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. 

Middle Grade Monday: Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All by Chanel Miller

Image: Penguin Random House 

Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All by Chanel Miller. 160 p. Philomel Books/ Penguin Young Readers, April, 2024. Review of copy borrowed from public library.

Middle Grade Monday features Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All by Chanel Miller. Ten-year-old Magnolia does not have high expectations for her summer. Her only friend moved away and she wouldn't call the classmates that patronize her parents laundry, friends, especially, Austin. She doesn't mind though. She has created a "Lost Sock" display in the laundromat and is hoping to reunite the missing sock with their owners. Enter Iris. She and her mother just moved from California and Iris is not impressed with New York. The two team up to find the owners of the missing socks. 

This gentle read hits all the notes: relatable characters, humor, illustrations, and two kids on the loose in NYC. Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All was named a Newbery Honor, an ALSC Notable Book, a Kirkus and NYT Best Book. Happy reading!

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Debating Darcy by Sayantani Dasgupta

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Debating Darcy by Sayantani Dasgupta. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~8 hours. Read by Deepa Samuel. Scholastic Audio, April, 2022.  9781338813746. (Review of e-audio borrowed from public library. Own hc.)

Happy Tuesday! It's a dreary, gray, rainy but mild day here in northern NJ. Teen Tuesday features Debating Darcy by Sayantani Dasgupta. This updated and fun retelling of Pride and Prejudice centers around Leela Bose, a star on her public school speech and debate team and Firoze Darcy, a member of the exclusive Netherfield Academy debate team. This hating to dating romance wonderfully captures Jane Austen's themes of classism and sexism and adds issues of racism and homophobia.

The cast of characters is diverse, with Leela being a Bengali American and biracial Darcy being half Pakastani and half white. Leela's teammates are multiethnic and very smart. Dr. Dasgupta brings the world of high stakes high school speech and debate culture to life and cleverly hides easter eggs for fans of the original. Fans of Pride and Prejudice will get a kick out of this clever retelling, but readers unfamiliar with the classic will be able to enjoy it as well. Recommended. 

Middle Grade Monday: The Tryout by Christina Soontornvat

Image: Scholastic

The Tryout by Christina Soontornvat. Illustrated by Joanna Cacao. 272 p. Graphix/ Scholastic Inc. September, 2022. 9781338741261. (Review of finished purchased copy.)

Happy Monday! I hope you enjoyed a gorgeous weekend where you live! I had a lovely, productive weekend with long walks and the first round of leaf wrangling. Middle Grade Monday features The Tryout by Christina Soontornvat. Ms. Soontornvat who has won awards for both her fiction (A Wish in the Dark) and her non-fiction (All Thirteen) makes her graphic novel debut with her memoir of cheer tryouts. 

Starting seventh grade is hard for Christina and her bff, Megan. Christina is biracial. Her dad is Thai and her mom is white. Megan is Iranian American. The two suffer from micro-aggressions and overt racism. Christina can't seem to get fashion right either. They admire the confidence of the cheerleaders and decide to tryout for the squad.

The bright palette depicts the highs and lows of Christina's experience with energy and good humor. Graphic novel fans will not want to miss this!

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir

Image: Penguin Random House

All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~10 hours, 26 minutes. Read by Deepti Gupta, Kamran R. Khan and Kausar Mohammed. Listening Library, March, 2022. 9780593502228. (Review of finished e-audio borrowed from public library.)

Teen Tuesday features All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir. Ms. Tahir made a huge splash with her debut trilogy starter, An Ember in the Ashes. Here she turns from fantasy to contemporary realistic fiction and the results are gut-wrenching and utterly compelling.

Salahudin and Noor are eighteen-year-old seniors living in a small town in the Mojave Desert in California. They are the only Muslims in town and used to be best friends. Noor is an orphan who lost her parents in an earthquake in Pakistan when she was six. Her uncle, who owns a liquor store and was her only living relative, brought her to the U.S., but has banned her from speaking Punjabi or practicing Islam. Though Noor wishes to attend college and eventually study medicine, her uncle's plans for her to work at his liquor store full-time.

Sal's parents own the financially failing Cloud Rest Motel and his mother, Misbah has ignored her health problems due to lack of insurance. His father struggles with alcoholism. Sal learns of the severity of the financial problems when Misbah dies. His father is useless and Sal vows to save the motel, but makes a poor choice in order to do so.

The POV (point-of-view) shifts between Noor and Sal in the present with snippets of the past narrated by Misbah. The result is a feeling of immediacy and utter dread as the story unfolds. Issues of class, race, Islamaphobia, abuse, found family and the criminal justice system collide in a compelling, yet painful narrative. I read this one with my ears and had to stop often due to the intensity of emotions I felt.

Mature teen fans of the author's Ember in the Ashes Trilogy will most definitely want to read All My Rage, as will fans of contemporary realistic fiction. This is a story that will stay with me for a long time. 

I'm so glad I read this with my ears. The three narrators were pitch perfect. 

Middle Grade Monday: Fast Pitch by Nic Stone

Welcome back! Did ya miss me? I took a week off of blogging last week. When I post here, I also post to my Library Group in our school's learning platform as well as our town's public library FB page. I didn't think anyone would notice that I went AWOL, so I was touched when students would stop by the library to ask where the book talks were. They were very understanding when I said I needed to take a short break. So sweet. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. Mine was quite hectic, but I managed to get some reading in. I hope you did too. 

Image: Penguin Random House

Fast Pitch by Nic Stone. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~3.5 hours. Read by the author. Listening Library/ Penguin Random House, August, 2021. 9780593413760.

Middle Grade Monday features Fast Pitch by Nic Stone. Shenice is captain of her fast-pitch softball team. The team is very good and so is she, but it is also the first all-black team in their Georgia League and not everyone is welcoming. The girls and their coach deal with microaggressions and blatant racism as they play their way to the championships.

Shenice's father played some serious baseball, as did her grandfather, but no one ever talks about him until she visits her great-uncle in a nursing home. Great-uncle Jack is elderly and somewhat forgetful, so it takes a while for Shenice to piece together the mystery, and once she does, she decides she's going to find the evidence to clear her grandfather's name.

This fast-paced story is a nice blend of sports and mystery. It depicts racism past and present and shows what little progress has been made. The history of the Negro Leagues and the slow integration of Major League Baseball was also well done. Shenice is an appealing character, thoughtful, bright and athletic. She takes her role as captain seriously and wants to be a good leader. 

Ms. Stone did a fine job narrating. She sounded authentically tween when depicting Shenice and she sounded appropriately adult while voicing the adult characters. The performance was engaging and well-paced.

If you enjoyed Ms. Stone's MG debut, Clean Getaway, which was featured here last year, or her YA novels, Dear Martin and Dear Justyce, you will enjoy Fast Pitch. 

Teen Tuesday: If I Ever Get Out of Here by Eric Gansworth

Image: Scholastic Inc.

Happy Tuesday! Teen Tuesday features If I Ever Get Out of Here by Eric Gansworth. Mr. Gansworth's YA debut, published in 2013, is set in 1975. The Beatles just broke up and Lewis "Shoe" Blake's world is rocked by this. The twelve-year-old just loves the Beatles and music. He also moves between cultures every day where he lives in abject poverty with his mother and uncle on the reservation and is the only Indian kid in his Gifted and Talented class. Add his wry and sardonic humor to the mix and Lewis is pretty much an outcast. Enter George Haddonfield. George grew up on military bases all around the world. He's used to moving and used to meeting people from diverse backgrounds. He also loves music and the Beatles and wants to be Lewis' friend.

Readers who like a leisurely paced story will love this story of identity and friendship and music. Readers who prefer a faster pace should stick with it, because it's just lovely. Here's a link to my review from 2013, where I pulled tons of quotes that resonated. I think I need to reread this one. 

Teen Tuesday and Audio Review: Kneel by Candace Buford

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

Kneel by Candace Buford. Unabridged e-audiobook. ~8.3 hours. Read by Preston Butler III. HarperAudio/ Inkyard/ HarperCollins Publishers, September, 2021. 9781488211805. (Review of e-audiobook borrowed from public library.)

Happy rainy Tuesday! There has been a flash flood warning in my area since last night and it has been raining steadily. Hopefully, the winds will stay calm and my hundred year old American Beech tree will remain standing.

Teen Tuesday features Kneel by Candace Buford. Rus Boudreaux and his best friend, Marion LaSalle are co-captains of their football team entering their senior year with high hopes for a winning season, another chance at the state championship and a football scholarship to a D-1 college. A scholarship is their only way out of their racially segregated parish in Louisiana. At the start of their second game of the season, against the team's rival, one of the white co-captains hurls a racial slur after the coin toss and the other sucker punches Marion. The refs turn a blind eye to the slur and don't defend Marion as he is hauled off the field in handcuffs and eventually beaten by police for "resisting arrest." Rus knows that Marion's chances for a scholarship are nonexistent if he can't play football, so he takes a knee during the national anthem at the next game, earning himself the ire of his coach, his teammates, his parents and the press as the media choose to portray him and Marion as thugs.

Rus' first-person narrative is compelling from the start as this thoughtful athlete tries to play by rules that seem to change at the whim of the privileged. Kneel is the author's debut and it's an impressive one peopled with complex characters dealing with real issues of poverty, racism and broken dreams.

New-to-me narrator Preston Butler III turned in a well-paced, emotionally resonant performance as Rus. 

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Luck of the Titanic by Stacey Lee

Image: Penguin Random House

Teen Tuesday features Luck of the Titanic by Stacey Lee. Ms. Lee is author of The Downstairs Girl, which I LOVED and featured in a Teen Tuesday post last year. Here, she uses the fact that there were eight Chinese passengers aboard the Titanic as inspiration for this layered, deeply moving narrative.

Seventeen-year-old Valora Luck has a first class ticket on board the maiden voyage of the Titanic, only she cannot board without her employer, as Valora works as a lady's maid. The problem? Her employer died after purchasing the ticket. Val wants to use her ticket to board, reconnect with her twin brother, Jamie and find a way to audition for Ringling Brothers' circus. 

Val and Jamie's Chinese father taught them juggling and acrobatics, skills the twins used when money was tight and their dad was drinking too much. Val has a couple of other problems as well. She doesn't have a passport and even if she had one, the racist Chinese Exclusion Act would make it all but impossible for Val and Jamie to enter in the U.S. Still, Val is determined to board. She spies an opportunity to put her acrobatic skills to good use and stows away. One eagle-eyed passenger witnesses this.

April Hart is intrigued. She's an American designer of haute couture clothing and doesn't fit society's expectations for women of the time. She has a plan and wants Val's help. Can Val trust April? How will Val find Jamie in Third Class? Will Jamie agree with Val's pie-in-the-sky plans? And, what will happen to Jamie's good friends if he does decide to join Val?

Ms. Lee's tale unfolds from Val's POV and it's engaging from the start. Val is plucky and blunt. She's a survivor and totally devoted to her brother. The setting is vivid and suspense is high as Val shuttles between the cabins in First and Third class. She dons disguises and switches accents as she searches for a way to make her plan work. Characters are richly developed and some are endearing, which makes the author's warning at the beginning of the book, eight Chinese passengers boarded, six survived, all the more ominous.

 I read this one with my ears and loved how the narrator effortlessly switched accents and languages! For me, listening to a book read by a narrator fluent in both languages heightens my appreciation. I tend to skim over foreign words and phrases, but listening draws my attention. There were times when plot conveniences threatened to take me out of the story, but Val's voice brought me right back in.

Fans of Ms. Lee's earlier books as well as fans of historical fiction will love Luck of the Titanic. Warning: there will be tears. 

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: The Awakening of Malcolm X by Ilyasah Shabazz with Tiffany D. Jackson

Image: Macmillan

The Awakening of Malcolm X by Ilyasah Shabazz and Tiffany D. Jackson. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~7 hours, 54 minutes. Read by Landon Woodson. Macmillan Young Listeners, January, 2021. 9781250619105. (Review of e-audiobook downloaded from public library.)

Teen Tuesday features The Awakening of Malcolm X by Ilyasah Shabazz and Tiffany D. Jackson. This fictionalized biography of the author's father, Malcolm X, covers his young adult life from about the age of 18 through his 20s. Ms. Shabazz, Malcolm X's youngest daughter, wrote a novel about his early life in X: a Novel along with Kekla Magoon in 2015. She went on to write a fictionalized biography of her mother, Betty Before X in 2018. Teen readers who are interested in the life of the Civil Rights activist, but not ready to tackle his autobiography would do well to start here.

In The Awakening of Malcolm X, Malcolm Little and his friend are framed in a robbery investigation by the white woman Malcolm was dating. While she planned all the robberies, when the three were caught, she claimed that Malcolm forced her to, earning Malcolm and his friend hard time in prison.

This first-person narrative pulls no punches. Life in Charlestown Prison was brutal. Malcolm was angry and not always cooperative with the racist system. He ended up in solitary confinement more than once, but he was smart and his family were supportive. His brothers and sisters tried to visit regularly. It was through his brothers that he discovered Islam and was eventually transferred to another prison where prisoners were treated better and education was encouraged. By the time he left prison, he had devoted his life to Islam and became Malcolm X.

New-to-me narrator Landon Woodson delivered an emotionally gripping performance. I am really hoping for more books from Ms. Shabazz about her complex and brilliant father. 

Teen Tuesday: Everything Sad is Untrue: a Novel by Daniel Nayeri

Image: Levine Querido

Everything Sad is Untrue: a Novel by Daniel Nayeri. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~8 hours. Read by the author. Listening Library, 2020. 9780593168417.

Teen Tuesday features Everything Sad is Untrue: a Novel by Daniel Nayeri. Ten-year-old Khosrou stands in front of his fifth grade class in Edmond, Oklahoma. He is a target. He is the only Iranian in the mostly white town. His classmates and teachers can't pronounce his name and so, he is now Daniel and he's a storyteller, just as Scheherazade was - telling stories to save his life. How did the son of a physician and a dentist who lived in luxury in Iran end up fleeing with his mother and sister? His classmates learn Daniel's story slowly, as does the reader because, while often humorous, it's very painful. They also learn about Persian kings and princesses and kindly doctors. The story zigs and zags and, while it requires a bit of patience, like any long story, it is satisfying.

This compelling and complex autobiographical novel won the 2021 Printz Award. 

The audiobook was narrated by the author and was outstanding. Mr. Nayari's storytelling skills shine here.

Teen Tuesday and Arc Review: Zara Hossain is Here by Sabina Khan

Happy Tuesday! Spring is definitely in the air! I walked my hounds at 5:15 AM and the sky was lightening. I didn't need a hat and gloves. The sun is setting later and later. I saw a robin yesterday and a scrawny ground hog at 7AM this morning. 

Image: Scholastic Inc.

Zara Hossain is Here by Sabina Khan. 248 p. Scholastic Press/ Scholastic Inc., April 6, 202.978133858087. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Teen Tuesday features Zara Hossain is Here by Sabina Khan. Seventeen-year-old Zara Hossain moved to the U.S.with her family from Pakistan when she was two so that her physician father could finish his medical training. The hospital where he works in Texas has sponsored his green card, which the family anxiously await. 

Zara is the only Muslim at her conservative Catholic school, where she deals with microaggressions daily as well as overt racism from alpha male, Tyler Benson. She tries to fly under the radar and hasn't confronted Tyler due to her immigrant status, but one day, she spots him cornering a new classmate from Colombia and she can no longer stay silent. This selfless act sets in motion a series of events that cascade into near tragedy, prompting Zara to question whether the U.S. can really be her home.

Zara is a fierce, intelligent, articulate main character. Her parents are involved and supportive of her. This first-person narrative is hard to read at times, but equally hard to put down. Ms. Khan explores many timely issues from immigration policy through Islamophobia and homophobia. Thoughtful teen readers will have much to ponder.

The book is due to publish on April 6.

Fact Friday and Arc Review: The Black Friend: on being a better white person by Frederick Joseph

Image: Candlewick Press

The Black Friend: on being a better white person by Frederick Joseph. 272 p. Candlewick Press, December, 2020. 9781536217018. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Happy Friday and Merry Christmas if you celebrate. Wow! That was some storm last night! There are trees down and power out all over my town. We have an American Beech tree on our property line that is over a hundred years old. Over the thirty-five years we've lived here, three different families have lived in the house behind ours. Each has hired trees services to heavily prune their side, which is within their right. The poor tree is terribly lopsided now, with beautiful foliage on our side of the fence. It's a beautiful tree and we enjoy its shade. With each storm, such as last night's, I watch its mighty branches twist in the wind with anxiety and hope that it will weather another storm. 

Fact Friday features The Black Friend: on being a better white person by Frederick Joseph. Mr. Joseph, a marketing expert, activist, writer and humanitarian has a sit-down with the reader in this engaging book. The tone is purposely conversational and informal, so very personal and relevant. 

The author reflects on his experience as a Black person in America. He transferred to a predominantly white school where the racism and micro-aggressions he encountered daily increased exponentially. He would let it go just to get by but slowly realized that by not addressing these, he was missing the opportunity to educate his white friends and acquaintances. In chapters with headings like, "We want you to see race," "You could at least pronounce my name correctly," "This isn't a fad it's my culture." readers learn about cultural appropriation, stereotype, affirmative action and how institutional racism could be dismantled. Each chapter also includes an interview with a prominent Black activist. Back matter includes an encyclopedia of racism, a list of people to learn more about and a playlist of the many songs he refers to during the course of his illuminating book.

In a year that has seen the publication of many fine books about anti-racism, The Black Friend holds its own and is a terrific addition to the thankfully growing anti-racist canon. 

Middle Grade Monday: Class Act by Jerry Craft

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

Class Act by Jerry Craft. 256 p. Quill Tree Books/ HarperCollins Publishers, October, 2020. 9780062885510. (Review of finished purchased copy.)

Happy Monday! I hope you enjoyed the amazing weekend! After five days of rain, Saturday was brilliantly sunny and I spent the day raking and blowing all the leaves that came down with the rain while listening to an audiobook. I finished on Sunday before the wind and rain combined forces to bring more leaves (and some neighborhood trees) down, obliterating the work I did. Such is autumn.

Middle Grade Monday features Class Act by Jerry Craft. This is the sequel to his Newbery-winning, and I believe MG debut, New Kid. Jordan returns to ritzy RAD for his second year. He's now an eighth grader. He notes all the changes among his classmates, Drew got taller and sports a new haircut that attracts unwanted attention and touching. Liam remains oblivious to his own white privilege, though we do learn thanks to the triple POV of this graphic novel, that life at home is not great. He's closer to his driver than his own dad. We also learn more about Drew and his home life. The school administration has launched a diversity initiative that is laughably inept. 

Mr. Craft seamlessly weaves serious issues, such as racism, microagressions and classism into an engaging text that never feels burdened by the messages. The full-color art just pops. The chapter breaks contain amusing parodies of popular graphic novels that most gn fans will recognize and an an Easter egg that is metaphorical genius and absolutely tickles.

Class Act is an absolute must-purchase. You'd do well to buy more than one copy.

Fact Friday: Mary Seacole: bound for the battlefield by Susan Goldman Rubin

Image: Candlewick Press

Mary Seacole: bound for the battlefield by Susan Goldman Rubin. Illustrated by Richie Pope. Unpgd. Candlewick Press, October, 2020. 9780763679941. (Review of finished copy courtesy of publisher.)

Happy Friday! What a rainy, dreary week this has been around here! The weather app promises a sunny day tomorrow, so make sure you get outside and stretch! Me? I have a date with a rake and a leaf blower. All that rain caused most of the leaves to fall and carpet my lawn. Plus, my hold on the audiobook of Rick Riordan's The Tower of Nero dropped into my phone and I can't wait to dive in to that!

Fact Friday features Mary Seacole: bound for the battlefield by Susan Goldman Rubin and illustrated by Richie Pope. This picture book for older reader highlights an unsung hero of the Crimean War, as well as of the history of nursing. You've most likely heard of Florence Nightingale and her efforts to serve the wounded during the Crimean War; but even she refused Mrs. Seacole's offer of help. This may have been due to Mrs. Seacole's treatment methods, which included herbal medicine and good food; but was more likely due to the color of her skin.

Mrs. Seacole was born in Jamaica to a Creole mother and a white father. Her mother was an herbal healer and her father was a Scottish officer. She grew up listening to his stories of war. Her father died when she was ten. She helped her mother run a boardinghouse and learned about medicinal herbs. As an adult, she packed up her supplies and headed to Panama, where there was an outbreak of cholera. Even as she successfully nursed many victims of the dread disease, she faced racism, not from her patients; from officers and doctors and other administrators. Undeterred, she focused on her mission to serve the sick.

The engaging text is broken up by brilliant full-page color illustrations featuring Mary, who loved colorful dresses, in a variety of situations. Quotes taken from Mrs. Seacole's autobiography, first published in 1857, are liberally sprinkled throughout and sourced in the back matter, which also includes two other books for further reading.

It's important for students to learn early that history books are often incomplete and favor the white, male story. Picture book biographies, such as this one, expand a reader's intellectual horizon. Mary Seacole: bound for the battlefield belongs in every school and classroom library. 

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 Arc Review: The Boys in the Back Row by Mike Jung

Image: Levine Querido

The Boys in the Back Row by Mike Jung.268 p. Levine Querido, October 6, 2020. 9781646140114. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

I'm back! I took a rare week off of blogging. My week at a lake in the Adirondack Mountains was filled with reading and mostly absent of wi-fi and cell service, which was weird. Cell service was spotty and I could occasionally get on the Internet but not reliably and not for any sustained length of time. 

My dogs loved the lake and the freedom of running around a fenced in yard and in and out of the water. We've always vacationed at the beach mostly due to the fact that we owned a beach house and the dogs were largely stuck inside since the property was small and not fenced in and dogs weren't allowed on the beach between May and October. I never thought of myself as a lake person. I was pleasantly surprised. 

Middle Grade Monday features The Boys in the Back Row by Mike Jung. The back row refers to the percussion section in a band and the boys refers to two best friends, Mike Park and Eric Costa. Mike is the narrator and he's super-anxious about the start of his sixth grade year. He doesn't look forward to all the changes sixth grade will bring; but he's happy to have Eric to help him through. They've been best friends since fourth grade band and also share a love of comics, especially Sandpiper. Eric has convinced Mike to switch from flute and piccolo to drums this year so that they can sit together during band. The two have to put up with their frenemy, Sean, who is also a drummer and takes a great deal of pleasure in bullying Matt and Eric, casually slinging racist and homophobic slurs their way. 

The boys do their best to ignore it and focus on the epic end-of-year band trip to an amusement park for a competition. Then they learn that the author of Sandpiper will be at a comic con nearby at the same time as the competition! They make plans to sneak away from band to attend but Sean wants in. What makes everything worse? Eric is moving across the country at the end of the school year.

This story is both amusing and endearing. It is familiar as well as utterly unique. It celebrates band kids and boy best friendship that is filled with warm affection and absent of budding toxic masculinity and constant competition. The Boys in the Back Row releases in October and is a first-purchase.

I've been a school librarian for twenty-two years now - the first ten were spent at a K - 8 school, the last twelve at a 5 - 8 middle school. I've also raised four boys. Something happens between fifth and sixth grades to both boys and girls. Grade five and below, the students are like adorable puppies, relatively inclusive and squirming bundles of energy. Some invisible switch clicks between fifth and sixth grade and suddenly lines are drawn and bewildered boys and girls find themselves excluded. Friendships fracture. Unwritten, unspoken rules are broken. Puberty happens for some and not others. Both boys and girls can turn mean. What is especially heartbreaking is how boy friendships evolve and how gentleness and affection get smothered by competition and one-upmanship. I love how Mike Jung has celebrated boy best friendship.

Fact Friday and Audiobook Review: Stamped, Racism, Anti-racism and You: a remix of Stamped from the Beginning by Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi.

Image: LBYR

Happy last day of school, TMS Readers! Fact Friday features: Stamped, Racism, Anti-racism and You: a remix of Stamped from the Beginning by Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi. Yes, you read that right. Jason Reynolds has forayed into nonfiction territory and adapted Dr. Kendi's National Book Award-winning, Stamped from the Beginning for a young audience. 

On the opening page, or in my case on the opening track, since I listened to Mr. Reynolds read his work, he assures the reader/ listener, "This is NOT a history book." It is, but it certainly does not feel like one in this capable storyteller's hands. Jason Reynolds is a fearless writer, always willing to experiment, as he does so with font changes and dramatic use of white space. He & Dr. Kendi bring the reader back to 1415, when a document was written to justify the enslavement of human beings on religious grounds. He connects the dots through history from the arrival of the first ships bearing enslaved men and women to the New World, through the Civil War, the Jim Crow era, the Civil Rights Movement, the "war on drugs," the school-to-prison pipeline to the #BLM movement of today. He does so with a bit of humor to balance the horror and despicable injustices. He also takes the occasional break to remind the reader to stop and breathe. Because that's exactly what happens. You find yourself holding your breath. This inspiring work will compel you to sit with the material and do some reflection. You might even reread it, as I intend to do soon.

Jason Reynolds' writing here is conversational. I've read each of his novels and heard him speak on multiple occasions so his voice is firmly in my head. I started reading an arc with my eyes, then heard that he was narrating the audio and decided to wait and listen to the real voice. And what a voice. Even my dog was entranced. 

Stamped: Racism, Anti-racism and You belongs in all libraries. I would love to make this a One Book One School read or, at least an all-faculty read. I can't recommend this enough.

Arc Review: What Lane? by Torrey Maldonado

Image: Penguin Random House

What Lane? by Torrey Maldonado. 138 p. Nancy Paulson Books/ Penguin Random House, May 5, 2020. 9780525518433. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Sixth grader Stephen's friendship with his best bud, Dan is changing. Ever since Dan's cousin, Chad, moved to the neighborhood, Chad has done nothing but challenge and contradict Stephen. He has even gone so far to say that "They shoulda kept Spider-Man white." Stephen is biracial and Dan is white. Now Chad's casual racism and constant micro-aggressions are getting under Stephen's skin. He and his dad are close and have lots of heart-to-heart conversations about race, racism, and the Black Lives Matter movement. As Chad escalates his dares to do things such as trespassing or riding the top of a subway car, Stephen realizes that he will not be treated the same as his white friends if they are caught. 

Mr. Maldonado, a teacher born and raised in Brooklyn, vividly portrays the uncertainty of a young, bright boy navigating race in an unfair society. I love everything about this book from its cover through its short, tightly written chapters. I love the tween boy dynamics and that Stephen's parents were so in tuned-in and involved. The author lays out the issues, including white ally-ship in a thoughtful accessible way for tween readers and some clueless adults who may need to understand their white privilege. 

What Lane? belongs in all library collections.

Middle Grade Monday and arc review: Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Image: LBYR

Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes. 234 p. Little, Brown and Company, March, 2020. 9780316493802. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher, ALAMW)

Middle Grade Monday features Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes. Donte acknowledges his privilege. He lives with two loving parents in a nice house, in a nice town. He actually likes his parents. They can afford to send him to a private school to get the best possible education. Still, he would prefer to be back in his old neighborhood in New York City because, as one of few black students at Middlefield Prep, he experiences outright racism and micro-aggressions daily. According to his teachers, he is just not fitting in. Not like his brother, Trey. Trey fits in. While both boys are biracial, Trey's skin color favors their's dad and Donte's favors their mom. 

When Donte gets arrested and suspended from school, he's in a bad head space despite the support and love of his family. He wants to get back at his main tormenter. But how? He has to do it in a way that won't get him in trouble. Donte decides on the fencing mat. Alan is captain of the fencing team. Does Donte have the stuff?

Jewell Parker Rhodes delivers another solid, engaging middle grade story that deftly presents a myriad of issues without feeling issue-laden. And she does so in just over 200 pages! I was fully invested and taken by Donte's voice from page one and read it in one sitting. I would love to reread this with my ears if there are plans for an audiobook. I am also eager to see the finished copy and its art. Terrific read! I can't wait to share this with my students who are fans of hers.