Teen Tuesday: Everything I Thought I Knew by Shannon Takaoka

Image: Candlewick Press

Everything I Thought I Knew by Shannon Takaoka. 320 p. Candlewick Press, October, 2020. 9781536207767.

Happy Tuesday! It's the last Tuesday of summer break! What will you be reading today? Sometimes arcs get buried and it takes me a really long time to uncover them. I'm so sorry it took so long to find this. Argh!

Teen Tuesday features Everything I Thought I Knew by Shannon Takaoka. This first-person narrative features Chloe, a Bay area high school senior and over-achiever until she collapses during cross-country practice. She needs a new heart, so her life, senior year and college plans are put on hold when she is placed on the transplant list. She basically has to hope to stay alive until someone with a match to her dies.

Once she receives her heart, she finds herself plagued by bloody nightmares every night and "memories" of people and places. Her friends have graduated and are getting ready to move away to college while she's stuck in summer school catching up. She has been accepted to college, but needs to finish her senior year. She also begins to do un-Chloe-like things like driving too fast, lying to her parents to hang with a new friend and sneaking out to take surfing lessons with Kai, a half-Japanese surfer. She's definitely falling for him.

This angsty, realistic romance takes a bit of a sci-fi detour as Chloe researches parallel universes and cellular memory in an effort to understand her nightmares. Chloe also muses on the race to compete for the "best" colleges that high school readers will find relatable. Chloe's reliability as a narrator may be called into question and readers may need to stop to reread in their race to the climax in this satisfying read.

Middle Grade Monday and Audio Review: The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. (as told by his brother) by David Levithan

Image: Penguin Random House

The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. (as told by his brother) by David Levithan. Unabridged e-audiobook,~4 hours. Read by Everette Plen. Books on Tape/ Listening Library/ Penguin Random House, February, 2021. 9781984885517. (Review of downloadable e-audio borrowed from public library. Own the hc.)

Happy Monday! One week of summer break is in the books! How many books have you read so far? I've read five. I'm still a bit short of trying to get back to my book-a-day, but they were good books, and I spent lots of time in my garden, with my dogs and practicing yoga.

Middle Grade Monday features The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. (as told by his brother) by David Levithan. In this first-person narrative, Lucas tells the story of finding his brother, Aidan in the attic six days after Aidan's disappearance. The attic had been searched several times. The entire town was out looking for Aidan and everyone wants to know what happened. Aidan says simply that he entered a world called Aveinieu through the doors in an old dresser. No one believes him, especially Lucas, because Aidan has a reputation for fooling him over and over. But Aidan sticks to his outlandish story despite the fact that everyone thinks he ran away and despite the fact that he's being bullied about it at school.

David Levithan, an award-winning author of YA books, makes his middle grade debut in this thoughtful, leisurely-paced mystery, which, at its heart, is a story about brotherhood and listening.

New-to-me narrator, Everette Plan sounded appropriately youthful and he delivered a thoughtful, well-paced performance. 

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: The Way Back by Gavriel Savit

Image: Penguin Random House

The Way Back by Gavriel Savit. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~10 hours, 54 minutes. Read by Allan Corduner. Listening Library/ Random House Children's Books/ Penguin Random House, September, 2020. 9780593286128. (Review of e-audio borrowed from public library.)

Happy Thursday! I hope that you are enjoying your summer break and that books and reading are a part of that enjoyment. I wish the weather would improve.

Teen Tuesday features The Way Back by Gavriel Savit. This historical fantasy feels like a dark and ominous folk tale. Yehuda Leib and Bluma are young teens who live in the tiny shtetl of Tupik in eastern Europe in the 1800s. Bluma lives in comfort over the bakery her parents run. Her grandmother, whom we meet as a girl in the beginning of the book, resides on the top floor. Yehuda Leib lives with his mother and his life is less secure. He's scrappy and an accomplished thief. He longs to learn more of his father. The entire town whispers of him, but no one will share.

Each separately have an encounter with the Messinger of Death one fateful evening and they end up in the Far Country, a parallel universe just past the graveyard where the walls between the worlds are thin. The Far Country is filled with demons, Lilith and her followers and a grotesque army of the dead. At the center of it all is the House of Death, which is both Yehuda Leib and Bluma's destination. Though each are on separate paths, they cross from time to time. There is constant danger and trickery as a variety of demons attempt to ensnare/ enslave them to do evil things.

The setting is vivid and atmospheric. Some characters are nefarious; others are harmless. All are fascinating. Danger lurks everywhere, but there are many moments of humor to lighten the load. Be patient, as the story unfolds slowly and is richly layered and filled with Yiddish sayings and proverbs. Teen readers who enjoy complex storytelling will love The Way Back.

The Way Back is available at Closter Public Library and also in e-book and e-audio formats through eBCCLS. I read this one with my ears. It was narrated by Allan Corduner, a favorite, who, in addition to narrating Mr. Savit's earlier story, Anna and the Swallow Man, also narrated The Book Thief. The Way Back was a National Book Award Finalist last fall.

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu

Image: Penguin Random House

The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu. Unabridged e-audiobook. ~632 m. Read by Lauren Ezzo. Listening Library, March, 2020. 9780593155103. (Review of downloadable e-audiobook borrowed from public library.)

Teen Tuesday features The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu. TMS's many fans of Ms. Lu's science fiction/ dystopian may do a double-take when they learn that this fantasy has its roots in history and veers more toward fairy tale and magic than science. It is the story of Nannerl Mozart, music prodigy and older sister to Wolferl. Their father hopes to gain the patronage of wealthy families and so, travels with his two children all over Europe. When Wolferl's talents begin to surpass his older sister's, Nannerl sees her father's attention wane and soon realizes that she will be expected to abandon music to marry and have children. She is, in fact, the more talented having turned to composing.

A pretend game the two play about an imaginary kingdom called Back comes to life and beckons both children. Here everything mirrors their own life and yet it different, slightly more sinister. A boy named Hyacinth sees into Nannerl's soul and promises her she will never be forgotten if... She must perform three tasks for him. Doing so may put Wolferl at peril. 

After a bit of a slow start, the world of 18th century Europe and the life of musical artists is brought to vivid life and infused with magic when melded with the mirror world. The complicated sibling relationship was well drawn. At times, I felt a bit of tell and not show poking through, but that might have been the narrator's fault. Otherwise, the narrator's quietly musical delivery was pleasing to hear and there was real tension and suspense. 

I'm very interested to see if the author's die-hard fans give this a go. I can't wait to share the title with my serious music students as well as fans of historical fantasy. Intriguing.

Middle Grade Monday and Arc Review: The Last Mirror on the Left by Lamar Giles

Image: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

The Last Mirror on the Left by Lamar Giles. Illustrated by Dapo Adeola. 168 p. A Legendary Alston Boys Adventure #2. Versify/ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, October 20, 2020. 9780358129419. (Review of e-arc courtesy of publicist.)

Middle Grade Monday wishes a happy book birthday to author, Lamar Giles and The Last Mirror on the Left. The second installment of A Legendary Alston Boys Adventure releases tomorrow and fans of the first adventure, The Last Last Day of Summer, will not want to miss it!

Cousins Otto and Sheed are back in school a short while after their epic adventure fixing the time freeze. Unfortunately, no one in Fry remembers what happened. Or so they thought. Mrs. Nedraw, owner of the Rorrim Mirror Emporium knows that the boys used one of her precious mirrors without her permission to fix the mess and now, she's threatening them with the law unless the boys help her. The mirrors are actually prison cells and the boys accidentally cracked the mirror they "borrowed," allowing a most notorious criminal to escape. He, in turn, freed a gang, then escaped through the last mirror on the left into an alternate universe town of Fry, where people and places are a bit...off.

The action is non-stop and totally mind-bending! While the humor is high, the boys contemplate criminal justice as they confront the ways in which the truth can be bent to serve those in power. The boys' devotion to each other is also tested as Sheed becomes annoyed by Otto's weirdness. (No spoilers here!) The spot art by Dapo Adeola adds to the humor and enjoyment.

Don't miss these two books! I hope to see more of Otto and Sheed, their antics, their brotherhood and their joy, in the future.

Teen Tuesday: Burn by Patrick Ness

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

Burn by Patrick Ness. Unabridged audiobook. ~10 hours. Read by Joniece Abbott-Pratt.Quill Tree Books, June 2020. (Review of downloadable e-audio borrowed from public library.)

Teen Tuesday features Burn by Patrick Ness. Mr. Ness, ever the experimenter, blends dragons from fantasy with parallel universes from sci-fi with Cold War history and a dash of noir in a 1957 rural Washinton State setting. Sarah Dewhurst has enough to deal with being bi-racial in a small town and keeping her budding romance with the only Japanese American boy in town a secret. Her father's farm is failing, especially since her mother's death. He has hired a dragon, a Russian dragon, named Kazimir to help. Dragons and humans exist under an uneasy truce, but a Russian dragon! Kazimir may be working for gold, but he's also there due to a prophecy. In a parallel story, Malcolm, a teen acolyte in a cult called the Believers, sets out to make his way across the country to a small farm in Washington State. He's being pursued by two shadowy FBI agents. Malcolm does not want to, but he will kill anyone who interferes with him reaching his target - Sarah Dewhurst.

The complex plot takes a bit of time to come together. Stick with it. Because when it does, your mind will be blown!

Middle Grade Monday and Audiobook Review: Begone the Raggedy Witches by Celine Kiernan

Image: Candlewick

Begone the Raggedy Witches by Celine Kiernan. Unabridged audiobook on one MP3-CD. Read by Kate Rudd. 6 hours, 12 minutes. Candlewick on Brilliance Audio, September, 2018. 9781978644335. (Review of purchased audiobook.)

Middle Grade Monday features Begone the Raggedy Witches by Celine Kiernan. Mup first sees the witches in the treetops when she and her brother are en route home with their mam after visiting her gravely ill great-aunt in hospital. The witches are deathly pale and terrifyingly serious and definitely following her as they leap from treetop to treetop. Mup is terrified to enter her own home and she should be. Turns out Mup's aunt spirited her mother away from the Witch's Borough for her own protection. Now that Aunty is dying, her protective spell weakened. The witch's have found "the heir" and intend to return her to her mother, the queen.


Vivid and creepy, this first book in the Wild Magic trilogy will hook readers on page one and not let go, leaving them panting for book two, which is due out September 3! The writing is lovely for so suspenseful a story. Mup is immediately endearing and everyone around her is unique and memorable from her baby brother, Tipper, who becomes an irrepressible talking dog in the Glittering Kingdom through Crow, a talking crow/ young boy who has trouble speaking in rhyme as required by the queen.


Kate Rudd subtly shifts her voice for each character in this measured performance.


Fans of scary stories will gobble this one up.

Here's a link to a pretty cool book trailer that I think conveys the atmospheric vibe of the book quite nicely.

Middle Grade Monday: Arc Review: The Serpent's Secret by Sayantani DasGupta

The Serpent's Secret by Sayantani DasGupta. Illustrated by Vivienne To. Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond #1. 368 p.Scholastic Press/ Scholastic Inc., February 27, 2018. (Review of arc received courtesy of publisher)

Twelve-year-old Kiranmala goes to sixth grade in Parsippany, New Jersey, has the misfortune of having Halloween as her birthday, and is regularly embarrassed by her immigrant parents, who insist on loudly discussing her fiber intake and insists that she is really an Indian princess. When she returns home from school on Halloween expecting to celebrate her birthday, she finds her parents are missing. They have left a curious birthday card though. It contains foreign money and some sort of map along with instructions not to try to find them. She settles in to an evening of handing out candy to trick-or-treaters when two boys about her age ring the bell. She's confused when they call her princess and seem to think she should know them. They want her to come with them. She just wants to find her parents. She's convinced to go with them when a giant, snot-spewing monster destroys her house and tries to eat her.

It seems Kiranmala really is an Indian princess and her twelfth birthday was the expiration date of the spell protecting her from her father, the Serpent King. She travels to a parallel universe with the two princes and finds she needs to rely on her wits as well as the many Bengali folktales her parents plied her with throughout her childhood. 

This debut and series starter hits the ground running and doesn't let up. A kick-ass heroine + epic world-building + snarky and hilarious dialogue = one memorable ride! Fresh, funny and relatable, give this to your Percy Jackson fans whom you want to branch out to other mythologies. I have quite a few fans of Sarwat Chadda's Ash Mistry trilogy who will love this. Really, any reader looking for fast-paced adventure and laughter will gobble this whole.