THE EXPLORERS: THE DOOR IN THE ALLEY for Marvelous Middle Grade EXTRA

Posted on May 12, 2017 by Greg Pattridge

I am pleased to be a part of the two-month long blog tour (That’s right two months!) for THE EXPLORERS: THE DOOR IN THE ALLEY. Next week the tour continues at these fine blogs:

May 15 Librarians Quest

May 16 The Book Wars

May 17 Middle Grade Mafioso

May 18 Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile

May 19 Tween You & Me

I previously reviewed author, Adrian Kress, and her collaboration with Frank Bedder in HATTER MADIGAN: GHOST IN THE HATBOX. Adrienne also has numerous YA novels, anthologies, and plays she’s written. I was glad to see her new MG book and can safely declare—Break the longstanding rule and judge this book by its cover. It screams adventure, mystery, fun, and the beginning of a brand new series.

Upon closer inspection the cover features Sebastian, a bright boy who likes order and is thrown into a mystery. Catherine, one of the five adult explorers who is now wrapped up in a python. The Melted Man with a gruesome face, searching for a key and willing to kill for it. Hanging from a rope is Evie Drake, a parentless child searching for her explorer grandfather (This may also be a warning to readers that you will be left hanging at the end with one of those cliffhangers. I’ll have to endure for who knows how long with the question from young readers: When does the next one come out?)

The narration is quirky and full of humorous sidelights and plays on words. It’s like the dinner party guest who brings with her a pig wearing a teeny hat. You ask “What’s up with the pig?” and for the next several hours she fills you in, waving her arms around in the process. You don’t dare interrupt as the story has you laughing and begging to find out what happens next.

Yeah, what does happen next? I’ll be waiting.

PUBLICATION DATE: 2017   PAGE COUNT: 320

FULL PLOT: Featuring a mysterious society, a secretive past, and a pig in a teeny hat, The Explorers: The Door in the Alley is the first book in a new series for fans of The Name of This Book Is a Secret and The Mysterious Benedict Society. Knock once if you can find it—but only members are allowed inside. 

This is one of those stories that start with a pig in a teeny hat. It’s not the one you’re thinking about. (This story is way better than that one.)

This pig-in-a-teeny-hat story starts when a very uninquisitive boy stumbles upon a very mysterious society. After that, there is danger and adventure; there are missing persons, hired thugs, a hidden box, a lost map, and famous explorers; and also a girl on a rescue mission.

The Explorers: The Door in the Alley is the first book in a series that is sure to hit young readers right in the funny bone.

FIVE THINGS TO LIKE ABOUT: THE EXPLORERS: THE DOOR IN THE ALLEY by Adrienne Kress

  1. Each chapter title begins with “In which…” and some stretch several lines long. They all serve as a great lead-in to the action ahead.
  2. Surprising plot directions and dialog occur frequently. A great example is the punishment Sebastian receives for his misdeed: Act innappropriate.
  3. It was refreshing to have a character like Sebastian who breaks the mold by thinking logically about everything. This means he struggles with the choices he must make. Miss school for a day? How will he ever catch up?
  4. The mystery of the explorers, The Filipendulous Five, who disbanded and disappeared is a nice dangling carrot that will carry the story for many more books.
  5. Although we don’t see enough of the many strange rooms in The Explorers Society house, the ones we do get a peek at makes me hope they’ll be more time spent here in the next book.

FAVORITE LINES: 

Sebastian took a sip and found he rather did like tea with milk and sugar.

“Good?”

He nodded and she smiled. He took a bite of his cookie and then another sip of tea.

“Okay. Just so you understand what’s going to happen,” began the woman, “I’m going to call the police and have them come arrest you.”

AUTHOR QUOTE

Most rewarding?  Well when people like the book, that’s pretty sweet!  But I really really love making someone laugh.  And when someone says that the book is funny, or when I show someone a piece of writing and they just start laughing, I swear there is really nothing quite like that feeling.

There’s also the bigger thing, the being an inspiration thing, which is almost too big a thing for me to really appreciate.  I do get emails from kids, and even some adults, who tell me that my writing has inspired them in some way or another.  That just overwhelms me.  I’m deeply honoured that I can be that to people, and deeply humbled.

(For More visit Adrienne’s Author Website.)

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Make a comment if you have time. I enjoy reading all of them. Click on the comments link below.

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CALL ME SUNFLOWER for Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Posted on May 8, 2017 by Greg Pattridge

It’s been two years since Miriam Spitzer Franklin’s debut novel, EXTRAORDINARY, was released. This month her much anticipated second novel hits the shelves, CALL ME SUNFLOWER. To celebrate this occasion I have a giveaway: One lucky person will win a copy of CALL ME SUNFLOWER. Just leave a comment by 10 pm EST on May 11. Good luck and now on to my review…

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Sunny is one confused middle grade kid. She has always known about being adopted at birth by her parents. What she doesn’t know will soon be discovered in a picture, sending Sunny into the typical tween behavior of act first-think about the real consequences later. The decisions she makes hurts family, friends and herself. It’s the conflict that keep us reading.

The first person narration takes you through the anxiety of being the new kid in school and having the parents she loves separated by several states and one huge secret. Life does not always come wrapped in a neat package and Sunny shows it at every turn in this heartfelt and issue driven plot.

Perfect as a read aloud with many chances for discussion, the book will have you thinking about family and how sometimes we make the growing up years for kids even more difficult.

Spend some time with Sunflower and her family. You’ll be enriched.

PUBLICATION DATE: 2017   PAGE COUNT: 256

FULL PLOT (From AMAZON) Sunny Beringer hates her first name—her real first name—Sunflower. And she hates that her mom has suddenly left behind her dad, Scott, and uprooted their family miles away from New Jersey to North Carolina just so she can pursue some fancy degree. Sunny has to live with a grandmother she barely knows, and she’s had to leave her beloved cat and all her friends behind. And no one else seems to think anything is wrong.

So she creates “Sunny Beringer’s Totally Awesome Plan for Romance”—a list of sure-fire ways to make her mom and Scott fall madly in love again, including:

Send Mom flowers from a “Secret Admirer” to make Scott jealous and make him regret letting them move so far away.
Make a playlist of Scott’s favorite love songs—the mushier the better—and make sure it’s always playing in the car.
Ask them about the good old days when they first fell in love.
But while working on a photo album guaranteed to make Mom change her mind and rush them right back home, Sunny discovers a photo—one that changes everything.

Sunny’s family, the people she thought she could trust most in the world, have been keeping an enormous secret from her. And she’ll have to reconcile her family’s past and present, or she’ll lose everything about their future.

FIVE THINGS TO LIKE ABOUT: CALL ME SUNFLOWER by Miriam Spitzer Franklin

  1. I smiled upon seeing the initials ‘OM’ woven into the story. It stands for Odyssey of the Mind and is a creative problem solving competition offered in many school districts. I’ve been a coach and for many kids it becomes their one way to shine.
  2. The upheaval of leaving old friends and trying to make new ones is expertly crafted here. There are emails to keep the connection with past friends and often uncomfortable conversations with the new faces in Sunny’s life.
  3. The selling of animal fur coats is a subplot that looms larger by the end. It’s a hot topic kids and adults will take a strong opinion toward.
  4. Autumn is the younger sister who tends to act like the typical little girl. That is until her strong voice shines through at the end.
  5. North Carolina makes a great setting for this story.

FAVORITE LINES:  “It’s going to be okay,” Scott had said after he explained why I couldn’t stay with him at his condo: he was too busy running his store and going back to school to take care of an eleven-year-old and, besides, Mom would never leave me behind.

I wanted to shake him by the shoulders and yell, “How can you just let us go?” Instead, I noticed the way his face look older, like he hadn’t slept well in weeks. I stared into Scott’s blue-green eyes, swallowing over the apple-sized lump in my throat. “I’m going to miss you so much,” I whispered.

AUTHOR QUOTE (from Miriam Spitzer Franklin’s website): 

Here’s one important lesson I’ve learned: If you quit when you feel discouraged, you’ll never find out what you could have done if you’d stuck with it instead.

Or, even better: The ONLY way to fail is to quit!

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Make a comment if you have time. I enjoy reading all of them. Click on the comments link below.

Check the links to other Middle Grade novels over at Shannon Messenger’s Marvelous Middle Grade Monday post.

MMGM2

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FIVE FOR THE SUMMER

Posted on May 5, 2017 by Greg Pattridge

The summer months are when my reading ramps up. Whether at home or enjoying a weekend escape to an out of town destination, I have a book nearby. Here’s the top five on my upcoming summer reading list.

I LOVE YOU MICHAEL COLLINS (June 20, 2017) It’s 1969 and the country is gearing up for what looks to be the most exciting moment in U.S. history: men landing on the moon. Ten-year-old Mamie’s class is given an assignment to write letters to the astronauts. All the girls write to Neil Armstrong (“So cute!”) and all the boys write to Buzz Aldrin (“So cool!”). Only Mamie writes to Michael Collins, the astronaut who will come so close but never achieve everyone else’s dream of walking on the moon, because he is the one who must stay with the ship. After school ends, Mamie keeps writing to Michael Collins, taking comfort in telling someone about what’s going on with her family as, one by one, they leave the house thinking that someone else is taking care of her—until she is all alone except for her cat and her best friend, Buster. And as the date of the launch nears, Mamie can’t help but wonder: Does no one stay with the ship anymore?

IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS (July 11, 2017) It’s 1965, Los Angeles. All twelve-year-old Sophie wants to do is write her book, star in the community play, and hang out with her friend Jennifer. But she’s the new black kid in a nearly all-white neighborhood; her beloved sister, Lily, is going away to college soon; and her parents’ marriage is rocky. There’s also her family’s new, disapproving housekeeper to deal with. When riots erupt in nearby Watts and a friend is unfairly arrested, Sophie learns that life—and her own place in it—is even more complicated than she’d once thought.

BUBBLES (July 18, 2017) Twelve-year-old Sophie Mulvaney’s world has been turned upside down. Mom lost her job at the TV station and broke up with Pratik, whom Sophie adored. Her teacher is making them do a special project about risk-taking, so Sophie gets roped into doing a triathlon. And to top it all off, she’s started seeing bubbles above people’s heads that tell her what these people are thinking. Seeing other people’s thoughts seems like it should be cool, but it’s actually just stressful. What does it mean that Pratik wishes she and Mom were with him to eat dinner? Is her best friend Kaya really going out with their other best friend, Rafael, whom Sophie also has a crush on? And can Sophie’s mom ever go back to her old self? In this funny, heartwarming novel from Abby Cooper, BUBBLES shows readers that people are more than what they seem―or what they think.

BAN THIS BOOK (September 5, 2017) An inspiring tale of a fourth-grader who fights back when her favorite book is banned from the school library—by starting her own illegal locker library!

It all started the day Amy Anne Ollinger tried to check out her favorite book in the whole world, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, from the school library. That’s when Mrs. Jones, the librarian, told her the bad news: her favorite book was banned! All because a classmate’s mom thought the book wasn’t appropriate for kids to read.

Amy Anne decides to fight back by starting a secret banned books library out of her locker. Soon, she finds herself on the front line of an unexpected battle over book banning, censorship, and who has the right to decide what she and her fellow students can read.

Reminiscent of the classic novel Frindle by Andrew Clements for its inspiring message, Alan Gratz’ Ban This Book is a love letter to the written word and its power to give kids a voice.

ALAN COLE IS NOT A COWARD (September 5, 2017) Perfect for fans of Tim Federle and Gary Schmidt, this is a hilarious and poignant tale about the trials of middle school when you’re coming of age—and coming out.

Alan Cole can’t stand up to his cruel brother, Nathan. He can’t escape the wrath of his demanding father, who thinks he’s about as exceptional as a goldfish. And—scariest of all—he can’t let the cute boy across the cafeteria know he has a crush on him.

But when Nathan discovers Alan’s secret, his older brother announces a high-stakes round of Cole vs. Cole. Each brother must complete seven nearly impossible tasks; whoever finishes the most wins the game. If Alan doesn’t want to be outed to all of Evergreen Middle School, he’s got to become the most well-known kid in school, get his first kiss, and stand up to Dad. Alan’s determined to prove—to Nathan, to the world, to himself—that this goldfish can learn to swim.

May the best Cole win.

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Finding time to do yard work this summer is going to be a real problem! There are so many great sounding books to read. I just may have to declare an early start to the warm season.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

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THE NOCTURNALS: THE FALLEN STAR for Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Posted on May 1, 2017 by Greg Pattridge

Dawn, a serious fox, Tobin, a sweet pangolin, and Bismark, a loud-mouthed sugar glider are back for their third adventure as the Nocturnal Brigade.

You may recall my review of book #1: THE MYSTERIOUS ABDUCTIONS , a fun story for any animal lover. Next came THE OMINOUS EYE which brought the excitement to a whole new level. The Nocturnals now bring us THE FALLEN STAR, a story that leads to a death defying climax.

No lions and tigers and bears in this world, but you do get a look at many creatures who don’t normally grace the pages of a fiction book. Ever heard of an aye-aye, bandicoot, or bilbies? You’ll learn about each as they become part of the story.

If you have not read the first two books you can still enjoy this one, but knowing how those turned out had me thinking hard as to what the mysterious blue light was and the tap-tap-tapping. I knew it had to be something other than aliens.

There’s tension with humorous sidelights coming from the multilingual mouth of Bismark. The twenty-three chapters are a manageable length to read in a classroom, before lights out, or whenever a few minutes pop up in your schedule. You’ll be glad you spent some time with the Nocturnal Brigade—three  all stars in the animal world.

PUBLICATION DATE: 2017   PAGE COUNT: 2o8

FULL PLOT (From AMAZON) In The Fallen Star, Dawn, Tobin, and Bismark awaken one evening to a disaster: all of the forest’s pomelos have been mysteriously poisoned! As the Nocturnal Brigade sets out to investigate, they encounter Iris, a mysterious aye-aye, who claims monsters from the moon are to blame. While the three heroes suspect a more earthly explanation, the animals of the valley are all falling ill. And then Tobin gets sick, too! The Nocturnal Brigade must race to find answers, and the cure, before the pomelo blight threatens to harm them all.

FIVE THINGS TO LIKE ABOUT: THE NOCTURNALS: THE FALLEN STAR by Tracey Hecht

  1. The personalities of each animal character shine with their distinctness through actions and dialog. Marvelous creations—all of them.
  2. What’s going to happen next? That’s a question you’ll be thinking about a lot as you pause between chapters. The mark of great storytelling.
  3. The story contains great messages for us humans—young and old—about respecting differences.
  4. Bismarks wild rants of love for Dawn, the fox, will put a smile on your face. They had me giggling more than once.
  5. Nothing too heavy here. Just a load of entertainment for your imagination.

FAVORITE LINES: “Ay caramba! What’s with the stench, mom ami? Bismark cried, holding his nose and fanning the air with his flap. We’re all a bit scared of these so-called invaders, but try and hold off the stink! We’ve got enough fumes flying around here.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (from THE NOCTURNALS): This link leads to wonderful resources to extend the book for the classroom or at home. Book Club Questions, Nocturnals Bingo, and many more connections to language arts and science. Go check these out. They’re wonderful extensions!

TWITTER

FACEBOOK

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Make a comment if you have time. I enjoy reading all of them. Just click on the Comments word below.

Check the links to other Middle Grade novels over at Shannon Messenger’s Marvelous Middle Grade Monday post.

MMGM2

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100 THINGS TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP

Posted on April 28, 2017 by Greg Pattridge

Choosing a career has never been so much fun in this new title from National Geographic Kids. It’s compact size is perfect for summer travel and long hours of dreaming of what you want to do in life. Colorful and fun, here’s the official blurb:

Who says adults can’t have fun? This book explores 100 of the coolest, wackiest, and most amazing jobs and careers out there, from astronaut to zookeeper, ice cream taster to game maker.

Jam-packed with inspiration, hands-on projects, advice from National Geographic explorers, interviews with experts, weird-but-true facts, and more, this new book in the popular 100 Things series is a great way to get kids thinking creatively about career paths and excited about their futures!

This could be the coolest non-fiction book out there. You’ll find  Wild & Wacky careers like a Competitive Eater, a Professional Pusher (as in stuff one more person onto a subway or train in Japan), or a Snake Milker to name a few. Most of the book is reserved for the more serious careers like teaching, illustrator, and even a brain surgeon.

My face scrunched up at #35 Pet Food Taster, #75Snail Patrol, and #34 Perfumer, but hey, someone has to do the dirty work. I was also fascinated with the careers not available when I grew up. Ones like APP Developer, Sign Spinner, and Veterinary Acupuncturist come to mind.

Along the way you can read several Q & A’s with the men and women in a featured career. I enjoyed the interviews with Toy Designer John Warden, Roller Coaster Designer Korey T. Kiepert, Peace Corp Volunteer Leshia Hansen, and Conservation Biologist Krithi Karanth along with many more.

In my next life, I’ve decided I’ll be a Natural History Photographer, a Voice-Over Actor, and a Recipe Tester. If those don’t work out I can always fall back on #99—Novelist.

Thank you National Geographic Kids for making career choice exciting and engaging for kids of all ages.

Don’t miss these other titles in the NGK’s “100” series (Click on any image to learn more):

 

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

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ARMSTRONG & CHARLIE for Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Posted on April 24, 2017 by Greg Pattridge

You know you’ve read a great book…

…because you’re sad to have it end,

…because it’s a contemporary story with heart,

…because it was set in the 1970s,

…because the theme of racial tension shows how far we haven’t progressed,

…because Armstrong & Charlie are two enduring characters,

…because it ends with a lot of ‘becauses’.

Armstrong Le Rois and Charlie Ross are just two kids trying to understand the world and themselves. They share the telling of the story in alternating narratives within each chapter. The only other voice we hear is from Mrs. Gaines and her hilarious and heartfelt school INCIDENT REPORTS.

These two sixth graders’ lives are thrown together as desegregation becomes an ever present part of the times in the 1970s. Back then (and in many school districts today) sixth grade was a part of elementary school and junior high was 7th, 8th, and 9th. For Armstrong & Charlie, it’s a year fraught with tension, fights, and understanding. For anyone reading their story, you’ll discover our differences aren’t so different. Laughter, friendship, family, and finding that first girl to kiss are embraced across all racial lines.

This is a book for all generations and one that will have staying power for years to come. Read it and embrace it.

A final caution (only because I’ve crossed this path before): MG books typically are clean of those bad words we tell our young ones not to say. Well, they say them here. This novel is  a good one for fifth grade and up, but Armstrong & Charlie contains mild language some parents may find offensive. Just saying…

PUBLICATION DATE: 2017   PAGE COUNT: 304

FULL PLOT (From AMAZON)  Charlie isn’t looking forward to sixth grade. If he starts sixth grade, chances are he’ll finish it. And when he does, he’ll grow older than the brother he recently lost. Armstrong isn’t looking forward to sixth grade, either. When his parents sign him up for Opportunity Busing to a white school in the Hollywood Hills, all he wants to know is “What time in the morning will my alarm clock have the opportunity to ring?”  When these two land at the same desk, it’s the Rules Boy next to the Rebel, a boy who lost a brother elbow-to-elbow with a boy who longs for one.
From September to June, arms will wrestle, fists will fly, and bottles will spin.  There’ll be Ho Hos spiked with hot sauce, sleepovers, boy talk about girls, and a little guidance from the stars.
Set in Los Angeles in the 1970s, Armstrong and Charlie is the hilarious, heartwarming tale of two boys from opposite worlds. Different, yet the same.

FIVE THINGS TO LIKE ABOUT: ARMSTRONG & CHARLIE by Steven B. Frank

  1. Food is an ever present reminder of the times. My favorite: The way Ho-Hos, a chocolate cake with a creamy filling, is weaved into the story.
  2. If your reading is as interrupted as mine gets, it was nice to have natural break within each chapter. The chapters are various lengths but because each is set up with multiple subheadings for Charlie and Armstrong, you can pause at the end of one of these narratives instead of at a chapter’s end.
  3. The family swear jar filled with coins reminded me of my grandfather who charged a quarter if you said a mild bad word. One dollar for a real whopper.
  4. Mr. Kahlil was a secondary character—not a family member or teacher, but a neighbor to Armstrong. Every kid needs a mentor. Mr. Kahlil provided that for Armstrong.
  5. The uncomfortable moments are handled well (and there are many—we’re talking sixth grade boys here). Racial tension, girls, dominance in playground sports, and family issues all drive the story to its satisfying end.

FAVORITE LINES:

Glazed doughnuts. Fire Stix. Razzles. Pixy Stix. Wax bottles. Bazooka gum. Tootsie Pop Drops. Space Food Sticks. Candy necklaces. Licorice strings. SweeTarts and Appleheads. On Mondays and Fridays, at exactly four in the afternoon, the Helms man drives his big yellow truck, a bakery on wheels, into Laurel Canyon. He sells fresh bread, cookies, doughnuts, and candy. And when his whistle sounds, my hand somehow finds its way into my mom’s purse.

AUTHOR QUOTE (Read more at Steven’s WEBSITE:
I loved playing tennis. It gave me a special bond with my dad and, later, a solid bond with other kids my age. But sometimes when you’re pegged as the “athlete in the family,” nobody sees who else you might want to be. In my case, I was curious too about stories and science. But those identities were already taken.

I didn’t grow up to be a professional tennis player. I grew up to be a teacher. And then I grew up some more to be a writer.

It’s good to be grateful for the gifts you receive. But it can take a lifetime to unwrap the ones you already have.

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Make a comment if you have time. I enjoy reading all of them. Click on the comments link below.

Check the links to other Middle Grade novels over at Shannon Messenger’s Marvelous Middle Grade Monday post.

MMGM2shannon

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ULTIMATE EXPLORER GUIDE

Posted on April 21, 2017 by Greg Pattridge

Exploration comes naturally to children and for many of us it continues on into adulthood. It’s what we do as humans to learn about the world around us. This new book from National Geographic KIDS is the perfect choice to keep that curiosity going, and who knows, maybe have a career as an explorer.

THE OFFICIAL OVERVIEW: National Geographic has inspired generations of explorers. Now it’s your turn! Learn what it takes to be a real-life explorer in this fun and action-packed guide to discovering the world around us. Unearth ancient mummies and lost treasures, encounter wild animals and learn how to protect their habitats, and shoot for the stars with the latest technologies in space travel. Amazing stories, fantastic photos, and hands-on-activities inspire curious kids to start discovering on land, air, and sea. Profiles feature National Geographic explorers of all kinds: paleontologists, biologists, photographers, artists, writers, activists, conservationists, and more. Kids are inspired to follow their passions into careers and introduced to the first steps to take to achieve their dream.

MY OWN OVERVIEW: Divided into three sections—LAND, SEA, and SKY—there’s much to Explore, Discover, and Create within each. Here’s what to expect:

EXPLORE: Each section begins with colorful pages to let you explore different topics. Several more are featured (11 total) like Explore Ancient Animals, Explore Underwater Life, and Explore The Sky and You. There’s also an activity to let you try out an exploration on your own. As if you needed more motivation, a HELP WANTED feature is included to let readers explore careers. You’ll long to be possibly a wildlife conservationist, an underwater archaeologist, or a chiropterologist (Don’t fret…I didn’t now either—they study bats!). An EXPLORE NOW feature offers simple actions you can take to better understand and explore a featured subject.

DISCOVER: One of my favorite parts was getting to meet real life explorers in a Q & A piece on each. Meet Jim Reed (an extreme weather photographer), Sylvia Earle (Oceanographer), or Lee Berger (Paleoanthropologist). If those aren’t to your liking, you’ll find seven more that maybe will. In ON LOCATION you will see exactly what kinds of explorations have gone on in the world. Great Barrier Reef, Deep Inside the Earth’s Crust, and Animal Migrations to name a few.

CREATE: No explorer sits and reads all day. That’s why different activities are offered throughout for eager young minds to try out on their own. A material list and numbered directions make it easy to create crafts and projects. You’ll be making your own telescope or creating your own rock collection in no time.

The book ends with a nifty career quiz in the back, giving readers insights as to what career best suits them. I discovered I should have taken a career path into wildlife conservation, journalist, or communications. Maybe being a teacher, mentor, and writer isn’t too far off.

I’m sure you will find like I did that ULTIMATE EXPLORER GUIDE is a fantastic source to get you excited about this fantastic world.

ENJOY YOUR WEEKEND!

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THE ONE GOOD THING ABOUT AMERICA for Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Posted on April 17, 2017 by Greg Pattridge

Living in America after fleeing another country is full of challenges. Just ask Anaïs who arrives in the U.S. from Africa with her mother and younger brother. She’s full of questions about the language, food, and strange customs we Americans don’t even think twice about.

This eye opening tale is told through letters Anaïs writes to her beloved grandmother. She worries not only about her Oma, but also about Papa and an older brother who stayed behind amidst the chaos in the Congo. Her grandmother asks that Anaïs find one good thing about America to share in each of her letters. When the story begins in September she can’t come up with much, but as the school year progresses, taking us all the way to June, she finds many things to her liking.

We also get a glimpse of other immigrants—an Iraqi boy and a girl from Somali. Don’t expect a full rounded story that answers every plot point. It just isn’t possible in the 10 months covered as the subject would require many more years for a full understanding.

Honest and heartfelt, the author knows the subject well herself as a teacher of English Language Learners (ELL). This quick read will give readers a little more compassion to the plight of so many. It’s an important story for all of us to see how difficult life is for a family immigrating to another country.

PUBLICATION DATE: 2017   PAGE COUNT: 160

FULL PLOT (From HOLIDAY HOUSE) It’s hard to start at a new school . . . especially if you’re in a new country. Back home, Anaïs was the best English student in her class. Here in Crazy America she feels like she doesn’t know English at all. Nothing makes sense (chicken FINGERS?), and the kids at school have some very strange ideas about Africa. Anais misses her family . . . so she writes lots of letters to Oma, her grandmother. She tells her she misses her and hopes the war is over soon. She tells her about Halloween, snow, mac ‘n’ cheese dinners, and princess sleepovers. She tells her about the weird things Crazy Americans do, and how she just might be turning into a Crazy American herself.

FIVE THINGS TO LIKE ABOUT: THE ONE GOOD THING ABOUT AMERICA by Ruth Freeman

  1. A great choice for teachers with an ELL student in their classroom. It could be read out loud to give insights into the struggles these students face.
  2. The humor comes out as Anaïs seeks to understand. Just the phrase “cutting in line’ can bring a whole day of confusion.
  3. Hurray for ELL teachers who often stay with the same students for several years. In fact, the author notes it takes five to seven years for a child new to America to become fluent in both basic and academic English.
  4. A glossary is provided in the back with the word Anaïs hears, followed by the word she will eventually come to know. For instance: Batroom—Bathroom.
  5. A welcoming and timely story for our times.

FAVORITE LINES: 

Dear Oma,

Here is one little letter before I go to bed. It is about one more crazy thing they do here in America! Every day in school we pray like in my school at home. But we pray to the flag. Over the loud box comes voices of students and we say with them words about the God that is invisible. This is one word I know now. Invisible. Miss say it mean something we don’t see. Sometimes I think I will like to be invisible very much. They do not say Amen. They say Please Be Seated Thank You And Have a Nice Day. Many people in America say Have A Nice Day all the time. Maybe it is the crazy America way for Amen. I do not know.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR : Ruth Freeman grew up in rural Pennsylvania but now lives in Maine where she teaches students who are English language learners, including many newly arrived immigrants. She is the author of several acclaimed nonfiction picture books. One Good Thing About America is her first novel.

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Make a comment if you have time. I enjoy reading all of them. Click on the comments link below.

Check the links to other Middle Grade novels over at Shannon Messenger’s Marvelous Middle Grade Monday post.

MMGM2

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FAMILY GAME NIGHT… for Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Posted on April 10, 2017 by Greg Pattridge

This is the final day of posting a review based on a middle grade kid’s recommendation. I’ll give the targeted MG audience another round of suggesting books at a later date, but right now my books to read and review pile is 12 deep.

Here’s the road road I traveled: First up was my review of eleven-year-old Carter’s choice: EDDIE RED UNDERCOVER—DOOM AT GRANT’S TOMB. Next I dived into twelve-year-old Maya’s selection FIVE DAYS OF FAMOUS. Today is all about Kaylee, a talkative twelve-year-old who at first was reluctant to read FAMILY GAME NIGHT AND OTHER CATASTROPHES. Her first words:

“I didn’t like the cover or the title, but the library lady said I might like it and I did.”

Kaylee found out library ladies are very book smart, and I’d have to agree with this choice.

Hoarding is an illness, especially when its gotten to the point of no return in Annabelle’s house. Her Mom has piles of everything imaginable in every room in the house, except for Annabelle’s bedroom. She’s on a daily watch to make sure only her stuff is in there.

It’s hard enough dealing with the emerging teen years, but keeping your life at home away from inquiring friends only adds to the tension. Annabelle is embarrassed by the mess, but doesn’t know how to get unburied with little help from her older brother or dad. They’re way of dealing with the onslaught of junk is through various means of escape.

Heartfelt and honest, this story’s first person narration will have you begging for a resolution to the piles of junk. I learned a lot about the depths hoarding can reach. This book should provide a therapeutic outlet for those dealing with this in their families along with an understanding of this illness for all readers.

Amazingly, there are splashes of humor thrown in along with a realistic view of friendships in today’s world. Thanks Kaylee for suggesting a book I might have passed over otherwise.

PUBLICATION DATE: 2017   PAGE COUNT: 256

FULL PLOT (From AMAZON)  Annabelle has a five mile rule: She must keep her friends from coming within five miles of her home. That’s because Annabelle’s mom is a hoarder. Their house is full of stuff: canned goods, broken toys, old newspapers… It’s everywhere except for Annabelle’s spotless room.

Annabelle can’t let anyone find out what her house is like. They’ll realize that her mom is crazy. They’ll make fun of her. Or feel sorry for her. Or try to help.

But when the newspaper piles come crashing down on her sister’s head one morning, it kicks off an epic fight between her parents that ends up with her dad taking off — and her fix-it-all grandmother stepping in.

As Annabelle realizes how bad things have gotten for her little sister, while trying to navigate her first crush, not to mention stay sane herself, she’s forced to come to terms with the fact that maybe she can’t keep all her secrets to herself. Maybe she can’t just throw her mom’s things out… maybe she has to let some people in.

FIVE THINGS TO LIKE ABOUT: FAMILY GAME NIGHT AND OTHER CATASTROPHIES by Mary E. Lambert

  1. The importance of family is expertly laid out. Yes, family life can be a mess, but here with three generations exposed, you’ll learn that even the most horrific problem can be cleaned up with cooperation and self discovery.
  2. This could have been another depressing MG entry. Instead, it is filled with love and hope.
  3. Annabelle’s voice is spot on for this age group. She’s in turmoil and you’re along for every part of her uncomfortable ride.
  4. The cover didn’t bother me as much as it did for Kaylee. The title though is a little misleading making you think this is a fun romp with a dysfunctional family.
  5. Annabelle’s friendship with Drew, a boy who lives nearby, is an accurate look at first crushes. Fun, exciting, and painful all rolled up into several scenes.

FAVORITE LINES: 

Complaining about parents is sort of like an Olympic Sport. But I don’t compete. The kids with real problems never do. I hear the same things at school all the time. “My mom’s such a jerk. She made me go to bed before the movie was over” or “I hate my dad. He wouldn’t let me go out because it was a school night.” But you almost never hear the other stuff. “Mom was drunk again.” Or. “Dad didn’t have the money for bail.” Or “My mom saves all her fingernail clippings in old food jars.”

Even Dad thinks that one is weird.

ABOUT Mary E. Lambert

These are a few of my favorite things: 1. Daisies 2. Calvin and Hobbes 3. Libraries 4. The color green 5. Warm chocolate chip cookies And stories. I also happen to like stories. Here’s mine… (Read more about Mary’s road to this exciting debut at her Author Website)

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Make a comment if you have time. I enjoy reading all of them. Click on the comments link below.

Check the links to other Middle Grade novels over at Shannon Messenger’s Marvelous Middle Grade Monday post.

MMGM2

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FIVE DAYS OF FAMOUS

Posted on April 7, 2017 by Greg Pattridge

Day two of my KIDS RECOMMEND books.

The MG books I choose to review come from authors, publishers, contests, and libraries. I only post ones I can recommend. Of course the MG books I enjoy might not be the favorites of the intended audience—those 8 to 13 years of age. I asked three middle grade kids what book they were reading or had recently read. If the book was new to me I told them I’d read the same book and post a review. I was hoping for maybe one match with the titles these kids gave me with the hundreds I’ve reviewed.

Wishful thinking.

All three young readers had suggestions of books I had never read. Last Monday I reviewed eleven-year-old Carter’s choice of EDDIE RED UNDERCOVER—DOOM AT GRANT’S TOMB. Today I’ll review 12-year-old Maya’s selection, FIVE DAYS OF FAMOUS.

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This book is a contemporary fantasy about becoming famous and living to regret it. Nerdy Nick Dashaway is about to turn 13 and is obsessed with his image. He’s not popular and wants to be in the worst way. His wish comes true and he’s thrown into a parallel world where all the same family, friends, and enemies are there but now he’s the richest and most famous kid in the world.

Although Nick turns 13 during the story, his drive to kiss a girl he worships and overall worries about his perceived geekiness puts it more toward a YA slant. I never connected with Nick’s character and it might have worked better if he was turning 15. The early use of footnotes was also driving me a bit nuts, but I’m not a fan of footnotes in fiction.

The Christmas time setting was fun as was the anticipated turn around in Nick’s thinking. Being popular is a desire of many MG kids so the book will hit home with them. It was also a look at how fame may not be such a great thing after all.

THE PLOT (From AMAZON)

Seventh-grade girls like guys who are cool. And Nick Dashaway . . . is not cool.
When Nick makes a wish after the epic disaster that was the Greentree Middle School Talent Show, he doesn’t actually think it’s going to come true. But it does. Soon he has a whole new life–he’s rich, he’s popular, and girls laugh at all his jokes. He’s famous. But when he begins to miss parts of his old life, is it too late to get it back?

FIVE REASONS WHY A KID WOULD LIKE  FIVE DAYS OF FAMOUS by Alyson Noel

  1. The Christmas holiday names used for the towns (Greentree and Tinsel Hills) along with character names (Ezer, Plum, and Turtledove) gives the story a fun slant for young readers.
  2. They’ll learn to celebrate being who they want to be by accepting the gifts they already have. A good lesson for anyone.
  3. It’s an eye opening reminder about how things aren’t always greener on the other side of the fence.
  4. Plum’s a female character who is a smart girl who supports Nick in both worlds—a girl not willing to go mainstream.
  5. Shows how money can controls people’s emotions, friendships, and personality.

FAVORITE LINES

I put the hat on under the hood, pulling it so low and the scarf so high that my eyes are the only thing left uncovered. Any other day I’d seriously choose death by hypothermia over wearing one of my mom’s Christmas creations. But since I’ve pretty much reached the place known as Rock Bottom, I figure I have nothing to lose. If I’m doomed to be a Brainiac Nerd for the rest of my life, I might as well be a warm and toasty one.

AUTHOR QUOTE

It’s been a long held dream of mine to see one of my books adapted for the big or small screen, and while I’ve had 16 books optioned by Hollywood (11 of those are still currently under option and in various stages of pre-production) it hasn’t quite happened yet.

FIVE DAYS OF FAMOUS has not yet been optioned, but with this new review/letter you never know, right? At the very least, an author can dream! (Read more about the letter at Alyson’s blog)

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