Panda-monium

Teddy Fitzroy is back with another FunJungle adventure.  FunJungle, Texas, and all of America is excited for the arrival Li Ping.  The exact arrival date was supposed to be a surprise, but word got out, and a whole herd of pandamaniacs is gathered outside the gates in full panda regalia.

But when the truck carrying Li Ping arrives empty, FunJungle is in an uproar.  This is no ordinary animal mystery.  A missing panda is a potential international disaster, so the FBI shows up to run the case led by Molly O'Malley, older sister of Marge.  While Marge is loud and incompetent, Molly is a beautiful, intelligent bully.

The FBI has ordered Teddy to stay out of the way, and he tries to oblige, but a blackmail plot and his reputation conspire to put him in the middle of things once again.

Will the FBI (or Teddy) be able to find Li Ping before it's too late?

Stuart Gibbs's latest FunJungle mystery is another delightful romp.  As always, readers get a good mystery, plenty of animal facts, and big helping of humor.  A side plot involving a dolphin who steals swimsuits is particularly entertaining.  Highly recommended!

The Apprentice Witch

Arianwyn's greatest fear is failing her witch's assessment, so when that happens in front of all her classmates and an auditorium full of people, she is mortified.  Because her grandmother is an important witch, she is allowed to continue as an apprentice witch and given a post in the remote village of Lull.  It may be close to the great forest, but the tiny village should be a quiet place for Arianwyn to hone her abilities before she is reassessed.

But she hasn't even made it into the town yet when her bus is attacked by a dangerous creature of dark magic.  It seems that Lull is not as peaceful as its name would suggest!

Arianwyn makes mistakes, but she comes to like the village and its residents, and she does a satisfactory job of keeping them safe.  Her confidence is shaken though when the mayor's daughter comes to town for an extended visit and turns out to be none other than Gimma, Arianwyn's main tormenter from her school days.

Arianwyn wants to trust Gimma, but she's not sure she should.  Meanwhile, a dark magic is growing in the forest and seeping into the village, and Arianwyn doesn't feel powerful enough to protect them.  To make matters worse, a powerful magical symbol that has haunted Arianwyn her entire life comes into her mind to distract her at the worst possible moments.  Could this glyph be connected to the growing darkness?  Will she have the courage to do what needs to be done?

James Nicol's debut novel is a wonderful foray into a magical world that feels both new and familiar.  This is one of the best magic books I've read in a while!  While Nicol wraps this story up by the end, there are plenty of questions left for sequels.  Highly recommended for magic and fantasy fans!

The Ethan I Was Before

Before the incident, Ethan and Kacey were best friends.  They were born just days apart and grew up in the same neighborhood.  It seemed like Ethan was always happy because Kacey always made everything an adventure.

Now, Ethan and his family have moved to Palm Knot, Georgia, his mother's hometown, and no one is particularly happy about it.  His older brother Roddie had to leave his girlfriend, his baseball team, and his chances at a scholarship behind in Boston.  Their parents are always fighting, and moving in with his grandfather feels strange since they never really knew him before.  Ethan's mother and her father have never been close, and living together again is uncomfortable, to say the least.

Ethan knows this is all his fault.  His parents say Grandpa Ike needed the help, but Ethan knows the move was because of the incident and the times he tried to run away.

Meanwhile, Ethan is in a fog, barely speaking to anyone.  Mustering the energy to interact with people is just too much until the day Coralee shows up at school.  Ethan can tell from how the other kids react, that Coralee is not exactly popular, but there is something about her that draws Ethan out.  It doesn't hurt that she never pressures him to share secrets he isn't ready to discuss.  But Coralee has secrets, too, and certain events make Ethan question his trust in her.

As a disaster approaches, Ethan will have to confront his feelings about Kacey and make a decision about whether he wants Coralee as a friend.

Ali Standish's debut novel is a beautiful story about friendship, family, and confronting the guilt of the past.  Secondary characters are well developed, and there is a nicely interwoven subplot about endangered red wolves.  Highly recommended.

The Gauntlet

Farah Mirza loves games just like everyone else in her family.  But she gets more than she bargained for on her twelfth birthday.  When she mistakenly opens a package she thinks is her birthday present, she finds The Gauntlet, a game she's never heard of before.

Her excitement soon turns to horror when her impulsive younger brother disappears into the game.  Now she and her best friends, Alex and Essie, must enter the game, find Ahmad, and beat the challenges of the game.

The stakes are high because if they can't win the Architect's challenges, they will be trapped in the game forever.  But this is no ordinary game.  There are dangerous creatures, changing landscapes, and the game cheats.

Farah desperately wants to find Ahmad, but she has to stay focused on the game or all will be lost.  Can Farah and her friends defeat the mysterious Architect, or will they lose their freedom and be trapped with the other denizens of The Gauntlet.

Karuna Riazi's debut novel is a fun middle grade fantasy adventure perfect for fans of Jumanji.  Not only does Riazi take readers into a fantasy world, but she takes them into Farah's world which is firmly set in New York City with a strong anchor in her Bangladeshi roots.  Recommended!

The Plot to Kill Hitler

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a pastor and a pacifist whose worldview was shaped by WWI and its outcome.  Even as a child, he was preoccupied with spiritual matters and a life beyond this earth.  As Hitler rose to power, he had a serious internal struggle about how to react.

Bonhoeffer was one of the first to get word of Hitler's atrocities to the world at large, but he soon realized spying would not be enough.  The thought of killing another person was horrifying to him, but he could not in good conscience allow Hitler to move forward with his plans for genocide.

I absolutely loved Patricia McCormick's tale of a man searching for spiritual enlightenment in one of the darkest times in our history.  To understand Bonhoeffer's conflict, you have to understand how he came to his religious convictions, and I am, unfortunately, afraid this may be a deterrent to some young readers, but for those who will invest in the story, this is truly a winner.  Highly recommended!

The Forgetting

Life in Canaan is orderly. Everyone has a job.  Everyone knows their place.  The most important rule in Canaan is to write in your book every day.  If it's not written down, it isn't real because every twelve years, everyone forgets.

Everyone except Nadia, that is.  She was just a little girl at the last forgetting, but for some reason, she remembers everything. She remembers the madness and chaos in the days leading up to the forgetting, and she remembers her father taking her book and replacing it with another one.  Now, her mother is a widow, she and her sisters don't have a father, and her father has a new family on the other side of town.

As the next forgetting draws near, there is unrest in Canaan.  There's a food shortage, and the council has imposed new rules and restrictions. Nadia isn't the only one upset by these changes, but she is the only one with the context of her memories to logically question them.

Along with Gray, the handsome glassblower's son, she begins to investigate seriously.  What causes the forgetting, and could there be a way to prevent it.  The more time she spends with Gray, the more she wants to stop the forgetting, and the closer they get to the startling truth, the more danger they find.

Sharon Cameron's series opener feels like a classic dystopia, but there is an interesting twist about halfway through.  Recommended for grades 7 and up for some making out one or two instances of profanity.  

One for Sorrow

Annie's life changes drastically when her family moves to Mount Pleasant and she begins at Pearce Academy for young girls.  She hopes to make new friends and try to fit in, but what she gets instead is Elsie.  Elsie is the school outcast, universally disliked, and she's decided to latch onto Annie before anyone else does.

Annie struggles to speak up when Elsie's friendship proves to be too much.  She is a jealous friend who won't let Annie talk to the other girls, and when Elsie invites herself over to Annie's house after school, her behavior is cruel and destructive.  All of the adults, including Annie's parents, see Elsie as the victim of circumstances.

It takes an illness and absence from school for Annie to break away from her new "friend."  While Elsie is gone, Annie makes friends with the most popular girls in school, and when Elsie returns, she joins in with the bullying.

As the Spanish flu rages through New England leaving mountains of bodies in its wake, the girls, led by Rosie, ramp up their bullying.  They are taken aback when they learn that Elsie has died from the Spanish flu.

But Elsie refuses to stay buried.  Annie rejected her in life, but in death, she can be anywhere and do anything she wants.  She can take control of Annie's body and words, and she's not leaving.  At first, Annie's parents are confused by her behavior, but they soon begin to wonder if she is mentally ill, and Annie is terrified they will lock her up in an asylum where she really will be trapped alone with Elsie forever.

Mary Downing Hahn's newest ghost story is a perfect blend of historical fiction and supernatural thriller.  Be aware that the bullying in this book is intense, and the girls on both sides are pretty awful.  Kids will come for the ghost story, but they will also be hooked by the relatable social dynamics and the real life horror of the Spanish flu epidemic.  Recommended!