The Midnight Children by Dan Gemeinhart

 Ravani Foster lives in Slaughterville, so named because of the slaughterhouse.  He is a quiet kid, and somewhat a sensitive kid who doesn't fit in and gets bullied.   His dad works at the slaughterhouse and on occasion Ravani has to take his lunch to him.  He HATES going to the slaughterhouse.  (and I do too after reading this book).  One night Ravani sees a large truck pull up to the empty house across the street and seven kids climb out and go into the house, but the next day nothing looks different.  The house still looks empty.  As Ravani is coming home from delivering papers, he sees some of the kids and ends up making friends with them, especially Virginia.  Ravani finds out the children have a BIG secret and a dangerous secret and they include him on the secret, but it accidentally gets out and danger is coming. 

Awesome story about friendship and differences in people.  The slaughterhouse descriptions are not exactly graphic, but they are pretty disgusting so I would recommend grades 6 and up.

The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill

 

Stone-in-the-Glen used to be a wonderful town, full of generosity and kindness, but the library burned down, houses burned down, and people started moving away. An ogress moved near the town and built herself a house and was able to grow lovely crops that she decided to share with the town anonymously.  When people started struggling to provide for themselves and were told to take care of themselves, they started becoming a tad selfish and tunnel visioned to only themselves.  The orphans who lived there struggled to provide for everyone, but no one was paying attention, until one of them decided to run away to have one less mouth to feed.  The ogress found her in the woods and took care of her, but returned her to the town.  In doing so, it started a chain reaction of what was really going on and how to get the town back to the wonderful place it used to be.

Lovely story with great themes to teach about.  Great for grades 4 and up.

A Taste of Magic by J. Elle

Kyana lives with her single mom and grandma in the inner-city.  Her mom works several jobs and her grandma kind of runs the house.  When Kyana turns 12 and discovers she is a witch,  she finds out her family has had witches in it for a long time.  She also discovers there has been magic all around her neighborhood, that she now can see.  She starts to attend magic school in the back of a hair salon and she is excited to start to learn all the different skills and specialties she can until the funding for her school disappears. She comes up with an idea to enter a baking contest to win money to fund the school, but when she adds a little magic in things go horribly wrong.

Loved this telling about family, hard work and not judging people from first impressions.  This is the first book in the series of Park Row Magic Academy.  Grades 5 and up.

 

Long Live the Pumpkin Queen by Shea Ernshaw

Sally Skellington is the new Pumpkin Queen, but she is shy and wants to just be behind the scenes.  She discovers another door in a tree to another world, Dream Town, and accidentally lets out the Sandman.  He puts all of Halloween Town to sleep along with all the other Holiday worlds and our world as well.  As she tries to save everyone, she goes into Dream Town to find answers, but in turn discovers who she truly is and her inner strength.

This book was just okay.  If you are a Nightmare Before Christmas fan, you will love it.  Fine for grades 5 and up.

 

The Swag is in the Socks by Kelly J. Baptist

 

Xavier lives with his Aunt Kat and his sister.  As he turns 12,  his Uncle Frankie Bell gives him a pair of crazy looking socks with some challenge to get out there and do things.  Xavier wants to be part of a service organization at school that his dad was in and Frankie Bell were in.  However, when he applies, because he is pretty quiet and keeps to himself, he doesn't get in.  He decides to work to getting in in the spring and with a little help from Frankie Bell's socks and advice challenges, Xavier starts to break out of his shell.

Love, love, love this book so much!  Xavier's parents are incarcerated, his aunt is raising he and his sister on a low income, but there is so much heart in this book and Xavier works hard and it pays off. Great for grades 4 and up. 

Wave by Diana Farid

 

1987 Southern California...13 year old Ava is looking forward to summer surfing and spending time with her best friend Phoenix.  Her mother, who is a doctor, tells her she has to come volunteer at the hospital where she works, which Ava doesn't love, she has extra practice for her solo part in the 4th of July celebration, she ends up breaking her leg so surfing is out and Phoenix's lymphoma comes back.  The summer does not shape up like she wanted, but it is a realistic portrayal of life.

Written in verse with a mix tape selection at the end, I LOVED this book.   

Ravenous Things by Derrick Chow

Reggie Wong has lost his father.  His mother doesn't seem to be dealing well with it and has basically closed herself off from everything.  When Reggie meets the Conductor, who promises him his hearts desire to get his dad back, he goes on a subway with all the other kids who have been promised the same thing.  After he is reunited with his dad, he realizes something is not right and that his dad is not the same.  They start to relive the same day over and over and Reggie finds out it is all a hoax, however when he tries to return home he and his friends realize the Conductor has taken over their lives and their town.  They wonder if things will ever go back to how it should be.

This is loosely based on the Pied Piper.  Great creepy, crawly book.  I listened to the audio book for part of it and read the rest because I just had to finish to find out what happened.  Great for grades 4 and up.

Ripped Away by Shirley Reva Vernick

Abe is a loner.  He's smart and creative, but just quiet.  He likes a girl Mitzy and passes by her everyday after school, but never talks to her.  On one afternoon he sees a sign he has never noticed before.  Fortunes read.  He goes to have his read and ends up travelling back to 1888 London as a jewelry apprentice.  The next day Mitzy is transported as well.  They have both been given tasks of preventing a murder and travelling on a boat.  Jack-the-Ripper is on his killing spree and Jews are being blamed for it.  Abe and Mitzy work together to figure out their tasks and try to get home.  

Reminded me of The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen with the time travel back into the past. It is a quick read and keeps you going.  

 

 

Cautionary Tales by Ridley Pearson

California wildfires are happening so school has been cancelled.  Billie and Tim have gone to work with their parents at Disney Studios.  Tim loves helping in the archives with inventory and stuff, but he's been told to "NOT TOUCH ANYTHING".  Billie loves reading scary stories that involve Disney Villians.  Tim discovers a covered Mirror and it shows him with different masks on.  When he takes one off another shows up and he can never get to his real face.  He tries to show Billie, but she doesn't see it.  After she leaves he ends up getting sucked into the mirror and he is in Beauty and the Beast's story and the Enchantress has said he can't leave unless he gets her the handheld mirror.  In the real world Tim is missing and Billie decides to check out the mirror they were looking at earlier.  She sees the handheld mirror behind her in the mirror, but doesn't see it when she turns around.  When she feels it behind her she is also transported into the mirror. The question is will they ever get out?

Definitely for Disney fans.  Present day story is interspersed with Disney Villian stories until they pretty much become one story.  

 

Attack of the Black Rectangles by Amy Sarig King

Mac is entering 6th grade and his teacher Ms. Laura Samuel Sett is the self-appointed town watch-dog.  He and his friends are surprised, by how she runs her class until they are given copies of a book they chose to read for book club and find some words and sentences blacked out.  Well, of course that gets their curiosity up, so they head to the local bookstore to find an uncensored copy.  They are very confused why those words are not okay, so they begin fighting the injustice of being "protected".  Who gets to decide what is okay for everyone?  On the other side Mac is also dealing with his dad, who says he is an anthropologist alien studying humans.  Mac struggles with keeping his dad's secret or letting his mom know what is going on.  

I think this book is very timely with all of the book challenging going on in the world.  I would put this right up there with Ban This Book by Alan Gratz.  

 

The Keeper by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

James and his family move from Eagle Pass, Texas to Oregon.  That is a big culture shock.  James decides not to play baseball, because he feels he would be disloyal to his friends from Texas, but his sister Ava ends up getting him to join a group of kids playing in the neighborhood.  James and Ava have a LONG time prank war going on, so when some weird things start happening they think the other one is pranking them.  As they start to unravel the weirdness, they don't know who they can trust and it becomes a race against survival.  

I liked this book for the spooky/ mystery factor, but it was off putting with Spanish words thrown in and that this was based on a true story, but didn't really give any detail in the author's note.

 

This Might Get Awkward by Kara McDowell

Gemma's best friend is gone to camp for the summer and Gemma is hanging out at the beach when a ton of kids from school show up blocking her in.  She tries to leave, but gets roped back in by her long time crush Beau Booker, who tells her just to pretend they are together.  As she and Beau head back to the beach he ends up knocking himself out in the water and she is the only one to see it.  She saves him, but he is put into a medically induced coma for his brain swelling to go down.  Everyone now assumes she is his girlfriend and due to her social anxiety she just can't correct anyone.  

Fun book.  Reminded me of the movie While You Were Sleeping, but for teenagers. Clean romance with some plot twists.  Gemma is raised by her dad, Beau's brother has some "issues" and Gemma learns to deal with her anxiety and make some friends. 

 

 

In the Key of Us by Mariama J. Lockington

 

Andi Byrd is dealing with the loss of her mother and having to move in with her aunt and uncle.  Her aunt is expecting a baby, so Andi wonders how she will fit in to their family.  Andi is sent off to music camp for the summer.  She plays trumpet, mostly by sound, she is not as skilled at reading music.  

Zora Lee Johnson has been to music camp many years and she is skilled enough to keep her first chair flute every week. Zora's parents have super high expectations for her and she feels like she has so much pressure to achieve(which she deals with by cutting),  but her dreams may include something different, like dancing.  

Both girls end up in the same cabin and are put together for Zora to help Andi in reading and learning the music.  As they begin working together, each one helps the other in ways they never expected. 

The book is told in two voices, Andi and Zora.  However, there is actually a third voice, the camp.  It is told in verse in-between the main two voices.   Lockington also wrote For Black Girls Like Me.

I like the fact that this book deals with loss (death of a parent),  pressure from parents, and again that you never know what people are going through and we should all be kind.  

Jennifer Chan is not Alone by Tae Keller

 

Jennifer Chan moves to a small town in Florida from Chicago with her mother.  Her dad had died when she was younger.  She happens to move across the street from Mallory Moss.  Mal is best friends with Reagan and Tess.  Mal really cares what people think of her and being accepted.  When Mal meets Jennifer for the first time, Jennifer shares that she trusts Mal enough to tell her she believes in aliens, yeah, those kind of outer space aliens. Mal knows that is not something she can share with her friends because it will be bad for Jennifer.  As school begins Mal notices Jennifer is not really fitting in anywhere, and she feels bad, but not enough to do anything.  Soon Jennifer is missing(did she run away or did aliens abduct her?) and Mal decides it is up to her to find her.  

Told in part present and part past (great for teaching flashback) it is a struggle of fitting in, making the right choice, and not always knowing what others are going through.  Mal also struggles with figuring out who she is, who she truly is.  Is she a mean girl or just making mistakes?  Very relatable for middle schoolers.  I also think that this book is not all perfect people, perfect ending, etc.  

To me this book was okay,  however it is setting with me and I'm thinking on it.  I would recommend it to my students.  

Life gets in the way, or...

maybe I'm just lazy.

Wow.  I just noticed I had not posted any book reviews since LAST year!!!  I will begin to remedy that immediately.  Not only to help others, but for my own remembrance.  I read so many books that sometimes I forget if I've read it and what it was about so blogging it helps secure it somewhat.  Look for reviews coming soon!