/ Simon & Schuster, October 14, 2025. 9798347102372.

First off, I've been a bad book blogger of late. I have been reading a fair amount, but have lacked the concentration to actually sit down and write about what I've been reading. I want to get back into regular blogging. I came across this upcoming release quite by accident when I was looking up another book by Jason Reynolds.

Waiting on Wednesday features Coach by Jason Reynolds. This companion novel features Coach as a young boy. The Track series was a perennial favorite among my middle school students. I can't wait to read this when it releases in October!

Publisher synopsis: In this companion to Jason Reynolds’s award-winning and New York Times bestselling Track series, meet Coach as a boy striving to come into his own as a track star while facing upheaval at home.

Before Coach was the man who gave caring yet firm-handed guidance to Ghost, Lu, Patina, and Sunny on the Defenders track team, he was little Otie Brody, who was obsessed with Mr. 9.99 (a.k.a. Carl Lewis) and Marty McFly from Back to the Future. Like Mr. 9.99—and his own dad—Otie is a sprinter. Sprint free or die is practically his motto.

Then his dad, who is always away on business trips, comes home with a pair of Jordans. JORDANS. Fine as fine can be. Otie puts them on and feels like he can leap to the moon…maybe even leap like Mr. 9.99 when he won the Olympic gold medal in the long jump. But one morning he wakes up to find his brand-new secret weapon kicks are missing—right off his feet! And Otie just might have a fuzzy memory of his dad easing them off as Otie was sleeping, but that can’t be right, can it?

Unless all the reasons for his dad’s “gone’s” are very different from what he’s been told… Because now, not only are the Jordans missing, but so is his father.

Waiting on Wednesday: Finding Lost by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Image: Penguin Random House

Finding Lost by Holly Goldberg Sloan. 208 p. Rocky Pond Books/ Penguin Young Readers, October 7, 2025. 9780593530252.

I attended a fall publisher preview with Penguin Young Readers this afternoon and my tbr list grew. There is a lot to look forward to coming from PYR this fall! However, Ever since I read Counting by 7s, I absolutely adore Holly Goldberg Sloan, so this news stood out for me.

Publisher synopsis: A stray dog leads to major change for Cordy and her grieving family in this heartwarming new novel by the beloved author of Counting by 7s.

Cordy Jenkins is searching for something that will change her life, and for the safety that vanished when her father died. She is convinced that if she just tries hard enough, she will find part of what her family lost, and that it will stop her mom from wanting to leave the small town she and her little brother have always called home. What Cordy finds is a muddy, hungry little dog with bad breath. And he’s the start of her family’s new beginning.

Holly Goldberg Sloan writes novels about family and friendship that open your heart and make you laugh out loud. You will fall in love with Cordy and her family as quickly as they fall in love with the stray pup named Lost. Full of unforgettable moments, this is a tender story of making peace with the inevitable truth that change is a constant, and that after profound loss there is still always the possibility of unexpected joy.

Waiting on Wednesday: We Fall Apart by E. Lockhart

Image: Penguin Random House

We Fall Apart by E. Lockhart. 320 p. Delacorte Press/ Random House Children's Books, November 4, 2025. 9780593899168.

Can't wait for this one. 

Publisher synopsis: The invitation arrives out of the blue. 

In it, Matilda discovers a father she’s never met. Kingsley Cello is a visionary, a reclusive artist. And when he asks her to spend the summer at his seaside home, Hidden Beach, Matilda expects to find a part of herself she’s never fully understood.

Instead, she finds Meer, her long-lost, openhearted brother; Brock, a former child star battling demons; and brooding, wild Tatum, who just wants her to leave their crumbling sanctuary.

With Kingsley nowhere to be seen, Matilda must delve into the twisted heart of Hidden Beach to uncover the answers she’s desperately craving. But secrets run thicker than blood, and blood runs like seawater.

And everyone here is lying.

Middle Grade Monday: Rebellion, 1776 by Laurie Halse Anderson

                                                        

Image: Simon & Schuster

Rebellion 1776 by Laurie Halse Anderson. 416 p. Atheneum Books for Young Readers/ Caitlyn Dlhouy Books/ Simon & Schuster, April 1, 2025. 9781416968269. Review of a finished copy borrowed from the public library. 

Middle Grade Monday features Rebellion 1776 by Laurie Halse Anderson. Thirteen-year-old Elsbeth works for a crotchety, old, loyalist judge in Boston, and feels lucky to have that job. She and her father recently moved to Boston from Philadelphia after her mother and siblings died from smallpox. Her father is a sailmaker and she is tall for her age, so she works for the judge and puts up with his abuse. But then, the Redcoats are routed from Boston and loyalists are evacuating. What will happen to Elsbeth? Her father wants her to evacuate, but she wants to stay. 

This first-person narrative drew me in from the start. Elsbeth is plucky, smart and feisty. Through Elsbeth, Anderson conveys the danger and uncertainty of the seige of Boston. As if the battle between the colonists and British was not enough, smallpox is rearing its ugly head in Boston. The resistance to vaccination is eerily similar to modern day antivaxers. 

Anderson is a masterful researcher, but also skilled in making her characters relatable. I loved this.