Ground Zero

Brandon isn't that upset when he gets suspended and has to go work with his dad.  He's upset he disappointed his dad, but Windows on the World at the top of the north World Trade Center tower isn't a bad place to spend the day.  

It turns into the worst day of his life when an airplane hits the north tower.  It's September 11, 2001, and no one in the World Trade Center knows what is going on yet.  His dad is at the top of the tower, and Brandon is several floors below in an elevator.  What follows is a harrowing journey to try and contact his father and escape the tower before it's too late.

Eighteen years later, Rashmina is a girl living in modern Afghanistan.  Her country has been a war zone for her entire life.  She wants to become a teacher, but education for girls is difficult due to the increasing influence of the Taliban.  Her twin brother used to be her best friend, but lately he's been listening to extremist views, and she fears she is going to lose him.  

After an attack in her village, she discovers a wounded American soldier.  Her customs and her conscience tell her to help him, but this act of kindness puts her family and her village at risk of retribution from the Taliban.

Well, Alan Gratz has done is again.  Savvy readers will recognize his winning formula, but the story is still engaging and heartfelt.  Honestly, I have avoided consuming media directly relating to the September 11 attacks because it still feels like a traumatic experience even though I was miles away in Texas.  This book is sad, and it will bring back the feelings of shock and horror we all had that day for those who are old enough to remember.  For younger readers, Gratz brings the events of that day into focus and connects them to ongoing instability in Afghanistan.  One of the most telling scenes in the book is when the soldier talks to Rashmina and her family about September 11, and they have no idea what he's talking about.  Her entire village is suffering the consequences of an act they know nothing about.  Highly recommended.

The In-Between

It's been three years since his dad left, but Cooper is still struggling to make sense of things.  How could his dad just abandon his family to start a new life with a new family somewhere else.  His mom is working and going to school, so a lot of the responsibility for his younger sister and her diabetes falls to him.  He loves Jess, but he finds himself increasingly frustrated for no reason.  He's even been pulling away from his friends.  

Plus, there's a new girl who moved in to the house next door, and all she does is sit in the front yard swing and stare at him.  It's annoying and a little creepy.  

When Jess tells him about a historical unsolved mystery, his interest peeks.  After a terrible train accident, there were two unidentified bodies, both children, and no one ever claimed the bodies.  The only clue to their identity was a crest on their shirts.  It's the same crest on the creepy next door neighbor's jacket.

They dig into their research even more and discover that symbol tends to show up after a disaster on unidentified bodies.  Is this girl some kind of sign that disaster is coming?  Maybe she's there to cause a disaster?  Cooper and Jess aren't sure, but they do know something bad is about to happen.

Rebecca Ansari's book is a perfect blend of fantasy and mystery with a historical twist.  Cooper is a relatable character struggling with his feelings about an absent father and taking responsibility for his younger sister.  The mystery of the neighbor's true identity and purpose is engaging, and the ending is open for a possible sequel.  Recommended.  

Bump

MJ has been struggling since her father died.  They had to move because her mom can't afford their old house anymore, and her mom works all the time.  She wasn't actually too upset about the move until she found out she'd still be attending the same school.  

MJ has done gymnastics for years, and she's actually pretty good, but the other girls on the team bully her constantly.  That's why she decided to quit this year.  Her mom doesn't get it, and MJ doesn't want to explain.

The only thing she's interested in right now is watching Lucha Dominion videos.  Everyone, including her mom, thinks wrestling is fake and a waste of time, but MJ is a little obsessed.  When she discovers her new next door neighbor, Mr. Arellano, actually owns a wrestling school, she can't believe her luck!

Her new mission is to join the school and train to become a wrestler, but it won't be easy.  She's the smallest person there by far, and her mom is not enthusiastic about the plan.  Just as MJ is starting to find her place at Victory Academy,  an inspector for the state athletic association shows up determined to ruin everything.  But MJ isn't going to just give up her new family so easily.

Matt Wallace's new book explores the world of wrestling from a different perspective, and it's an enjoyable read even if you have no interest in the sport.  The climax is a little ridiculous and the epilogue is a bit didactic, but this one will definitely find fans.

The Wide Starlight

When Eli was a little girl, her mother took her out onto the glacier near her Norwegian home, whistled to the Northern Lights, and disappeared.  Search parties never found any trace of her.  Her father even lost a few fingers to frostbite in his search efforts, but Eli's mother was just gone.

Now Eli is sixteen and living in Cape Cod with her father who is continuing his work as a marine biologist in Massachusetts.  She loves her father and her best friend, but she's been aching for her mother all this time.  The stories her mother told her about the North Wind and three treacherous princesses are always with her.  When she hears the Northern Lights will be visible in Cape Cod for one night only, she knows she has to take a chance.  To her surprise, it seems to work, and a cold and wispy version of her mother returns.  

Eli knows she has to keep her mother's return a secret, but then strange things start happening like a group of narwhals showing up in Cape Cod and meteorites falling in her front yard.  When her mother disappears again, Eli finds a note telling her to she will find her mother in the place she last saw her.  It's time to return to the arctic home she knew as a child and uncover the truth once and for all.  

Nicole Lesperance's novel is infused with folklore and magical realism, and it is sometimes difficult to know what is real.  The histories of mother daughter relationships are told through these fairy tales as well the mental health struggles of Eli's mother and grandmother.  This book is beautifully written, but it was a stressful read for more as Eli continues to make more and more dangerous decisions as the book progresses.  The language is beautiful even if the story and the folklore are dangerous.  Recommended.

Hold Back the Tide

Everyone knows what happened to Alva's mother all those years ago, but no one can prove it.  That's why her father is still allowed to walk free, but it's also why they are pariahs.  Alva knows the truth.  She saw her father fire the gun that night, and she's lived every day since in the knowledge her father is a murderer.  

Now that she's old enough, she has plans to run away and make a life in another place.  She's saved money from her job doing transcriptions for the monks, purchased the things she needs, and even secured a job.  She's ready to be rid of her judgemental village and her isolated life on the loch with her murderer father, but just as she's on the verge of freedom, a scream rings through the night and changes all her plans and everything she thinks she knows.

This is a short blurb for Melinda Salisbury's new book, but I don't want to spoil the twist!  I went into this one knowing nothing, and I'm so glad I did.  There are so many things I enjoyed about this book.  Salisbury wrings suspense from almost every page, and the remote Scottish village adds to that feeling.  The two characters who become Alva's greatest allies are boys, but the story never devolves into a love triangle which is refreshing.  There are several scenes of violence and descriptions of horrific injuries and deaths.  It starts a little slow, but once you reach the twist, things get wild!  Recommended for 8th grade and up.

Friend Me

Roisin thought moving to the United States from her home in Ireland would be a great adventure, but it's turned out to be the opposite.  She hasn't made a single friend since arriving in Massachusetts.  Even the one potential friend, the daughter of her mom's new boss, seems to be ghosting her.  Plus, mean girl Zara seems determined to make Roisin's life miserable.

Her older brother has the bizarre ability to make friends with everyone immediately, her mom is always at work, and her dad is still in Ireland finishing a project before joining the rest of the family.  That leaves Roisin alone to deal with all her problems.  

Zara is bad enough in person, but her bullying takes on a whole new life online.  Roisin has no escape from the cruel memes and hateful comments.  Then she connects with Haley online.  They have so much in common, and Haley has survived a bully of her own.  Soon Roisin is spending all her time chatting with Haley online.  They even begin to jokingly talk about how the world would be better without Zara.

When Zara is in a terrible accident, Roisin is worried the police will suspect her because of the chats with Haley.  Roisin wants Haley to delete all the chats, but when she tries to meet with her best friend in real life, Haley is nowhere to be found.  Has Haley been lying about her true identity?  Who is Haley, and what if her comments in the chat were more than just jokes?  

This fast-paced story by Sheila Averbuch will appeal to middle grade grade readers.  Zara is a truly heinous bully for readers to hate, but they should also be suspicious of Roisin's online friendship with Haley.  The tech aspect is an interesting twist even if some readers will see it coming.  This book also deals with some of the more realistic perils of online friendship without being preachy.  Recommended.

It's My Party and I Don't Want to Go

Ellie Katz only has a few months until she turns thirteen and has to face her greatest fear, her bat mitzvah.  The idea of standing in front of a hundred people to recite her haftorah and Torah portions as well as making a speech is horrifying.  She can't even imagine having the nerve to light the candles on her cake!  But she's also too anxious to tell her parents and older sister Hannah she doesn't want the big party Hannah enjoyed a few years ago.

Instead she decides to sabotage her own bat mitzvah behind the scenes.  She enlists her best friend Zoey to be her lookout and general assistant.  She's relieved when her first few efforts seem to be working, but then everything backfires and she's more the center of attention than she was before.  She knows she will never survive this party or live beyond her thirteen birthday.

Ok, I think this is a great idea for a book.  Anxiety and panic disorder are definitely relevant topics for middle grade readers, but this book is just too ridiculous.  It's difficult to have sympathy for Ellie when she never really considers anyone else or the consequences of her actions.  Her best friend's beloved pet could be dying, but Ellie can't even pause for a moment to show concern, and her efforts to sabotage her party could have lasting financial and emotional impacts on other people, but she only stops just short of horrifying behavior.  Plus, it's difficult to believe a girl who can't talk to her supportive and low key parents would be able to do things Ellie does to avoid the party.  For middle grade books about anxiety, I would recommend The World Ends in April by Stacy McAnulty, The List of Things That Will Not Change by Rebecca Stead, or Guts by Raina Telgemeier. Guts is the best of the three; it's accessible, entertaining, and affecting.