This just in from the New Mexico Department of Tourism:

Oddity is a work of fiction. You will not find blurmonsters, zombie rabbits, or aliens in our fine state (well, that last one is up for debate). Mannequins are no threat to your future existence and you should not fear our trash dumpsters. New Mexico welcomes all to visit and enjoy the many safe cities, fun attractions, and modern roadways…

Okay, truth be told, I made that up.

But I can’t make up the fact that I had trouble getting into this one at first. I mean…it was just so odd. But about a third of the way through this weird tale had me in its grips. The heart of the story is about family and doing whatever to keep the unusual and weird forces in Oddity from breaking that up.

RELEASED: 2017    PAGE COUNT: 320 pages

Here’s the Odd behind Oddity (from Amazon):

Welcome to Oddity, New Mexico, where normal is odd and odd is normal.

Ada Roundtree is no stranger to dodging carnivorous dumpsters, distracting zombie rabbits with marshmallows, and instigating games of alien punkball. But things haven’t been the same since her twin sister, Pearl, won the town’s yearly Sweepstakes and disappeared . . .

Along with her best friend, Raymond, and new-kid-from-Chicago Cayden (whose inability to accept being locked in the gym with live leopards is honestly quite laughable), Ada leads a self-given quest to discover Oddity’s secrets, even evading the invisible Blurmonster terrorizing the outskirts of town.

But one of their missions goes sideways, revealing something hinky with the Sweepstakes . . . and Ada can’t let it go. Because, if the Sweepstakes is bad, then what happened to Pearl?

I especially enjoyed the secondary characters like Cayden who has no idea how this place got so different from Chicago. He starts out kind of timid but by the end he comes out of his shell to fight the evil that controls the town. Song, an adult friend to Ada, is another strong character.

Readers who like quirky fantasies and some rather challenging reading at times will dive right into this without stopping. The cover alone has you from the first look. Ada narrates the story in an often times hilarious manner, but I can see how some young readers may not be able to keep up with her rambles.

For me, I’m glad I stuck with it to the end… or is this just the beginning?

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Coming up next week is another…

If you would like to join in the MMGM fun, all you have to do is blog about a middle grade book on a Monday (contests, author interviews and whatnot also count–but are most definitely not required) and email me the title of the book you’re featuring and a link to your blog at gpcolo (at) gmail (dot) com

 (Make sure you put MMGM or Marvelous Middle Grade Monday in the subject line so it gets sorted accurately–and please don’t forget to say what book you’re featuring) You MUST email me your link by Sunday evening (11 PM Eastern Time) in order to be included in the list of links for the coming Monday.

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*Please note: these posts are not a reflection of my own opinions on the books featured. Each blogger is responsible for their own MMGM content and I do not pre-screen reviews ahead of time, nor do I control what books they choose. I simply assemble the list based on the links that are emailed to me.