Middle Grade Monday and Arc Review: Get a Grip Vivy Cohen by Sarah Kapit

Image: Penguin Random House

Get a Grip Vivy Cohen! by Sarah Kapit. Dial Books for Young Readers/ Penguin Random House, February, 2020. 9780525554189. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Middle Grade Monday features a debut called Get a Grip Vivy Cohen! by Sarah Kapit. This is an epistolery novel. That means it's told in letters. In this case, it's letters as well as emails that Vivy writes to her favorite MLB pitcher, VJ Capello. Not only do they share initials, but VJ is famous for his knuckleball pitch and Vivy has a good one. Her older brother taught her how to pitch but it's getting harder and harder to get him to toss the ball with her in the park. A Little League coach spots Vivy pitching one day and asks her to join his Little League team. Vivy is interested even though the coach's son, who is a classmate, does not look happy. Neither is Vivy's mother, who worries that Vivy won't fit in. Not only will she be the only girl, she will be the only autistic player. Vivy is prone to having meltdowns when she gets frustrated. Vivy promises she will work hard with her therapist on her social skills if she's allowed on the team.

Readers get to know this feisty knuckleballer through her letters and emails to her hero. There's some good baseball in this story, but readers do not need to love baseball to enjoy the book. Vivy is trying to live her best life in a world that is often unkind to those who are not neurotypical.

Get a Grip Vivy Cohen! is a great addition to any collection!

What's New? Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. Hop on over there to ogle what other bloggers got this week.

For Review: I received three books in the mail this week, only one of which I knew was coming! Yay, surprises!

Image: Author's Website

Sometimes a Wall by Dianne White. Illustrated by Barroux. unpgd. Owlkid Books, October 15, 2020. 9781771473736.

Publisher synopsis: An afternoon in the playground introduces different kinds of walls: a brick wall to draw on with chalk, a water wall, and a climbing wall. What follows is a playful yet profound exploration of the many ways walls can divide us or bring us together. When one child is excluded from a game, another builds a castle to leave him out. When the builder declares the castle MINE, other kids feel alienated—but the builder becomes lonely, too, when the others have fun without him. The book ends with the optimism of a new start: friendship, forgiveness, and imagination give the wall new meaning.

Told with short, simple lines of playful, rhyming text and loose line illustrations by internationally known artist Barroux, this book sparks questions with empathy, insight, and charm. It’s a timely tool for inquiry-based and social-emotional learning, sharing the important message that walls can unite or divide, depending on the choices we make.

Veg Patch Party by Clare Foges & Al Murphy. unpgd. Faber & Faber, October 20,2020. 9780571352852.

Publisher synopsis: 

The vegetables start waking up
They stretch and rise and shine -
They set up lots of stages,
Cos it's VEGGIE PARTY time!

Mud, rain, vegetables. A winning combination from the team behind the bestselling Kitchen Disco!

Image: Cambridge University Press

The Body Image Book for Girls: love yourself and grow up fearless by Charlotte Markey. Illustrations by Tim Olivers. 218 p. Cambridge University Press, September 10, 2020. 9781108718776.

Publisher synopsis: It is worrying to think that most girls feel dissatisfied with their bodies, and that this can lead to serious problems including depression and eating disorders. Can some of those body image worries be eased? Body image expert and psychology professor Dr Charlotte Markey helps girls aged 9-15 to understand, accept, and appreciate their bodies. She provides all the facts on puberty, mental health, self-care, why diets are bad news, dealing with social media, and everything in-between. Girls will find answers to questions they always wanted to ask, the truth behind many body image myths, and real-life stories from girls who share their own experiences. Through this easy-to-read and beautifully illustrated guide, Dr Markey teaches girls how to nurture both mental and physical heath to improve their own body image, shows the positive impact they can have on others, and enables them to go out into the world feeling fearless!

Purchased: nothing. I still have a full shopping cart on AZ, but haven't pushed the button as I have plenty to read right now and plenty to prepare for with school opening next week.

If you leave a comment, leave the link to your stack. I will pop by and to check out your stack!

Picture Book Review: Pearl Goes to Preschool by Julie Fortenberry

Image: Candlewick Press

Pearl Goes to Preschool by Julie Fortenberry. unpgd. Candlewick Press, July, 2020. 9781536207439. (Review of finished copy courtesy of publisher.) 

On page one in this adorable first-person narrative, teeny, tiny Pearl announces, "I'm a dancer, just like my mom." She dances every day and is usually the littlest dancer in class. Well, except for Violet, her mouse stuffie. Her mom broaches the subject of preschool, but Pearl and Violet are not interested. They already go to school. When Mom tells her that preschool is different and that she will learn to count, Pearl assures her mother she already knows how to count - first position, second position and third position! As the two get ready to attend a ballet, Pearl begins to ask questions about preschool. Later, she relays the information to Violet in the same reassuring tone. 

The creamy digitally rendered illustrations convey Pearl's close relationship with her mother and her love of ballet beautifully. Ballet is her safe space where she feels comfortable with older children. She needs to expand her circle to include peers and non-ballet activities. Her mother gently encourages and her modeling works, as seen when Pearl reassures Violet (and herself). 

There are plenty of books that deal with school anxiety. Pearl Goes to Preschool is a worthy addition to the collection.

#tbt: Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick

Image: LBYR

Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick. 384 p. Little Brown Books for Young Readers. 

Happy Thursday TMS Readers! #tbt features Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick. I believe I have shared that I am an unabashed crier over books and boy did I cry over this one. But I also laughed a lot. I have also shared that there is a space in my heart where some favorite characters reside forever. A place where, just thinking about them or the book brings on a flood of feelings. Amber resides there.

Sorta Like a Rock Star was published in 2010 and was Matthew Quick's debut YA. He had previously published a novel for adults you may have heard of called, The Siliver Linings Playbook. Amber is the princess of hope even though she lives in "Mellow Yellow," the school bus her alcoholic mother drives part-time. She relies on her faith in Jesus Christ, who is "sorta like a rock star" to get her through the tough times. She loves her mom but can't rely on her so Amber has surrounded herself with a found family of a sort. This compelling novel of faith, family, friendship, forgiveness and grief landed on several "Best" lists, including Best Fiction for Young Adults and was a Bank Street Best Book. It was optioned for film, with the author hired as the screenwriter and was recently released to Netflix under the title All Together Now. If you're a teen who loves to cry over books, Sorta Like a Rock Star is for you.

Waiting on Wednesday: Game Changer by Neal Shusterman

Image: TOR

Game Changer by Neal Shusterman.

Waiting on Wednesday features Game Changer by Neal Shusterman. Mr. Shusterman's books are quite popular at TMS and include titles for middle grade and YA. They are twisty, surprising and utterly believable. Here's the publisher synopsis of Game Changer: All it takes is one hit on the football field, and suddenly Ash’s life doesn’t look quite the way he remembers it.

Impossible though it seems, he’s been hit into another dimension—and keeps on falling into universes that are almost-but-not-really his own, each one stranger than the last.

And if he isn’t careful, the world he’s learning to see more clearly could blink out of existence…

Game Changer releases in February, 2021.

Teen Tuesday and Arc Review: The Bridge by Bill Konigsberg

Image: Scholastic

The Bridge by Bill Konigsberg. 400 p. Scholastic Inc. September 1, 2020. 9781338325034. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Teen Tuesday wishes a happy book birthday to The Bridge by Bill Konigsberg. This uniquely structured book will not be everyone's cup of tea, but it addresses important issues that many teens face - bullying, isolation, depression and suicide. Two New York City teens in crisis go to the George Washington Bridge with the intention of jumping. Both are suffering from severe depression and both have recently suffered humiliation.

Aaron is lonely largely due to self-isolation. He has dreams of becoming an internet sensation with his singing and songwriting. He may or may not be much good. His parents are divorced. His mom is largely absent but his dad is attentive and worried about him. Tillie is bullied relentlessly at school about her weight. She was adopted from Korea when her parents learned they couldn't have biological children. She remembers a time when she felt her father loved her, but since her "miracle" sister was born, she feels isolated and unloved by him.

There are four possible scenarios on the GWB and the author explores them all in four parts. In part one, Tillie jumps and Aaron doesn't. In part two, Aaron jumps and Tillie doesn't. In part three, they both jump and in the final part, neither jumps and they form a tentative friendship. The psychic pain each teen is suffering is exquisitely portrayed as is the aftermath of each choice on the survivors.

Make no mistake, this is a very difficult read. But it's an important one. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among fifteen to twenty-four-year-olds. Back matter contains information about depression and mental health along with resources.

Mature teens who read The Bridge might find themselves more empathetic to others and learn to lean towards kindness and compassion instead of cruelty. Adults may be less apt to write off teens having difficulty coping as "teen angst."

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.