Waiting on Wednesday: Unstuck by Barbara Dee

Image: Simon & Schuster

Unstuck by Barbara Dee. 288 p. Aladdin/ Simon & Schuster, February 27, 2024. 9781534489868.

Happy Wednesday! It's a beautiful fall day outside here in northern NJ. Waiting on Wednesday features Unstuck by Barbara Dee. Ms. Dee's books portray lots of relatable issues that tweens face. TMS Library owns quite a few of her titles. Maybe He Just Likes You is a TMS fave. Unstuck releases on February 27, 2024.

Publisher synopsis: Lyla is thrilled when her seventh-grade English language arts class begins a daily creative writing project. For the past year, she’s been writing a brilliant fantasy novel in her head, and here’s her chance to get it on paper! The plot to Lyla’s novel is super complicated, with battle scenes and witches and a mysterious one-toed-beast, but at its core, it’s about an overlooked girl who has to rescue her beautiful, highly accomplished older sister.

But writing a fantasy novel turns out to be harder than simply imagining one, and pretty soon Lyla finds herself stuck, experiencing a panic she realizes is writer’s block. Part of the problem is that she’s trying to impress certain people—like Rania, her best friend who’s pulling away, and Ms. Bowman, the coolest teacher at school. Plus, there’s the pressure of meeting the deadline for the town writing contest. A few years ago, Lyla’s superstar teen sister Dahlia came in second, and this time, Lyla is determined to win first prize.

Finally, Lyla confides about her writing problems to Dahlia, who is dealing with her own academic stress as she applies to college. That’s when she learns Dahlia’s secret, which is causing a very different type of writer’s block. Can Lyla rescue a surprisingly vulnerable big sister, both on the page and in real life?

Happy reading!

Teen Tuesday: Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass: the Graphic Novel adapted by Mel Valentine Vargas

Image: Candlewick Press

Yaqui DelGado Wants to Kick Your Ass: the Graphic Novel adapted by Mel Valentine Vargas. Adapted from the novel by Meg Medina. 288 p. Candlewick Press, September, 2023. 9781536224771. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Moving house is always tough on a kid, but moving in tenth grade and fitting in in a new high school has to be the toughest. While Piddy Sanchez is happy to be out of her old, unsafe apartment, she's not thrilled to be at a new school and is missing her bff, who recently moved to the suburbs. On the first day of school, she learns that Yaqui Delgado wants to kick her ass. Piddy has no idea who Yaqui is or why she's angry at Piddy. Piddy is a good student, but as the threats and bullying escalate, Piddy withdraws and becomes increasingly depressed. Her single mother is at wit's end trying to figure out what is happening to her daughter, but the two constantly clash and Piddy becomes angry about her missing father. 

This graphic novel adaptation perfectly depicts Piddy's anguish in a muted palette of blues and grey. It's a painful book to read because it's very realistic. Highly recommend!

Middle Grade Monday: A Work in Progress by Jarrett Lerner

Image: Simon & Schuster

A Work in Progress by Jarrett Lerner. 368 p. Aladdin/ Simon & Schuster, May, 2023. 9781665905152. (Review of finished purchased copy.)

Sorry for this late posting! Middle Grade Monday features A Work in Progress by Jarrett Lerner. This heartbreaking first-person narrative is difficult to classify. It's notebook design implies a journal, but it's filled with disjointed free verse and sketches depicting Will's fragile mental health since fourth grade, when a cruel classmate fat-shamed him. He withdraws, and tries to make himself invisible by dressing in the baggiest of clothing and, eventually suffers from disordered eating. This honest, unflinching portrayal of what it's like to live as a fat kid in a world that values thinness will make readers reflect on how they might treat others. It's a powerful gut-punch. Highly recommended.

Middle Grade Monday: Kelcie Murphy and the Hunt for the Heart of Danu by Erika Lewis

Image: Macmillan

Kelcie Murphy and the Hunt for the Heart of Danu by Erika Lewis. 432 p. The Academy of the Unbreakable Arts series #2. Starscape/ A Tom Doherty Associates Book/ Macmillan, July 2023. 9781250208309. (Review of arc courtesy of MB Associates.)

Happy Monday! It's a one-session day for students at my school and we teachers have afternoon PD. It's also Indigenous Peoples' Day. My weekend flew by! It was rainy and miserable on Saturday, but I ferried into NYC to see Shucked with my sister for our birthdays. Sunday was spent working in the yard. 

Middle Grade Monday features Kelcie Murphy and the Hunt for the Heart of Danu by Erika Lewis. In book two of The Academy of the Unbreakable Arts series, Kelcie meets Lexis during her summer break, which she spent with her beloved grandmother. Unbeknownst to Kelcie, Lexis is a spy, sent by the Queen of Winter to infiltrate the Academy. Kelcie's grandmother feels a great foreboding before sending her back to school. Once there, she finds her bff Niall strangely aloof. Lexis and she are roommates and Kelcie keeps dismissing Lexis' suspicious behavior until it's nearly too late. Lexis, in the meanwhile, discovers the Summer People are not as bad as her Queen makes them out to be and begins to question her mission, though failure is not an option.

As in the first installment, this adventure is steeped in Celtic mythology and filled with action and humor. Friendships are fierce and loyal.There is a glossary and other explanatory info in the back matter to help readers understand the myths. If you have students who love fantasy that takes place at a school for magic, they will love these books. This book can stand alone, but I recommend reading them in order. Happy reading!

Middle Grade Monday a Day Late: Moonflower by Kacen Calendar

It has been a minute since posting and while I posted this to my school's learning platform yesterday, I didn't get around to the blog until today. Beginning-of-year craziness, I guess. 

Image: Scholastic Inc.

Moonflower by Kacen Callender. 272 p. Scholastic Press/ Scholastic Inc., September, 2022. 9781338636598. (Own)

Middle Grade Monday features Moonflower by Kacen Callender. Twelve-year-old Moon is non-binary and selectively mute. In fact, they feel like an alien, not born of this world, but of the stars, where they escape to each night. When they tell their Earth mother that they don't want to be in this world any longer, she puts Moon into therapy.

This first-person narrative is a riveting, heartbreaking, and ultimately hopeful depiction of adolescent depression.

Middle Grade Monday: Buzzing written by Samuel Sattin and illustrated by Rye Hickman.

Image: Hachette Book Group

Buzzing written by Samuel Sattin and illustrated by Rye Hickman. 224 p. Little Brown, Ink/ Hachette Book Group, July, 2023. 9780316628419. (Review of finished purchased copy.) 

Middle Grade Monday features Buzzing written by Samuel Sattin and illustrated by Rye Hickman. Middle school student, Isaac has been recently diagnosed with OCD, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and is seeing a therapist to try and control his impulses, such as ear tugging and negative self-talk. His thoughts constantly buzz, distracting him from school work. He takes refuge in his art and when a classmate notices how well he draws, they invite him to join their RPG, but his helicopter mother worries that fantasy games will worsen his OCD. Meanwhile, his sister feels ignored and resentful of all the attention Isaac gets.

The art reflects Isaac's outlook. The personified bees are bright yellow. School and home life are in blues and greys, but his happy times, such as when he's with his diverse group of friends are colorful. This is a relatable depiction of a mental illness that might be difficult for young people to understand. I know my students will love it. It's a terrific addition to your graphic novel collection.

Middle Grade Monday: White House Clubhouse by Sean O'Brien

Image: W.W. Norton

White House Clubhouse by Sean O'Brien. 240 p. Norton Young Readers/ W.W. Norton & Company. October 3, 2023. 9781324152920. (Review of arc courtesy of publicist.)

Happy Labor Day Monday! I hope you are enjoying the long holiday weekend. We teachers were back on Friday and will be in school tomorrow preparing to welcome students back on Wednesday. The summer sure did fly by!

Middle Grade Monday features Whilte House Clubhouse by Sean O'Brien. It's hard enough to move house and start a new school, but when your mom has been elected president and your new house is the White House, it's even harder. Fifth grader Marissa feels self-conscious about her Secret Service guard and third grader Clara takes every opportunity to give her's a run for the money, including running to climb a tree on the grounds of the White House, where she discovers an old carving. Meanwhile, Marissa kicks a soccer ball in frustration, finds a secret passageway and gets stuck. 

Clara, ever the adventurer, pushes Marissa down the passageway and joins her. They find a secret room filled with antique toys and clothing and a document inviting them to join the White House Clubhouse. Once they sign the document, the lights go out and they find themselves transported back to 1903, when Teddy Roosevelt was president and his five children and their many pets ran roughshod over the place. President Roosevelt is about to embark on a train journey across the United States and two of his children want to come along, so they stow away along with Clara and Marissa. What ensues is a mad-cap adventure filled with hijinks, hilarity and history. It seems some greedy industrialists are intent on chopping down the redwood forests in the name of progress and the children will do everything in their power to save the redwood.

Readers who love a good adventure with cheeky characters and a bit of history will love this book. The art, which was not final is a nice addition. Young readers may not be aware that Theodore Roosevelt instituted the National Parks system one hundred and twenty years ago this year. They should find relevant parallels to present-day conservation efforts and perhaps be inspired to "dare greatly." 

About the author:

Sean O’Brien served as director of speechwriting to Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden, special assistant to President Barack Obama, and senior advisor to the Secretary of the Navy. He performed comedy with Chicago’s Second City and Annoyance theaters as well as DC’s Capital Fringe Festival while serving as a chief of staff in the US House of Representatives. He earned a BA with Honors in American Culture from Northwestern University and an MS in National Security and Strategic Studies from the US Naval War College. Sean teaches at Georgetown University in Washington DC, where he lives with his family. 

White House Clubhouse is Mr. O'Brien's debut. Many thanks to MBeatie Communications for the opportunity to review this arc. I can't wait to share it with my students. 

Please visit him online at seanobrienbooks.com

Instagram: @seanobrienbooks

Facebook: @seanobrienbooks

Twitter: @SeanOBrienBooks