#tbt: Magyk by Angie Sage

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

Magyk by Angie Sage. Illustrated by Mark Zug. 576 p. Katherine Tegen Books/ HarperCollins Publishers, 2005. 9780060577312. (Own.)

#tbt features Magyk by Angie Sage. The number seven is considered lucky in some cultures. Being a seventh son is thought to be auspicious and to be a seventh son of a seventh son? Who knows what magic can happen? Septimus Heap was born a seventh son of a seventh son, but was pronounced dead and whisked away by the midwife before his mother could hold him. At the same time, his father discovered a baby girl with violet eyes in the snow and carried her home to raise amongst his sons. Who is this baby girl the Heaps name Jenna and where did their dead baby go?

Fast forward ten years. Jenna has a destiny to fulfill and assassins who will do their best to prevent that from happening. And, what of that missing seventh son of a seventh son? You will need to read the book to find out. 

Magyk was published in 2005 and is the first book of the seven-book Septimus Heap series. The books are quite chunky, weighing in at over 500 pages, but the pages fly by as the story is filled with quirky characters, plenty of humor, action and mystery.

Waiting on Wednesday: Hummingbird by Natalie Lloyd

Image: Scholastic Inc.

Hummingbird by Natalie Lloyd. 368 p. Scholastic Inc., August 2, 2022. 9781338654585.

Happy Wednesday! Waiting on Wednesday features Hummingbird by Natalie Lloyd. Publisher synopsis: Twelve-year-old homeschooled Olive is tired of being seen as “fragile” just because she has osteogenesis imperfecta (otherwise known as brittle bone disease) so she’s thrilled when she finally convinces her parents to let her attend Macklemore Elementary. Olive can’t wait to go to a traditional school and make the friends she’s always longed for, until a disastrous first day dashes her hopes of ever fitting in.

Then Olive hears whispers about a magical, wish-granting hummingbird that supposedly lives near Macklemore. It’ll be the solution to all her problems! If she can find the bird and prove herself worthy, the creature will make her most desperate, secret wish come true.

When it becomes clear that she can’t solve the mystery on her own, Olive teams up with some unlikely allies who help her learn the truth about the bird. And on the way, she just might learn that our fragile places lead us to the most wonderful magic of all . . .

Humminbird releases on August 2. Happy reading!

Teen Tuesday: Blood Metal Bone by Lindsay Cummings

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

Blood Metal Bone by Lindsay Cummings. 482 p. HQ/ HarperCollins Publishers, June 28, 2022. 9780008292799. (Review of finished copy courtesy of publisher.)

Happy first day of summer break to my students and colleagues! I cross-post these book talks to my school's learning platform. In my post this morning, I asked my students, "What are your reading goals for the summer? Set yourself an attainable, realistic goal and choose the books you most enjoy! Not loving the book? Abandon it and try another." I admitted to them that I've been in a bit of a reading slump myself for the last year due to a variety of reasons. I've had to reduce my usual goal of a book-a-day to 300 for the year and Goodreads tells me I'm 30 books behind that goal. I might make it up over the summer break. I might not. But I will read with my eyes and with my ears every day.

Teen Tuesday features Blood Metal Bone by Lindsay Cummings. This sci-fi fantasy takes place in deep space on a dwarf planet named Dohrsar. Sonara is the illegitimate daughter of a queen, relegated to taming horses in the royal stable. Her brother is her best friend and confidant, but when an alien space ship lands and abducts him, no one believes her, least of all the queen, who condemns her and her beloved horse to death.

They return from the dead as Shadowbloods and join a ragtag group of outlaws. Sonara earns the nickname Devil of the Deadlands and the reputation that goes along with it. After a botched heist, the crew agrees to escort the escaped daughter of a king and she is bent on revenge. However, the crafty king has a hidden agenda, as kings do. When an alien ship lands and Sonara realizes that it looks just like the ship that abducted her brother, she's distracted from her mission. The ship contains two human brothers with secrets of their own who will join forces with the king to attempt to find a rock that is the heart of the planet and possesses great power.

The story is told from three third-person perspectives, Sonara and the human brothers, Karr and Cade. It flashes back and forth revealing history and motives slowly until the end. The characters are colorful. There is plenty of banter to enjoy as well as epic action. The world has a bleak, Wild West feel to it. This stand-alone novel is great for fans of twisty, sci-fi/ fantasy like Six of Crows, as the press release says. Blood Metal Bone releases in the U.S. next week. Happy early book birthday! 

Middle Grade Monday: Absolutely Nat by Maria Scrivan

Image: Scholastic Inc.

Absolutely Nat by Maria Scrivan. Nat Enough series #3. 240 p. Graphix/ Scholastic Inc., September, 2021. 9781338715392. (Review of finished purchased copy.)

Happy last day of school! The final Middle Grade Monday post of the 21-22 school year features Absolutely Nat by Maria Scrivan. Book #3 of the "Nat Enough" graphic novel series does not disappoint. It doesn't take long for Natalie to find out that summer camp is not going to live up to the brochures. Instead of bunking with her besties, she's stuck bunking with her former bestie and the tiresome Millie Flatbottom. What's worse, is she's being pushed out of her comfort zone, like having to swim to the dock in the lake. While not the first graphic novel to portray the trials and tribulations of summer camp, Nat continues to endear. More please!

What's New?

"Stacking the Shelves" was a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. It seems the blog is gone though, so I will just continue to post a "What's New? post whenever I receive new books. 

For Review:

Image: Candlewick Press

Hope is an Arrow: the Story of Lebanese American Poet Kahlil Gibran by Cory McCarthy. Illustrated by Ekua Holmes. 40 p. Candlewick Press, July 5, 2022. 9781536200324.

Publisher synopsis: Before Kahlil Gibran became the world’s third-best-selling poet of all time, he was Gibran Khalil Gibran, an immigrant child from Lebanon with a secret hope to bring people together despite their many differences. Kahlil’s life highlights the turn of the twentieth century, from the religious conflicts that tore apart his homeland and sent a hundred thousand Arab people to America, to settling in Boston, where the wealthy clashed headlong with the poor. Throughout it all, Kahlil held on to his secret hope, even as his identity grew roots on both sides of the Atlantic. How could he be both Kahlil Gibran, Arab American, and Gibran Khalil Gibran, the Lebanese boy who longed for the mountains of his homeland? Kahlil found the answer in art and poetry. He wrote The Prophet, an arrow of hope as strong as the great cedars of Lebanon and feathered by the spirit of American independence. More than a hundred years later, his words still fly around the world in many languages, bringing people together.

A lyrical biography of Kahlil Gibran by award-winning writer Cory McCarthy, with glorious illustrations by Caldecott Honoree and two-time Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner Ekua Holmes.

Purchased: Nothing! But I received some AZ gift cards for end of year gifts, so...

What's new with you?

#tbt: Hoot by Carl Hiassen

Image: Penguin Random House

Hoot by Carl Hiassen.294 p. Alfred A. Knopf/ Random House Children's Books, September, 2002. 9780375821813. (Own)

Happy last Thursday of the school year! Congrats to the eighth grade for a lovely graduation last night. 

#tbt features Hoot by Carl Hiassen. Mr. Hiassen, a noted novelist for adults made his YA debut twenty years ago with the publication of this eco-mystery. Roy Eberhardt is new to the small town of Coconut Cove, Florida. He recently moved from Montana. He is quickly caught in the cross-hairs of the town bully and it is while his face is smashed against the window of the school bus that he spies a long-haired, barefoot boy dashing down the street away from school. Intrigued, Roy attempts to follow him. At the same time, the police are investigating a series of acts of vandalism at the construction site of a pancake house. The construction will displace tiny burrowing owls, which are protected, but the owners of the pancake house may have tampered with the environmental impact report. The novel is packed with quirky characters and the humor is sly and subversive.

Hoot was named a Newbery Honor book in 2003 as well as an ALA Notable Book and a Best Book for Young Adults. It made a number of state awards lists and was adapted for film in 2006.

Waiting on Wednesday: Gleanings by Neal Shusterman

Image: Simon & Schuster

Gleanings by Neal Shusterman. 432 p. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, November 8, 2022. 9781534499973.

Happy final Wednesday of the school year! Waiting on Wednesday features Gleanings by Neal Shusterman. His Arc of the Scythe trilogy is an eighth grade favorite here at TMS. I know I can't wait to return to the world with this collection of stories. Gleanings releases on November 8. 

Here's the publisher synopsis: The New York Times bestselling Arc of the Scythe series continues with thrilling stories that span the timeline. Storylines continue. Origin stories are revealed. And new Scythes emerge!

There are still countless tales of the Scythedom to tell. Centuries passed between the Thunderhead cradling humanity and Scythe Goddard trying to turn it upside down. For years humans lived in a world without hunger, disease, or death with Scythes as the living instruments of population control.

Neal Shusterman—along with collaborators David Yoon, Jarrod Shusterman, Sofía Lapuente, Michael H. Payne, Michelle Knowlden, and Joelle Shusterman—returns to the world throughout the timeline of the Arc of a Scythe series. Discover secrets and histories of characters you’ve followed for three volumes and meet new heroes, new foes, and some figures in between.

Gleanings shows just how expansive, terrifying, and thrilling the world that began with the Printz Honor–winning Scythe truly is.