January (1)
1. Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum (read in 2015)
February (2)
2. Don't Get Caught by Kurt Dinan (2/14)*
3. The Art of Not Breathing by Sarah Alexander (2/24)
March (0)
April (3)
4. Let Me Finish! by Minh Le (4/17)
5. Stef Soto, Taco Queen by Jennifer Torres (4/24)
6. The Best Worst Thing by Kathleen Lane (4/24)
May (1)
7. Doreen by Ilana Manaster (5/28)
June (1)
8. Finding Perfect by Elly Swartz (6/5)*
July (2)
9. Counting Thyme by Melanie Conklin (7/3)*
10. Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk (7/31)*
August (0)
September
11. Pug Meets Pig by Sue Lowell Gallion (9/21)*
October (0)
November (2)
12. Dream Jumper by Greg Grunberg (11/16)
13. Coyote Moon by Maria Gianferrari (11/29)*
December (3)
14. The Ones by Daniel Sweren-Becker (12/4)
15. Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan (12/14)* (Ms. Varadarajan's debut)
16. Gertie's Leap to Greatness by Kate Beasley (12/17)
Nightmare Escape by Greg Grunberg. Book one of the Dream Jumper series. Illustrated by Lucas Turnbloom. Color by Guy Major. Graphix/ Scholastic Inc.,June, 2016. 9780545826044. (Review courtesy of finished copy provided by the publisher.)
Ten-year-old Ben hasn't been getting much sleep lately. Nearly every night, he finds himself not only having his own terrifying nightmares, but jumping into the nightmares of friends and acquaintances as well. It is only when he becomes totally exhausted that he agrees to visit a sleep clinic with his concerned single-parent mom.
There, he discovers the aptly named, Ward Z, filled with people stuck in REM sleep and unable to awaken. He finds his friends and some old guy who looks vaguely familiar. Ben's vivid dream quickly turns into a nightmare during his own sleep test. He encounters frightening monsters who attack him and has to rescue the very friends who are stuck in Ward Z. He also meets a rabbit who looks vaguely familiar.
This parallel universe is rife with evil and good people with the power to keep the evil at bay are far and few between. Ben discovers that he has a rare power - the ability to dream jump and might be the key to defeating this evil.
This debut was an fast-paced, engaging middle-grade-friendly graphic novel. It is book one of a series. While it does not end in a cliffhanger, there is enough unfinished business to keep the reader interested in the next book.
The art is gorgeous with crisp, clear, uncluttered panels. The color is intense. Ben is a winning main character. There's an interesting and diverse crew of supporting characters as well as humor, action and adventure. All-in-all, a great addition to the middle grade graphic novel section.
Pug Meets Pig by Sue Lowell Gallion. Illustrated by Joyce Wan. Beach Lane Books, September, 2016. 9781481420662. (Review of finished copy courtesy of Blue Slip Media.)
I'm a big dog person, more specifically, a lab person. We've owned and loved three and were about to find a fourth. That is, until son #2 thought it would be a good idea to buy a German Shepherd puppy at the end of his third year of medical school. After a week, he realized that this puppy needed more attention than he had time to give (Ya think?). Since he purchased the pup from a breeder somewhere in the south and picked him up at the airport, sending the dog back was not an option. So we took him.
If I were to own a small dog, it would be a pug. Or a beagle. I'd rather own a pug than a German Shepherd - or at least this one. I love him but he's very skittish, always hyper-alert and extremely protective of us. He needs lots of attention and stimulation. He needs a job.
I think I need a pug. Pugs are the coolest little dog breed ever. They are so ugly that they are cute. And, little as they are, the way their stocky little bodies move and stand, it's very "You don't want to mess with me, Dude." Which brings me back to Pug Meets Pig.
Look at that cover. Pug is facing off with Pig and he is not happy! Consider the front end-pages, Pug is a happy pup, content to be alone frolicking about his yard. Pug has a lovely home, a wonderful bowl, and he works hard in the yard. He has a great little dog house where he can chill. Until. Pig trots in all la-di-dah! Everywhere Pug goes - his food bowl, his yard, even his doghouse! There is Pig. Pug is going to run away. But, what is this? A pug-door? Hm,m.
Yeah, there are other adorable Pug books out there, but make room for this sassy sibling rivalry book. It's completely adorable from it's endpapers through its creamy, lovely illustrations. Pug Meets Pig is a fun read aloud and great for newly emergent readers as well.
Visit the author's web page for more information. There's also an activity guide with curriculum connections. Additionally, there's a Pug and Pig Halloween book in the works for 2017.
Counting Thyme by Melanie Conklin. 300 p. G.P. Putnam's Sons, April, 2016. 9780399173301. (Review from arc received courtesy of publisher.)
If Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie (by Jordan Sonnenblick) were to have a younger sibling, it would be Counting Thyme. Debut author, Melanie Conklin has delivered a winner. Through Thyme, her sensitive and articulate eleven-year-old narrator, Conklin meticulously chronicles life in a family after the unthinkable - a cancer diagnosis.
Thyme Owens has had to move away from her beloved grandmother and bff in San Diego clear across the country to New York City because her brother, Val was accepted into a cancer treatment trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering. In a rather memorable first line she says, "When someone tells you your little brother might die, you're quick to agree to anything." While she is totally supportive of her brother and can sometimes soothe him when no one else can, she can't help feeling pangs of resentment. Her mother, in an effort to acknowledge all that Thyme has given up, regularly gives her slips of paper when Thyme pitches in to help, a sort of time iou, which Thyme saves in a jar. Unbeknownst to everyone but her bff, Shani, Thyme intends to amass enough time to return to San Diego to visit Shani.
New York City, with its scary subway system, dirty streets and bone-chilling cold does not appeal to Thyme. Neither does her nasty downstairs neighbor, Mr. Lipinsky. She doesn't want to like Mrs. Ravelli, the housekeeper her mother hired to help out. Nor does she want to make friends at her new school or get too involved in activities because she will be gone before the end of the school year. She needs to be back in San Diego in time to celebrate Shani and her birthdays in March.
Sure, some familiar ground is trodden here, but middle grade readers cannot get enough and the writing is lovely. The dialogue and friendship dramas are spot on. If you have readers who beg for sad, especially sad with a side of funny, this is one to give them. Counting Thyme has HEART. Don't miss this spectacular debut.
Finding Perfect by Elly Swartz. 304 p. Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers, October 18, 2016. 9780374303129. (Review from arc courtesy of the publisher.)
Molly Nathan likes things just so. Her cherished collection of glass animals has to be arranged perfectly. Her homework is not allowed to have one erasure. She's at odds with odd numbers. And that moment just before she recites her poetry in the slam, is perfect. Unfortunately, it's getting harder for Molly to achieve perfect. Her brother keeps disturbing her animals. The work is getting harder in school. The rituals she keeps to keep her anxiety down are starting to get in the way. She's terrified that her best friend might find out. She's also yearning for her mom to return to the family. She thinks that if she wins the poetry slam, her mom will have to come back.
In the last two months, I have read four books in which the main character suffers from OCD - two YA and two MG. All were well-drawn, engaging and tugged at my heartstrings. In my book, it is most difficult to write middle grade fiction. The author has to get so much right and it's so easy to get things wrong. In Finding Perfect, we have a winning main character in Molly. She's not only facing common problems - family dysfunction and friendship conflict - but she's battling irresistible rituals that are taking over her life.
I think it's safe to say that we all have a Molly in our life, especially if we are in education. We just might not know it yet. I think this is an important book. I'm not real into bibliotherapy. I tend prefer to give books not to the "sufferer" per se, but friends and classmates so that they might gain some compassion and insight. I guess I'm on a bit of mission to eradicate offhand comments like, "I am so-o-o OCD!" in both adults and students. No! No! No! No! Young people who are in the grips of this are crippled by anxiety and rituals. This book effectively, even brilliantly portrays the stark reality at an age-appropriate level for the middle grade reader. (I highly recommend The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B by Teresa Toten for a brilliant YA treatment.)
Finding Perfect also features well-drawn secondary characters, including sympathetic adults.The dialogue is realistic and Molly's narration is nearly pitch-perfect. I think this would make for a terrific audiobook with the right, young-sounding narrator. I also think the cover is pretty perfect (take a gander at the spine art).
Another notable debut from the "Sweet Sixteens!" I can't wait to booktalk this next school year!
The Best Worst Thing by Kathleen Lane. 208 p. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, June 7, 2016. 9780316257817. (Review from arc courtesy of publisher.)
To say that Maggie is a worrier is an understatement. Not only is she worried about starting middle school, there's Gordy, her tough-guy neighbor and classmate, who's been bragging that he's getting a gun for his twelfth birthday. She's also worrying about the fate of the baby bunnies next door, some may be heading to the cooking pot. And, ever since learning about the murder of the checkout lady at the local convenience store, which she and her sisters visited moments before the botched robbery, Maggie has been obsessing about the possibility of being murdered by the criminal since he is still at large.
This unique debut is told from Maggie's point-of-view and can be a rather challenging read even though it's short. The stream-of-consciousness style used to portray her obsessions and repetitions can be disorienting. Be patient and stick it out.
Maggie can't simply travel from point A to point B without any number of rituals (counting, repeating, checking). This glimpse into the bind that those who suffer from OCD labor under should help tween readers empathize. At the same time, there's a lot that's familiar to the average tween. She's eleven and given to flights of fancy and abrupt shifts in concentration. Anyone who spends any time with tweens being social with one another is used to this. Her relationships are changing within and outside of her family. She's recognizing that her assumptions can be wrong. She grows in the many wondrous ways that happens in these special in-between years.
It'll be a pleasure to add this short, satisfying novel to my school's collection. There aren't a lot of books for tweens dealing with OCD. It's an important addition because it seems that severe anxiety and OCD in children is on the rise. Students may recognize either themselves or someone they know and might benefit from the respectful portrayal in The Best Worst Thing.
The 2016 Schneider Family Book Award went to a YA book, The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B, in which the main character is working through his struggle with OCD. It was heartbreakingly wonderful. Different year, different committee, different age category - but I hope someone considers The Best Worst Thing.
Don't Get Caught by Kurt Dinan. 326 p. Sourcebooks Fire, April 1, 2016. 9781492630142. (Review from arc courtesy of publisher)
Max Cobb is coasting through high school, bland and invisible with his 2.5 GPA and zero social life. He's a huge fan of heist movies and admires the pranks of the Chaos Club, a legendary, secret club famous for epic pranks at his high school. So when he receives an invitation from them, he can't believe his luck. But he can't help wondering, why him? Why Just Max? Should he become Not-Max and go for it?
He does but instead of glory, he and four other "invitees" were set up as the patsies. And their fail was epic. The entire school was talking about it. Unfortunately for the Chaos Club, Max isn't going to take this sitting down. Not-Max may have been duped but Not-Max is someone he kind of likes. He and his fellow dupes form an unlikely alliance with one mission. Take down the Chaos Club.
Ordinarily, I don't particularly enjoy heist or prank themed movies. The suspense of the heist makes me too antsy and I am not fond of pranks. If I do find the prank funny, I always feel guilty because pranks usually rely on humor at someone's expense. But pranks and heists have hit children's and YA literature hard the last year or so starting with Varian Johnson's The Great Greene Heist and Jude Watson's Loot. Both authors are due to drop sequels in the coming year. And I did enjoy both. I also ended up enjoying The Tapper Twins Go to War (with each other) by Geoff Rodkey and The Terrible Two by Mac Barnett and Jory John. When I learned of this debut during a Sourcebooks Preview webinar, I just had to request an arc.
It is totally apropos that the book birthday for Don't Get Caught is April Fool's Day. Teens looking for a fast-paced romp narrated by a snarky, smart, wry high school boy will swallow this whole and eagerly await/ hope for a sequel. The laughs come fast and furious. The pages of my arc are dog-eared to mark not only all the hilarious moments, but also moments of pure teenage truth with all its blemishes from the shark-tank social hierarchy through hard-ass teachers through unrequited love. The characters are smart but not in that overly twee way that sometimes dominates popular YA novels. These characters sound real. These characters have depth.
The story twists and turns as the capers unfold prompting quite a few, "Wait! What?" moments where I needed to stop to go back and reread. And that ending? Never saw it coming. Bloody brilliant.
Don't Get Caught might be a tad mature for my crowd. I'll be rereading it to try to make it work. I'm considering the eighth grade only shelf. I highly recommend it for high school and public library collections, as well as LA classroom collections. Teen boys and girls will enjoy this equally; as will reluctant and enthusiastic readers, fans of Andrew Smith and fans of heist movies. Don't miss out.
