Friday Memes: The World Ends in April by Stacy McAnulty

Book Beginnings is hosted by Rose City Reader and Friday 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice.

Image: Random House

The World Ends in April by Stacy McAnulty. 368 p. Random House Books for Young Readers, September 3,2019. 9781524767617.

Publisher synopsis: Is middle school drama scarier than an asteroid heading for Earth? Find out in this smart and funny novel by the author of The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl.

Every day in middle school can feel like the end of the world.

Eleanor Dross knows a thing or two about the end of the world, thanks to a survivalist grandfather who stockpiles freeze-dried food and supplies–just in case. So when she reads about a Harvard scientist’s prediction that an asteroid will strike Earth in April, Eleanor knows her family will be prepared. Her classmates? They’re on their own!

Eleanor has just one friend she wants to keep safe: Mack. They’ve been best friends since kindergarten, even though he’s more of a smiley emoji and she’s more of an eye-roll emoji. They’ll survive the end of the world together . . . if Mack doesn’t go away to a special school for the blind.

But it’s hard to keep quiet about a life-destroying asteroid–especially at a crowded lunch table–and soon Eleanor is the president of the (secret) End of the World Club. It turns out that prepping for TEOTWAWKI (the End of the World as We Know It) is actually kind of fun. But you can’t really prepare for everything life drops on you. And one way or another, Eleanor’s world is about to change.

First Line: Mack Jefferson, my best-and only-friend, reads to me from his Braille edition of The Outsiders.

Page 56:
     "You need to promise me, if you're worried about this or if you have more questions, talk to me, please. I know you get worked up about things."

      "Okay." And this is an absolute lie. I won't talk to Dad again until I have more proof. Until I can convince him this is real. As the asteroid gets closer to Earth, there's no way other scientists will stay quiet. There will be better pictures and more data. I have to be patient. Even though the world is ending in spring, that still two quarters of a school year away. And school years last forever.

I absolutely adored The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl and fell in love with this one on page one. And Science! Yay!

Review: Which One Doesn't Belong? Playing with shapes by Christopher Danielson

Image: Charlesbridge

Which One Doesn't Belong? Playing with shapes by Christopher Danielson. unpgd. Charlesbridge, February, 2019. 9781580899444. (Review of finished copy courtesy of publisher.)

When I opened my review box a while back and saw this colorful, appealing cover, two things happened nearly at once. First, I started to hum that Sesame Street ditty, "One of these things is not like the other/ One of these things doesn't belong/ Can you guess which thing is not like the other/ Before I finish my song?" Yeah. Then, I figured that after I read and reviewed it, I would send it on to either my husband's niece with young children or my husband's niece who teaches first grade or my elementary school librarian colleague or... You get the picture. 

No way! I am keeping it for my middle school library and using it in my Digital Media Classes. Why? Well, while I can certainly see its use in math classes, I want to use it as an introductory exercise in critical thinking. I am constantly telling my sixth through eighth graders that they need to back up their opinions with reasons or examples. This is usually with regard to book evaluations that I have them write when they cycle through my class. 

There are no wrong answers here! Granted, the example is rather simple. There is easy justification for each shape presented. That is generally the way with examples. The groupings become progressively harder though, requiring a bit more time to parse reasons. The beauty of the book? There are no wrong answers! "The important thing is to have a reason why." Exactly! I can't tell you how many times I have read something like, "The art in this book is amazing." Or, "The writing is really great." I write back something like, "Examples? How was the art amazing?" Or, "What made the writing great? Give examples." My students actually lose points for failing to give examples. I accept even the lamest connection because they made an attempt. I think I might be able to drive home my point with this fun exercise. #nevertoooldforpicturebooks for the win!

I saw on the Charlesbridge site that their's is a reissue and found an image from the original. I must say the colors used in the reissue really pop and increases appeal. Bravo art department! Great choices! There's a guide available and the author's website offers links to resources and blog postings. He's working on a book about patterns now.

Which One Doesn't Belong belongs everywhere!

#tbt: Soldier's Heart by Gary Paulsen

Image: Penguin

Soldier's Heart: being the story of the enlistment and due service of the boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers by Gary Paulsen. 108 p. Delacorte Press/ Penguin Young Readers, October, 1998. 0385324987. (Own)

#tbt features Soldier's Heart: being the story of the enlistment and due service of the boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers by Gary Paulsen. This novella is a work of historical fiction set during the Civil War. Fifteen-year-old Charley Goddard lies about his age and enlists in the First Minnesota Volunteers with dreams of being a hero. Once on the battlefields however, the violent reality of gun battle and death stuns Charley. Yet, he must go on. Seeing battle after battle and being injured himself. Charley returns home at age nineteen changed in heart and soul. Neither his physical nor mental injuries heal, leaving him unable to work and wishing for release. An author's note explains that Charley Goddard really did exist but that certain events in his life were changed to fit the storytelling. 

Arc Review: Nixie Ness: cooking star by Claudia Mills

Image: Holiday House

Nixie Ness: cooking star by Claudia Mills. After-School Superstars series #1. 118 p. Margaret Ferguson Books/ Holiday House, June, 2019. 9780823440931. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Nixie Ness is one happy third-grader. She loves to bake and baking is doubly fun when she does it with her BFF, Grace. She and Grace have been best friends since they were two and they do everything together. They are in the same class, sit together at lunch, play soccer together on the weekend and, best of all, get to spend each day after school together at Nixie's house until Grace's mom gets home from work. Life couldn't get more perfect. 

Then, Nixie's mom gets a job in a bookstore and Nixie learns she'll be attending after-school camp. When she learns that Grace will not be attending camp, Nixie is upset. When she learns that Grace will be going home with Elyse, a classmate, Nixie is devastated. How can they remain best friends? What if Grace becomes best friends with Elyse? How can Nixie get rid of this friend stealer?

Still, she must admit that After-School Superstars is fun. She's teamed with Vera, Nolan and Boogie. When she's there, she can almost forget her troubles. But when Vera makes shy attempts to extend the friendship past after-school camp, Nixie shuts her down out of loyalty to Grace.

Move over Ramona, Junie B. and Clementine. There's a new spunky heroine on the scene. Nixie is spirited and appealing in this gentle story about changing friendship. Elementary readers will relate to Nixie and her humorous and sometimes cringeworthy attempts to save her friendship. The dialogue is spot-on. The unfinished sketches and spot art will add appeal in their finished form. A recipe for Morning Glory Muffins is provided at the end of this satisfying story. Where can I sign up for After-school Superstars camp?

Waiting on Wednesday: Bootlace Magician by Cassie Beasley

Image: Penguin 

Bootlace Magician by Cassie Beasley. 416 p. Dial Books/ Penguin Young Readers, October 1, 2019. 978052552635.

Publisher synopsis: Fans of Cassie Beasley’s New York Times best-selling novel Circus Mirandus have long been clamoring for one thing: to go back to the circus! They will finally get their wish in this masterpiece of a sequel with even more magical creatures and surprises.

Micah Tuttle now lives at the Circus Mirandus full-time as an apprentice to the incredible Lightbender. It’s a dream come true! Micah spends most of days discovering and refining his magic, hanging out with a new baby unicorn, and making occasional trips outside to visit his best friend, Jenny Mendoza. Everything seems relatively peaceful and calm until Micah’s grandmother, Victoria, The Bird Woman, begins to seriously threaten the future of Micah’s new home. Worst of all, it’s looking like she might be successful in her evil mission to destroy the circus, especially since she has nothing to lose. Soon, it’s up to Micah and the Lightbender (with a little help from Micah’s best friend and the other magicians) to defeat Victoria and help keep the magical circus alive.

I absolutely adored Circus Mirandus and will be so happy to return to that world. I also loved Beasley's sophomore novel, Tumble and Blue!

Teen Tuesday and Arc Review: Ordinary Hazards by Nikki Grimes

Image: Boyds Mills Press 

Ordinary Hazards: a memoir by Nikki Grimes. 325 p. Boyds Mills Press October 8, 2019. 9781629798813. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Teen Tuesday features Ordinary Hazards: a memoir by Nikki Grimes. Resilience is a trait that gets bandied about a lot lately, especially when talking about children. Is it something we are born with or can it be cultivated? Grimes discovered the power of words, of reading them and writing them, to help her navigate the uncertainty of her childhood. She was born in Harlem to a mother who battled mental illness and alcohol and a mostly absent, though revered father. Her older sister, Carol, comforted and protected her as best she could. But there was only so much an older sister could do. There were rats, fights, cousins hooked on heroin, abusive caregivers and the gradual mental deterioration of their mother until she and her sister were removed from her home and placed in foster care. They were kept together for two years, but eventually, the girls were placed in separate homes. 

Grimes is a poet and author of such verse novels as Garvey's Choice, Words with Wings and Planet Middle School and hybrid verse/ prose novels such as Bronx Masquerade and its companion, One Last Word. She's also author of the picture book biography, Barack Obama: son of promise, child of hope. The vivid imagery of her poems takes the reader back to the early 1950s, to dresser drawer beds, to nodding heads, to locked closets, to a train to Ossining and back again. 

She found a good place with the Buchanan family though she missed her sister terribly. She found consolation in writing in notebooks. She wrote poems and bits of observations. After a few years, her mother got her life together and remarried. Nikki had to say goodbye to the Buchanans to return to her mother in Brooklyn and the hope of a new start that nine-year-old Nikki could not trust. 

This memoir in verse was unputdownable. Vivid, raw, compelling, heartbreaking and honest, I often had to remind myself to breathe. She turned out okay, I reminded myself. Improbably, she had the strength to learn and grow despite the traumas. How, when so many in similar situations fall victim? Thank goodness for Nikki Grimes' resiliency. I wish it for each person who struggles. 

Ordinary Hazards is extraordinary and not to be missed if you are a fan of the author, a fan of memoirs in verse or just a thoughtful reader with a heart. 

Middle Grade Monday and Arc Review: Beverly, Right Here by Kate DiCamillo

Image: Candlewick Press

Beverly, Right Here by Kate DiCamillo. 256 p. Candlewick Press, September 24, 2019. 9780763694647. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Happy Monday TMS readers! How's your summer reading going as we head into the second week of summer break?

Middle Grade Monday features Beverly, Right Here by Kate DiCamillo. Fans of DiCamillo first met Beverly in Raymie Nightingale. She became Raymie's friend along with Louisiana Elefante. You may remember that Louisiana got her own story from a past Middle Grade Monday featuring Louisiana's Way Home. Now it's Beverly's turn. 

Beverly may talk tough but she has a tender heart. She has buried Buddy, her beloved dog, under an orange tree in her backyard and is running away from a mother who might not even notice she's gone. She hitches a ride with a creepy cousin and ends up in a beach town, where she finds a job bussing tables in a fish restaurant. She bunks with a friendly, little, old lady in a trailer park. 

She doesn't want to make connections, but she does. 

This brief, beautiful novel brims with heart and is filled with memorable characters and absolutely lovely writing. Beverly is the prickliest of the Three Rancheros. In Beverly, Right Here, readers will grow to appreciate and love her. Beverly's life is complicated and will probably never be easy, but there is hope.

Beverly, Right Here is due out September 24 giving you time to read Raymie Nightingale and Louisiana's Way Home!