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Longboard Let Down

Valeria loves longboarding and going to competitions. She’s always been one of the best downhill longboarders around. But when Valeria injures her arm, she isn’t sure she wants to jump back on a longboard. Valeria is no longer fearless; instead, she’s overwhelmed by doubts and insecurities. When her best friend, Mateo, tries to get Valeria to ride again, she keeps making up excuses.

When Valeria meets Chloe, a new girl at school, Mateo tells Chloe that Valeria can teach her to longboard. Valeria reluctantly agrees, but when Valeria gets back on the board, she crashes. Valeria wonders if she should quit longboarding. The Pro Longboard event is right around the corner, and Valeria has always dominated the local kids’ division. Will Valeria get over her fear in time to participate in the competition?

Valeria is like many of the “Mexican people in Harlow Springs. Some only spoke Spanish. Valeria, like many of her friends, had been born in Colorado. Her parents had come from Mexico.” Valeria and several of the other characters use Spanish words when speaking. While having diverse characters is a positive attribute, Valeria is stereotypically portrayed. Valeria’s family is poor and when injured she goes to the free medical clinic. Valeria lives in a trailer park and “sometimes people looked at her differently after they found out where she lived.”

Unlike Valeria, Chloe is a spoiled, rich white girl, who is a bit outrageous. She never looks down on Valeria, but she obviously doesn’t have to worry about money. Chloe’s outrageous behavior adds humor to the story. For example, during the competition, Chloe wears a gorilla suit in protest against her mother. Chloe says, “That way when people ask, ‘Which one is your daughter’ she’ll have to tell them, ‘The one in the gorilla suit.’”

Valeria is a relatable character who has to overcome her fears. Valeria meets a competitive longboarder champion, Ana, which helps Valeria realize that everyone has moments when they want to quit. However, with Ana’s encouragement, Valeria is able to get back on the board. Even though she doesn’t win the competition, Valeria thinks, “In a way, getting second place today feels more important than all my first place wins. I never would have expected that.”

Longboard Letdown will introduce readers to a sport that is often overlooked. Readers will enjoy the cute black and white illustrations that appear every 4 to 7 pages. The story has a simple plot, easy vocabulary, and realistic conflicts. The ten short chapters and full-page illustrations make Longboard Letdown an easy read. For those who would like to use Longboard Letdown as a learning opportunity, the end of the book has a Spanish word guide, word glossary, discussion questions, writing prompts, and a glossary of rodeo events. Longboard Letdown explores Valeria’s fear and teaches the importance of perseverance.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Some Places More Than Others

For her birthday, Amara wants to visit New York City and visit her father’s side of the family. She wants to meet her grandpa Earl and cousins in person. When her father has a business trip in New York, Amara is determined to get permission to go.

When Amara’s teacher gives the class “The Suitcase Project,” which requires Amara to look into her family’s past, Amara thinks this is the perfect way to convince her parents to allow her to go to New York. As Amara looks for family keepsakes, she looks at the family Bible and learns that her grandma Grace died on her birthday. After Amara overhears a conversation, she learns that her father hasn’t talked to his dad for twelve years. Amara isn’t sure how the two events are connected, but she’s determined to find out.

When Amara finally gets to New York City, it isn’t what she imagined. As she explores the city and asks questions, Amara learns more about this place, her father, and their history. Her experience helps her see how everything in her family connects and helped make Amara the person she is.

Some Places More Than Others explores family relationships and the shared events that combine to knit a family together. As Amara explores Harlem with her family, she begins to understand the importance of honoring those who came before her—Adam Clayton Powell, Harriet Tubman, Langston Hughes, etc. While the story doesn’t go into depth explaining the historical people’s contribution to society, readers will feel Amara’s awe and pride as she begins to understand how these people made her life possible.

Like all families, Amara’s family dynamics are complicated. Though she doesn’t always get along with her relatives, she knows that love binds them together. While in New York, Amara tries to help her father and grandfather put the past behind them and begin talking. The past has caused lingering pain and resentment in Amara’s father. However, by the end of the book, the two men are able to forge a new relationship. By watching her family, Amara learns that “The sign of true maturity is when you’re able to end the argument first, to forgive a person even if they haven’t asked for it.”

Middle-grade readers will relate to Amara, who is often confused and searching to find herself. She feels unloved because her mother wants her to be more girly and wear dresses. When Amara meets her cousins, their view helps Amara see how lucky she is to have a stable, two-parent household. However, Amara also struggles with her mother’s pregnancy. Because her mother has had a string of miscarriages, Amara is afraid to get excited about a new baby. Through Amara’s story, the reader will learn important lessons about family, forgiveness, and the people who shaped her. Even though Some Places More Than Others imparts important lessons, the lessons are integrated into the story and never feel like a lecture. While the characters are not well-developed, Some Places More Than Others would be a perfect way to introduce historical figures and the idea of exploring your family’s past. Readers who enjoy realistic fiction should add Caterpillar Summer by Gillian McDunn and Listen, Slowly by Thanhhá Lai to their reading list.

Sexual Content

  • When in New York, Amara sees “two men are walking and holding hands.”

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • While waiting for a subway, Amara sees a “man leaning against the green pillar in the middle of the platform holding a sign that says, ‘I Ain’t Gonna Lie, I Just Want a Beer.’”

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Amara’s family attends a church service and they pray.
  • Before dinner, Amara’s family prays. For example, Amara’s father prays, “We thank you, God, not only for this food, but for this family. Bless us, and keep us, and please—” Amara interrupts and prays, “Let me go to New York with Dad to meet Dad’s side of the family.”
  • Several times Amara prays to her dead grandmother. For example, “I whisper a prayer to Grandma Grace, ask her to help me.”
  • While walking in New York, Amara sees “a man not too far away speaking into a megaphone about Jesus being the white man’s god.”
  • When Amara wakes up, she says a prayer. “God, please let my baby sister be okay.”
  • While traveling home, Amara whispers “a prayer for Mom, for my baby sister, for all of us.”

Starry Eyes

Zori and Lennon used to be best friends. Now they are each other’s worst enemy. They go out of their way to avoid each other, which is difficult to do when you go to the same school and live next door to each other.

When a friend invites Zori to a camping trip, Zori thinks this will be an opportunity to have some fun. No one told her that Lennon would be there. After a series of unfortunate events, Zori and Lennon find themselves stranded in the wilderness. Alone.

With no one but each other for company, the two finally begin to hash out their issues. They slowly begin to understand each other, but they still have to fight the forces of nature. Can they work together and make it out of the California wilderness as friends?

Told from Zori’s point of view, Starry Night takes a winding trip and gives the reader a peek into Zori’s home life, friendship life, and love life. Unfortunately, Zori’s controlling, insecure nature makes her difficult to like. Zori is not the only boy crazy, but she agrees to go on a trip to advance her social standing. In the end, Zori discovers that her friends have been keeping secrets from her and that one friend has a grudge against her. So, it’s not a huge surprise when Zori’s friends sneak away in the early morning, leaving Zori and Lennon on their own.

None of the characters have healthy relationships with each other or with their parents. Zori is hiding the fact that her father is having an affair. Lennon allows Zori’s father to blackmail him, which is why he’s been avoiding Zori. In an effort to make Lennon jealous, Zori quickly finds a new boy to make out with. Instead of engaging readers with an interesting, plausible plot, Bennett relies on sexual desire and stupid teenage behavior to pull readers in. To make matters worse, the plot is often unbelievable and the characters unmemorable.

Starry Night is a predictable romance that would be best left on the shelf. If readers are looking for a modern-day Romeo and Juliet, Crossing the Line by Simone Elkeles would make a better choice. However, if you are looking for an entertaining romance, Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moren or Somewhere Only We Know by Maurene Goo would be excellent alternatives.

Sexual Content

  • Zori’s parents have a wellness clinic, which is next to a shop that sells adult sex toys and is run by two lesbian women. Zori often talks about the types of toys for sale, such as butt plugs and cock rings. The shop “has a themed display window that the owners change once a month. This month it’s a forest, and like toadstools, a curated collection of bright rubber dildos rise from fake grass.”
  • Zori thinks it’s “kind of hard to ignore the giant vaginal-shaped sign out front.” She refers to the shop as “dildo land.”
  • Zori sees a photo album that shows her dad and another woman. “He’s got his arms wrapped around her, and—in one photo—is even kissing her neck.”
  • During spring break a boy kisses Zori at a party.
  • Zori uses her telescope to look through the neighbor’s window. She sees Lennon undress. Zori thinks, “holy mother of God, when did he get all…built? …He’s too lean to be buff.”
  • Zori has sex with a boy who was moving because “we were never going to see each other again.” Afterward she took three pregnancy tests “just to be triple certain.” Later, Zori finds out that the boy told his friends that they “hooked up.”
  • When Zori is preparing for a camping trip, she thinks about the boys who will be there. “I certainly hope there will be roaming hands.”
  • Someone asks Lennon, “Is it true that your moms were, like, together with your dad all at the same time… I mean all three of them.”
  • During a conversation, a boy says, “Did you know he and his best friend Neal Cassady both slept with Carolyn Cassady, Neal’s wife? Wild, huh?” Later, someone says, “Kerouac drank himself to death. Neal Cassady screwed anything that moved and was a total misogynist… Then he died of barbiturates abuse.”
  • At the campground, there is a “carved wooden statue that looks like two squirrels having sex.”
  • A girl says she is getting naked with her boyfriend “in the sauna later.”
  • A boy tells his friend, “your mom is hot.”
  • Before the story begins, Zori and Lennon did a “Great Experiment, in which we tried to incorporate intense make-out sessions in our normal relationship without telling anyone.” Zori thinks kissing Lennon was weird, but “also very nice. So nice that I can’t think about it right now, because it makes me flustered.”
  • Lennon tried to rent a hotel room so he could have sex with Zori after the homecoming dance.
  • When Lennon helps Zori with her backpack, she wonders if she wants him to touch her. She thinks, “I can’t afford to let my imagination run wild around him. The last time that happened I ended up in his lap on a park bench with his hands up my shirt.”
  • One of the boys has “been with” all three girls who are on the trip.
  • A girl tells Zori, “your skeevy dad tried to sleep with Michelle Johnson’s mom after the Olympic fund-raiser in Berkeley this spring.”
  • Zori has neurotic dreams about Lennon, but the dreams are not described. She thinks, “We just started talking again, and my body is so stupid that it’s already having erotic dreams about him, which is what got me into trouble with him in the first place.”
  • Lennon sees Zori “kissing Andre in front of [her] locker.”
  • Zori tells Lennon, “Andre and I had sex one time. Once! You probably screwed Jovana’s brains out for months!” Lennon tells her, “And yeah, we had sex. But I wasn’t in love with her.”
  • As Zori and Lennon fight, Lennon kisses her. “He kisses me roughly. Completely unyielding. His hand is on my head, holding me in place… I kiss him back.” The two make out for about one page and then are interrupted.
  • Lennon and Zori are talking when, “softly, slowly, his lips graze over mine. His mouth is soft, and his hands are roaming up my back. I exhale a shaky breath, and he kisses me: once, briefly. Warmth flickers in my chest.” Zori goes to unbuckle his pants when there is a scream. They leave the tent to find out what’s going on. The scene is described over a page and a half.
  • Lennon and Zori have sex. First, “we both pounce on each other at the same time… My legs wrap around his hips, and he’s holding me against the tree, pinning me as he warms my neck with kisses…” When they undress, Zori thinks, “I CAN SEE EVERYTHING, and I can’t stop looking—I don’t even care that I’m shivering in my bra and panties in the middle of the woods… It’s actually happening. It’s good, and a little awkward, and sometimes funny, because wow, human bodies are weird. But it’s also more than I expected—than I even hoped.” The scene is described over eight pages, but they stop and have a conversation before they have sex.
  • The story implies that Lennon and Zori have sex in the back seat of a car.

Violence

  • When Zori’s friend is mean, Zori thinks, “I sort of want to punch her in the boobs.”
  • Someone tells a story about a family that went camping and got lost. “An animal had eaten the husband’s leg.”
  • When Lennon tries to get a hotel room for him and Zori, Zori’s dad “demanded to know if my moms had sanctioned this. He called them ‘dyke heathens.’” Then, Lennon hit Zori’s dad. Lennon said, “After I landed the punch, he started to come after me, but one of the hotel employees stepped in.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • At the campground, the adults have wine served with dinner.
  • Zori watches as a couple of her friends steal wine. Later, she finds out that a couple of her friends got drunk that night. One drunk boy “Pissed on a yurt.”
  • Zori’s mom gives her “miracle weed lotion” to put on her hives.
  • Lennon’s father overdoses on pain pills.
  • A boy sends Lennon a text, “asking if I can get him weed again.”

Language

  • Profanity is used often. Profanity includes ass, bastards, crap, bitches, damn, dick, fuck, god-damn, holy hell, hell, shit, and smart-ass.
  • Zori sees a “motherfucking snake.”
  • Oh God, God, Jesus, Oh Sweet Lord, Christ, and other variations are frequently used as an exclamation.
  • Zori thinks, “Oh for the love of God” a few times.
  • The phrase “crap on toast” is used several times.
  • Lennon says that Zori’s dad is a dick, a scumbag, and that he has “sticks that are stuck up his ass.”
  • Lennon tells a girl, “You’re being a huge asshole, you know that?” The girl tells Lennon, “Brett likes you, and you’ve been nothing but a prick to him since we left Milita Hills.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • After Zori sees a picture of her dad kissing another woman, she thinks, “Thank God the normal clinic receptionist came in to take over for me at lunch.”
  • When a boy sees Zori spying on him, she thinks, “If there’s a God above, please let him or her grant me the power of time travel, so I can rewind the clock and completely avoid this nightmare.”
  • Lennon thinks, “Thank God for small favors.”
  • One of Lennon’s moms has no tolerance for thieves. Zori thinks, “May God have mercy on anyone who tries to shoplift vibrators from Toys in the Attic…”
  • Zori is distracted when Lennon is “feeling me up.” Because she can’t concentrate, Lennon asks Zori, “Are you saying I’ve got magic hands, like Jesus?”

Out of Step

Mercy loves to dance, but she has been having trouble lately. She just can’t seem to get the steps, let alone land her cartwheels, round offs, walkovers, or handsprings. After a particularly hard practice, Mercy’s mom provides some insight into her struggles: Mercy’s four-inch growth spurt has thrown off her center of gravity.

Mercy’s mom suggests asking the dance coach, Sara, for some extra lessons. Mercy is hesitant though because she doesn’t want Coach Sara to think she isn’t good enough for their upcoming competition. One of Mercy’s friends suggests booking a private lesson with another dance coach. Mercy, excited at the prospect of a private lesson but knowing her family doesn’t have a lot of spare money, decides to get a job walking her neighbor’s dog every morning before school in order to save up enough money for the lesson.

Mercy discovers having a job is tiring and now her dancing is worse than ever. When she messes up at a dance competition, she finally comes clean to Coach Sara. Graciously, Coach Sara offers to stay after dance practices to give Mercy extra help. These extra practices, along with Mercy’s determination, finally pay off at the quad city tournament, where her team wins first place.

Out of Step focuses mainly on Mercy’s inner conflict. She is admirable for her resolve, but she relies on herself too much instead of asking others for help. Mercy suffers from a lack of adult leadership; her parents see her struggling but do not intervene. Coach Sara only offers Mercy extra lessons when she messes up at a competition. In addition, Mercy’s feelings are hurt when one of her teammates, Jill, makes a snarky remark about how tall Mercy is. Eventually, the two girls make amends when Mercy finds out Jill takes extra lessons, too.

Mercy is an overall good example for readers, especially dancers. She never gives up and does everything she can to make herself a better dancer, thus making the team stronger. At a competition, she makes the difficult and selfless decision to sit out on their routine because she is too tired to perform. Mercy’s dance team also highlights how teammates should be steadfast in their support for one another.  After reading Out of Step, readers will learn it’s okay to ask for help and being a teammate means doing what is best for the whole team.

Out of Step is part of the Jake Maddox JV Girls series, a series of standalone sports books. It has a simple plot and is separated into short, easy-to-read chapters, making it good for reluctant readers.

Some readers will need to use the glossary to understand the scenes where the choreography is described in detail. However, readers do not need to have an understanding of dance to enjoy the book. The back of the book also has discussion questions and writing prompts. Out of Step is a feel-good book that will inspire readers to overcome their challenges.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Jill Johnson

The Siege of MacIndaw

The kingdom is in danger. Renegade Knight Sir Keren has succeeded in overtaking Castle MacIndaw and now is conspiring with the Scotti. The fate of Aralean rests in the hands of two young adventurers: the Ranger, Will, and his warrior friend, Horace. Yet for Will, the stakes are even higher because inside the castle, held hostage, is someone he loves. Now the time has come for this once apprentice to grow up.

Will and Horace join together to free Alyss, defeat Keren, and return the castle to its rightful leader. Along the way, Will and Horace must work with the Sorcerer of the North and the Skandians. As the allies work together, they learn that things are not always as they seem. The group of unlikely allies will put their lives on the line when they siege the castle MacIndaw.

Fans of the Ranger’s Apprentice series will enjoy this action-packed story that shows Will’s and Horace’s personal growth. They are no longer apprentices who can rely on others for advice. In order to survive, they need to use their individual strengths to overcome Sir Keren. Unlike previous books in the series, Sir Keren is a well-developed villain who shows moments of weakness and uncertainty. Sir Keren’s behavior highlights the importance of keeping a vow and the unintended consequences of being an oath breaker.

The sixth installment of the Ranger’s Apprentice series is full of action, intrigue, and unexpected twists. The story explores how people react to things that they don’t understand. When strange lights are seen in the forest, people believe that a powerful sorcerer is using black magic. Will and Horace are able to use this belief to their advantage. Even though the reader knows that the “sorcerer” uses illusions to trick people, the illusions still add interest to the story.

 The Siege of MacIndaw ends with an epic battle. However, the battle for MacIndaw is more violent, bloody, and descriptive than the previous books. In The Siege of MacIndaw both Will and Horace have grown into adults, so the story hits on more mature topics such as loyalty, love, and sacrifice. However, the story leaves the reader with a satisfying picture of Will and Horace, who have built a stronger friendship and turned into trustworthy men who have each other’s backs. The Siege of MacIndaw will satisfy fans of the Ranger’s Apprentice series and leave readers reaching for the next book, Erak’s Ransom.

 Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • The Skandians plan to sell Buttle into slavery. When the Skandians’ ship begins to sink, they unchain Buttle. He “seized his chance. He grabbed a knife from one man’s belt and slashed it across his throat. Another rower tried to stop him, but he was off balance, and Buttle struck him down as well. Then he was over the rail and swimming for the bank.”
  • A Skandian wearing a horned helmet questions Horace’s ability to lead. “Horace stepped forward, grabbed a horn in each hand and lifted the helmet clear of the head. Before the man could properly protest, Horace had slammed the unpadded heavy iron headpiece back down, causing Nile’s knees to buckle and his eyes to cross slightly under the impact… He felt the iron grip seize his beard and was jerked violently forward.”
  • Will, Horace, and a group of Skandians ambush a party of Scotti in order to get information. Will shoots an arrow at a Scotti general, and “the arrow seared through the tendons and nerves in the wrist, the immediate shock of the wound depriving the hand of all feeling… robbing MacHaddish of the strength to brandish the huge sword.” Two other Scotti come to MacHaddish’s defense. Will fired an arrow “dropping one of them to the snow, dead in this tracks. Then the other was all over him, screaming hate and revenge, sword going back for a killing stroke.” Horace jumps in and throws “a solid right uppercut to his [the Scotti’s] jaw. The Scotti’s eyes rolled up in his head and his knees collapsed under him. He fell face down in the soft snow, unconscious.” The battle is described over three pages.
  • When MacHaddish escapes, Will goes after him. When MacHaddish sees Will, he “reacted almost without thinking, hurling himself forward… he lowered his shoulder and drove it into the cloaked figure.” As they fight, MacHaddish slashes with his dirk. Will “felt the blade slice easily through his cloak and kicked out flatfooted at the Scotti’s left knee.” When Will reaches for his scabbard, MacHaddish attacks. “Desperately, Will skipped backward, feeling the blade slash through his jerkin, a trickle of blood running down his ribs. His mouth had gone dry with fear.”
  • As Will and MacHaddish fight, MacHaddish uses his body weight to pin Will down. Horace appears just in time. “The heavy brass pommel of Horace’s sword slammed into the Scotti’s temple twice in rapid succession,” knocking MacHaddish unconscious. The fight between Will and MacHaddish is described over seven pages.
  • While seizing the castle, Horace uses a ladder to get over the castle walls. Horace “cut the first man down with ease. The second came at him, Horace deflected his halberd thrust, seized his collar and propelled him over the inner edge of the walkway. The man’s startled cry cut off abruptly with a heavy thud as he hit the flagstones of the courtyard.”
  • Will joins the fight and begins firing arrows. One of the men “staggered, screaming, as an arrow appeared in his thigh. Three men dead or wounded in a matter of seconds.”
  • In order to free a prisoner, Will tries to climb the stairs leading to the tower. Will surprised a man who was waiting above him. Will “continued his upward movement and lunged, feeling the saxe knife bite into flesh. The man cried out in pain and stumbled forward.” In order to get up the stairs, Will sends a “volley of ricocheting shots” up the stairs and injures the man. “Will grabbed his shirt front and heaved him down the stairs, sending him crashing into the outer wall, then tumbling head over heels down the staircase. Then he was silent, the only sound his inert body sliding a few meters farther down the stairs.”
  • During the attack, Horace and Buttle fight. Another man joins in to help Horace. When Horace looked back, “he saw the club fall from Trobar’s nerveless fingers as Buttle withdrew the sword from a thrust in the giant’s side. Trobar clutched at the sudden fierce pain, feeling his own hot blood course over his fingers… He saw that Buttle was about to thrust at him again and, hopelessly, threw up his arm to ward off the sword. The point of the blade thrust into his massive forearm, sliding through muscle and flesh, jarring the bone.”
  • Horace steps in to defend Trobar. When Buttle realizes he will lose the fight, he begs for mercy. When Horace thinks back to all of Buttle’s cruel deeds, he “grabbed Buttle by the front of his shirt and heaved him to his feet. As part of the same movement, Horace hit him with a short, savage right cross, perfectly timed, perfectly weighed, perfectly executed… Buttle screamed as he felt his jaw dislocate.”
  • Keren mesmerizes Alyss and commands her to kill Will. Will is able to break Alyss’s trance. While Will is comforting Alyss, Keren attacks. “Will regained his feet, the saxe knife sliding from its scabbard just in time to parry a side cut.” When Keren gets the upper hand on Will, Alyss picks up a bottle of acid. “She seized the weapon and moved to where Keren had trapped Will in a corner. The point of the sword was now leveled at Will’s throat… Keren smashed Will’s grip by the massive force of a two-handed overhead stroke.” Alyss throws the acid at Keren, and “his scream was terrible as the acid burned into his skin and eyes. The pain was excruciating, and he dropped the sword, clawing at his face, trying to ease the dreadful burning.” Keren eventually falls out the window. “His scream was long and drawn out—a mixture of pain and blind fear. It hung in the night above his falling body, like a long ribbon trailing behind him. Then, abruptly, it stopped.” Keren dies. The seize of the castle is described over 36 pages.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Will thinks back to a banquet where ale was served.
  • Buttle went to the inn and demanded: “the finest food, wine and ale when he was visiting…”
  • Many of the Skandians had “bellies on them that suggested they might be overly fond of ale.”
  • A Skandian gave Horace a “beaker full of spirit.”
  • After Alyss broke out of her prison, a “healer had given her a sleeping potion and had put her to bed.”

Language

  • Will surprised a Skandian who cried, “Thurank’s horns! Where the devil did you spring from?”
  • Horace jokingly calls Will an oaf.
  • A man calls someone an idiot.
  • A man calls someone a fool.
  • After MacHaddish almost kills Will, Will yells, “Of course I’m not all right, you idiot! He damn near killed me!”
  • “For god’s sake” is used as an exclamation three times. For example, when Horace questions Will, Will says, “For god’s sake! Stop trying to make me worry!”
  • “My god” is used as an exclamation twice.
  • Damn and hell are used occasionally. For example, when a man interrupts Keren, he yells, “Get out, damn you!”
  • Hell is used several times. For example one of the Skandians says, “He’d better be one hell of a warrior.”
  • The Skandians use the exclamations “For Loka’s sake” and “Gorlog’s beard.”
  • Keren yells at one of the soldiers, “Get up, you yellow-skinned coward!”
  • A man calls Keren a fool.
  • Horace asks a man, “You really are a gutless piece of scum, aren’t you?”

Supernatural

  • Keren used a blue gemstone to hypnotize Alyss. “The stone had become the trigger for his posthypnotic suggestions. All he had to do was order her to look at it and within a few seconds, she would be mesmerized again.” When Keren uses the stone, Alyss’s “eyes fell to the beautiful orb as he rolled it gently back and forth on the tabletop. As ever, she could feel it drawing her in, filling her consciousness.”

 Spiritual Content

  • Horace saves Will from being killed. “Thank God, he thought, he had made it just in time.”
  • In order to get information out of MacHaddish, trickery is used. MacHaddish is lead to believe that “the dark demon Serthreck’nish is abroad in this forest, watching us stand here.” Serthreck’nish is a demon that is known as the soul stealer, “the flesh eater, the renderer, the tearer of limbs—Serthreck’nish was all these things and more. It was the demon, the ultimate evil in Scotti superstition. Serthreck’nish didn’t just kill his victims. He stole their souls and their very being, feeding on them to make himself stronger. If Serthreck’nish had your soul, there was no hereafter, no peace at the end of the long mountain road. And there was no memory of the victim either…”
  • “Gorlog was a lesser Skandian deity who had a long beard, curved horns and fanglike teeth.”
  • While seizing the castle, Will “breathed a silent prayer of thanks that there were not archers with longbows or recurve bows on the castle wall.”
  • After saying goodbye to his friends, Will tells his horse, “Thank God I still have you.”

Marley and the Runaway Pumpkin

Marley’s family has spent the summer taking care of their pumpkin. They hope their pumpkin wins a blue ribbon at the county fair. But when Marely’s family rolls the pumpkin into the truck, Marley breaks his leash and jumps on the pumpkin. The pumpkin runs down the street. The pumpkin crashes into garbage cans, takes a ride on a scooter, and almost runs over the mailman. The pumpkin finally crashes and smashes into a tree.

Marley’s family is disappointed that the pumpkin can no longer be entered into the contest. But Mommy has an idea! “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. And when life gives you smashed pumpkins, make pie.” The family enters the pumpkin pie into a contest and wins first place. Cassie says, “It was a blue-ribbon pumpkin after all.”

Marley doesn’t mean to cause mischief, but his curiosity causes trouble. Throughout the story, Marley’s family uses creative solutions to solve their problems. When Marley smashes their pumpkin, the family comes up with another plan. While the conclusion is unrealistic, the happy ending implies that Marley has been forgiven and that his family still loves him.

Young readers will relate to Marley, who accidentally gets into trouble. The plot comes alive through large, brightly colored illustrations that appear on every page. Each page has 43 or fewer words. The story uses longer sentences and has some challenging words that readers may need help with. Even though Marley is featured in over 20 books, the books do not need to be read in order.

Marley and the Runaway Pumpkin is a fun fall story that teaches the importance of thinking creatively. If you’re ready for colorful leaves falling and the smell of pumpkin pie, Marley and the Runaway Pumpkin will help readers get into the mood to enjoy fall’s delights.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Moon’s First Friends: One Giant Leap for Friendship

The Moon shines brightly in the night sky. She watches the Earth and wishes someone would come visit her. As the Earth changes, the Moon wonders why the animals don’t look up at her. In order to get people to notice her, she shows off by spinning and twirling. The moon is excited when people start trying to fly. But they still have a long, long way to go. Will anyone come visit the Moon?

Moon’s First Friends begins with the time of the dinosaurs and goes through man’s first steps on the moon. The story shows mankind’s important feats, including the building of the pyramids, modes of transportation, and finally the construction of the Apollo spaceship. Through it all, the Moon watched and hoped someone would come visit her.

Little readers will empathize with the Moon, who just wants a friend. The Moon’s plight comes alive in beautiful, imaginative pictures that bring the Moon’s personality to life. The Moon’s facial expressions are adorably cute and expressive. As the Moon watches people build the first fire, the Moon looks on with wonder. The Moon patiently watches the events down on Earth and tries to get the attention of those down below. The story ends with the astronauts landing on the Moon, and the moon gives them a gift of moon rocks and dust. In return, the astronauts leave her a “handsome plaque” and a “beautiful flag.”

Hill takes an imaginative look at the first Apollo moon landing, gives factual information that will fascinate readers and inspires them to want to learn more. The end of the book includes nonfiction information about the mission to travel to the moon, moon cycles, and other information about the Apollo mission. Readers can also scan a QR code and listen to Neil Armstrong’s first words on the moon.

Moon’s First Friends will appeal to any child. The brightly colored illustration beautifully shows the Earth’s history and shows how the Moon and man become friends. Little readers who are interested in space will also enjoy Mousetronaut Goes to Mars by Mark Kelly and Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed.

 Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

How to Steal a Dog

Georgina Hayes’ life was turned upside down when her father left and they were evicted from their apartment. She hates living in a car with her mother and brother. Her mama is trying the best she can. Mama works two jobs trying to get enough money to find a place to live, but now Georgina is stuck looking after her younger brother, Toby.

Without a home, Georgina begins to look unkempt, and the kids at school notice. Georgina is angry and flustered because she’s also lost her best friend and her good grades. Georgina is desperate to make things better. When Georgina spots a missing dog poster with a reward of five hundred dollars, the solution to all her problems suddenly seems within reach. All she has to do is “borrow” the right dog and its owners are sure to offer a reward, but nothing goes how Georgina planned.

Georgina’s story sheds light on the problem of homelessness. Because the story is written from Georgina’s point of view, readers will be able to understand Georgina’s conflicting emotions and her desperation to live in a home. Georgina is frustrated and angry, which causes her to be mean to her brother. When Toby asks Georgina what’s wrong, she thinks, “How could I answer that? Should I start with that big F at the top of my science test today? Or should I jump right on into how mean our daddy was to leave us in this mess? And then should I move on to how bad it felt to live in a car while my best friend went to ballet school with somebody better than me?”

How to Steal a Dog shows readers how people often misjudge others based on their living situation. For instance, Georgina misjudges Mookie because he is a “bum.” Even though Mookie is homeless, he is kind and helps others. Although Mookie knows Georgina stole Willy, he keeps her secret and helps guide Georgina into making the right decisions. However, when Georgina skips school, Mookie tells her, “School’s about as useful as a trapdoor on a canoe.” Through her interaction with Mookie, Georgina learns that “sometimes the trail you leave behind is more important than the path ahead of you.”

How to Steal a Dog tackles the issue of homelessness in a kid-friendly manner that highlights the importance of being kind to others. Readers will relate to Georgina’s desire to keep her situation secret so kids don’t make fun of her. The conclusion shows Georgina’s family finally finding a house, but it also leaves several unanswered questions. How to Steal a Dog is an easy-to-read story that will help readers grow empathy. For more books with a homeless character, add Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate to your must-read list.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Georgina’s family moves into an abandoned house that has a hole in the roof. When they first enter, Georgina sees “a wobbly table was covered with empty soda cans and beer bottles. Cigarette butts were scattered on the floor beneath it.”

Language

  • “Hot dang” is used twice. Dang is used once.
  • “Dern it” is used eleven times. For example, when Georgina’s mom loses her job, she says, “Maybe I better get out of the whole dern world.”
  • Georgina frequently calls her brother names, including idiot, ninny, dumbo, and dummy.
  • Heck is used once.
  • When Georgina hides in the bushes, a man says, “I ain’t scared of a coward that won’t even show his face.”
  • One of Georgina’s classmates calls her a dirtbag.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Georgina is upset that her family doesn’t have a home to live in. When Georgina asks her mother when they will have a house, her mother says, “I swear, every night I pray for a miracle but I reckon nobody’s listening.”
  • When the car won’t start, Georgina “Stared out the window, praying that old car would start.”
  • When a friend of Georgina’s mom gives the kids a ride to school in her beat-up car, Georgina prayed, “Please don’t let anybody see me.”
  • When the car starts, Georgina’s mom “clasped her hands together like she was praying and hollered up at the ceiling, ‘Hallelujah, praise the Lord.’”
  • When Georgina sees the dog’s owner, the owner tells her, “Now all I have to do is hope and pray somebody brings my Willy home.”

Red Queen #1

In the Kingdom of Norta, the silver blood nobility rule over the red blood commoners. While the Silver enjoy luxury, life without strife, and supernatural powers, the Reds live in poor villages, forced into a war they don’t want, and powerless against their Silver rulers. Mare Barrow is a young, Red girl simply trying to get by. After her brothers are shipped off to war, Mare steals money and food to survive, helping her parents and younger sister when she can. When she meets the mysterious Cal, her whole world is flipped upside down. He helps assign Mare to the royal Silver court, where she discovers Cal is the crown prince.

After an accident where Mare falls onto a dome of magical lightning, she discovers she has a power just like the Silvers (a supposed impossibility). To cover up her newfound power, the King forces Mare into the role of a lost Silver princess, betrothing her to his youngest son, Maven.

As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she begins to fall in love with Maven’s older brother, Cal. A budding love won’t stop Mare from supporting her family and fellow Reds.  In order to fight the Silvers from inside the palace, Mare secretly joins the Red freedom group. With every step she takes, danger closes in around her. If she steps the wrong way, Mare and everyone she loves will certainly die.

Red Queen focuses on the struggle surrounding the Silver and Red caste systems. For anyone born with Silver blood, life is incredibly easy and much of that luxury is created through the hard work of the lower caste of the Reds. Reds are basically soldiers for the Silvers, as the Silvers send Reds to fight in a war with a neighboring nation, the Lakelands. This gap in the social hierarchy and the ways in which the Silvers flaunt their status create a suspenseful, dangerous situation for any Red, like Mare, that interacts with a Silver because the Silvers can punish the Reds for any reason.

The story unfolds from Mare’s point of view, which allows the reader to see Mare’s inner thoughts, anxieties, and frustrations. However, Mare isn’t the most likable main character. Mare is the typical YA heroine, who is poor, but not particularly perceptive. Despite being described as knowing how to read people, she falls into numerous traps. Even though Mare is clearly on the side of the Reds, she manages to depict both sides in equal light, showing how both the Silvers and Reds can be kind or cruel.

The novel’s main theme is betrayal, which allows Mare to learn not to trust others. This theme of betrayal makes the plot predictable and a bit slow-paced. However, both the politics of the Norta Silver court and the action scenes, which include some spectacular fights, help make up for the slow pace. The Silvers aren’t entirely unified, which leads to some interesting scenes that pit the Silver caste against its own. Mare’s growing love for Cal, the crown prince, also helps to balance out the story. Red Queen leaves readers with a cliffhanger that will leave them dying to know what happens in the next book, Glass Sword.

Sexual Content

  • Gisa, Mare’s younger sister, has a crush on Mare’s friend. After Mare mentions him, Gisa’s “skin flushes bright red at the mention of him. She even giggles, something she never does. But I don’t have time for her schoolgirl crush, not now.”
  • Cal, the elder prince, is regularly tasked with dealing with suitors. Mare watches as a noble girl’s “gaze lands on Cal—I mean the prince—trying to entice him with her doe eyes or the occasional flip of her honey-blond hair.”
  • When Mare and Maven go to see Cal, they see him removing his armor. Mare thinks, “He doesn’t notice me at first; he’s focused on removing more of his armor. It makes me gulp.” Later, she’s close to Cal and thinks, “Unable to meet his gaze, I focus on what’s right in front of me. Unfortunately, that happens to be his chest and a much-too-thin shirt.”
  • Mare realizes she’s beginning to fall for Cal. While visiting her home, she thinks, “What can I say? That he’s kind? That I’m beginning to like him?” Later on, she kisses him. “His lips are on mine, hard and warm and pressing. The touch is electrifying, but not like I’m used to. This isn’t a spark of destruction but a spark of life.”
  • Mare also kisses Maven. She notes, “His kiss is not at all like his brother’ Maven is more desperate, surprising himself as much as me.”

Violence

  • At the beginning of the novel, two Silvers, Samson and Cantos, fight each other. Before Samson “can hope to stand, Cantos is over him, heaving him skyward. He hits the sand in a heap of what can only be broken bones but somehow rises to his feet again.” Immediately after, “Samson spits, sending a sunburst of silver blood across the arena.” Samson takes control of Cantos’s mind, causing Cantos to kill himself. “Another twist of Samson’s hand and silver blood splashes across the sand as Cantos plunges his sword straight through his armor, into the flesh of his own stomach.”
  • After a mass panic, Mare is attacked by a Silver. A “frothing blue wave knocks me sideways, into churning water. It’s not deep, no more than two feet to the bottom, but the water feels like lead.” Mare watches as her sister is attacked, Gisa’s “eyes are on mine as he brings the butt of his gun down, shattering the bones in her sewing hand.”
  • At a Silver fighting arena, Mare watches as “birds dive headfirst into the lightning shield, bursting in little clouds of blood, feathers, and deadly electricity, my awe turns to disgust. The shield sparks again, burning up what’s left of the birds until it shines like new.”
  • Mare falls onto the lightning shield. Mare’s “head bangs against the shield, and I see stars. No, not stars. Sparks. The shield does its job, lighting me up with bolts of electricity. My uniform burns, scorched and smoking, and I expect to see my skin do the same.” After Mare gets back on her feet, she tries to run from angry Silvers who shoot at her. As she runs, “a blast of gunfire explodes over my head, forcing me to drop to the floor.”
  • Mare’s kingdom, the Kingdom of Norta, is at war with the Lakelanders, another nation. Maven tells Mare, “I spent three years in the barracks, following Cal and officers and generals, watching soldiers fight and die for a war no one believed in. Where Cal saw honor and loyalty, I saw foolishness. I saw waste. Blood on both sides of the dividing line, and your people gave so much more.”
  • A group of Reds plan to assassinate prominent Silvers. In the aftermath of the assassination, Mare witnesses as “Sonya screams nearby, bent over the body of Reynald. The spry old Ara wrestles her off the corpse, pulling her away from the chaos. Reynald’s eyes stare glassily up at the ceiling, reflecting the red light.”
  • After the assassination, Mare trips and “lands face-to-face with a corpse, staring at Colonel Macanthos’s scar. Silver blood trickles down her face, from her forehead to the floor. The bullet hole is strange, surrounded by gray, rocky flesh.”
  • After the assassinations, the group of Reds responsible are found and tortured. Mare sees that the torturer “is not gentle, wrenching out Farley’s wounded arm. Farley yelps in pain but still says nothing.”
  • In order to free the Reds, Mare attacks two Silvers and gets hurt. “The bullet hits me in the stomach, but my lightning blazes up the metal rail, through his skin, and into the healer’s brain. Pig-Eyes shouts, firing his own gun. The bullet digs into the wall, missing me by inches.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Cal likes to visit Red bars. When Cal tells Mare the palace is stuffy, she says, “And crowded bars, Red bars, aren’t?”
  • Oliver, one of the boys that Mare trains with, clutched a “sloshing drink.” He grabs onto Cal, but “Cal shifts out of Oliver’s grip. The drunk windweaver doesn’t seem to notice and keeps babbling.”
  • When going through her mentor’s room, Mare notices “the bottle of brown liquor on the table, occupying a spot usually reserved for tea.”

Language

  • Lucas, Mare’s personal guard, doesn’t like his cousin, Evangeline. He tells Mare, “Evangeline is a bitch.” Mare echoes this sentiment later on, saying, “Evangeline Samos is a bloodthirsty jerk.”
  • After the royal ball is bombed, Maven says, “Bastards.”
  • After the bombing, the Queen says the Reds “are a disease.”

Supernatural

  • Silvers use magic to help them rule over the Reds. They are sometimes seen as gods. As Mare states, “The gods rule us still. They have come down from the stars. And they are no longer kind.”
  • Whispers are Silvers with the rare ability to enter someone’s head, read someone’s thoughts, and control someone’s mind.
  • When Mare and her sister try to enter a Silver city illegally, Mare’s ID is scrutinized by a Silver guard. Mare thinks, “I wonder if he’s a whisper too and can read my mind. That would put an end to this little excursion very quickly and probably earn me a cable noose around my neck.”
  • Swifts are Silvers that can enhance their speed. After Samson kills Cantos, Swifts rush in to help. “A few are swifts, rushing to and fro in a blur as they herd us out.”
  • A nymph is a Silver that can manipulate water.
  • Telkies are Silvers that can levitate objects.
  • A greeny is a manipulator of plants and earth. Mare watches as a “florist runs his hands through a pot of white flowers and they explode into growth, curling around his elbows.”
  • Strongarms are Silvers that have superhuman strength. Mare notices “A Silver next to me clenches his fist and pounds on the bar, sending spider cracks through the solid rock top.”
  • A cloner is a Silver that can clone themselves. When Mare is caught stealing by a cloner, she thinks, “And then there are three of them, four, five, six, surrounding us in the crowd.”
  • The King is a burner who can control fire. Mare watches as fire “seems to burn against his inky black hair flecked with gray.”

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Jonathan Planman

Swing

Despite their love for baseball, Noah and Walt are terrible players. Walt, who now requests to be called Swing (a request that Noah ignores), is undeterred. As with everything else in his life—jazz, love, and becoming cool—Swing is always willing to take a chance and wants to convince Noah to take swings in his life too.

Noah has been pining after his childhood best friend, Sam, since third grade. When Noah uncovers a set of love letters, he uses his art skills to adapt the letters to help him articulate his feelings for Sam. When Walt anonymously sends one of Noah’s letters to Sam, Noah must decide whether to put himself out there, even if it means rejection.

While Noah grapples with his emotions, many American flags are being left around town. Some think it’s a prank, but others seem to think that something more sinister is going on. The rising tensions and prejudices of their town come to light as Noah struggles to find confidence.

Despite being the main character, Noah is a shadowy figure compared to Swing. Swing’s vibrant sense of humor and optimistic outlook never waiver, and he has endless methods for trying to get Noah to see that life can be sunnier with a little effort. Noah, who can be petulant, drags his feet at most of Swing’s suggestions and comments. Many of Noah’s problems could be fixed if he earnestly took Swing’s advice. However, as the story progresses, Noah learns to take life in stride.

Most of the novel focuses on Noah’s conflicts with his unrequited love for Sam. Noah thinks he’s superior to Sam’s current boyfriend, Cruz, who is a varsity baseball player. Much of Swing’s advice for Noah surrounds this topic, as it consumes Noah’s every waking moment. There are moments where Noah’s passion for art comes up, but often it is to impress Sam in some way. Occasionally, Noah’s pining and self-pitying nature can be overbearing. However, he eventually finds the courage to tell Sam how he feels.

Although Swing, Noah, and Cruz all enjoy baseball, the main focus of Swing is not baseball. Instead, baseball is used to highlight Swing’s willingness to go after what he wants. Unlike Swing, Noah’s reserved nature holds him back from going after what he wants, and Noah himself gives up baseball early in the book.

 Swing tackles a lot of themes, including love, friendship, and prejudice. Not all the topics are fully expounded upon, and because of the twist ending some narratives are shortened. Swing is also told in free verse, and various art pieces appear as part of the story. These creative elements enhance Noah’s emotions and the reading experience. Overall, Swing shows that life is what people make of it. The most important lesson Swing offers is that people should find the courage within themselves to swing for worthy goals.

Sexual Content

  • According to Noah, his crush and best friend Sam, “was busy being cool, and fine.” He thinks he’s in love with her, and he claims that she is his inspiration when he draws.
  • Swing says to Noah, “Seven years is a long freakin’ time/ not to hook up with your/ self-proclaimed soulmate.”
  • Swing claims that his cousin, Floyd, is his romance guru because Floyd “used to date a reality TV/ star, and he knows a thing/ or two about love. Girls are always/ fighting over him.”
  • Sam indirectly tells Noah that her boyfriend, Cruz, is trying to pressure her into sexual activities which makes her uncomfortable. She says, “Cruz is kinda putting pressure on/ me…How do I tell him to slow down?”
  • Swing tells his cousin Floyd that he’s “saving [his] paper for some nice frames the chicks will love.” Floyd reprimands Swing for being sexist and calling women chicks.
  • Floyd says to Swing, “Your future stepdad is a lucky man/ Aunt Reina was/ always fine as full-bodied wine.” To this comment there is silence and then Floyd adds, “What? It’s not like Floyd’s trying to Oedipus your mom. . .”
  • Noah wants to write Sam “maybe a love song/ or a sonnet.” Unsure of how to convey his feelings, he listens to Swing’s recommended podcast, The Woohoo Woman, which dispenses love and life advice.
  • In a thrift store, Sam and her boyfriend Cruz kiss twice much to Noah’s chagrin. Noah describes, “they kiss like nobody/ and everybody’s watching.” The second time, Noah’s details about the kiss increase. He thinks, “I try not/ to pay attention to how long it lasts/ –eleven seconds—or how his hands move up and down/ her back (slowly), or/ how her eyes are closed and his are/ looking at—” Cruz then says to Noah, “Hey you, stop staring at my girl’s/ haunches.”
  • The employee in the thrift shop, Divya, shows Swing and Noah a purse. After she explains what it is, Swing says, “Striking. Exquisite…/looking not at the bag, but/ at her.” He makes several more passes at Divya. Swing even “grabs her hand/ with a confidence/ [Noah’s] never seen/ in mixed company/ and kisses it.” From this scene on, Swing is infatuated with Divya and expresses his feelings to Noah frequently.
  • Noah shares his first attempt at writing a song for Sam. The song is crude, and Swing points this out. Some of the lines include, “Your moist lips/ the oboe/ my tender mouth/ sings through.”
  • Noah finds a stack of love letters from the 1960s. In these letters, the writer, Corinthian, sometimes talks about how he wants to kiss Annemarie, his love.
  • Swing asks Noah to think about what he feels while listening to jazz. During a jazz song, Noah imagines “ending the day with a mad kiss/ under the jungle gym.”
  • Noah sees Sam and Cruz kissing at school. Noah notices that “She kisses him/ loudly.”
  • Noah asks who Sam thinks is sending her love letters/art pieces. Sam says, “whoever/ is doing this is/ smart and sexy.” In a separate thought, she muses, “Maybe it’s a girl.”
  • Cruz asks Swing and Noah how to “close the deal with Sam.” In this case, it is implied that Cruz wants to have sex with Sam.
  • Sam tells Noah why her parents got divorced. She says, “five years ago, our German/ shepherd Lucy ate some/ woman’s lingerie. When they/ recovered the skimpy outfit/ from Lucy’s gut, things got a little/ awkward when Mom/ realized the vet tech wasn’t holding/ up her lingerie.”
  • Sam, Noah, and Swing look at a Dali painting with a girl in it. When asked about what he sees, Swing says, “A girl with a big rump-shaker staring out/ the window.”
  • Sam gives Noah a parting kiss, “centimeters from/ [his] lips.”
  • Sam stays over at Noah’s house and they lay in bed. They talk all night and into the morning.
  • Sam says to Noah, “let’s go back to your/ place, and I can show/ you how a sophisticated lady acts.” This is seemingly sexual, but it is not explained further.
  • Sam kisses Noah on the cheek.
  • Noah describes one of his kisses with Sam. He says, “Our noses touch./ Our breath quickens./ We’ve kissed/ at least a dozen times,/ but this feels/ like the first,/ the only.”
  • Swing is miserable because Divya kissed him “on [his] neck.” For Swing, this means that she doesn’t want “to engage in witty/ conversation/ and occasional verbal sparring,” but rather she wants to do potentially more sexually explicit activities.
  • Noah describes his classmates and friends at prom. He notes, “Everyone’s either/ smiling or smirking,/ twirling or twerking,/ posing or posturing,/ kissing or wanting.”
  • Swing tells Noah that Divya kissed him. Swing describes, “Divya kissed me, really kissed me,/ and it was an out-of-body/ experience. It was heaven, Noah,/ and she was an angel.”

Violence

  • While in the third grade, a bully named Zach punched Noah. Sam, in retaliation, “pushed Zach Labrowski/ out of the seat, then/ squeezed in next to me/ and offered a tissue.”
  • Noah thinks that Swing snuck the love letter/art piece that Noah made into Sam’s bag. Noah is furious and thinks, “Never/ been/ a/ violent/ person/ but/ right/ now/ I/ feel/ like/ going/ to/ batting/ practice/ on/ Walt’s/ head.”
  • Noah compares his confrontation with Cruz and Sam to an old cowboy movie. He describes, “and the drunk fool will answer,/ I reckon this is none of your business,/ stranger,/ and clumsily pull out his six-shooter,/ at which point/ he will get shot dead/ between the ears/ by the handsome stranger,/ who will then/ ride off/ into the sunset/ with the lady/ on his arm.”
  • At a party, one of the seniors, who is very drunk, jumps from the upstairs railing to the couch. He’s in a lot of pain, and the students decide to call an ambulance. Much later, it is explained that he “sprained/ his pinky toe/ trying to be Superman.”
  • Swing’s brother, Moses, fought in Afghanistan and seems to suffer from PTSD. Sometimes he makes references to what he saw in combat, though it is never graphic or explained. For example, he yells “BAM!” quite a bit, in reference to the explosions that he heard.
  • Noah has Sam listen to some jazz, and she doesn’t enjoy it. Noah says, “It’s not depressing, it’s yearning.” To this, Sam says, “Yearning for what, a bullet to the/ head?”
  • It is insinuated throughout the book that the police are harassing minorities about the flag vandalism occurring around town. One night, Swing and Noah realize that Swing’s brother Moses is behind the incidents. When Swing and Noah find Moses, Swing takes the baseball bat that Moses is holding because he’s worried that Moses might be unstable due to Moses’ personal history. The police arrive, and they shoot and kill Swing on sight. It is later stated that the officers perceived Swing as a threat because he was holding a baseball bat. It becomes clear that the officer’s prejudices influenced their decision, as Swing was black. Noah describes, “One/ shoots/ two/ shoot/ three/ shots/ slice/ through/ rain/ drops/ Walt/ drops/ blood/ drops/ I run/ I run/ to Walt.” Noah runs to Swing’s aid, but the cops tackle him to the ground. Noah later recalls, “The bat falling/ from Walt’s hands,/ suspended/ for too long./ The sound/ of gunshot/ piercing air/ and flesh.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Swing describes to Noah how they’re going to be cool one day. Swing says, “when people google/ cool a picture of me and you/ spitting seeds and tobacco/ with our hats to the back will pop/ up.” It is expressed later that they themselves do not chew tobacco.
  • Noah’s parents go to Barcelona for the International Hotel Association conference. According to Noah, this trip is where “hotel managers/ talk about hotels/ from sunup/ to sundown,/ then get drunk/ and post videos/ of horrible, late-night/ karaoke sessions.”
  • Before Noah’s parents go to Barcelona, they sit Noah down to talk about the house rules. Noah dryly jokes to his parents, “I think I’m clear on all the rules . . . no beer on an empty/ stomach, right?”
  • One of the love letters that Noah finds states that the writer, Corinthian, and the intended recipient, Annemarie, drank wine.
  • Noah and Swing listen to a podcast called Straight, No Chaser. The podcast’s content is never discussed.
  • Noah looks for the Corinthian, who wrote the love letters. All he can find is a Corinthian who wants to “turn up and sig a little/ drink.”
  • Swing suggests that he and Noah should “get pizza and beer.” Noah replies, “We don’t drink beer.”
  • Sam spreads the word that Noah’s having a party. Sam tells Noah, “I can ask/Cruz to get his older/ brother to bring some beer.” The beer is expressly for the partygoers rather than Swing, Sam, or Noah, who stated several times that they do not like beer.
  • At Noah’s party, there is “some sort of punch/ that some guy,/ who [Noah’s] never seen before,/ starts immediately spiking/ with a bottle/ from his backpack.” Many of the teenagers at the party drink out of it and from the beers they’ve brought.
  • Sam speculates that Moses may have been “on drugs” when he showed up at Noah’s party.
  • Sam admits that she’s tried weed, “just once.”

Language

  • Words like weird, idiot, dang, friggin’, shut up, suck, pissed, and dayum appear infrequently.
  • Sam and Noah have creative insults for each other, though these jabs are light-hearted. For example, they call each other, “Sucknerd,” “Toadlip,” “Horsehead,” and “Big butt.”
  • On The Woohoo Woman Podcast, Marj says, “We’re back for the last half/ hour of Woohoo Woman,/ hopefully with a little less profanity/ in this segment.” Jackie later almost says various swear words, but she catches herself or is cut off by Marj each time. For instance, Jackie says “DAYU-“ instead of damn.
  • Noah’s Granny calls some of her card-playing buddies “SHYSTY FELLAS.”

Supernatural

  • Swing is very superstitious. Noah says that Swing “can’t walk/ up or down/ the same side of the street/ on the same day,/ or in and out/ of the same door/ when he’s coming/ or going somewhere.”
  • Noah describes art to Swing. Noah says, “Art is…finding yourself/ under the spell of/ Gustav Klimt’s/ The Kiss.”

Spiritual Content

  • Many years ago, Noah and Sam went to the same “Jesus camp.”
  • In the third letter, Corinthian makes many religious references. Corinthian tells Annemarie, “i went to church with nothing but a penny for an offering. inside i prayed a thousand prayers sacredly and secretly holding the memory of your hand in mine. . . all the mysterious and magnificent things that make music will be ours under notes of heaven above and earth below. our love provides god’s angels with trumpet and song. . . [you] gave me everything, like the goddess of muses. heaven may be a place where artists go when they die, eternally playing songs, painting scenes, writing plays, or else napping, but i regret to inform the big man that i’m not leaving for eternity until u and i can be seen as an ‘us’ on this same earth.”
  • Swing paraphrases the Bible’s book of Matthew. Swing tells Noah, “If your brother pisses you off, tell him about it. If he listens to you, he is your brother for life.” Noah replies, “I doubt the Bible says pissed off.”
  • Noah and Swing listen to a jazz album. Noah describes the experience by saying, “We listen/ like we’re in church, on/bended knee, and our god/ is Dexter Gordon.”
  • Noah describes art to Swing. Noah says, “Art is…Monet’s/ Impression. Sunrise/ carrying you away on a harbor of dreams/ that only God/ knows about.”
  • After an officer interrogates Noah about Swing, Noah thinks about the officer, “You are not/ God. Here. You are/ not God. You/ are no God. You/ are no good.”

by Alli Kestler

Clean Getaway

For the life of him, William “Scoob” Lamar can’t seem to stay out of trouble—and now the run-ins at school have led to a lockdown at home. So, when G’ma, Scoob’s favorite person on Earth, asks him to go on an impromptu road trip, he’s in the RV faster than he can say “freedom.”

With G’ma’s old maps and a strange pamphlet called the Travelers’ Green Book at their side, the pair takes off on a journey down G’ma’s memory lane, but adventure quickly turns to uncertainty. G’ma keeps changing the license plate, dodging Scoob’s questions, and refusing to check Dad’s voicemails. The farther they go, the more Scoob realizes that the world hasn’t always been a welcoming place for kids like him, and things aren’t always what they seem—G’ma included.

While Scoob gets a glimpse of G’ma’s youth, the events are often disjointed and slightly confusing. During the trip, G’ma shares a secret that has been haunting her for the majority of her adult life. Soon after G’ma married her husband Jimmy, the two took off on a cross-country trip, hoping to end up in Mexico. As G’ma retraces her steps, Scoob is left wondering how all the pieces fit. When the reader finally learns G’mas secret, many of the facts just don’t make a lot of sense and there are many questions that are unanswered.

Most of the story’s action happened in the past, which makes the details less exciting and not well-developed. For example, G’ma stops at Medgar Evers’s house and tells Scoob about his death. Even though the events were tragic, the significance of Medgar’s life and death is lost because there is so little information about him. Instead of feeling like a well fleshed-out story, Clean Getaway brings up a topic and quickly moves on, leaving the reader with a list of people and events that lack historical significance.

Even though the story is disjointed, middle school readers will still enjoy the relationship between Scoob and G’ma. As they travel, Scoob gets a clearer picture of the difficulties that existed in the segregated south, especially for a biracial couple. Despite the great gains America has made, Scoob realizes how the past has helped shape his life.

Told from Scoob’s point of view, middle-grade readers will understand Scoob’s confused emotions and his anger at his father. When Scoob enters a state, a map of the state appears, which gives fun facts. The maps help the reader keep track of G’ma’s route as well as some of the important places the pair go to. Clean Getaway explores the difficult themes of racism, regret, and the complicated nature of humans. Black and white illustrations appear throughout the story, which will help the reader visualize the story’s events. As G’ma tells about her days of youth, readers see how G’ma’s choices have affected not only her son but also her grandson.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Scoob tell his grandma about his friend, Drake, being bullied by Bryce. Bryce would “tap Drake on the back of the head as he’d shout ‘Sup, Drakey-Drake?’ loud enough for the whole room to hear. After a few days of this, the tapping turned to shoving, turned to smacking. There was one morning Bryce hit so hard, Drake cried out in pain.”
  • Bryce makes fun of Drake’s epilepsy. Bryce “passed by and hit him, and Drake’s whole body lurched forward like a board… He pointed of his fat, pink fingers at Drake and laughed…” Bryce imitates Drake’s seizure and says, “‘Too bad it’s not the type where he shakes and his tongue falls out.’ And he stuck his big, ugly tongue out and pretended to convulse.”
  • When Bryce teases Drake, Scoob “leapt from his seat, hopped the table, and tackled Bryce. Then they were on the floor. Bryce was on his back. Scoob on top of him. Punching. Punching. Punching.”
  • G’ma tells Scoob about April 3rd, 1968 when Martin Luther King’s assassination occurred and a “colored” church was bombed and “four little girls were killed.”
  • G’ma stops in front of Medgar Evers’s house. She tells Scoob, “It was built to house Medgar Evers’s family. Medgar was known for helping black folks get registered to vote back in the day. Also drew national attention to the horrible crime committed against the Till boy, Emmett. He was killed just a few hours north of here… He [Medgar] was shot as he got out of his damn car.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • G’ma drinks bourbon from a flask. She says bourbon “was your G’pop’s favorite.”

Language

  • Heck is used nine times. For example, Scoob thinks, “What the heck was he thinking letting G’ma drag him out into the Mississippi wilderness?”
  • G’ma and Scoob eat at a place called “Damn Yankees.”
  • G’ma calls Bryce a “bonehead.”
  • Darn is used five times. For example, G’ma says, “Not as nimble as I used to be, but this old bird can still start a darn good fire.”
  • G’ma says, “Good lord. Haven’t laughed like that in years.”
  • Damn is used once. Dang is used once.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Scoob tries to find a TV channel, but “the antenna only picks up four channels. One is religious, of the cowboy-looking guy hopping around.” The man says, “I said-ah, the good Lord-ah, he is among us-ah.”

Otis and the Puppy

Otis and his farm friends love to play hide-and-seek. Otis especially loves to be “it,” finding his friends as they hide in funny places. But one day, when the newest addition to the farm—a bounding puppy who can’t sit still—goes hiding, his attention wanders along with his legs, and soon he is lost in the forest.

Daylight fades quickly, and Otis begins to worry. He knows that his new friend is afraid of the dark and must be terrified to be all alone in the woods. Yet Otis has a secret that makes his tires tremble at the thought of searching in the dark. How can he conquer his fear to save the day?

Any child who loves hide-and-seek will love seeing the funny places Otis finds the farm animals hiding. Otis works and plays hard on the farm. The tractor loves to help plow and plant fields. Otis’s personality shines because of his expressive facial expressions. Readers will fall in love with the cute, curious puppy who loves to sleep curled up next to Otis.

When the little puppy wanders away from the farm, Otis worries about his new friends. Otis understands the puppy’s fear of the dark because Otis has the same fear. However, Otis doesn’t let his fear keep him from going into the dark woods to seek his friend. When the two friends find each other, “somehow the night sounds no longer felt so frightening to them.”

The background of each illustration is done in soft grays, which allows Otis’s and the animal’s colors to pop on the page. When night comes, the animals are just shadows, but even the silhouettes convey the animal’s feelings. As Otis goes into the dark woods, readers will have fun finding the animals in the shadows. The story has the perfect ending. Otis and the puppy reunited, and they are no longer afraid of the dark.

Even though Otis and the Puppy is a picture book, the story is intended to be read aloud to a child rather than for the child to read it for the first time independently. The onomatopoeias make the story fun to read aloud. Each page has 1-5 sentences; however, some of the sentences are complex. Younger readers will love seeing that tractor and puppy become friends.

 Sexual Content

  • None

 Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Goldie Blox and the Three Dares

While in the attic, Goldie Blox finds her grandmother’s book of dares. With the help of her friends, she is determined to finish the last three remaining challenges. However, one of the challenges may be impossible. Despite this, Goldie Blox is determined to succeed and make her grandmother proud.

Goldie and her friends complete a series of dares ranging from eating a hot pepper, smelling a rotting fish flower, stealing the original Bloxtown blueprints, and having a picnic on the moon. While completing the challenges, Goldie and her friends each use talent and engineering. For example, when Goldie and her friends need to cross a swollen river, Goldie makes a zip line. For another task, Ruby uses her minicomputer to deactivate the museum’s alarm system.

Goldie Blox and the Three Dares introduces readers to STEM and features a group of interracial friends. The friends are illustrated with different skin tones; however, the characters’ races are never discussed nor does it affect any of the characters’ behaviors. The story focuses on each character’s unique talent and personality. Despite the friends’ differences, each person helps Goldie complete the challenges.

The story shows the power of imagination, problem-solving, and extreme risk-taking. Goldie is up for any challenge and has more freedom than the average seven-year-old. For example, Goldie and her friends are dropped off at a trailhead and embark on an overnight camping trip. While some of the events are presented in a cartoony way, some of the dares could lead to injury. Also, while completing the challenges, Goldie’s parents know that Goldie and her friends are planning on breaking into a museum and they allow the children to proceed with the theft as long as they return the stolen item afterward.

Goldie Blox and the Three Dares will appeal to younger readers. The story uses easy vocabulary, short paragraphs, and cartoonish black and white illustrations that appear every three to five pages. Goldie and her friends are smart and creative; however, the story never explains how any of their inventions are created. Also, some of the antics are too outrageous to be believable. For example, while breaking into the museum, the guard has an alligator on a leash. In order to distract the alligator, Goldie’s dog, Nacho, “dropped a potato chip. Then another and another. He made a trail of snacks leading away from the Gearheads.”

The Goldie Blox Series will entertain readers and spark their interest in engineering. The Goldie Blox toy line will also give readers a chance to create some gadgets of their own. Younger readers interested in engineering will also enjoy Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty. Strong readers who want books that combine engineering and positive friendships should put the Ellie Engineer Series by Jackson Pearce at the top of their reading list.

 Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Goldie modifies her walking stick to sing a different version of 99 bottles of beer on the wall. Instead of using beer, the stick sings, “One hundred bottles of superglue in the shop. . . Take one down, use it all up.”

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

The List of Things That Will Not Change

When Bea’s parents get divorced, Bea gets shuffled between her mom’s house and her dad’s house. In order to help Bea process her emotions, her parents give her a notebook that has a list of things that will not change. Eventually, Bea meets her father’s partner, Jessie. When the two decide to get married, Bea’s biggest wish is about to come true—Bea’s finally going to have a sister!

Bea has a lot in common with her soon-to-be sister, Sonia. Both Bea’s and Sonia’s parents are divorced. Both of their dads are gay. The one thing that is different is that Bea lives in New York while Sonia lives in California. When Bea finally meets Sonia, Bea has a hard time understanding some of Sonia’s actions. Bea wonders if Sonia and she will ever be like real sisters. Will the wedding turn them into a real family?

Even though Bea’s parents try to make the transition easy, Bea is confused because her parents have a different set of rules. In order to help Bea work through her emotions, she goes to see a counselor who helps her deal with her emotions in an appropriate way. For example, a counselor named Mariam teaches Bea how to worry. “She wanted me to worry for five minutes straight, two times a day… And if my worry showed up at any other time, like during school or at Angus’s house, Miriam said I should tell it ‘Go away, and I’ll see you later.’”

The List of Things That Will Not Change is told from Bea’s point of view, which allows the reader to understand her insecurities, fear, and anger. However, the story jumps back and forth between the “Year of Dad Moving Out” and the “Year of Dad and Jessie Getting Married,” which can cause some confusion. Some of Bea’s thoughts are revealed through letters that she writes to Sonia. Bea’s vast emotions are explained in ways that every child can understand.

As the story progresses, Bea learns that not everyone is accepting of her Dad and Jessie getting married. Someone tells Bea, “Family can turn their backs on you, just like anyone else.” Bea finds out that Jessie’s family doesn’t talk to him anymore because he is gay. Jessie’s sister tells Bea that when people take away their love, “It makes you smaller. Sometimes it makes you disappear.”

Another important lesson Bea learns is that “Life is like a trip. A very long one. And what matters most is the people you travel with.” While The List of Things That Will Not Change teaches some important life lessons, readers may have a difficult time finishing the book. The majority of the book focuses on Bea’s emotions, which slows the pace and makes the book difficult to read to the end. The List of Things That Will Not Change will help readers who are facing a life-changing event process their emotions. We Are All Made Of Molecules by Susin Nielsen tackles some of the same themes and contains more action; however, it is only appropriate for more mature readers. Readers who are plagued by anxiety and need help understanding their emotions should read Guts by Raina Telgemeier.

Sexual Content

  • Bea’s father told her, “He would always be attracted to some men the same way some men were attracted to some women. It’s the way he’s felt since he was little.”

Violence

  • Bea’s cousin calls her a ping-pong ball because she goes back and forth from her mother’s house to her father’s house. Bea “was on top of her in three steps. First, I yanked her ponytail, and then I smacked that ball off her hip, down to the dirt.”
  • When Bea was eight, she was invited to a birthday party. While playing musical chairs, she “didn’t want to lose… But when the music stopped the second time, the closet chair already had someone sitting in it…” Bea shoved a boy off the chair onto the floor.
  • When Bea was leaving the birthday party, she “threw my party bag at Carrie’s mom. It hit the wall right behind her, and everything inside—candy corn, mostly—exploded all over the floor.”
  • Bea is upset at a girl in her class. She tricks the girl into putting her hand up to her nose. Then Bea “bashed it into her face. Carolyn’s eyes teared up. She cupped her hands around her nose for a few seconds and then took them away, slowly.” Carolyn tells Bea, “You’re mean sometimes, you know that?”
  • Bea feels guilty because she “pushed my cousin Angelica off the loft at our summer cabin. Uncle Frank says her head missed the woodstove by four inches.”
  • Bea’s cousin shows her a scar and says, “That’s where James threw a piece of wood at me when he was ten. It had a nail sticking out of it! Blood everywhere!”
  • Jessie’s brother comes to the wedding and “pushed the cake off the table.” Then he runs out of the wedding.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Bea’s cousin said she saw a guy that “was totally drunk.”

Language

  • While at the family’s summer cabin, Bea’s cousins begin commenting on people’s butts. One cousin says, “Hey, hey, my name is Bill, but my butt is bigger than Hamburger Hill.” Another cousin says, “Hey, hey, my name is May—and my butt’s not big, but my daddy’s gay!”
  • Bea calls her cousins “a bunch of jerks.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Bea’s cousin thinks she was injured because she had bad karma. She says, “I was vacuuming—I have to vacuum the whole house. And I heard this noise in the hose… And when I looked, I saw this little toad in the canister… I didn’t do anything. I left it there, to get dumped.”

Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team

In 1907, the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania became one of the most innovative football teams in the United States. Lead by Ivy League graduate Pop Warner and star player Jim Thorpe, this team would go on to challenge the most prominent football teams of the day, including Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale.

This narrative nonfiction story highlights the history of football and of the United States’ direct involvement in the mistreatment of Native Americans. The Carlisle Indian Industrial School was the first government-run boarding school meant to assimilate Native Americans into white society. The school opened after the Black Hills war and centuries of violent conflict. Native American children were taken from their homes to live in military-style schools, where they were not allowed to dress in traditional Native American clothing nor speak their native languages. This practice became standard in the U.S., effectively cutting children off from their parents and their cultures. This is the context that surrounded Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School football team. It is a history unknown by most and not widely discussed.

Undefeated weaves the history of football and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team into the United States’ treatment of indigenous people. Sheinkin masterfully presents history without holding back on the grim reality of boarding schools or the overwhelming obstacles Native American students faced both on and off the football field. Sheinkin effectively balances a creative narrative nonfiction style with more strait-laced historical aspects. These two facets create an engaging view of a lesser-known aspect of one of the United States’ favorite sports without sacrificing accuracy or becoming boring.

The football-heavy parts of this story delve into the danger the players faced before football was modernized. Sheinkin makes the game descriptions digestible even to those who don’t know football or the sport’s history well. Undefeated takes readers through the highs and lows of practices and games, giving readers the feeling of being there in real-time. Ultimately, Undefeated shows a love for football that is untarnished by time.

Undefeated is not a typical football story about the underdog team fighting for first place. The story is far more complicated and interesting, and it breathes life into its historical cast of characters. History rarely comes with clean-cut lessons, but Undefeated presents the need for perseverance when the going gets tough. The world that Jim Thorpe and his classmates from the Carlisle Indian School lived in was unfair to them, and their stories deserve recognition in American history. Their legacy lives on in one of America’s favorite pastimes and their influence upon football will carry forward for generations to come.

Sexual Content

  • Jim Thorpe liked classmate Iva Miller and told her upon meeting her that, “‘You’re a cute little thing.’ Iva was not impressed.”

Violence

  • Jim Thorpe attempts to try out for the football team, but Pop Warner sends him out to get tackled by the current varsity players. No one can touch Jim, though, because he’s incredibly agile and fast. Warner yells, “Hit him down so hard he doesn’t get up!”
  • Football-related violence occurs throughout the book. One memorable line comes from the first official American football game in 1869. During the game, “One of the Rutgers men, George Large, took a blow to the head and came up woozy. He stayed in the game. For the rest of his life, Large would boast that he was the first man ever injured playing American football.”
  • The football-related violence is heightened because early football had few real rules. In one description, “[The play] wasn’t over until the man with the ball quit moving. So while he squirmed and wriggled forward, more defenders piled on, and plays ended in massive, writhing mounds, inside of which guys would throw elbows and knees, scratch and bite, spit and choke, until the refs could untangle the heap.”
  • When Jim was young, his father Hiram “strode into the river in his boots, grabbed [Jim], hauled him out to deep water, and dropped him in the current. Hiram then waded back to the bank and watched.” This was Hiram’s way of teaching Jim how to “man up.”
  • Hiram carried “bullets in his belt.”
  • The story discusses the historical treatment of Native Americans by the United States government, including the Indian Removal Act of 1830. For instance, “President Andrew Jackson explained the objective in bluntly racist language. Native Americans were surrounded by what Jackson called ‘a superior race.’” Describing the Trail of Tears, Sheinkin writes “an estimated four thousand people died of disease, cold, and starvation before the nightmare journey ended.”
  • Of a town near Jim’s birthplace, one stagecoach driver said you could, “stay for half an hour and see a man killed.”
  • Losing one of Jim Thorpe’s childhood games came with a price. Anyone who fell behind or lost had to endure the slapping machine. He describes it as, “This consisted of scampering on hands and knees between the legs of others in the game, assisted by a brisk paddling.”
  • Jim hiked 23 miles home from school and Hiram “gave Jim a whipping” and took him straight back to school. This happens several times, as Jim tended to skip school and return home.
  • A player from Georgia died during a football game. The player “hit the ground headfirst . . . The blood drained from his face. His eyes were open, his lips quivering. A doctor ran onto the field and diagnosed a fractured skull . . .  he died the next morning.” Similar injuries and deaths are described in similar detail.
  • Thorpe and two of his teammates were going to the baseball field when a large white man stepped in their path. The white man said, “When a white man approaches, you get off the sidewalk and get into the street.” In response, Thorpe punched the man in the face, and the trio “walked around [the white man’s] fallen body to the baseball field.” They then “spent that night in jail.”
  • The Carlisle Indian School staff mistreated students, and the 1914 Congress investigated the claims. Students “came forward to testify about skimpy meals for non-athletes and cruel treatment, including beatings, by teachers.”
  • Coach Pop Warner reported that “If a player was too good-natured or easygoing . . . the coach would tell one of his own mates to sock him in the jaw when he wasn’t looking and then blame it on the other team so as to make him mad.”
  • As a child, Pop Warner stood up to his bullies. “One of the class bullies grabbed Pop’s hat, tossed it into a slushy puddle, and stomped on it . . . In a burst of rage, [Warner] pounced on the bully, knocked him down, and started pummeling him.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Jim grew up near Keokuk Falls. The story was that “it was a place where even the pigs got drunk—a whiskey distillery near town dumped used corn mash behind the building, and hogs gorged on it and staggered down the dirt streets.”
  • After a game in Chicago, “the [Carlisle] players collapsed onto couches at their hotel and lit up cigars.”
  • Pop Warner smokes during practices with the Carlisle players.
  • The Carlisle football players were allowed to drink at the local bars, which “weren’t supposed to serve Carlisle students, but exceptions were made for football players.”
  • Jim Thorpe occasionally smokes cigars.
  • After a game, “Thorpe and Welch sat together with glasses of beer.”
  • Thorpe and his daughter Charlotte told stories one night “over drinks.”

Language

  • Profanity is limited. Derogatory terms include “sissy” and “crippled.”
  • Many derogatory names are referenced in quotes toward Native Americans. For instance, the founder of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School fought in land disputes against Native Americans on behalf of the U.S. He said, “I had concluded . . . that as an army officer I was there to deal with atrocious aborigines.” In another example, newspapers referred to the Carlisle football team wins as “scalpings” and “massacres.” This occurs somewhat often throughout the book.
  • Pop Warner’s childhood nickname was Butter— “It was not a compliment . . .  [His classmates] pelted his broad backside with beans shot through straws, and pebbles launched from slingshots.”
  • When the first group of Native American students was brought to the Carlisle Indian School, “the townspeople waved their arms and made grunting sounds—mimicking their idea of Indian behavior.”
  • Pop Warner had a colorful vocabulary and used it during some practices with the Carlisle players, who did not appreciate his rudeness. The book quotes Pop as saying such things as, “Play @#$& football!” and “What in the %&*# you think you’re doin’?” It does not use the actual swear words.
  • At one point, Thorpe says to Pop “Aw, hell . . . what’s the use of going through ‘em when I can run around ‘em?”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Alli Kestler

The Crossover (Graphic Novel)

Twelve-year-old Josh and his twin JB Bell are the kings of the basketball court. Untouchable and unstoppable—the sons of former professional basketball player Chuck “Da Man” Bell couldn’t be anything less than excellent. But when Alexis walks into the twins’ lives and steals JB’s heart, Josh is left without his best friend by his side. Meanwhile, the boys’ father’s health is on the decline, despite Chuck’s utter denial. Josh and JB must deal with the consequences of everyone’s actions—including their own.

The illustrations in the graphic novel, The Crossover, bring the story to life. Illustrator Dawud Anyabwile’s comic book style illustrations match the high-pace action of the novel, especially during the basketball scenes. Most of the illustrations are in black and white with detailed shading, but Anyabwile frequently utilizes orange to help features pop off the page. The text changes in size and shape which helps to capture the rhythm of the poem. Even though this is a graphic novel, the poetic language makes The Crossover a good choice to read aloud.

The pages vary in the amount of text and pictures. Some pages have full-bodied scenes with a few sentences, while others have smaller pictures with mostly narration or dialogue. Alexander’s free-verse poetry moves very well and, thus, lends itself to these variations in page styles. The text placement only serves to emphasize parts of the story. Even though the graphic novel has some difficult vocabulary, the words are often defined and the repetition of the words allows the reader to understand the term. Readers will learn new vocabulary, but the more advanced vocabulary is balanced with realistic dialogue and trash talk during the basketball scenes.

The words themselves rarely vary from the original book, though the verse orientation on the page serves to emphasize different phrases. Those who have read the original text will still find that the graphic novel conveys characters’ moods and personalities in different ways due to the addition of illustrations. Josh, JB, and their friends and family are all vibrant characters and the pictures give them new life and add to the reading experience.

The Crossover was already a moving story, but the story benefits greatly from the addition of illustrations. The illustrations enhance the characters’ emotions and the story’s stakes feel heightened. The story speaks truths about grief, love, and basketball, and the pictures serve to bring those wonderful themes to another dimension. Newcomers and fans of the original story will find this edition to be a worthy addition to their shelves.

Sexual Content

  • Josh and JB’s dad, Chuck “Da Man” Bell, tells his sons about how back in the day, he “kissed/ so many pretty ladies.”
  • Josh says that the only reason why JB has been “acting all religious” is because classmate “Kim Bazemore kissed him in Sunday/ school.”
  • Josh does his homework while “Vondie and JB/ debate whether the new girl/ is a knockout or just beautiful,/ a hottie or a cutie,/ a lay-up or a dunk.”
  • Josh teases JB and asks if “Miss Sweet Tea” (Alexis) is his girlfriend. JB dodges the question. However, it is clear that he likes her a lot because “his eyes get all spacey/ whenever she’s around,/ and sometimes when she’s not.”
  • Chuck faints, and his wife, Crystal, demands that he see a doctor. Chuck refuses, and they argue. In an attempt to diffuse the tension between them, he says, “Come kiss me.”
  • After Crystal and Chuck stop arguing about Chuck’s health in the bedroom, Josh narrates, “And then there is silence, so I put the/ pillow over my head/ because when they stop talking,/ I know what that means./ Uggghh!” This happens a couple times throughout the book, though it is never illustrated.
  • Alexis wants to know “am I [JB’s] girlfriend or not?”
  • Josh likes Alexis romantically as well, but JB doesn’t know that.
  • JB and Alexis walk into the cafeteria, and she’s “holding his/ precious hand.”
  • JB and Alexis kiss in the library, and Josh sees them. The kiss is illustrated.
  • JB tells Alexis “how much she’s/ the apple of/ his eye/ and that he wants/ to peel her/ and get under her skin.”

Violence

  • JB plays with Josh’s locks of hair. Josh “slap[s] him/ across his bald head/ with [Josh’s] jockstrap.”
  • JB accidentally cuts off five of Josh’s locks of hair. Josh gives JB several noogies over the course of a few interactions.
  • Josh nearly breaks JB’s nose with a hard pass during a basketball game. He does it on purpose because he’s upset with JB, and Josh is suspended from the team. The description is only a couple of words long.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Crystal’s younger brother “smokes cigars.”

Language

  • There are a few rude terms used occasionally by the younger characters. Some terms include crunking, stupid, and jerk.
  • When Josh narrates his plays in games, he talks big about his game and this leads to him occasionally threatening physical contact during the game. For instance, Josh says in part of his beginning speech, “Man, take this THUMPING.”
  • Josh’s nickname is “Filthy McNasty.”
  • JB suggests a bet against Josh. Josh responds with, “You can cut my locks off,/ but if I win the bet,/ you have to walk around/ with no pants on/ and no underwear/ at school tomorrow.”
  • JB responds with, “if you win,/ I will moon/ that nerdy group/ of sixth-graders/ that sit/ near our table/ at lunch?”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • JB only went to one basketball summer camp because “he didn’t want to miss Bible/ school.”
  • The Bells go to church on Sundays before basketball. Josh says, “When the prayers end/ and the doors open/ the Bells hit center stage,” meaning the basketball court. Josh sometimes mentions team prayers or praying to win games.

by Alli Kestler

 

 

Where the Red Fern Grows

Billy has long dreamt of owning not one, but two dogs. So when he’s finally able to save up enough money for two pups to call his own, he’s ecstatic. Soon, Billy and his hounds become the finest hunting team in the valley. But tragedy awaits these determined hunters—now friends—and in time, Billy learns that hope can grow out of despair.

Where the Red Fern Grows is a beloved classic that captures the powerful bond between man and man’s best friend. It will stand the test of time as long as there are boys and girls who love their dogs—and dogs who love them.

Where the Red Fern Grows has been taught in schools for decades because of its message and endearing characters. The story is told from Billy’s point of view, which allows the reader to connect with Billy and understand his emotions. Anyone who has loved a pet will connect with Billy and his dogs—Old Dan and Little Ann. Billy works hard in order to earn enough money to buy his dogs. When he brings Old Dan and Little Ann home, Billy spends almost every night hunting with them. These experiences show the two dogs’ dedication to each other and to Billy, which is why many readers will cry at the story’s conclusion.

Throughout the story, Billy has positive interactions with his family, including his grandfather. Through his interactions with his family, his dogs, and others, Billy’s character slowly unfolds. Billy clearly loves nature, his dogs, hunting, and his family. The detailed descriptions of the Ozark Mountains highlight Billy’s love of nature as well as his belief in God. As Billy struggles to understand his world, he often seeks out his parents in order to ask questions about God. In the end, Old Dan and Little Ann were an answer to Billy’s prayers and his mother’s prayers. While the conclusion is likely to cause tears, it effectively highlights the selflessness of love.

Despite the positive aspects of the story, some readers will struggle to understand the culture of the Ozark Mountains during the 1920s and might be upset by the bloody hunting scenes. Unlike many books today, Where the Red Fern Grows isn’t an action-packed story, but instead draws the reader in slowly and makes them fall in love with Old Dan and Little Ann. As a coming-of-age story, Where the Red Fern Grows illustrates the importance of hard work, dedication, and love. The story also focuses on themes of family, sacrifice, God, and death. As Billy matures, he learns valuable life lessons, which are still applicable to today’s readers.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Billy sees a pack of dogs attack another dog. “Twisting and slashing, he found his way through the pack and backed up under the low branches of a hedge. Growling and snarling, they formed a half moon circle around him. . . He came out so fast he fell over backwards. I saw his right ear was split wide open.” Billy swung his coat at the dogs, and they scattered and left.
  • When Billy went into town, a group of boys ganged up on him. The leader of the group “stomped on” Billy’s foot. Billy “looked down and saw a drop of blood ooze out of a broken nail.”
  • Billy stands up to one of the town boys. His fist “smacked on the end of Freck’s nose. With a grunt he sat down in the dusty street.” His nose begins to bleed. Then the other kids gang up on Billy. Billy tries to fight, but there are too many of them. “By sheer weight and numbers, they pulled me down. I managed to twist on my stomach and buried my face in my arms. I could feel them beating and kicking my body.”
  • When the marshal sees the kids beating Billy, the marshal planted “a number-twelve boot in the seat of the last kid.” The fight scene is described over two pages.
  • When a coon gets stuck in one of Billy’s traps, his puppies bark at it. The male pup got too close and “the coon just seemed to pull my pup up under his stomach and went to work with tooth and claw.” The female pup helps her brother. “Like a cat in a corn crib, she sneaked in from behind and sank her needle sharp teeth in the coon’s back.”
  • Billy and his family go back to see the trapped coon. Billy’s dad “whacked the coon a good one across the head. He let out a loud squall, growled, and showed his teeth. . . Papa whacked him again and it was all over.”
  • Often Billy describes Old Dan and Little Ann killing a coon. For example, while coon hunting, Little Ann caught a coon, and “the coon was all over her. He climbed up on her head, growling, slashing, ripping and tearing. Yelping with pain, she shook him off . . .” The coon escapes, but the dogs find him again. “They stretched Old Ringy out between them and pinned him to the ground. It was savage and brutal. I could hear the dying squalls of the coon and the deep growls of Old Dan.”
  • Billy and two boys, Rubin and Rainie, get into an argument. Ruben “just grabbed me and with his brute strength threw me on the ground. He had me on my back with my arms outspread. He had one knee on each arm. I made no effort to fight back. I was scared. . . He jerked my cap off, and started whipping me in the face with it.”
  • Little Ann and Old Dan get into a fight with another dog. Billy “could see that Little Ann’s jaws were glued to the throat of the big hound. She would never loosen that deadly hold until the last breath of life was gone.”
  • Rubin accidentally falls on his ax. As Rubin lays dying, he asks Billy to remove the ax. Billy “saw his hands were curled around the protruding blade as if he himself had tried to pull it from his stomach.” Billy pulls the ax out and “The blood gushed. I felt the warm heat as it spread over my hand. . .” Rubin tries to talk but, “words never came. Instead, a large red bubble slowly worked its way out of his mouth and burst. He fell back to the ground. I knew he was dead.”
  • While hunting, a coon fights back. The coon “had climbed up on her [Little Ann’s] back and was tearing and slashing. . . Old Dan came tearing in. . . . When the coon was dead, Papa picked it up. . .”
  • A bobcat attacks Billy and his dogs. Billy “was in the middle of it all, falling, screaming, crying and hacking away at every opportunity. . .” Billy hits the bobcat with his ax and “the heavy blade sank with a sickening sound. The keen edge cleaved through the tough skin.”
  • Old Dan tries to protect Billy and Little Ann. “Old Dan, spewing blood from a dozen wounds, leaped high in the air. His long, red body sailed in between the outspread paws of the lion. I heard the snap of his powerful jaws as they closed on the throat.” The bloody attack is described over six pages. The bobcat is killed and Old Dan dies from his wounds.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • When Billy went to town to pick up his dog, he saw a drunk.
  • When getting ready to go on a trip, Billy’s grandfather packs “corn liquor.”

Language

  • Damn is used three times. For example, when Billy asks his grandfather to help him purchase the dogs, his grandfather said, “Well, Son, it’s your money. . .You got it honestly, and you want some dogs. We’re going to get those dogs. Be damned! Be damned!”
  • When Billy doesn’t want to kill an old coon, a boy says Billy is “chicken-livered.”
  • Twice, the female dog, Little Ann, is referred to as a bitch.

Supernatural

  • Billy hears two screech owls. He believes this means he will have bad luck.
  • Billy finds a red fern growing over Old Dan’s and Little Ann’s graves. According to an Indian legend, “only an angel could plant the seeds of a red fern, and that they never died, where one grew, that spot was sacred.”

Spiritual Content

  • Throughout the story, when Billy is in a difficult situation, he prays. For example, Billy tries to cut down a huge tree in order to catch the coon hiding in it. He is about to give up, when he decides to pray, “Please God, give me the strength to finish the job. I don’t want to leave the big tree like that. Please help me finish the job.” A wind blows the tree down and Billy believes that God sent the wind.
  • Billy takes care of a stray dog. When the dog is ready, he left. The dog “was going home to the master he loved, and with the help of God, he would make it.”
  • When Billy was a kid, he wanted two hunting dogs. When Billy comes up with a plan to get the dogs, he thinks, “The good Lord figured I had hurt enough, and it was time to lend a helping hand.” Billy finds a magazine with an ad selling hound dogs.
  • When Billy begins saving money for his hound dogs, he “remembered a passage from the Bible my mother had read to us: ‘God helps those who help themselves.’ I decided I’d ask God to help me. . . I asked God to help me get two hound pups.”
  • After Billy is able to save the money to buy two dogs, he thinks, “I knew He [God] had surely helped, for He had given me the heart, courage, and determination.”
  • Billy’s mother “prays every day and night” for the family to have enough money to move into town so Billy and his sisters can get an education.
  • When Billy tells his mother about all of the events that led to him getting his dogs, she asks, “Do you believe God heard your prayers and helped you?” Billy replies, “Yes, Mama. I know He did and I’ll always be thankful.”
  • When Billy runs toward the house yelling, his mother thinks a snake bit him. When she finds out that he is fine, she says, “Thank God.”
  • When Billy goes hunting, his mother says, “I’ll pray every night you’re out.”
  • Billy’s mom says that God doesn’t answer every prayer. “He only answers the ones that are said from the heart. You have to be sincere and believe in Him.”
  • Billy believes that nature is a “God-sent gift.”
  • After his dogs die, Billy wonders why God allowed it to happen. His mother says, “At one time or another, everyone suffers. Even the Good Lord suffered while he was here on earth.”
  • Billy’s father tells him, “The Good Lord has a reason for everything.”
  • Billy’s parents believe that Old Dan and Little Ann were an answer to prayers. Even their deaths served a purpose. Billy’s father believes that Old Dan and Little Ann are in heaven.

Patina

Ever since Patina and Maddy’s mom got diabetes and lost her legs, their lives have changed dramatically. Now they go to the fancy Chester Academy and live with Aunt Emily and Uncle Tony. Patina has fears other than trying to fit in at her school, though. She’s afraid “The Sugar” will take her mom from her too. Patina is finding that no matter how fast she runs, she can’t outrun her fears.

Even worse, Patina’s attitude has slipped, and Coach is making her run in a relay with the people she argues with. Depending on her teammates, especially the ones she doesn’t get along with, seems, well, impossible. When her aunt and Maddy get in a car crash, Patina realizes that depending on others is necessary. When her uncle steps in, it only shows further that she isn’t alone and doesn’t have to be the parent to her younger sister—or herself. She doesn’t have to do everything alone, including the relay. It’s okay to wait for the handoff, both in track and in life.

In the second installment of Reynolds’s Defenders Track Team series, Patina takes over as narrator. Tragedies shape her life: when she was young, one morning her dad never woke up. Her mother then developed Type II diabetes, or what she calls “The Sugar,” and lost her legs. Now, Patina lives with Emily and Tony, and although they’re good people, Patina misses her parents. For someone with her history, it’s no wonder why Patina runs with a chip on her shoulder. Anything less than first place, as far as she’s concerned, is losing. Because she runs for Ma and Maddy, she feels that anything less than first is her failing her family.

Patina is intense and often confrontational, but her fierce loyalty and love for her family make her relatable. With the help of her coaches and teammates, she is able to let go of her independent streak enough to let others in. Patina shows that the world needn’t be entirely on anyone’s shoulders. Not all burdens, especially emotional ones, should be carried alone.

Reynolds has a knack for writing unique characters in specific situations that, despite their specificity, contain universal themes. The power of each book in this series resides within the characters’ capacities to overcome their daunting situations. Patina knows her mom is living on borrowed time and that one day, she will lose her, too. What makes Patina strong is that she’s able to keep running, and she runs for her mom, her sister, her adoptive family, and her teammates. Family, blood-related or otherwise, remains a key component of the Defenders Track Team series, and particularly in Patina’s life.

Patina is a strong sequel to Ghost. The returning cast and newcomers blend together to create a realistic environment for Patina and her cohorts to flourish on and off the track. Track fans and non-sport readers alike will find that this story places importance on friendship and family. Patina’s story emphasizes one of the really beautiful parts of life: no one is ever really alone.

Sexual Content

  • Sunny likes Patina. They stretch together at practice and Sunny stares at her legs. Patina thinks, “Was Sunny checkin’ me out? If he was, now was not the time. Also…no…gross…stop it…right now…seriously.”
  • Cotton, Patina’s friend, likes Lu, who is one of the other runners. Cotton says to Patina, “’You think if I wink at Lu on the track, he’ll wink back?’”

Violence

  • Patina and Krystal, another runner, get into an argument while practicing the relay. Krystal says to Patina, “What makes you better? Your white mother?” To which Patty goes on a page-long rant that ends with her saying, “Better watch who you playin’ with.” Coach Whit “grabbed [Patina] by the arm and dragged [her] off the track to the gate.”
  • Patina has a temper. When she gets mad, she will imagine “breaking invisible teacups.” This is her way of dealing with grief and stress.
  • Patina thinks that she was “about to give Krystal a good old-fashioned Beverly Jones Funky Zone beat-down.” She does not do this.
  • Patina teases Lu, another runner, about Cotton. Then Patina ays to Lu, “Don’t deny my girl, Lu, or I’ll leave you laid out across this track.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Patina’s aunt Emily is on “heavy-duty pain meds” after her surgery and is a little loopy.

Language

  • Stupid, fool, and shut up are all used frequently.
  • Of two girls in Patina’s class (Taylor and Teylor/TeeTee), Patina thinks, “They’re like attached at the ponytail and call themselves T-N-T, which is funny because most of the time I just wished they’d explode.”
  • Patina has names for the different types of kids in her school. She thinks, “The mess of hair-flippers, the wrath-letes (kids feel like it’s a sport to make everyone’s life miserable), the know-it-alls, the know-nothins, the hush-hushes…The YMBCs (You Might Be Cuckoo)- the girls who wear all black and cover their backpacks with buttons and pins- and the girls whose boyfriends, brothers, and fathers all wear khaki pants.”
  • At one point, Patina’s nicknames for Taylor and Teylor are “Bony McPhony and her cousin Lie-Lie.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Patina’s mom (Ma) references God and Jesus frequently. There is a scene in their church where Patina says that Ma yells, “Yes, Lawd! Yessssss!” After, Patina thinks that Ma is in a good mood because “Ma’s all high off Jesus.”
  • Ma prays for people throughout the book. In one instance, she says to Patina, “You know I pray for you. I pray God put something special in your legs, in your muscles so you can run and not grow weary.”
  • Patina thinks church is “a whole lot of talk about grace and faith and mercy and salvation, which, to me, all just equaled shouting, clapping, and singing in a building built to be a sweatbox.”
  • Patina explains Ma’s religiousness. She thinks, “after Dad passed, that’s when Ma got all churchy-churchy. The beginning of catching the spirit and dancing in the aisle and ‘praying of peace in the eye of the storm.’”

by Alli Kestler

If the Shoe Fits

When Abby and Jonah step through the magic mirror, they travel to Cinderella’s fairy tale. Cinderella has met a prince at a ball and dreams of marrying him. When Abby and Jonah try to help Cinderella, the two siblings accidently change the story and end up making everything worse. Soon, Cinderella’s foot is broken, swollen, and her glass slipper won’t fit! How can Cinderella prove she’s the prince’s true love if her foot can’t fit into the glass slipper?

Abby and Jonah ask Cinderella’s fairy godmother, Farrah, for help, but Farrah isn’t impressed with Cinderella’s desire to have the prince save her. Farrah tells Cinderella, “rescue yourself. You need to learn to stand on your own two feet.” This sends Cinderella on a journey to find a way to support herself financially and free herself from her evil stepmother. Abby and Jonah promise to help Cinderella. Is there any way for Cinderella to become self-reliant? Can Abby and Jonah help Cinderella find her happily ever after?

If the Shoe Fits gives Cinderella’s character a new spin. Cinderella embarks on a journey with Abby and Jonah’s help. This journey allows Cinderella to learn that she doesn’t need a prince to rescue her because she is capable of saving herself.

All the original Cinderella characters make an appearance. However, the fairy godmother doesn’t just grant wishes. Instead, she wants to teach Cinderella a valuable lesson. The two stepsisters, Beatrice and Kayla, are interesting. And the stepmother? Well, she’s just evil. Even though the characters are not well-developed, younger readers will enjoy the new changes in Cinderella’s story.

The original Cinderella was written in French by Charles Perrault in 1697, but Mlynowski uses names and terms that are not consistent with the original story. The fairy tale characters talk like modern-day teens. For example, one character uses the term “knock yourself out.” Another character asks Cinderella, “You don’t mind if I crash your new digs until the wedding, do you?” Even though this doesn’t interfere with the story’s enjoyment, stronger readers will notice the unrealistic dialogue.

The conclusion adds in a dash of magic that will have readers smiling. The ending also shows that girls do not need a man to save them. In the end, Cinderella rejects the prince’s proposal for two reasons. Cinderella tells the prince, “I don’t really love you…not the way Kayla does. You deserve someone who loves you for the right reasons. Everyone does.” Cinderella adds, “Two days ago, there was nothing I wanted more than to marry you. I wanted you to rescue me.” Since then, Cinderella has become self-reliant, and she doesn’t want to give that up.

With a high-interest topic, easy vocabulary, and a smattering of magic, If the Shoe Fits will have younger readers eager to jump into the fairy tale world. More advanced readers, who love fairy tales, should add The Prince Problem by Vivian Vande Velde to their reading list.

 Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • In order to steal Farrah’s magic wand, “Beatrice jumps onto Farrah’s back, the wand flies out of Farrah’s hand, and Beatrice and Farrah tumble to the ground. The wand goes rolling across the floor. Betty scoops it up.”
  • In order to get the magic wand out of the stepmother’s hand, Jonah, who was turned into a mouse, annoys the stepmother. She then “swings her foot back and sends him flying across the room. He somersaults through the air and lands in the fireplace.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Cinderella’s stepmother calls the fairy godmother a “fairy freak.”
  • Beatrice pretends to be the prince’s true love. In order to warn the prince, “Kayla-rat scurries up the couch, jumps on her sister’s shoulder and tries to bite her.”

Supernatural

  • Abby and Jonah use a magic mirror to travel into the fairy tale world. When Jonah knocks on the mirror three times, the mirror spins, hisses, and turns purple. The siblings then walk into the mirror.
  • Using the fairy godmother’s wand, “Betty swished toward Cinderella and hurls a zap her way. There’s a burst of yellow sparkle and then Cinderella starts to shrink. She gets smaller and smaller and then even smaller. And turns grey. And grows a tail.” Betty turns Cinderella into a mouse.
  • When Betty turns Abby into a mouse, “All I can see is yellow, and then zoom! The room is suddenly increasing in size. I feel sick. It’s like I’m on a Tilt-A-Whirl. And then—plunk. I’m on my tush with my legs in the air in front of me.”
  • Betty turns the fairy godmother into a lizard. “Farrah yelps as she starts to shrink and turn green and scaly.”
  • Betty turns her daughter Kayla into a rat. “Betty just turned her own daughter into a mouse. A very large, brown mouse with very sharp teeth.”
  • Betty tries to make Beatrice’s foot fit the glass slipper. Betty “points the wand at her daughter’s left foot and zaps it. It resizes all right. It expands… and then it turns orange. It’s a pumpkin.”
  • The fairy godmother Farrah reverses the stepmother’s magic spells, turning everyone back into humans. Then Farrah turns the stepmother and her daughter into birds. “They instantly shrink into two little birds. Two caged little birds.”
  • Abby and Jonah learn that the portal home doesn’t have to be a mirror because a fairy can “enchant different household objects and appliances.”

Spiritual Content

  • None

Benchwarmers

Jeff and Andi, both sixth-graders at Merion Middle School, are trying out for the boys’ soccer team. There is just one issue: Andi is a girl, and the head coach, Coach J, thinks having a girl on the team would lower the boys’ moral. The principal forces Coach J to let Andi try out. But, Coach J, who has the final say on who makes the team, cuts Andi despite her more than competent tryout.

Both Andi and Jeff are furious because of the coach’s decision. Jeff made the team, but he knows Andi would be an asset to the team. The situation seems hopeless until he has an idea. His dad works at NBC Sports-Philadelphia as a reporter. Together, Andi, Jeff, and his dad devise a plan to get the media involved in Andi’s situation. They hope to pressure Coach J into letting Andi on the team. They were right; Andi is finally allowed to play soccer on the boys’ team.

It’s not smooth sailing once Andi makes the team. Coach J punishes both Andi and Jeff by benching them during games. There is a division on the team between the boys who think Andi should be included and those who don’t. This division costs the team the first few games of the season. When Andi makes a good play in the short amount of time she is on the field, Coach J realizes he is making a mistake. He learns to value Andi as a skilled player and eventually promotes her to a starter. By reluctantly acknowledging Andi’s skill, Coach J sets an example for the rest of the team. The boys come to appreciate Andi and they become a strong and cohesive team.

Benchwarmers is told in third person and focuses on Jeff, Andi, and Coach J’s points of view. This allows readers to understand each character’s background. Each character has to overcome adversities. For example, Jeff has to work hard to improves his soccer skills. Andi fights for her place on the team, taking a lot of bullying but eventually becoming a valued player. Coach J overcomes his chauvinistic beliefs and learns to appreciate Andi.

 Benchwarmers’ main theme is doing what is best for the team. Andi is such a good player because she “creates chances for other people.” In addition, the team only starts winning games when they play to each other’s strengths. By the end of the book, good sportsmanship is important to all of the players. The boys support each other and Andi on the field. Even the opposing teams apologize for roughhousing Andi and compliment her skill.

While Benchwarmers focuses on soccer, the story also gives a good, age-appropriate insight on how the media works. It shows how a media story is approved, planned, and rehearsed. Learning about the media is interesting, but the many meticulous play-by-play game scenes might get old to readers who are not soccer fans. However, the characters are relatable and admirable for their perseverance and for supporting one another. Andi and Jeff work hard to prove themselves on the field. At the beginning, Coach J is stuck in his ways, but he redeems himself by the end. Although slightly dragged out, Benchwarmers will entertain soccer fans as it encourages them to work hard for what they believe.

Sexual Content

  • O’Shea, a female soccer player from another school, takes Andi aside after their match to warn Andi about the next team they’ll play, King of Prussia-North. O’Shea says King of Prussia-North’s coach doesn’t like girls on the boys’ soccer team, and he “makes your guy [Andi’s coach] look like a leader of the Me Too movement.”
  • After Andi asks Jeff to the Halloween dance, she “gave him a huge hug and a kiss on the cheek.”

Violence

  • During practice, Andi gets hit after scoring a goal. “Arlow, peeling back too late, slammed into [Andi] from behind and took her down.” Jeff and Diskin, another teammate, are furious because they think Arlow did it on purpose. One of the players “slammed into Arlow and sent him flying.”
  • Diskin “jabs a finger into Arlow’s chest.” Diskin asks, “What is your problem, Arlow? Do you have something against girls? Is that it? Just admit it.” In response, Arlow “grabs Diskin’s arm and tries to wrestle him to the ground.”
  • During a match, Andi gets kicked in the head by another player. “She felt a foot slam into her head. She cried out in pain and rolled over, holding the spot where the kick had landed.”
  • A player from the opposing team “piles into” Andi, making her do a “face-plant.” She sees someone running towards the guy who had just taken her down and realizes it’s Arlow. “[Arlow] was screaming angrily as he pushed the guy down and began swinging at him.”
  • During a soccer game, Jeff “slid a pass forward to Arlow, who pushed the ball to his left to Andi just as a KP-North defender plowed into him.” Jeff “went down” but “jumped up” and continued playing in the game.
  • Jeff sees a player from the opposing team angrily rush towards Andi. Realizing the player intended to harm her, Jeff “cut the kid off with a diving tackle before he could pile into Andi.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • The boys debate over whether Andi should be on the soccer team. One player says if Andi wants to be on a team with boys, she has to understand she may get knocked around. Another player who supports Andi retorts, “Don’t be such a tool.”
  • After Coach J is rude to Andi, Jeff tries to comfort her. Jeff says, “Just when you think he’s backing off acting like a jerk, he goes and proves again that he’s a jerk. Don’t let it bother you.”
  • Heck is used three times. For example, Andi is upset because Coach J is bullying her. She takes it because she wants to remain on the team. “The worst part of it is, if I just say ‘The heck with you,’ and walk away from this team, he gets what he wants.”
  • During a match, one of the players on the opposing team takes down Andi. Craig yells at him, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
  • In regards to King of Prussia-North, another middle school female soccer player tells Andi, “I’d love to see you knock those jerks off their pedestal.”
  • Jeff wants to ask Andi to the Halloween dance, but he is nervous. His friend tells him, “You can still be Prince Charming if you get off your butt and do something.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Jeff asks Andi if she is going to church Sunday morning because he wants to take her to an Eagle’s game. Andi laughs and replies, “My parents tried it with my brothers and me until I was about eight. Then they figured out we were all going just for the doughnuts. So we haven’t gone for a while.”

by Jill Johnson

If You Give a Cat a Cupcake

“If you give a cat a cupcake, he’ll ask for some sprinkles to go with it. When you give him the sprinkles, he might spill some on the floor. Cleaning up will make him hot, so you’ll give him a bathing suit . . .”

A little girl has a messy, mischievous cat who loves to have fun. The little girl takes the cat to the beach, to the gym, and to a merry-go-round. The little girl often has a surprised look on her face, while the adorable black cat is full of enthusiasm.

This simple story has one sentence on each page, which makes it a quick read. Each page’s illustration shows the cat and his girl. The illustrations are often humorous. For example, the cat finds a “few” things to put in his beach pail; however, the pail overflows and contains a vast amount of items—seaweed, a boot, a hat, a toy truck, a hairbrush, etc. Other illustrations are silly, such as when the cat creates a sandcastle with the girl as part of it. The easy-to-read text and fun pictures make If You Give a Cat a Cupcake a fun book for younger readers.

If You Give a Cat a Cupcake will delight younger readers and introduce the idea of cause and effect. Sprinkle some fun into your day and read If You Give a Cat a Cupcake. Just beware, the story will give you a craving for a cupcake of your own.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Bird & Squirrel On The Edge

Bird and Squirrel are heading home, but first they have to cross the Great Mountains. Along the way, the two friends run across a baby bear that is being chased by wolves. Bird jumps in to help the bear. During the chase, Bird gets hit in the head with an acorn and gets amnesia. Now Squirrel has to be the brave one in order to keep both Bird and the bear cub safe as they travel over the mountains. With a pack of hungry wolves chasing them, can Squirrel step up and be the leader they need to keep them alive?

Bird’s and Squirrel’s role reversals lead to laugh after laugh. Even though Squirrel is reluctant to help the baby bear, in the end, Bird convinces him to do what’s right. When the two friends switch roles, Squirrel takes several risks to keep his friends safe. The cute bear gives the story a fun new twist. Through it all, Squirrel learns that helping others is always the right thing to do.

With funny puns, wild chase scenes, and friendship, Bird & Squirrel on the Edge will take readers on an amazing adventure through the Great Mountains. Although the story’s plot consists mostly of chase scenes, readers will enjoy the interplay between Bird, Squirrel, and the bear. The perfect ending will have readers smiling from ear to ear.

Even though Bird & Squirrel on the Edge is the third installment of the series, readers do not have to read the books in order. However, Bird’s and Squirrel’s developing friendship is one of the best parts of the series, so readers will get the most enjoyment if the books are read in order. Bird’s and Squirrel’s adventures aren’t over when they make it home. Once they are back on their home turf, they discover a new danger that threatens the forest. Readers will be eager to pick up the next book in the series, Bird & Squirrel On Fire.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Wolves with large teeth chase a bear, who climbs into a tree. Bird and Squirrel help by throwing pine cones at the wolves. The wolves run away. Squirrel accidentally hits Bird in the head with a pine cone, and Bird loses his memory. The chase scene is illustrated over 14 pages.
  • When Bird, Squirrel, and the bear hide in a cave, the wolves find them. Bird screams, “We’re going to die!!” The three friends fall over a cliff, but they aren’t injured. The chase scene is illustrated over five pages.
  • As the three friends are walking through a forest, Bird and Squirrel freak out over a spider. When the bear squishes the spider and eats it, it is described as, “Slurp Mum Num.”
  • The wolf tries to eat Bird. The bear is frightened, falls into a river, and goes over a waterfall. Bird and Squirrel jump in after the bear. The scene is illustrated over seven pages.
  • The wolves surround the three friends. The wolves snarl and howl at them. A wolf tries to bite the bear, but Squirrel hits the wolf with a large stick. The chase scene is illustrated over 16 pages.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • When the bear jumps in the mud, Squirrel said, “We’ll be cleaning crud out of our crevices for years.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Take The Stage

When her neighborhood decides to throw a block party, JoJo Siwa has the best idea ever: she’ll perform her hit song “Boomerang” as a highlight of the big summer bash. With her crew of friends behind her and the support of her trusty sidekick, BowBow, JoJo is sure their summer will be as sweet as it gets. Then, she meets Grace—the new kid on the block with tons of talent—and JoJo knows her plan for a rockin’ party is complete!

But Kyra, resident mean girl and head of the party-planning committee, has other ideas. When Kyra’s jealousy threatens to ruin the entire block party, JoJo knows it is time to rally her fans, nick-named Siwanatorz, and save the day. After all, being a Siwanatorz means—above all—being kind.

Take The Stage has a little bit of glitter, unicorns, and girl power wrapped up in a fun book that will make readers want to have a dance party of their own. While the plot is predictable and JoJo is a little too sweet, younger readers will be entertained as they learn the importance of making new friends and being kind to others—even your enemy.

Even though BowBow is on the cover of the book and his name is in the title, he rarely appears and does nothing to advance the plot. The story focuses on the girl drama between Grace and Kyra. When Grace first meets JoJo, Grace wonders if she should hide her love of unicorns because she doesn’t want to be made fun of. However, with the help of JoJo and her friends, Grace realizes that she doesn’t need to change. And by the end of the book, all the girls are well on their way to being friends.

Another positive lesson from Take The Stage is the importance of apologizing. JoJo says, “But my mom always told me that you don’t apologize to be forgiven. You apologize because it’s the right thing to do.” While Take The Stage has some positive life lessons, the story also promotes JoJo’s songs and YouTube channel. At times the story is a little too sugary sweet and the conclusion shows everyone forgiving the bully and becoming friends, which is unrealistic.

While Take The Stage is intended for girls six or older, the vocabulary will be difficult for younger readers. Readers who enjoy illustrated chapter books will find Take The Stage’s text-heavy pages a little overwhelming. Each chapter starts with a cute black and white illustration, but they are the only pictures that appear in the book. If you’re not familiar with JoJo’s products, you may want to skip the self-promoting series JoJo and BowBow. Instead, try an illustrated series that promotes friendship—such as Diary of an Ice Princess by Christina Soontornvat or Jada Jones by Kelly Starling Lyons.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

My Lady Jane

According to the history books, Lady Jane Grey became the Queen of England for nine days before quite literally losing her head. But according to authors Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows, there is definitely more to the story.

Edward hasn’t done very much in his lifetime. Sure, he’s been the King of England since he was a child, but he’s never even kissed a girl—and now he’s caught a deadly illness known as “the affliction,” which means he’ll be dead within a year. Unable to trust either of his sisters to take the throne, Edward decides to rewrite the line of succession, leaving the throne to the future male heir of his cousin, Lady Jane Grey.

Sixteen-year-old Jane would love nothing more than to escape from her life. Her nagging mother and a never-ending string of unfortunate engagements are positively boring compared to the adventures she reads about in her favorite books. She might want her life to be more exciting, but getting married to a complete and total stranger was not what she had in mind.

The stranger in question, Gifford Dudley (please call him G), isn’t too thrilled to be getting married either. Every morning G transforms into a horse and stays that way until sunset. He’s gotten used to the fact that he’s cursed, but he’s not totally sure how to explain that to his pretty new wife.

My Lady Jane is a fascinating alternate history adventure; it is set in a world where people called Eðians have the ability to transform themselves into animals. Despite being based on 16th-century British nobility, Edward, Jane, and Gifford all read as super-relatable to a modern teenager. Stubborn, bookish Jane and sweet, clueless Gifford certainly don’t know how to make a relationship work, let alone run a kingdom. Edward might have been the King of England, but that can’t protect him from being totally awkward around the girl that he likes.

Serious history buffs might not appreciate the extreme liberties that the authors take with the timeline, but the story will definitely appeal to open-minded historical fantasy fans and anyone looking for a good laugh. The story takes readers on a rollicking adventure across England, complete with attempted regicide, a giant bear, and lots of romance. Jane and Gifford’s slow, often awkward progression from unfriendly strangers to loving partners is equal parts endearing and frustrating. Readers will surely be rooting for the protagonists as they learn that sometimes your heart’s desire can be found in the most unexpected places.

 Sexual Content

  • According to rumor, King Henry’s second wife was an Eðian, “who every so often transformed into a black cat so she could slip down the castle stairs into the court minstrel’s bed.”
  • Edward is described as having “the correct genitalia” to rule England.
  • Edward thinks that if he had been born a commoner, “at least he would have had an opportunity to kiss a girl.”
  • Edward thinks that producing an heir would be fun because it would “definitely involve kissing with tongues.”
  • Edward is reluctant to approve of Jane’s marriage because “in the back of his mind he’d been holding on to the idea that perhaps someday he’d be the one to marry Jane. This was back when it was slightly less frowned upon to marry your cousin.”
  • Edward’s advisor says, “Life would be a lot simpler if I only had to attend to my wife in the hours between dusk and dawn.”
  • Gifford’s father tells Edward that Gifford is “a little too easy on the eye for his own good, I’m afraid. He tends to attract…attention from the ladies.”
  • Gifford’s brother mistakes Jane for one of the women he thinks Gifford has been sleeping with. This causes Jane to panic about her wedding because “Her husband to be was a philanderer. A smooth operator. A debaucher. A rake. A frisker.”
  • Gifford lets his parents believe that he is “carousing with the ladies” so they don’t discover that he’s been spending his time writing and performing poetry.
  • Gifford’s father says that Jane is “as far as can be anticipated” fertile.
  • Jane’s mother explains sex using the euphemism “a very special hug.” She says that although the hug might be unpleasant, “it’s part of the wedding night, and part of your duty as a wife.”
  • At the end of their wedding ceremony, Jane and Gifford kiss. “The kiss came quickly. It wasn’t anything more than a touch of his lips to hers, so light it might not have happened at all.”
  • Gifford says that “not one in twenty men” would find Jane unseemly, and that “the supple pout of her lips” could inspire poetry.
  • Gifford, annoyed at how concerned everyone seems to be with the consummation of their marriage, thinks, “at least the nobility of England no longer required live witnesses to the event.”
  • Edward and Jane seem so close that Gifford thinks they might be “kissing cousins.”
  • Edward says that he saw a “flicker of surprise and definite male interest” in Gifford’s eyes when he first sees Jane at the wedding.
  • As Edward watches Gifford and Jane leave their wedding feast, he thinks, “I am never going to consummate anything. I’m going to die a virgin.”
  • Jane gets angry at Gifford and calls him a “drunken lothario.”
  • After bonding during their honeymoon, Jane and Gifford almost kiss. As they stand alone in the parlor, Jane realizes they’ve gotten quite close and wonders, “Would he kiss her? Part of her hoped he would. A big part maybe. Multiple parts: her butterfly-filled stomach, her thudding heart, and her lips, which remembered the gentle breath of a kiss during their wedding.”
  • When Edward transforms back into a human, he finds himself naked and alone in a strange village, where a woman accuses him of being a pervert. She says, “This was a decent village, you know, before your kind came around spoiling it. Thieves and murderers, the lot of you. Like those dogs that watch me get dressed through the window and then run away. Perverts!”
  • Gracie is an Eðian who can turn into a fox, which is ironic considering how attractive Edward finds her. The narrators take the opportunity to tell the reader that “the term fox, used to convey the attractiveness of a woman, was not invented until Jimi Hendrix sang ‘Foxy Lady’ in 1967.”
  • Edward wants to kiss Gracie but can’t because “he wanted her to want him to kiss her.”
  • Gifford and Jane share a single set of clothing while they are on the run from Mary’s soldiers. Jane describes the situation as an “awkward (and scandalous, though they were married, so did it really count as scandalous?) clothing situation.”
  • Jane reflects on her growing feelings for Gifford. “He teased her, but never with an intent to hurt her feelings. He often held her hand. He called her pet names like ‘my darling’ and ‘my sweet.’ Those things shouldn’t have had such an effect on her, but they did. Being with him made her breath come quicker and her heart pound and her palms get all clammy. It made her wish she could remain human all the time so that they could stay together.”
  • The King of France tells Edward to find a wife and produce some male heirs as soon as possible. The King says, “I have three sons, myself, and a number of bastards. It’s very comforting for me to know that I will never find myself in your predicament. My bloodline is secure.”
  • Edward finally asks Gracie to kiss him by saying, “I’ve never kissed a girl before and I want it to be you. Will you?” She considers it, but ultimately she isn’t able to get past the difference in their stations and runs away.
  • On the morning of a battle, Jane finally kisses Gifford for real. As they were saying goodbye, Gifford “kissed her. Softly at first, but then she pulled him close and pressed her lips harder to his. And that was it. She could feel him giving in by the way his body pressed against hers, the way one of his hands cupped her cheek, and the way the other slid down her arm. She could feel his desire to stay human in the fevered, desperate way he kissed her.” The description lasts about half a page.
  • Gifford reflects on the kiss. “How had a girl like Jane kissed him like that? With her whole heart and her whole body? She’d probably read a dozen books with titles like The Kiss: It’s Not Just About the Lips. The way Jane kissed, it was like an art. She kissed by the book.”
  • After breaking into the castle, Jane and Gifford are reunited. They finally say “I love you” to each other, and Gifford is able to stay a human. “The two lovers embraced, while Edward and your narrators turned their heads to give the lovebirds their moment of blessed union.”
  • After the battle, Edward can’t stop thinking about Gracie. “Because he wanted to tell her that he’d stepped down from the throne and see that surprised look on her face. And (let’s be honest) he still very much wanted to kiss her. He thought about it embarrassingly often.”
  • Edward tells Gracie that he gave up the throne, and they finally kiss. “Edward closed the space between them in two strides. He didn’t really know what he was doing, only that he had to do something right now or he’d explode. Her warm heart-shaped face was in his hands, his fingers caught in her curls. She opened her mouth to say something and he kissed her.” The scene lasts about a page.
  • At Jane and Gifford’s second wedding, “Jane didn’t wait for instructions to kiss. She stood on her toes and wrapped her arms around her husband’s shoulders and kissed him as the guest clapped and clapped.”
  • After the wedding, Jane and Gifford have a conversation that devolves into kissing. “Lips met lips, soft and questioning at first, then suddenly desperate and wanting. And at their first wedding, their wedding-night chamber seemed full of the echoes of strangers eager to have their say, tonight, they were very much alone.” The narrators cut in before it gets too steamy but do assure the readers that “they totally consummated.” The scene lasts for about a page and a half.

Violence

  • At the beginning of the book, the narrators summarize the historical version of what happened to Lady Jane Grey: “She was queen for nine days. Then she quite literally lost her head.”
  • There is a group called the Verities who believe that all Eðians are an abomination, “And because Verities were largely in charge of everything, Eðians were persecuted and hunted until most of them died out or went deep into hiding.”
  • When King Henry discovers his own ability to turn into a lion, he decrees that Eðians aren’t so bad after all. “The head of the Verity Church was not pleased with King Henry’s decision, but every time Rome sent a missive denouncing the decree, the Lion King ate the messenger. Hence the phrase don’t eat the messenger.”
  • Edward says one of the things he wants to do before he dies is to beat the weapons master in a sword fight because “[he] was the only person [Edward] knew who forgot to let him win.”
  • Because of rumors of his second wife’s infidelity, “the king had her head chopped off.” It is also briefly mentioned that his fifth wife was beheaded too.
  • Edward says the only time he’s seen his sister Mary enjoying herself was “when some traitor was beheaded or some poor Eðian got burned at the stake.”
  • An Eðian group called the Pack has been “raiding and pillaging from Verity churches and monasteries.”
  • While traveling, Jane and Gifford come upon a group of villagers being attacked by wolves. “A handful of people brandished sticks and pitchforks and various other farming tools, attempting to block the path of the Pack of wolves.” Some of the villagers have been injured and Jane wants to help them, but Gifford stops her. The description of the event lasts about three pages.
  • When his nurse tries to feed him poisoned food, Edward imagines her “less-than-slender form stretched on the rack while he dropped poisoned berries in her mouth.”
  • Edward’s sister, Mary, tells him that when she becomes queen, “We will root out this Eðian infestation, starting with that horrible Pack that everyone’s talking about. I’ll see them all burn.”
  • After Edward refuses to eat his poisoned food, he is attacked by his would-be murderers. “Before he was even fully awake, rough hands were upon him, forcing his arms up painfully. Hooded men loomed all around his bed. Someone had latched one of his wrists to the bedpost.” The description of the scene lasts about three pages.
  • As a bird, Edward kills and eats a mouse. “Edward-the-bird struck the mouse with tremendous force and snatched it from the face of the earth. The poor thing gave a rather awful shriek, which was understandable, and then went quiet.”
  • Edward meets Gracie, a Scottish Eðian and thief who threatens him with a knife. “If he told her who he really was chances were that a) she wouldn’t believe him, and she’d cut his throat, or b) she’d believe him, and because he was the ruler of England and she was Scottish and this was the year 1553, she’d get even more pleasure out of cutting his throat.”
  • Gracie and Edward get into a fight with a farmer. “The bird that was Edward descended on him, talons clawing at the man’s face. The farmer screamed and released his sword. The girl took this opportunity to knee the farmer in the acorns. He dropped to the floor. She kicked him.”
  • Mary and her army show up to take the throne away from Jane. Jane and Gifford refuse to cooperate with her and are ultimately held captive. “[Jane] tried to wriggle away and Gifford snapped and kicked, but then one of the men held a sword to Gifford’s long neck. Someone else pressed a knife to Jane’s throat.”
  • When Gifford transforms into a horse, Mary tells Jane, “In the morning, he will be burned at the stake.” Jane can swear allegiance to Mary and the Verities, or she will be beheaded too.
  • When Gifford and Jane attempt to escape the castle, they are confronted by several guards. “The first guard [Gifford] dispatched quickly in a move that Jane would probably describe as elegant swordsmanship, but he knew was really the result of the sword slipping from his sweaty hand. As he lunged to retrieve it before it hit the goring, he plunged he sword through the heart of a guard who was just rounding the corner.”
  • Gracie bests Edward in a sparring match. Gracie “bashed him in the ribs. If it’d been a real sword in her hand, instead of half of a broken broomstick, he would’ve been done for.” The scene lasts about four pages.
  • Gracie tells Edward about how her family was killed by British soldiers because they were Eðians. “That night I woke to our cottage burning. We were all inside, my ma and dad and brothers—I had two brothers—and they’d blocked the door from the outside, boarded the windows too.”
  • Edward and Gracie come very close to kissing, but they are interrupted by his grandmother. “At that moment we should confess that Edward briefly considered murdering his dear sweet grandmother. And he might have gotten away with it, too, on account of the rest of the world thinking the old lady was already dead.”
  • Gifford, Jane, and Pet get into an altercation with the Pack and Jane gets injured. “All at once [Gifford] became aware of the blood soaking the front of his shirt and how unusually quiet she was. Jane was never quiet. She was hurt.” The description of the fight lasts about three pages.
  • In order to get the Pack to help Edward take back his throne, Edward and Gifford must kill the Great White Bear of Rhyl. When the bear attacks them, Gifford tries to play dead. “The bear sniffed G’s leg. G tried to make his leg look less like food. The bear pushed G’s shoulder and pushed again as though trying to turn him over. G wasn’t sure if complying would make him seem more or less dead.” Ultimately Edward is able to kill the bear. The description of the fight lasts four pages.
  • Edward is concerned about meeting with Mary Queen of Scotts because of the bad end of their engagement. “When King Henry received word that Mary’s regents had accepted another offer of marriage, this one from the King of France, pairing her with the French dauphin, Francis, King Henry had eaten the messenger immediately and remained a roaring lion for days. And then he’d invaded Scotland.”
  • During their siege on the castle, Jane, Edward, and Gifford run into some guards who want to kill them. “The guard on the right re-raised his sword and took a deep breath as if to speak, but he didn’t get a sound out before a loud bang rang out and he dropped like a stone. Jane stood behind the guard, her frying pan raised to where the man’s head had been.” The conflict is described over three pages.
  • As Gifford, Edward, and Jane attempt to break into the castle, Gifford’s father and brother confront them. Gifford “looked at his father’s outstretched hand and it made him sick that he shared the same blood as this man… With a flick of his sword, he cut a gash in Lord Dudley’s palm.” The confrontation lasts about three pages.
  • Gracie tells Edward that she’s the new leader of the Pack because the old leader has died. “He took an arrow to the chest in the first ten minutes of the siege.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • At the wedding feast, Gifford gets very drunk because he’s too nervous to tell Jane about his horse curse. “Every time G thought about how to break the news to her, he gulped down a cup of ale. And he thought about it a lot. Every time he looked at his new bride. And he looked at her a lot.”
  • When he turns back into a human, Gifford goes to a tavern attached to a brothel to steal some clothes because “There it was easy to grab clothes strewn about, the owners of which would be too sloshed to care.”

Language

  • When he learns he’s going to die from the affliction, Edward says, “bollocks,” twice.
  • Damn is used once. Gifford tells Jane she should abdicate, “Well tell them thank you so much for the very kind offer of running the country, but no thank you. I have no desire to honor my cousin, the king’s, wishes. Now where are my damn books?”
  • During a sparring match, Gracie and Edward trade insults, including “Lilly-livered scutt” and “beef-witted varlet.”
  • Edward calls Mary a “poisonous bunch-backed toad.”

Supernatural

  • The book is set in an alternate world where certain people, known as Eðians, have the ability to turn into animals. “Certain members of the general public could turn themselves into cats, which greatly increased the country’s tuna fish population, but also cut down on England’s rat population. (Then again, other individuals could turn into rats, so nobody really noticed.)”
  • King Henry VIII was an Eðian, who “during a fit of rage transformed into a great lion and devoured the court jester.”
  • There’s a rumor that Jane’s mother is an Eðian, which caused Jane and Edward to try to uncover their own Eðian forms. “Jane had read in a book that Eðians often manifested into their animal forms when they were upset. They’d cursed each other and slapped each other’s faces, and Jane had even gone so far as to throw a stone at Edward, which actually did rile him, but they had remained stubbornly humanly human throughout the whole ordeal.”
  • Edward’s dog, Pet, reveals herself to be an undercover Eðian. “Pet stood up, then lifted her front paws to the edge of Edward’s bed, her neck thrown back like she was stretching. There was a flash of light, as painful as if Edward had accidentally glanced into the sun, and he closed his eyes. When he opened them again there was a naked girl standing at the foot of his bed.”
  • Jane is locked up in a tower, hopelessly anticipating her upcoming execution, when she finally unlocks her Eðian powers and turns into a ferret. “A brilliant white light flared about her, making her blink back stars. When she could see again, everything was different. The room was bigger, for one, and she felt…funny. Shorter, which was saying something, but oddly long.”
  • Edward’s grandmother tries to teach Jane, Gifford, and Edward how to use their Eðian powers. She tells them that the secret to changing into your animal form is to know your heart’s desire. Edward’s grandmother says, “If, in the moment you want to change, you do not know why you want to become a bird or ferret or horse or human, then you will stay exactly as you are.”
  • When Edward shows up to take his throne back, Mary gets so angry that she turns into a mule. “Then Mary let out a bellow of rage and barreled toward Bess with outstretched hands, as if she would choke the life from her sister. But before she could reach Bess, a light flashed. The onlookers gave a collective gasp. Where Mary had been standing, there was now a chubby mule.”

Spiritual Content

  • Edward believes he was “designed by God” to be the king of England.
  • Jane’s mother says that her Eðian form is unnatural, but Jane disagrees. “In one of my books about Eðians, the author said that long ago, in ancient times, all people were able to change into their animal form. Everyone was Eðian. It was considered their true nature. It was considered divine.”
  • Edward feels bad about having bad-mouthed women, thinking, “He’d only said what Bess had told him to say, and besides, it was true, wasn’t it? Women were the weaker sex were they not? Wasn’t that even written in the Holy Book?”
  • While Jane is breaking into the castle, Gifford says several prayers. “He closed his eyes and sent a quick prayer to the heavens that he would see her again. He prayed Edward would keep her from harm. He prayed if Edward failed, she would turn into a ferret and hide. He prayed if she was discovered she would slip from the soldier’s clumsy fingers. And that if she couldn’t escape, they would kill her quickly.”

by Evalyn Harper

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