Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater

Image: Scholastic Inc.

Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~10 hours, 45 minutes. Dreamer Trilogy #2. Read by Will Patton. Scholastic Audio/ Scholastic Inc. 9781338672923. (Review of downloadable e-audiobook borrowed from the public library.)

Happy final Tuesday of the school year! Phew, I am running out of steam! The travels of this past weekend added to my general end-of-school exhaustion. Last night was the TREP$ Marketplace from 4:30 - 8. Tonight I'm chaperoning the eighth grade dinner dance and I'm attending graduation tomorrow. Then there's the grading to do. I enjoy it all, but it's tiring. 

Teen Tuesday features Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater. This is book two of the Dreamers trilogy, which is a companion trilogy to the Raven Cycle books. Confused yet? Since this is a second book, I will be purposely vague in my description so as not to spoil anything from book one, Call Down the Hawk.

Dreamers Ronan, Hennessey and Bryde are on the run with the Moderators hot on their heels and committed to destroying them. This intricately plotted story features compelling characters and so many twists, readers will get whiplash. While this trilogy stands alone, readers who have read The Raven Cycle, will appreciate Dreamers a bit more. If you are a reader who enjoys magical realism, these are the books for you. I cannot wait for Greywaren, which is due out on October 18. I'm sort of glad I missed the publication of Mister Impossible last May, because my wait for the finale is shortened.

I've listened to most of these two series and have really enjoyed Will Paxton's growly performances. I didn't here. His British accent was inconsistent and just...weird. There were a number of times when a word was pronounced incorrectly and that took me out of the story. I might read Greywaren with my eyes. 

Middle Grade Monday Student Guest Post: The Rise of the School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

The Rise of the School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani. 368 p. HarperCollins Publishers, May, 2022. 9780063161524.

Today, we will enjoy a final guest post by graduating eighth grader, LIa.

Happy second-to-last Middle Grade Monday! If you read these posts, then by now, you should know that I am a loyal fan of the School for Good and Evil series by Soman Chainani. You might remember that a few months ago, I wrote a post about its upcoming prequel, Rise of the School for Good and Evil. Well, it was finally released! As expected, I read it and it completely blew my mind. Here is a quick summary of RSGE:
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Two School Masters have taken an oath. One Good, one Evil. Two brothers have sworn to guard the Storian, forever sealing a bond of love. A balance in the Endless Woods.

That is, until a new student arrives at the School for Good and Evil. A student whose soul cannot be deciphered. So, a wager is made on the boy’s true purpose. To serve Good or to serve Evil. However, soon enough, a harmless wager between the School Masters turns into the spark that triggers an imbalance in the Endless Woods. The Storian’s judgment is questioned, a pirate believes he is fit to attend the School, and a strange student is claiming to be a seer… Throughout this tale, love, trust, and everything in between are put at stake, and a lifetime of brotherhood now stands in fear- especially in the face of the unknown.
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Fans of the School for Good and Evil series are guaranteed to leave this prequel in shock. Rest assured, you will never think of SGE the same way you did before. Personally, my mind is still attempting to fully comprehend the events of Rise, and I have a feeling the next book leave me the same way this one did.

Thank you Lia! Best of luck in high school!

#tbt: Holes by Louis Sachar

Image: Macmillan Publishers

Holes by Louis Sachar. 233 p. Farrar, Straus, Giroux/ Macmillan Publishers, August, 1998. 9780374332657. (Own.) 

Happy Thursday! I'm winging my way to Peoria a bit later today to visit my second eldest son, his wife and their son. Max is graduating from his neurosurgical residency and heading to UCLA for a spine fellowship. His son turned one last month and they are holding a belated birthday party for him as well. Happy times tinged with sadness as my husband, who was so incredibly proud of Max is not here to celebrate as well.

#tbt features Holes by Louis Sachar. After Stanley Yelnats is wrongly convicted of the theft of some donated basketball sneakers, he's sent to Camp Green Lake. There is no camp and there is no lake. All he and the other boys remanded to the facility do all day is dig holes in the hot sun. They are instructed to report any interesting discoveries to the warden.

The Yelnats family is cursed, and in a series of flashbacks, readers learn about how the family curse came to be. And just what about those holes? There's history behind that as well. Mr. Sachar seamlessly weaves these three strands with memorable characters and some hilarious situations. 

Holes won the Newbery Medal as well as the National Book Award. It was named to numerous State Awards and adapted for film in 2003. In 2006, the author published a companion novel called Small Steps.

Waiting on Wednesday: Two Degrees by Alan Gratz

Image: Scholastic Inc.

Two Degrees by Alan Gratz. 384 p. Scholastic Inc., October 4, 2022. 9781338735673.

Waiting on Wednesday features Two Degrees by Alan Gratz. Mr. Gratz's books are perennial favorites among TMS students. Here, he veers away from historical fiction and it looks like an intense read! Two Degrees releases on October 4. Here's the publisher synopsis:

Fire. Flood. Ice.

Three forces of nature.

Three kids swept up in a looming global catastrophe.

Can they survive?

In California, Akira Kristiansen is driving through the mountains with his dad when a wildfire sparks — and grows scarily fast. In just moments, Akira and his family have to evacuate but which way is safe with fire all around them?

In Churchill, Manitoba, Owen Mackenzie is running a tour for travelers who've come to see the polar bears. Lately the bears show up more and more as the ice thins. When Owen and his friend see a bear much too close for comfor, they end up in a fight for their lives.

In Miami, a hurricane bears down on Natalie Torres. That's not so uncommon... but everyone's saying this could be it. The Big One. Natalie and her mom don't have anywhere to run to, so they hunker down to ride out the storm.

Separated by hundreds of miles, Akira, Owen, and Natalie each struggle to survive against seemingly insurmountable odds. What ultimately connects the three kids is both surprising and hopeful: a commitment to changing the world, however and wherever they can.

Just as Refugee brought awareness of the refugee crisis to young readers, this latest tour-de-force from Alan Gratz will shed light on the increasingly urgent threat of climate change — while taking readers on a nonstop adventure that will keep them turning the pages, and making their own plans to better the world.

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Bravely by Maggie Stiefvater

Image: Disney

Bravely by Maggie Stiefvater. Unabridged downloadable e-audiobook. ~10 hours. Read by Fiona Hardingham. Disney Press, May 2022. 9781368083850. (Review of downloadable e-audiobook borrowed from public library.)

Teen Tuesday features Bravely by Maggie Stiefvater. This might be the first time a sequel to a movie was published as a book? I have read movie novelizations, but can't recall ever reading something like this. Plus, I have never viewed the movie. So there's that.

Merida DunBroch should be content now that she's no longer obligated to make a marriage. She still prefers practicing archery to perfecting her embroidery, but she's a tad restless and impatient with the sameness of every day and longs for adventure. On Christmas Eve, she spies a figure in the snow just outside the castle and when she goes to investigate, the figure flees after turning into a rabbit. Undaunted Merida follows though she's barefoot and not dressed for snow. Turns out, the figure is Feradach, the god of destruction and he was about to obliterate the DunBrach family because they have become stagnant. It is only the intervention of the goddess, Cailleach that stays Feradach's hand. Merida is given one year to prove the family can change and, she needs to keep the agreement a secret. Under the watchful eyes of both gods, Merida sets about saving her family and transforming her kingdom. 

This richly woven tale features intriguing characters, vivid Scottish settings, humor, suspense and adventure. There were a few tears near the end as well. 

Ms. Hardingham's narration was well-paced and contained a variety of voices and accents. Fans of the movie will love this new chapter in Merida's life; but this should appeal to any reader who loves a brave and headstrong main character.

Fact Friday: Picturing a Nation: the Great Depression's Finest Photographers Introduce America to Itself by Martin W. Sandler

Image: Candlewick Press

Picturing a Nation: the Great Depression's Finest Photographers Introduce America to Itself by Martin W. Sandler. 166 p. Candlewick Press, November, 2021. 9781536215250. (Review of finished purchased copy.)

Fact Friday features Picturing a Nation: the Great Depression's Finest Photographers Introduce America to Itself by Martin W. Sandler. In 1935, the Farm Security Administration hired photographers to document the work of the administration all across America during the Great Depression. These photographers, including Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, and Gordon Parks, soon shifted their focus from the government agents to the people they were helping. The result was over 200,000 photos of Americans, young and old, rural and urban, Black and white, doing the best they could during an unprecidented time. A few of these photos might already be familiar to readers, especially the iconic images of Dorothea Lange. While there is plenty to learn from the captions, the photos are the stars here. This is a gorgeous, thought-provoking book to browse frequently.

Highly recommended. 

#tbt: The Alchemyst by Michael Scott

Image: Penguin Random House

The Alchemyst by Michael Scott. The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel #1. 376 p. Delacorte Press/ Random House Children's Books, May, 2007. 9780385733571. (Own)

#tbt features The Alchemyst by Michael Scott. When this book released way back in the spring of 2007, students would tell me that the author of this book "plagiarized" from J.K. Rowling, not understanding that Nicholas Flamel is a real person from history. He's a main character in this series, apparently having discovered the means to achieving immortality along with a host of other notable figures from history. He owns a book shop in San Fransisco and his wife, Perenelle, owns the coffee shop across the street. The two are working under pseudonyms. Fifteen-year-old twin siblings, Josh and Sophie each work for one of the couple. A mysterious man named John Dee, backed up by some golum goons, enters Flamel's book shop seeking The Codex. It is then that Josh realizes that his boss is not who he claims he is when he witnesses him using magic to prevent Dee from stealing the Codex.  

There are two problems with Dee stealing the Codex. One, Nicholas has to recreate the elixir every few months, or risk losing immortality and two, it will enable Dee to summon the Dark Elders and destroy the world.

Nicholas and Perenelle were in San Fransisco specifically to discover whether Sophie and Josh were the twins that were prophesied to be the world's saviors. 

Each book in this action-packed series takes place over one day and takes the reader around the physical world and the world of the gods and goddesses of a multitude of mythologies.