Sorcery for Beginners

Magic is nearly lost from the world, but there are a few sorcerers left to defend the ancient gifts.  They are on the lookout for those with potential, young people who can train in the magical arts. 

Owen doesn't really see himself as a person with potential.  He spends most of his time playing video games and going through the motions of life.  It's only gotten worse since his mother left to study orangutans on the other side of the world, and he and his father move to Las Vegas.

He's on the run from some particularly nasty bullies when he stumbles across an impossible looking bookstore.  There he meets Euphemia Whitmore who tells him he has potential and convinces him to purchase a book called Sorcery for Beginners.  Owen doesn't really believe in magic, but if a spell could turn back time and keep his family together, it's worth a shot. 

Owen goes to a group of magic cosplayers from his school for help, and they find some success, but they are also attacked by bullies.  To save himself, Owen uses magic against them.  This sets of a chain of events that makes him and his friends targets of a Las Vegas millionaire with connections to organized crime and the greatest anti-magic secret society in the world. 

Their challenge is to protect the book, magic, and themselves from these powerful enemies.  That's asking a lot from a kid who's never even tried to be good at anything before. 

Matt Harry's series opener is a fun magical adventure with a modern setting.  The illustrations add verisimilitude to the story.  Hand this to Harry Potter fans! Recommended!

Path to the Stars

Young Sylvia loves her family, but she always felt like life was out of her parents' control.  From broken down cars to problems with their home, Sylvia felt there had to be a better way to deal with life, to take control rather than just letting things happen.

When she discovers Girl Scouts, she finds her solution.  These girls don't just wish.  They don't just let things happen.  They make goals and plans.  They make things happen.

Being a Girl Scout gives Sylvia the courage she needs to take control, to learn anything she wants to learn even if it isn't a subject for girls.  That strength helps her get scholarships for college, become an engineer, and achieve her dream of attending Stanford University.

Sylvia Acevedo credits much of her success as an engineer and rocket scientist for NASA to the influence of Girl Scouts when she was younger.  She is now the CEO of Girl Scouts.  This memoir is an inspiring story of a girl who overcame every obstacle in her path to achieve her goals.  Highly recommended.

One True Way

Allie isn't happy about her family situation after her parents' divorce.  She isn't sure she'll be able to make friends in her new town, but she meets Sam on her first day.  Sam is outgoing, friends with everyone, and makes everything fun.  Everyone in school seems to like and trust her, and Allie feels special to have become friends with her so quickly.

Allie used to work on the school newspaper, and Sam is the girl to make it happen.  It only takes a single introduction for Allie to get a tryout, and thanks to her writing skills and ability to take criticism, she's in. 

Sam also helps Allie overcome some of the fears she's struggled with since her brother's death.  Allie never thought she would be brave enough to ride a horse, but with Sam's encouragement, she just might.

It doesn't take long for Allie to realize she feels more than friendship for Sam, but the girls feel like they have to hide their feelings from everyone, especially Sam's religious family.  However, they are lucky enough to have the friendship of a Methodist minister who doesn't condemn them.

Shannon Hitchcock's book belongs in middle school libraries, but it's a pretty simplistic storyline with simplistic prose.  I do recommend it, but I can't help but compare it to Ivy Aberdeen, which is so much more literary.  That said, it's good to have more than one book on the topic.

Front Desk

Mia's parents have been struggling to make ends meet since they immigrated from China to America.  When they get the chance to run a small motel where they can live rent-free, it seems like a dream come true!

But Mr. Yao, the owner, keeps changing their contract, and it always benefits him.  His son, Jason, is Mia's age, and he's just as bad as his father.  Still, Mia loves working at the front desk after school while her parents are busy cleaning the rooms.  It gives her confidence and a sense of importance.

The permanent residents of the motel become like a family to Mia, and she is outraged when one of them is accused of committing a crime.  Mia knows he didn't do it, and she sets out to prove it.

As bad as things seem sometimes, Mia knows they could be worse.  Her parents sometimes hide Chinese immigrants in an empty motel room, and Mia hears their horror stories.

Mia loves the power of words, but her mother is convinced she'll never be successful since English is her second language.  She thinks Mia should stick to math.  Can Mia prove to her mother and herself that words can make all the difference?

I love Kelly Yang's book so much!  There are moments of humor followed by moments of outrage.  Readers will sympathize with Mia as she tries to fit in with her American classmates and feel her confusion about race relations in 1980's California.  I read this book in one sitting--could not put it down.  Highly recommended!

The Grand Escape

This is the true story of a group of British pilots determined to break out of a German POW camp called Holzminden.  Neal Bascomb briefly sketches out the backstories of individual players and previous foiled escape attempts. 

By the time they are all at Holzminden together, conditions are treacherous, and the prisoners are ruled by the ruthless commandant Niemeyer. 

Once we got to the actual escape itself, the story is engaging, but I really struggled to get into this one.  There are so many players involved, and some of them get full backstories and then drop out of the narrative.  I think there is definitely an audience for this.  It just isn't me. 

The Hotel Between

Cameron and Cassia Kuhn have never known their parents.  Each twin has a necklace with a gold coin from one of their parents, but that's pretty much it.  Their mother is dead, and their father left them with their grandmother when they were babies and never returned.  Cassia thinks he's the villain, but Cameron isn't so sure.

Cameron is a worrier, and he thinks if he could find his dad, life would be better for his aging grandmother and for Cassia who has spina bifida.  There would be someone else there to share the load.

On the way home from school one day, he sees a golden sign in a strip mall, "The Hotel Between."  This is the beginning of an epic adventure that may be a little too intense for Cameron the worrier, but he can't deny how amazing this place is.

The hotel is a magical building with rooms and connections all over the world.  He can go from Russia to California to Australia in one day! Plus, the hotel promises a way to find his father and put his family on a more stable footing.

But who can Cameron trust?  It seems like everyone has an agenda, and no one is really on his side.

Sean Easley's fantasy adventure is fun and interesting.  Would be world travelers will love the premise, and the mystery of Cameron's father will keep readers turning pages.  Recommended!

Fault Lines in the Constitution

Are you tired of Congress fighting all the time and never accomplishing anything?  Are you enraged when the winner of the popular vote is the loser of an election?  Blame it on the constitution!

This new book by husband and wife team Cynthia and Sanford Levinson details the arguments and compromises that created the constitution we have today and the modern limitations the framers never could have imagined.  Could we improve the constitution now? 

I absolutely loved this book!  It should be required reading in every U.S. History and government class.  For any citizen!  I doubt most of us understand the constitution, and this book explains things in an accessible and interesting way.  Highly recommended!

Space Runners: The Moon Platoon

It's 2085, and Benny Love grew up in the Drylands where he and his family live as nomads and scavenge to survive.  He can't believe his luck when the genius inventor Elijah West picks him for an all expenses paid trip to the moon.  This is a dream come true!  Not only will he get to spend two weeks in the first resort on the moon, the Lunar Taj with Elijah West and some of the earth's greatest minds, but he also gets enough money to take his family out of the Drylands for good. 

Soon after their arrival, a freak asteroid shower strikes the moon and the Lunar Taj knocking his new friend Hot Dog off her race track and stranding her on the moon's surface.  Drue, who may be a potential friend, but who is also kind of a jerk, convinces Benny and genius girl Jasmine to join him on a rescue mission.  This cements their friendship and gives them a bit of a reputation. 

Benny is sure the unauthorized rescue mission is a one-time thing, but it just feels like something not quite right on the moon.  When they can't get any information from Elijah about the asteroids, they decide to do some digging of their own and make a startling discovery about the real purpose of the Lunar Taj and the fate of everyone on earth.

Jeramey Kraatz's series starter is a fun science fiction thrill ride.  Its got secretive billionaires, drag racing on the moon, unlikely friendship, and mortal peril.  This is just good fun!  Highly recommended!

Letters to the Lost

Juliet has been in fog since her mother died in May.  It doesn't seem right that someone so vibrant and alive could die in a freak car accident.  Her mom was a photojournalist who documented the pain and beauty of the world, and now she's stuck with her boring father and her grief, so she writes letters to her mom and leaves them on her grave.

Declan is trouble.  People are afraid of him for his dark looks and barely controlled temper, but his probation and community service that really take it to the next level.  He feels responsible for the deaths of his father and sister, and he can't let the grief and guilt go, especially not with a distant mother and angry stepfather at home.  His community service assignment is to mow grass at the cemetery.  That's where he sees the letter.  He doesn't know who it's from, but he recognizes the pain it expresses, so he decides to write back.

What starts with reluctant letter writing soon becomes an email exchange, and these two troubled teens find themselves connecting in a real way despite the anonymity. 

Brigid Kemmerer's novel is perfect for Sarah Dessen fans and anyone who likes a side of anguish with your romance.  The bad boy thing doesn't really work for me, but I get that it does for other people.  I really love how Kemmerer plays with perception vs. reality in this novel, but the wrap up with Declan's family was a little too fast for me.  I'm sure the story will continue in the next book.  Recommended for grades 8 and up.

Twelve Days in May: Freedom Ride 1961

Even though the Supreme Court ruled segregation on interstate bus lines unconstitutional, it was still the rule in southern states.  On May 4th, 1961, a group of thirteen friends, black and white, old and young boarded buses headed south to make a statement. 

They hoped to draw attention to the lack of enforcement of desegregation laws in the south and to start a national conversation.  But the farther south they travel the more violence and hate they must endure.

Larry Dane Brimner's book tells the story of these twelve days with first person accounts and carefully chosen images.  Highly recommended.

Tiny Infinities

When Alice's dad moves out into a new apartment and her little brothers move in with her Aunt Ruth, Alice is left with her mother in their now empty house.  Since the accident, her mother has been different.  She was in the hospital for months, and even now that she's out, she can only walk with a cane, and she spends her days in bed either crying or railing about Alice's father and increasingly Alice's own shortcomings.

Alice decides she isn't having it.  She puts up a tent in the backyard vows to live there until her father comes home.  The one thing she can control about this summer is swimming, and she is determined to make it onto the Sharks record board by the end of the summer. 

With her former best friends away at camp and her family divided, Alice is feeling a little lonely.  That's when she meets Harriet, a new girl in the neighborhood.  Harriet is small but fast and obsessed with winning the school science fair, which won't happen for months.  When Harriet sees the fireflies in Alice's backyard, she's convinced they are the answer to her science fair dreams and convinces Alice to become her assistant. 

There's also a new family next door with an older son who makes Alice feel a little nervous in a good way, a toddler, and a daughter with a developmental disability.  Because of all her experience babysitting her twin brothers, Alice is the perfect fit to help out this family.  Piper doesn't talk and rarely even acknowledges people, but she seems to make an instant connection with Alice. 

When Alice hears Piper speak, she excited, but the girls parents are furious and call her a liar.  Her own mother turns against her and says Alice was cruel to get their hopes up.  Now she's determined to find proof. 

J.H. Diehl's new book is a nearly perfect middle school coming of age story.  It's about understanding the difference between perception and reality and the sad realization that things don't always work out the way we want.  But sometimes there is a little magic in the world, and things can turn out right after all.  Recommended.

Seafire

Caledonia Styx captains an all-girl crew aboard the Mors Navis in a post-apocalyptic world that uses the advanced technologies of the past to power a world of violence and piracy.  Aric Athair rules the seas with his powerful navy manned by young men who are stolen from their families and drugged into loyalty.

Cal wants nothing more than to destroy Aric and all he represents.  Her own family is dead because she let her guard down with one of his men.  Now, she and her crew seek ways to eat away at his empire.  With her best friend, Pisces, and the rest of her young but skilled comrades, she's doing her best.

After a failed attack, Pisces returns to the ship with a boy from Aric's army.  Pisces says he saved her life, that he wants to turn traitor, but all Cal can see is that boy who betrayed her and killed her family long ago.

As a compromise, she keeps him imprisoned rather than killing him, but he swears he has important information.  Caledonia and Pisces' brothers aren't dead.  They were captured and taken into Aric Athair's fleet, and this boy knows how to find them.

Caledonia doesn't know if she can overcome her prejudice to trust this boy or even if she should, but if there is a chance her brother is alive, she has to take it.

Natalie C. Parker's adventurous tale of an all female pirate crew is fantastic read with multicultural characters full of pathos and contradiction.  My only real complaint is the ending.  I hate cliffhangers, and this is a doozy!  Recommended for grades 8 and up for violence, but it's an all-female crew, so the misogyny and threats of sexual violence on women typical in pirate stories are happily absent.

Strange Star

Felix is excited for this evening's gathering at Lord Byron's house.  He's hoping for the opportunity to serve the guests because tonight the guests are supposed to tell stories to scare Lord Byron, and Felix knows it will be good. 

But the stormy night is interrupting by a pounding on the door.  When Felix opens it, he discovers a girl collapsed on the ground.  Lizzie has traveled from England to Switzerland to tell her tale and to seek justice. 

It is a tale of lightning strikes, death, and abuse at the hands of a clever, but immoral scientist. 

It is a tale that will inspire one of the most enduring horror stories of all time, the tale of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

I really wanted to like this new book by Emma Carroll, and there were parts of it I really did, but it just seemed really disjointed to me.  Why begin the story with Felix, a former African slave and then just go nowhere with that plotline?  Lizzie's story is compelling, but the structure just didn't feel right to me. 

The Storm Runner

Zane Obispo hates school, mostly because the other kids bully him violently.  He's been homeschooled for the past year, living out in the middle of nowhere with just his mom and his dog, Rosie.  Out there, no one will bug him about his one small leg and foot.  No one can explain it, but Zane has to deal with the limp, the can, and the obnoxious middle schoolers.

He spends a lot of his time exploring the dormant volcano in his backyard, and he doesn't want to give up the solitary life, but his mom got him a scholarship at a Catholic school nearby, and Zane's carefree days are over. 

That's when things get crazy, Zane sees what looks like a spaceship crash near the volcano, and something that seriously looks like an alien comes out.  Then this girl named Brooks he meets at school tells him he is godborn and destined to release an evil god from an ancient relic.  The Mayan gods are real, and they are a bloodthirsty bunch!  Oh, yeah, she's also a shapeshifter who can turn into a hawk.  Umm...Zane thinks she's crazy until it all starts to come true. 

When his beloved dog Rosie dies, Zane makes a deal with the god of death, Au-Puch to get her back.  Now he and Brooks have to find a way to stop Au-Puch before he destroys the world.  Zane is supposed to become the storm runner, but how can run when he can barely walk?

This new series by J.C. Cervantes under the Rick Riordan imprint is perfect for fans of the Percy Jackson books and anyone who loves a good fantasy adventure.  What puts this one above the rest is Zane's weakness, the thing he's hated his whole life, the thing that has been a handicap and a torment turns out to be a strength.  Highly recommended.

A Problematic Paradox

Nikola Kross gave up on getting along with the other kids at her middle school long ago.  They have nothing in common, and she finds their antics ridiculous.  She'd rather be doing experimental chemistry anyway.  Her guidance counselor tells her she wouldn't be such a target for bullies if she would just act a little more normal.  Nikola things this is ludicrous. 

When a horribly ugly and awful smelling girl approaches her on the way home one day, Nikola is puzzled but gets away easily.  It's only when she gets home to abandoned big box store/scientific lab/home she shares with her father that she realizes something is wrong.  Her dad is gone, kidnapped by the ugly stinky girl, and Nikola finds herself enrolled at a strange boarding school for geniuses.

While she tries to find a way to contact her father, she learns the truth.  Aliens have been here all along.  Some of them, called The Old Ones, have never really changed, and they like to collect smart people.  Some of them decided to adapt long ago and are more like humans though still pretty strange. 

For the first time, Nikola's classes are fun and engaging, and she's actually making friends instead of avoiding bullies.  But...her father is still missing, and Nikola is convinced the Old Ones are somehow penetrating the school's defenses.

Eliot Sappingfield's new book is a fun sci-fi adventure for the smart kids.  Recommended!

#Prettyboy Must Die

After totally failing at his first assignment as a CIA operative, Jake Morrow, is on the verge of losing his spot in the agency.  It's the first thing he's really cared about since his parents died, and he's not about to go down without a fight.

Now he's enrolled at an elite private school as Peter Smith.  As far as the CIA knows, he's laying low, but he chose the school on purpose.  There was a hacker at the job gone wrong, and he has reason to suspect that hacker will be at his new school.

His entire career could be over though when a girl snaps a pic of him shirtless running at the track and posts it with hashtag prettyboy.  Before he knows it, he's trending on social media, but he's getting nowhere with his investigation. 

Is it just a coincidence that terrorists attack his school?  Are they here for him or maybe the hacker?  Peter is out of class when things start going wrong, so maybe he has a chance to stop the terrorists, save his friends, and get the girl.

Kimberly Reid's new book is a fast-paced spy adventure with plenty of convenient coincidences.  Even if the plot strains credulity, I love that the protagonist is an African American male and his raised-in-a-bunker best friend provides plenty of comic relief.  Recommended for grades 8 and up for profanity.

City of Ghosts

Cassidy's parents publish books as The Inspectres.  Her mom provides the emotion and atmospheric believers point of view, and her dad the history-loving skeptic.  But what they don't realize is that Cassidy can see ghosts for real.

Since her accident when she lost control of her car, plunged into an icy river, and nearly died, she can sense and see all kinds of ghosts including her best friend.  Jacob isn't just a ghost; he's also the person who pulled her from the river and saved her life.  They've been best friends ever since.

Her parents are thrilled when a TV network wants to develop a show based on their books.  It's off to Scotland for the summer whether Cassidy likes it or not.  No warm days on the beach free of ghosts, except Jacob.  Instead, she's head to cold and damp ghost central.

Edinburgh has an even higher ghost popular than Cassidy imagined.  They are everywhere.  At almost every corner she feels compelled to cross over into their world. She also meets Lara, a girl who can also see the dead but who scoffs at Cassidy's sightseeing in the world of the dead.  Lara believes her job, and Cassidy's too, is to send the dead on to whatever comes next.

Cassidy isn't sure how she feels about this, but when she makes an epic and potentially fatal mistake, Lara is the only person who can help her.

Victoria Schwab's series started is the right amount of fun and spooky for the middle school audience.  I'm excited to read more and meet ghosts in cities around the world.  This is a great concept and a great cover.  Recommended!

Black Panther: The Young Prince

T'Challa loves his life in Wakanda as the son and heir of the ruling Black Panther.  But when danger threatens the secretive nation, T'Challa's father decides to send him and his best friend, M'Baku to Chicago for safety.  T'Challa believes he should be in Wakanda defending his home and father, but his father is firm.

Despite his frustrations, he and M'Baku are excited for their first trip to America.  They wonder if it will be like the movies.  The boys are staying at the African Embassy, but they will be incognito, no one can know their true identities, and they will be attending the local public school instead of a private one.

American life is a truly eye-opening experience.  There are things they enjoy--like junk food and their new friends Sheila and Zeke, but there is one boy who give T'Challa (or T. Charles, as he is known in America) a bad feeling.

Gemini Jones is an athlete and a bully who is obsessed with power, but it's more than that.  There's something strange about the skull ring he always wears, and he has an uncanny ability to collect followers.

While T. Charles is happy to pursue academics with his new friends, Marcus (M'Baku) is more interested in sports and quickly gets caught up in Gemini Jones's web.  Can the young prince solve this mystery in time to save his friend?

Ronald L. Smith's book is entertaining, but it's a little hard to believe.  T'Challa's father sends him away to protect him, but the boys have no real supervision.  They head out to catch a city bus on their own on the first day of school with no idea of what their aliases with be.  Then the school just registers them with no paperwork?

Aside from that, the mystery is engaging and conflict between the two former best friends feels realistic.  Kids will read this regardless of its flaws.

The Science of Breakable Things

Mr. Neely wants everyone to answer an important question using the scientific method and notes in the journal for his class,  but all Natalie can think about is her mom.  Normally, Mom would have been all over this idea.  She's a botanist who studies a miracle plant, the cobalt blue orchid.  The flower grew out of a field flooded with toxic waste. She has always helped Natalie with science projects.  But now things are different.

Her mom came home upset about work one day in July, and she's barely left the bed since.  Natalie is scared and frustrated, but she tries to keep it all inside.  Her therapist father is always trying to therapize her, but Natalie can see right through him.

Her best friend, Twig, doesn't even know the truth.  She knows something's not right, but Natalie hasn't confided in her. 

When Mr. Neely sees Natalie struggling with her important question, he suggests she participate in a community egg drop competition.  Natalie isn't too interested until she sees there is a $500 prize for the winner.  She can use that money to get a new cobalt blue orchid to replace the one that died, and everything will go back to normal.

With help from Twig and her new genius friend, Dari, Natalie knows they will win. 

Tae Keller's debut novel is a touching look at depression and how it can affect an entire family.  The first person point of view shows the reader the situation from Natalie's limited and somewhat confused perspective.  I also really like that even though the father is a therapist, he still struggles to handle the situation in his own home.  I just wish there had been some kind of closure on the dad's struggles with accepting his Korean ancestry.  It's just sort of dropped in with no explanation.  Otherwise, highly recommended, especially for kids whose parents struggle with mental illness. 

Wizard for Hire

Fourteen-year-old Ozzy Toffy has been on his own for the last seven years.  When he was just a kid, his scientist parents packed up everything in a rush and moved to a house in the secluded forest outside Portland, OR.  Then, men in green showed up and dragged his parents away leaving Ozzy alone.  He hasn't seen them since.

He's spent his time reading books and living off preserved food stockpiled by his parents.  One day while digging through some boxes, he finds a strange mechanical bird, stacks of cash, and several cassette tapes.  After a few moments of sun exposure, the bird (named Clark) wakes up and starts talking!

Clark is one of Dr. Toffy's inventions, created to keep him company in the lab.  Along with the cassette tapes, Ozzy finds a solar-powered cassette player.  That's how he gets the first taste of his father's voice in seven years.

With Clark's encouragement, Ozzy decides it's time to venture out, maybe attend school for the first time and start looking for his parents instead of just waiting for them to return.  That's how he finds the add, "Wizard for Hire."  Ozzy isn't sure if magic is real or not.  He's lived alone since he was a little kid with only books as a guide, and Harry Potter seems pretty real to him.  He decides to call the number, and that's how he meets Rin, short for Labyrinth.

Rin is strange looking to be sure.  His robe looks too short (better for hiking and action), high top sneakers, a wizard hat, and a long beard.  But he never seems to want to perform magic.  He does, however, agree to help Ozzy look for his parents, and the three of them (Ozzy, Rin, and Clark) delve into the mysteries of his parents' work and disappearance.

Obert Skye's new book is tongue in cheek mystery that may or may not be a fantasy, that is never quite clear.  Is it magic or coincidence?  This is book one, so maybe subsequent adventures will answer the question.  The relationships and the madcap nature of the story were fun, but the experiments and "science" behind the mystery didn't quite work for me.  I think it's one of those times when you just have to go with it.  Skye's fans with definitely enjoy this one.

I Am Still Alive

After Jess's mom dies in a car accident, she has to go live with her father in the remote Canadian wilderness.  She is still struggling with grief and the aftermath of her injuries.  Plus, she barely knows her father, she hasn't seen him years.  Now she's supposed to live in this tiny cabin in the middle of nowhere with a man she barely knows?

He makes a deal with her.  They only need to stay for one more winter.  He has promises to keep.  But then some men appear, and her father orders Jess to stay hidden which is how she survives when they murder her father and burn the cabin. 

Now she's alone.  No one knows where she is.  She's probably going to die with no food and no shelter.  It's just Jess and Bo, her dad's dog.  She grabs onto the hope that the man who dropped her off will return early for supplies.  Either that or the men who killed her father will come back for the secrets they buried in the woods.   Then she can get her revenge and an escape.

Now she just has to find a way to survive until then.

Kate Marshall's book is bleak and intense story of survival.  Give it to the kids who loved Hatchet and are ready for something with a little more weight.

Escape from Aleppo

Nadia hasn't left her apartment since she was injured by shrapnel in a bombing last year.  She barricades herself under the bed with her cat, Mishmash, at night.  But now she has no choice.  Now the fighting is coming to her building, and she has to leave now. 

The rest of the family runs ahead, but Nadia hesitates.  Then the bomb hits.  When she wakes up, she is hidden by rubble but protected from injury by a nearby car.  Her family is gone.  They left her.

But maybe it's not too late.  She knows the way to the dentist's office that was to be the meeting point, so she sets off across a city at war alone.  With only Mishmash for company and a desperate hope her family will be waiting. 

Along the way, she meets an old man and his donkey.  She isn't sure if she should trust Ammo Mazen, but he offers her help and seems to know how to avoid angry soldiers. 

Soon she realizes her only hope of seeing her family is to escape the city entirely and flee to Turkey.  Ammo Mazen agrees to take her, and she is happy to have a friend, but frustrated with the slow pace.  The old man is sick and getting worse.  All Nadia can do is try to be patient as she remembers Aleppo before the violence and takes in the destruction around her. 

N.H. Senzai's novel successfully brings the complicated situation in Syria to something more easily understood by its middle grade audience.  Readers will feel Nadia's pain, feel, and frustration as she faces the dangers of her devastated city.  Highly recommended.

Royals

Daisy just wants to be a normal girl living in her normal town working at her normal grocery store job.  Then she and her normal best friend will go to Key Con and meet their favorite author.  Normal Florida life. 

Except...her older sister went to college in the UK where she met Alex who just happens to be the crown prince of Scotland, and now they are getting married.  Which is great for perfect Ellie over in Europe except it's bleeding into Daisy's life in Florida. 

Her now ex-boyfriend tried to sell their prom pictures to the paparazzi, and now the Palace has decided Daisy should spend the next few weeks in Scotland instead of going to Key Con.

She's furious, but she doesn't really have a choice.  Her parents are persuaded and Ellie is adamant. 

So Daisy reluctantly heads to Scotland where she discovers that while Alex is great, his younger brother is an entitled trouble magnet. Even when she's just trying to stay out of his way, she somehow gets the blame.  Enter the younger prince's best friend/babysitter.  The palace has decided Miles and Daisy should have a fake relationship to throw off the paparazzi. 

Ugh.  Miles is a snob who seems incapable of smiling, but he is pretty cute.  After some time together this fake relationship just might have some real potential.

Rachel Hawkins's new book is for everyone who's sad the royal is over and loves a Hallmark movie.  It's a silly bit of diverting fluff, but that's all it aims to be.  Just go in looking to be entertained for a few hours, and you'll enjoy it.  Also, you have to pretend Scotland is an independent nation from Great Britain.  I wish there had been an author's note about this since a lot of readers will ignorant of the facts.

Fawkes

Thomas Fawkes is turning to stone.  It's a secret he's kept hidden at school, made easier by the fact that the stone plague seems to be dormant.  He's lost an eye, but that can be covered by a patch and explained away as a fencing accident.  He is on the eve of graduation, of taking his color test when he will bond with a color to help him focus his magical ability.  He hopes desperately to bond with gray; he hopes to hold the plague in check.  Many people have tried and failed to control the plague using color power, but Thomas believes he will be different. 

When his father fails to show up for his color test, his plague is revealed and Thomas is thrown out of school.  Only fathers can make masks for sons and mothers for daughters.  He vows to go to London and force his father to make his mask. 

But Guy Fawkes is more than just a military hero.  He's also involved in a plot to assassinate the king.  The politics of color power are more pronounced in the city with Keepers and Igniters in a deadly battle.  The king and most of the people are Igniters.  They believe in bonding with and using as many colors as they can.  They also believe the stone plague is caused by Keepers and their suppression of white light.  Keepers believe in bonding with only one color, that using multiple color powers leads to corruption and caused the stone plague.  Each side believes removing the other by death and destruction in an attempt to end the plague. 

Thomas swears loyalty to his father's group to get his promised mask,  but he is unsure about what he truly believes.  Plus, the plot will hurt Emma, a girl he's come to care deeply for.  Will he be loyal to his father and finally get his mask, or will he listen to Emma and increasingly persistent voice of white light?

Nadine Brandes's novel is an epic historical fantasy hinging on the very real gunpowder plot and the religious and political tensions of 17th century England.  This book has everything:  history, intrigue, magic, romance, a crisis of conscience, racism, and a deadly stone plague.  This one isn't necessarily for the casual reader, but those who are willing to inhabit this world for a while will be rewarded!  Recommended for grades 8 and up not for content but for text complexity. 

The Not So Boring Letters of Private Nobody

Oliver is obsessed with the Civil War.  He knows everything there is to know about battles, generals, and timelines.  It's like he's been preparing his entire life for the Civil War project in social studies, but thing quickly take a turn. 

First, he has to work with a partner which is bad enough, but his teacher assigns him to work with Ella Berry, a slacker with tangled hair who's failing every class.  Even worse, their randomly selected person isn't a general; it's some guy named Raymond Stone.  A quick search reveals he died of dysentery before the Battle of Gettysburg.  Basically, he diarrhead himself to death and never even fought in one battle. 

Also, Ella rejects his presentation idea in favor of a documentary which neither of them knows how to make.  This is a disaster. 

Enter Kevin, Oliver's lunch companion and the closest thing he has to a friend.  Kevin is obsessed with writing stories, and they convince his English teacher to let him work on the project with them for her class, too. 

It turns out, Kevin is more fun than Oliver thought, and Ella definitely isn't what he thought.  She's actually smart and kind of pretty, and she thinks his Civil War reenacting hobby is cool.  Could it be he's found his first real friends and maybe even a girlfriend while researching Private Nobody?

Matthew Landis's book is a fun and informative read about finding friendship and breaking down the walls we build to protect ourselves.  It's full of humor and self-realization.  Recommended.

Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World

Ivy Aberdeen has a secret.  She's not even sure what it means, but she has a notebook full of drawings of girls holding hands.  She isn't ready to show it to anyone yet, and she works on the drawings late at night when everyone else is sleeping. 

That's what she's doing the night her dad throws open her door to tell her a tornado is coming.  When the storm has passed, Ivy's house is gone.

The family is devastated.  Ivy only has the two things she grabbed on the way out--her notebook and pillow.  Her family spends the night in a temporary shelter where she feels isolated.  Since her twin brothers were born, Ivy has felt like she's not really important to the family anymore. 

When they get ready to leave in the morning, Ivy's notebook is missing.  She's angry and terrified at the thought of her private drawings out in the world.

On her first day back at school, one of the drawings appears in her locker with a note, "Maybe you should talk to someone about this."  Maybe she should, but she's just not ready.  The secret is making her distant from her best friend who only wants to talk about cute boys anymore, and her older sister who used to be so close isn't an option anymore.

The only person she's really connecting with is June.  June only moved to town a few months ago, and most kids think she's weird, but Ivy loves how enthusiastic and accepting June is.  Plus, she gets nervous and excited whenever June is around.  Could this be what a crush feels like?

Ashley Herring Blake's first middle grade novel is a beautiful and emotional story of a girl dealing with a tragedy while trying to find her place in her family and in the world.  This book is perfect for middle grade LGBTQ collections.  Blake handles what can be a sensitive issue for middle school audiences with gentleness and heart.  Highly recommended!

Saint Philomene's Infirmary for Magical Creatures

It all started when Chance decided to dig a hole in the backyard.  It's the deepest hole he's ever made, and he is intrigued when he hits something that turns out to be an underground mail delivery system.  He intercepts a letter that seems really important, so of course, he decides to follow the pipeline and deliver the letter in person. 

This lands him in a hospital where all creatures are welcome except humans, but there is already another human there, and he is threatening to kill everyone in the vast unground hospital unless he gets what he wants.  Chance has the cure, but everyone is on the lookout for him, too.

Back on the surface, his older sister Pauline who doesn't believe in anything she can't see or touch realizes Chance has disappeared in the hole.  Can the siblings find each other and save the hospital before it's too late?

W. Stone Cotter's first novel is a wild ride where things are resolved a little too easily at times.  This book does have incredibly rich vocabulary, so it's great for the kid who should be challenging himself but always picks the thinnest book on the shelf.  Struggling readers, however, may not get more than a couple of pages in. 

Granted

Everyone makes wishes, but what you may not know is that some wishes actually come true.  In Haven, there is a tree that collects all the wishes and determines which ones will be granted by the fairies who live there. 

Ophelia Delphinium Fidgets is a granter, one of the fairies chosen to make wishes come true.  But so few wishes are granted that she hasn't been out into the real world yet to make someone's wish come true.  Until now.

Her first wish is from a girl who wants a purple bike.  Ophelia sets out to fulfill her destiny, but everything goes wrong.  Off course and injured, her quest becomes even more difficult.  In her efforts to get back on track, she runs across some humans who have a wish that seems to be a bit more important than her goal, and she begins to question everything she's always believed about granting wishes.

John David Anderson's new novel is cute but a little tedious.  Ophelia is not my favorite character, and things don't really get interesting until she befriends a stray dog.  Cute, but not required reading. 

The Red Ribbon

Ella is desperate to get the job in the workshop.  She's only fourteen, but she's tall for her age, so she can pretend to be older.  In another life maybe she could have been friends with the other girls and women in the shop, but not at Birchwood.  At Birchwood, you have to be hard, you have to be strong, or you die.

It seems like a miracle when Ella gets the job in the sewing workshop.  The world outside the windows is brown, gray, and desolate.  Inside, there are silks and warm tweeds.  Thanks to her grandmother, Ella is not only a good seamstress, but she can also make patterns.  It's the additional designing skills that make her special.  One day she wants to own her own dress shop.  For now, she will work for the wives and officers at Birchwood.

Almost despite herself, she befriends Rose.  Rose is smart and fierce.  She tells stories to keep the women's minds off the cold, starvation, and cruelty that surrounds them.  Unlike Ella, Rose was arrested because her mother spoke out against the growing Nazi threat.  Ella was taken on her way home from school, just for being a Jew.

The Nazis have another name for Birchwood.  They call it Auschwitz.  Every day people arrive at the camp, and every day people die.  The workshop is salvation...if the girls can keep their jobs there. 

Lucy Adlington's book is a different perspective on the experience at Auschwitz, highlighting the real workshop where starving inmates worked to create beautiful clothes for their oppressors.  This is truly a story about Ella's own development.  Will she be like Marta, the boss of the workroom, who will do anything to survive no matter who is hurt in the process?  What about Carla, the Nazi officer who takes an interest in Ella because of her design work and sometimes treats Ella as a friend but always reminds her she is less than human?  Then there is Ella who chooses to live in another world in her mind and who always chooses selflessness no matter the personal cost. 

This is a beautiful and heartbreaking book.  Recommended for grades 8 and up.

The Way You Make Me Feel

Clara Shin is infamous for being the prankster who doesn't really care what anyone thinks, but when she goes too far and ends up in a physical fight at the prom, her dad decides enough is enough. 

Her punishment is to spend the summer working on his Korean/Brazilian food truck.  Her dad has always taken a relaxed approach to parenting, so Clara doesn't take him seriously at first.  But he's not backing down.  No summer loafing with her friends.  No trip to a resort in Tulum with her mom. 

As if that weren't enough, Clara will be working with Rose, her arch nemesis and the reason she's in this mess to start with.  But it doesn't take long for her to realize Rose isn't quite the demon Clara thought she was.  Maybe they could actually become friends.  Is that even possible?

Plus, there's this cute guy named Hamlet, yep, Hamlet who works at the coffee kiosk near one of their stops.  He isn't Clara's usual type, too nerdy, but somehow she always finds herself flirting with him. 

As the summer progresses and she spends more time with Rose and Hamlet, Clara begins to change.  She actually cares about things, like the food truck and other people's feelings, and it's more and more difficult to hang out with her old prankster friends.

Maurene Goo's new book has a bit of an identity crisis.  It seems to want to be a romance, at least superficially, but it's really about Clara's internal struggle.  Don't get me wrong, it does have romance.  That's just not really the central focus of the book.  This one was not my favorite because Clara is so obnoxious.  She keeps making decisions that hurt other people, and everyone forgives her so easily, especially after her major climactic mistake.  But, bonus points for character/author diversity, and it is a nice light read.  The characters are older, but this one is fine for middle school.

Orphan, Monster, Spy

When Sarah's mother is killed at a checkpoint, she is left alone in Nazi Germany.  She has blond hair, blue eyes, and is small for her age, but she is Jewish.  In her blundering attempts to escape Germany, he meets a strange man who she quickly realizes is not what he seems.  She helps save his life and instantly feels a connection to him.

It's clear to Sarah the Captain is some sort of spy, and it doesn't take long before he realizes she can help with his current mission.  Her mission is to infiltrate a brutal girls boarding school, befriend, Elsa, the daughter of a high ranking scientist, get invited to her house, and steal the plans for a bomb. 

Sarah is confident she can pull it off since her actress mother has been training her since childhood, but this school is a breeding ground for monsters.  Students and teachers alike prey on the weak to gain power, and Elsa is part of the elite. 

In her attempts to complete her mission, Sarah begins to doubt her own morality.  Is she becoming just like the monsters she despises?

Matt Killeen's book is riveting, disturbing, and violent.  I could not stop reading even though each chapter was more disturbing than the last.  I will definitely recommend this to older readers, especially those who are interested in WWII and the Holocaust, but I would steer sensitive readers away from this one.  Trigger warning, this book deals with attempted sexual assault and hints at an ongoing pattern of assault.  Recommended for grades 8 and up.

Geekerella

Elle loves Starfield, the classic sci-fi series she grew up watching with her father.  It's one of the few things she has left to help her feel close to him.  She barely remembers her mother, but when her father died, she was left with her stepmother and bratty twin stepsisters. They are all about appearances and treat Ella like an unwanted servant.

When Ella hears about a cosplay contest at ExcelsiCon, she decides to enter. Her father was one of the founders of the can, but she hasn't been back since his death.  First prize is a ticket to the ExcelsiCon Ball, a meet and greet with the lead actor in the new Starfield movie, and tickets to the premiere in LA.  It's the airplane tickets she really wants.  This could be Ella's chance to leave her horrible stepfamily behind for good.

Starfield is Darien's first big movie role, and the teen soap that propelled him to stardom has many Starfield fans enraged.  They think he doesn't have the acting ability or the geek cred to play their beloved Carmindor, but what they don't know is that Darien is a closet geek himself.  Before he got famous, he attended cons for fun.  Now, that isn't part of the image his manager/father wants to portray.  The last thing he wants to do is show up to ExcelsiCon as Carmindor and be rejected by the fans.  He texts a number on the ExcelsiCon website hoping to get out the meet and greet, but the person who answers can't help him.  She does have a good sense of humor and a serious addiction to Starfield, so he continues to text her even though he's pretty sure it's not a good idea.

When Ella gets the wrong number, she isn't surprised.  She sometimes gets people looking for her dad since she has his old phone.  What does surprise her is how quickly she begins to trust her anonymous "Carmindor".  They've never met in real life, bu she feels more comfortable talking to him than anyone else.

Ashley Poston's Cinderella for the ComiCon crowd is a fun take on the story with plenty of allusions to real sci-fi classics to keep geeks interested.  The love story is sweet, and Ella and Darien are both well-rounded characters.  My issue is the stepmother who is completely one-dimensional.  Every time I thought she was going to get some depth, the story veered in another direction.  Despite that, this will be a perfect fit for the sci-fi crowd.

Resistance

Chaya Lindler is a Jew in Poland during the Nazi occupation.  Her younger brother and sister have been taken from the ghetto on the transports, and her parents have lost the will to keep going.  Chaya, however, can't give up.

Her blonde hair puts her in a position to travel among the regular Poles and the Nazis as a courier delivering food, medical supplies, and forged documents.  But soon, that isn't enough.  She and her friends begin actively fighting back against the Nazi's.

When a raid goes wrong, and her resistance cell is destroyed, Chaya is left alone and unsure.  She begins a journey out of Krakow unsure of who she should trust.  The first person she meets is Esther, a meek and fearful girl from their former cell.

They make their way across Poland to the Warsaw ghetto.  The people have already fought back against the Nazis, and now they are preparing for retaliation.  They have limited supplies, and the people are weak from a near starvation diet.  There is little hope of winning, but there is hope and a kind of peace in fighting back.

Jennifer A. Nielsen's new book is one of my favorites of the year so far.  It is engaging, suspenseful, and a powerful story of endurance and friendship.  Chaya's journey through the ghettos of Poland reveals the depth of Nielsen's research and the horrors of the Nazi occupation.  Throughout the book, characters despair at the ineffectiveness of the Polish people and other nations who stand by arguing about politics while the Jewish people are on the verge of annihilation.  This is an excellent work of historical fiction with parallels to the modern world.  Make sure you read the author's note at the end.  Highly recommended for middle and high school libraries.

An Enchantment of Raven

Isobel is a gifted portrait artist whose work is highly sought by the fair folk.  One day the autumn prince, Rook, arrives for a sitting.  He is different from any of the other fair folk.  There is something about him, a kind of empathy that none of the ancient people can fathom.

When she delivers the finished portrait, she inadvertently reveals a part of his soul to the other Faeries putting his position in jeopardy.  Rook arrives to drag her to his court to face judgment.  Isobel is furious, but she has no hope of escaping the magical being with inhuman reflexes.

As they journey through the realms, they are beset by unnatural creatures and pursued by a deadly hunter.  Rook puts himself in harms way over and over again to protect Isobel and she grows to trust him in return.

They eventually realize more is going on behind the scenes at the Faerie Court than they could have imagined.  They also begin to realize they are perilously close to breaking the most dangerous rule of all, the punishment for which could be death.  But how can you control your own heart?

Margaret Rogerson's fantasy romance will appeal to a certain population who craves this kind of supernatural love story.  For me, it was disappointing.  I don't enjoy the falling in love with your kidnapper stories in general, and the plot never developed as much as I wanted.  Had there been something more complex going on in the background, I would have liked it more.  Recommended for grades 8 and up for mild profanity, especially in the first few pages. 

The Button War

Patryk and his friends spend their days talking, laughing, and daring each other to do stupid things.  Jurek is the unofficial leader of the group mostly because everyone is afraid of him.  Their small village in Poland is occupied by Russian troops, and he invents a game.  The person who can get the best button becomes the button king.  The others will have to bow down to him.

Patryk doesn't want Jurek to win.  It would rankle his pride, but he's also nervous about how the boy would wield his power.  They steal buttons from Russian uniforms, and Patryk thinks that will be the end, but Jurek isn't satisfied.

When a German plane drops bombs on the village, everything changes.  Soon the Russians are marching out, and the Germans are marching in.  Patryk thinks the game should be over, but Jurek sees fresh targets.

As the war in their tiny village escalates, Patrick becomes increasingly anxious, and Jurek grows even hungrier for buttons and power.  Jurek wants to be the king, but what power do you really have when you are surrounded by death and destruction?

Avi's new book is a disturbing tale of power and corruption set against the backdrop of WWI in a small Polish village.  It is a painful study in the ability of a charismatic leader to assign value to mundane objects and pursue power at any cost.  This book reads like a fable, and is a powerful if uncomfortable read.  Proceed with caution; there are several disturbing events in this book.

Pretty

Everyone thinks Sophie's life is a little bit easier because she's pretty.  She always has the perfect outfit and the perfect fashion writer mother. 

But she has a secret no one knows, not even her best friends.  Her mother is an alcoholic.  She spends her days drinking, and Sophie is never who she'll find when she gets home from school.  It could be the happy easy going drunk or the raging woman who hates everything about her daughter and her life.  She drinks until she passes out every night, and Sophies lies awake in bed waiting for the sound of her mother collapsing in bed if it's a good night. 

After a particularly bad night, Aunt Amara shows up at the house saying her mom is going away for a while.  Life with Aunt Amara is different.  There are homecooked meals and homework at the dining room table.  Sophie both enjoys the attention and resents the loss of her freedom. 

While Sophie struggles to assimilate the changes at home, she also struggles to make peace with her friends at school.  She is navigating insecurities and the attention of a boy she may or may not like. 

Living with Aunt Amara is making her see her relationships in a new light, and she starts to have the courage to admit the truth and to see herself as more than just pretty. 

This novel by Justin Sayre is a must read, but it will have special appeal to African-American and biracial students.  Highly recommended.

The Jigsaw Jungle

Claudia Dalton's father is gone.  He sent a message saying he had to stay late at work, but then he never comes home.  Claudia and her mother are frantic worrying what could have happened when they finally get a message saying he needs time to think and he's spending time with a friend.

Claudia feels a confusing mix of fear, anger, and confusion.  She always thought her family was perfect.  How could he do this?  She starts digging through emails and receipts looking for clues.  She decides staying with her recently widowed grandfather while her mother goes to a conference will be a great way to investigate her father's past. 

Then she finally gets a message from him--a puzzle piece with a word on the back.  This is it.  Maybe her father isn't really gone.  Maybe it's all just an elaborate puzzle he's set up for her, and when she solves all the clues, she'll find her father. 

With the reluctant help of her grandfather and the enthusiastic help of Luis, an aspiring documentary filmmaker who lives next door, Claudia sets out to solve the puzzle. 

Kristin Levine's new contemporary novel is told through emails, texts, receipts, phone calls, and any other scraps Claudia deems appropriate as she documents her journey.  The novel is inspired by Levine's own experiences when her husband came out as gay.  Savvy readers will figure this out early on, but younger readers may be just as shocked as Claudia is when she discovers the truth.  I'm of two minds about this one.  The mystery is great, but I was just so angry at her father for running away and leaving her a game to figure out the truth that it was difficult to have sympathy for him.  His family does express their anger and frustration, but everyone gets over it really quickly.  There are also parts of the book that feel more like an adult story, not in content but in tone.  Other readers could enjoy this book, but it seems more targeted at those in Claudia's (and her mother and grandfather's) specific situation. 

Winterhouse

Elizabeth's aunt and uncle don't like her.  If they aren't yelling at her, they are ignoring her, so she is suspicious when the people barely have enough money to make it from day to day decide to go on vacation during Christmas break and send her to some hotel.

It must be terrible if they are sending her there.  She begged to stay home alone where she could spend her days reading without their judgment.  But she comes home from school to find a locked door and a plastic bag with a few of her clothes, a bus ticket, and three dollars.

But Winterhouse is like nothing she could have imagined.  It's beautiful and filled with interesting people.  It has a library and a friendly librarian, and the proprietor, Norbert may be the most interesting of all.  Plus, for the first time, she has a real friend.

But all is not well at Winterhouse.  A mysterious and menacing couple seem to want something from her, and Elizabeth is beginning to believe it has something to do with an ancient puzzle that could affect the fate Winterhouse forever.

This novel by Ben Guterson is a fun mix of fantasy and puzzle mystery, but it got a bit tedious in the middle.  Plus, I'm not really sure her new friend is worth the effort if he gets so angry every time they disagree.  It could have benefitted from some editing, but I think it will appeal to the puzzle mystery crowd.

Speak: The Graphic Novel

Melinda is social outcast her freshman year after calling the cops on a party over the summer.  She dialed 911, but then she couldn't speak.  She couldn't say the words about what happened out loud, so the police showed up to break up the
She can't tell her parents what happened or why she's suddenly failing everything except art.  She can't tell her former best friend who didn't even ask what was wrong, who didn't even try to stand up for Melinda. 

It doesn't help that she has to see him at school.  He gets to go on with life like nothing happened, but every time Melinda sees him, she just wants to run. 

For a long time, her world closes in.  She doesn't really speak to anyone about anything.  But eventually, art becomes a way to heal, a source of strength, and a way to speak the truth about what really happened last summer. 

This new graphic novelization of Laurie Halse Anderson's modern classic novel is still powerful in a different form.  Emily Carroll's artwork conveys Melinda's fear and anxiety perfectly.  My general recommendation is for 8th grade and up, but this book deals with the sensitive topic of rape.  Give it to the people who need it.  Just like the original, this book can be a source of hope and strength to victims, but it's the kind of story everyone should read at some point. 

You Go First

Charlotte Lockard is pretty secure in her life in the Philadelphia suburbs until her dad has a massive heart attack.  As she struggles to deal with her anxiety about her father's health, things at school are changing in ways she can't control.  Her best friend is not really acting like a friend at all.  She's not too concerned about Charlotte's dad, and she's more interested in hanging out a new group of girls than her GT supposed best friend. 

Now that her dad is in the hospital, she wishes she had spent more time playing Scrabble with him than hanging out with her "friends."  She still has one Scrabble opponent, though.  She's been playing online with Ben for a couple of years, and the two of them vie for the top spot on the leaderboard.

Ben Boxer lives in Lanester, Louisiana.  It's his first year in middle school, and he's a little small and socially awkward.  He's obsessed with Harry Potter and presidential trivia, and he's determined to make his mark on middle school.  When he decides to run for student council, he becomes a target for bullies.

Charlotte and Ben have similar struggles to overcome, and they will both see their worlds realigned, but maybe change is not so bad in the end.

This new book by Erin Entrada Kelly was a bit of a disappoint for me.  Separately, both of the stories are great.  I was totally involved with both Charlotte and Ben, but the two stories never successfully intertwined for me.  I think this would have been a more successful book had it just focused on one character or worked harder to connect the two protagonists.  This is especially frustrating since a large focus of the book is on social connections.  That said, there are a lot of kids who will relate to these characters, and I will definitely recommend it to kids.

The Dollar Kids

Lowen has always loved drawing his comics, but since the day Abe died, he can only draw stories about Abe and his death.  Lowen didn't pull the trigger, but he did send Abe to the store where he was shot.  Lowen just wanted a little peace and quiet, and now Abe is dead. 

When he sees a story about homes selling for $1 in dwindling communities, it seems like the perfect opportunity.  The towns want new people to fill schools and create business, and Lowen wants to escape his guilt.

His family is ecstatic when they are chosen to move to Millville.  His mom will open a restaurant, and his dad wants to open a clinic.  The Millvillians are welcoming at first, but Lowen soon realizes many people resent the Dollar Families.  Millville needs the Dollar Kids to fill its empty classrooms and to have enough kids to play on sports teams. 

The houses are even worse than they thought:  moldy bathrooms, sagging floors, leaky roofs.  It will be a miracle if they can fix up the house by the deadline. 

All the while, Lowen is trying to stay separate from the other kids, Millvillians and Dollar Kids.  He knows what happens to his friends.  Plus, no one else knows about his role in Abe's death, so he decides to punish himself.  No friends, no drawing.  He doesn't deserve to be happy. 

Jennifer Richard Jacobson's new book is a beautiful story about healing, grief, and the power of friendship.  This isn't a story filled with action, but it is compelling nonetheless.  Readers will be pulled into Lowen's story and cheer him and Millville as they begin the road to healing.  Comic panels by Ryan Andrews enhance the story and highlight the power of art in healing and therapy.  Highly recommended.