Middle Grade Monday: The Fire, the Water and Maudie McGinn by Sally J. Pla

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

The Fire, the Water and Maudie McGinn by Sally J. Pla.  336 p. Quill Tree Books/ HarperCollins Publisher, July 11, 2023. 9780063268814. (Review of arc courtesy of Blue Slip Media.)

Happy Monday! I hope you had a wonderful weekend.  It's the penultimate Monday of the school year for me and I am ready for the break. Middle Grade Monday features The Fire, the Water and Maudie McGuin by Sally J. Pla. Thirteen-year-old Maudie always looks forward to summers because she spends them with her dad in his cabin in California. She's autistic and he accepts her the way she is and doesn't belittle her the way her mom and now, her new step-father do. Almost immediately, her dad senses something is not right and asks Maudie if she's okay. Maudie is not okay, but has been sworn to secrecy by her mother. Then comes the wildfire. Maudie and her dad have to evacuate the cabin. They head down the coast to her dad's hometown. Her dad's best friend runs a trailer park and puts them up in a trailer while her dad tries to find work. Maudie spends her days at the beach getting up the courage to ask local surf legend, Etta for lessons. She wants to win the beginners surf contest at the end-of-summer bash. There's prize money and it might be enough to help her dad and maybe stay with him instead of returning to Texas.

This first-person novel unfolds quietly as Maudie copes with her traumas. Short chapters with poems interspersed throughout reflect Maudie's thoughtful insights. They also ratchet up tension as she gradually reveals the secret she carries. Readers will root for Maudie as she gains confidence, learns to surf and makes friends. Other characters are equally endearing and wonderfully supportive of Maudie. 

The Fire, the Water and Maudie McGinn releases on July 11. I adored this book. Put it on your radar. It would be a great SEL title and perfect for any school, classroom or public library. 

Middle Grade Monday and Arc Review: Wave by Diana Farid. Illustrated by Kris Goto

Image: Cameron Kids

Wave by Diana Farid. Illustrated by Kris Goto. 315 p. Cameron Kids/ Abrams Books, March 29, 2022. 9781951836580. (Review of arc courtesy of Blue Slip Media.)

Happy Monday! I hope you enjoyed the weekend and got outside as much as possible. Spring has sprung! The trees are budding and sleepy perennials are pushing their way up. Last week, my daffodils grew four inches overnight! I started my yard clean-up while waiting for son #1 to arrive with his wife and daughter. It was such a pleasure to visit with them, a nice distraction from anticipating Tuesday, which will be the first wedding anniversary I will "celebrate" alone. Grief sure does come in waves.

Middle Grade Monday features Wave by Diana Farid. It is 1987 in Southern California. The only plans Ava, a thirteen-year-old Persian-American has for the summer between eighth grade and high school are surfing, surfing and more surfing with her bestie, Phoenix. Her single-mother, who is a physician has signed Ava up as a volunteer in her hospital in the hopes that Ava will want to study medicine. Ava has no desire to work in health care and, it turns out, faints at the sight of blood. Still, dutiful daughter that she is, she goes and connects with a patient who asks her to read the Persian poet, Rumi to him.

Meanwhile, Phoenix's lymphoma has returned adding more turmoil to the anxiety roiling in Ava, who is also coping with OCD as well as missing the father she never really new and balancing two cultures, never truly fitting in either one.

This accessible verse novel is written in both blank and concrete poetry. Lovely black and white spot illustrations add to the mood. The verse rises and falls rhythmically, like waves as Ava's story unfolds. Persian words are woven into the poems with explanation and one even describes the labor of love that was creating a mix-tape, something contemporary teens in this age of streaming music and Spotify playlists may have trouble picturing.

The poems roll in like waves, some large, some small, some gently, some forceful enough to make the reader gasp. Wave is a quick, intense read that satisfies. If you love verse novels, surfing, or sad stories, Wave is the book for you. It releases on March 29 and would be an awesome addition to any library serving tweens and teens. 

Middle Grade Monday and Audiobook Review: The Only Black Girls in Town by Brandy Colbert

Image: Little, Brown and Company

The Only Black Girls in Town by Brandy Colbert. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~5 hours and 36 minutes. Read by Jeanette Illidge. LBYR/ Hachette Book Group, March, 2020. 9781549157387. (Review of downloadable audiobook borrowed from public library.)

Happy Monday! I hope you had a wonderful weekend filled with books and walks outside. The weather was cold but the sunshine was glorious. Boo and I took lots of long walks. He even got to run loose in the woods for a bit.

Middle Grade Monday features The Only Black Girls in Town by Brandy Colbert. Ms. Colbert, an award-winning YA author, made her middle grade debut in this winning story of Alberta, who lives with her two dads in a California beach town. They are the only Black people in town and Alberta has gotten used to that thanks to her best friend, Laramie and surfing. Al lives to surf and she's good enough to compete, but her dads say she can't until she's thirteen. Life is pretty good except for her nemesis, Natalie, who lives next door, and whom Laramie seems to be taking a shine to. Just as seventh grade begins, Al learns that the B & B across the street has finally been sold. A Black family will be moving in and there's a girl just Al's age!

Edie and her mom have moved all the way to California from Brooklyn and Edie is not thrilled. She misses her friends, Brooklyn and most of all, her record producer dad. Her goth style, wearing all black, including lipstick, certainly draws attention at school. Can Al and Edie forge a friendship?

This was a fun read about friendship and middle school drama with a side of mystery. While cleaning up the attic, which will be Edie's space, the girls discover a box of diaries from the 1950s and set about reading them.

New-to-me narrator, Jeanette Illidge, sounded appropriately youthful as Alberta and had a distinct range of voices for the varied characters.