Reading Level: Junior High

Peak

Fourteen-year-old Peak Marcello has climbing in his blood. Both of his parents have climbed some of the largest mountains in the world, and his biological father, Josh, is still a renowned mountaineer. When Peak is arrested for scaling a skyscraper in New York City, he’s sent to live with Josh in Thailand rather than face time serving in a juvenile detention center.

But Josh has other plans—namely, that he’s going to get Peak to summit Everest, making Peak the youngest person ever to do so. Despite Josh’s sketchy, press-oriented motivations, Peak gives Everest a chance. But Everest is unforgiving even for experienced climbers. Any mistake could mean death.

Peak is an exciting mountaineering book that discusses climbing terms in ways that are easy to digest for readers unfamiliar with high-altitude climbing. For instance, Peak describes high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) to illustrate the sorts of dangers that climbing at high altitudes can have on the human body. Although nothing is particularly graphic in this book, it does describe seeing corpses and people suffering from HAPE.

Peak’s personal journey throughout the book is commendable. Peak’s main emphasis is on his family, who he loves dearly. His mother raised him, and his excellent relationship with his younger half-sisters (“the Peas”) highlights his fundamentally kind and caring personality. While climbing Everest, Peak’s friendship with another fourteen-year-old Tibetan boy named Sun-jo shows how much they depend on each other to make it to the summit. Their friendship is a focal point of the book because Peak grapples with his competitive nature while knowing that Sun-jo should have the honor of being the youngest person to summit. This conflict comes to a satisfying resolution, and Peak and Sun-jo’s friendship remains strong.

Peak also struggles with his feelings about his biological father, Josh. Peak is wary of Josh’s motivations. Their relationship, although fractured at the beginning of the story, begins to mend as Josh and Peak learn more about each other. Although their relationship is unlike Peak’s closer relationship with his mother, Josh starts to have a place in Peak’s life.

Peak is the first book in this series, and the next books also detail Peak’s climbing adventures. Peak is a good introduction to the series because it explains climbing facts while also creating a fun and interesting story about Peak’s climbing adventures. Climbing and being on top of the world are important for Peak, but love for family and friends top any mountain that he could scale. While reaching the top of Everest is temporary, family lasts a lifetime.

Sexual Content

  • Peak briefly recounts his parent’s relationship. He says, “I was conceived in a two-man tent under the shadow of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. At least that’s when my mom thinks it happened.”
  • Peak overhears a climber talking about Josh. The climber says, “Josh is so cute! What do you think he’d do if I snuck into his tent one night?” The person’s friend responds with, “I don’t think that’s included in the permit fee.”

Violence

  • Peak gets arrested for illegally scaling and tagging a building. A detective tells Peak, “I just talked with your mother. She said that I had her permission to beat you to death.”
  • Peak scales skyscrapers for fun, and he often ends up in newspapers as a mystery climber. A boy tries emulating him and he “fell from the Flatiron Building. He’s dead . . . The boy had all [of Peak’s] news articles pinned up in his bedroom . . . the fall was enough to kill him.”
  • Peak describes high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE). He says, “Here’s how HAPE works: Your lungs fill with fluid, you can’t breathe, you go into a coma, then you die.”
  • Sun-jo gives Peak a rundown on the history between Tibet and China. Sun-jo explains, “The people’s Republic of China invaded Tibet fifty years ago. Since that time over six thousand Buddhist monasteries and shrines have been destroyed and hundreds of thousands of Tibetans have been killed or jailed.”
  • Peak, Zopa, and Sun-jo arrive at Base Camp “just in time to see Josh get into a fistfight with someone. At 18,044 feet, though, it wasn’t much of a fight. An older, red-faced man took a swing, which Josh easily ducked and countered by pushing him in the chest. The man landed on his butt in the snow. After this it was pretty much over except for the shouting.” Josh had told the man (as had the man’s doctor), that the man was in no shape to go further up the mountain.
  • Peak hears about someone dying on Everest. One climber says that the man who died “stepped out of his tent in the middle of the night to pee. Idiot was wearing slippers. He slid two hundred yards down a slope into a crevasse so deep the Sherpas say he’s probably still falling.”
  • A porter, or a Sherpa, tells a story about a yak that he purchased. An avalanche had almost buried them, and the yak ended up with two broken legs. The porter tells Peak, “There was only one thing to do. I unsheathed my knife and cut his throat.” The porter ended up sleeping in the carcass for warmth.
  • Several climbers die on Everest from HAPE. Peak and Zopa hear that “[the other two climbers] had died at Camp Six two hours after Zopa talked to the distraught German climber the previous day.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Some climbers smoke cigarettes. Zopa “bought up several cartons of cigarettes to sell to them.”

Language

  • Light profanity is used somewhat often. Words include: moron, idiotic, dang, shut up, lame, lousy, and pooped.
  • At Base Camp, a man denies that he has a heart condition. He yells at the doctor, “That witch doctor of [Josh’s] doesn’t know what she’s talking about.” It is meant to be derogatory.
  • Josh jokingly tells Peak that Josh is “in debt up to [his] crevasse,” which makes Peak laugh.
  • Peak meets Holly, a reporter who he refers to as “a pain in the crevasse.”
  • Josh tells Peak that getting a fourteen-year-old to climb Everest has “more sex appeal” for attracting people to his climbing company.
  • There is a German doctor at Base Camp, and some of the climbers don’t like her. As a result, they say malicious and untrue things. Peak overhears one of them say, “Straight from Nazi Germany, if you ask me. I think she’s here to perform experiments on us, not treat us.” Another climber mutters, “Heil Hitler” when the doctor’s name is mentioned.
  • Josh tells Peak that he won’t be allowed to summit because the other climbers don’t want him to. Josh explains, “I’m sorry, Peak. I’ve been a jackass about this. They’re right. This is their climb. They’re paying the tab.”
  • As Peak is leaving camp, Josh waves. Peak “returned the wave with a gesture of [his] own,” insinuating that Peak held up his middle finger at Josh or something to that effect. Josh responds with “his trademark grin.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Peak and Josh stop by Mount Everest before going to Chiang Mai. Peak is surprised and says, “For a climber, saying that you are stopping by Everest is like saying you’re going to stop by and see God.”
  • Josh’s friend Zopa used to be a sirdar, or Head Sherpa. According to Josh, Zopa is “a Buddhist monk now. Lives at the Indrayani temple. The Lama there has given him permission to forgo his vows for a few weeks to take [Peak] up to Base Camp.”
  • Before going up Everest, all of the climbers go through a puja, which is “a Buddhist blessing ritual.”
  • For the puja ceremony, Peak and Sun-jo build a cairn and raise flags. Peak explains that “as the flags flutter in the wind they release the prayers written on them and pacify the gods.”
  • Peak makes “a special prayer flag” before he attempts the summit.
  • Peak tells his sisters about the prayer flags. Peak says, “There’s a prayer written on the flag. When it blows in the wind the prayers go up to God. If you put the flag really high on a mountain the prayer gets to God faster.”

by Alli Kestler

Prime-Time Pitcher

Seventh-grade baseball pitcher for the Monticello Middle School team, Koby Caplin, wants nothing more than to lead his team to victory this season. He’s definitely got the pitching chops to help his team succeed. When a local TV station wants to do a documentary showing local youth sports, they pick Koby to be their star. Unfortunately, this causes a rift between Koby and his teammates when Koby lets his new stardom get to his head.

Matt Christopher’s Prime-Time Pitcher deals with the issue of how the arrogance of individuals affects team sports. Koby is a good pitcher. Other players and students notice this fact, including student journalist Sara Wilson. Sara puts events into motion as her articles focusing almost solely on Koby’s pitching, which causes the news station to select Koby for their documentary.

Koby’s older brother, Chuck, helps Koby understand that the success of the team rests on the team and not just Koby. Chuck and Koby’s teammates help Koby understand that teamwork is more important than individual stardom. When Koby’s arrogance causes his teammates to distance themselves from him, Chuck shows Koby how his behavior needs to change if Koby really wants to do well in baseball and still have his teammates be his friends.

Prime-Time Pitcher is a short, straightforward story that will appeal to younger baseball fans. Koby’s story isn’t uncommon in youth sports (or professional sports for that matter), and the lessons he learns about being a good teammate and person, are applicable to all people, especially those who play team sports. The book contains sections of baseball trivia questions, which will appeal to both baseball fans and readers who like trivia.  Most importantly, the lessons Koby learns can be applied to all areas of life, not just baseball. Readers who love baseball but want a more complex plot should add Soar by Joan Bauer and The Brooklyn Nine by Alan Gratz to their reading list.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • After a game, Sara asks Coach T. a series of questions. Sara asks for Coach’s prediction of how the game was going to go, and Coach replies, “I don’t make predictions—that’s for carnivals and fortune-tellers.”

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Alli Kestler

The Great Escape

What do magnetic slime, a secret code, and the periodic table have in common? They’re all part of the science-themed escape room that Kate’s science teacher puts on for their class. Will Kate and her friends be able to use their science know-how to crack the code before time runs out?

The Great Escape begins with conflicts that everyone can relate to: friendship drama, arguing with a classmate, and competition. Kate and her class are broken up into groups in order to complete a science project. The group that wins gets to show the whole school how to make a pumpkin vomit. Kate is determined that her group will win, but when Kate and another classmate get into a tug-of-war over pliers, both groups are forced to stay after school and complete an escape room which will require everyone to work together.

The escape room involves helping the legendary scientist, Rosalind Franklin, who was “a science superhero who used X-rays to take images of DNA.” As Kate and the other kids try to solve the escape room’s mystery, they learn about Rosalind Franklin and other chemistry facts. The kids also learn the importance of working together. Even though the kids rely on science to escape the room, there is enough dialogue and spooky situations to keep the story entertaining.

The short chapters all begin with definitions of science words such as deoxyribonucleic acid, condenser, and double helix. Simple black and white illustrations appear every 1 to 3 pages. While the illustrations help break up the text, they will not help readers understand the plot or visualize the characters. The book ends with instructions on how to make magnetic slime. The book includes some other experiments, but there are no instructions on how to perform those experiments. Even though The Great Escape is the second book in the series, each book can be read as a stand-alone.

The second installment of the Kate the Chemist Series focuses less on science and more on peer relationships, which makes the story interesting. The arguing between the girl’s group and the boy’s group is realistic and relatable, and the fall theme gives the story a hint of spooky suspense. The Great Escape will appeal to a large range of readers, not just those interested in science. If you’re looking for a book that may spark readers’ interest in science, The Great Escape would be a good choice.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Kate’s mother takes Tylenol for a headache.

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

The Running Dream

Running is the thing that makes Jessica feel most alive. So when she loses a leg in a tragic accident, she is shattered—inside and out.

The doctors say she’ll walk again with a prosthetic limb, but to Jessica, that is cold comfort. Walking isn’t running, and at this point just standing up causes her to shake. As she struggles to re-enter her life, Jessica gets to know Rosa—a girl with cerebral palsy—and begins to see that her future is full of opportunities. Soon Jessica starts to wonder if it is possible to cross new finish lines.

The Running Dream is told from Jessica’s point of view, which helps the reader understand her myriad emotions. Jessica’s story unfolds in five sections and each section focuses on one aspect of Jessica’s experiences. Understandably, at first, Jessica wonders why the accident happened to her. Why was she the one to lose a leg? However, the story also shows Jessica’s healing process and how she comes to better understand others because of her disability. Rosa, who has cerebral palsy, helps Jessica with her transition back into school. Through Rosa, Jessica learns that Rosa’s “biggest wish wasn’t to cross a finish line or have people cheer for her. It’s to have people see her instead of her condition. That’s all anybody with a disability wants. Don’t sum up the person based on what you see, or what you don’t understand; get to know them.”

Each chapter of The Running Dream is three pages or less, which keeps the action moving. Dividing the book into sections also helps the reader understand the changes that Jessica is going through. Even though the book focuses on Jessica’s recovery, The Running Dream is also a book about friendship, community, and finding hope.

The Running Dream was awarded the Schneider Family Book Award. The engaging story shies away from profanity and other objectionable material. Instead, the story is propelled by Jessica’s conflicts and relationships. Anyone who has ever been injured or who loves to run will connect with The Running Dream. However, Jessica’s story includes enough high school drama, sibling conflict, and parental problems to capture everyone’s attention. The conclusion ends on a hopeful note and shows how Jessica’s injury has made her a better person.

Sexual Content

  • Jessica has had a crush on Galvin. He tells Jessica how he feels about her and then gives her “a long, salty kiss.”

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • While in the hospital, Jessica is given morphine and other medication for the pain. Jessica says, “The nurses are nice about my pain meds. It’s the only way I get any sleep.”
  • After Jessica gets home, she begins, “pushing the clock on my pain meds. Taking them early. Slipping in an extra one when I really need it.” When Jessica’s parents find out, they take the pain meds away from her.

Language

  • “Oh my God” is used as an exclamation once.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Slaves of Socorro

Hal and his fellow Herons return home to Skandia after defeating the pirate captain Zavac and reclaiming Skandia’s most prized artifact, the Andomal. With their honor restored, the Herons turn to a new mission: going to Araluen. But soon after they arrive, news comes of a Skandian wolfship attacking a village and enslaving twelve people.

With the help of the ranger Gilan, the Herons set off to track down Tursgud—leader of the Shark Brotherband and Hal’s constant opponent. Tursgud has turned into a pirate and a slave trader, and the Herons are determined to save the twelve Araluen villagers from him. The Heron crew sail into action. But finding Tursgud and freeing the slaves proves more difficult than the Herons ever imagined.

The Slaves of Socorro begins slowly, as it starts with the Herons returning home. When they are given a mission, the Herons travel to Araluen. Along the way, they see Tursgud’s ship and give chase, but Tursgud is able to slip away. Determined to find Tursgud, the Herons travel to Socorro. This causes the first half of the book to lack action and suspense, and readers will be glad when the Herons finally arrive at their destination.

The pace picks up in the second half of The Slaves of Socorro. Flanagan vividly builds the world of Socorro, which adds interest to the story. As the Herons come up with a plan to free the Araluens, Ingvar agrees to pose as a slave. His imprisonment shows his willingness to make sacrifices for strangers. Ingvar’s kind nature and loyalty are admirable. The Herons also highlight the importance of working as a team, as well as embracing each person’s strengths.

Fans of the Ranger’s Apprentice Series will cheer as Gilan joins the Herons on their mission. However, fans will be frustrated when several scenes depict Gilan in an uncharacteristic way. Gilan is not the only new character added to the story. Kloof, a misbehaving dog, joins the crew and adds humor to the otherwise serious story.

In typical Flanagan style, the book concludes with an epic battle that is somewhat bloody. Tursgud and his crew all die; however, their deaths are not celebrated. Even though many people die at the hands of the Herons, they intentionally try to disable their enemies instead of killing them when possible.

Slaves of Socorro may start off slowly, but the second half of the book is full of action as the Herons save the Araluens from slavery. The story’s difficult vocabulary and detailed sailing scenes make the Brotherband Series best for strong readers. Readers will enjoy the friendship between the Herons, Thorn’s gruff behavior, and the unexpected plans that Hal comes up with. Readers will be eager to begin the next book in the series, Scorpion Mountain, which will add another character from the Ranger’s Apprentice Series.

Sexual Content

  • When Lydia finds out that Karina and Thorn are going to a celebration together, Lydia sings, “Karina and Tho-orn, sitting in a tree-ee. Kay-eye-ess-ess-eye-en-gee.”
  • Thorn asks Karina to the celebration. Later, Thorn tells Hal, “Just wanted you to know, there’s been no . . . funny business between me and your mam. No . . . hanky-panky, if you know what I mean.”
  • Before Thorn sails off on a mission, Karina “threw her arms around Thorn’s neck and kissed him soundly on the mouth. For a moment, Thorn was caught by surprise. Then he responded eagerly.”
  • One of the saved Araluens thanks Hal and then “leaning in, she kissed him on the cheek.” When Lydia snorts, Thorn asks, “What’s got your undies in a twist, princess?”

Violence

  • The Oberjarl, Erak, sees Tursgud, “and half a dozen of his unsavory crew members” drinking ale. Tursgud’s “eyes were bleary and he was very much the worse for drinking ale.” When the boys are disrespectful, “Erak raised the cask high, then slammed it down on Kjord’s head. The bottom of the cask gave way and showered the remaining ale down over Kjord’s body and shoulders. . . He [Kjord] sat upright for a second or two. Then Erak grabbed his collar and jerked him up and back off the bench with one convulsive heave.” Kjord is knocked unconscious. Erak tells Tursgud, “‘Now pick that piece of garbage up.’ He jerked his head at Kjord, who was moaning softly. ‘And get out of my sight.'”
  • A man shows up in Cresthaven looking for help. The man says slavers “hit us after dark and caught us totally by surprise. Killed three and took twelve prisoners. The rest of us ran. . . [They] drove us off and sat around drinking and feasting on our food and ale—and burning down houses and barns.”
  • A group of men attacks the Herons. In the fight, Hal uses a large crossbow. “The force of the shot jerked the man’s leg out from under him, and he fell, dropping the bow and clutching at his injured leg.” The Herons create a shield with their bodies. “Four of the attackers went down in the first impact, as the Skandian axes, and Thorn’s mighty club-hand smashed into them. . . The leader looked back in an attempt to rally his men. . . [a crossbow bolt] hit him squarely in the chest. The impact hurled him backwards and crashed into two of his men, dead before he hit the sand.” Many of the bandits are wounded or killed in this eight-page fight.
  • While Ingvar is imprisoned in the slave market, another Slave named Bernardo, bullies him. “Each of his questions was accompanied by a vicious elbow jab into his [Ingvar’s] ribs.” Bernardo’s head jerked back with the first punch. . . Ingvar heard the sound of bones cracking as the man’s nose broke. Bernardo uttered a choked cry, dazed from the rapid sequence of devastating punches.”
  • To create a diversion, Gilan starts a fire in the gold market. As he is leaving, someone sees him and Lydia and calls for the guards. The guards attack and “Lydia took a pace forward and punched her dirk into the soldier’s upper arm. The heavy blade sliced through the man’s chainmail shirt like a hot knife through butter. He felt the sudden burning pain in his arm.” Several of the guards are injured.
  • As Gilan and Lydia flee, the guards continue to follow. “Gilan’s sword shot forward. . . the guard felt the impact, felt the point penetrate his chest and almost immediately withdrew. He felt the hot gush of blood that spelled the end.”
  • Hal and some of the Herons break into the slave quarters in order to free them. When they enter a room, a guard “began to rise, just as Thorn kicked the heavy table over. The two on the side nearest Thorn were caught by a quick back-and-forth sweep of his club, thudding into their skulls and sending them sprawling to either side.”
  • As the slaves try to escape, soldiers “began shooting at the fleeing slaves. . . the would-be escapees began to fall, some crying out in pain, others ominously silent.”
  • While trying to escape, a group of guards corner the Herons and slaves. Hal’s dog Kloof attacks. The guard “yelped in fear as Kloof’s jaws clamped shut on his sword arm with all the force of a bear trap. . .” Then the Herons rush the guards. “Thorn’s small shield slammed full into his face, breaking his nose and cheekbone. The sergeant stumbled backward, blinded by blood and tears, his hands to his face, sinking to the cobblestones, huddled over in agony.”
  • One of the Herons stabs a guardsman who “fell sideways, staring in horrified disbelief at the blood welling from the wound. His chain mail and his sword clattered as he crashed onto the cobbles.”
  • To prevent Tursgud from following the Herons, Hal secretly ties ropes to Tursgud’s ship. When Tursgud tries to follow, the ship is ripped apart, and “the water rushed in and the boat filled and sank. . . One or two heads bobbed on the surface and they could hear their desperate cries. Then they fell silent.”
  • As the Herons flee Socorro, guards use a catapult to throw huge boulders at the ship. The Herons use their own catapult to launch jars filled with pottery shards. The pottery shatters, hitting a guard. The guard “took a jagged, five-centimeter piece in the forehead. It tore a huge flap of skin from his head. Blood gushed out, blinding him, and he threw both hands to his face in pain.” Gilan and Lydia shoot arrows at the guards.
  • A guard accidentally hits a trebuchet, and a boulder fell on the commander who “was still hurling curses at the little ship as it slid past. . . when the huge, crushing weight landed on him. He screamed once, then he was silent.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Hal’s mom soaks a “slab of meat. . . in a mixture of red wine and oil.”
  • At a dance celebrating the Heron’s return, wine and ale are served to the adults. “The band seemed to have mastered the art of drinking deep drafts of ale in sequence, so that the music continued, uninterrupted.”
  • The Herons go to Cresthaven to relieve a Skandian crew of duty. Someone tells Hal, “the ale is wonderful.” Before they leave, the villagers throw a party for the Skandians, who drink plenty of ale.
  • Smugglers bring brandy from Gallica into Cresthaven.
  • Wine is served at the gold market.
  • Tursgud and his men had been banned from “several drinking places.” So Tursgud went into a different tavern and “spent the night there, hunched over a table in the corner, repeatedly calling for his ale cup to be refilled.”
  • When the Herons return the Araluens, the village throws a party and offers their guests ale. The Herons drink coffee instead.

Language

  • The Skandians often use their gods’ names as exclamations. For example, when a dog eats a brush, Hal yells, “Let go, you fool! . . . Orlog blast you!”
  • When the Herons approach a damaged ship, Hal says, “Oh Gorlog’s socks, they think we’re going to attack them.”
  • Someone calls the Oberjarl a “silly old fool.”
  • Two brothers argue and call each other names, such as idiot and blithering twit.
  • Several times someone is called an oaf or an idiot.
  • Damn is used once.
  • A guard calls his commander a “son of a pig.”

 Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • The Socorrans build prayer towers for their gods. Hahmet is the god of war. Jahmet is the god of love. Kaif is the god of good harvest, fair weather, business and success, and family matters. The Socorrans pray three times a day.
  • The Hellenese believe in the goddess Ariadne.
  • When the Herons rescue slaves, one of them tells Hal, “May the gods bless you for coming.”
  • Someone says, “By Ergon’s tears,” which refers to an obscure Araluen god.

Heartless

Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland and a favorite of the unmarried King, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, she wants to open a shop and create delectable pastries. But to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for a woman who could be queen.

At a royal ball where Cath is expected to receive the King’s marriage proposal, she meets a handsome and mysterious jester called Jest. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the King and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into a secret courtship. Catherine is determined to choose her own destiny. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.

Catherine’s sweet and fiery nature will have readers falling in love with her from the very start. Readers will empathize with her troubles. Catherine desperately wants to make her parents proud, so she often hides her feelings. Catherine wonders, “Was she so afraid to disappoint her parents and the King, that she was willing to put their happiness before her own?” To make matters worse, her domineering mother doesn’t listen even when Catherine tries to be honest, and her mother constantly harasses her about food. At one point, her mother takes away custard and says, “You’ll be mistaken for a walrus at the festival. . . You’ll become an elephant!”

Heartless takes the reader into the imaginative world of Heart, a reflection of the land in Alice in Wonderland—a place with walking cards, magical pumpkins, and hats that give hope. Even though the setting is magical, the story isn’t a sweet love story. Instead, Catherine’s transformation into the Queen of Hearts that we all know from Alice in Wonderland is heartbreaking. Throughout the story, Catherine’s good intentions repeatedly lead to disaster. It doesn’t matter if the characters acted out of love, the results are always disastrous.

If you’re looking for a cheerful Alice and Wonderland based story, Heartless is not the book for you. Heartless is an engaging story with complex characters and sensational surprises. Catherine’s story will have you reflecting on fate and wondering if people have the ability to choose their futures or if their futures are predetermined. Readers will either love or hate Heartless, but either way, the characters will stay with you a long time after you close the book.

Sexual Content

  • Catherine daydreams about Jest’s “arms lowering her onto a bed of rose petals. Fingers tracing the contours of her face. Kisses trailing down her throat. . . And if her dreams were to be believed, he was a very, very good kisser.”
  • Catherine doesn’t want to marry the king. One of her friends suggests, “I’m only saying that you might be the king’s wife, but who is to say you couldn’t also have more clandestine relations with the joker.” Catherine is aghast.
  • While at the theatre, one of the entertainers “peeked up the skirts of the passing actresses.”
  • After Jest declares his feelings of love, he kisses Catherine. Jest “kissed her—soft at first. . . Another kiss, hesitant, growing bolder. . .Catherine grinned, delirious once more, and pulled him down onto the grass.”
  • Jest and Catherine run from Heart. When they think they are safe, Jest “grabbed her suddenly, crushing his mouth against hers. Cath threw her arms around his neck, delighting in the way her heart expanded as if it could consume them both.”
  • Catherine leaves Jest to help a friend. Before she goes, “She threw her arms around him and silenced him with a kiss, digging her hands into his hair. . . His arms drew her closer, melding their bodies together.”

Violence

  • Catherine meets Jack “who had been out of pity after losing his right eye in a game of charades.”
  • A Jabberwock attacks the castle. It “shattered one of the windows and took two of the courtiers right from the ballroom floor. Then it just flew off with them. . .” Later, someone finds pieces of the courtiers.
  • While at a tea party a Jabberwock attacks. “The Jabberwock screamed again. It was followed by the sound of splintering wood and creaking nails. The wall trembled. . .”
  • As the guests flee, a turtle “froze.” Catherine goes to help the turtle. “Every limb tightened and she could see its neck outstretched and its fangs bared and its tongue lolling toward her. . . The Lion threw himself in front of Catherine, one massive paw lifted as if he would bat the Jabberwock out of the sky.” The scene is described over six pages.
  • In the Hatta’s family, everyone goes mad. Hatta says his father “killed himself. With a brim tolliker.”
  • Catherine reads a mock turtle soup recipe. “Begin with a medium-sized mock turtle. . . Using a sharp butcher knife, remove the calf head. Mock turtles die slowly, so be aware that the head will continue to mewl and the body may try to crawl away for some minutes after decapitation.”
  • At a festival, a woman grabs Catherine’s wrist. “She rubbed her wrists, glad that the wounds weren’t deep and had already stopped bleeding, though they stung something dreadful.”
  • The Jabberwock attacks a theatre. “With a gurgle in its throat, the Jabberwock leaped forward, jaws unhinged. Catherine screamed. . . He [Jest] leaped onto the stair’s balustrade and dashed toward the best like running up a marble statue. He rolled in the air, landed on the back of the monster’s long neck, and grabbed one of the spindly whiskers that grew from its head as if he were gripping a leash. . .” The monster flies away. Catherine is injured. The fight scene is described over six pages.
  • Jest talks about where he lives, saying, “I’ve watched so many die on the battlefield. I’ve taken so many lives myself—pawns of the Red Queen, mostly, only for them to be replaced by new soldiers and sent forward again.”
  • While Catherine is trying to free a friend, the Jabberwock “crashed to the ground, blocking her path. The best curled its serpentine neck towards the sky and snorted, its nostrils steaming. . . A scream was ripped from Cath’s throat and she charged forward, swinging the sword as hard as her arms would allow it. The blade made one fast, clean cut. . . The Jabberwock’s head disconnected from her slithering neck. Her body crashed onto the rows of abandoned pumpkins.” The Jabberwock’s attack is described over ten pages.
  • After Catherine kills the Jabberwock, a man attacks Jest. “. . . There was the sound of blood sputtering across the ground. . . Jest. Mutilated. Severed. Dead.”
  • After Catherine becomes Queen of Hearts, Three Sisters magically take her heart. One of the sisters, Lacie “raised the dagger and plunged it into Cath’s chest. Catherine gasped. . . Lacie pulled out the blade. A beating heart was skewered on its tip. It was broken, cut almost clean in half by a blackened fissure that was filled with sawdust.” Catherine still lives, but her only emotion is rage.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Several times throughout the book, adults drink wine. For example, wine is served at a royal ball.
  • Mr. Caterpillar smokes “from a large hookah.”
  • Catherine’s parents drink “cordials.”
  • When Catherine is injured, Jest gives her “treacle.” When she takes the treacle, it “contains mythical healing properties.” Her ankle begins to heal itself. “She hardly felt it. The slow straightening of the joint, the shrinking of the lump, the gradual reduction of her swollen flesh.”

Language

  • A lady yells, “YOU BLOODY BIRD! CAN’T YOU AIM STRAIGHT FOR ONCE?”

Supernatural

  • Catherine’s world is full of magic.
  • Many characters are animals or other strange creatures, such as playing cards.
  • When Catherine dreams, she wakes up to find a lemon tree once, and another time a rose bush climbing her bedpost. Later a vine with “hundreds and hundreds of small, delicate hearts surrounded her—all of them bleeding.”
  • A turtle suddenly begins to change. “Upended on his back, exposing the softer underside of his shell, his arms and legs flailing. He was still groaning and pressing his flippers to his stomach, his voice hoarse with pain, his eyes wide and frightened. . . His screams turned gargled as his head, too, began to morph into something strange, something horrid.” Parts of the turtle’s body change. “His reptilian tail stretched and curled and spouted a tuff of fur on its end. His tail, too, was now that of a young cow.” His transformation is described over three pages.
  • Hatta makes hats from “unique materials” that give them magical properties.
  • Jest can change into a raven. “Jest’s body dissolved—a shadow, a flutter, a wisp of ink-dipped quills.”
  • If someone steps through a magical-looking glass, they are transported to another place.
  • A woman eats magical pumpkins that turn her into the Jabberwock. Later, the pumpkins tell Catherine that she should “run away with your human legs, run away. . .”

Spiritual Content

  • None

All Together Now

Bina and her friend Darcy love shredding the guitar and belting high notes together in their new band. All they need now is a drummer. When their classmate Enzo, volunteers, Bina is thrilled. That is until she realizes that sometimes two’s company and three’s a crowd.

To make matters worse, Bina’s best friend Austin has been acting strange ever since he and his girlfriend broke up. Is he interested in someone new? And is it. . . Bina?

Bina always thought she wanted a band, not a boyfriend. But now romance seems to swirl around her whether she likes it or not. Can she navigate its twists and turns before the lights come on and the music starts playing?

Anyone who is more interested in music than romance will relate to Bina, who isn’t ready to date. When Bina’s best friend decides that they should add a little romance to their relationship, Bina isn’t sure what to do. She doesn’t want to lose her best friend, but she’s not ready to start smooching him either. To add to her worries, Darcy and Enzo kick Bina out of the band that Bina started, and then they steal her songs!

All Together Now is told from Bina’s point of view, which allows her conflicting emotions to take center stage. Bina’s story highlights the importance of understanding yourself. When Bina is given an opportunity to play in front of a large audience, her mom says, “I know it’s scary to walk away from something you really want, but you have to ask yourself, ‘Is the timing right?’” In the end, Bina realizes that she’s not ready to date or perform. The book ends on a hopeful note that hints that one day, Bina will be ready for both.

All Together Now uses pink hues to illustrate the graphic novel panels. The easy-to-read story uses simple vocabulary and has eleven or fewer words on each page. The characters’ words appear in quote boxes, and the characters’ thoughts appear in arrows, which makes it easy to distinguish the two. The graphic novel format makes All Together Now a good choice for reluctant readers. Even though the book is the second installment of the Eagle Rock Series, each book can be read independently.

Readers will relate to the friendship conflict that dominates All Together Now. Even though Bina’s mother only makes a small appearance, her positive advice and encouragement helps Bina. In the end, Bina is able to make a mature decision based on her own needs. All Together Now explores the complicated nature of friendships in a teen-friendly way that shows that it is okay to go at your own pace.

Sexual Content

  • Bina and her friend see the neighbor’s daughter kissing her boyfriend.
  • Bina and her neighbor, Charlie, have a talk about boys. Charlie says, “Maybe I should date girls for a while.” When Charlie asks Bina if she likes girls, Bina says, “Sometimes I think I’ve got a crush on someone—girl, guy, whatever—but then I wonder, what’s the difference between liking someone and liking them?”
  • Darcy tells Bina that Enzo kissed her. She adds, “He’s a good kisser. I guess he’s my boyfriend now.” Bina gets upset and asks Darcy if she went to Enzo’s house “because you were hoping to hook up?”
  • When Bina gets to band practice, she sees Darcy sitting on Enzo’s lap and kissing him.
  • Enzo, Darcy, and Bina go shopping. Bina gets upset when Enzo and Darcy go into a dressing room so they can make out.
  • While at a concert, a boy kisses Bina. She gets upset and runs off.

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Bina goes camping with her older brother and mother. Her brother says, “There’s a reason so many musicians come out here to record albums. And do drugs.” Bina’s mother says, “And die from heroin overdoses, like Gram Parson did, which is what will happen if you do drugs.”

 Language

  • “Oh my God” and “OMG” are used as exclamations thirteen times.
  • Crap and freaking are both used once.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Seedfolks

In a neglected and unkempt empty lot in a Cleveland neighborhood, a young Vietnamese girl named Kim plants a seed to honor her dead father. Although her gardening was meant to be a secret, her actions are detected by a curious neighbor, and Kim’s small seed ignites a change throughout the neighborhood; soon the community strives to revitalize the lot and transform it into a beautiful garden. Neighbors from all sorts of backgrounds come together to grow things, sharing gardening tips and growing closer as a community.

Seedfolks is a heartwarming story that demonstrates the power of simple actions, and how change is possible. Each chapter follows the perspective of a different neighbor with a unique background and a new story to tell. For example, Gonzalo watches his Tío plant seeds and feels closer to the earth as he remembers life in Guatemala. Virgil’s father from Haiti wants to grow lettuce for money. And Sam, although too old to garden himself, talks to his neighbors as they grow their fruits, vegetables, and flowers and unites the community through conversation.

Ultimately, Seedfolks is a story that celebrates diversity. Although the neighbors originally use the garden separately without communicating, they eventually begin to help one another grow things and learn from each other’s similarities and differences. Even when the winter comes, they have the promise of the garden to bring them back together again.

Although the garden is at the center of the book, the real story comes from the lives of the people using this revitalized space. Each chapter introduces a brand-new character and includes a black and white sketch to give a sense of who they are. While some characters speak broken English, their perspectives are understandable and personal. There is no coherent plot in the novel as every chapter follows a new perspective, but some of the same characters reappear in the background of other’s stories. With this format, the central theme showcases how even small actions, like planting a seed in a vacant lot, can produce big changes that bring people together. In the end, the neighbors that once coexisted separately from one another are united with a common space and goal to grow.

 Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • In the past, Wendell’s boy was “shot dead like a dog in the street.”
  • Gonzalo explains it isn’t safe to sit outside or “some gang driving by might use you for target practice.”
  • Sae Young was robbed and assaulted at her dry-cleaning store. The thief had a gun and “he take out money, then push me [Sae Young] down. He yelling at me. Very bad words. Then he kick me. Break cheekbone. Then he kick me again, head hit hard against wall and I go to sleep.”
  • Amir hears a woman scream because “a man with a knife had taken her purse.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Before the garden, there were “men with no work drinking from nine to five instead, down there in the lot.”
  • Sam hires a young boy to plant his garden. The boy “wanted to grow marijuana, to sell.” Instead, they agree to plant pumpkins.

 Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Sam calls the garden “a small Garden of Eden.”
  • After visiting the garden, Wendell is reminded of the Bible verse, “And a little child shall lead them.”

by Elena Brown

The Adventures of John Blake: Mysteries of the Ghost Ship

Trapped in the mists of time by a terrible research experiment gone wrong, John Blake and his mysterious ship are doomed to sail between the centuries, searching for a way home. In the modern day, John rescues a shipwrecked young girl his own age, Serena, and promises to help her.

But returning Serena to her own time means traveling to the one place where the ship is in most danger of destruction. Plus the all-powerful Dahlberg Corporation has an ambitious leader with plans far greater and more terrible than anyone has realized. The Dahlberb Corporation is hot on their trail, because only John, Serena, and the crew know Dahlberg’s true intentions. And only they have the power to stop him from bending the world to his will.

John Blake is an interesting character who is brave enough to try to stop Dahlberg from controlling the world. However, John and his crewmates are not well developed. The end of the book has a snippet of backstory for each of the crew. However, none of their backstories is discussed in the graphic novel, which makes the characters one-dimensional.

The large cast of characters causes a lot of confusion, and at first, it’s hard to distinguish the good guys from the bad guys. For instance, the introduction of Danielle is confusing. She has been researching the ghost ship Mary Alice, but her interest in the ghost ship isn’t explained until the very end. Plus, it’s unclear why Danielle’s knowledge of the ship is a threat to Dahlberg. Unfortunately, none of the secondary characters are developed enough to understand their motivations or care about their outcomes.

While the publisher recommends Mysteries of the Ghost Ship for readers as young as eight, the graphic novel is not a children’s book. The great lengths Dahlberg takes to rid anyone who he perceives as a threat leads to a lot of violence. Plus, the profanity and dialogue are geared more towards adults than children. Even though the two main characters, John and Serena, are in their teens, younger readers will have a difficult time connecting to them.

Mysteries of the Ghost Ship uses language that makes the book accessible to readers, but some pages are text-heavy and the complicated plot is confusing. The illustrations help propel the story forward, while the spooky nature of the Mary Alice’s illustrations adds a little mystery.

Even though the Mary Alice is a time-traveling ship, the book’s action is almost entirely in the present day. If you want an action-packed graphic novel that is a quick read, Mysteries of the Ghost Ship is a good choice. However, readers who want more developed characters who jump into a particular time period should add Tangled in Time by Kathryn Lasky and the Ruby Red Trilogy by Kerstin Gier to their reading list.

 Sexual Content

  • A crewmember warns Serena about the Barbary Pirates who “take slaves, then make them row, then sell them. Sold to a harem, you know.”

Violence

  • Roger knocks out a man. Then Roger puts a chokehold on a man. Another person swings a knife at Roger. Roger steals a briefcase and then leaves. The fight is illustrated over two pages.
  • When Danielle tries to fly out of the country, men approach her and force her into a room. Roger breaks into the room and begins hitting and kicking the other men. Then, Roger points a gun at one of the men’s heads. Then men are tied to a table and their mouths are duck taped shut. The scenes are illustrated over three pages.
  • Roger recognized a man who is “an expert on enhanced interrogation techniques.” Roger considers the man’s techniques to be torture.
  • After falling off a boat, Serena finds her family and runs toward her mother. One of the villain’s lackeys points a gun at her. Serena and her friend Blake run. They go into a restaurant’s kitchen and when the men follow, Blake and Serena throw food in their faces.
  • As Serena and Blake flee, a man with a gun jumps onto the car. Blake rolls down the window and pokes the man in the eye, which causes him to fall off of the car.
  • Blake talks about meeting Kevin. When the two boys part, a man jumps out and stabs Kevin in the heart. Kevin dies.
  • When the ghost ship travels to the present, men in military clothing board the ship and start shooting. Blake is able to “spring” and “slam” the men, knocking them overboard. The fight is illustrated over six pages.
  • During a party, Blake and one of his crewmates sneak onto the villain’s yacht. A man points a gun at them. Roger punches the man in the face, knocking him out.
  • Roger, Blake, and some of Blake’s crewmen try to sneak into a party. Another man points a gun at the group. Blake confronts the villain and the two get into a fight. Once Blake is able to reveal the villain’s crime, he and his crew jump back into the Mary Alice. The fighting is illustrated over nine pages.
  • The villain shoots a missile at the Mary Alice, but the ghost ship disappears and the missile sinks the villain’s yacht. The yacht sinks and other boats come to rescue the passengers.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Profanity is used often. Profanity includes bloody, damn, and hell.
  • “Oh Mother of God” is used several times. For example, when seeing a strange ship, a man says, “Oh Mother of God, protect us.”
  • A father calls his son an idiot and a moron.
  • Oh God and Oh my God are rarely used as exclamations. For example, when a girl falls into the ocean, her mother says, “Oh God!” Later she says, “For God’s sake—the engine! Never mind the damn sails. . .”

Supernatural

  • The ghost ship Mary Alice travels to different times, but the crew cannot control where the ship goes. Blake says, “But I don’t know where we’ll end up. I think Mary Alice does though. . .maybe the wood remembers things we don’t. We seem to end up where we need to be more times than not.”

Spiritual Content

  • When the Mary Alice’s crew hears strange, but beautiful music, one of the crew says, “Jesus Christ. Protect me! Protect me!”

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky

Seventh-grader Tristan Strong lost his best friend, Eddie, in a bus accident, and Tristan is dealing with grief as well as guilt because he thinks he could have saved Eddie. Now, all Tristan has left from Eddie is a journal where Eddie was recording a bunch of stories. With the journal and his grief in hand, Tristan’s parents send him to live with his grandparents in Alabama to recover.

Then a creature shows up one night and steals Eddie’s journal. Tristan is sent on a chase to the Bottle Tree where he ends up punching a hole in the MidPass, a magical world filled with black American folk heroes. The only way Tristan can get back home is to help the gods find Anansi to seal the hole and end the war in the Alke and MidPass. Easy enough, right?

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky introduces black American folklore like John Henry, High John, and Brer Rabbit, plus older tales such as the story-weaving spider Anansi. In this book, they are gods living in their own world adjacent to Tristan’s world. The mythology includes strong ties to the slave trade and slavery. For instance, the main antagonists, Uncle Cotton and the Maafa, embody greed and enslavement, and monstrous bone ships carry the terrible and haunting memories of enslaved Africans who suffered and died in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

The importance of memory and storytelling are key themes that come to life through the folklore and history of this story. Tristan discovers that he is an Anansesem, which means his ability to weave stories is imbued with magical qualities that bring the stories to life. His abilities keep history and mythology alive. History and mythology are intertwined, and readers will see how they influence each other.

Tristan also deals with his own grief over the death of his friend Eddie. Tristan’s memories and Eddie’s journal keep those memories alive. Through Tristan’s memories and Eddie’s ghost, Tristan learns how to cope with his grief. He will always be sad that his best friend is gone, but using the journal and his storytelling abilities, Tristan can continue to live his own life while honoring Eddie’s memory.

Storytelling is one of the most important themes in Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, and it serves as a constant reminder that stories keep histories and memories alive. Oral storytelling is one of the oldest practices, and Mbalia taps into that intensely human need to share experiences in a beautiful and creative way. Tristan’s story encapsulates the fun, adventurous elements of traveling to a new world where gods come to life and mythology runs rampant. The heart of this book, however, is in the memories and experiences that have survived and are now shared through Tristan’s eyes.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Tristan comes from a long legacy of boxers. Boxing-related violence, like punching, happens. For example, Tristan notes that in his first fight, he “got knocked flat on [his] butt. Twice.”
  • Tristan has gotten into several fights at school. Tristan notes, “At least I’d held my own in those school fights.”
  • A legend named Gum Baby threatens Tristan for following her. She says, “If Gum Baby had more time, she’d wear out that hide of [Tristan’s], up one end and down the other.”
  • Gum Baby tries to beat up Tristan. Tristan narrates, “it took everything I had to shield myself as her tiny fists and feet pummeled me.”
  • Tristan tells Gum Baby that if she loses Eddie’s book, he’ll “turn [Gum Baby] into an incense holder.”
  • Tristan accidentally nearly knocks Gum Baby over. In response, she grabs the hood of his sweatshirt and yells, “BUMBLETONGUE, GUM BABY GONNA WHOOP YOU LIKE YOUR BUTT’S ON FIRE!”
  • Tristan uses his boxing abilities to protect himself against magical monsters. Tristan describes that during a fight with the fetterlings or magical shackle-snakes, “I ducked its attack and slammed home an uppercut. Another slithered up and I snapped two quick jabs and a hook.”
  • Other characters use weapons against magical monsters, including staffs and swords. Tristan uses magical boxing gloves gifted to him by John Henry. In one battle, Tristan punches a fetterling, and “it exploded, showering [Tristan] with broken bits of chain and fluff.” These fight sequences often last a few pages.
  • Tristan’s best friend, Eddie, died in a bus crash, and Tristan couldn’t save him. Tristan tells his friend, Ayanna, about the crash. Tristan narrates, “We drove over a bridge and hit a patch of ice . . . We slid into the other lane, right into the path of a truck . . . I saw that the bus was hanging over the edge of the bridge . . . Eddie was in the back corner, trapped between two seats, struggling and failing to free himself. He asked me to save him . . . I still see his hand reaching for me. I didn’t move I was so scared. I was scared of falling, of drowning in the water below. I didn’t wanna die.” Tristan spends several pages telling the full story.
  • Much of the mythology in the book is influenced by the effects of slavery. For instance, Tristan meets two immortal women with wings. He describes, “Nana used to tell me stories about how over in Africa, before the horrors of slavery, people used to fly all the time . . . Then came the chains and ships, and pain and whips, and the people’s wings fell or were torn off.”
  • There is a magical war being waged in Alke, and there are many casualties. Ayanna tells Tristan that she “had to go talk to some of the Midfolk… . . . had to tell some families that we weren’t able to find their loved ones.”
  • Tristan activates a magical statue while being chased. To do this, Tristan picked up Gum Baby and “threw the best spiral [he’d] ever tossed in [his] life. Like, fifty yards, easy. I should’ve played football.”
  • Tristan and his friends go into the mountains looking for the Story Box, but the mountains have several layers of protection against intruders, including laser-shooting rocks. As they fly in on their magical raft, Tristan describes, “Silver and black lightning bolts were being hurled at us by giant black stone towers with jewels at the tops.”
  • The horrors of slavery are baked into the folklore throughout the book. Sometimes, Tristan gets a glimpse at different scenes hinting at this. One of the obvious moments is when the god, High John, shows him, “Old trees and Mississippi suns. Auction houses and Congo landings.” At these images, Tristan says, “I didn’t recognize any of the images and yet I knew them all.”
  • Gum Baby slaps Tristan across the face because, as Gum Baby says, “Ain’t no time for sleep . . . Gum Baby got missions and stuff.”
  • Giant poisonous brand flies swarm the Ridgefolk in the mountain. Tristan describes the scene, saying, “Everywhere a brand fly landed, skin sizzled and welted. Victims tried to peel the flies off, but whatever type of poison those flying iron monsters carried, it was potent. After a few feeble attempts to free themselves, the Ridgefolk crumpled to the floor paralyzed. Fetterlings snapped cuffs around their wrists and ankles and tugged them out the door.” The attack from all the monsters in this scene lasts for a chapter.
  • High John cuts up a massive monster with his magical ax. Tristan describes, “It wasn’t pretty. You ever see a twig get caught beneath a lawnmower? Or tree branches fed into a wood-chipper? Yeah.”
  • The poison from the brand flies infects Tristan’s friend, Ayanna. When they find her again, “she’s not breathing.” They bring Ayanna with them when they flee the mountain. Chestnutt, another companion, is also in a magical coma due to the poison.
  • Tristan and the surviving gods fight the Maafa, a magical entity built upon pain that consumes all that it can. Tristan sees the others fighting and describes, “But the refugees from Midfolk fought, too, for their very right to live, though they were far from home. John Henry, the raft line wrapped around his waist so he could use both hands, swung his hammer like he was back drilling through a mountain. Left and right, up and down, the hammer fell on the fetterlings with the rash of metal on metal. No flourishes, just a steady rhythm.” The battle lasts for several chapters.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Light profanity is used throughout. Profanity includes chumps, sucks, dumb, stupid, idiotic, nimrod, and loudmouth.
  • Tristan calls Gum Baby a “doll baby,” and she attacks him. She calls him a “giant turtle-faced thistle-head.”
  • Tristan’s go-to exclamation is “sweet peaches.”
  • Tristan sees a place called the Golden Crescent from the air. Tristan says, “Holy—” but is cut off by some of his companions.

Supernatural

  • This is a book about mythology, specifically West African mythologies that include “Nyame or Anansi.” There are also many African American folk legends, including “High John, John Henry, and Brer Rabbit.” These legends are gods. Tristan interacts with these immortal beings frequently, and they all do a variety of magic. They also live in magical realms that Tristan visits.
  • Rick Riordan, the author of the Percy Jackson series and head of Riordan Reads, has a preface in this book. Riordan pokes fun at Greek mythology, saying that “you can’t swing a gorgon’s head in any bookstore without hitting at least a dozen Greek-myth-inspired books.”
  • Tristan’s best friend, Eddie, dies before the start of the book, and Eddie leaves Tristan his journal. Eddie’s journal emits an “emerald-green glow” that Tristan realizes only he can see.
  • The first page of the journal is blank when Tristan received it, but Tristan soon notices that “a weird symbol appeared to be stitched” into Eddie’s journal. It is assumed that it appeared out of nowhere.
  • Nana tells many stories about mythology to Tristan. When they arrive on the farm, Nana tells Tristan about haints. She says that they’re “evil spirits . . . Lord knows, plenty of those ramblin’ about.” Haints show up throughout the book.
  • There is a baby doll in Tristan’s room at his grandparents’ house. One night, Tristan hears weird noises, and he turns his flashlight on. When the light hit the baby, it “rotated its head.” The baby doll is a legend called Gum Baby, and she talks to Tristan. In Anansi’s stories, Gum Baby “was a doll Anansi used to trap an African fairy while he was on a quest.”
  • Tristan punches the Bottle Tree, ripping a hole in the sky. “The punch smashed into the large blue bottle near the top, shattering the glass…Out of the corner of [Tristan’s] eye, [Tristan] saw a shadowy shape ooze from what was left of the broken bottle on the ground and creep along the grass…a chasm ripped open at the foot of the tree. A giant sucking sound filled the clearing like air rushing toward a hole.” Tristan and Gum Baby fall through the hole as they try to save Eddie’s journal.
  • Ayanna describes Tristan’s world and her world, Alke, by saying, “Alke is the dream to your world’s reality. The tales, the fables, the things you think are made up, they exist here. We aren’t just stories—we’re real, with hopes and dreams and fears just like you.”
  • Eddie’s spirit comes back through his journal several times throughout the book. Tristan describes, “The journal pages spun and coiled in the air until they formed a humanoid figure.” Eddie saves Tristan from the fetterlings, which are metals snakes with shackles for heads. He also speaks to Tristan occasionally.
  • Tristan is an Anansesem, or a magical storyteller. John Henry explains that when Tristan tells stories, “something special happens.” Tristan is able to bring the stories to life or summon them with his words, and this happens several times throughout the book. For instance, when Tristan tells a story about him and Eddie, the clouds around him “swirled and stretched into a diorama. Two cloud boys—one slightly larger than the other—crept into a large nimbus of a building.”
  • The god High John pulls Tristan’s soul out of his body and brings him into a spirit realm where they can talk privately. They fly on the back of High John’s giant crow, “Old Familiar.”
  • In the popular stories about High John, he would take “slaves’ spirits on trips of happiness and joy and wonder, all while their bodies remained on the plantation and continued to work.”
  • There are forest fairies, the Mmoatia, who know plants and healing remedies. They “have taken a shine to [Tristan].”

Spiritual Content

  • Before a battle, John Henry says, “Give me strength.” Tristan “was confused until [he] realized it was like a prayer before battle, and [Tristan] gulped. When gods prayed, things were about to get real.”
  • Inside the mountain, the council within calls upon their ancestors for guidance. Tristan notes, “I could see through them. ‘They’re spirits,’ I mumbled.”
  • The diviner in the mountain tells the ancestors that Tristan “has the blessing of gods and the spirit of the imbongi . . . I can feel it.”
  • Tristan is afraid of heights, and while flying around on a magical flying saucer he “mumbled prayers in seven different languages.”
  • There’s a legend about High John in which he “fell in love with the devil’s daughter. In order to win her hand, the devil told him he had to clear an enormous field, plant corn, then harvest it, all in one day.”

by Alli Kestler

Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes

War between the devas and the demons is imminent, and the Otherworld is on high alert. Fourteen-year-old Aru Shah and her friends are sent on a mission to rescue two “targets,” one of whom is about to utter a prophecy that could mean the difference between victory and defeat. It turns out that the targets, a pair of twins, are the newest Pandava sisters, though the prophecy says one sister is not true.

When the Pandavas fail to prevent the prophecy from reaching the Sleeper’s ears, the heavenly attendants ask them to step aside. Aru believes the only way to put the shine back on their brand is to find the Kalpavriksha, the wish-granting tree that came out of the Ocean of Milk when it was churned. If she can reach it before the Sleeper, perhaps she can turn everything around with one wish.

Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes brings India’s mythology to life in an engaging and suspenseful story that pits good against evil. Readers will meet the constellations, Saturn, a dismembered crocodile, and other deities. As Aru, her Pandava sisters, Aiden, and Rudy (a prince) try to stop the Sleeper from winning a war, they travel through the skies (literally) in a fast-paced adventure that is at times heart-stoppingly suspenseful as well as mixed with humor and heart.

Two new Pandava sisters enter the scene, but they play a secondary role. However, readers will enjoy Nikita’s fashion sense as well as her ability to make plants grow into weapons. Her sister, Sheela, adds interest because of her ability to tell prophecies. Even though the two sisters do not have a starring role, their inclusion adds several fun elements to the story. Because of the large cast of characters and their backstories, Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes should only be read after the first two installments of the series.

Each one of Aru’s group has family issues that make them feel unworthy; some of them also feel unloved. Because Aru’s father gave up his family and became the Sleeper, Aru feels “a terrible ache of loss” as well as a “confusing mix of anger and pity and pain.” While the story explores the hurt of being unloved by a parent, it doesn’t offer platitudes to explain away the pain. By the end of the story, Aru is full of rage, which will leave readers wondering what will happen next.

Even though the characters fight several battles, many of them are won through optical illusions. While the battle scenes are suspenseful, the descriptions are never bloody or gory. While the story is appropriate for younger readers, the complicated plot, large cast of characters, and the mythological gods, goddesses, and monsters make the story best for strong readers.

Anyone who enjoys an excellent adventure should read Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes. Aru and her friends are relatable characters who are willing to enter dangerous situations in order to defeat the Sleeper. The ending doesn’t wrap up any story threads but ends with a surprise twist and a cliffhanger that will have readers reaching for the next book in the series, Aru Shah and the City of Gold.

Sexual Content

  • Aru and her friends are sprinkled with “glittering dust” that “forces out secrets.” Rudy yells, “I’ve never kissed a girl. Once I practiced on a gem, but I choked on it!”

Violence

  • A rakshasa is a demon “with the body of a man and the head of a bull.” The rakshasa tries to take a girl. Aru and Mini attempt to stop the demon, and “he flung out his other hand, and an S-shaped piece of onyx came hurtling toward Aru. The weapon writhed as it flew, emitting shadows that obscured her vision.” A shadow “wrapped itself around Mini’s ankle while another slipped under her sneakers, trying to dislodge her show suckers.”
  • During the attack, the girl is on a Ferris wheel. Using magic, Mini makes the Ferris wheel turn, “slowly, then fast and even faster until its lights blurred. . . The rakshasa’s grip loosened and he tumbled, his bull head knocking against the metal spokes as he dropped from one rung to the next.”
  • When the rakshasa tried to open the door of the Ferris wheel, Aru “let loose. Electricity rippled around the door. . . He howled as a surge of lightning shot through his arm, sending him crumpling to his knees.” Someone trips the demon who “let out a terrifying roar right before he knocked his head on a telephone pole and promptly passes out.” The demon battle is described over six pages.
  • While going over the Yamuna River, Aiden, Brynne, and Rudy drink the water. Later, Aru and Mini see their friends in the river water “swirling in a tight knot, their heads dipping in and out of the water. . . In fact, they seemed, well . . . dead.” Mini saves Aiden, Brynne, and Rudy. However, the goddess erases Aru’s mind so no one knows that Mini saved them all.
  • Two yali try to kill Aru and her friends. “The second yali lunged at them, trying to reach the pillar.” Bryn creates wind that “roared through the air, and the creature hit a pile of stones with a hard thud.” Aru and the others, including the yali, all live. Their bartering and fighting is described over 7 pages.
  • The king of the birds orders the birds to attack Aru and her group. Aru cast a lightning bolt that transformed into a net. A swath of birds is caught in mid-flight. They squawked as they dropped to the forest floor, squirming beneath the mesh.
  • During the battle against the birds, “Aru, Brynne, and Aiden channeled everything they could at the flock—concentrated tornadoes, winnowing electrified blades, and bolts of lightning. When a large percentage of the birds had fallen away, Mini replaced the veil of invisibility with a violet shield.” The force field gives the other birds a “powerful conk to the head.” The fight is described over 6 pages.
  • When Saturn looks directly at something it bursts into flames. When he was looking for a beetle, “his gaze went everywhere at once. One glance and a palm tree hissed as it went up in flames. One blink and the pit of broken musical instruments burst into flames, filling the air with the twanging of popped guitar strings.” No one is injured.
  • A plant bites Aru’s finger.
  • The story ends in a multi-chapter battle. While trying to save Sheela, an invisible enemy threatens the group. “Aiden raised his scimitars only for something to hurl him backward, slamming him against a boulder.” The group attempt to defend themselves. “Nikita spread out her arms, and the fence of roots and thorns exploded outward. Something yelled in pain.”
  • When they find Sheela, she “appeared, gagged with a shadow and bound with silvery ropes. Her eyes looked frantic, but she held up her chin.”
  • When a pair of naga try to “snake toward the group,” Rudy “borrowed one of Aiden’s scimitars and skewered the ends of their tails to the ground. They screamed and hissed, coiling back on themselves.”
  • Trying to protect herself and her friends, “Nikita slammed her palms together. Roses of every size and color cascaded down her body like a ball grown unfurling. Their branches reached for the shadows and grew around the Sleeper, trapping him in a net of thorns.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • “Oh my gods” and “Oh gods” are both used as an exclamation once.
  • While on a bridge over the Yamuna River, Aru thought, “Gods, she was thirsty.”
  • Heck is used twice.

Supernatural

  • Magic is used often. For example, after catching several rakshasas, Aru and her friends decide to take them to the Court of the Sky. In order to restrain them, Nikita “stretched out her hand and green light radiated from her fingertips. The sidewalk trembled as weeds between the cracks grew taller, multiplied, and spread outward until they had formed four rectangular cushions on the ground. . . Vines snaked out from Nikita’s tiara and grew several feet long before they snapped off and wound around each of the rakshasas, binding them tight.”
  • Aru is given a key that will unlock all things. The key is “in a sense, alive, and it might demand something in return for its services.”
  • Nikita and the other Pandavas meet in each other’s dreams.
  • While crossing the Yamuna River, the river “called to her like a lullaby” making Aru desperately thirsty for its waters. While there, Aru and Mini meet the goddess of the river whose “long black hair was pinned back with fish teeth and dotted with pearls. Around her neck and wrists she wore writhing snakes brighter than any jewels.”
  • Nakita makes clothes with magical elements. She makes Aru pants “where the coiled-up sticky threads were disguised as embroidery.”
  • Aru finds a jewel that is “a receptacle for thoughts, emotions, memories.” The jewel shows Aru her father’s memories. When the stone is pressed on, “something like a hologram emerged from the jewel, rending an eerie sequence of scenes in front of them.”

Spiritual Content

  • Aru is the daughter of thunder and lightning.
  • Aru and the other Pandavas are reincarnated. Nikita and her twin are “the reincarnations of Nakula and Sahadeva, the brothers famous for their beauty, archery and equestrian skills, and wisdom.”

 

The Ghost

From the day Emily rescued her dog, Zack, they have always shared a special connection—they can read each other’s minds. And since Zack can sense when someone is in danger, they’ve been using their special powers to help save people.

But now Emily and Zack have discovered something new. They can see ghosts! And one ghost, in particular, needs their help. Shocked by her new discovery, Emily is determined to find out who this ghost is and why he is haunting her town. But if Emily and Zack are the only ones who can see the ghost, how can they get anyone to believe them? Will they be able to help in time, or will the ghost be doomed to haunt the earth forever?

The third installment of the Dog Whisperer Series has a unique premise but unfortunately lacks development and action. Emily and Zack save a woman from a fire, but the incident is so out of place that it lacks emotional impact. Likewise, many of the story’s scenes are not developed enough to make the reader care about the outcome. For example, when Emily meets a ghost, their interactions are not exciting. Instead, when Emily talks to the ghost, the ghost gives vague answers that are confusing. Even though Emily helps the ghost, the ending is predictable and lacks action.

Emily, who is biracial and adopted, asks her parents about her birth mother. Emily is upset that her birth mother doesn’t want to meet Emily. Throughout the story, Emily is trying to work through her feelings about her birth mother. To complicate matters, Emily is upset that her birth mother has other children who she did keep. While Emily’s feelings are understandable, nothing is resolved.

Even though Emily is a likable character, readers will find the lack of action and plot development frustrating. The one bright spot is Emily’s interaction with Mrs. Griswold, an elderly neighbor who is a recluse. Mrs. Griswold’s backstory is slowly revealed and the conclusion hints that Mrs. Griswold will begin reaching out to other people. Through multiple characters, a theme is revealed—people are often doing the best that they can in difficult situations, and only by looking deeper can you understand a person’s character.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Emily’s neighbor was in a car accident. “The worst part was that Mrs. Griswold had tested positive for alcohol that night. . . her blood alcohol level was way below the legal limit, and that she had probably had a glass of wine or eggnog at the party.”

Language

  • The store owner, Cyril, calls a boy “a shifty-eyed, squinty little punk” and a “snaggle-toothed punk.”

Supernatural

  • Emily can read her dog’s mind. Emily “didn’t understand it, but ever since the night she had found him, the two of them had been connected, somehow. When he was hungry, she felt hungry.”
  • Zack is a conduit for the ghost. When Emily sees a ghost, “the man suddenly seemed to be surrounded by a small cloud of gray mist—and then he disappeared.” Emily can read the ghost’s mind.
  • Emily can read her cat Josephine’s mind. “Reading Josephine’s mind was always a little bit unsettling.”

Spiritual Content

  • A ghost tells Emily that his dog, “Moved on, at once. Animals have very beautiful souls.”

Off the Hook

Investigators Mango and Brash are on the hunt for Crackerdile, who has been turned into a bucket of dough. With the help of the plumber who has been combined with a snake, Crackerdile plans to find the perfect secret lair and recruit more villains. But first, Crackerdile must find a way to change forms because “no one’s going to want to join a team led by a soft pile of mush.”

Before Mango and Brash start their investigation, they are given new V.E.S.T.s. However, once outside the science lab, the new V.E.S.T.s cause problems of their own. For instance, Mango and Brash are mistaken for investment bankers and must attend a board meeting, which is a complete bore.

As Brash and Mango are stuck in the meeting, Crackerdile figures out a way to make himself into Waffledile. Then, Waffledile kidnaps a scientist. With the scientist’s help, Waffledile grows to a huge size. But then Waffledile eats Brash. Is there any way to stop Waffledile? And how can Mango free Brash from Waffledile’s stomach?

Off the Hook is a graphic novel that is laugh-out-loud funny. The combination of human and animal characters blends to create a ridiculous story that uses wordplay to add humor. While readers will enjoy all the wordplay, parents might not like the references to butts.

The imaginative story comes alive in brightly colored artwork that shows the characters’ wide range of emotions. The text is large and uses different font sizes, which help emphasize the characters’ emotions and important aspects of the story. Another positive aspect is that the human scientists are a diverse group of characters with a wide range of skin tones. The end of the book shows how to draw Waffledile and includes a few riddles.

The illustrations and the unique storyline of Brash and Mango will appeal to even the most reluctant readers. Each page has 3 to 11 sentences. The sentences range from one word to more complex sentences. The story does an excellent job of giving enough background information so readers who are new to the series will understand the plot. However, for maximum enjoyment, the series should be read in order.

Off the Hook will appeal to even the most reluctant readers because the plot is more silly than serious. Readers may not understand all of the humor regarding investment bankers, but they will still enjoy the silly antics of Brash and Mango. Parents who want their children to read a graphic novel with a more positive message should add the Hilo Series by Judd Winick to their reading list.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Crackerdile prods Brash with an electric shocker. Then Crackerdile ties up Brash and drops him off a train. Crackerdile blows up the bridge and the train crashes in a puff of smoke. Later, the reader finds out that this five-page scene was a simulation.
  • The plumber tries to hit Brash and Mango, but instead, he breaks a window. The plumber’s snake arm whacks Mango over the head with a stop sign, “Wham Wham Wham.”
  • Waffledile puts an electrical cord around a huge chicken’s neck. He threatens the scientist’s chicken, “You’re going to make me as big as you! Giddy up! Ha Ha! I feel like a cowboy.”
  • The plumber’s snake arm ties Brash and Mango to a pole.
  • Waffledile grows so big that he destroys a roof. The construction workers begin throwing tools and bricks at Waffledile.
  • Waffledile eats Brash. Mango dumps concrete on Waffledile. Then the plumber crashes into the statue of Waffledile and pulls Brash out of its stomach.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None.

Language

  • There is some humor about butts. For example, as a scientist is flushing Brash and Mango down a toilet, she says, “Hold on to your butts.”
  • After Waffledile eats Brash, Waffledile says, “You can’t dump concrete on me and save your partner. But let me go, and I’ll barf Brash back up! Or you know, he could come out the other way.” A reporter on the scene says, “Inquiring minds want to know. Do waffles have butts?”
  • Darn, drat, dang, and dagnabbit are occasionally used as exclamations.
  • The characters sometimes call other people idiots. For example, Crackerdile says his team’s mission would be “the total annihilation of idiot law-doers!”

Supernatural

  • Crackerdile is “a former-agent-turned-radioactive-saltine-cracker.” In this installment of the series, Crackerdile is a bucket of dough.
  • One of the villains is a “plumber whose arm was combined with a snake, giving him grappling hook powers.”
  • Crackerdile is cooked in a waffle iron. He says, “I, Crackerdile, have been reborn as . . . Waffledile!”
  • Dr. Jack Hardbones is a “news helicopter but also a skilled surgeon.” He can change back and forth from a human to a helicopter.

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

 

Black Brother, Black Brother

Donte is black, and the white kids at Middlefield Prep won’t let him forget it. They especially won’t let him forget that they like his lighter-skinned brother, Trey, more than Donte. To make matters worse, the administration turns a blind eye when the students harass Donte. When Donte gets bullied and arrested for something he didn’t do, he feels immensely frustrated and helpless.

Then Donte meets former Olympic fencer Arden Jones. Jones begins to train Donte to take on his main bully: the Middlefield Prep fencing captain, Alan. With support from his friends, family, and the folks at the youth center, Donte begins to unpack the systemic racism that has sought to hold him down all his life.

Through Donte and his family’s eyes, Black Brother, Black Brother tackles systemic racism head-on. Jewell Parker Rhodes shows a range of characters including those who willingly ignore the racism, those who show microaggressions, and finally those who are outright racist like Alan. This book is unflinchingly honest in how it deals with how others treat Donte differently than his brother Trey, who has lighter skin. Even the police treat their father, a white man, differently than their mother, a black woman. These experiences are presented openly and honestly, and in a way, that younger readers will be able to understand.

Donte and the other characters are fully fleshed-out people. Donte and Trey’s relationship shows their solidarity and brotherly love as well as the moments where Donte feels insecure around his older, more popular brother. Their relationship with their parents is also lovely, as they are protective of their sons.

The local Boys and Girls Club has a wide range of characters who bring life to the story. The most prominent of these characters is Donte’s coach, former Olympic fencer Arden Jones. Arden helps Donte grapple with the patience and fortitude required in fencing and in life. Arden’s personal experiences and frustrations show Donte how to conduct himself, and by the end, Donte is an excellent fencer who isn’t afraid to stand up for himself.

Black Brother, Black Brother is an important book that illustrates how racism operates on many levels, and how deeply it affects people of all ages. While this book will appeal to people who like fencing, it is a must-read for all people of any age. Through Donte’s experiences, readers will learn about people from various walks of life and the importance of individual courage. Donte may not be real, but he is certainly not the first nor the last student to be judged on the basis of race when he and every other student should be judged based on the content of their character.

Sexual Content

  • Donte meets twins Zarra and Zion. Donte says, “Zarra’s beautiful. First time I ever thought that about a girl. Deep brown eyes. A wide smile. Glowing black skin. I can’t think of anything to say. Not even my name.”
  • A few girls at school wave at Donte. Trey jokingly says, “Got game, little brother. Girls are going to be calling you.” Donte thinks, “Problem is I won’t know if they like me for me. Or because they like Trey. (Zarra would like me for me.)”
  • When Trey meets Zarra, Donte says, “My brother smiles goofily. I groan. He thinks Zarra’s beautiful, too. If he becomes a competition, I’ll lose.”
  • Donte says that one of the girls from school, “has a crush on Trey. (She knows I know.) Trey hasn’t figured it out yet.”

Violence

  • Another student threw a pencil in class and “it hits Samantha. Donte didn’t throw it, but Ms. Wilson turns from the whiteboard and looks at [Donte] anyway.”
  • At his very white private school, Donte is subjected to plenty of racist words and actions. For instance, Donte’s brother Trey is white-passing, so other students mock Donte by calling him “Black brother.”
  • Donte experiences microaggressions from his peers and adults in his life. Donte describes, “Of all the kids in the school, the police found it easy to arrest me. Why was Mrs. Kay scared? Why did Mr. Waters seem to enjoy my troubles? Worse, why did Headmaster call the police on me? Since I’ve been at Middlefield, the police never came for anyone else. Is something wrong with me?”
  • Donte’s mom notes some real-life stories of police brutality against black people. She says, “Tamir Rice playing with a toy gun, killed. Twelve and he’s dead.”
  • Donte describes a video he sees, saying, “there was a video loop of a school officer pulling a girl from her desk, slamming, dragging her across the floor.”
  • Donte and Trey play-wrestle in the kitchen. Donte describes, “I shove Trey. Rebalancing, his hand swipes and the milk falls to the floor. Trey shoves back. I clutch his waist. He pushes back, clasps me around my back. We wrestle. Our shoes slip. Trey’s long leg sweeps behind my knee. I fall. My shirt soaks up milk.” This lasts for about a page.
  • The boys’ fencing team knocks Donte down. Donte describes, “I fall flat on my face. Each teammate gets a dig, a stomp, a step on me. Trey is flailing, trying to shove them away.”
  • In the seventies, another fencer on Coach’s Olympic team, Jonathan Michael, harassed Coach for being black. Coach describes, “Michael bullied me. Called me terrible names. Threatened me. He’d convince Coach I’d broken curfew even when I hadn’t. Convince teammates everything went wrong because of me.”
  • Alan trips Donte. Donte says, “My mask rolls forward. I drop my foil trying to break my fall. A painful shock sears my wrist.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • After being tripped and hurting his wrist, Donte asks for Advil.

Language

  • The captain of the fencing team, Alan, “says ‘black’ like a slur. Says it real nasty. Like a worse word. A word he thinks but doesn’t dare say.”
  • Donte’s mom tells Donte, “Take off your hoodie. People might think you’re a thug.”
  • Inappropriate language is occasionally used. Words include: nuts and stupid.
  • During a fencing match, Alan yells, “Hey, black girl!” at Zarra.
  • Another fencer, Jonathan Michael, says some very rude things to Coach while Donte and another young fencer watch. Michael’s young fencer tries to shake hands with Coach, but Michael bats the kid’s hand away. Michael then says, “You don’t shake hands with someone dishonorable.”
  • Someone leaves a note for Trey. Donte sees the first part that says, “Why play with…” but he doesn’t look at the rest because, as he says, “I don’t want to see a hateful word.”

Supernatural

  • Donte is black and experiences discrimination at his private school where most of the other students are white. Because of this, Donte wishes that he “were invisible. Wearing Harry Potter’s Invisibility Cloak or Frodo Baggins’s Elvish ring.”

Spiritual Content

  • Zarra brings in books about women in fencing. She mentions that in the 2016 Olympics, a woman named Ibtihaj Muhammad won team bronze, and that “she’s a Muslim American and fences in a hijab.”

by Alli Kestler

 

Deep Water

Twelve-year-old Julie Sims is still reeling from her parents’ separation and from being moved to a different city. On the other hand, she is looking forward to spending the summer with her father and helping him with his diving business. However, Julie soon finds out that her father hasn’t weathered the divorce well and his business is about to fail. When a rich client agrees to pay an extreme amount to go on a dive, Julie knows her father will have to say yes because he desperately needs the money.

When Julie’s father falls ill miles off the coast of Alabama, Julie knows she must guide the client and his reckless son, Shane, into the depths of the ocean. Both the son and father ignore Julie’s instructions during the dive. Julie realizes she’s in over her head, but it’s too late to avoid danger. When the anchor loses its grip, the boat floats away making it impossible for the scuba divers to locate it. Stranded in the middle of the ocean, Julie just hopes someone will find them before it’s too late. Can Julie keep everyone alive until help comes, or will they all sink to the bottom of the ocean?

Julie’s story focuses on survival and jumps into action right from the start. Deep Water is not a character-driven story but instead centers around Julie’s desire to survive and her conflicting emotions about Shane. Shane’s father is killed by a shark which makes the two teens realize that they must work together. As Julie gets to know Shane, she realizes that Shane’s bratty behavior is caused by the deep hurt he is hiding. Within this survival story, both Julie and Shane’s family dynamics are explored, adding another interesting element to the story.

Key’s love and respect for the ocean shine through the entire story. Even though Julie faces sharks, freezing waters, and other dangers, she doesn’t lose her love of the ocean. Deep Water is a suspenseful survival story that doesn’t rely on typical events. Instead, the story weaves unique elements to create an entertaining tale that readers will have a hard time putting down. The ending is predictable and the characters are not well developed, the story’s action and suspense will still entertain survival story fans. The Raft by S.A. Bodeen and Adrift by Paul Griffin will also be good for any readers who enjoy ocean-themed survival stories.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • When Shane yells at Julie, she “spun around and punched him in the face with all my fear and anger.”
  • Julie thinks about a shark story her dad told her. The sharks “often tore into each other by mistake. He saw one of the sharks with its stomach completely ripped out, still feeding for another few minutes until the life suddenly left it.” The other sharks “ripped it up even more and ate it.”
  • While stranded in the middle of the ocean, Mr. Jordan begins to thrash about. “He began lifting his arm from the water repeatedly, plunging the knife blade down at his imaginary sharks.” When Julie and Shane realize they can’t help him, they let go of Mr. Jordan. It is implied that the sharks kill Mr. Jordan.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Julie mentions that her mom takes anxiety medication.

Language

  • Someone calls Julie’s dad a jackass.
  • When Shane realizes his dad has the bends, he says, “We’re so screwed.”
  • Someone refers to another person as a jerk four times. For example, Julie tells Shane, “I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to be nice to people. Why would you want to be a jerk?”
  • “God” is used as an exclamation twice. “Oh my God” is used as an exclamation once.
  • Julie tells Shane his dad is an idiot.
  • Crap is used eight times. For example, when Shane loses sight of a shark, he yells, “Where’s that one going? Crap! Where’s he going?”
  • “Holy crap” is used three times. For example, Shane sees a waterspout heading for him and Julie and says, “holy crap!”
  • When Shane is snarky, Julie tells him, “don’t be a smart ass.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Shark Girl

On a sunny day in June, at the beach with her mom and brother, fifteen-year-old Jane Arrowood went for a swim. And then everything — absolutely everything — changed. Now she’s counting down the days until she returns to school with her fake arm, where she knows kids will whisper, “That’s her — that’s Shark Girl.”

In the meantime, there are only questions: Why did this happen? Why her? What about her art? What about her life? In this striking first novel, Kelly Bingham uses poems, letters, telephone conversations, and newspaper clippings to look unflinchingly at what it’s like to lose part of yourself — and to summon the courage it takes to find yourself again.

Part of Jane’s story is told in prose, which allows the text to focus on her conflicting emotions. One reason Jane feels despair at losing her arm is that she can no longer create art, which is one of her passions. During Jane’s stay in the hospital, several people encourage Jane to allow herself to be upset. Jane’s uncle says, “If I were in your shoes, I’d be crying too. . .You have a lot to cry about, and don’t ever apologize for it. It’s part of healing. The tears wash away the pain.”

Many people who have lost a limb write to Jane, telling her about their ordeals and how life does get better. Others want Jane’s advice when it comes to their own tragedies. The letters, which are scattered throughout the book, help reinforce the idea that people can lead happy lives even after a life-altering tragedy.

Anyone who has ever had to overcome an obstacle will relate to Jane, who is struggling to learn how to deal with the loss of her arm. The story is broken into three parts. Part one focuses on Jane’s hospital stay, where she befriends another patient. Part two shows Jane’s difficulty when she gets home. At first, Jane doesn’t want to leave the house because people stare at her. She also doesn’t help with chores anymore. Part three shows how difficult it is for Jane to return to school.

Shark Girl is an easy-to-read story that shows Jane’s struggle to thrive with only one arm. At the beginning of her journey, she sometimes wishes she would have died. However, with the help of others, Jane beings to relearn how to do simple things like cooking an omelet or putting on a bra. By the end of the book, Jane is glad she survived and hopes to use her experience to help others.

Because Shark Girl focuses on Jane’s recovery, much of the story details Jane’s inner thoughts and her conversations with others. Because Jane’s story begins after the shark attack, there is little suspense or action. However, if you’re struggling to overcome grief, Shark Girl would be an encouraging story that explores how to deal with loss and grief.

Sexual Content

  • Jane daydreams about Max taking her to an aquarium. “He’ll kiss me / while giant red crabs / scale pink coral.”

Violence

  • A shark bites Jane’s arm off, but the accident is not described in detail.
  • When Jane gets upset at a friend, she thinks, “Maybe I could make a noose / and hang her.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • After losing her arm, Jane is given medication for the pain. “Tubes spiral around my bed. . . The pain medication leaves me floating.”

Language

  • Profanity is used occasionally. Profanity includes ass, bastard, crap, damn, hell, pissy, and shit.
  • Lord, God, and Oh My God are used as exclamations rarely.
  • When Jane complains about all of the cards she has received, her mother says, “Jane, for God’s sake, just appreciate it.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Jane wonders why she was bitten by a shark. “Don’t even tell me / God has a reason / for making Justin suffer / or me, either.”
  • Jane’s uncle tells Jane about his friend who was disfigured by a burn. He says, “He never lost his faith in God. Never questioned why that happened to him and not to someone else. . . I’ve been asking God about this, Jane. And I think as bad as it is, we have to remember how close you came to death. . . I believe in my heart that God saved your life that day.”

 

 

 

Piratica

Art attends a school for proper young ladies. That is, until she bumps her head and remembers her long-forgotten past. Her mother was Piratica, a pirate queen, and Art grew up on her mother’s pirate ship. Art lost her memory not in a mundane accident, but from an exploding pirate ship that claimed her mother’s life! Now that she remembers where she came from, Art quickly takes on her mother’s mantel and runs away to find her mom’s old pirate crew.

Felix was already down on his luck when an unfortunate run-in with Art leaves people thinking he is a famous highway robber. Unable to convince the law that he is innocent, Felix is forced to flee for his life. He ends up on Art’s pirate ship, where he is courteously imprisoned. The pirates promise he will be put ashore when they are far enough from London that he cannot turn the pirates into the law. However, as their adventures continue, Felix finds his utter distaste for pirates warring with a growing admiration for Art’s fearlessness.

Piratica honors bravery, loyalty, and a bit of pirate flair. Art is an inspiring character, who is not immune to doubt, but she is unwilling to let it slow her down for a moment. Determined to will her dream of becoming a pirate into reality, her pirate crew cannot help but be swept along by her vision. With a delightful cast of well-developed supporting characters, every scene carries readers along this swashbuckling tale.

Full of fun, adventure, and a healthy helping of piratical ridiculousness, Piratica is a must-read for anyone who loves adventure, pirates, or strong female characters. The silliness is over-the-top, yet remains believable and thoroughly enjoyable. With plenty of action but not much gore, this is an excellent story for readers looking for more exciting adventures who aren’t mature enough for adult content.

Sexual Content

  • A girl kisses Felix as he escapes from a fight. “She kissed Felix so forcefully it knocked him into the chute.”
  • When the pirates reach Africay, “Slender black locals . . . offered them wives. . . Even Art was offered a wife.”

Violence

  • When one of Art’s pirates slanders her, she slaps him. He “raised his fist . . . but Art had ducked Black Knack’s blow with the perfect weaving motion of the trained fighter. Swimming back, she punched him instead with a sharp thwack on the point of his shaveless jaw. Black Knack’s eyes rolled up. He keeled straight over.”
  • A fight breaks out in a bar. “Cutlasses sparkled and fists flailed. Flying bottles and cuts filled the air . . . Art avoided a descending beer mug and shoved off a fighter who had got carried away and was trying to brain her with a chair.”
  • Art and her pirates capture a ship. When the captain tries to fight, “Art kicked him hard in the leg, and he went to one knee. Behind her at once she heard a scuffle, two or three cries, a series of thuds.”
  • Art and her pirates defend themselves when another ship tries to board them. “She fired. The bullet whizzed, unseen, over the sea between the two ships . . . The bullet struck, as Art had meant it to, a smoke-wreathed barrel of gunpowder left on the forecastle. Which blew up like a firework of pink and primrose.” The fight is described over three pages.
  • A pirate shoots Black Knack. “Then Goldie fired. Fire flash. The silliest sound—like a huge twig snapping. Black Knack seemed to jump—that was all—to jump forward—forward—The jump took him right past the hatch . . . it threw him instead to the lip of the cliff. And over.”
  • Art and Goldie duel. “As she sprang, Art saw Mr. Beast rearing, cutlass and pistol in the way, and landed a fist of ringed knuckles at the base of his nose . . . one of those little knives came zipping out, straight for Art’s throat. Art dodged . . . the knife cut her thinly along the right cheekbone. But Goldie, they now all saw, was bleeding at the temple where the hair had been sliced away.” The fight is described over five pages.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • When running away, Art sees the gate porter “drinking hot gin. He never noticed her, and minutes later she was over the wall.”
  • When a highwaywoman comes to a tavern, the owner says “I’ll take a look at your loot, dear, and we’ll drink some gin.” The highwaywoman responds that she wants sherry because “You know I can’t stand the gin.”
  • Art and her crew visit a tavern with “tall tots of rum and liqueurs.”
  • After a victory, Art’s pirate crew “downed everything—rum, wine, the brandies of Africay, the home-brewed lemon ciders, coffee in which a knife could have stood upright.”
  • For their last meal, Art receives “a bottle of wine.”

Language

  • God is used as an exclamation twice. Art’s dad says, “By God, what’s this?” Another time, Felix says “Oh, God.”
  • Devil is used as part of exclamations. Art’s father exclaims, “Why the devil are you smiling?” A man says, “If a woman did such a thing—she was the devil itself.”
  • Funny exclamations are used often. A few examples include “Cat’s Wallopers,” “Goat’s Gizzards,” “Caterwauling Stars,” “Dastardly Custard,” “by the Sacred Pig of Eira,” and “By the Yak!”
  • Variations of damn are used several times. A man says, “You’re damnably late, sir.” Another man says, “Get your act together, and we’ll be off, dammit innit.”
  • Hell is used as an exclamation several times such as “Hell’s Porcupines,” “By the Blast of Hell,” and “Hell’s Kettles!” Also, a pirate calls Art “a hell of a captain”, and once Art asks, “What the hell could that be?”
  • Poo is used twice. A man says, “And poo to you, too!” Another man says, “Poo to you, sir!”
  • A man calls someone a “pompous asp.”
  • When going into a pitch-black cave, Black Knack tells Ebad, who is black, “Don’t you go in, Ebad. We’ll lose you.” Durk turns and slaps Black Knack in response.
  • Bitch is used twice. Goldie tells her pirates, “You lazy pigs—come here and help me finish this bitch.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • A man exclaims, “By the Lord’s Armchair.”
  • One of Art’s pirates says, “I wish to God Molly were here.”
  • A pirate cries, “Fill ‘em full of lead, by the Lord’s Armchair” and another says, “by the sacred Blue of Heaven.”
  • Ebad says, “It’s Molly. By the Lord God. Our Molly Faith.”
  • The pirate Black Knack tells Art, “You’re no girl. You’re a demon. But—a hell of a captain, I’ll give ye that.”
  • Before supper, a pirate says, “Thank you, God, for the gift of greed.”
  • Art finds a message left by pirates. It reads, “We are the Pirate Kind. We live by blood and murder. We end our days on a rope, or under the pitiless acres of the Sea. After which, we are told, we must suffer forever in the Kingdom of Hell, for our Sins.”

by Morgan Lynn

A Journey to the New World: The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple

In 1620, twelve-year-old Remember Patience Whipple and her family set off for the New World. The 65-day journey on the Mayflower is difficult and boring. Remember writes about the journey in her diary, which she calls Mim.

One hundred and two people, including 34 children, were crammed into a dark, cold cargo deck. With no privacy and no way to escape from others, there was plenty of drama. When the ship spotted land, the passengers were disappointed to discover they were in the wrong place. Despite this, the men decided to find a place to build their settlement.

Because they arrived during winter, the passengers were forced to continue living on the ship. However, Patience and the other Pilgrims were excited to begin building the settlement even though they now faced harsh weather, lack of food, and an attack by “feathered men.” To make matters worse, half of the passengers die in the first winter. Through all of this, Remember remains hopeful that life in the New World will have many opportunities.

As Remember writes a detailed chronicle of her journey, readers will get a firsthand account of a Pilgrim’s life. While much of Remember’s diary is interesting, some of the entries are redundant. When the group arrives in the New World, many people die including Remember’s mother. Soon after, the widow, Hannah Potts, begins helping Remember’s family, which is confusing for Remember.

Some of the most interesting diary entries are about the “feathered men.” Remember is fascinated by them and is excited when she finally has an opportunity to meet an Indian. Remember’s curiosity and enthusiasm are remarkable and her changing views are interesting. Throughout her story, Remember always gives thanks to God. In her last diary entry, she wrote, “I have after all learned to plant a seed in a hole and bring up corn. I have learned how to beat a stream in the moonlight till it gives forth eels for our cooking pots. I have learned many words in the strange tongue of the Wampanoag.”

Remember’s spirit is amazing, as is her willingness to try new things. However, readers who are used to stories with lots of action and adventure will find Remember’s diary difficult to finish. Remember’s diary allows readers to understand her day-to day-life. However, readers will be unable to make an emotional connection to the other passengers. And much like our own lives, Remember’s daily life lacks much excitement. A Journey to the New World would be perfect for research and for readers who are inherently interested in this time period.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • During dinner, Elder Brewster tells his son about his friends that were “killed by the Bishops for wanting to make the church pure. . . They were first thrown in jail for a long long time and left in filth and half starved to rot. Then they were brought out to be hanged. . . Just when they had a few breaths of life still in them, they were cut down. Their bellies were cut open, their guts drawn out and burning coals put in their bowels!”
  • The Billington boys “tried to drown the ship’s cat in a barrel of water.”
  • The Billington boys almost blew up the ship. “They have now been thrashed within an inch of their lives, this time by their own father.”
  • When the men went onto the shore, “arrows suddenly came raining down upon them. . . Captain Standish held off the feathered men with his flintlock musket.” The Indians finally run away.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • When a boy is sick, he is given “some of the draught.”
  • After a woman’s husband and baby die, she is given “a very strong sleeping draught.”
  • When an Indian who speaks English appears in the settlement, the men are shocked. The Indian asks for “beer and biscuits, but they gave him strong water instead” and a boy was sent to get the “liquor bottle.”
  • When the men go on a fishing expedition, one of them “spent most of his time drinking beer and basking in this October sunshine.”

Language

  • Remember calls the Billington boys, “scummy little bilge rats!”
  • Remember calls one of the girls, “Air Nose.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • The Saints wanted to go to the New World. Remember wrote, “And if we go to this New World, free from Old King James and all the fancy church rituals that are not our way, we can worship as we want. You see, we believe that the church is in our hearts and not in a building.”
  • In her diary, Remember often thanks God and writes little prayers. For example, when she feels sea-sick she prays, “Please, dear Lord, I do not want to get the scours and it is not for my vanity. . . ‘tis for my petticoats.”
  • The ship’s beam is broken and the men are able to fix it. Remember writes, “God’s providence has come down on our little ship. The main beam is raised and repaired. We are blessed. Last evening we assembled for prayers of thanks.”
  • Not everyone on the ship gets along, but Remember writes “we are all God’s children.”
  • When Remember’s friend dies, she writes, “Mem, he now be in heaven and his eyes doth reflect the glory of the Lord, and he sits with his mother once again.”
  • When the Pilgrims get to the New World, they find corn. “They took as much corn as they could and thanked God for the providence bestowed upon them.”
  • Remember’s sister loves helping with the plastering of their new cabin. “The Lord does work in mysterious and beautiful ways. . .”

 The Prisoner of Cell 25

Michael Vey is a teenager trying to survive high school in Meridian, Idaho. He has Tourette’s syndrome – except that is not all that complicates his survival. Michael also has a secret: he’s electric.

The only person who knows of his electric powers is his best friend Ostin, and his caring mother, Sharon. His mom attempts to protect Michael and keep his secret safe. But a cheerleader at Meridian High School named Taylor, discovers Michael’s powers after he shocks a bully and his gang. Michael realizes there’s more to the picture when Taylor reveals she has powers of her own—she can read and reset minds based on electrical signals.

Michael and Taylor, with the help of Ostin, set out to learn more about Taylor’s and Michael’s powers. The three friends struggle to keep their secrets safe as they navigate high school life. They band together to form a club, the “Electroclan.” The group sets standards for how and when they should use their powers. However, the search for the origin of their abilities entangles the group in a fight for their lives. A mysterious organization called the “Elgen” kidnap Taylor and hold Michael’s mother hostage. In order to rescue them, Michael teams up with Ostin and his ex-bullies from the Elgen’s academy (which is really a laboratory and prison) in Pasadena, California.

The story follows Michael and the other main characters’ limited perspectives, including the manipulative Dr. Hatch, one of the Elgen. Michael learns more about the evil deeds of the corporation that stole his mother and gave him his powers. Hatch tries to convince Michael and Taylor to join him, although Michael doesn’t agree with Hatch’s desire for global domination. Michael is most concerned with protecting those he loves and keeping himself on the right side of history. Despite the changing perspectives, the story’s plot is easy to follow. The Prisoner of Cell 25 also has a host of interesting side characters and unexpected plot twists.

This coming-of-age story is geared towards late middle schoolers and early high schoolers. While this age group may not relate to having superpowers, the Michael Vey series emphasizes staying true to one’s values and being loyal to one’s friends and family. Temptation, torture, and manipulation from the Elgen, the evil side, are common themes in the story. Michael is constantly pressured to choose differently than what he thinks is right, such as when Dr. Hatch wants him to forget his mother and join his academy. The gravity of these themes can be unsettling because the teens in the story are manipulated by an older and more powerful adult: Dr. Hatch. Michael struggles under the responsibility of his power, but all the characters—including the non-electric ones — show that the ability to choose is the greatest power we have.

Sexual Content

  • Ostin thinks Michael’s mom is attractive. He calls her “hot” and “a babe.”
  • Taylor is described as very beautiful. Ostin and Michael both think so. At one point, Ostin says, “Taylor’s really a babe. You know she likes you . . . I read this book on body language. And I was watching her body.” Michael says, “Yeah, I bet you were.” Ostin replies, “for scientific purposes.”
  • Michael has a crush on Taylor. They begin dating towards the end of the story and share a few quick kisses. Michael describes, “She [Taylor] set down the phone and walked over and took my hand… She leaned forward and kissed me on the lips. Then she wrapped her arms around me and we kissed again.”

Violence

  • Because the Elgen are trying to locate Taylor and Michael, there is a bounty placed on them.
  • Michael and Ostin are bullied in school by a gang of boys. “It was the second time I’d been locked in my locker by Jack Vranes and his friends that month. This time they put me in upside down and I nearly passed out . . .” The gang also “pantsed” Ostin.
  • Michael reveals why he left his previous school: “When I was in sixth grade… a bunch of wrestlers put me in the lunchroom garbage can and rolled me across the cafeteria… It took five minutes before I couldn’t take it anymore and I ‘went off,’ as my mother calls it. I wasn’t as good at controlling it back then, and one of the boys was taken to the hospital.”
  • Knowing of Michael’s powers, Ostin suggests that Michael shocks people that pick on him.
  • When they suspect Michael of ratting them out, Jack and his gang beat him up. Michael uses his powers to shock them. Michael will frequently use his powers to defend himself from worse threats. The scene is described over four pages. “Jack grabbed me by the hair and pulled my head around… He smacked me again on the nose, which sent a shock of pain through my body. At that moment something snapped… A surge of anger ran through my body so powerful I couldn’t control it. Suddenly a sharp, electric ZAP! pierced the air, like the sound of ice being dropped onto a hot griddle. Electricity flashes and Jack and his posse screamed out as they all fell to their backs and flopped about on the grass like fish on land. I rolled over to my side and wiped the blood from my nose… I stood above Jack, who was frothing at the mouth. ‘I told you to leave me alone. If you ever touch me again, I’ll do worse.’”
  • When Ostin uses a multimeter to test the levels of Michael’s electricity, he says Michael produced so much electricity that he “could kill someone.”
  • When investigating birth records, the Electroclan discovers that Michael and Taylor’s birthdays coincide with an increased number of infant fatalities at Pasadena General Hospital. Only 17 of 59 children survived. They discover that the incident is related to Elgen.
  • While out to dinner with Ostin, Michael and his mom are held at gunpoint by a robber working for the Elgen corporation. Michael shocks him, but it was a test to see his skills. Dr. Hatch – the head of the Elgen’s facility in Pasadena, California – has one of the other 17 electric children, Zeus, shock Michael’s mother. Nichelle, another electric child who is also present, uses her power on Michael to take away his electricity.
  • Nichelle, one of the electric children, takes pleasure in hurting other people with her powers and frequently does so, even when she’s not under orders by Dr. Hatch. She tortures Michael upon first meeting him: “As the girl neared me I started to feel different… With each step the girl took toward me, my dizziness increased. Then my head began to pound like a bass drum.” She tortures many of the electric children, remarking once of Michael that she “almost killed him.”
  • Dr. Hatch’s elaborate schemes often involve the forced participation of the electric children. He tries to get Taylor and Michael on board by separating them from their families and bribing them to join him. He has a twisted view of reality. When talking about the babies that died, he says, “Accidents are the price of civilization. Blood oils social progress. Sure, it was awful, but was it worth it? Believe me, it was.”
  • Tara, Taylor’s twin sister, can produce fear and reset brain signals. She also uses her powers to torture others because she is loyal to Dr. Hatch, such as making people think snakes are crawling on them. This isn’t described by any of the characters until Michael is in Cell 25.
  • It is implied that the Elgen brought down an airplane, killing the passengers.
  • Dr. Hatch “broke” Tanner, one of the electric children. Hatch tortured Tanner’s little brother in front of him. Hatch says, “The first time I told him to take down a 747 he refused. Until we let him see his little brother getting nearly electrocuted by one of your peers. It only took ten minutes of his screams before he was quite eager to help out.” It is also implied that they killed another girl’s adopted family in an electrical fire.
  • Dr. Hatch pressures Taylor into using her powers to “reboot” people. Rebooting is Taylor’s word for making someone forget what they are doing. Hatch makes her do this to a singer at a concert, making the singer forget her lyrics. Taylor learns that Hatch often forces the students to demonstrate their powers as a test of their loyalty to him.
  • Dr. Hatch punishes the children if they lash out and use their powers on others, such as when Zeus shocks someone at the concert. “Bolts of electricity shot out from Zeus’s fingers. The man cried out and dropped to the ground like a bag of concrete.”
  • Later, Dr. Hatch tries to make Taylor reboot a motorcycle driver, but she refuses because he could crash and die. Instead, Tara reboots the man for her. Taylor argues, “’He asked me to kill someone.’ ‘So what?’ Tara replies. . . ‘They’re just people!’”
  • When Taylor refuses to reboot a man, Nichelle tortures her as punishment. Hatch says, “’You have no idea what hurt is. But you will. Nichelle, Miss Ridley needs a little lesson in gratitude—about an hour’s worth to begin with. Oblige me.’ A sadistic smile lit up Nichelle’s face. ‘I’d be happy to.’ Nichelle stepped inside the darkroom and Hatch shut the door behind the girls. He could hear Taylor’s screams even before he reached the other end of the corridor.”
  • Jack and Wade, Michael’s former bullies, agree to drive him and Ostin to Pasadena. Because they formerly did not get along, name-calling and threats are common. Michael learns from Jack about Wade’s upbringing. Wade’s “parents were alcoholics. His old man used to beat the tar out of him until the state took him away. He lived with foster parents until they put him with his grandma, but she doesn’t really want him. She’s not shy about telling him either.”
  • After breaking into the academy, Hatch imprisons Michael. Nichelle uses her power to force Michael into submission. When Michael lunges at Hatch, Nichelle protects the doctor by using her powers against Michael, “Pain seared through my entire body, buckling my knees. I fell to the ground screaming.”
  • Hatch tells Michael that he killed his own father by stopping his heart.
  • Hatch often threatens to use violence because he will use any means necessary to get Michael on his side, including harming Michael’s mother, who they still have imprisoned. Hatch also wants Michael to shock a GP—the name the academy gives to their human guinea pigs, who are kept with shockable collars that don’t allow them to speak.
  • Hatch imprisons Michael in Cell 25, which is supposed to be a form of torture. Later, the reader learns that it is a special type of solitary confinement in which Tara creates fear. Michael stays in Cell 25 for twenty-six days, which is described in a short chapter. “I was suddenly filled with fear like I had never felt before. Something evil was crawling around in the cell… Something frightening beyond words.”
  • After, Michael is still defiant, so Hatch orders Zeus to kill Ostin and Taylor in front of him. However, Michael distracts Zeus and escapes with Taylor and Ostin.
  • The group of electric children that aren’t loyal to Hatch attempt to escape the academy. The kids use their powers to knock out the guards. The non-electric kids often fight with their fists. “Wade hit first, wrapping his arms around the guard’s legs, while Jack knocked him over. The other inmate grabbed the guard around the neck. The guard was flailing around but had no idea who or what had hit him.” The rest of the fighting is not described in great detail.
  • During the escape, Hatch attempts to shoot Michael, but Zeus stops the bullet. “Hatch pulled a revolver from beneath his jacket and pointed it at me. ‘You did this, Vey. Now pay.’ He pulled the trigger. As the gun erupted, lightning flashed across the room and hit the bullet inches in front of me, blowing it into nothing.”
  • The final confrontation is between Michael and Nichelle. He stops her by surging with all he has, which hurts her: “’Stop it!’ Nichelle screamed again, then began convulsing as if she were having a seizure… [She] fell to her knees in agony.” He stops when she’s unconscious.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Jack, Michael’s former bully turned ally, is seen smoking a few times.
  • When Taylor is kidnapped, she “felt as if she’d been drugged.”
  • Jack’s brother is in prison due to a gunfight over drug money. He tells Michael, “He got really messed up on drugs. He and a guy were stealing snowmobiles to get money for drugs when the owner came out. The guy with [Jack’s brother] had a gun and he shot the man. My brother didn’t even know that he had a gun, but the way the laws are, he’s also guilty.”
  • Wade’s parents were alcoholics.

Language

  • Name-calling is frequent, both affectionately and for bullying purposes. Insults include spawn, stupid, wimp, freak, and idiot.
  • Michael is sometimes made fun of for having Tourette’s. Jack calls him “blinky boy.”
  • Ostin is made fun of for his weight. He’s called “doughboy.”
  • Sometimes insults are created to reference powers of the electrical children. For example, Michael is called “glow worm” because the electric children glow in the dark. Ian is called “bat boy” because he uses electrolocation to see, similar to how bats use echolocation.

Supernatural

  • The seventeen electric children have electric-based powers and have a faint glow in the dark. Michael can “shock,” “pulse,” and “surge” electricity.
  • Taylor can “reboot” people by resetting electrical brain signals.
  • Nichelle can cause pain and take away electricity. She calls herself an “electrical vampire.”
  • Zeus can shock others with lightning bolts.
  • Tara can induce fear and other emotions.
  • Bryan can burn through objects.
  • Kylee is similar to a magnet since she can bring metal objects to her and stick to metal surfaces.
  • Mckenna can make light and heat.
  • Abi can take away pain due to stimulating nerve endings.
  • Tanner can interfere with electrical signals, often with aircraft.
  • Ian, who is blind, uses electrolocation to see.
  • Grace works like a computer and can import electric data files into her memory.

Spiritual Content

  • Hatch remarks that fate favored him. He says, “we never dreamed that we’d be so fortunate that she’d [Taylor] lead us to you. In this matter, fate was truly generous.”
  • Michael thinks, “Fate sucks.”

by Madison Shooter

The Mayflower

Myths! Lies! Secrets! Smash the stories behind famous moments in history and expose the hidden truth. Perfect for fans of I Survived and Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales.

In 1620, the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock and made friends with Wampanoag people who gave them corn. RIGHT?

WRONG! It was months before the Pilgrims met any Wampanoag people, and nobody gave anybody corn that day.

Did you know that the pilgrims didn’t go straight from England to Plymouth? No, they made a stop along the way—and almost stayed forever! Did you know there was a second ship, called the Speedwell, that was too leaky to make the trip? No joke. And just wait until you learn the truth about Plymouth Rock.

Messner makes learning about history fun. The Mayflower is written in a factual, conversational tone that explains how some of America’s myths started. The Mayflower explains to readers what a primary source is, as well as discusses why “a primary source isn’t necessarily the truth of what happened; it’s an account of what the writer noticed and believed at the time.” The book contains many passages from primary sources and also translates some passages that are difficult to understand.

The Mayflower doesn’t recite a bunch of boring facts. Instead, readers will learn about the events and their significance. For example, the book explains what the Mayflower Compact was: “It established the idea that people should agree on laws together. It also laid the foundation for the separation of church and state—the idea that the government shouldn’t be run by religious leaders and shouldn’t tell anyone how to worship.”

The book’s unique layout will appeal to readers because it includes some graphic novel panels plus lots of illustrations, maps, sidebars, and historical pictures. Almost every page has a graphic element and many of the black and white illustrations are humorous. The illustrations will allow readers to visualize the people, places, and events while the abundant graphics break the text into manageable parts and help readers stay interested in each story.

The Mayflower starts with who the Pilgrims were and why they wanted to leave England. The book also includes information about traveling to the New World, the harsh conditions of settling an untamed land, and the Pilgrims’ treatment of the Wampanoag’s people. The Mayflower is a must-read book because it shows American history in a new light and explains how many of America’s myths became part of our history.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • John Bilington was a troublemaker who “killed another settler and ended up being sentenced to death by hanging.”
  • Dermer and a group of men went to America to explore. “They were attacked by Nauset men. Most of Dermer’s men were killed. Dermer was wounded but escaped to Virginia.”
  • A group of Pilgrims attacked the Natives and killed “two of the community’s leaders.”
  • After the Pequot people attacked an English trading vessel, “They set the village on fire and killed anyone who tried to escape. About seven hundred Pequot men, women, and children were killed.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • While sailing to the new world, everyone, including the kids, drank beer. “But this was different from the kind of beer that only adults drink today. The Pilgrims called it ‘small beer,’ and it had less alcohol.”
  • On Christmas Day 1620, some of the men drank beer.

Language

  • A man who enslaved some of the Natives is called a jerk.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • The King of England said he had “permission” to give away land in Virginia because the Pope said, “Christian people could go into the lands of any non-Christian; take the land and resources and enslave the people who lived there. People who weren’t Christians weren’t looked at as human beings.”
  • Christians believed that taking non-Christians’ lands was acceptable because “God wanted the Pilgrims to convert the Native people, and that could only happen if they lived in the same place.”
  • On the trip, one sailor died. One of the passengers wrote, “But it pleased God before they came half over the sea, to smite this young man with a grievous disease, of which he died in a desperate manner, and so was himself the first that was thrown overboard.”
  • The pilgrims found and stole the Wampanoag’s stored corn. One man said the corn was, “God’s good providence.”
  • A Pilgrim said that Tisquantum “had been sent by God.”
  • The Pilgrims didn’t have celebrations, but they had days “spent in prayer.”
  • After the Pilgrims killed everyone in a Pequot village, the English “gave praise thereof to God.”

 

The Vanishing Deep

Seventeen-year-old Tempe was born into a world of water. When the Great Waves destroyed her planet five hundred years ago, its people had to learn to survive living on the water. However, the ruins of the cities lay below. Tempe dives daily, scavenging the ruins of a bygone era, searching for anything of value to trade for Notes. It isn’t food or clothing that she wants to buy, but her dead sister’s life.

For a price, the research facility on the island of Palindromena will revive the dearly departed for twenty-four hours before returning them to death. It isn’t a heartfelt reunion that Tempe is after; she wants answers. Elysea died keeping a terrible secret, one that has ignited an unquenchable fury in Tempe. Tempe knows that her beloved sister was responsible for the death of their parents; now she wants to know why.

But once revived, Elysea has other plans. She doesn’t want to spend her last day in a cold room accounting for a crime she insists she didn’t commit. Instead, Elysea wants her freedom and a final glimpse at the life that was stolen from her. She persuades Tempe to break her out of the facility, and they embark on a dangerous journey to discover the truth about their parents’ death. Every step of the way they are pursued by Lor, a Palindromena employee desperate to find them before Elysea’s twenty-four hours are up—and before the secret behind the revival process and the true cost of restored life is revealed.

The Vanishing Deep takes the reader on a trip into the future, where people live on metal structures on the ocean. The Old World was destroyed due to unsustainable practices because people “always [are] wanting more than we have.” Scholte’s world-building is detailed, realistic, and beautiful. Even though the story shows the importance of caring for the earth, the message is integrated into the story and never feels like a lecture.

The story jumps back and forth between Tempe’s and Lor’s points of view, which helps build suspense. Both characters are suffering from grief, but they each react to the loss of a loved one in different ways. Lor hides from the world and forces himself to pay penance to his friend’s death. On the other hand, Tempe is so shrouded in anger that she hasn’t grieved for her lost sister. By the end of the story, both Lor and Tempe realize they need to deal with their grief. Tempe realizes “anger had been my anchor. It had tethered me to the darkness in the world, to the things I couldn’t control. I had hidden from my grief. It was easier that way. But it wasn’t healthy.”

The Vanishing Deep is a suspenseful story that propels readers into an imaginative world that makes one consider questions about death. Tempe and Lor’s different perspectives show how grief can overtake someone’s life in unexpected ways. The conclusion contains several surprises but also leaves many unanswered questions. Despite this, readers will enjoy the journey through the New World, where people can resurrect a loved one. The story leaves off on a positive note by reinforcing the need for people to go through the grieving process, which includes learning to fully live their lives even though they’ve suffered an incredible loss.

Sexual Content

  • Lor and Tempe kiss. Tempe’s “skin blistered at the touch of him. I wasn’t sure who had ignited who. He tasted like the sea, smoke, and brine. His hand snaked up and into my hair. I breathed him in between kisses, needing him, needing this, needing life.”

Violence

  • When Tempe was younger, kids “would circle me, throw things in my hair and chant, water witch, water witch, water witch, as they ran around me. They wanted protection from the Gods below. Protection from me.”
  • When Tempe and her sister escape Palindromena, Lor goes after them. When Elysea sees him, she yells, “He’s already killed me once! Don’t let him do it again!” The barkeeper “tossed the knife at [Lor]. . . The knife dug into the counter, scratching [Lor’s] arm and pinning [Lor’s] shirt to the wood.” Lor is uninjured.
  • When Lor boards Tempe’s boat, she “Dove toward him, my arms connecting around his middle. . . He slipped on the wet metal hull, and we fell to the deck. . .He had hit his head against the mast when he fell. He was out cold.” Tempe ties Lor to the boat.
  • Lor and his best friend, Calen, were climbing a cliff when they fell into the sea. Lor died and his mother “couldn’t say goodbye to her son, so she killed Calen so Lor could live on.”
  • Tempe, Elysea, and another boy go to an underwater temple where they are ambushed. “Something silver shot past [Tempe’s] shoulder, tearing through my diving skin and into my flesh. I gasped in pain.”
  • While in the temple, a rebel named Qera grabs Tempe. Qera “grabbed my leg and twisted the flipper off. . . I reached for Qera’s wrist. She elbowed me in the face, attempting to tear my dome loose.” The fight is described over five pages. No one is seriously injured.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • After diving, Tempe takes a “recompression pill to neutralize the bubbles that were currently forming in my muscles and bloodstream.”
  • When Tempe goes on land, she is given “two opaque pills” to help with the stationary sickness.
  • There is the occasional mention of drinking rager—“a spirit made from fermented seaweed that hit you in the face like the odor of a month-dead familfish.”
  • A man goes to the bar and asks for a rager. He says, “Thanks, man. Liquid courage.”
  • While at a celebration, Lor drinks rager. Lor takes “a tentative sip. The fermented drink burned my tongue and made my eyes water.” Lor gets drunk.
  • The day before Tempe’s birthday, she goes to a bar with her friend. The worker gives Tempe’s friend “a shot of rager and a half a shot for me.”

Language

  • Profanity is used occasionally. Profanity includes ass, bastard, crap, damn, piss, and shit.
  • “Gods below” and “Gods” are both used as an exclamation occasionally.
  • Fuck is used once.

Supernatural

  • Scientists found a way to bring people back to life for 24 hours. Some thought “bringing back the dead was against the Gods’ wishes. Both Old and New.”
  • When a person is revived, he or she is “intrinsically linked through the echolink, tethering to my heartbeat. If she died, I would too.”

 

Spiritual Content

  • The New Gods and the Old Gods are mentioned, but no specific information is given about them.
  • Several times, Tempe prays to the Gods below. For example, she drops stones into the ocean “saying a prayer to the Gods below who took souls from boats in a storm and the air from the lungs of divers.”
  • In the past, “the Old World believed in the Gods above and followed the stars to journey across the land.”
  • Some people believe the “Old Gods had turned away from us and our selfishness.”
  • Tempe “doesn’t believe in luck; I believe in the Gods below and what they determined for my future. Why they had chosen to take my parents and my sister, I wasn’t sure.”
  • When Tempe goes to Palindromena, someone says, “Praise the Gods below for protecting our island.”
  • Tempe asks her sister about death, but her sister doesn’t remember anything. “Those who believed in the Gods below said you would be reunited with your loved ones in a realm beneath the sea. A realm where you could breathe underwater. And those who believed in the Old Gods said you would go to a place in the sky.”
  • When Tempe’s sister suddenly becomes unconscious, Tempe prays. “In all the times I’d prayed to the Gods below, they’d never listened. I begged that they would this time. Just this once.”
  • Lor wants to save Elysea’s life, but he’s not sure how. “For the first time in my life, I whispered words of prayer to the Gods below, not knowing if they existed, listened or cared. But wasn’t that how everyone prayed? With faith that they weren’t alone and no evidence to prove it?”

 

 

 

Breath Like Water

Susannah Ramos became a world champion swimmer at 14. But two years have passed, and she has yet to reclaim her former glory after an injury. Susannah is fighting through the lapse, but she feels like she’s floundering at the one thing she loves most in the world – swimming. When a new coach with a new training strategy and a charming new teammate named Harry Matthews enters her life, Susannah begins a painful fight back to the top of the ranks.

During her dramatic comeback, romance blossoms between Susannah and Harry. But Harry has secrets of his own, and the pressure of competitive swimming and other outside forces work to pull the pair asunder. Susannah must work to balance her own needs and the needs of her loved ones. She must also figure out which wonderful things in life, like friends and swimming, are worth the struggle.

One of the most prominent storylines of Breath Like Water deals with Susannah’s journey as a competitive high school student-athlete. Jarzab intelligently writes about Susannah’s experience with constant pressure from intense coaches and her teammates. The coaches in particular stand out because of their interactions with Susannah and her teammates. They give an intensive look at what it means not only to work hard but to work with intelligence. The swim competitions are well-paced and show Susannah’s thought process as she’s competing.

Told from Susannah’s point of view, this story shows her as a likable but tough kid. Breath Like Water spends a good amount of time detailing Susannah’s recovery from a shoulder injury. The story also shows Susannah’s mental and physical struggle that comes from being a competitive athlete. These parts of Susannah’s journey show her frustration and determination to be better. Susannah faces adversity at every turn, and she takes the emotional and physical pain with as much grace and dignity as could be asked of a sixteen-year-old.

Another prominent storyline deals with the relationship between Susannah and Harry. They quickly go from friends to dating. Susannah learns that Harry has dealt with bipolar disorder for much of his life. This book tackles the difficult parts of Harry’s life, including his past drinking problems and self-harm, and he does relapse during the novel. Susannah and Harry learn how to cope with their insecurities and neither character is villainized for who they are. Things are not perfect for the pair, but they care about each other and work to make their lives better.

Breath Like Water is a refreshing story that intertwines competitive swimming with Susannah’s growth into young adulthood. The heart of the novel is in the love Susannah has for swimming, for Harry, and for her family. Susannah wants to make it to the Olympics, but she learns that win or lose, she has to love herself and love what she does. This book is excellent for those who want an exciting, and often times harsh, look at the reality of competitive swimming. Breath Like Water reads like a love letter—to family, to friendship, and to the water that keeps us all afloat.

Sexual Content

  • One of Susannah’s former swim teammates is pregnant, much to everyone’s surprise as she was slated for the Olympics. When Susannah asks how, her friend replies, “Don’t make me explain where babies come from. My version does not involve storks.”
  • Harry shows up at Susannah’s house early in the morning. She sees Harry and thinks, “The sight of him does funny things to my nether regions.”
  • Susannah likes Harry, and Harry likes Susannah. Susannah thinks about her feelings and says, “I’ve had crushes—I’ve even been kissed a few times, by a boy at swim camp a few summers ago—but nothing close to Harry.”
  • After beating her time at Nationals, Susannah kisses Harry. She narrates, “Before he can say anything else, I bracket his face with my hands and press my lips to his lips in a long, hard kiss that leaves my head spinning…Harry lifts my chin with his fingers and takes my lips with his, easing them apart. His palm comes to rest on my jaw and his other hand drifts to my hip, drawing me in by the waist.” They continue to kiss periodically throughout the book.
  • Harry keeps touching Susannah’s leg with his foot, and Susannah thinks, “He’s got sneakers on, and I’m wearing jeans, and we’re in public, but the image of his barefoot gently touching my bare leg as we lay wrapped around each other in bed keep flashing through my mind.”
  • Susannah is worried about having sex. When she asks Harry if he’s a virgin, he “shakes his head slowly.”
  • Susannah walks in on her sister Nina and another girl “making out on Nina’s bed.” They tell Susannah that they’re dating. Nina later comes out to her parents as pansexual.
  • Susannah and Harry have sex. Susannah narrates, “I love the weight of him, the soft hair on his legs tickling my bare ones, the sharpness of his hip bones digging into mine . . . I sigh as he kisses my throat, my collarbone, the space between my breasts, letting myself drown happily in the sensation of knowing someone loves the body that I never could.” The scene is described over a couple of pages.

Violence

  • Harry has bipolar disorder. When he was young, he “did stupid stuff. Defaced a public building, got into fights with other kids. I was drinking and taking pills, and I . . . I cut myself, sometimes . . . Where no one else can see.”
  • While in a depressed state, Harry “cuts himself too deep” and then calls Susannah for help. Susannah calls 911. When she arrives at his house, she sees “travel-size bottles of alcohol scattered underneath Harry’s desk.” Harry’s parents decide to take him to the youth ward of the psychiatric hospital – one that he’s been to before.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Susannah and her friends go to a house party with other high schoolers. Susannah notes that most of the students “have red Solo cups in their hands, which I’m sure do not contain soda.”
  • Susannah’s mom sends Susannah’s dad out on an errand run before the tamalada, a tamale-making party, to pick up “last-minute groceries, liquor, and other supplies.”
  • Nina, Susannah’s older sister, “has appointed herself bartender” for the tamalada. The adult relatives get a little tipsy during the tamalada.
  • When he was eleven, Harry found out he has bipolar disorder. According to Harry, he “didn’t know how to control [his] emotions or understand what was going on with [him], so [he] started stealing vodka from Bruce’s liquor cabinet and getting drunk in [his] room whenever [his] parents fought.”
  • For his bipolar disorder, Harry is on a list of meds. He lists them saying, “I’m on a mood stabilizer, and Prozac . . . I also take Xanax for anxiety, and Ambien to help me sleep when I need it.”
  • Susannah tears the labrum in her shoulder, and the doctors, “gave [her] some good drugs” to fight off the pain.
  • Susannah’s mom takes Susannah to get prescribed birth control from the gynecologist.

Language

  • Profanity is used frequently throughout. Profanity includes ass, fucking, shit, and damn. People flip each other off on a few occasions as well, though in jest.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Harry and Susannah use the Jewish community center’s pool to practice, and Harry mentions that his stepdad is Jewish.
  • Every Christmas, Susannah’s family hosts a tamalada, where family, friends, and neighbors are invited for a massive “tamale-making party.”
  • Susannah mentions that her parents were raised Catholic but that they don’t go to church.
  • Father Bob, Harry’s friend, and mentor, visits him in the hospital and runs into Susannah. Susannah thinks about her relationship with God. She thinks, “I’m not sure I believe in God, or the wisdom of priests for that matter. The closest I’ve ever come to a religious experience is a really great race.” Susannah and Bob speak for several pages about the Bible and Carl Sagan, both of which Bob is fond of.
  • When Susannah’s mom found out that she was pregnant, she said, “I’m not a religious person, but I prayed to a god I’m not even sure I believe in that I would be the sort of mother a little girl could look up to.”
  • Susannah compares her position in the Olympic trials to the other competitors. She says, “I’m like a mortal who somehow wandered up a cliffside to Mount Olympus and is looking for a place to sit among the gods.”

by Alli Kestler

Peter and the Shadow Thieves

Peter has been having a grand old time on his island, dubbed Never Land, despite some squabbles with the pirates who live there. However, when a strange ship docks looking for the starstuff, Peter’s peace is shattered. He overhears a strange shadow-like creature threatening Molly, and makes a snap decision to follow the ship to London in order to warn her.

Peter is not prepared when he reaches London. He has to keep Tink, his fairy or birdgirl, hidden. He doesn’t have shoes or a coat, he doesn’t know where Molly lives, or how to survive on the streets of London. Obstacle after obstacle gets in Peter’s way. Will it be too late to save Molly from the shadow thief and its strange powers? And will Peter ever get back to Never Land, to rescue his friends who’ve been captured by the pirates in his absence?

Peter and the Shadow Thieves is packed full of adventure from start to finish. This installment jumps from many different third-person points of view, allowing readers to see what’s happening on Never Land, with Peter and Molly in London and with the bad guys all at once. While the changes in perspective are clear, readers might not enjoy jumping from the main thread with Peter and Molly in England to Never Land every so often, as it reduces the suspense of the main storyline.

While Peter further learns the importance of working together, Molly uncharacteristically throws a tantrum, reveals the starcatchers’ secrets, and nearly ruins her father’s important mission. Despite her childish behavior, her father forgives her and thanks her for her bravery, which is not believable.

However, fans of Peter and the Starcatchers will be pleased with the second installment in the series. Readers will get to see all the beloved characters from the first book, along with some new friends and a frightening new villain. Timid readers may have nightmares about Lord Ombra, the terrifying shadow thief, who can steal shadows and control minds. More adventurous readers will be thrilled at the continuous suspense, twist and turns, and non-stop adventure that is thus far the hallmark of this series.

This book wraps up its major plot points while leaving plenty of questions that will leave readers eagerly reaching for the next book, Peter and the Secret of Rundoon. With plenty of action but not much violence, this is a great series for those readers itching for more exciting adventures who may not yet be ready for more mature content.

Sexual Content

  • When a mermaid kisses someone, they give the person the ability to breathe underwater for a short amount of time. When rescuing one of Peter’s friends, a mermaid kisses him so he can breathe underwater. “A kiss. His first, actually. Soft lips, right on his. Suddenly his lungs stopped burning.”

Violence

  • It’s mentioned in passing that when Mr. Slank was stuck at sea, he had been “forced to kill and eat” the other man he was stuck with “so he could stay alive.”
  • When rescuing his friend, Peter is almost captured by Captain Hook, but Captain Hook is distracted by Tink. Captain Hook, “clapped the hand to his eye, which had just received a hard poke from a tiny but amazingly potent fist.”
  • A man clouts Peter on the ear. “Kremp scuttled over and clouted Peter on the ear. Fortunately for Peter, Kremp was an inexperienced clouter, and it was not too painful.”
  • When escaping prison, “Peter felt a hand grab his left leg; he kicked it free. He turned the key, and the shackle on his right ankle opened . . . Peter kicked with all his strength, heard a loud ‘Ow!’ and a curse below him, and then shot upward, away from the chain and the shackles.”
  • One of Molly’s maids threatens her with a knife. The maid “had crossed the room, bringing the point of the knife to within inches of Molly’s face.” Molly is unharmed.
  • While trying to escape a shadow thief, a man “fell down the steep staircase, his head hitting the stone with a sickening sound.” The man dies on impact.
  • While escaping the men who kidnapped her mother, Molly is grabbed by one of the bad men. Molly “opened her mouth and bit down on [his hand] with all her strength. The hand was yanked away as the owner screamed in pain, and Molly, with a last, desperate wiggle, fell through the hole.”
  • Molly’s friend George tackles a man in her way. “Unfortunately, Magill was considerably taller than George’s usual targets; George had connected, noggin-first, with Magill’s right knee. The collision proved extremely painful for both parties. Magill yelped as he skipped sideways on this left foot, both hands holding his knee. George thudded to the ground, moaning, clutching at his throbbing skull.”
  • Molly’s father is shot. “Molly heard the shots and screamed as she saw her father crumple to the ground.” He survives.
  • When Slank captures Molly, Peter kicks him. “‘Hello, Slank!’ shouted Peter, delivering a high-velocity kick to Slank’s head as he shot past.”
  • A bear named Karl attacks the bad guys. “With a swipe of his enormous paw, he sent the closest of the rifles skidding across the dirt like a twig.”
  • Peter is shot. “UNNNH. Peter did not hear the shot that hit him; only his own grunt as the bullet tore through his left shoulder, hurling him forward onto the trunk. He slid facedown onto the dirt, wondering why he didn’t feel anything . . . His left arm didn’t work. He rolled sideways and the world became a red blur as the pain suddenly shot from his shoulder, surging through his body.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Sailors are fond of grog, an alcoholic drink. A sailor “kept his face turned away . . . fearing the captain would smell the grog that had put him to sleep on his watch.”
  • When a deckhand tells a far-fetched tale, the other sailors “were convinced he must have gone mad, or gotten into the grog.”
  • A sailor thinks he sees something strange, perhaps a bee, though there are no bees at sea. In response, the captain takes “him off his ration of grog. He’s too young for grog if he’s seeing bees.”
  • A homeless drunk tells Peter, “Sometimes, when I has me rum, I sees things that ain’t there.”
  • When they reach London, the captain keeps his sailors on his ship because “once they’d gotten ashore and filled their bellies with grog, it was only a matter of time before they were wagging their tongues about the ship’s strange voyage.”
  • It’s mentioned in passing that, “Most of the crew had gathered forward along the rail to watch a bloody, drunken brawl taking place outside the Jolly Tar, a notorious dockside pub.”
  • It’s mentioned that “some sailors, having overdone the grog, slept against the wall of the Jolly Tar; one was passed out in a wheelbarrow.”
  • A clerk keeps ducking beneath his desk to sneak gulps of alcohol. “The clerk ducked down behind the counter, and Peter heard the sound of liquid being swallowed.” The clerk makes a bargain with Peter. He will mail Peter’s letter if Peter takes his flask to a nearby bar and gets a refill.

Language

  • Captain Hook calls his men “idjit” several times.
  • Tink is a jealous fairy. She calls one of the mermaids a “fat grouper” twice, and she calls Molly a “cow” twice.
  • Captain Hook hatches a plan to catch the boys, and says, “I have you now, you little devils.”
  • When Molly’s friend George smacks his head on a windowsill, Tink comments, “Another idiot.”

Supernatural

  • Starcatchers are “a small group of people . . . There have been Starcatchers on Earth for centuries, Peter. Even we don’t know how long. But our task is always the same: to watch for the starstuff, and to get to it, and return it, before it falls into the hands of the Others.” The Others misuse starstuff to gain power.
  • Starstuff is golden dust that sometimes falls from the sky as meteors and “has amazing power . . . Wonderful power. Terrible power. It . . . it lets you do things . . . It’s not the same for everybody. And it’s not the same for animals as for people.” Starstuff can heal, can make people fly, or can even make people strong. Molly explains that larger quantities are more dangerous and can kill a person, or turn a fish into a mermaid, horses into centaurs, and other transformations.
  • Starcatchers have learned the language of porpoises, bears, and wolves. They work together often to find and return any starstuff that falls to earth.
  • Some fish on Peter’s island were turned into mermaids by starstuff. “Peter could see the tiny figures of a half dozen mermaids sunning themselves on the broad, flat rock they favored.”
  • Molly’s father turned a bird into a fairy, to watch over Peter. Her name is Tink. She calls herself a “birdgirl.”
  • Peter was exposed to a large quantity of starstuff. As a result, he can fly permanently and will never grow older.
  • A shadow creature called Lord Ombra has many abilities and seems to be more shadow than man. Lord Ombra can read thoughts if he touches a person’s shadow. He can also steal shadows, which allows him to control and/or impersonate that person.
  • In an attempt to escape prison, Peter uses his locket of starstuff. The result is that he, the guard, and the other prisoners that Peter is chained to all float into the air and fly for a few minutes before the starstuff wears off. When others hear what happened, “the word ‘witchcraft’ is whispered by the crowd.”

Spiritual Content

  • When a man asks a shadow thief, “Who the devil are you?” the shadow thief responds, “Not the devil, but a good friend of his.”
  • When Molly’s father hears the starcatchers’ mission was a success, he says, “Thank God.”

by Morgan Lynn

The Legend of the Shark Goddess: A Nanea Mystery

Ever since the war started, Nanea has done her best to follow all the new rules. When she meets a boy named Mano in her grandparents’ market, Nanea is shocked to hear him admit to breaking some rules—and bragging about getting away with it.

When things start to go missing from the market, Mano is the first person Nanea suspects. Nanea is determined to protect her grandparents, but Mano, whose name means “shark” in Hawaiian, seems to be hanging around the market more and more. What can Nanea do to keep her family safe from this dangerous boy?

Nanea’s story focuses on the effects of World War II in 1941. In a kid-friendly way, The Legend of the Shark Goddess illustrates some of the discrimination that Japanese Americans faced. Even though the story takes place after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the story also revolves around Nanea’s efforts to discover who is stealing from her family. As the mystery evolves, Nanea realizes it is difficult to tell if someone is a “good shark or a bad shark.”

Nanea is obsessed with following the rules, which is one reason she focuses on her first impressions of others. For example, when Nanea meets Mano, she is convinced he is the thief because he breaks curfew. Nanea is so focused on proving that Mano is a thief that she never really considers that anyone else could have taken the items. While most of the suspects are not well developed, the story provides enough mystery to keep readers entertained.

The Legend of the Shark Goddess does an excellent job describing Hawaii during the 1940s. Readers will learn many facts about this time period as well as several life lessons. The story focuses on two main lessons: don’t spread rumors and don’t judge others. The repetition of the lessons is a little tedious, but the conclusion helps reinforce the story’s lesson in a surprising way.

Readers who love mysteries may be disappointed that Nanea doesn’t do much sleuthing and there are no clues to follow or riddles to solve. Instead, the story relies on Nanea’s impressions of others to build suspense. However, Nanea’s story is interesting and many middle school readers will relate to Nanea. At the end of the book, readers will find a glossary of Hawaiian words and facts about Nanea’s world. Even though The Legend of the Shark Goddess lacks mystery, readers will still enjoy spending time in Nanea’s world. Readers who like history with a dash of fantasy should also read The League of Secret Heroes by Kate Hannigan.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Nanea often thinks about the shark goddess Ka’ahupahau, “who guarded the entrance of Pearl Harbor with her brother, Kahi’uka. . . She was born a human with fire-red hair. But as a shark, her body could take many forms. She could become a net, difficult to tear. And with her net body, she captured man-eating sharks that entered her harbor.”
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