Shirley and Jamila Save Their Summer

Shirley & Jamila Save Their Summer by Gillian Goerz. Grades 4-7. Dial, 2020. 224 pages. Review copy provided by publisher. 

Jamila's pretty sure that her summer is ruined. Her mom wants to send her to camp, but all Jamila wants to do is shoot hoops. When Jamila meets Shirley at a neighborhood yard sale, the girls strike up a tentative friendship and convince both their mothers to let them hang out together this summer. Jamila will get all the time she wants at the b-ball court, she just has to hang out with Shirley, who is nice, even if she's a bit odd. 

When a neighborhood kid shows up asking for Shirley's help in finding his missing pet gecko, Shirley is on the case and Jamila finds herself helping, too. But when Shirley starts taking the case too seriously and their new partnership hits a rough patch, Jamila's not sure that their new deal is working out.

Enola Holmes meets Shannon Hale in this graphic novel mystery that will please detective fans as well as fans of contemporary friendship stories. Shirley is a Sherlock-Holmes-ian detective and kids will enjoy looking for clues and learning about how she solves her cases. Middle grade readers will also relate to the girls' struggle to figure out a new friendship. I really enjoyed getting to know both characters and the realistic Toronto setting. 

The Perfect Predator

You all. This was a book that I COULDN'T PUT DOWN and that does not happen to me very much. I am a very distracted reader and I'm usually reading many books at the same time. I heard about this true medical thriller at the ALA Midwinter conference at one of the Book Buzz panels and they mentioned that it had been so popular that all their galleys were gone. I can definitely see why.

Steffanie Strathdee and her husband Tom Patterson were traveling in Egypt when Tom first got violently sick. After dealing with a poorly equipped hospital in Egypt and being medevacked to Germany, they figured out that he had contracted an infection from a superbug - a virulent drug-resistant bacteria. Tom kept getting worse and worse and doctors started to Steffanie her that there was nothing more that could be done. So epidemiologist Steffanie took matters into her own hands, researching phage therapy - treatment involving virus phages that attack bacteria. The treatment was not FDA approved and there was no guarantee that it would work, but they were desperate and ready to try anything... if they could get approval in time.

Not only is this a page-turning thriller that reads like the best episode of ER ever, it's written in a very relateable style and with lots of humorous moments. I enjoyed the writing as much as the subject matter. Strathdee has a talent for explaining a lot of complicated medical stuff in ways that make it easy to understand and engage with. I learned a ton and super enjoyed the reading experience.

It's definitely disturbing in parts and this book won't be for everybody - it's graphic in its descriptions of Tom's illness, hypochondriacs and the squeamish should stay away. Plus, the threat of drug-resistant bacteria is a very real threat that humans have created and ignored for so long that it's pretty scary.

Readalikes: Hand this one to readers who enjoyed the true medical drama Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Calahan. This is a similarly fast-paced medical mystery story dealing with unusual illness. 

Of course one of the heavy hitters in the medical thriller genre is The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus by Richard Preston. Readers who enjoy the fast pace and gory details of The Hot Zone will also like The Perfect Predator. 

And Steffanie Strathdee's talent in educating about medical topics like vaccines and microbiology in an engaging way reminded me a lot of another favorite science book, The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum. Although it's a different type of medical topic, I think readers who are interested in engaging science writing will enjoy both books. 

Book information:

The Perfect Predator: A Scientist's Race to Save Her Husband from a Deadly Superbug by Steffanie Strathdee and Thomas Patterson. Adult. Hachette Book Group, February 2019. 304 pages. Reviewed from ARC received from publisher.  

#MiddleGradeMay: The Parker Inheritance

A great middle grade mystery story puts child heroes into the position where they are the only ones who can solve the mystery. Sometimes it's because they don't trust the adults in their lives enough to involve them. Sometimes it's because adults aren't present. And sometimes it's because the adults around think the mystery is a joke. The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson is one of the latter kind.

Candice is spending the summer in her late grandmother's house due to some complications with her separated parents and their house in Atlanta. When she meets Brandon, the boy across the street, and discovers that he loves reading almost as much as she does, she thinks she might have found a friend. And when she discovers a long-forgotten letter in her grandmother's attic, a letter that speaks of a fortune hidden in town awaiting the person who can solve the puzzle, she knows she and Brandon have to try to find it. Her grandmother tried and failed. But now Candice has another chance.

Everyone thought Candice's grandmother was crazy for pursuing the Parker Inheritance, and when she didn't find it, they forced her to resign from her position as City Manager. So of course everyone thinks that the fortune is a myth. And it's going to take two kids with the power to believe and the perseverance to solve the clues to figure it out.

Candice and Brandon begin to decipher the clues in the letter, a challenge that will lead them to research the town's history, racial injustice, forgotten heroes and a true love story. But can two kids do what no adults have been able to do in decades? Can they solve the mystery before time runs out and the answers fade back into the past?

Kids who like puzzle mysteries and solving riddles are going to eat this up. And it's a story with meat on its bones. As Candice and Brandon are researching, they discover a lot of unsavory stuff that happened to the African Americans who started the whole thing in the 1950s. They learn a lot about their families and their town and themselves as they try to piece together where the fortune came from and where it might be hidden.

Readalikes:

Hand this one to kids who like puzzle mysteries. Then also hand them any or all of the following:

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (Puffin, 1978). The original? fortune-hunting children's mystery story, this is still a classic beloved by many. Candice reads it in the book, a fitting homage.

The Emperor's Riddle by Kat Zhang (Aladdin, 2017). Take an armchair travel trip to China as Mia tries to find her aunt and maybe a fortune beyond imagination.

Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald (Dial, 2014). This art history mystery will especially appeal to kids who like the historical and research themes in The Parker Inheritance.

The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson. Grades 4-8. Scholastic, 2018. 352 pages. ARC provided by publisher.

Big Top Burning

Big Top Burning: The True Story of an Arsonist, a Missing Girl, and The Greatest Show on Earth by Laura A. Woollett. Grades 5 and up. Chicago Review Press, June 2015. 168 pages. Review copy provided by my local library.

Book Talk: [I start this one off by reading from the Prologue on pages 1-2.]

"Some say they saw the flickering of a small flame on the side of the wall of the tent just above the men's bathroom. At first no one moved; surely the circus staff had it under control. But by the time the circus workers reached the fire, their meager buckets of water had little effect. As the crowd watched, the flame grew, spidering up the tent wall. Then someone yelled "Fire!" and the panic began. A frightened crowd of 6,000 spectators began jostling down the rickety bleachers and across the grandstand toward the exits...

"The tent burned to the ground in fewer than 10 minutes, and 167 people died. It was one of the worst tragedies the country had ever seen. From the ashes, questions arose: How did the fire start? Was it an accident? Could a madman have set it on purpose?...

"The mysteries surrounding the Hartford circus fire are still being explored today, more than 70 years after the disaster occurred. Professionals and amateurs alike have examined the evidence and argued their theories. Now it's your turn."

Big Top Burning tells the story of a tragic fire at the circus in Hartford, CT in 1944. Even today, people aren't certain exactly what happened, but this book gives you the facts and lets you make your own conclusions. This is a great read for anyone who likes exciting, true stories from history or adventure series like I Survived.

My thoughts: This is a pretty riveting story about a disaster that I literally knew nothing about. Plenty of archival photos help bring the time period to life and the action starts very quickly. Much of the book concentrates on the mysteries that arose after the fire was over and survivors started to piece together the remains of the dead.

I would be hesitant to hand this to sensitive readers (and will warn them when I booktalk this title) because the chapter about families identifying the bodies of dead children was especially harrowing to me. However, I tend to be a little more conservative about things like that and it might fascinate rather than bother most children. (Pro tip: "warning" children about gruesome content can be a great way to get them to clamor to take the book home!)

I think that kids who enjoy disaster stories (like Titanic, I Survived, etc.) will eat this one up. A friend of mine said on GoodReads that this book is "well-suited to the budding true crime reader" and I couldn't agree more.

Readalikes: Kids who enjoy reading about true disaster stories might also enjoy the book Fighting Fire!: Ten of the Deadliest Fires in American History and How We Fought Them by Michael L. Cooper.

Kids who like reading about disasters might also enjoy the fictional series I Survived by Lauren Tarshis or the Survivors series by Kathleen Duey and Karen Bale.

The Egypt Game

The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. Grades 4-7. Atheneum, 1967. 215 pages. Review copy from childhood.

Booktalk:

The first time Melanie Ross meets April Hall, she’s not sure they’ll have anything in common. But they soon discover that they both love anything to do with Ancient Egypt. When they stumble upon a deserted storage yard behind a curio and antique shop, they find the perfect place for The Egypt Game.

Suddenly wilted wildflowers become lotus blossoms, a lean-to shed becomes The Temple, and an old birdbath becomes an altar. The girls turn into high priestesses and Melanie’s little brother Marshall becomes the boy pharaoh. As the game gets going, it also begins growing and before long there are six Egyptians playing instead of two.

But when a girl is murdered in the neighborhood, the game, with its sacrificial fires, evil gods, and death ceremonies, suddenly becomes all too real. Who's behind the murder? Could it happen again? Is the Egypt Game in danger?

My thoughts:

This is one of my very favorite books, a story I read over and over again as a kid. And I love that I get to share that love with kids today through my job! It's a little dated, having been published in 1967, but it wasn't too bad (it should be noted, though, that there is a little weird phrasing about race at the beginning of the book. April is warned that the girl she's going to have lunch with is a Negro). Central to the plot is that these kids are allowed to play by themselves around their neighborhood, which I'm not sure kids today can always do. Rereading it made me hope that my library kids have somewhere outside to get together and play games like this. When I booktalked it, I told the kids it was a book I loved when I was their age, which means it's been around for a loooong time. ;)

This is a story about friendship and about the power of imagination. I love how creative the kids are in making props and costumes and developing stories for their Egypt Game. I love that they use their local library extensively to learn all kinds of things about Ancient Egypt. It's hard to be critical of a book that feels like an old friend to me... so I won't. ;)

Readalikes:

For kids who, like me, identify with April and Melanie's creative spirits and want to read about more kids who create amazing worlds with their imagination, I'd suggest Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson and Doll Bones by Holly Black. Both books will make kids feel the feels.

For kids who are fascinated with Ancient Egypt and would like to read more about it, try The Treasury of Egyptian Mythology by Donna Jo Napoli.

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein. Grades 4-7. Random House Books for Young Readers, 2013. 289 pages. Review copy provided by my local library (of course!).

Booktalk:

How would you like to spend the night in the library? Well, if it's Luigi Lemoncello's fantastic, state-of-the-art public library, I bet you would. Complete with holographic librarians, a room full of educational video games, and animatronic animals, Mr. Lemoncello has used his fortune to build the most amazing library the world has ever seen.

Kyle Keeley loves games and he's great at them. Video games, scavenger hunts, board games, puzzles... Books? Not so  much. So Kyle blows off the essay contest that will award a handful of lucky kids an invitation to a lock-in at the new library. But when Kyle discovers that his favorite game maker, Mr. Lemoncello, designed the library, he's determined to be there. And it turns out that getting in is the easy part. After a night full of games and prizes and fabulous snacks, Mr. Lemoncello challenges the kids with one final game: use what's in the library to get out of the library. They can't get out the way they got in (through the front door) and the winner will get fame and fortune beyond his imagination. But the clock is ticking... Can Kyle find a way to beat the ultimate game-maker's ultimate game?

My thoughts:

This one is so, so fun. Melissa of Book Nut called it Charlie and the Chocolate Factory meets The Westing Game for book lovers and I couldn't agree more. There are puzzles to figure out, motives to uncover, an amazing library to explore, and (maybe best of all) references to kids' books scattered throughout. This is the ultimate treat for book lovers and I just really wanted the book to be longer so that I didn't have to stop reading it. (And that is a big compliment because I love finishing a book and logging it in my GoodReads.)

Also, I guess the Escape part of the title lead me to believe that the book would be a little scary, but it's not. It's nice, clean fun and it would make a great family readaloud, especially for a family of bookworms.

Readalikes:

The Candymakers by Wendy Mass. Wendy Mass's imaginative story of kids spending the night at a candy factory in a contest to design the perfect sweet has a similar storyline. The cast of characters, each with his or her different motivations to win the contest, is also an appeal factor.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. This is another story about kids getting invitations to romp through a magical place. Willy Wonka shares many similarities with Mr. Lemoncello, both eccentric millionaires who have designed amazing spaces.

The Puzzling World of Winston Breen by Eric Berlin is a mystery story with tons of puzzles to solve throughout the book. Kids who enjoyed the games-playing and puzzle aspects of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library may like this one, as well.

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. This mystery story features a large, diverse cast of characters having to find many clues to puzzle out the Westing will. Again, for kids who like to collect clues and try to figure things out, this may be a good choice.

Hold Fast

Hold Fast by Blue Balliett. Grades 4-7. Scholastic, March 2013. 288 pages. Reviewed from ARC provided by publisher.

The Pearl family doesn't have much, but they hold fast to their hopes, the biggest of which is a house to call their own. Eleven-year-old Early Pearl loves her family dearly, but it wears on you, living with her parents and baby brother, all four of them crammed into a studio apartment with no space to do anything on your own. Early's dad Dash is the light her her world, teaching her about the power of words and helping the family keep a notebook of special words that they love. One day, everything changes when Dash mysteriously disappears and bad men ransack the Pearl apartment. Early and her family are forced out onto the street, desperately looking for help in a world that seems to see them as less than human just because they don't have any money. The police seem to suspect her father of something illegal, but Early knows her father was a good man and she's determined to help track him down. But what Early stumbles into is way more than she bargained for.

This is an exciting mystery set in a cold Chicago winter, perfect for kids who love words as much as Early Pearl does.

So... books about kids living in the shelter system. Any come to mind? Hmmm. Me neither. Until now. And what a book to put into the hands of young readers. The writing is poetic, each word carefully chosen. Poetry (and particularly the poetry of Langston Hughes) is an important element in the story and the writing style reflects that. Blue Balliett places her readers in a cold, Chicago winter and the setting is vivid in every scene. I have clear pictures of the shelter, Early's school, and the Harold Washington Library (which factors in greatly).

The book is not without its problems. With the exception of the Pearl family, most of the adults in the shelter are hitting their kids and/or dealing with substance abuse. Another down-on-their-luck family is nowhere to be seen. It feels a bit stereotypical. That said, this glance at homelessness (particularly Early's struggles at a new school) will certainly be eye-opening for many kids and they'll be rooting for the Pearl family to get back on their feet.

Readalikes:

Readers who enjoy a high-stakes mystery coupled with a fine art theme should definitely pick up Blue Balliett's first novel Chasing Vermeer and its sequels. They also might enjoy Elise Broach's Shakespeare's Secret or Masterpiece.

Readers who enjoy the strong urban setting in a mystery might try the wonderful When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (set in New York City).

The poetry of Langston Hughes factors heavily into the story and young readers might be interested to read more.

Hold Fast is on shelves now!

Reading Wildly: Mystery

We had the first meeting of our Reading Wildly staff book club on Monday and we discussed mysteries. I have to say, I am really, really happy with how it went. Almost everyone read multiple books in our chosen genre and we had a great diversity of titles that were shared. The booktalks and readalikes that my staff came up with were outstanding, especially considering that some of them had never been asked to do that formally before.

Everyone brought their book review forms to the meeting and we took turns sharing our booktalks and talking about readalikes. Choosing readalikes and figuring out grade/age levels are going to come more easily the more we practice and talk about books.

We also talked about mysteries and readers' advisory in general a bit. My staff noted the great diversity in tone, length, and reading level of the books that we shared. We talked about genre-benders and the variety of different books that fit into the mystery genre. We often have children coming in needing to read a particular genre for school and by exploring a variety of books, we're more likely to be able to find something that's going to appeal to them.

Here are the books my staff booktalked at our meeting (links go to my review if it's a book I've reviewed or GoodReads if it's not one I've reviewed):

• The Case of the Missing Marquess (Enola Holmes #1) by Nancy Springer 
• The Dunderheads Behind Bars by Paul Fleischman
• The Inquisitor's Apprentice by Chris Moriarty
• The Legend of Diamond Lil: A J.J. Tully Mystery by Doreen Cronin
• The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd
• My Grandfather the Spy by Corinne Gerson
• Paris Pan Takes the Dare by Cynthea Liu
• Secrets of Shakespeare's Grave by Deron Hicks
• Shakespeare's Secret by Elise Broach
• Spying on Miss Muller by Eve Bunting 
• Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage
• The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
• Who Could That Be at This Hour? by Lemony Snicket

I also invited our teen librarian to play along (of course she's not required to participate every month or fill out the book review forms or anything) and she read The Dead and Buried by Kim Harrington. 

Staff had little guidance in choosing books. I did provide a list of possibilities, but I also encouraged them to look outside the list and pick something different if they wanted to. I think there was maybe only one title that was read by more than one person. It's fine if that happens, but I'm also glad that we had such a variety. Everyone (including myself) walked away with a bigger list of mystery titles in our readers' advisory arsenal than we'd had before. Which is exactly the point!

The genre for our next meeting is Science Fiction! Any recommendations for great middle-grade sci-fi?

Three Times Lucky

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage. Grades 4-7. Dial, 2012. 312 pages. Review copy provided by my local library.

Rising sixth grader Mo LoBeau is looking forward to a nice, relaxing summer: fishing with her best friend Dale, setting bottled messages afloat on the North Carolina creeks in hope of finding her long-lost birth mother, and hanging around Dale's older brother Lavender as much as possible (she is, after all, going to marry him someday). But when Detective Joe Starr shows up in their tiny town of Tupelo Landing, Mo knows that there's trouble brewing. When miserly recluse Mr. Jesse is found dead, Mo knows she has to take up the case herself and soon it's hitting all too close to home.

You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who can resist the spirited Mo LoBeau's charms. She's a spunky narrator, tough as nails and brave as they come. She always has to be the center of attention, whether it's running her adoptive parents' cafe (serving up PB& J with a bottle of Mountain Dew cooling in the back) or investigating a murder.

I also got caught up in the language of this book. It's smart and funny, each word carefully chosen to great effect. Sheila Turnage's descriptions of Tupelo Landing and the kooky characters who live there bring the setting to life.

I'm not a huge mystery fan and the plot dragged a little bit occasionally, but that could have more to do with my personal taste than any errors in pacing.

Check out more reviews at Book Nut, A Fuse #8 Production, and Welcome to My Tweendom.

And hey, this book won a 2013 Newbery Honor! Hooray!

Readalikes:

For kids who like the writing style, I would try Savvy and Scumble by Ingrid Law.

For kids who like the writing style or the spunky orphan searching for her birth mother, I'd hand them Keeper by Kathi Appelt, another book set in a quirky town in the South.

For kids who like the high-stakes murder mystery, I might try The Case of the Deadly Desperadoes by Caroline Lawrence or the 39 Clues series. (This is really not my strong suit! Any recommendations? Leave 'em in comments, please!)

I read this book for my staff genre reading program! We're Reading Wildly in 2013 (and beyond) to improve our readers' advisory.

The Case of the Missing Marquess

The Case of the Missing Marquess (Enola Holmes #1) by Nancy Springer. Grades 4-8. Philomel, 2006. 214 pages. Review copy provided by my local library.

Enola Holmes has never been sure why her mother named her Enola. After all, it spells "Alone" backwards. But when Enola's mother mysteriously disappears on the day of her fourteenth birthday, Enola suddenly is alone. She calls on the help of her older brothers, Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes, but it soon becomes apparent that Enola's going to have to track down her mother herself. Luckily, her cipher-crazy mum gave Enola a book of codes as a birthday present and these prove very useful. It's not easy getting along as a young woman in a man's world, but Enola's determined and she soon finds herself swept up in an entirely different mystery on the dirty streets of London.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I am so glad I picked it up! This book has been recommended to me numerous times, but I don't consider myself a mystery fan and it took the powers of Twitter to get me to finally pick up this book for the genre challenge I'm starting with my staff. (I should have listened to Miss Julie  at the Barrington Library YEARS AGO.)

Enola Holmes is a quite capable, intelligent young lady and I never doubted for a second that she had the smarts and gumption to solve the mysteries she stumbled into. My problem with poorly written children's mysteries is that I want to shake the kids and tell them to go tell an adult. With Enola's father deceased, her mother run away, and her brothers determined to stick her in finishing school, I had no problem with Enola running off to do things her own way.

The language and strong setting also appealed to me. Enola's along-the-way commentary about the difficulties of being an independent woman added to the sense of time and left no question as to her indomitable nature. Details of life in late 19th century England and London are woven seamlessly into Enola's story, from the newfangled bicycle she rides to the constricting dress her brothers insist on.

Readalikes:

For kids who dig the codes Enola has to break to crack the case, I'd recommend The Puzzling World of Winston Breen.

For kids who dig the Sherlock Holmes aspect, of course I might recommend the original Sherlock Holmes stories. For kids who might not be ready for those, there are several series to choose from:

• Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars (chapter books)
• On the Case with Holmes and Watson by Murray Shaw (graphic novels)
• Young Sherlock Holmes by Andy Lane (teen/tween)

For tweens and teens who dig the setting and time period, I'd recommend the Jacky Faber books starting with Bloody Jack by L. A. Meyer or Gail Carriger's new Finishing School series, starting with Etiquette & Espionage. 

I read this book for my staff genre reading project. We're Reading Wildly (and widely) in 2013 (and beyond!). 

The Fourth Stall

The Fourth Stall by Chris Rylander. Grades 4-7. Walden Pond Press, 2011. 314 pages. Review copy provided by my local library.

Christian "Mac" (short for MacGuyver) Barrett is the kid who can get you what you need. From his office in the East Wing boys' bathroom, he deals in favors and cold, hard cash, helping kids with their problems, even if it means violating the school's code of conduct. But everything changes when Fred shows up: a scared third grader who's gotten in way over his head with a high school bookie named Staples. As Mac tries to help Fred, he learns just how deeply Staples has infiltrated his school. He's gotta shut Staples down, but when you factor in snitches, hit men, and ultimate betrayal, things get complicated really fast.

This humorous mystery story has a lot of guy appeal and plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. Mac and his best friend/right hand man Vince aren't sure who they can trust. And when Vince starts acting a little fishy about the money that they're saving up for tickets to a World Series game, Mac's not even sure he can trust his best friend.

One of my favorite things about this book was Mac and Vince's friendship. They've been best friends since living in the same trailer park in kindergarten. Since then, Mac's family has moved out of the trailer park, but Vince is still there. Mac trusts Vince implicitly and the business truly belongs to both of them. Yes, Mac's the one sitting in the big chair, but Vince keeps all the books and offers guidance when Mac's not sure what to do. With such close friends being in business together, you'd expect some tension and that's something that Chris Rylander gets exactly right. When Mac starts to doubt Vince's loyalty, you see all the conflict he's going through. It's all done in a guy-friendly way, though, among the baseball trivia and dodging hit men and hiring spies.

The writing is a little uneven. Sometimes it's spot-on and hilarious, but other times it's a little repetitive and I think the book would have been stronger if the writing had been a little tighter. The mystery is well-crafted and definitely kept me guessing. I liked that Rylander gives us some peeks into Staples's life; he's not a stock Bad Guy, and the reader gets some of the reasons behind his evil deeds.

Hand this to fans of Swindle by Gordon Korman, Adam Canfield of the Slash by Michael Winerip, or Half Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer.

Check out Sarah's review at GreenBean TeenQueen. And be aware that  a sequel is also on shelves: The Fourth Stall Part II (Walden Pond Press, February 2012).

Trash

Trash by Andy Mulligan. Grades 8+ David Fickling Books, 2010. 231 pages. Review copy provided by my local library.

Surrounded by crushing poverty, Raphael, Gardo, and Rat eke out a living by sorting through massive trash dumps. Most of what they find is, well, stuppa. But one day, they find something spectacular - a key that starts them on a treasure hunt. The payoff will be huge... if they're brave enough to follow through.

A riveting and eye-opening mystery, Trash is an accessible story that won't soon be forgotten.

It's set in an unnamed Any City where poverty and political corruption go hand in hand. Caught in the crossfires are the children, left sifting through the trash for anything they can sell to support their families. School's an afterthought - what's a trash boy going to do with an education? - and there's never enough food or clothing to go around. With politicians stealing aid money and taxes, the cycle seems unbreakable.

The story is told in alternating points of view, shared between the three trash boys and a few others who step in to help along the way. I appreciate the subtle differences between the narrators and I liked getting bits and pieces of the story from some outside eyes. Short chapters keep the action moving and the mystery was a compelling one. As the boys try to figure out what has been hidden and who it belongs to, they're hounded by corrupt police and constantly face the need for bribes to grease the wheels.

This is going to be an eye-opening story for many. Comparisons to Slum Dog Millionaire are inevitable but this story is its own story. It would make a great companion read to Slum Dog or for a unit on ethics or world current events. A passage narrated by a volunteer aid worker who helps the boys long the way does a pretty nice job of summing up one of the major themes:

I learned that the world revolves around money. There are values and virtues and morals; there are relationships and trust and love - and all of that is important. Money, however, is more important, and it is dripping all the time, like precious water. Some drink deep; others thirst. Without money, you shrivel and die. The absence of money is drought in which nothing can grow. Nobody knows the value of water until they've lived in a dry, dry place - like Behala. So many people, waiting for the rain. (pg 149)

Of course, some students know that all too well, but for others this is going to be an eye-opening story.

Trash sat on my to-read pile for longer than it should have. Honestly, the cover turned me off, even though it's appropriate for the story. I thought it was going to be too dark, too depressing. Now, if my copy had the British cover (pictured at right), I would have picked it up straight away. While the US cover portrays the desolation of crushing poverty (definitely a major theme in the book), the UK cover portrays the ultimate feel of the story, which is hope for the future. I do think the US cover may appeal more to teens, while the UK cover looks younger.

Check out more reviews at Biblio File and Book Nut (bonus: interview with Andy Mulligan).

Trash is on shelves now! Don't let it fly under your radar like I did (although it did quite well in this year's Battle of the Kids' Books, so I really have no excuse...)

Joey Fly Private Eye Blog Tour!

Joey Fly Private Eye in Creepy Crawly Crime by Aaron Reynolds and Neil Numberman. Grades 3-6. Henry Holt, April 2009. Review copy provided by publisher for blog tour.

Got a case for Joey Fly, Private Eye? Well, get in line. Fly's working on finding a stolen diamond pencil case for a beautiful butterfly and something's fishy. The clues don't seem to add up... or could it be that his gumshoe assistant is goofing everything up again?

Confession: I was not at all sure I was going to like this book. I started it with some trepidation, but I soon realized that, well, Joey Fly is pretty awesome. I didn't expect it to be funny, but it was. Plays on words abound and I found myself chuckling out loud as Joey Fly and his bumbling assistant followed the clues to find Delilah's missing pencil box.

Plus, who knew bugs could be so expressive? I am generally not such a fan of things that buzz, but Neil Numberman's art could change my mind. Joey Fly's expressions were often hilarious and he's a fly. That is definitely awesome.

I'd hand this to fans of the detective story and, of course, comic book fans. What? I haven't convinced you? Check out the Joey Fly, Private Eye book trailer (that'll do the trick).

As an extra, super, bonus feature, I've got Aaron Reynolds and Neil Numberman stopping by the blog today to answer a few questions. AND they'll actually be stopping by today to chat with YOU, so leave any questions you have for them in the comments.

Aaron Reynolds is a human, not a bug, but he often writes about bugs. He is the author of Chicks and Salsa, Superhero School, Buffalo Wings, and, of course, the Joey Fly, Private Eye graphic novels. Visit him at his website at www.aaron-reynolds.com.

Neil Numberman is a termite currently residing in New York City. Joey Fly, Private Eye is his first graphic novel, but he is also the author/illustrator of the picture book Do NOT Build a Frankenstein. Stop by his website at www.neilnumberman.com.

Abby: I really enjoyed JOEY FLY, PRIVATE EYE. It's funny and just perfect for kids who like mysteries or kids who like comic books. How did the idea for this series come about and how did y'all end up working together?

Aaron: I love goofy mysteries (probably due to a steady diet of Scooby Doo during my formative years), and I love bugs, so a smash-up of the two seemed natural. One day the title popped into my head, and I went from there. At that time it was called Joey Off, Private Fly, and was just a grain of an idea, but it sprouted as I wrote and took off.

As far as working together goes…we never did. Most people are surprised to find that out, but it’s true. Neil and I never even spoke, via phone nor e-mail, until after the book was done. It was my wonderful editor, Reka Simonson, who put Neil with the project.

Abby: Can you tell me a little about the process of putting together a graphic novel?

Aaron: I start by writing a script, rather than a traditional manuscript. It has what the characters say, “stage directions” about the action, everything you would see in a script for a play. I come from a theatre background, so when I first started writing graphic novels a few years ago with Tiger Moth, Insect Ninja, I was delighted to find out that it was something I was intimately familiar with…a script! It is this final script that I hand over to my publisher, just like any other book. From there, she hands it off to Neil.

That’s your cue to take over, Neil…

Neil: Oh, hello there! Well, I’m given the final script, which I then break down into little drawings that are so poor only I can tell what’s going on. These drawings are called thumbnails, probably due to them being the size of a thumbnail! They’re artistic notes that help me decide how to pace the book, where each word balloon should end up, and a rough composition of each panel. From there I begin the sketching stage, which is the part with the most research. I like that I get to simultaneously look up ridiculous looking insects and film noir style compositions.

After the sketches are approved, I finally get to do the finishes, where I trace the sketches to get a much cleaner line, and color them in the computer.

Aaron: I’ve never told Neil this, but when I first saw the sketches of Joey…I did not like them at all! The guy didn’t have any pupils in his eyeballs!!! How do you have a main character with NO PUPILS IN HIS EYEBALLS! But my editor and Neil assured me that it would not limit his emotional range as a character at all. In fact, at my editor’s request, to soothe any doubts I had, Neil drew 20 versions of Joey Fly in various emotional states. I was sold. Anybody who could make a character so funny and full of possibilities with no pupils and NO MOUTH had my vote. In the end, they were right, of course. Neil’s take on the characters and the world of the book was wonderful, edgy, and exciting. Neil was the perfect choice for the book. It couldn’t have been better, and I was once again reminded that there’s a reason that editors choose the illustrators, not the author. There’s a reason the process works the way it does. I’m so proud of the way the book turned out, and I can’t imagine Joey any other way.

Neil: Do you remember the drawing I slipped in there of Joey with pupils? It didn’t look terrible, but he did lose a lot of his mysteriousness and personality.

Abby: I have to say that I love that Joey Fly doesn't have pupils. Awesome! You guys have both worked on picture books as well as graphic novels. How is the process different for each format?

Aaron: The writing is totally different. A graphic novel really gives you room to move and stretch out…you can develop a story, include stage directions about action, characters, descriptions that aren’t in the writing and that will never be read as part of the story…it really lets you create a VISION for the end product that the illustrator will then take and interpret. Picture books are a blast, but a much more constricting medium. You only have so many words to work with, and the story has to be lean and taut, funny and quirky, but still a story, all in those few words. You also are very limited as to how much you can show or express about the visuals, because the illustrations are totally the illustrator’s turf most of the time. That can be hard, but you learn to open your hands and let go. Even though Neil and I never spoke during the creation of Joey Fly, it felt like we were partners from the beginning, like I had an opportunity to cast a vision to him, to pitch the story to him through my script. You don’t always feel that way with a picture book. So much is up for interpretation.

Neil: Picture books, compared to graphic novels, are much less time-consuming. Not including the writing of my latest picture book, Do NOT Build a Frankenstein, it only took me about a month and a half to complete the artwork. In a picture book, the most art you can fit is usually 30-40 paintings, whereas in a graphic novel like Joey Fly, there’s six or seven pieces of art per page, and 90 pages, so around 600 different pieces of art that need composing, sketching, and coloring! It took me almost two years to complete the artwork for Joey Fly!

A lot more care must go into each page of a picture book, though, because often times you have to make one painting really speak for an entire chunk of the story.

Abby: Have you always wanted to be a writer (Aaron) or illustrator (Neil)? If not, what led you down that path?

Aaron: No way. Writer came into the picture much later. I was a theatre major, and then an actor in Chicago. During the day, I did any number of day jobs (waiter, carpenter, administrative assistant, the list goes on). But somewhere along the way in my theatre journey, I started writing scripts and short plays for kids. I fell in love with writing for kids. Even then, I loved kids books, having come to reading them late in my own childhood, and still read many of my favorites. After several years of writing plays for kids, I decided to take a stab at writing books for them. Five years later, after hundreds of rejections, much learning and practice, and a couple conferences, I finally sold my first book Chicks and Salsa.

Neil: I absolutely wanted to be an illustrator my whole life! From when I drew monsters that played sports at age 3, to unflattering portraits of my teachers in middle school, to my first children’s book submission to a publisher when I was 22. The only times when I doubted I would be an illustrator was when I though I might become an animator. Lo and behold, I can be both now!

Abby: Do you have any upcoming projects you'd like to tell us about? (Besides more Joey Fly, of course!)

Aaron: Well, there is more Joey on the way. Even now, Neil is illustrating the second book. I also have a new picture book in the works called Evil Carrots about a bunny that thinks he’s being stalked by sinister root vegetables.

Neil: Yep, I’m currently in the middle of working on Joey Fly 2! And it is, hands down, the most fun I’ve ever had being an artist. The script is solid gold!

Abby: Good to know that there is more Joey Fly in our future! And finally, this is a question I always love to ask authors and illustrators: what are some of your favorite children's books? In particular, what are some graphic novels that you like?

Aaron:

My favorite kids’ books:

Danny, Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip by George Saunders
The Stinky Cheese Man by John Sciezska and Lane Smith
King Dork by Frank Portman

My favorite graphic novels:

The Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi
Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon Hale, illustrated by Nathan Hale (AtL review)
Babymouse by Jennifer Holm, illustrated by Matthew Holm (Abby: I LOVE Babymouse!)
Owly by Andy Runton

Neil:

My favorite kids’ books:

Where’s Waldo, the Fantastic Journey by Martin Handford
Any and all of Ed Emberly’s drawing books
The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle
Every Dr. Seuss book ever (Abby: I'm a particular fan of Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book)

My favorite graphic novels/comics:

Paul Moves Out by Michael Rabagliati
Any Calvin and Hobbes, of course! By Bill Watterson
Snake ‘n’ Bacon’s Cartoon Cabaret by Michael Kupperman
The Little Lit series compilations, edited by Art Spiegelman and Francois Mouly
Super Mario Adventures by Kentaro Takekuma and Charles Nozawa

Abby: Guys, thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! And readers, if you have questions or comments for Aaron or Neil, leave 'em in the comments because they'll be checking in!

Book Review: Paris Pan Takes the Dare

Paris Pan Takes the Dare by Cynthea Liu. Upper Elementary, Middle School. Putnam Juvenile, June 2009. Copy purchased.

(This is a 2009 Cybils nominee and this review reflects only my personal opinion of the book, not necessarily the opinion of the panel!)

Paris Pan knows her new Oklahoma town is small, but she's not expecting her seventh grade classroom to consist of ten kids. Total.

Since she's used to being the new kid, she's used to being the outcast and she's determined not to let that happen this time around. So when queen bee Mayo tells Paris that she has to take The Dare, Paris knows she has no choice. It's either take the dare or resign herself to a live of loserdom.

But the more Paris finds out about the dare, the less she wants to do it. Can Paris find the strength to stand up to Mayo and do the right thing?

This is a solid middle grade read with a bit of a mystery to it and I think kids that enjoy authors like Mary Downing Hahn will find a lot to like in this book. It's not a ghost story in the strictest sense, but as Paris and her friends investigate the supposed murder of a girl on the Pans's new property, the story has some of the same elements as those supernatural thrillers.

It's also a story of being the new girl, figuring out the social situation and dealing with family troubles. I loved that the Pans are Asian and that's not the main focus of the book. Paris deals with the same problems that many seventh grade girls face every day. She's the youngest kid, so her older brother ignores her and her older sister yells at her every time Paris wants to use the phone. At her school, kids are immediately branded and there are clear outcasts, even in a class of only ten kids.

I'll definitely be looking for more from Cynthea Liu!

Read more reviews at Shelf Elf and Charlotte's Library, and read an interview with Cynthea at Cynsations.

Book Review: When You Reach Me

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. (Grades 5-8.)

It's 1978. Twelve-year-old Miranda lives in New York City, walking to school each day with her best friend Sal and reading A Wrinkle in Time more times than she can count. But then everything changes. Sal refuses to walk to school with Miranda. And Miranda starts finding notes left for her in strange places. Notes that caution her not to tell anyone about them. Notes that seem to predict the future. And if Miranda can figure out who's leaving the notes and what they're telling her to do, she might be able to prevent a tragic death.

When You Reach Me has gotten a lot of hype. I'm always a little skeptical about things that get a lot of hype because I tend to be contrary and not like the stuff that everyone else likes. Um, yeah, this book stood up to the hype. I looooved it.

The first thing that appealed to me is the setting. Set in late-70s New York, When You Reach Me brought me back to those books that I read over and over again as a child*. I'm thinking of Harriet the Spy, The Great Gilly Hopkins, Us and Uncle Fraud... Books that were written in the late 70s and early 80s. None of those books necessarily have anything in common with When You Reach Me as far as plot, but I kept thinking of them as I was reading. Rebecca Stead's got the feel of that time period down.

Then there was the narrative that kept skipping back and forth between present tense and past tense, but not in a confusing way. In a way that made beautiful sense as more of the plot is revealed. Tiny short chapters and a twisty, interesting plot kept me turning the pages and I didn't put the book down until I'd finished the whole thing. Oh, and I totally did not figure out the twist. But I love the twist.

This is a book you won't want to miss. Everyone's talking about it and I wouldn't be surprised to see some shiny stickers on it come award season. Check out the hype:

100 Scope Notes
A Fuse #8 Production
Becky's Book Reviews
Book Nut
Educating Alice
Kidliterate
Librarian Pirate
Sarah Miller
The Reading Zone
Welcome to My Tweendom

Oh, I'm so, so glad that I don't have to be the voice of dissent. I can just buzz away like everyone else. Yeah, you're gonna want to read this one.

*Not A Wrinkle in Time. I hated A Wrinkle in Time. And I read it again several years ago and I still hate A Wrinkle in Time.

Those Cybils guys know what they're talking about...

I'm working this weekend, so today was my day off and I've spent it catching up on ER (Dr. Carter!!!) and reading The London Eye Mystery and Wake.

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd was the 2008 Cybils winner for middle grade fiction. Ted's cousin Salim comes to visit in London and disappears after getting on the London Eye. He goes up... but he never comes back down. While the adults are frantically calling the police and freaking out, Ted and his older sister Kat set out to find Salim. I really liked Ted as a narrator. He's on the autism spectrum, which he relates to his brain running on a different operating system than most people's. It's this very difference that helps Ted figure out what's happened to Salim.

One thing that sometimes bugs me about mysteries for kids is that there's no reason why they can't just tell an adult and get things taken care of. Instead, the kids try to solve it on their own, making it needlessly complicated. I don't have the patience for that. So one of the things I loved about this book is that Ted and Kat really try to get the adults to listen to their theories. The adults are so freaked out, though, that they don't spare the time to listen to Ted's theories and questions. He's so frank about things that he's often shushed so as not to cause Aunt Gloria more grief. It was totally believable to me that Ted and Kat would and could set out on their own to solve things.

Also, there were tons of London-y details and English slang. I don't necessarily consider myself an Anglophile, but that was really neat.

So, I finished The London Eye Mystery this morning and this afternoon I picked up Wake by Lisa McMann. Honestly, I didn't think I was going to like it (I generally find dream sequences pretty annoying), but it's gotten so much buzz that I thought I should try it.

Oh my gosh, you guys. I could not put it down. I don't typically finish books in one sitting, but I honestly never wanted to put it down. I can totally see why it was on the Cybils shortlist in the Fantasy/Sci-Fi category.

Since she was eight years old, Janie's been pulled into other people's dreams. She learned pretty early on that sleepovers were not for her. She dreads having study hall right after lunch. Without warning, she might be plunged into someone's dream where she has to watch what unfolds. She's paralyzed until the dreamer wakes and the dream stops. Nightmares. Sex dreams. She thinks she's seen it all. But when she witnesses an extra-horrific nightmare, she decides she's had enough. Something has to change... but how?

I love, love, loved the romance in the book and it felt really realistic (well, except for the dream-catching thing, obvs). The story unfolds in fits and starts and the format felt very dreamlike (which I didn't think I would like, but it's actually really appropriate).

Y'all know how I feel about sequels and series (as a rule, I don't like them, although recent evidence [Envy, Starclimber] would suggest otherwise). So it says a lot that before Wake was even over, I was already looking forward to Fade.

So, that's how I've spent my day off. It's been quite pleasant. :)

I've got several posts planned for next week (if I can stop reading awesome Cybils finalists long enough to write them), including a Day in the Life and a post about an author visit I attended this week. So stay tuned. And enjoy your weekend. :)