Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater

Image: Scholastic Inc.

Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~10 hours, 45 minutes. Dreamer Trilogy #2. Read by Will Patton. Scholastic Audio/ Scholastic Inc. 9781338672923. (Review of downloadable e-audiobook borrowed from the public library.)

Happy final Tuesday of the school year! Phew, I am running out of steam! The travels of this past weekend added to my general end-of-school exhaustion. Last night was the TREP$ Marketplace from 4:30 - 8. Tonight I'm chaperoning the eighth grade dinner dance and I'm attending graduation tomorrow. Then there's the grading to do. I enjoy it all, but it's tiring. 

Teen Tuesday features Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater. This is book two of the Dreamers trilogy, which is a companion trilogy to the Raven Cycle books. Confused yet? Since this is a second book, I will be purposely vague in my description so as not to spoil anything from book one, Call Down the Hawk.

Dreamers Ronan, Hennessey and Bryde are on the run with the Moderators hot on their heels and committed to destroying them. This intricately plotted story features compelling characters and so many twists, readers will get whiplash. While this trilogy stands alone, readers who have read The Raven Cycle, will appreciate Dreamers a bit more. If you are a reader who enjoys magical realism, these are the books for you. I cannot wait for Greywaren, which is due out on October 18. I'm sort of glad I missed the publication of Mister Impossible last May, because my wait for the finale is shortened.

I've listened to most of these two series and have really enjoyed Will Paxton's growly performances. I didn't here. His British accent was inconsistent and just...weird. There were a number of times when a word was pronounced incorrectly and that took me out of the story. I might read Greywaren with my eyes. 

Review: Curse of the Harvester by Greg Grunberg & Lucas Turnbloom

Curse of the Harvester by Greg Grunberg & Lucas Turnbloom. Art by Lucas Turnbloom. Color byGuy Major. Dream Jumper Book 2. 220 p. Graphix/ Scholastic Inc. October, 2017. 9780545826082. (Review of a finished paperback courtesy of publisher.)

It is best to have read the first book in this series because Curse of the Harvester begins with a creepy-weird sequence with several characters from the first book, Nightmare Escape. That book had a resolution of sorts, but with some unfinished business. I mentioned in my review of Nightmare Escape that the bad guys were truly terrifying. They continue to be here. 

Ben and Jake have gone into the dream jumping business and seem to be doing well. Ben becomes more sure of his ability with each jump and Jake monitors things from the waking world - until he falls asleep. Jake slips into the dream world and brings something back with him. I was tripping along fine until the boys woke up - at a pool party. Who sleeps at a pool party? For some reason, that bothered me. 

Perhaps I should've reread Nightmare Escape because I didn't always follow the pivots in the story. Fans won't notice though. Still, I'm eager for the next volume as this one's ending is ominous.

The art continues to impress with vivid, energetic colors and a nice mix of panel sizes. The villains spring to hideous life here, and this is not a book to give to any reader with a clown phobia. Give this to your readers who want horror. While not relentlessly scary, it is unnerving.

Non-fiction Monday: No Summit Out of Sight by Jordan Romero

No Summit Out of Sight: the true story of the youngest person to climb the Seven Summits by Jordan Romero with Linda LeBlanc. 355 p. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, May, 2014. 9781476709628. (purchased)

In May of 2010, Romero became the youngest person to climb the seven (eight) highest summits on each continent. There is some dispute over which the Australian summit is, so he did both. This dream was inspired by a mural of the seven summits that he saw at his school when he was nine. With the help of his father and stepmother, who are professional "extreme" athletes, Romero trained to become a mountain climber. 

He began with Kilimanjaro, and, at age ten set the record for as the youngest to climb the mountain. He broke records for most of his climbs save for one. He methodically and earnestly chronicles each climb, including the type of training he had to undergo, and the fundraising he did,  through the sometimes grueling application for climbing permits, to the successful summit. Along the way, he also takes time to describe the people and culture of each place. 

While the young man is to be admired for his accomplishments and his tenacity, there is a bit of smug superiority in the telling and an awful lot of boring in-between the summits. There weren't many photos either. His team, made up of his dad and stepmother and some rotating athlete friends, was "perfect." His mom stayed happily at home worrying and cheering. The sponsors were altruistic. There was no conflict. No ulterior motives. The few moments of self-doubt were magicked away by a pep talk from his stepmother. All the other teams paled in comparison to their lean, mean climbing machine team. It all got a little twee for me.

Still. The dude climbed all those mountains and wrote his story. Teen readers will be inspired and his healthy eating/ exercise message is a good one. A worthy addition - particularly if memoirs is covered by your LA department as my students have to read one in eighth grade. 

Audiobook review: The Contract by Derek Jeter, with Paul Mantel

The Contract by Derek Jeter, with Paul Mantel. Jeter Publishing Series. Unabridged audiobook on 4 compact discs. Read by Jesse Williams. Simon & Schuster Audio, September, 2014. 97811442375437. (Purchased)

"Earnest with a side of syrup," is what I posted to my Goodreads page. Had anyone other than Derek Jeter written this, eyes would've been rolling. But the legendary Yankee shortstop lived/ lives the life he wrote about in this semi-autobiographical series beginner. Jeter is one of the few sports celebrities who is a true role model. He seems like a genuinely nice person. If young Jeter seems a bit too perfect, if the baseball action a bit too advanced, a sibling relationship without conflict and endlessly patient parents, I'm willing to give the twee a pass. The Contract is a perfect middle grade novel. There's decent baseball action, good depiction of friendship, and plenty of positive messages. Sometimes I forget that not all middle grade readers are ready for or want angst and issues.

The novel incorporates several themes of diversity. Jeter is bi-racial and problems his parents had to deal with are referred to. He also has a close friend who is from India - the first family from India to move to the neighborhood. The issues are stated rather matter-of-factly and are not the center of attention; but they certainly inform Derek's empathy.

The new-to-me narrator read with understated cool and obvious affection for the material. The pace is leisurely and occasionally slow. He doesn't change voice for the characters though and occasionally it's hard to tell who's speaking. Jesse Williams' voice was vaguely familiar, but not his name. The thumbnail photo of the bespectacled narrator did nothing to jog my memory. A bell started ringing yesterday afternoon and, when I had the chance, I checked the name in IMDB. Sure enough, Williams portrays Jackson Avery on Grey's Anatomy. In a weirdly funny coincidence, the last two audiobooks I read were narrated by April and Jackson! 

The book version of The Contract hasn't spent much time on the shelf at my school. I'm eager to see if the audio circulates when I donate my copy. Both would be fine additions to school, classroom and public libraries. 

A Bunny in the Ballet by Robert Beck

A Bunny in the Ballet by Robert Beck. unpgd. Scholastic Inc., January, 2014. 9780545429306. (Finished copy courtesy of publisher for review.)

Robert Beck, former principal dancer, dance company founder and owner of a rabbit named Déserée, makes his children's book debut with this frothy confection about pursuing one's dreams.

Déserée the bunny wants nothing more than to join a ballet company and dance her heart out. She's all music and movement and splits too, in her room but when she sets out to join a company, Madame Molotov is not very welcoming. "There are no bunnies in the ballet." Mr. Cloud is more welcoming. Even though she's the only student in pink dance clothes, thanks to Madame, she's an able and enthusiastic pupil.

The ink and watercolor illustrations are splashes of color and line, little detail and more evocative of movement. Déserée is an adorable bundle of lines who morphs a bit curiously when she dons a tutu. I'm not sure if this one has the muscle to compete with the plethora of books out there for balletophiles, but if one has a reader who can't get enough of them, Déserée's story is sure to please.