The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge

Brangwain Spurge has been sent by the Elfin government to deliver a recently discovered artifact of goblin origin.  If he is successful, he will be the first elf to travel into goblin territory and live to tell the tale.

Archivist Werfel has been chosen to play host to the elf visitor.  He has prepared to be the best host possible and show off his city and kingdom to the best advantage.  Things do not get off to a good start.  Spurge seems dissatisfied if not disgusted by the cultural experiences Werfel shares with him.

Unbeknownst to Werfel, Spurge has been fitted with a new type of magical technology that allows him to send transmissions back to his government.  He can only send images, and the images represent his own interpretation of events.

Both Wefel and Spurge believe they are serving their own nations, but it quickly becomes clear that neither understands the complete situation, and they may be lucky to get out of this alive!

M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin have created an entertaining and playful look at international politics with multiple unreliable narrators.  Who is telling the truth, and how is the "truth" colored by the viewer's cultural lens?  We lose Spurge's transmissions for a large portion of the book, and I think that affected the flow and the humor of the story.  I really enjoyed this book, but I am curious to see how the intended audience will react.  Will it be too dense and nuanced for a middle grade reader?

2018: Year in Review

It's time for one of my favorite posts of the year!  That's right; it's the Year in Review post!

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In 2018 I read 134 books and 44,796 pages!  That's a lot of words, a lot of journeys, a lot of characters.  I like to wait until January to do the wrap up because I might read one of my favorites in the last few weeks of the year, and I don't want to leave a great book out.

I decided to jazz things up with some bar graphs for the statistics this year.  Behold!

The genre analysis is one of my favorite parts of the Year in Review.  I tag the books with all the applicable genres, and nearly everything fits into more than one category.  This year is a bit of a surprise--only 6 science fiction novels!  This probably the first year that historical, mystery, and romance have been in the lead.  I decided to reread the entire Amelia Peabody series as part of my side reading (anything that isn't middle school).  If you like humorous Victorian mysteries with a side of romance, I definitely recommend them even though they aren't middle school!


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Ok, let's get on with the reason you're all here.  It's time for my favorite middle school books of 2018!  Click on the book cover to link to my original full-length review.

 I absolutely adore this quirky little book.  It's got an orphaned girl inventor, pirates, and a librarian with a forbidden romance.  It may not be for everyone, but it will be perfect for some people.  I can't recommend it enough!

I don't normally include sequels on their own in this list, but this book is so good, I couldn't pass it up.  You must read this series!  It's complex, disturbing, and hopeful.  I will read anything Neal Shusterman cares to write! (8th grade and up)

Morrigan Crow is a social pariah who is destined to die on her 11th birthday all because of an accident of birth.  At the last minute, Jupiter North sweeps in to take her to a fantasy world where he believes she could be the "chosen one."  Of course, she'll have to prove herself through a series of tests first.  This is a delightful fantasy with an immigration twist.  Plus, it has a giant housekeeper cat!

What a powerful little gem!  This book is thematically similar to The Hate U Give, but it is perfect for younger readers.  After dying in a police shooting, Jerome is left in limbo.  He can see his family, but he can't communicate with them.  The only living person who can hear him is the daughter of the police officer who killed him.  He can also communicate with the other ghost boys who have been the victims of racial violence over the years.  This book draws a line from the racism and violence of the past to the present and emphasizes the ways we can learn to see each other as fellow human beings.

Chaya Lindler isn't important or powerful, but she sees the truth and knows the Nazis are a force of evil.  She joins the undercover Polish resistance to do everything she can to fight back.  I absolutely love this book!  You are never too small or too insignificant to fight back.

Charlie Bobo is only twelve, but he's so tall and strong everyone thinks he's older.  When his sharecropper father dies in an accident, the cruel overseer of the plantation forces Charlie into a journey north to repay his father's debt.  Cap'n Buck tells Charlie they are retrieving stolen property, but Carlie eventually realizes they are looking for escaped slaves.  This is one of my favorite books by Curtis to date.  It has the author's trademark humor and attention to detail, and Charlie's shifting worldview is realistically portrayed.  Warning, the author does not shy away from the violence of slavery.

After Ivy's home is destroyed in a tornado, her world is in chaos.  She already felt out of place in her family after the birth of her twin brothers, and now she's separated from her family during their displacement.  She's also lost her notebook full of drawings showing two girls holding hands.  She isn't ready to share those drawings with anyone yet, and now someone has them and is sneaking them into her locker along with mysterious notes.  Is this person a friend or an enemy?  This is just a beautifully written novel full of heart and literary merit.

Mia and her parents are Chinese immigrants struggling to make ends meet.  When they hear about a job managing a motel with an apartment included, it seems like a dream come true.  But there are surprises around every corner, and the owner is a greedy and cruel man.  As a young girl learning English as a second language, Mia discovers the power of words to persuade and inspire.  This one has a younger protagonist, but it will definitely appeal to middle schoolers.  It's also inspired by the author's real-life experiences growing up in a motel!

Chase Ambrose used to be a terrible bully, but that was before he fell off the roof and woke up with amnesia.  Now he's trying to befriend the artsy kids, the very people he tormented most before.  He's also horrified by each new detail he discovers about his former life.  This is my favorite Gordon Korman book to date, and it gets readers thinking about the choices we make and how we treat people.

Ok, so this book does fall into a bit of a formula, as it seems all the books in the Rick Riordan imprint will do, but I loved the Mayan mythology.  Plus, the protagonist has a physical disability which eventually becomes his greatest strength by the end.  I'm always a sucker for that motif!

After a near death experience, Cassidy has a connection to the other side and a ghost best friend named Jacob.  Her parents have written several books about the supernatural, and now the family is traveling the world filming a tv show about the paranormal.  First stop Edinburgh!  This ancient city is full of powerful ghosts who may prove too much for Cassidy.  International ghost hunting?!  Yes, please!  I can't wait for the next one!

This heartbreaking novel about the separation of India and Pakistan is told in diary entries.  Nisha's mother is dead, but she talks to her each night by writing in a diary.  Nisha herself is half Muslim and half Hindu.  Where does she belong?  And why should people so wholly unconnected with her life be able to make decisions that can upset her entire world?

Do you live in The United States of America?  Yes?  You should read this book.  Seriously, it is informative, entertaining, and will explain our government better than most textbooks and inspire debate and conversation.

Well, there you have it!  Do you agree?  Disagree?  What are your favorite books of the year?  I hope you all had a fabulous reading year in 2018 and you are off to a good start in 2019.  Happy reading!

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Dry

The Tap-Out has been going on for a while.  Every decision is about conserving water from faux turf lawns and rock gardens to timed showers, but life goes on as normal until the day the taps run dry.

At first, Alyssa's mom thinks the dry taps are a result of her father's amateur plumbing efforts, but they quickly realize this is a far-reaching problem.  When her parents don't return from a trip to find water and their cell phones go straight to voicemail, she starts to panic. 

Now she must keep herself and her younger brother Garrett safe and hydrated.  This is the perfect opportunity for next door neighbor Kelton who's harbored a crush on Alyssa for years.  Kelton's father is ex-military and a bit of a paranoid survivalist.  Now that paranoia means they are the only ones in the neighborhood with water. 

The longer the crisis continues, the more chaos reigns.  People quickly turn against each other to escape the California desert and find water.  At every turn, things get worse until Alyssa and her companions are trapped in a real-life horror scenario. 

The story is told from multiple perspectives and intercut with vignettes from other people in the crisis who often reappear in the main narrative.  Aside from adding to the scope of the narrative, these vignettes also highlight the highs and lows of how people react in a crisis.  Some people immediately turn to their own survival while others create a community out of chaos. 

Neal Shusterman and son, Jarrod, do a fabulous job of creating an all too real horrifying view of humanity in the fight for scarce resources.   Once again, Shusterman demonstrates his deep understanding of human nature and invites the reader to imagine how she would react in similar circumstances.  Highly recommended for grades 8 and up for language and an attempted sexual assault.