#tbt: Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

Image: Penguin Random House

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys. 400 p. Philomel Books/ Penguin Young Readers, February 2, 2016. 9780399160301.

Last week, I happened to see online that this book was ten years old. This book illuminates an event in history of which I was unaware, a maritime tragedy whose losses actually dwarf the more well-known sinking of the Titanic and Lusitania. 

The story switches POV between four young narrators. They are trekking across war torn Europe in 1945 hoping to obtain passage on the Gustav Wilhelm, a pleasure cruiser, now tasked with evacuating refugees. It is a difficult read that is both poignant and heartbreaking as it depicts the horrors of war in unflinching detail. 

Salt to the Sea was named to many State Book Awards lists, was a Goodreads Best for 2016, and won the Carnegie Medal. I can't recommend this, or any other book by this author enough. 

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Heir by Sabaa Tahir

Image: Penguin Random House

Heir by Sabaa Tahir. Unabridged e-audiobook. ~18 hours. Narrated by Vidish Athavale, Esme Lonsdale, Joe Pitts, Marco Young, and Rachel Perladwala. Books on Tape/ Recorded Books/ Penguin Random House, October, 2024. Review from e-audiobook borrowed from public library.

Teen Tuesday features Heir by Sabaa Tahir. This duology picks up 20 years after the events of Ms.Tahir's propulsive debut trilogy, An Ember in the Ashes. While it is a stand-alone, I enjoyed seeing where Elias, Laia and Helene ended up. 

Heir is told from three points of view and the timeline is nonlinear, which I found a bit confusing at first, but made for quite the plot twist later on. Quil is the reluctant heir to the empire. He is Helene's nephew and she has trained him well. Sirsha is an exiled Jaduna, who has been forbidden to use her magic on the pain of death. She has been hired to track a child killer and reluctantly binds herself to the job, increasing the chance that her people will find her. Aiz is an orphan living in extreme poverty, but under the gentle care of clerics devoted to Mother Div. She's a storyteller, entrusted by the clerics to tell the eight tales and she half-believes Mother Div will come and rescue the Kegari people.

As in the Ember series, the world building is rich and vivid and the characters are well-drawn. There's plenty of violence left in the empire, and the serial killings are quite brutal. The romances were a miss for me. They didn't feel organic. They felt convenient. Also, the detail and frequency of couplings made this series more appropriate for a high school, rather than a middle school audience. Still, it's a nit, which will not bother the intended audience, and I will definitely be reading the conclusion of the duology. 

I'm glad I read this one with my ears as the pronunciation of names and places wouldn't have been what I chose and was happy for knowing how the author intended them to be pronounced. The narrators all gave well-paced performances. 

Happy reading!

Middle Grade Monday: The Fort by Gordon Korman

Image: Scholastic Inc. 

The Fort by Gordon Korman. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~6 hours. Read by Christopher Carley, Michael Crouch, Nick Walther, Ramon De Ocampo, Tom Picasso, and Mark Sanderlin.

Recorded Books, June, 2022. (Review of e-audio borrowed from public library.)

Happy Monday TMS! I hope you had a blast this weekend and got outdoors in the gorgeous weather! I also hope you got a glimpse of the Hunter's Moon which rose on Saturday night.

Middle Grade Monday features The Fort by Gordon Korman. What kid doesn't dream of having a fort-a place to hang, to escape or just dream? When four best buds plus one new-comer literally stumble upon a fully-stocked underground bunker, they can't believe their luck and swear each other to secrecy as they explore their new digs and eat canned food. Suspension of belief is definitely required for this story told from multiple points of view. Each boy has an issue, whether it's fighting parents, absent parents or crippling anxiety.

The Fort is Mr. Korman's 100th book, and, while not his best, certainly starts with a terrific premise and features engaging characters. 

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: The Cousins by Karen M. McManus

Image: Penguin Random House

The Cousins by Karen M. McManus. Unabridged e-audiobook. ~ 9 hours. Read by Sarah Skaer, Kate Reinders, David Garelik and Julia Whelan. Listening Library, November, 2020. 9781984842152. (Review of downloadable e-audio borrowed from the public library.)

Teen Tuesday features The Cousins by Karen M. McManus. Milly, Aubrey and Jonah are the Story cousins and hardly know each other. Their parents are not close and they have never met their grandmother, though Milly is named for her. Twenty-five years earlier, their parents were disinherited abruptly, receiving notes saying, "You know what you did." They didn't, but they went on with their lives always wondering.

Now Mildred Story has had an apparent change of heart. Each cousin receives a type-written note, signed by their grandmother, inviting them to spend the summer working at her resort on an island she basically owns. None of the cousins want to go, but their parents make clear that they are going.

Once they finally meet the famed Mildred Story, the cousins get the distinct impression that she has no interest in a reconciliation. So why are they there? 

My students who love the mystery/ thriller genre love Karen M. McManus' books, One of Us is Lying and Two Can Keep a Secret are rarely on the shelf. (One of Us is Next came out last spring while we were in quarantine.) The Cousins is paced differently. The menace isn't quite as immediate, but mystery and secrets abound. The cousins have their secrets, as do their parents, but their grandmother might have the biggest one yet. 

The POV switches between the cousins. There are also flashbacks to the summer before their parents were disinherited, which shows they were rather spoiled super-rich kids. We learn through their rather damaged children that none matured much. All the narrators bring the unique personalities alive making this an entertaining mystery to read with my ears. I'm eager to share this with my students and learn what they think!

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: One of Us is Next by Karen McManus

Image: Penguin Random House

One of Us is Next by Karen McManus. Unabridged audiobook. ~ 10. hours. Narrated by Holly Linneman, Maria Lists, Fred Berman and Karissa Vacker. Listening Library/ Penguin Random House Audio Publisher Group, January, 2020. 9781984842107. (Review of e-audiobook borrowed from public library.

Fans of One of Us is Lying, buckle up. Author Karen McManus, queen of the pageturners, has returned with a sequel. Teen Tuesday features One of Us is Next. It is a year after Simon's spectacular set-up and Bayview has had to put up with a few Simon Wannabes trying to resurrect the gossip app. Now, there's a new game in town - Truth or Dare - with the advice, "Take the dare" to sign off on every school-wide text. The first victim didn't take the dare, and embarrassing news about her was spread far and wide, causing her to become a pariah. The second victim took the truth as well and lost her best friend. So victim number three took the dare and, while embarrassing, it wasn't so bad. Lesson learned: take the dare. But then, the dare turned deadly. 

This gripping mystery takes place in the same community as One of Us is Lying. While some of those main characters are present in the story, younger students are chosen, one being the sibling of one of the Bayview Four. The story does stand alone, but do yourself a favor and read book one first. If you are a teen who likes whodunits, you will love this book.

Middle Grade Monday: The Unteachables by Gordon Korman

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

The Unteachables by Gordon Korman. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~6 hours. Narrated by a full cast. Balzar + Bray/ HarperAudio, January, 2019. 9780062885289. (Review of e-audiobook borrowed from public library. Own the hc.)

Middle Grade Monday features The Unteachables by Gordon Korman. What happens when a burnt out teacher, who is basically phoning it in until early retirement is assigned to Room 117 by a superintendent who wants the guy gone? Room 117 houses "the unteachables." All are academic failures for one reason or another. Gordon Korman takes the improbable and makes it both humorous and (somewhat) believable. His fans will not be disappointed.

I was a bit though. Admittedly, I am not the intended audience. I felt the premise was a bit shaky and the adults tended toward cardboard stereotypes. 

Middle Grade Monday: The Next Great Paulie Fink by Ali Benjamin

Image: Hachette Audio

The Next Great Paulie Fink by Ali Benjamin. Unabridged downloadable audiobook. ~6 hours. Read by Cassandra Morris, Zach Villa, Cameron Bowen & Adam McArthur. Hachette Audio, April, 2019. 9781549148828. (Review of audiobook downloaded from public library.)

When Caitlyn has to move with her mother to Vermont, she's not at all happy. She spent all of her sixth grade year learning the "rules" and clawing her way up the social ladder. Now, she learns that her new school is so small that it's housed in a haunted mansion where students take turns taking care of the goats. What are the rules here? Who is this Paulie Fink of legend and where has he gone? Caitlyn's classmates decide that someone needs to take on Paulie's mantle and Caitlyn, as an objective outsider is the perfect judge for their contest. Humorous and engaging, this story is told from multiple points of view. 

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Fatal Throne: the wives of Henry VIII tell all by M.T. Anderson, et al

Fatal Throne: the wives of Henry VIII tell all by M.T. Anderson, Candace Fleming, Stephanie Hemphill, Lisa Ann Sandell, Jennifer Donnelly, Linda Sue Park, Deborah Hopkinson. Unabridged audiobook on 10 compact discs, 12 hours, 25 minutes. Read by Justine Eyre, Katharine McEwan, Jayne Entwistle, Heather Wilds, Fiona Hardingham, Elizabeth Knowelden, Elliot Hill. Random House/ Listening Library, 2018. 9780525525738. (Review of audiobook borrowed from public library.)

Teen Tuesday features Fatal Throne: the wives of Henry VIII tell all by M.T. Anderson, Candace Fleming, Stephanie Hemphill, Lisa Ann Sandell, Jennifer Donnelly, Linda Sue Park, Deborah Hopkinson. Seven outstanding authors for teen readers collaborated on this intriguing novel about the six doomed wives of Henry VIII. The six wives of Henry VIII have unique stories and voices. Each are depicted with "interludes" from Henry's egocentric POV. 

While the audiobook is absolutely riveting, I did end up borrowing the book from my library in order to double-check dates and to keep track of all the historical figures. There's a handy cast of characters that includes descriptions and dates at the back. A timeline would've have been helpful.  Each queen has a unique voice and story. I am not sure a single author could've accomplished this. Nor a single narrator. Each narrator brought a unique voice and accents. 

Fatal Throne is highly recommended for thoughtful fans of historical fiction.

Teen Tuesday and Audio Review: Angel Thieves by Kathi Appelt

Angel Thieves by Kathi Appelt. Unabridged audiobook on 5 compact discs. 5 hours and 2 minutes. Read by Laurel Kathleen. Simon & Schuster Audio, March, 2019. 9781508276975. (Review of purchased finished copy.)

A new book by Kathi Appelt is basically an automatic purchase for me. Her books are always lyrical, complex and atmospheric. I also assumed she was solidly middle grade but learned my lesson here - make no assumptions. Read the reviews even if you love the author or read the book before cataloging. And, thank goodness I did that here. 

Angel Thieves is decidedly YA. The F-bomb is dropped (quite appropriately) in the first minutes of the story. Sixteen-year-old Cade Curtis and his dad are robbing a cemetery in the early hours of the morning. The angel is unwieldy and he receives a slash near his eye by a pricker bush. I'd say the same, but not at school and I try to keep books with mature themes and profanity in the YA section. 

Cade is the same age his father was when he was born. He was rejected by his mother who instructed his father to place the baby in a church or fire department. The boy did neither, choosing instead to raise the baby he named Cade, by himself. The two lucked into a job with an elderly woman who ran an antiques business and happened to have a garage apartment for them. She just had a few items they needed to procure from time to time to keep the business running - angels.

Though set in modern day Houston, it is not an Appelt story without shifts in time and non-human narrators. In Angel Thieves, the story travels back to the time when Texas was a republic and tells of Achsah, a slave who was to be freed upon her master's death, but whose daughters were bequeathed to another slaveowner. She refuses to leave without her daughters. She needs to find an angel in the dark before the hounds track her.

The Bayou is also a narrator. She has observed changes over the millennia dispassionately. She has a long memory. Especially of times when animals such as ocelots were plentiful. Now they are rare and Zorra, one of the last was recently poached and caged. She's dying though because her poacher has disappeared. Then there's Soliel Broussard, sixteen-year-old preacher's kid and classmate of Cade's. She sports a tattoo of a honey bear on her wrist and is intrigued by Cade.  

Any one of the threads that bind this story were compelling on their own. Surprisingly, they don't come together quite satisfactorily. The shifts in POV were frequent, sometimes jarring and often left unfinished business, such as Cade's mother's sudden appearance in his life at age six. Or, why Soliel so intensely bonded with the Bird family. I wanted to like the book more. 

The narration was competent. Perhaps the production might have been better served with multiple narrators. Laurel Kathleen's narration rarely changed accents or inflection, making the already difficult job of keeping events and characters in place, more so. Were I reading with my eyes, I could at least back up a few pages when I lost my strand. 

Hand Angel Thieves to patient teens who enjoy multiple POV stories or who were fans of the author's middle grade fiction when they were in middle school. 

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus. Unabridged recording on nine compact discs, 10 hours. Read by Kim Man Guest, MacLeod Andrews, Shannon McManus, and Robbie Daymond. Listening Library, May, 2017. (Review of audiobook borrowed from public library. Own hardcover.)

Five stereotypical teens walk into detention one afternoon after being caught by a hard-ass teacher for having a cell phone in class. By the end of detention, one is dead. By the following day, the four are murder suspects. It seems Simon, was about to post incriminating details about each on the gossip app he created. In the eyes of the police, they all have a motive. 

Books like this are not my cup of tea. Several students recommended it to me and I always try to read books my students recommend. I am glad I did and glad I read with my ears. First, because the performances were spot-on perfect. Secondly, because I tend to read thrillers fast in one tense sitting because I can't stand the suspense. Being locked into the audio made me pay attention to clues. I kind of figured out who early but not the how. That kept me guessing. 

I also liked the fact that these "stereotypes" all had surprising depth and got over their prejudgment of each other to get to know one another. The suspense was high throughout. The big reveal was plausible. 

This won't be a shelf sitter. While it's a tad mature for the middle school crowd, my eighth graders who love fast-paced thrillers will be all over this. I am sorry it took me so long to get to this debut. I am now eager to get to the arc of the author's next book, Two Can Keep a Secret.

Middle Grade Monday and Arc Review: Game Changer by Tommy Greenwald

Game Changer by Tommy Greenwald. 292 p. Amulet Books/ Abrams, September 11, 2018. 9781419731433. (Review from arc courtesy of publisher.)

Thirteen-year-old Teddy lives for football. Now he may be dying for it. He collapsed as he left the field after a brutally hot day at pre-season football conditioning camp with the high school team. Doctors frantically try to stabilize Teddy. Divorced parents are freaking out and unsuccessfully avoiding the blame game. Authorities try to piece together the events. All this happens as he lies in a coma in the ICU. This multiple viewpoint novel is told in dialogue, text messages, a website message board, transcripts of interviews and Teddy's own inner monologue. 

This is a quick and compelling read regardless of where you might stand as a fan or non-fan of football. Greenwald does a spectacular job of creating confusion and anxiety with the rapid shifts in POV as well as the shifting formats. It all works well to keep the reader unbalanced and scrambling to make sense. The fractured "sentences" and almost stream-of-consciousness "dialogue" of parents, relatives and friends felt very realistic. It isn't easy talking to someone who's in a coma, especially when you're reeling from the fact that a loved one is grievously injured. 

My only quibble (as an adult with a nursing background) is with the medical team who let this circus unfold at Teddy's bedside in the ICU. This is dramatic license; there wouldn't be much of a book without it and your readers won't notice this at all. I think my students will be all over this one. Hand this to almost any reader, not just football fans or "reluctant" readers. Between the fabulous cover and the unique format, Game Changer should have broad appeal and is a fabulous addition to any library.

#tbt: Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes

Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes. 176 p. Penguin Young Readers Group, December, 2003. 9780142501894. (Own)

The eighteen students in Mr. Ward's english class are studying the Harlem Renaissance. When one student, Wesley, writes a poem instead of an essay for an assignment, Mr. Ward is inspired to host open mic and encourages his students to write and share their poems. This class is filled with students from a variety of cultures and mostly poor families. Readers learn about them - their struggles at home and in school - and come to appreciate how important this class becomes for each. 

Nikki Grimes won the 2003 Coretta Scott King Author Award for Bronx Masquerade. She has written a number of verse novels between then and now. A sequel of sorts, Between the Lines is due out on February 13. 

Audiobook Review: Refugee by Alan Gratz

Refugee by Alan Gratz. Unabridged audiobook on 7 compact discs. 7 hours, 37 minutes. Read by Michael Goldstrom, Kyla Garcia, Assaf Cohen. Scholastic Audio, July, 2017. 9781338191073. (Review from purchased audiobook.)

When I received the arc of Refugee last summer, I was thrilled, but kept skipping it on the tbr pile because I just knew that it would gut me. I needed to be in a strong emotional place to read and reflect on what I was sure to be an important book. Somehow, I never got there. Recently, a fifth grader ran to me clutching his copy and asking if I had read it. When I said no, he put his book in my hands and said, "You HAVE to read this! Really! You have to!" Chastened, I said that I would. Then looked to see if was available as an audiobook so that I could read through the tears I knew were going to fall.

Gratz has lots of fans at my school, his Projekt 1065 and Prisoner B-3087 are consistently checked out and recommended student-to-student. Personally, I loved a couple of earlier books, Samurai Shortstop and The Brooklyn Nine. Recently, I enjoyed his latest elementary/ low middle grade title, Ban This Book.

Refugee is told from three points-of-view. There is Joseph, who is on the cusp of his thirteenth birthday and whose father was recently released from Auschwitz. The family has been told to leave Germany. They have secured passage on the ship, the St. Louis bound for Cuba with other Jewish families fleeing Nazi Germany.

Then, there is Isabelle, who is fleeing Castro's Cuba in 1994, when the Communist leader announced that anyone who wanted to leave Cuba could, with no repercussions. She, her parents and grandfather and her neighbors pile into a leaky boat to make the perilous 90 mile journey to the coast of Florida.

Finally, there is Mahmoud, a young Syrian boy, who is trying to flee Aleppo with his parents and younger siblings during the Civil War that is raging there right now. His flight is perhaps most perilous having to survive crossing the Mediterranean, then several countries before reaching Germany.

It would've been perfectly reasonable to keep these three stories separate and parallel. Each one is compelling in its own right. Gratz has brought each child's plight to vivid life. It would've made for a perfectly memorable book. That he chose to connect the three stories at the end adds an emotional wallop that, frankly, I don't think I will recover from. I mean that as a compliment. 

All three children face the unthinkable. All three are traumatized, yet push on. All three suffer from incredible guilt over an impossible decision each had to make. Gratz skillfully ratchets up the suspense as he cuts between the stories. Readers will quickly become invested in each child. I got a bit weepy through most of the recording, but was glad to be reading with my ears as the tears flowed pretty continuously through discs six and seven. Mahmoud's story evoked haunting memories of the photos from Aleppo that have shocked the world, notably, the little boy in the ambulance. It was very much on my mind during Mahmoud's story. 

I do believe that the performances of all three narrators heightened the experience of the book because two of the three narrators read with beautifully accented English and also fluently pronounced the Syrian or Spanish words. When I read with my eyes, I read with my own accent. Listening to a narrator who is fluent in both languages means I am not mentally butchering the pronunciation of the foreign language words.  

The Author's Note at the end is not to be missed. Allen Gratz provides historical context, including the importance of the photo I just spoke of, and what is real and fiction in the story as well as places one might donate to help present-day refugees in crisis. This is a first purchase for any library - both the audiobook as well as the hardcover. It would be a spectacular class read or book club book. But don't forget your tissues. Lots of tissues. I will need tissues when I booktalk this book.

Revenge of the Flower Girls by Jennifer Ziegler

Revenge of the Flower Girls by Jennifer Ziegler. 229 p. Scholastic Press/ Scholastic Inc., May, 2014. 9780545561419. (Finished copy courtesy of publisher for review)

Dawn, Darby and Delaney Brewster are triplets and history geeks with plans on becoming president, chief justice and speaker of the house respectively. They adore their doting, brilliant, older sister Lily. Their big plans for a summer of doing nothing are derailed when Lily announces her engagement to the armadillo. Really, his name is Burton; but anyone can see that he's just all wrong for Lily. And why the rush? It seems the armadillo's vile mother is behind this mad dash to the altar.

The girls wouldn't mind being the flower girls if Lily was marrying Alex. Everyone knows that they are perfect together. These resourceful triplets take turns narrating their plots to undermine the wedding planning in the attempt to prevent Lily from making the mistake of a lifetime. It's a wild and wacky plot with a Parent Trap vibe complete with rather clueless adults. It's cinematic, fluffy fun. Perfect for summer reading. This one won't be a shelf sitter. Give to your tweens who want romance.

My only quibble is the cover which, while adorable doesn't accurately reflect the girls' decision in the book to wear tuxedos (which is really more adorable).