Blended

Isabella's life is literally divided in half.  She spends one week at her mom's house and the next at her dad's.  She feels comfortable and loved in both places, but it's hard to constantly be on the move.  She is also biracial, and she's not quite sure how she fits in with the world in general.  Is she white like her mom or Black like her dad?

At mom's house, she's Izzy.  She practices her music on a Casio keyboard in the back room of a Waffle House waiting for her mom to get off work.  Her mom's boyfriend, John Mark, manages a bowling alley and has a great sense of humor. 

At dad's house, she's Isabella.  She practices her music on a baby grand piano with Madame Rubenstein helping her prepare for a big recital.  Her dad's girlfriend, Anastasia, is a high powered real estate agent with fabulous style and a ridiculous dog.  Anastasia's teenage son Darren is one of Isabella's favorite people.  Even though he's several years older, he's always willing to take her for ice cream.

Even though life is good at both houses, her parents don't get along at all, and exchange days are always tense.  Luckily she has her two best friends, Heather and Imani.  They've been friends forever, and both girls understand Izzy's frustrations over her parents' relationship. 

One day a student makes a racist comment in class, and Imani stands up to him.  This sets off a chain reaction of events that leaves all the girls feeling unsettled and forces Izzy to really contemplate how she sees herself in a world that can easily become racially charged.

I really wanted to love Sharon Draper's new book, and there are a lot of great scenes and thought-provoking ideas, but there is just too much going on for one small middle grade novel.  Divorced parents who constantly fight for some reason that is never explained, socioeconomic tensions, questions about racial identity, a racist incident at school, and an episode of police violence thrown in at the end.  Oh yeah, she's also preparing for a big piano recital.  This could have all worked together in a larger book, but nothing feels truly resolved.  That said, I think this book should be available to upper elementary and middle school students because it does deal with issues they face and provides a much-needed addition to the collection of books with biracial protagonists.

The Unteachables

Kiana's first day at Greenwich Middle School doesn't turn out exactly as planned.  After narrowly escaping a plume of vomit from her stepmother's new baby and nearly getting creamed by a giant truck driven by a 13 year old, she's left to fend for herself.  Somehow she is shuffled into SS8 without ever actually registering for school.

After a moment's hesitation, she decides to just go with it.  She's only here for a couple of months while her mom is on location filming a movie.  She quickly realizes SS8 is no normal class.

First, they are in the same room with the same teacher all day long.  Second, the kids are roasting marshmallows over a trashcan fire when she walks in.  These are the unteachables--six kids the school is just warehousing until they become the high school's problem next year.

Their teacher?  Mr. Kermit, a man who used to be a great teacher until his career was ruined 27 years ago by a cheating scandal.  It wasn't his fault, but he bore all the blame.  Now he spends his days wherever he's assigned drinking coffee and doing the crossword puzzle.

At first, students and teacher ignore each other, but when Mr. Kermit actually stands up for one of the unteachables, opinions change.  Maybe he's not so bad, and maybe they aren't so unteachable after all.

Gordon Korman's new book is the well-paced school story we've come to expect from him.  While some parts of the story do require the reader to suspend a good deal of disbelief, it's a good message about judgment, forgiveness, and overcoming stereotypes.

The Cold Is in Her Bones

Milla has only ever met five people in her life.  Her parents, her older brother Niklas, and the elderly couple who live near them on the farm.  The farm is all she knows, and she spends her days trapped in the house feeling lonely.  She's not even allowed her brother's freedom of working in the fields.

But she knows one thing--demons are real.  She and her family pray for protection night and day and take precautions like spreading salt around the perimeter of the room. Every time Milla says anything odd or speaks her real thoughts, her mother begins to pray.

One day Iris arrives to stay with her grandparents on the farm, and Milla's world is expanded.  She finally meets another person, and it's a girl around her own age.  Iris has spent her life in the village where people are held hostage by a secret she's vowed not to reveal to Milla.  There is a demon who takes girls, overwhelms their minds and turns them against their families.  Everyone lives in fear of which daughter will fall victim next.

When Iris begins to show signs, Milla tries to protect her, but the men take her away anyway.  To the place.  Milla doesn't know anything about it, but she knows Iris is terrified to go there, and that she will lose her only friend if she doesn't do something.

So Milla sets out to rescue her friend, but she is keeping her own secret.  She is showing signs, too.  What if the demon is coming for her, too?

Peternelle van Arsdale's is a mixture of fairy tale and Medusa.  I really wanted to like this book, but it was a bit of a disappointment.  Other than the importance of snakes, there isn't really anything else taken from the myth.  I guess I was also disappointed that the girls were actually possessed.  I won't spoil too much, but it's the most independent girls who are stricken, and I just wanted things to work out some other way.

Over the Moon

Mallie lives with her family on Coal Top.  Boys go to work in the mines, and girls go into the valley to become servants for the wealthy.  It wasn't always this way.  Once the people of Coal Top new the magic of the stars, and they created beautiful things with glittery star patches.

Now the stars are gone, driven away by the dust that coats everything and drives out hope.  Instead of beautiful star patches falling from the sky, the people are at risk from dust blobs which will suck all the happiness out of you and leave you depressed.

Mallie doesn't want this to be her life, and he especially wants to save her younger brother Denver from a life in the mines where the dust seeps into the men's eyes and steals their voices.  When she sees a flyer asking for brave young men, she knows this is her chance.  She may not be a boy, but she's just as brave as anyone else on the mountain.

She will have to brave the monsters that live in the forest and impress Mortimer Good despite the fact that she's a girl and wears a popsnap in place of her missing arm.  At first, she wants to impress Mortimer.  He promises such riches she will be able to pay off her family's debt quickly, but observant Mallie begins to notice some things about Mortimer and the whole operation that just don't seem right.

Natalie Lloyd's new novel seems even more deeply rooted in fantasy than the previous two.  Though Coal Top is a fictional mountain, the story pays homage to the Appalachian mountains.  Mallie is a strong female character who doesn't let her physical differences get in the way of achieving her goals.  Lloyd also makes a clear point about the wealthy exploiting the impoverished for their own ends.  Fans of the previous books will enjoy this new addition!

Game Changer

Teddy Youngblood is in a coma fighting for his life after an accident at freshman preseason football camp.  As his family and friends show their support at his bedside a bit of a mystery begins to unfold.  Is this injury just a tragic result of playing a violent sport?  Sometimes these things happen.  Or was something more sinister at play?

The story is told through newspaper articles, text messages, online chat groups, therapist transcripts, and the dialogue at Teddy's bedside.  It soon becomes clear that something else is going on, something the football team doesn't want to come out.  But what is it?  And what does it have to do with Teddy, his best friend Alec, and some kid named Ethan?

The format of Tommy Greenwald's new book leaves the reader feeling like an eavesdropper which is perfect for this story of secrets and misinformation.  Greenwald also does a good job of balancing perspectives between those who think the game is too dangerous and those who love the sport.  Ultimately, Teddy's injury is due to something much more complicated than a simple football injury, so football, in general, is off the hook for this one.  Hand this to sports fans and reluctant readers who will enjoy making speedy progress through the story. 

Grenade

Hideki lives on Okinawa, an island near Japan.  Okinawa has its own language and culture, but when his people were annexed by the Japanese, all of that was forced into the background.  Now Hideki and his family are about to be forced onto the front lines of World War II by the invading American Army.  He and his classmates become part of the Blood and Iron Student Corps.  Each boy is given two grenades, one to kill as many American devils as possible and one to kill himself.

Ray joined the Marines as soon as possible, and though he never went into battle in Europe, he is about to enter the war in Okinawa.  He's been practicing the language and studying how to differentiate the Japanese soldiers from Okinawan civilians in the hopes he can protect as many innocents as possible.  Once they land though, nothing is straight forward, and it's difficult to determine who is the enemy.

This first taste of war is eye-opening and horrifying for both young men as they strive to survive with their humanity intact. When their paths finally collide, a split second decision will change both of their fates forever.

Alan Gratz's newest book is another middle school winner.  Everything he writes from now on will likely be compared to Refugee, and this is no Refugee, but it's still a powerful book with important lessons about war, blind obedience, and courage.  While never more graphic than a PG-13 movie, this book does contain scenes of military violence and carnage.

That's Not What Happened

It's been three years since the Virgil County High School massacre, three years since Lee saw her best friend die next to her on the bathroom floor.  After Sarah died, her face started showing up on posters around town, "The Girl with the Cross Necklace."

Somehow a story about Sarah proclaiming her faith before being murdered started spreading around town.  The rumors had already spread by the time Lee heard them, and she didn't have much will to correct them in her grief, not even when her silence hurt another survivor.

But now Sarah's parents are writing a book about her faith even in the face of death, and Lee can't stay silent anymore.  It feels like other people are taking the narrative, that this book will be the way everyone remembers what happened.  Shouldn't the people who actually lived it get to tell the story?

So she sets out on a quest to get people to write down their experiences.  Some are happy for the catharsis, but others are hesitant to participate.  Eventually, Lee will realize nothing about that day happened exactly the way she thought.

Kody Keplinger's new book was a bit of a let down for me.  After all the suspense and anticipation, many of the revelations were not that shocking.  And yes, I understand she has PTSD from a horrible experience, but Lee seems to be coddled by everyone around her no matter how bratty she is.  She does grow as a character, but it seems like some of these other traumatized characters might not have the energy to deal with her drama.  Keplinger's point about media and perception versus the truth is a good one though, and this could inspire some thoughtful discussion.  Grades 8 and up.

The Season of Styx Malone

It's summer, and Caleb and his big brother Bobby Gene are free!  They have the whole woods behind their house to explore.  When they sort of accidentally trade their baby sister for some possible stolen fireworks, things take a different direction. 

Enter Styx Malone.  He's older, much cooler, and he has a great plan for how to move those possibly stolen fireworks before anyone gets in trouble.  His solution is The Great Escalator Trade.  It works like this.  You make a series of trades where each item is just a little bit better than the last.  All they have to do is listen to Styx, and that bag of fireworks will eventually become the shiny green scooter sitting in the hardware store window. 

There are only a few complications, the extra chores for giving away their sister and the trades involve increasingly dubious activities.  Bobby Gene has his doubts, but Caleb sees Styx as the antithesis of his cooped up small-town life. 

Kekla Magoon's new middle grade novel is a great adventure with a tender heart. Caleb is too young to understand his father's fears about the world outside their town where everyone knows and accepts them, but savvy readers will understand his concerns about racial violence.  Caleb and Bobby Gene also have trouble seeing Styx clearly.  They see a clever kid who makes his own rules without really understanding the struggles of a sixteen-year-old African American boy in the foster system.   This book has that golden summer vibe where it seems to the characters that nothing can go so wrong it can't be fixed by September.  Highly recommended.