The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl by Stacy McAnultyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Refreshing angle for the standard "Will I fit in at middle school" plot premise with lots of funny lines.
Nightbooks by J.A. WhiteMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Loved the structure, with all of the truly creepy short stories interspersed with the main plot. The big reveal was cuckoobananas.
Front Desk by Kelly YangMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Powerful depiction of an immigrant family trying to make it. Or at least keep a roof over their heads. It gets a little "It's A Wonderful Life" at the end, but we could all use a happy ending. Mia pretty much is the embodiment of grit.
p. 82: "I used to think being successful meant having enough to eat, but now that I was getting free lunch at school, I wondered if I should set my standards higher."
Just Like Jackie by Lindsey StoddardMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Beautifully written, although the entire situation nervoused me. And the grandfather refusing to tell Robinson about any of her family members - even back when he was fully there - was infuriating. But still a moving read.
p. 117: "I'm so sad at Grandpa's brain because I don't know how to diagnose his malfunction, and I don't even know if he knows that his check engine's light's on."
p. 126: "I do want to cut away at Grandpa's hard, thick bark because it feels really scratchy and crappy to keep rubbing up against it."
p. 166: "And I wish there were some wire brush to clean out Grandpa's corroded cables and reconnect them to his starter so he could ride out good as new too."
Margot and Mateo Save the World by Darcy MillerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Nonstop action. And Dr. Smalls looking up "foot cancer" made me lawl. This will be an easy sell to get kids reading RICBA books.
The Peculiar Incident on Shady Street by Lindsay CurrieMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Not sure the reasons for the haunting were explained completely satisfactorily, but nicely spooky for the middle grade set.
Bob by Wendy MassMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I want a Bob in my closet! His voice cracked me up.
Inky's Amazing Escape: How a Very Smart Octopus Found His Way Home by Sy MontgomeryMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Better than "Inky's Great Escape," which was heavily fictionalized. I gave that one 4 stars - extra for the illustrations - so I feel like I need to give this one 4 stars as well because it was based on the facts. And the Mr. Potato Head eyes on the starfish made me laugh. Not sure if that was entirely true, but oh well. As much as I liked the illustrations here, I have a couple of quibbles:
1. Half the time I couldn't tell which two tentacles had been injured.
2. The text says that he was the size of a baseball when found, but the picture makes him look as big as the fisherman's head.
Captain Superlative by J.S. PullerMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
A bit over the top, but a message that can't be shared enough with students. #choosekind #willyoubesuperlative
A Lady Has the Floor: Belva Lockwood Speaks Out for Women's Rights by Kate HanniganMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Good information, but I didn't love the illustration style, nor the design with cursive lettering strewn about the pages.
Monster Mayhem by Christopher EliopoulosMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Chomp was beating up his own friends and family? Is that what we were supposed to understand? The timing near the end got very strange ... all the building and flying and getting an architect took like 10 minutes? Finally, the friendship message was a little heavy-handed. However, extra star for how much I think my kids are going to like it.
Game Changers: The Story of Venus and Serena Williams by Lesa Cline-RansomeMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Their dad was obsessed. Dragging the entire family to the courts at dawn even though the older kids had already dropped tennis? Jesus, and the text says the girls "didn't have time for friends"?? And they had to drop to the ground when gang shootings happened near the courts??? And their dad paid kids to yell insults at them????
I do wish the illustrations of their faces were a bit more true to life; most of them just looked like random people v. the sisters (I just spent 10 minutes looking at photos online to confirm).
Knights vs. Dinosaurs by Matt PhelanMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Hmm ... this didn't work for me, but I'm 44 and not into battle descriptions. Would it work for my students? They do like action, and I do like when books are shorter than 200 pages, because they're more likely to read them. But knights aren't that popular. Lots of good vocabulary.
Saving Winslow by Sharon CreechMy rating: 1 of 5 stars
I can't believe the same narrator did Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce, which I ADORED. His voice was annoyingly distracting in this one. And there was a skipping noise at the beginning of each chapter. Not sure if I would have liked it better in print? At least it was short. But I think the length actually worked against it. We should have had a fuller understanding of Nora.
The Train of Lost Things by Ammi-Joan PaquetteMy rating: 1 of 5 stars
So the dead can never be happy if they aren't reunited with a prize possession? Is the message to kids that they should love things? How did the jacket disappear anyways? Did not like. Pretty much skimmed the second half.
