Reading Level: Junior High

The Girl with the Broken Heart

For the past few months, family has meant nothing but heartache for Kenzie Caine. When her second year at college comes to a close, the last thing she wants to do is return home. Luckily, she’s just landed her dream summer job working at the well-known Bellmeade horse farm in the nearby town of Windemere. Rehabilitating abused horses is hard work, but it’s the perfect distraction from her mother’s deep depression and her turbulent relationship with her father. With the beautiful horses, Kenzie is in her element.

Still, she has her own health limitations—a weakened heart. Her employers, the affable Jon and Ciana Mercer, are well aware of her condition and have tasked the charming stable hand, Austin Boyd, with helping Kenzie with some of the heavy lifting. But Austin has his own secrets. As Kenzie and Austin become closer, those secrets lead to shocking revelations that test the walls Kenzie has built around her heart.

The Girl with the Broken Heart follows a familiar romance format and holds few surprises. Kenzie is an admirable character who doesn’t allow her heart condition to get in the way of her dreams. However, the complicated backstory, which lacks development, makes it difficult to connect with Kenzie. Much of her conflict is internal and revolves around her family life, but the reason for her conflict lacks detail, which causes confusion.

Even though The Girl with the Broken Heart is a clean romance appropriate for younger readers, the age of the character may make it difficult for readers to connect with her. Kenzie is in college, but her love interest’s age is unclear, though he has been working as a police officer for many years. The story hits on the topic of sexting, internet bullying, and suicide. However, these topics are also underdeveloped and unfortunately don’t evoke an emotional reaction.

Kenzie’s summer job is rehabilitating abused horses and the story explains the dangers of the painful method of soring Tennessee Walking Horses. While the abuse may resonate with those familiar with horse competitions, others may be confused because soring isn’t described until later in the book. In addition, the story focuses more on Kenzie’s relationship with Austin instead of her interaction with the horses.

The Girl with the Broken Heart is a sweet romance, but the older characters and lack of plot development make the book more appropriate for older readers. While Kenzie’s heart condition adds interest to the story, in the end, her character will quickly be forgotten. Teens looking for romance with a unique plot should try I Believe in A Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo.

Sexual Content

  • Dawson and his fiancée kiss several times. For example, “Dawson bent down and kissed Lani on the mouth.”
  • After Kenzie acts frosty towards Austin, he says, “Why, I could have sworn yesterday when we held hands that you liked having me close to you. So much so that if I’d walked you to your door last night like I wanted, I might have gotten a kiss.” Kenzie denies her attraction towards Austin.
  • Austin tells Kenzie about his first kiss. “We kissed once just to try it out and broke out laughing. No chemistry. No magic.”
  • Kenzie doesn’t know how to feel about Austin. “When he’d leaned over her, listening to her every word and looking into her eyes, she’d felt a fluttering sensation in her heart. . . desire.” She thinks Austin is going to kiss her and is disappointed when he doesn’t.
  • Austin doesn’t like it when a coworker “let his gaze roam over Kenzie’s body.”
  • Kenzie falls asleep while caring for a sick horse. When Austin sees her, he “wanted to touch her, smooth her hair . . . He wanted to bend down and kiss her awake.”
  • Kenzie recalls when she was thirteen and one of the ranch hands cornered her in the stable. The man “came up behind me, started rubbing my shoulders, telling me he thought I was pretty. I froze. He said other stuff, too, sexy things I didn’t understand at the time. . . Then he turned me around and planted a big wet sloppy kiss on my mouth.”
  • After walking Kenzie home, Austin “longed to take her in his arms, hungered for the feel of her warm mouth on his.” He forces himself to leave.
  • After an outing with Austin, Kenzie “placed both hands against his chest, rose up on her toes, and brushed her lips over his. Pulling away with a saucy smile, she whispered ‘Tag, you’re it,’ and ran back to the house.”

Violence

  • An upperclassman convinced Kenzie’s sister to “send pictures of her naked body to him, she did . . . because he said he loved her.” The boy then sent the pictures to others, who “shamed her! Made f-fun of her.” Afterward, Kenzie’s sister hangs herself on Valentine’s Day.
  • Someone vandalizes Kenzie’s car. “Both seats had been slashed with long vicious wounds that left the innards oozing out of the pale creamy leather like pieces of roadkill.”
  • When Austin is in the barn alone, a masked man stabs him with a knife. “Austin, gagged, heard a whoosh—his lung blown, deflating. He staggered, twisted away from the stall, fell backwards, his head slamming against the hard floor. . . searing, burning pain.” The farm dog attacks the man. “The assailant was hurled to one side, then hauled backwards amid growls and snarls. The man screamed. Human bone crunched.” Both men end up in the hospital.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Kenzie goes to a party where people “gathered around patio tables, drinking sodas and beer.”
  • Kenzie’s mom takes pills for depression.
  • While at a Fourth of July party Austin is “nursing a beer.”
  • While in the hospital Austin is given a “morphine infusion pump.”
  • Austin tells Kenzie about a case he was working on. “Kids were dying. Opioids. Five area high schools had lost seven teens in four months.”
  • After taking drugs, a teen tells Austin, “The first time I used, I felt like I’d been kissed by an angel. Every time after, I was chasing that feeling. Never got it again.”

Language

  • Kenzie calls Austin a conceited jerk. Later, Austin tells Kenzie that someone is “pretty much a jerk.”
  • Crappy is used twice. Once Kenzie says, “Having a crappy heart condition wasn’t going to slow me down. So far, it hasn’t.”
  • At a horse competition, a man sees Kenzie looking at a horse. The man says, “If it isn’t the bitch who helped destroy my grandfather.” After the altercation, Austin asked, “And what should I have done? Beat the crap out of him?”
  • Damn is used once. Hell is used twice.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Dirt Road Home

Two years ago, Hal was sent to a state residence to keep him away from his alcoholic father. Hal escapes the boys’ home but is eventually captured. Now, he’s being sent to serve hard time at Hellenweiler Boy’s Home.

With his dad back on the wagon, Hal can walk out sooner than he thinks if he keeps his cool. But at Hellenweiler, trouble finds those who try to avoid it. In order to stay out of trouble, Hal tries to avoid the other residents, but two rival gangs each want Hal to pick a side. To make matters worse, Hal realizes the head of Hellenweiler, Mr. Pratt, is determined to keep Hal locked up. Is there any way Hal can stay out of the gangs’ fights? Will everyone believe Mr. Pratt’s lies?

Hal is determined to stay out of trouble, but other inmates notice his confidence and compassion. For example, Hal encourages the new arrival of Leroy to quickly choose a gang as Leroy will need protection. But after seeing Leroy and Hal interact, the gang leader chooses a cruel initiation task—beat up Hal. Hal quickly realizes Leroy’s struggle and promises not to fight back. Hal takes the beating because he knows it is the only way Leroy will be safe. Throughout the story, many boys fight each other. Some of the fights are barbaric and bloody, which may upset more sensitive readers.

Readers will admire Hal for his determination and grit. Hal’s experiences highlight the violent nature of boys’ homes and the corrupt system that is designed to keep the boys behind bars. The boys often fight each other and the guards gladly ignore much of the fighting. However, the guards seem to relish in being able to use violence to stop the fighting. While the story ends on a positive note, readers will be left wondering if all of the boys can be reformed or if are some of them already destined to live in a prison for the rest of their adult lives.

Full of violence, questionable characters, and suspense, Dirt Road Home will keep the reader interested until the very end. The story has a darker tone and explores difficult topics such as alcoholism, justice, and prison life. Hal and several other characters made an appearance in Alabama Moon. Even though readers do not have to read Alabama Moon to understand the story, understanding Hal’s background will help readers have empathy for him. Dirt Road Home is an easy-to-read story that illustrates how one person can make a positive difference in others’ lives.

Sexual Content

  • Hal dreams about his girlfriend and “the time I couldn’t help myself and leaned over and kissed her on the tailgate of my truck. And the way I’d felt when she’d kissed me back and then later when she’d stood behind me and put her hands in the front pockets of my jeans and pulled close against me.”
  • Hal kisses his girlfriend. “I leaned into her and kissed her on the mouth. Her lips were soft and tasted like cherry ChapStick. I’d been thinking about that kiss ever since.”

Violence

  • Two rival gangs try to recruit new boys. A boy chases after a basketball and gets too close to a rival gang member. “The Hound slapped the ball out of the Minister’s hand and bent down to get it. The Minister kneed the boy in the stomach and the Hound collapsed, holding himself.” An adult breaks up the fight.
  • As part of a gang initiation, Hal’s friend Leroy is told to beat up Hal. Hal tells him, “I won’t fight back, Leroy.” Leroy “drew back and hit me in the ribs. I grunted and leaned over and grabbed my side. . . He punched me hard in the stomach. I doubled over and went to my knees. . . He hit me across the face and I fell sideways. I rolled over and looked at him. Tears were coming down his face. ‘Kick me,’ I said.” Hal is taken to the infirmary.
  • When Hal refuses to join a gang, Tattoo “slammed his hand into my throat and pressed me against the wall. I gasped for breath as he held me there. . . He hit me again. I felt the coppery taste of blood in my mouth. Then I saw it running down his hand.” Hal is knocked unconscious. The scene is described over a page.
  • A gang member tries to make Hal throw a punch. “Jack’s hand shot out and grabbed me by the throat and pinned me to the wire. He was breathing heavy through his nose, and his eyes danced with craziness.” An adult intervenes.
  • When one of the boys refuses to fight, he disappears. Someone tells Hal, “Chase accepted a service he could not pay for. He is gone. . . He was taken away in an ambulance last night.”
  • Hal sneaks down to the basement intending to fight Jack. “I tightened my grip on the shiv and started to stand. Before I could rise, another figure slipped out of the darkness behind Jack and pulled him to the floor. The room was suddenly filled with screaming.” Someone beat up Jack. The next morning, one of the boys is found in bed with “blood staining his bedsheet and the entire side of his shirt.” Both boys heal from their wounds.
  • The two gangs fight. “It was a blur of chaos and confusion as the Hounds descended on their cowering prey . . .” Guards watch the fight and then one “stepped down onto the yard. Behind him came three more guards, each of them with his own club. . . Then I saw sticks rising and falling and caught glimpses of their faces, jaws clenched and eyes narrowed at the pleasure of what they dealt. I heard grunts of pain and more yelling. . . in the end, the guards stood in the settling dust. A few boys lay around them, moaning and curled into fetal positions.”
  • Paco explains how he became a gang leader. “I put a rock in my fist and walked up to their leader and hit him in the face with it until he fell to the ground and spit his teeth into the dirt.”
  • During a fight between the two gangs, “the boys are so worked up that they continue to fight and do not notice the guards. Perhaps even if they did notice they do not believe what is about to happen. . .” The guards attack the boys. After the fight, “there are several boys lying on the ground. One of them is not moving. . . Caboose’s younger brother.” When Caboose refuses to leave his brother’s side, “the guards close in and I hear the clubs hitting his back like punches to a side of beef. Slowly, after many blows, Caboose becomes silent. . . Then, after many more blows, he rolls over and falls across his brother.”
  • A guard finds a shiv in Hal’s locker. The guard grabs Hal and, “I felt the hand on my shoulder. I tried to twist away and the fingers dug clawlike into my collarbone and pain shot up my neck. Then I was hit hard from behind and I went to my knees with the room spinning.” Hal is put in solitary confinement.
  • Paco tells the story of how he ended up in the boys’ home. He was bullied. He became tired of the jeers and ridicule. “I snapped. I began picking up desks and throwing them at students from the back of the room. They screamed and ran for the door. . . All I had to do was throw the desk at the cluster of them.” Paco blames the boys’ home for turning him into a “violent youth.”
  • The gangs fight. Jack, one of the gang leaders, “charged and rammed Paco against the fence. . . Jack began driving his fists into Paco’s kidneys over and over while Paco did nothing to defend himself. . . Jack came at Paco again and began hammering his face with the fury of an insane person. . .” Paco’s friend Caboose “picked him up and put him over his shoulder like he weighed nothing. Blood drooled out of his mouth and down Caboose’s back.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Hal’s father is a recorded alcoholic. In a brief conversation Hal asks, “He goin’ to AA meetin’s?” Occasionally, Hal thinks about the past, when his father would drink whiskey.
  • When Hal’s father comes to visit him, Hal is worried because his father has lost weight. His dad says, “I guess I’ve been wired to the stuff [alcohol] for too long. Gotta get reprogrammed.”
  • One of the boys tells Hal, “My parents are in jail for sellin’ drugs.”
  • Before Hal had to go to the boy’s home, he spent time with his girlfriend. They were “drinking a couple of hot Budweisers I’d found in the toolbox.”

Language

  • Profanity is used frequently. Profanity includes ass, crap, damn, hell and pissed.
  • Someone is called a wuss several times.
  • Christ is used as an exclamation twice.
  • Hal’s father writes Hal a letter. In it, he writes, “I figured you wanted her [Hal’s girlfriend’s] address, numbskull.”
  • While talking to his father, Hal calls his mom a “fat old nag.”
  • One of the boys calls someone a “dumb spic.” The boy replies, “Bring it on, cracker!”
  • Someone tells Hal that he will have to join a gang for protection. When Hal refuses, someone gives him a shiv. Hal says, “Then I’m screwed!”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

11 before 12

Kaylan and her BFF, Arianna, have a foolproof plan for surviving middle school: 1. Make a list of eleven things they need to do to become amazing before they turn twelve and 2. Show off their brand-new selves with the best joint birthday party in the history of West Brookside Middle School.

But between cafeteria drama, crushes gone wrong, and some major misunderstandings, Kaylan and Ari lose sight of the one thing they forgot to put on their list: “Keep our friendship strong.” As their party grows nearer, they’re both left listing the ways their friendship is falling apart.

Told from Kaylan’s point of view, 11 before 12 is a one-sided story told by a self-centered, manipulative preteen. Unfortunately, Kaylan is hard to sympathize with for a variety of reasons. She is only nice to her mother when she wants something. Both Kaylan and her brother yell at each other and their mother. Kaylan wants to be treated like a mature grownup, but she acts like a brat and doesn’t take anyone else’s feelings into consideration—not even her best friend’s.

For the majority of the book, Kaylan and her BFF, Arianna, aren’t talking to each other because of a fight. However, they are both “loyal to the list” and continue working on checking everything off the list, including a first kiss. The story has plenty of awkward boy moments and silly conversations that will appeal to preteens. One positive aspect of the story is that Kaylan learns that “there’s really no purpose in dwelling on the past or mistakes or regrets. The only thing we can do is try and learn something and then move on.”

In the end, Kaylan and Arianna repair their relationship. However, the happy ending feels unrealistic and, unfortunately, the reader may wonder why Arianna would want to be friends with Kaylan. While the topics of first kisses and new friends will appeal to tweens, Kaylan’s selfish behavior dominates the story. Pugs and Kisses by J.J. Howard has similar tween-friendly themes with a more relatable main character.

Sexual Content

  • Ari’s mom says, “I think my first kiss was when I was eleven. I was at camp.
  • At lunch, a girl tells her friends about her first kiss. She mets a boy at camp and, “We kissed on the last night.”
  • At a party, Kaylan thinks Tyler “want to kiss me. I really do. Too bad for him I don’t kiss doofus boys like him, especially doofus boys who taunt my brother.”
  • Kaylan’s friend Saara, had a “first kiss miss.” Saara was at a party playing mancala when, “out of nowhere, he leaned in and kissed me.” Saara said she “backed away” because “it was too weird! I didn’t even know him!”
  • Instead of going to class, Jason and Kaylan go outside. Jason asks her a strange question. Then when Kaylan is distracted, he “kisses me. . . Well, it’s kind of a kiss. Our teeth crash. Part of his lip ends up on my nose. . . His lips are on my lips, kind of. My lips are on his lips, kind of.” Kaylan gets upset because she thinks the kiss was a “pity kiss.”
  • Arianna meets a boy at Hebrew school. Arianna says, “So anyway, we went to get some of the gummy snacks out of the vending machine, and we were standing side-by-side, and he just kissed me! Right there!”
  • At a party, Kaylan takes Jason into the laundry room so they can have a “redo” kiss. “We both lean in a little, and then Jason’s lips are on my lips. This is the redo. And it’s going really well. We’re kissing. We really are.” They both decide that the redo went “really well” and then return to the party.

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • At a party, a group of boys try to get Kaylan’s brother, Ryan, to drink out of a baby bottle. Kaylan wonders, “what if it’s laced with something? Some kind of poison?” When Ryan refuses, “people start saying, ‘What are you, chicken?’ and ‘He really is a baby!’ and ‘Scaredy-cat.’”

Language

  • Some of the teens occasionally call each other names such as jerk, doofus, dimwit, losers, imbecile, and flea brain. For example, when Tyler asks Kaylan if she likes him, she replies, “how can I like you if you’re that big of a jerk to my brother?. . . Do you even know what it means to be a good person and not a complete turd?”
  • God, “Oh my God” and OMG are used as exclamations frequently.
  • Freakin’ and darn are both used once.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Occasionally Kaylan says a silent prayer. For example, Kaylan’s brother, Ryan, grabs a list out of her hands. Kaylan thinks, “Thank god he didn’t see the sabotage Ryan part.”
  • Kaylan’s mom starts crying and Kaylan “prays that my mom stops crying.”

Hideout

Twelve-year-old Sam has been given a fishing boat by his father, but he hates fishing. Instead, he uses the boat to disappear for hours at a time, exploring the forbidden swampy surroundings of his bayou home. Then he discovers a strange kid named Davey, mysteriously alone, repairing an abandoned cabin deep in the woods. Not fooled by the boy’s evasive explanation as to why he’s on his own, Sam becomes entangled in his own efforts to help Davey. But this leads him to tell small lies that only get bigger as the danger increases for both boys and hidden truths become harder to conceal.

Hideout is a suspenseful survival story that delves into the complicated nature of friendship, self-esteem, and evil. Sam and his best friend, Grover, are savagely beaten. Sam is unable to forget about “the fight” and blames himself for the event. Told from Sam’s perspective, the reader gets an inside view of how Sam feels ashamed. He thinks that if he wasn’t a loser, “the fight” would have never happened. While Sam struggles with his own personal demons, he meets Davey who is living alone in the middle of a swamp.

Davey’s story is one full of hardship and mystery. Even though Davey is secretive, Sam is determined to help him. In doing so, Sam begins to tell lies that get him into a dangerous situation. Readers will be drawn into the two boys’ lives and wonder if their secrets will lead to their downfall.

Hideout expertly weaves the boys’ stories into an interesting, suspenseful story that is difficult to put down. The story ends on a happy note and shows Sam’s character growth. In the end, Sam learns several important lessons. He finally realizes that “there’s just bad people in the world. Sometimes they do bad things to people like us. But it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with us.” In addition, Sam learns that “being a man isn’t about winning fights and carrying guns. It’s about helping people however you can, no matter what.”

Fans of survival stories will enjoy Hideout’s fast pace, the surprises, and the life lessons. In addition, readers will empathize with Sam and Davey, who both struggle with hardships. Readers who enjoy Hideout should check out Key’s other survival stories which include Terror at Bottle Creek and the Alabama Moon Series. Readers looking for another intense survival story should check out ADRIFT by Paul Griffin and Surrounded by Sharks by Michael Northrop.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Leroy and Gooch beat up Sam and his best friend, Grover. Leroy “tripped Grover. . . he smacked hard onto the concrete.” Then, Gooch “shot out and his fist punched Grover in the chest so hard it sounded like a hammer thumping a wood barrel. Grover flew backwards into the lockers and collapsed . . .” Sam tried to help him and “Gooch’s arm slid around my throat and constricted me in the crook of his elbow. . .”
  • While Grover was still on the ground, Leroy “kicked him in the stomach and bounced him off the lockers like a soccer ball.”
  • During the fight, Sam “began to struggle against Gooch, trying to break free. Then I felt a sharp blow to my ribs, and what breath I had left me and everything went blurry. . . Gooch kicked me in the stomach . . . [Sam felt] blows to [his] face and stomach and arms until it didn’t hurt anymore.” Both Sam and Grover have to be hospitalized. The fight is described over three pages.
  • Sam’s father chases a thief. “I saw the big man sitting up and punching down. . . I saw Dad start to stand. Suddenly he was falling, and then he was gone and the big man was punching again.” Sam’s father is able to restrain the man.
  • Sam meets a boy who tells him, “My stepmom got a boyfriend, and Dad stabbed him in the stomach with the knife.” No other details are mentioned.
  • Davey was in a foster home. “My foster dad used to tell me I was like a stray dog that nobody wanted. He hurt me sometimes, but he didn’t do it so you could tell. He’d do things like press his thumbs up real hard under my armpits. . . If I yelled, he’d press harder until I got quiet.”
  • Davey’s foster dad sprayed him “in the face with some air freshener . . . Everything’s been blurry ever since.”
  • Davey’s step-brother, Slade, tells Sam, “And if you screw up, I’m gonna come to your house on Acorn Drive and kill you in your sleep.”
  • Slade got upset at one of his friends and “grabbed him by the throat with one hand. Jesse swung and hit him in the stomach. . . [Slade] punched him in the face. . . Slade kicked him hard in the ribs and he went down again, clutching his side.”
  • Slade kicks Davey “in the shoulder and knocked him over into the leaves.”
  • While trying to flee the swamp, Slade crashes into a patrol boat. Davey gets thrown and stops breathing. After receiving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, Davey is revived.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Slade and his friends show up with beer. The step-brother’s friends “were each drinking a beer.”
  • Slade and his friends are growing marijuana out in the swamp.
  • Sam’s father grabbed a beer.

 

Language

  • Profanity is used rarely. Profanity includes ass, crap, hell, and pissed.
  • A classmate trips Grover, Grover calls the boy a “dumbass” and a “stupid redneck.”
  • Someone calls Grover a “wuss.”
  • “Christ,” “Lord” and “my god” are used as exclamations seven times altogether.
  • Grover calls Sam’s dad a “redneck cop.”
  • Dumbass is used three times. For example, Davey’s step-brother calls him a dumbass.
  • Someone asks Sam, “Are you a complete idiot?”
  • While trying to resuscitate Davey, the officer says, “Breathe, damnit!”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Sam’s family attends First Methodist Church.
  • When Sam’s boat is almost out of gas, he prays, “Please God, let me get home. Just this one time. . . Okay, God, I won’t go out there again [into the swamp]. Just let me get home and I won’t go out there again.”
  • When Sam goes to church, he “remembered my plea to God and tried my best to pay attention to the sermon as repayment for any help.” The preacher’s sermon, which was about the good Samaritan, is paraphrased in a paragraph.
  • Sam goes missing. When his father finds him, he says, “Thank God.”

The Girl Who Drank the Moon

Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest, to keep the witch from terrorizing their town. But the witch, Xan, is really kind and gentle. She shares her home with a wise Swamp Monster and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon. Xan rescues the children left in the woods and delivers them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest.

One year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby with moonlight, filling the ordinary child with extraordinary magic. Xan decides she must raise this girl, who she calls Luna, as her own. As Luna’s thirteenth birthday approaches, her magic begins to emerge with unpredictable consequences, just as it’s time for Xan to go collect another child. Meanwhile, a young man is determined to free his people by killing the witch. And a volcano, dormant for centuries, rumbles within the earth. . .

The Girl Who Drank the Moon has many elements of a classical fairytale. A witch who lives in the woods, a swamp monster who recites poetry, a tiny dragon, and a curious girl filled with magic. Like a classical fairytale, the story is often dark, scary, and teaches a lesson. Despite this, readers may get bogged down in the long, repetitive descriptive passages that often use difficult vocabulary words. Between some of the chapters, there is a one-sided conversation between an anonymous speaker and another person. Because the speaker is unknown, these pages are more confusing than interesting.

The complex story uses an omniscient point of view so the reader can understand all of the characters’ thoughts. However, the story jumps to many characters—Xan, Glerk, Fyrian, Luna, the Madwoman, Sister Ignatia, Antain, Grand Elder Gherland, and Ethyne. While all the stories merge at the end, the large cast of characters and the winding plot make The Girl Who Drank the Moon best for strong readers.

Xan, a beautifully complex witch, shows love through every action. When she collects the abandoned babies and finds them new homes, she truly believes that she is doing what is right. Later she realizes that “I was wrong not to be curious. I was so wrong not to wonder.” Xan’s compassion allows her to understand others’ pain, and her love gives her the strength to fight for others.

The story deals with the difficult topics of death, grief, and political corruption. But beauty is woven into each page as the characters realize that family is not always determined by one’s birth, but by love. Luna’s family—Xan, the swamp monster, and the tiny dragon—is formed by love, loyalty, and the willingness to sacrifice for each other.

Even though The Girl Who Drank the Moon won the Newbery Award, the story may hold more appeal to adults than to middle-grade and teen readers. While the story has some interesting elements, the length of the story, the long descriptive passages, and the slow world-building make the story difficult to complete. Readers looking for a story about a witch that steals children may want to skip The Girl Who Drank the Moon and read Nightbooks by J.A. White instead.

Sexual Content

  • An anonymous speaker dreams about her son. She says, “Last night I dreamed that he waited next to a tree for a girl to walk by. And he called her name, and held her hand, and his heart pounded when he kissed her.”

Violence

  • Every year, the youngest child in the village is sacrificed to a witch. The town Elders take the baby into a clearing in the woods and leave the child there.
  • Paper birds come alive and attack a boy called Antain. “A paper raven swooped across the room, slicing its wing across Antain’s cheek, cutting it open, letting him bleed. . .” The birds permanently disfigure the boy’s face.
  • A man tries to take a sacrificed baby, but Xan stops him. “She could feel her magic rush from the center of the earth. . . like massive waves pushing and pulling the shore. She reached out and grabbed the man with both hands. He cried out as a surge hit him square in the solar plexus, knocking his breath clear away.” Xan turned into a bird and “lifted the baby into the sky.” Both the man and Xan were trying to keep the baby safe, but they did not realize it.
  • Xan turns into a sparrow. She flies over a frightened man. She tries to comfort him. “She fluttered out of her hiding place and circled over the figure. A young man. He screamed, loosed the stone in his hand, and hit Xan on the left wing. She fell to the ground without so much as a peep.” The sparrow’s wing is broken so the man binds the wing and carries the bird with him.
  • The Sorrow Eater feeds off of grief. In order to feed, she finds a starling nest. “She reached in and grabbed a tiny, wriggling nestling. She crushed it in one fist as the horrified mother looked on. The mother sparrow’s sorrow was thin. But it was enough. Sister Ignatia licked her lips and crushed another nestling.”
  • Sister Ignatia threatens Luna. In order to protect the girl, paper birds attack Sister Ignatia. “The birds cut her hands. They cut her forehead. They attacked without mercy.”
  • Sister Ignatia tries to take magical boots off of a woman. Sister Ignatia “balled her hands into two tight fists and raised them over her head. When she swept them back down, uncurling her fingers, they had four sharp knives. Without hesitating she reared back and snapped her hands forward, shooting the knife blades directly for the madwoman’s heart.” The madwoman moves just in time and is not injured.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • The town Elders “grew big and strong on beef and butter and beer.
  • Luna gave “ale to the geese to see if it made them walk funny (it did).”
  • A woman goes mad after her baby is sacrificed. She is given “special potions to keep her calm.”
  • The Elders drink wine with lunch.

Language

  • A monster says, “As the Poet famously said, dear lady: ‘I don’t give a rat’s—‘” The monster stops talking when he is interrupted.
  • “My god” is used as an exclamation once.
  • When Antain asks to see the Elders, which is unusual, his uncle says, “Tradition be damned. The council will be ever so pleased to see you.”

Supernatural

  • Sister Ignatia is a Sorrow Eater, who “spreads misery and devours sorrow.” When someone feels grief, Sister Ignatia’s “tongue quickly darted out and disappeared back into her mouth. She closed her eyes as her cheeks flushed. As though she had just tasted the most delicious flavor in the world.”
  • Xan is a witch and can change forms. She picks up the sacrificed infants and feeds them starlight. “Once it was dark enough to see the stars, she reached up one hand and gathered starlight in her fingers. . . and fed it to the child.”
  • In order to hide from the Elder, Xan “transformed herself into a tree—a craggy thing of leaf and lichen and deep-grooved bark, similar in shape and texture to the other ancient sycamores standing guard over the small grove.”
  • When Luna was an infant, she drank moonlight, which “enmagicked” her.
  • Xan believes that “magic should never be used to influence the will of another person.” Despite this, she uses magic to make Luna sleep. When Luna begins transforming things, such as turning bread dough into a hat, Xan uses a spell to keep Luna from using magic. Xan is afraid Luna will hurt herself or someone else.
  • Xan uses her magic to cure a young woman of headaches.
  • Xan has a memory of protecting people “who lived in a castle. . . She remembered how she put protective spells on each of them—well, each of them but one—and prayed to the stars that each spell would hold as they ran.”
  • A girl is told a story about a witch who had boots that “could travel seven leagues in a single step.” The witch ate “sorrow, or souls, or volcanoes, or babies, or brave little wizards.” Soon, the girl discovers that the witch and the magical shoes are not just a story, but are real.
  • A woman learns how to transform herself into small things such as a cricket, a spider, or a waterbug.
  • Luna discovers a library, where the books are eager to have their voices heard. “Each book and each paper, as it turned out, had quite a bit to say. They murmured and rambled; they talked over one another; they stepped on each other’s voices.”
  • A flock of paper birds helps a “madwoman” escape from prison. The paper birds appear several times in the story.

Spiritual Content

  • A creation story explains how everything came from a bog. “In the beginning there was the Bog. And the Bog covered the world and the Bog was the world and the world was the Bog. . . But the Bog was lonely.” So the Bog created life on earth.
  • Xan remembers another time in her life when “she could remember climbing into her bed and clutching her hands to her heart, praying to the stars that she might have a night free from bad dreams. She never did.”

Eruption At Krakatoa

Parakeet Melati lives with the rest of her bird friends and family on the beautiful slopes of the Indonesian island of Krakatoa. But one morning Melati’s peaceful home is shaken by tremors stronger than she’s ever felt before—her sleeping island volcano has awoken!

Across a narrow stretch of water lives Budi, a rhinoceros, with his old friend, Raja, a tiger and the king of the jungle. They are blissfully unaware of the vibrations on Krakatoa until Melati arrives with a warning that they must flee. Raja believes the animals will be safe in the jungle, but Budi worries something terrible is about to happen, and he urges Raja to take action.

As ash rains down on the island and the rumblings worsen, Raja must put aside his fears and trust Budi’s instincts if they are to have any chance at surviving the mighty eruption of Krakatoa . . . and saving the one place they call home.

Told from the animals’ point of view, Eruption At Krakatoa shows the historical events of the 1883 volcanic eruption. However, the story doesn’t just show the devastation of the animal’s habitat. The story also includes information on how the eruption caused devastation on human villages as well as a resulting tsunami that killed many on land and at sea.

While most of the intense action comes from the exploding volcano and the tsunami, Raja’s story adds an interesting element. As king of the jungle, Raja is afraid of humans and lacks leadership skills. Even though the animal kingdom looks to him for guidance, Raja runs from the responsibility and allows fear to control him. Raja’s personal growth and his friendship with Budi are inspiring. Raja learns that not all humans are to be feared because not all humans are bad.

Eruption At Krakatoa is a tale of bravery and friendship. This action-packed story will keep readers flipping the pages until the very end. Readers will relate to the animals, who must overcome fear, injury, and exhaustion in order to survive. The surprising and heartwarming conclusion ends on a hopeful note. The end of the book has historical background, a timeline, and animal facts. The author’s notes tell about Charman’s research and artist William Ashcroft, who painted over five hundred canvases of the atmospheric changes that the eruption caused. Readers should take time to research his paintings.

Both history buffs and animal lovers will enjoy Eruption At Krakatoa. Five black and white pictures are scattered throughout the book and help bring the scenes into sharper focus. Although this story is the fourth book in the Survival Tails Series, each book is an independent story. Readers interested in seeing history through a dog’s eye should add the G.I. Dogs Series by Laurie Calkhoven to their reading list.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Raja is afraid of humans. When he was a cub, a human injured him. He has a nightmare about the events. “Flames flickered across his vision until it was all he could see and the terrifying feeling of heat against his body returned. The smell of his fur melting as it burned away. . . Then the searing pain as the fire scorched his fur, his body. . .” Raja’s father died trying to help him.
  • A boy throws a sac over Melati’s head. “Melati squawked inside the sac, flapping her wings and trying to claw her way free as her heart raced in her chest.” The boy puts Melati in a cage, “poking at her with a thin stick through the bars.” Melati is able to escape.
  • The story revolves around an erupting volcano. When it begins to erupt, Budi runs up the mountain, “but the downpour of debris from the island was never-ending.” The humans also run up the mountain. “Many of them were coughing and struggling to breathe. Many more were injured, limping, covered in blood from where they had been hit by the missiles falling from the sky.”
  • Melati went to look for a human girl. The bird “swooped and swerved in an attempt to avoid the larger rocks and stones that fell from the sky. A red-hot glowing rock hit the longest of her tail feathers as it fell, and Melati was knocked off course for a moment. She hissed as the sizzling pain flashed through her. . .”
  • The noise from the erupting volcano causes a girl to temporarily lose her hearing. Melati noticed “a thin trickle of blood ran down the side of her [a girl’s] face from each of her ears, and she had a gash on her forehead from where a wooden beam had fallen and hit her.”
  • The erupting volcano spewed a “wave of heat and gas so fierce that as it reached the humans who lagged behind, they fell to the ground, screaming in agony.” Budi ran but there was no place to hide. “Budi fell to the ground as the wave of steam and gas overtook them, and held his breath, waiting for it all to be over.” Many people and animals were burned.
  • Some people died from their burns. Budi was surprised as “the humans helped those who could be helped and covered up those who were gone.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Budi says, “Darn those monkeys!”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • After several earthquakes, ships began keeping their distance from the island. Melati thinks it’s because “some of the humans who had ground up in Sumatra believed that a spirit—Orang Alijeh—watched over the mountains, and she wondered whether the spirit had been angered somehow.”

Defiance #1

Girls in Baalboden learn to be submissive and obey their male Protectors. While other girls learn how to sew dresses, Rachel’s father has been teaching her to survive in the wilderness and wield a sword. When her father, Jared, doesn’t return from a courier mission, everything changes for Rachel. When her father is declared dead, Rachel is assigned a new protector: her father’s apprentice. Now Rachel is commanded to obey Logan, the boy who rejected her two years ago. Rather than meekly obey, Rachel is determined to find her father and prove that he survived the Wasteland.

Logan is many things: orphan, outcast, inventor, apprentice to the city’s top courier. Logan is focused on learning his trade so he can escape the tyranny of Baalboden. But his plan never included being responsible for his mentor’s impulsive daughter. Logan is determined to protect her, but when his escape plan goes wrong and Rachel pays the price, he realizes he has more at stake than disappointing his mentor.

As Rachel and Logan battle their way through the Wasteland, stalked by a monster that can’t be killed and an army of assassins out for blood, they discover romance, heartbreak, and a truth that will incite a war decades in the making.

Even though Rachel is headstrong and capable of defending herself, she is not a very likable character. Rachel often acts impulsively, which almost leads to her death. She is forced to go into the Wasteland with Melkin. When Melkin attacks her, Rachel kills him. Afterwards, she is overcome by guilt because she believes that Melkin wouldn’t have killed her. Although Rachel’s feeling of guilt is understandable, her reasoning doesn’t make sense. This is just one of many frustrating inconsistencies in this story that just don’t make sense.

While Defiance has some action-packed scenes, too much time is devoted to Rachel finding her father and then returning to the city. When Rachel finally makes it to her destination, she learns that her father has died, but left her a package, which Logan is supposed to destroy. Because of this, Rachel’s long journey into the Wasteland and back to Baalboden seems pointless.

Defiance jumps back and forth between Rachel’s and Logan’s points of view. Even though this allows the reader to understand both of their thoughts, readers may still have a hard time relating to either character. Much of the plot is devoted to the characters’ inner monologues, which revolve around their feelings for each other. Many of their troubles could have been easily prevented if they would have talked to each other. In addition, Logan is inconsiderate, controlling, and only thinks about himself. Unfortunately, there is little to like about Rachel or Logan.

The predictable villain, the characters’ inner monologues, and the plot inconsistencies will frustrate readers. The world building is so vague that it does little to add to the dystopian plot. Unfortunately, Defiance is an underdeveloped, forgettable story. If you’re looking for a must read end-of-the-world novel, you should leave Defiance on the shelf and instead read The Host by Stephanie Myer.

 Sexual Content

  • Logan almost kisses Rachel. His “gaze wanders to her lips, and I can’t see anything but a thin trail of water gliding over her skin, gathering at the corner of her mouth, then slowly drifting toward her neck. . . I ache to press her against the wall and taste her.”
  • Rachel thinks about Logan. “I remember the intensity in Logan’s eyes as we leaned close to each other in his kitchen. The way his hand felt pressed against my skin.”
  • When Rachel is too distraught to speak, Logan is worried that she’s “been violated.”
  • Logan notices Rachel’s breast. “The neckline dips down and curves over breasts I didn’t realize until just this minute were so . . . substantial. I force my eyes to scrape over her trim waist, but in seconds I’m staring once more at the way the glittering line of thread along her neckline barely contains her.”
  • Logan and Rachel kiss multiple times. For example, while cleaning off in a lake, Rachel and Logan kiss. “His kiss is rough, tastes like lake water. . . and is the best thing I’ve ever felt. I press against him, consuming him like I’ll never get enough, and when we break apart, my pulse pounds against my ear. . .” The scene is described over a page.
  • Logan grabs Rachel and pulls her close. Logan “can’t hear anything beyond the pounding of my heart and the soft catch of Rachel’s breath as I fist my hands in the back of her tunic and pull her against me like I can’t stand to have a single sliver of air between us.” The three pages of description imply that Logan and Rachel have sex.

Violence

  • When Rachel argues with the Commander, “he grabs a handful of her hair and twists her around to face him. . . She hisses a quick gasp of pain but meets his eyes without flinching.”
  • Logan frequently thinks back to his mother’s death. She was killed when she left the house without male supervision. Logan thinks about the Commander’s “whip falling in cruel precision across my mother’s back . . . my mother’s broken body lying lifeless at the Commander’s feet.”
  • Rachel attempts to leave the compound. A guard begins to follow her. Logan takes a “leap forward, slam my fist into the side of his head, and drag his unconscious body back under the lip of the roof.” Both Rachel and Logan are captured.
  • After the Commander captures Rachel and Logan, a guard “lays the edge of his sword against my [Rachel’s] neck. I raise my chin as the silver bites into my skin, but I refuse to beg for mercy.” At one point, the commander “swings his sword until the tip digs into the soft skin beneath my [Rachel’s] chin. . . The pain is sharp and quick, and a hot trickle of blood slowly snakes its way down my neck.” The Commander eventually lets the two go. The scene is described over five pages.
  • Rachel and Logan ignore the Commander’s orders and the Brute Squad grabs Rachel. “The Commander’s sword plunges deep into the chest of the guard beside me. The man makes a wet gurgling noise in the back of his throat as he reaches up to grasp the blade embedded in his chest. Blood pools beneath his palm and slides along the silver in a single, sinuous streak as he slowly crumples to the floor.”
  • The Cursed One attacks. “It looks like a huge wingless dragon, nearly half the height of the wall, and just as thick. . .” The citizens try to get back into the city wall. The Commander “slashes with the whip, driving people into the side of the wall. One man can’t move out of his way fast enough, and the Commander rides over the top of him. The man lies crumpled and still in the Commander’s wake.” Many people are killed, but their deaths are not described.
  • In order to get Rachel to obey, the Commander shows Rachel someone covered in cloth. He “smiles and drives his sword into the lump. Whoever is trapped beneath the cloth sucks in a raspy breath and moans. Blood blossoms beneath the cloth and spreads like a fast-blooming rose.” When the cloth is removed, Rachel sees her grandfather Oliver, who dies from his wounds.
  • Rachel and Logan are walking home when three drunk men try to rob them. Rachel freaks out and “she whips her knife out of its sheath, raises it above her head, and rushes toward the men. . .” Logan jumps in and “slam[s] the butt of my sword into the man closest to me, whirl to block a blow from the other. . .” After a brief struggle, the men run away.
  • While at a ceremony, Rachel defies the Commander. He “let’s go of my arm to backhand me across the face. I tumble to the floor and see Logan, sword raised, face ablaze, charge the Commander.” People begin to run as Logan “drives his shoulder into the first guard who reaches him, sends the man flying off the stage, and whirls to block the sword thrust of another.”
  • Rachel joins the fight and “a guard jumps in front of me. I drive my knife through his stomach, twist it to the right, and yank it free while he’s still in the act of telling me to halt. Crimson splashes onto my pretty blue skirt.”
  • The Commander catches Logan and, “In seconds, he has his sword against Logan’s neck, and his vicious smile twists his scar into an ugly, knotted ball of picked flesh.” Several guards die. Rachel threatens to kill herself, so the Commander doesn’t kill Logan.
  • The Commander throws Logan into prison. The two men argue and the Commander “lunges for me [Logan], but I duck back. Swinging the chains up, I wrap them around his arm. One swift jerk and I fling him onto the filthy floor of the cell. He lands hard, and I drive my knee into his back, but the guards outside the cell are already on me.” The guards repeatedly hit Logan. “Pain flares to life within me, and it’s all I can do to curl up in a ball and endure as the guards use me as their punching bag.”
  • The Commander brands Logan’s neck. “The smell of scorched skin fills the air, and I retch as brilliant spots dance in front of my eyes. I drag in a deep breath and try to ride out the worst of the agony, but it refuses to abate.”
  • While looking for Rachel in the wasteland, Logan finds a soldier on guard duty. When the man hears him, Logan drops “to my knees, grab the dagger in my boot, and thrust it up as his momentum drives his abdomen onto my blade.”
  • The Commander sends Rachel and Melkin into the Wasteland to retrieve a package. Once they find the package, Melkin tries to take it from Rachel. “He’s in the air, long legs dropping down, his face a mask of murderous intent. I broke his right wrist. The weapon must be in his left hand. . . Flipping my blade around, I push myself off the ground and bury my knife deep into his chest. . . His blood seeps along the knife hilt, thick and warm, and coats my hand.” Melkin dies.
  • Logan knows that a tracker is hunting Rachel. The tracker “turns, but he’s too late. I slam into him, wrap my hands around his throat, and drive both of us onto the ground. . . His knife arm goes up, and his eyes lock on mine, but before I can react, an arrow sinks into the narrow space between his eyes with a soft thud. He shudders, his body sags. . .”
  • The Cursed One attacks a battalion. “The beast rears back, swings its head to the left, and strafes the line of Rowansmark soldiers with fire. The flames incinerate most of them on the spot, but a few fall to the ground wailing in agony.”
  • In the multi-chapter conclusion, the Cursed One attacks a city. “Fire leaps from the creature’s mouth. Two members of the Brute Squad are incinerated and then crushed beneath the thing’s monstrous length as it races forward.”
  • Logan can hear “the citizens in the East Quarter are screaming in agony . . . And through it all, the monstrous shape of the Cursed One coils, lashing out with its tail to crush wagons, buildings, and people.”
  • Logan and a group of people throw jars filled with explosives. When they hit the Cursed One the explosives “blow a section of its tail to pieces.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • When Logan goes into a tavern, the owner, “slaps a heavy wooden mug filled with ale in front of me, though I haven’t ordered a drink.”
  • Logan mentions a man who “can’t hold his liquor.”
  • While in prison, someone gives Logan medicine to help relieve his pain.

Language

  • Rachel wants Oliver to leave the city. Oliver says, “I aim to be great-granddaddy, if that takes riding an ass across a godforsaken wilderness. I guess that’s what I’ll do.”
  • Hell is used once.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • When the Commander forces Rachel to agree to his plan, she prays that “I’m not making the biggest mistake of my life.”
  • When the Commander shows Rachel a man covered in a cloth, she “prayed it would be a stranger.”
  • During a fight, Rachel prays “Logan isn’t already dead.”
  • Rachel accidentally tells Logan that he is handsome. Then she prays “he’ll change the subject.”
  • When the Cursed One attacks, Logan prays “the citizens there heard the screaming of their neighbors and had enough warning to start running.”

 

Masterminds #1

Eli Frieden has never left Serenity, New Mexico…why would he ever want to? Then one day, he bikes to the edge of the city limits and something so crazy and unexpected happens, it changes everything.

Eli convinces his friends to help him investigate further, and soon it becomes clear that nothing is as it seems in Serenity. The clues mount to reveal a shocking discovery, connecting their ideal, crime-free community to some of the greatest criminal masterminds ever known. The kids realize they can trust no one — least of all their own parents.

Masterminds has a slow start as it introduces the many characters and the town of Serenity. However, the story also has some heart-stopping moments, which all revolve around the kids trying to figure out the secret that all of the adults have been hiding. Many of the story’s events and explanations are far-fetched. Because of the unbelievable nature of the plot, readers will have to suspend their disbelief in order to enjoy the story.

The story revolves around five characters—Eli, Malik, Hector, Tori, and Amber—and each chapter changes between these characters’ points of view. The constantly shifting point of view is confusing, especially since the characters’ voices are all similar to each other. However, the changing point of view allows readers to understand some of the individual choices that the characters make. Despite this, when the kids discover the answer to the mystery, some of the characters’ reactions still seem extreme and inconsistent.

Readers who enjoy conspiracy theories and mysteries will enjoy Masterminds. The story has a unique premise and will leave readers debating the scientific question of nature vs. nurture. While not all of the events are believable, the suspense and mystery make Masterminds an interesting story. The conclusion doesn’t wrap up all of the story’s threads, but leaves many unanswered questions which will be explored in the next book, Criminal Destiny. While Masterminds has some slow moments, Criminal Destiny picks up the pace in an exciting sequel. If you’re a mystery fan that would prefer a more logical mystery, the Theodore Boone Series by John Grisham would be a better choice.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • While trying to get out of town, a guard grabs Malik. Eli swings “his shovel around and I catch Alexander the Grape between the shoulder blades. He drops like a stone. . .” When another guard named Bryan comes after them, Eli tries to drive away. “There’s a thump on my running board. An indigo-sleeved arm reaches for me. The hand grabs my hair. It hurts.” One of the kids hits Bryan in the head with a hoe and he falls down.
  • Eli’s friends jump from a speeding truck before the truck goes over the edge of a mountain. They are not sure if Hector also jumped or died when the truck went over.
  • The kids catch a ride in a train car. When the cars stop, workers see the kids. When a worker grabs Tori, “Malik springs into action. He snatches up a full Gatorade bottle and bounces it with deadly accuracy off the side of the man’s jaw. The blow knocks him backward into the wall, and he releases Tori.” The kids run. Malik gets stuck under a pallet. Amber “leaps into the cab of the forklift, dislodging the driver.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • As Eli tries to leave town, he gets sick and has to stay home for two weeks. During his time at home, Eli is given pills. He thinks the pills are supposed to make him forget what happened.

Language

  • There is some name calling including, loser, idiot, moron and stupid. The name calling happens infrequently.
  • After reading a note from Randy, Malik says, “Hardaway was always a wing nut. . .What a doofus.”
  • Eli thinks his dad is a doofus.
  • Eli calls Harold “stupid.”
  • “Oh my God” is used as an exclamation once.
  • When Eli discovers he has been cloned from a criminal, he hopes his DNA didn’t come from a bonehead.
  • The kids call some of the factory workers the “Purple People Eaters.” Someone makes names for them like “Alexander the Grape.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • During a thunderstorm, Malik is “praying that it would be over.”
  • When there is a plumbing emergency at Eli’s house, he prays that Hector’s dad can fix it.
  • Eli and his friends discover a scientific research project called Osiris. “Osiris is the Egyptian god of the afterlife.”

Manatee Blues

Brenna, Maggie, Zoe, and Dr. Mac fly to Florida to visit a manatee rescue center. The center is run by Dr. Mac’s friend, Gretchen. Because running the rescue center is expensive, the center is in danger of closing. Brenna is immediately drawn to the endangered, gentle giants, and wants to do whatever she can to help them and the center.

Brenna is passionate about helping manatees, but her impulsive actions put both Brenna and the manatees in danger. While at the center, Brenna and her friends help with a fundraiser, but will the center get enough funds to stay in business? Can Brenna find a way to help the animals?

Anyone who has ever dreamed of being a marine biologist will enjoy Manatee Blues. Brenna’s personality and passion for manatees is inspiring. Told from Brenna’s point of view, the story focuses on her desire to help injured manatees. However, Brenna doesn’t always think before she acts, which gets her into trouble. Readers will relate to Brenna, who wants to make an impact but isn’t sure what she can do to help.

Manatee Blues blends action, internal conflict, and information about manatees into an interesting story that highlights the importance of keeping animals wild. Gretchen says feeding wild animals is “being selfish, thinking about what we want, not what’s best for them.” Readers will learn about the dangers that manatees face as well as other interesting information about the animals. The end of the book has more facts about manatees as well as information about how readers can adopt a manatee.

At 119 pages, the plot is not well developed. However, the story is educational, interesting and will keep the reader’s interest. The happy ending is slightly unrealistic; however, the conclusion shows that one person can make a difference. The short chapters, interesting plot, and relatable characters make Manatee Blues a book that will appeal to readers of different ages.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • A boat injures a manatee. Gretchen and the group go to help the animal and see “horrible gashes that have opened up the skin on the manatee’s back—seven deep, straight lines, four of them curving around her side.” The animal is given pain killers and antibiotics.
  • The rescue center has an injured manatee that “had some jerk’s initials carved into its back with a knife.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • The rescue center has an injured sandhill crane that was “run over by a drunk driver.”

Language

  • Darn is used once.
  • Brenna dives into the ocean to help a trapped manatee. When Gretchen scolds her, Brenna thinks, “You idiot! What did you think she was going to do—pat you on the back?”
  • A baseball player named Ronnie Masters was speeding on his boat. “Maggie thinks he’s the biggest jerk who ever lived in the history of the universe.” Maggie also thinks he’s a loser.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

The Sound of Danger

Mac heads to England on a special mission for the Queen of England. Someone has been stealing the famous Stradivarius violins. In order to discover the culprit, Mac will have to go into a deserted museum in the middle of the night where he meets a mummy. With the Queen’s corgi, Freddie, Mac also travels to Italy where he scales the walls of the Tower of Cremona. A guard imprisons Mac so the President of Italy can question him.

After escaping Italy, Mac travels to Russia where he faces a dangerous showdown with the Russian Red Army Choir. In the end, Mac is able to return the violins to their rightful owners. However, the KGB man tries to get even with the Queen of England by playing the Tetris song. Unbeknownst to him, Mac had changed the boom box’s tape and the KGB man blasts a New Kids on the Block song instead. (Once you read the book, you will understand the ending’s humor.)

Whether you have read all of the books in the Mac B Kid Spy Series or are a first-time reader, The Sound of Danger is sure to tickle your silly bone. When Mac goes on another mission for the Queen of England, the interplay between Mac and the Queen is laugh-out-loud funny. While the villain—the KGB man—is the same in all of the books, readers will still have fun guessing when the KGB man will show up and try to thwart Max.

The Sound of Danger is humorous, and it is also packed full of history. For example, the Queen of England says, “The Cold War is called a cold war because it was not fought with bullets. . . It is about which side has better spies. Which side has better stories. Which side has better ideas.” The story also teaches readers about the different parts of an orchestra, the Stradivarius, the Tetris game, and the ’80s. Some of the facts seem far-fetched, which Mac acknowledges when he writes, “It’s true. You can look it up.” Readers can trust Mac’s facts because they are true — but it’s still fun to look them up.

The Sound of Danger uses short chapters, easy vocabulary, and interesting characters to appeal to even the most reluctant readers. Every page has large illustrations that have pops of turquoise and yellow. Many of the illustrations are funny, especially the ones with the Queen of England and her “not amused” facial expressions. The illustrations also show different musical instruments, geographical locations, and historical people.

The Sound of Danger uses a humorous story and interesting characters to teach about history. Both the text and the illustrations work together to create humor and explain the historical facts. Even though The Sound of Danger is a really quick read, all of the mystery’s threads are explained. Readers looking for more humorous mystery books will also enjoy the Two Dogs in a Trench Coat Series by Julie Falatko.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • The Queen of England tells Mac about Marie Antoinette. “But in 1789 things in France began to go wild. There was a revolution! And in 1793 they cut off the queen’s head.”
  • A Russian soldier tries to capture Mac. “He swung a balalaika at my head—at my head!—but I ducked. The instrument made an awful song as it shattered against a stone pillar. Freddie (the Queen’s corgi) hopped out of the front of my shirt. He tugged at the man’s pant cuff with his teeth, which gave me the chance to escape.”
  • Mac gets thrown into a USSR prison.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • The Queen of England says poppycock, balderdash, and rubbish.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

The Force Oversleeps

Victor cannot wait for his second year at the Jedi Academy! He’s ready to get back to school and see all his friends . . . only there’s a new kid in school who is on a mission to steal Victor’s thunder. As Victor deals with the jealousy of having a new kid steal so much attention, he also has to worry about his older sister Christina. For some reason, Christina’s old friends are bullying her and accusing her of going to the Dark Side. As Victor investigates, he begins to wonder if his sister is going to the Dark Side, and how he can stop her before it’s too late!

In the sixth installment of the Jedi Academy series, Victor seems to have forgotten many of the lessons he learned in the previous books. The story focuses on jealousy and not judging people based on their first impressions. Victor becomes jealous when the new student, Zavyer, gets a lot of attention from Victor’s friends. But when Zavyer is nice to Victor, even after Victor teases him, Victor begins to realize that Zavyer might be a good guy after all. The two boys learn they have a lot of things in common, and eventually become friends. Just in time, as Victor needs all the friends he can get as his sister appears to slip farther and farther to the Dark Side . . .

The Force Oversleeps is just as much fun as A New Class, but adds a mystery, sister-drama, and new-girl Elara. Elara is a positive addition to the story; she’s a little stalkerish, but also sweet and supportive of Victor. However, the story doesn’t just focus on school. Victor also has issues dealing with his step-father and he misses his dad. When Victor’s parents visit at the end, his mom says, “I must say, you were never this excited about school before.” His stepfather points out, “He just needed to find something he was passionate about.” Victor admits, he still has “some work to do in regards to my self-control,” but he continues to learn important lessons and he faces each obstacle with determination and optimism.

Told from Victor’s point of view, much of the story is written in an easy-to-read, diary format. The diary entries are frequently broken up by school newsletters, fun galaxy feeds, and space-themed comics. In addition, part of The Force Oversleeps is told in graphic-novel format. Large, often comical, black and white illustrations appear on every page. The illustrations show Victor’s range of emotions and bring the other human and alien characters to life. The illustrations break up the text, making each page accessible to most readers.

The Force Oversleeps is an entertaining story that is perfect for middle-grade readers because it deals with the topics of cyberbullying, crushes, and typical middle school drama. While the story teaches positive lessons, the tone is never preachy. Victor is a relatable, imperfect character, who shows personal growth. His story will encourage readers to be kind and not judge others based on first impressions.

Sexual Content

  • In a comic Victor draws, he is leaning in to kiss his crush when “evil droids attacked” and interrupted them.

Violence

  • Victor is attacked by a man on the Dark Side. Victor and his friends battle the man with lightsabers. A teacher shows up and arrests the man.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Victor’s sister calls him a “nerf herder.”

Supernatural

  • Victor lives in a Star Wars-inspired time, with lightsabers, aliens, starships, and more. He goes to a school for future Jedi and learns to use the Force.

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Morgan Lynn

InvestiGators Take the Plunge

Investigators Brash and Mango go undercover in order to intercept a rocket that carries the stolen code for the Combinotron—a device that can stick any two things together. Instead of destroying the code, the investigators accidentally download the code into a robot that has been programmed to hug people. After a freak accident, the robot is able to travel through electricity. And every time the robot hugs someone, that person combines with whatever they are touching.

When Crackerdile learns about the Combinotron, he is determined to steal the code. In his current state—being part cracker and part alligator—Crackerdile is in danger of being dissolved or eaten. Crackerdile hopes to use the Combinotron to merge with metal. Will Crackerdile be able to steal the code, or can Brash and Mango thwart him off?

Investigators Take the Plunge is an imaginative graphic novel that is laugh-out-loud funny. The combination of human and animal characters blend to mix into a ridiculous story that uses wordplay to add humor. Even though some of the humor revolves around Brash’s need to go to the bathroom, the bathroom humor is never gross. As Brash and Mango work the case, they use fun spy gadgets, compete against a team of badger agents, flood the sewers, and are responsible for unleashing an evil villain.

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 as well as important aspects of the story. Similar to superhero comics, the story contains onomatopoeias such as crash, bwonk, and foosh. Another positive aspect is that the human scientists are a diverse group of characters who have a wide range of skin tones.

The illustrations and the unique storyline with Brash and Mango will appeal to even the most reluctant readers. Each page has 3 to 11 sentences per page. The sentences range from one word to more complex sentences. The varied sentence lengths add to the humor while keeping the story accessible to all readers.

Investigators Take the Plunge will appeal to many readers because honestly, who doesn’t want to see two alligator investigators wreak havoc? The story is unique, full of slapstick humor, and contains a non-frightening villain. Readers who enjoy humorous graphic novels that border on the ridiculous should add Mac B. Kid Spy by Mac Barnett and Two Dogs in a Trench Coat by Julie Falatko to their reading list.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • A doctor is upset when “the robot ghosts! It came out of my TB and then lunged at me! There was a flash of light and I must have passed out. When I came to, the Robot Ghost was gone, but I discovered I had. . .banana hands!”
  • A doctor is “combined with the salad I was eating for dinner” when “the Robot Ghost came out of my lamp and attacked me!”
  • When two members of the S.U.I.T—who are badgers—try to stop the Robot Ghost, the ghost zaps them and the badgers are turned into “badger badges.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • The villain’s mission is “the Total Annihilation of Idiot Law-doers!”
  • A scientist yells, “Get ya butt in here!”
  • Drat is used as an exclamation once.

Supernatural

  • A scientist changes “from mild-mannered brain surgeon Dr. Jake Hardbones into the Action News Now helicopter in the sky.”
  • The Combinotron is a device that can “stick any two things together!” The Combinotron’s code accidentally gets downloaded into a robot that likes to hug. When the robot hugs someone, the person is combined with whatever they are touching. The robot can move through electrical outlets.
  • After being hugged by a robot, a plumber combines with a snake, making the anaconda his arm.
  • The Crackerdile is an alligator that has been combined with a saltine cracker.

Spiritual Content

  • None

The Cupcake Queen

When her mom decides to leave Manhattan and open a cupcake bakery in Hog’s Hollow, Penny gets dragged along. She doesn’t know how she’ll survive high school without her lifelong friends and big-city comforts. To make matters worse, her father is staying behind, and her mom isn’t talking about what the future holds for them. And as if that weren’t enough, Penny’s clumsiness leads to a cupcake-avalanche mishap at the Queen Bee’s birthday party, which instantly makes her a social pariah.

But small-town life isn’t all bad. Penny finds bright spots in Hog’s Hollow—like her art class and her free-spirited friend Tally. Then there’s Marcus, the cute and enigmatic boy who is always running on the beach. . . and into Penny. Just when Penny is settling in, her parents ask her to make a choice that will turn everything upside down again.

Told from Penny’s point of view, The Cupcake Queen focuses on small-time life in Hog’s Hollow. Anyone who has been a target of bullying will relate to Penny as she tries to find her place in a new town. Penny struggles with the changes in her life, including her parents’ separation. Like many teens, Penny is frustrated that her parents are keeping secrets from her, especially since their decisions have a huge impact on her life.

The story also shines a light on the importance of dealing with loss. Even though Penny’s parents are alive, she feels neglected by a father who doesn’t have time for her. Penny’s friend Tally lives with her aunt because her musician father’s career is more important than her. Meanwhile, Marcus still grieves his mother’s death. Even though each character has faced the loss of a parent differently, the book acknowledges that sometimes, “Life can be pretty hard. . . I’d like to tell you it gets easier, but it doesn’t. It just gets different.”

While The Cupcake Queen has some predictable factors such as a mean girl, a cute boy, and an eccentric friend, the characters are relatable and likable. Tally adds a dash of spice to the story, while Marcus adds a little romance that doesn’t go past holding hands. The Cupcake Queen doesn’t sugarcoat events that are confusing and hurtful. Instead, both Penny and Tally learn that “at some point you just have to let go of what you thought should happen and live in what is happening.”

Middle school readers who want a character-driven story with a sprinkle of romance will enjoy The Cupcake Queen. Penny’s story continues in the holiday-themed book Frosted Kisses. Readers may also want to add How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O’Connor and The Dog Who Lost His Bark by Eoin Colfer to their reading list. Both are engaging stories that skip the romance and focus on parental problems.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Someone calls manure “cream of crap.”
  • In a yearbook, someone drew over Penny’s mother. “You know, the usual—glasses, mustache, black teeth. Underneath the photo someone crossed out her name and wrote in Hog’s Hollow Ho.” Penny’s friend tells her, “Don’t let those morons get to you.”
  • A mean girl calls Penny a loser and stupid.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Remarkables

One minute, they’re laughing and having fun at the house next door. The next minute, they’re gone. Like magic. Marin can’t believe her eyes. Who are these teenagers, and how are they able to appear and disappear?

Marin spots the mysterious neighbors the first day after moving to a new house, in a new town. She wonders if she’s the only one who can see the teenagers, but then she meets a boy named Charley, who reluctantly reveals that he knows about them too. He calls them “Remarkables.”

Charley warns her to stay away from the Remarkables—and to stay away from him. Life hasn’t been kind to Charley, and Marin can’t stop thinking about something that happened in her old town. Could the Remarkables help? Or. . . is she supposed to help them? Maybe Marin and Charley can fix everything if they can work together long enough to figure out the mystery of the Remarkables.

Full of mystery, Remarkables is a story about family, friendship, and forgiveness. Readers will relate to the protagonist Marin, who is insecure and wonders if she will be able to make friends in her new town. Because of past friendship drama, Marin wonders if there is something wrong with her. However, by the end of the story, she realizes the importance of communication and forgiveness.

Haddix expertly weaves several plot lines into an easy-to-understand, engaging story. Marin’s family is funny, caring, and a bit overwhelmed with all the changes in their lives. When Marin meets Charley, she learns about a tragic accident that happened in the past and how it still impacts Charley’s present. This connects with an incident that happened to Marin before her move. The conclusion of the story merges all of these subplots and shows that “You can have a good future because the past is over. All you can do is learn from it.”

Remarkables will make readers consider the questions: If you could go back in time and change an event, what would it be? Both Marin and Charley consider the question, and they realize that changing the past could cause unintended consequences. When Marin looks at a past tragedy, she realizes the tragedy ended up inspiring others to do good in the world. The relatable characters, mystery, and message all combine to create a story that is entertaining and thought provoking. The story ends on a positive note as it highlights that despite a past mistake, the future still holds the promise of happiness.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • During a party at the neighbor’s, Charley’s dad put food in the oven and it began to smoke. He didn’t want the fire detector to go off so he removed the batteries. Later that week, a fire broke out and Charley’s friend died. The death is not described.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Charley and his brothers live with their grandmother because his parents are on drugs. His dad “started using drugs. And then my mom did, too. Because he made her unhappy, too. And they wouldn’t stop.”

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Marin and Charlie see a group of teens. Charlie thinks the teens are time travelers from the past. Marin thinks the teens are from the future.
  • At one point, Marin wonders if “it was a message from God—a vision, like the kind Marin heard about in church.”
  • Charlie “decided that [a dead girl’s] psychic energy lingered in the place where she’d died. . . Her way of haunting people was to show them good things they needed to see.”

Spiritual Content

  • Marin goes to church with her family. When they go to a new church, Marin is afraid no one will like her. She prays, “Please, God. Please, please, please don’t let me start crying here in front of everyone. . .”
  • During church, the pastor starts “reading a Bible passage, one about Jesus being tempted in the desert. ‘So I’m going to hear about even Jesus messing up?’ Marin thought.”
  • Marin’s father prays that the baby begins to sleep through the night.
  • Marin and her friends were having a sleepover. The girls had a fight so Marin went to sleep in the guest room. While there, she prayed, “Please let someone come and I’ll apologize. Please.”
  • One of Marin’s friends was sick. When Marin asked, “Did she have cancer?” Her father replied, “Thank God, no.”
  • Marin’s father has a difficult time finding a job. He tells Marin, “I will quit whining about how my life isn’t going the way I planned it, and I will get back out of bed and try something new! And. . . I’ll accept that God is maybe trying to send me a sign that he needs me in a different place than I thought, and I’ll quit fighting that message. . .”

Tales from Shakespeare

Tales from Shakespeare takes a trip through 10 of Shakespeare’s plays covering the gamut of plots. From lighter stories such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream to stormier plots like Macbeth, Packer does a thorough job portraying the range that Shakespeare had with his pen.

Shakespeare is often cautioned when given to readers as it can be hard to get through, but this book helps to break down that barrier. Packer tells Shakespeare’s stories in her own words while seamlessly weaving excerpts into the process. This method of storytelling removes the intimidation factor that Shakespeare can sometimes have with new readers without forfeiting the ingenious wordsmithing that the Bard is known for.

Perhaps as enticing as the beautiful stories are the incredible artwork that sits between the pages. Packer recruits a different illustrator for each of the plays, and each has vastly different styles. The variety of artwork is all too fitting for stories with vastly different plots. The illustrations serve as milestones when flipping through the book urging one to continue reading to reach the next scene. With highly detailed illustrations in high resolution, one finds themselves looking at the portrayed landscapes and characters and feeling a sense of escape. Illustrations appear every 10-15 pages, often at the beginning of a new story. Having such detailed imagery only seems fitting for literature that was intended to have a visual aspect as well. Originally, one would be listening to these stories while watching it unfold in the spotlight. This book simulates that feeling with the interplay of visual art and literature. Tales from Shakespeare feeds one’s fictitious hunger and lets one’s imagination roam.

It is a known fact that some of the topics covered in Shakespeare’s plays could be harsh for a younger audience. The original stories have sexual innuendos, violence, and strong language, and Tales of Shakespeare does not remove those topics. Packer does not alter the stories, but she does not dwell on graphic details that are portrayed in a matter-of-fact way. If someone dies, she mentions it, but she does not use the moment to leverage a reaction from the reader. The focus of this book is to welcome as many readers into the “Shakespearean fold” as possible by introducing his command of the human experience. The theme that ties these stories together is the timelessness of these plays, and how they have the power to cause one’s eyes to well up hundreds of years later.

Tales of Shakespeare is the perfect introduction to Elizabethan England, 17th-century English dialect, and Shakespeare’s stories. Shakespeare’s stories are timeless, and they have spoken to people throughout the ages. This book would serve as an excellent resource as an introduction to how plays are read and how they are formatted. The book includes the plays A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth, The Tempest, Othello, As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, and King Lear. Tales of Shakespeare covers some of Shakespeare’s greatest works and the prowess of the Bard is made accessible through this book.

Sexual Content

  • Don Pedro and Claudio see, “A woman leaning out of Hero’s window kissing another man.” They believe Hero is cheating.
  • Romeo and Juliet are “laying in each other’s arms” and he is “sealing her lips with a kiss.”
  • Othello thought his wife looked so beautiful sleeping. “He could not resist giving her one last kiss . . . and then another . . . and then another.”

Violence

  • Hermia’s father threatens her with death if she doesn’t marry the Duke.
  • After Hamlet has slain Polonius, “the bloody corpse of old Polonius slumped forward.”
  • After being weighed down by her dress, Ophelia drowns in the river.
  • Hamlet and Laertes duel and at the end “both men now bleed.”
  • Hero fakes his death in order to test the love of Claudio.
  • Beatrice orders Claudio’s death and that Benedick should duel him. They do not duel and Claudio is unharmed.
  • Macbeth goes into Duncan’s chambers when he is sleeping and “plunged both daggers into the king’s chest” and fled “still clutching the gory blades.”
  • After Macbeth kills Duncan, Lady Macbeth is unsuccessfully trying to wash the stain of a bloody spot. “Here’s the smell of blood still.”
  • Macduff and Macbeth duel and Macbeth is slain. Macbeth realizes he was the king to fall and dies in regret after “blade met flesh.”
  • In an ambush, “Roderigo leaped from the shadows and jabbed a knife in the back of Cassio’s chest.”
  • Othello “pressed a cushion over his wife’s face, smothering her.”
  • Oliver offers a blood-soaked rag to Rosalind. Rosalind faints at the sight of it.
  • Mercutio “stumbles backward” and is slain by Tybalt. Tybalt is then slain by Romeo in revenge. “He wildly fought and the sword found its mark.”
  • Romeo drinks poison given to him by the friar. He believes Juliet to be dead and kills himself. Juliet wakes up to see her lover dead and says, “Oh happy dagger! This is thy sheath. There rust and let me die.” She proceeds to stab herself in the heart and falls next to her husband, Romeo.
  • Cornwall plucks out Gloucester’s eye saying “out, vile jelly” and then proceeds to pluck the other one out. Regan then “leaned over Gloucester’s bloody, unseeing face.”
  • Gloucester tries to take his own life by jumping off a cliff, but is unsuccessful. He swears to never do it again. He later dies from grief and from having his eyes taken out.
  • Goneril’s steward is “struck down” by Edgar after turning on him.
  • Regan dies from being poisoned by Goneril, and Goneril, who is overcome with grief, stabs herself.
  • Edmund orders both King Lear and Cordelia to die. Although it is not described, he is successful in killing Cordelia. When Lear sees his daughter dead, he is overcome with grief and dies as well.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Claudius promised to serve Hamlet a “goblet of poisoned wine for good measure.”
  • Queen Gertrude, the king, and Laertes are poisoned by wine.
  • Stephano, the king’s butler, “washed ashore with a case of wine and had spent the last hour swigging from a bottle.” He meets Caliban and he gets drunk as well.
  • Cassio gets drunk and gets into a fight with Roderigo.
  • Toby makes a drunken effort to draw his sword, but Maria crafts a plan to distract him.

Language

  • Polonius says to Ophelia, “You speak like an immature girl.”
  • “Get thee to a nunnery!” Hamlet says to Ophelia
  • Lady Macbeth yells “out damned spot” when trying to clean the blood from her hands.
  • Macduff shouts, “Turn hellhound, turn!”
  • Caliban says to Stephano, “What a thrice-double ass was I to take this drunkard for a god.”
  • Iago says to Roderigo “after all, it’s only natural that she tire of that ugly moor.”
  • In a rage against Desdemona, Othello says to kill her. “No, damn her, lewd minx.”
  • “Oh dishonorable, vile submission!… Wretched boy.” Tybalt exclaimed to Mercutio.
  • King Lear calls Goneril and Regan “unnatural hags.”

Supernatural

  • Puck gives Bottom a Donkey head.
  • Demetrius has a love potion cast upon him that makes him love Hermia.
  • Hamlet sees his father’s ghost and says that his father was murdered. His ghostly father makes him swear to avenge his murder and kill his uncle.
  • The three witches in Macbeth predict the future and the eventual demise of Macbeth. They create a potion and finish each other’s sentences.
  • Macbeth sees the ghost of Duncan at the dinner table, and others believe Macbeth is mad.
  • Caliban is an enslaved, scaled creature and the son of the witch Sycorax.
  • Prospero has strong magical powers, a book of charms, and creates the Tempest.
  • “’My daughter, O my daughter,’ Brabantio wailed. ‘Stolen from me and corrupted by spells.’” Brabantio goes on to accuse Othello of witchcraft.

Spiritual Content

  • Beatrice says, “God give you joy.”
  • As Hamlet dies, Horatio says, “Flights of angels sing to thy rest.”
  • “Oh let me not be mad, sweet heaven,” said King Lear who feared for his sanity.
  • After seeing Cordelia dead, the distraught King Lear says, “The Heaven’s vault should crack.”

by Paul Gordon

 

Maybe He Just Likes You

For seventh-grader Mila, it started with some boys giving her an unwanted hug. The next day it’s another hug. A smirk. Comments about her body. It all feels weird. According to her friend Zara, Mila is being immature and overreacting. Doesn’t she know what flirting looks like?

But it keeps happening, despite Mila’s protests. On the bus and in the school halls. Even during band practice—the one place Mila thought she could always escape to; her happy “blue sky” place. It seems like the boys are everywhere. And their behavior doesn’t feel like flirting—so what is it?

Mila starts to gain confidence when she enrolls in karate class. But her friends still don’t understand why Mila is making such a big deal about the boys’ attention. When Mila is finally pushed too far, she realizes she can’t battle this on her own, and she finds help in some unexpected places.

Maybe He Just Likes You tackles the difficult topic of consent, boundaries, and sexual harassment in a way that middle school readers will understand. When boys on the basketball team begin sexually harassing Mila, she isn’t sure what to do. Her friends think she is overreacting and being immature. At one point, Mila’s friend Zara tells her, “Look Mila, there’s got to be a reason why they’re picking you. Those boys are super awkward and stupid sometimes, but they aren’t monsters, right? So maybe if you think about what you’re doing—” However, the book makes it clear that Mila’s behavior is not responsible for the boys’ behavior.

Many readers will relate to Mila, who struggles to understand her changing body and the changing social structure of junior high. Soon, the boys’ behavior escalates and begins to cause problems in other aspects of Mila’s life. Like Mila, many readers may struggle with who to turn to in times of need. However, Mila’s story highlights the importance of speaking up and getting an adult’s help. Through Mila’s story, readers will learn that if someone’s touch makes you feel helpless, weird, annoyed, or embarrassed, you need to speak up.

Even though Maybe He Just Likes You does an excellent job showing what sexual harassment looks like, the conclusion is unrealistically hopeful. In the end, the boys apologize to Mila and the harassment stops. However, the story doesn’t show the lasting effects sexual harassment can have on a victim. Instead, Mila and one of the boys continue to sit next to each other in band, and when the boy begins taking karate, Mila gladly helps him.

Maybe He Just Likes You uses short chapters, easy vocabulary, and plenty of friendship drama to keep readers engaged. Being told from Mila’s point of view allows the reader to understand the confusing emotions that Mila battles. Maybe He Just Likes You is an engaging story that highlights the importance of finding your voice. Both boys and girls will benefit from reading Mila’s story because it gives clear examples of sexual harassment and explores the complicated nature of bullying.

Sexual Content

  • A group of boys play a game to see who can touch Mila the most. They also get points if they tell her something about her body. The group corners Mila in the band room, and pressure her to hug Leo because it’s his birthday. Mila thinks, “they haven’t moved from the door. I’ll need to pass them to get out of here. This isn’t a choice. . . I walk over to Leo, throw my arms around him and squeeze once.”
  • Tobias wants Mila to hug him because, “Yesterday when we all hugged you, the guys who touched Mila’s sweater scored a personal best. So we decided that Mila’s green fuzz was magic.” Mila holds her arm out so Tobias can touch the sweater. “But then, before I knew it was happening, he threw his arms around my chest and squeezed so hard that for a second I lost my breath.”
  • On the bus ride home, Dante sits too close to her. Mila “could feel Dante’s shoulder bump against mine. This definitely felt wrong and unfair. . .his bare legs kept brushing against my jeans. . . But when the bus hit a giant pothole, his arm flew across my chest.” Mila asks him to move over, but he doesn’t.
  • A boy tells Mila, “You changed your outfit. Your butt looked nicer in that green sweater.”
  • Mila realizes that her friend Max “likes this new boy. As in, likes.” Later Max starts spending time with the boy.
  • When Mila is getting into her locker, “someone’s hand grabbed my butt.” When Mila confronts the boy, he says, “It’s probably your imagination.”
  • While walking onto stage for a performance, a boy says, “Hey Mila, I can see right through your shirt.”
  • During summer, Liana was helping babysit a little girl. They would often go to the pool. “Daniel and Luis and this other boy I didn’t know started playing this game. . . They kept bothering me underwater. Blocking me so I was trapped, yanking my swimsuit.” When she told the girl’s mother that the boys were bothering her, the mother said, “Well, honey, you know I’m paying you to watch Skyler, not to interact with boys.”

Violence

  • During band, a boy grabs Mila’s arm. Mila “yanked my arm away. And when I side-kicked him in the shin, Callum went sprawling, knocking over two chairs and three music stands on his way to the floor.” Mila is given three days of after-school detention and Callum is given one day of detention.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Dang is used once.
  • Twice, during a stressful time, Mila thinks “crap.”
  • Omigod is used as an exclamation 5 times. For example, before singing tryouts Zara says, “Omigod, I’m so nervous I could puke.”
  • A boy calls his friend a moron.
  • The girls occasionally say that someone is a jerk. A girl says that a classmate is “a total jerk to me in band.”
  • In the past, one of Mila’s friends was teased “when Hunter Schultz called him ‘gay’ and ‘Maxipad’ and a bunch of other things.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Halt’s Peril

While Will and Halt are hot on the trail of the Outsiders, which is a cult that’s been making its way from kingdom to kingdom by conning the innocent out of their few valuables, they are ambushed by the cult’s deadly assassins. Pierced by a poisoned arrow, Will’s mentor is near death and in dire need of the one antidote that can save his life. Time is not on Will’s side as he journeys day and night through the harsh terrain to Grimsdell Wood in search of the one person with the power to cure Halt: Malkallam the Sorcerer.

Halt, Horace, and Will track the Outsiders in the hope of dismantling the cult. The three travel through unknown territory in a story full of adventure, fighting, and friendship. However, this time both Halt and Horace face life and death situations. Their survival is not guaranteed. In order to save Halt, Will and Horace are willing to do anything. Unlike previous installments in the series, both Will and Horace no longer have qualms about killing others. While they try to use peaceful means to solve a problem, killing others becomes necessary to save Halt and defeat the Outsiders.

Halt’s Peril highlights the importance of loyalty, dedication, and friendship, but the book also has several scenes that readers may find disturbing. As the series progresses, the characters do not become stagnant. Instead, they mature, and their relationships become more complex. Readers will enjoy the changing relationship of Will, Horace, and Halt. Instead of Will and Horace being subordinates, Halt values their skills, knowledge, and friendship.

The conclusion of Halt’s Peril will leave the reader smiling because good overcomes evil, loves last through separation, and friends help each other in times of need. Flanagan delivers another action-packed story that will keep readers entertained until the very end.

Sexual Content

  • When Halt makes it back home, he cast “aside his usual reticence, he stepped forward to meet [his wife], swept her into his arms and kissed her for a long, long time.”
  • When Will makes it home, he “felt a gentle hand on his arm and looked up slightly to meet Alyss’s smiling eyes…” Will “stepped forward, embraced her and kissed her. His head swam a little as she responded enthusiastically.”

Violence

  • When Will leaves a tavern, two men follow him. To encourage them to leave, Will shoots an arrow at them. Then, “without warning, there was another hiss-thud between them. Only this time, Niallis’s hand flew to his right ear, where the arrow had nicked him on its way through. Blood ran hotly down his cheek.”
  • Two thugs, Niallis and Dennis, are told to remove Halt from a tavern. Halt says Horace’s name, then “Horace began with a straight right to Dennis’s jaw. It was a solid blow.” Niallis attempts to help Dennis, but “Horace had pivoted and hit him with a crushing left hook to the jaw. Niallis’s eyes glazed and his knees went slack.” Horace knocks out both thugs. The scene is described over one page.
  • Halt attempts to talk to a smuggler named O’Malley. When the man attempts to leave, Halt’s saxe knife “was now pressing a little too firmly against the smuggler’s throat.” The smuggler gives Halt the requested information.
  • When O’Malley follows Halt’s ship, Will and Halt begin shooting arrows at the boat. “One arrow thudded, quivering, into the bulwark less than a meter from the helm. The other buried itself painfully in the flesh part of O’Malley’s upper left arm…” As the arrows continue to rain down on the crew, chaos ensues. “Again they shot. This time, both arrows found their mark and the man pitched forward, rolling into the scuppers as the ship heeled…” The smuggler’s ship hits a reef and crashes. Halt has men throw “some barrels overboard to float down to them. It might give them a chance.” The scene is described over three pages.
  • Tennyson, a false prophet, orders his men to kill a farmer. Tennyson “heard the slap-whiz of two crossbows, and two bolts streaked across the field to bury themselves in the man’s back. He threw up his hands, gave a choked cry and fell face-first down in the grass.” Tennyson’s men kill the farmer’s wife, then burn the farm and the barn with all of the cows inside. The scene is described over three pages.
  • Halt, Will, and Horace hide in an ambush of Tennyson and his men of Scotti raiders. When the raiders are close, Halt and Will begin shooting arrows. As the raiders attempt to flee, “threatened by the hail of arrows, they bunched together uncertainly. A few seconds later, the crazed cattle smashed into them… When the stampede passed, at least half of the raiding party were lying, seriously wounded, on the field.” Half of the raiders die before the others are able to run off. The scene is described over one page.
  • Tennyson sends two assassins to kill Halt and Will. During the attack, “Will’s arrow slammed into [the assassin’s] side. He lurched sideways, jolting against his companion and throwing off his aim. Then Halt’s arrow slashed into his chest and he jerked the trigger with dead fingers as he toppled backwards.” Will hears “Halt’s brief cry of pain, followed by the sound of his bow dropping… wet red blood stained his cloak. There seemed to be a lot of it.” Halt is hit with a poisoned crossbow bolt. The scene is described over three pages.
  • Later, Will attacks the assassin. The two are on horseback when the assassin “struck once, aiming for Tug, but Will leaned forward over his horse’s neck and deflected the thin blade with his saxe…” Both men jump out of the saddle, and Will “stepped in and slammed the heavy brass-shod hilt of his saxe into the side of the man’s head. Then without waiting to see if the first blow had been successful, he repeated the action a little harder.” Will takes the assassin captive.
  • When the assassin insults Will, “Horace’s open hand slapped hard across the side of his head, jerking it to one side and setting his ears ringing.” Horace strikes the assassin several times throughout the story.
  • In order to help Halt, Will and Horace need to know what type of poison was on the crossbow bolt. In order to get the assassin, Bacari, to talk, Horace “put the razor-sharp tip of the bolt against Bacari’s inner forearm, then deliberately pressed it into the flesh, penetrating deeply so that hot blood sprang from the wound and ran down Bacari’s hand. Bacari screamed in pain and fear as Horace dragged the sharpened iron through the flesh of his arm, opening a deep, long cut.”
  • During guard duty, Horace falls asleep. “Horace came awake in panic as he felt something whip over his head and then tighten inexorably around his throat, dragging him back away from the fire, cutting off his air and strangling any attempt he made to call out.” When the assassin tries to kill Horace, Will steps in. Bacari “was still laughing when Will’s throwing knife, drawn and thrown the moment the saxe had left his hand, buried itself in his heart. He looked down and saw it for a fraction of a second before his sight went black and his legs collapsed underneath him.” The scene is described over four and a half pages.
  • In the past, Halt had saved another ranger’s life by “shooting two of the bandits and cutting the third down with his saxe knife.” Halt was injured when “the huge bandit leapt out, swinging a terrible blow with the massive club.” All of the bandits were killed. The battle is described in one paragraph.
  • When Tennyson is preaching, one of his men uses an optical illusion. When Will sees the man, “the young Ranger’s arm went up, then down as he crashed the brass striker into the man’s head, behind the ear.”
  • Tennyson takes his followers into a huge cave. Halt, Will, Horace, and Malcom interrupt Tennyson’s preaching. Tennyson’s men attack. “Quickly, Halt retreated before the first rush, drawing his saxe to deflect a dagger thrust, then slashing the razor edge across his attacker’s forearm. The man yelled in pain and dropped out of the fight.” In order to prevent Tennyson and his men from escaping, Will throws explosives. “Rocks and earth fell from the ceiling in ever-increasing amounts… Will saw a massive rock shaken loose from the wall above the ledge where Tennyson stood. It hit beside him, barely a meter away.” The preacher “stepped onto empty air and toppled slowly off the ledge. He smashed against the jagged rocks at the base of the wall.” The scene is described over five pages.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • When Will goes into a tavern, he is offered ale or ouisgeah. “Ouisgeah, Will knew, was the strong malt spirit they distilled and drank in Hibernia.” When three men come into the tavern, “the tavern keeper immediately began to pump up three large tankards of ale without a word passing between them.”
  • While making stew, Will added, “a generous glug” of red wine.
  • The assassins dip their crossbow bolts in poison.
  • When Halt is shot, Will gives him a salve that was “derived from the drug warmweed.”

Language

  • “Why the devil” is used several times. For example, when someone tells Halt that Tennyson went to Picta, Halt says, “Why the devil would Tennyson want to go to Picta?”
  • “Oh my god” is used as an exclamation once. “My god” is used as an exclamation once.
  • “For god’s sake” is used as an exclamation twice. When someone has difficulty mounting a horse, Halt says, “For god’s sake, can’t you just haul him up behind you?”
  • When the cave is collapsing, Will tells someone, “get the hell out of here.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Tennyson is a false prophet who preaches about Alseiass, the Golden God. Tennyson convinces people that they must build Alseiass “the golden, jeweled alter that he desires—an alter that you can worship at for generations to come.”
  • Tennyson tells people, “Alseiass loves you! Alseiass wants to bring light and joy and happiness into your lives… Alseiass is the god of light and enlightenment! His light of mercy can be seen even in the darkest reaches of the earth.”

You Wouldn’t Want to Work on the Brooklyn Bridge!

Readers, get ready to pretend you are the son of a famous engineer who is about to be thrown into the deep end! When your father dies as the result of a nasty accident, it’s up to you to build the Brooklyn Bridge.

The project will take you 14 years to complete. You will need to work at great heights and great depths. Twenty-seven men will die while building the bridge. But the bridge will open and thousands of people will line up to walk across it.

You Wouldn’t Want to Work on the Brooklyn Bridge uses short snippets, timelines, quote boxes, and handy hints to explain how John Augustus Roebling’s design of the bridge became an enormous project that seemed impossible to build. Much like a picture book, each page is full of illustrations. The brightly colored illustrations are educational and humorous. Many of the illustrations are caricatures of the people involved in building the bridge. Even though the illustrations will make readers laugh, they also pack in a lot of information and have detailed drawings of the bridge’s design, such as the base of the tower, the suspension cables, and the steel wire used to suspend the bridge.

Anyone who has ever wondered how anyone builds a bridge over water will find You Wouldn’t Want to Work on the Brooklyn Bridge fascinating. Each page has 1 to 3 paragraphs written in large text. Even though some of the vocabulary is difficult, readers will be able to use context clues to understand the reading. Plus, a glossary appears at the end of the book.

The fun format, funny illustrations, and short explanations make You Wouldn’t Want to Work on the Brooklyn Bridge good for reluctant readers. Whether you’re working on a research project, interested in history, or curious about construction, You Wouldn’t Want to Work on the Brooklyn Bridge is a great book to dive into.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Working on the bridge was dangerous. “A suspender cable snaps. It recoils with such force that it kills two men instantly and seriously injures two others.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Better Off Friends

When Levi moves to town, Macallan becomes his best friend. Everyone thinks that guys and girls can’t just be friends, but these two are. They hang out after school, share inside jokes, their families are close, and Levi even starts dating one of Macallan’s friends. They are content being just friends.

But no one believes that they are just friends. Guys won’t ask Macallan out because they think she’s with Levi. On the other hand, Levi goes through a string of girlfriends, who each think he spends too much time with Macallan. Basically, when it comes to dating, Levi and Macallan keep getting in each other’s way. With everyone thinking the two are more than friends, and they begin to wonder if they really can be just friends or if they should be more.

Better Off Friends alternates between Levi’s and Macallan’s point of view. In addition, the end of each chapter has a short conversation between the two, which allows them to reflect on their past. Levi is portrayed as a selfish, stereotypical Californian. For example, he wonders, “Why couldn’t we have stayed in Santa Monica, where the weather was sweet and the waves were sick?” Even though the book is told from both of the character’s points of view, both Levi and Macallan are forgettable characters.

Macallan is more well-developed character than Levi. Her mother’s recent death has shattered her family, she tries to stay out of Levi’s love life, and she stands up for two characters with disabilities. Despite this, she is not a memorable character. Unfortunately, too much of the story focuses on Macallan and Levi’s internal struggle as they try to hide their true feelings from each other. Even after the two realize they are in love with the other, their refusal to openly talk about their feelings becomes tedious.

Instead of being a fun romance, Better Off Friends has a predictable plot, forgettable characters, and a cliché conclusion. The main characters spend too much time trying to prove that they are just friends, and predictably fall in love with each other. Unfortunately, none of the characters are unique and readers will quickly forget the story. With a plethora of teen romances crowding the shelves, readers should reach for a truly unique and memorable romance such as I Believe in A Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo or Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson.

Sexual Content

  • Macallan and an unknown person have a short conversation. The unknown person wants to know if Macallan “hooked up at some point.”
  • While on a date with Emily, Levi “wanted to kiss her. . .So I kissed her. And she kissed me back.”
  • Macallan went to the movies with Levi and Emily. She went to get popcorn and came back “only to discover them kissing (or, more accurately sucking face).”
  • At a party, Macallan walked into her bedroom to find “Emily and Troy were kissing on my bed.” Emily asks Macallan not to tell her boyfriend that she was kissing another boy.
  • After Levi gets back from a trip, Emily “ran out in the cold and kissed me, which helped warm me considerably.”
  • Emily lies to Levi, telling him that “nothing happened” between her and Troy. As she tells him, Emily “started rubbing my leg. . .She started to kiss me.”
  • Levi says, “My first girlfriend . . . started sucking face with some other guy the second she was alone with him. Tonight my girlfriend was away from me for like two seconds and she was going to make out with another guy. It clearly has to be me.”
  • When Levi thinks something is wrong with him, Macallan “grabbed his cheeks and pulled him in for a kiss. He was tense, probably from shock, for the first couple of seconds. Then his arms were around me and he eased into it.” Macallan tells him, “You are not a bad kisser. It has been verified. Moving on.”
  • When Levi wasn’t paying attention, Macallan’s friend Danielle says, “Macallan and I were going to have a lingerie pillow fight.” Levi thinks, “I desperately tried to get the thought of Macallan and Danielle in lingerie out of my mind. I sometimes thought Macallan forgot I was a guy. And we have certain responses that are difficult to control.”
  • Levi begins dating Stacy and they kiss twice. For example, when Levi picked her up for a date, “he bent over and gave [her] a kiss.”
  • Macallan and Levi kiss. Levi “relished her lips on mine. Her hands gently ran through my hair.”

Violence

  • A boy named Keith makes fun of Macallan’s uncle. Keith “bent his arms up toward his collarbone and let his wrist go limp so his hands were dangling. He collapsed his legs together at the knees and started to walk like he had a disability.” Then Keith says, “Just because your mom’s dead doesn’t mean you can be such a bitch.” Angry, Macallan “tightened up my fist and hit him right in the kisser. Keith, Mr. Athlete Extraordinaire, was knocked onto his butt.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Macallan has a unique name because her “dad liked a certain kind of Scotch Whiskey.”
  • Macallan, her father, Levi, and his parents have dinner. Levi’s parents bring a bottle of wine.
  • When Macallan’s boyfriend broke up with her, she asked, “Have you been drinking?”
  • When Macallan goes to Ireland, one of her friends takes her to a party and offers her alcohol. When she declines, her friend says, “You Americans are so uptight about alcohol.”
  • When Levi is injured, he takes “some serious painkillers.”

Language

  • Several times during the story, a handicapped person is called a retard or retarded. This includes Macallan’s uncle. Macallan stands up for to person and defends her uncle.
  • Levi refers to himself as an idiot eight times. For example, he thinks, “Macallan stood up to those three guys while I stood there like an idiot.” He also says that he’s been “a total idiot lately.”
  • Crap is used six times. For example, Macallan says, “I wasn’t in the mood for his crap today.”
  • Levi says, “I’m sorry. I was being a grade-A jerk.” Later someone else calls Levi a jerk.
  • “God” and “Oh my God” are both used as an exclamation once.
  • Someone calls Macallan a bitch.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Here to Stay

Bijan Majidi loves basketball, comic books, and his mom. When he makes it on the varsity basketball squad, he’s over the moon. Now he’s getting noticed and being invited to parties with the cool kids. But when someone sends the whole school a photoshopped picture that makes Bijan look like a terrorist, he has to deal with the fallout. Here to Stay examines the prejudices and identities that envelop the lives of Bijan and his classmates.

Here to Stay tackles discussions about race and prejudice against the backdrop of a wealthy, white, New England neighborhood. Sara Farizan’s commentary creates a rich dialogue that acutely questions a status quo that harms students who aren’t white. Bijan, who is half Persian and half Jordanian, experiences microaggressions and a hate crime. Bijan is also put under emotional and social strain. Despite this, Bijan is resilient and handles the situations thrown at him through his wit and the strength of his heart.

Along with the discussion of race, Farizan includes two LGBTQ+ characters who initially hide their relationship because they fear their community’s backlash. In both overarching plot points, acceptance and sticking up for oneself are recurrent themes. Although not everyone in the novel is kind to these characters or to Bijan, the supporting cast of friends are loyal and kind people.

Bijan is undeniably a good main character. He’s friendly, funny, and sticks up for himself and his friends. Occasionally, some characters’ dialogue comes across as strange or too young for teenagers. However, it doesn’t make the characters any less likable. Considering all the dark topics that Here to Stay covers, Bijan’s inner monologue is really funny and brings some much-needed lightness to an otherwise depressing situation.

Farizan does an excellent job presenting a discussion around prejudices and integrating it with a fun high school basketball story. Ultimately, life is made up of great, game-winning moments as well as terrible moments. Bijan’s story is about dealing with other people’s prejudices, but he’s also a teenager who has crushes and who likes basketball. These things are not separate from each other, and Farizan presents Bijan as a whole person who deals with a full range of human experiences. Here to Stay is powerful, not necessarily because Bijan is extraordinary, but because his story is a reality for many people. Readers certainly won’t have a difficult time finding something to like about Bijan and his story.

Sexual Content

  • Bijan has “an imaginary future ex-girlfriend, Elle.” He has a crush on Elle, and the topic of his love comes up often.
  • When Bijan is getting ready to go to a party, his mom tells Bijan that he can’t “get ‘fresh’ with any young ladies.”
  • According to Bijan, his best friend Sean “has had sex.” No other details are given.
  • At the start of practice, a basketball player throws his shirt to the side. “Some girls from the varsity squash team catcalled as they ran on the track above.”
  • Someone makes a comment about Bijan going back to “whatever country or Cave of Wonders” he came from. Bijan responds with, “I’ll go back to where I came from. Back to your mom’s house. She made me the best breakfast this morning after the time we had together last night. Her maple syrup tasted just as good as she did.”
  • Bijan’s best friend Sean makes a suggestive comment about another classmate. He says, “I wouldn’t mind tutoring Erin Wheeler . . . I’d answer any anatomy and physiology questions she may have.”
  • Another basketball player, Will, mentions his girlfriend to a teammate. Will says, “Once I get what I need from [my girlfriend], I’m calling it off. Then it’s college honeys for days, you know what I’m saying?” This statement is not explained further.
  • Will harasses Bijan about a girl in their grade. Will says, “ ‘It’s really nice of you to keep defending [Stephanie]. You giving it to her, man?’ Will dry-humped the air. ‘I mean, I guess she’d be a good lay. She’s got a nice physique for a munchkin . . . You put a gag over her head when you do her? So you can shut her up and not have to look at her? I know you people like your girls covered.’ ”
  • Stephanie and Erin have been secretly dating.  At a party, Bijan accidentally overhears them.  Stephanie says, “ ‘While we haven’t done anything, I like you. I like you very much’ Then [Bijan] heard it. Lips smacking. Stephanie was kissing someone!” Erin is worried about being found out because “My friends and that school are going to tear [Stephanie] apart.”
  • Will makes yet another comment to Bijan, this time about Bijan and Sean. “I thought you two were joined at the hip. How will you be able to take a piss without him holding your dick?” Bijan responds, “He’s his own man . . . But it’s true, my dick is far too big to hold. Your mom said so last night.” Will then responds with, “By the way…which of his moms did it with a turkey baster?”
  • Bijan and Elle kiss. “[Bijan] cupped her face in [his] hand. She was so warm. Kissing her was a million times better than scoring the winning basket for Granger.”
  • Erin and Stephanie start officially dating. Erin introduces herself as “[Stephanie’s] girlfriend, with all the confidence of her years in the New Crew.”
  • While in the locker room, Will makes a series of sexual comments about Bijan and Drew’s love lives. In response, Bijan says, “Why don’t you find a Jacuzzi jet to stick your dick into and call it a day, Will.”

Violence

  • Bijan talks about movies. He says that “Daniel LaRusso gets to crane-kick the crap out of Johnny.”
  • Occasionally, fouls occur in the basketball games and players are knocked down, pushed, or shoved.
  • After Bijan makes a comment about a player’s mom, the player “rushed [Bijan], knocking [him] to the sidewalk.”
  • Someone photoshopped Bijan’s face onto a racist version of the school mascot and sent it to the school. Bijan’s face was “photoshopped onto the head of a man with a long beard wearing a pakol hat and holding a gun.”
  • An email is sent to the Granger student body, but this time it outs Stephanie and Erin’s relationship and sexual orientations. It’s a picture of their photoshopped faces, and they’re “vomiting rainbows.” It is later revealed that Stephanie’s friend, Noah, is the one who made it out of jealousy, as he felt entitled to Stephanie’s affection.
  • Will gets drunk the night before the first tournament game and brings his buddies to beat up Bijan. One of them, “grabbed hold of [Bijan’s] shoulder and pushed [him] backward with his forearm against [his] chest. [Bijan] tried to get away, and wanted to yell but the fear wouldn’t let [him].”
  • At the basketball game, a group of white people who “had wrapped athletic towels on their heads and wore fake beards . . . held up a poster-sized version of the terrorist photo of [Bijan]” sat behind the basket and chanted “USA! USA! USA!” at Bijan.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • At a party there is a “cooler full of beers.” Many of the underage students drink at the party.
  • Someone says to Bijan about the photoshopped picture, “Whoever did send it, I’d love to shake their hand and buy them a beer.” Bijan responds, “I’d love to buy a keg for whatever college will take you . . . How much does your grandpa pay to have you play for us?”
  • At another party the students drink again. Bijan drinks a beer and says it tastes “like wheat backwash.” Bijan also joins in on beer pong where he plays “with the guys for an hour.”
  • Drew talks about his dad. Drew says, “Mine’s a real piece of work. A guy named Tim who would rather play keno and drink than hang out with his kid.”

Language

  • Profanity is used somewhat often. Profanity includes damn, crap, bitches, ass, and hell.
  • Bijan says his life turned into a “crap salad in a bucket.”
  • Students make many comments about Bijan’s race, and they also make insensitive comments about other races as well.
  • Bijan briefly mentions that the JV locker room talk included “theories about what would happen if you smeared Icy Hot all over your junk.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • During a speech at school, Bijan talks about his parents’ religions. “My mom is Muslim but doesn’t speak to God as much since my dad died. My father was Christian. My relationship with God is personal and has nothing to do with you.” Bijan thinks, “I didn’t explain to them that terrorists who commit heinous acts in the name of religion don’t understand their faith at all, including the white Christian terrorists within our own country. I didn’t read to them the section of the Qur’an that says, ‘Whoever kills a person unjustly. . . it is as though he has killed all mankind, and whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved all mankind.’”
  • Bijan doesn’t drink, and he turns down a beer from another student. That student then says, “Allah’s not gonna mind.”

by Alli Kestler

 

 

 

 

 

 

Efrén Divided

Efrén Nava’s Amá is his superwoman—or Soperwoman, named after the delicious Mexican sopes his mother often prepares for the family. Both Amá and Apá work hard all day to provide for the family, making sure Efrén and his younger siblings, Max and Mia, feel safe and loved.

But Efrén worries about his parents; although he’s American-born, his parents are undocumented. And according to the neighborhood talk, families like his are in great danger. Sure enough, Efrén’s worst nightmare comes true one day when Amá doesn’t return from work and is deported across the border to Tijuana, Mexico.

Now it’s up to Efrén to be brave and figure out how to act soper himself. While Apá takes an extra job to earn the money needed to get Amá back, Efrén struggles to look after Max and Mia while also dealing with schoolwork, his best friend’s probably-doomed campaign for school president, and his fears about what might happen to his family next.

When disaster strikes, Efrén is faced with crossing the border alone to see Amá. More than ever, he must channel his inner Soperboy to help him keep his family together.

Efrén Divided shows the struggle of undocumented workers from a middle schooler’s perspective. Efrén’s story does not discuss the politics of immigration, but instead focuses on Efrén’s struggles. Efrén worries about his parents being deported because they live in a country that does not want them. When Efrén’s mother is deported, Efrén feels shame and confusion. However, Efrén’s story doesn’t just focus on his family life. The reader also gets a glimpse of Efrén’s school life, which gives the story additional depth and shows how being in the country illegally affects many people.

While the story is engaging, readers may have a difficult time understanding some of the dialogue. When characters speak in Spanish, there are not always context clues to help readers understand the words’ meanings. However, the back of the book contains a glossary of Spanish words. Additionally, the conclusion has several events that seem out of place because they are not natural extensions of the story.

Efrén Divided uses an engaging story to shine a light on the difficulty that American-born children face when their parents are undocumented. The story makes many references to The House on Mango Street, which may make readers want to also read that book. The story highlights the importance of family and friends, as well as the need to “surround yourself with good people. People who will bring out the good in you. Not the bad.” Readers who enjoy Efrén Divided should also check out New Kid by Jerry Craft and When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Efrén’s brother, Max, pees on his clothes. Efrén tries to put him in the bathtub, but Max “pulled on Efrén’s hair and swung his legs wildly. One of his kicks nailed Efrén in the jaw, causing him to bite his lip.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Efrén’s friend, David, now lives with his grandmother because his mom drank a lot.
  • When Efrén goes to Mexico, he follows signs advertising beer.
  • In Mexico, Efrén meets a man who tells him about the drug cartels.

Language

  • “Oh my God” is used as an exclamation 6 times.
  • Heck is used once.
  • Some of the kids call David “El Periquito Blanco” which means the white parakeet.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Efrén and his family bless themselves.
  • When Efrén and his father are going to San Diego, they have to pass a checkpoint. Efrén prays, “Please, God, . . . let it be it closed. Let it be closed.”
  • When they pass the checkpoint, Efrén “bless[es] himself—this time thanking God for everything He’d given him.” Then, Efrén lists what he is thankful for.
  • Efrén and his father talk about going to mass to give thanks. The next morning, they go to mass, which “felt a bit more special than usual.” The family prays, but the specific prayer is not mentioned.

I Survived the Nazi Invasion, 1944

When Nazi soldiers occupy Poland, Max and his family are taken to a ghetto. Soon, Max’s father is taken away in a cattle car. Left on their own, Max and his sister Zena must rely on each other in order to survive. With barely enough food to eat, the siblings make a daring escape from Nazi soldiers and hide in the nearby forest.

By luck, Max and Zena meet a group of Jewish resistance fighters, who take care of them. After the resistance fighters blow up a train, the Nazis begin bombing the forest. Can Max and Zena survive the fallout of the Nazi Invasion? Will they ever see their father again?

I Survived the Nazi Invasion focuses on how the resistance fighters helped defeat the Nazis. Tarshis uses kid-friendly descriptions to show the Nazis’ brutality. Even though the descriptions are not graphic, the story shows several people dying, which may upset younger readers. In order to survive, Max remembers the Biblical story of David and Goliath, which gives him bravery and hope.

When the Nazis arrive in Max’s town, Max is surprised that some of the townspeople begin to treat the Jews badly. Max’s father tries to explain the townspeople’s behavior by saying, “They have small minds… Jews are different. And some people are suspicious of what they don’t understand.” However, the story doesn’t only show the ugly side of humanity. Instead, it also shows people’s kindness.

Even though Max and his family are able to go to America after the war, Max realizes that “The Nazis had wounded him in other places, too, places he couldn’t see. In his heart. In his mind. He had scars there, too. And he would carry those scars with him for his whole life.” Even though the Holocaust was a time of suffering, Max’s story also shows that some people risked their lives to help Jews as well as the bravery of the partisans. Most of all, Max’s message is to never lose hope.

The story is accessible to all readers because Tarshis uses short paragraphs and simple sentences. Realistic black and white illustrations are scattered throughout the story and will help readers visualize the events. The story also shows people working together to defeat the Nazis. While the story weaves interesting facts throughout, the book also ends with more facts about the Holocaust. The I Survived series gives readers a glimpse into deadly situations without including scary details. Each book is told from a young person’s point of view, which will help readers connect with the narrator.

The conclusion shows Max’s family reuniting during the war, which is unrealistic. While some of the events are too convenient to be believable, the suspense will keep readers turning the pages. Readers who want to learn more about World War II should read Survival Tails: World War II by Katrina Charman. Older readers who are ready for a more in-depth World War II story should read Resistance by Jennifer A. Nielsen.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • While Max and Zena were hiding in the forest, “German planes road through the sky, dropping 1,000-pound bombs that fell with shattering explosions. Kaboom! Enormous trees became flaming torches. Sparks showered down like burning snowflakes…” Another explosion sent Max “flying through the air. His body twisted and turned.” Max lands in a ditch.
  • When Max leaves the ghetto to find food, a soldier drags Max away from the camp. Max’s sister secretly follows them. When the soldier sees Zena, he points a gun at her. “Max’s body seemed to move on its own fueled by a mix of terror and fury. With all his might, Max threw himself against the man. The soldier teetered for a second, and then fell.” The soldier accidently shoots himself in the leg, and Max and Zena run into the forest.
  • A group of Jews blows up a train filled with Nazi supplies. “A bomb exploded in a massive ball of fire. In a flash, the bridge crumbled, its wooden supports snapping like toothpicks. The train’s locomotive seemed to hang helplessly in the air for a moment. And then it started its plunge into the rocky valley hundreds of feet below.”
  • When Max sees a Nazi soldier holding a gun at two people, Max yells at the soldier. “That boiling rage Max had felt earlier came back to him, powering his muscles. He gripped the rock, and with all of his might, he hurled it at the sneering soldier’s head… Thwack. It hit the soldier squarely on the forehead. The man stood in shock, and then stumbled backwards.” One of the Jews shoots the soldier.
  • Max sees a Nazi soldier. “He was small and skinny, and he looked very young… He looked as terrified and confused as Max was.” Before Max can intervene, a Jew shoots the boy, and “the bullet hit the soldier in the chest. And as he fell dead to the ground, his arm jerked. His pistol fired. A split second later, the bullet tore into Max’s side with a searing, blinding pain. Max stared down in shock as blood gushed from a gaping wound.” Max recovers.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • A soldier says, “We will find those filthy Jews who destroyed our train.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • The Biblical story of David and Goliath is retold. When David fights Goliath, “David lunged forward and grabbed Goliath’s sword and—whack—he chopped off Goliath’s head.” David’s story gave Max hope.
  • When Max is trapped under a tree, as he finally frees himself, he prayed, “he’d see Zena and Aunt Hannah and Martin and Lev waiting for him.”
  • When Max is shot, several people pray that Max would survive.

Never Evers

Thirteen-year-old Mouse is pretty sure her life is totally over. Now that she’s been kicked out of ballet school, she has to go on her new school’s ski trip basically knowing no one. Well, except too-cool-for-school Keira and crazy Connie-May (and her adorable hamster, Mr. Jambon).

Meanwhile, Jack’s life is just about to begin. He’s on the way to the slopes with his school too, and all he can think about is how to get his first kiss.

With her new friends by her side, Mouse has more fun skiing and building igloos than she expected. And when Jack catches Mouse’s eye, he’s smitten. All’s well—that is, until mega-pop star, Roland arrives on the scene and sets his sights on Mouse too! A week in the snow is about to get complicated. . .

Never Evers is ridiculous, over the top, and funny. The story focuses on two friend groups. One group includes three boys—Jack, Max, and Toddy. Max is totally obsessed with kissing a girl—any “hot” girl. Even though Jack is smitten with Mouse, Max keeps pushing Jack to spend time with another hot girl, which causes some drama. Like many preteen boys, the three friends are immature, use body humor, and talk about “pubes” (pubic hair).

The other friend group includes Mouse, Connie, and Kiera. In order to determine if Jack likes Mouse, the girls make a love spell, which causes some laughable moments. However, unlike the group of boys, the girls are not obsessed with boys. Instead, Mouse is also dealing with getting kicked out of dance school, a mean girl, and making new friends.

Never Evers is full of friendship drama, crushes, jealousy, and misunderstandings. The story’s point of view flip flops between Jack and Mouse, which allows the reader to understand their confusion about the opposite sex. Using humor, the story expertly portrays the confusion and insecurity that many tweens feel about growing up. While the story is often laugh-out-loud funny, it also shows the importance of kindness and having friends who will stand by you no matter what.

While Never Evers is not great literature, it will resonate with tweens who often feel awkward and uncertain. Middle school readers who aren’t ready for more mature romances will enjoy Never Evers. If you’re looking for a similar tween-friendly romance, add Pugs and Kisses by J.J. Howard to your reading list.

Sexual Content

  • A group of boys talk about a boy who said, “he kissed sixteen girls in five days.
  • A group of boys talks about their inability to get a girlfriend. “You know Ed’s kissed ten girls now? Ten. He’s a month younger than me and he’s on double digits.”
  • Mouse has never kissed a boy, but her friend, Keira, has “kissed three other boys.” Keira says, “You’re not missing out on anything, to be honest. It’s a little anticlimactic, really. You think it’ll be this big, life-changing moment, but it’s actually just Elliot Campbell slobbering all over you.”
  • While on the bus, a boy moons a group of girls.
  • While talking about Connie’s true love, the bus passes a sign for a French teen singer. Connie says, “Ron is my one true love. But I might let Roland English-kiss me. To warm me up for Ron.”
  • While watching Romeo and Juliet, Mouse thinks, “Watching sex scenes with your parents is horrendous, but it turns out watching them with a bunch of people your own age is also really bad.”
  • While lost in the wilderness, Jack and Mouse go into an igloo to keep warm. Jack “buried all my worries and fears deep in the snow, and leaned in to kiss her.” Before he can, a rescue team shows up.
  • At a dance, Connie kisses a boy. Someone sees them, and says, “That Connie girl’s a man-eater.”
  • Jack thinks about kissing Mouse. “I knew I shouldn’t feel scared anymore, but I did. It was scary. Doing anything for the first time is scary. But I wanted to kiss her so bad.” He moves closer to Mouse, and, “Then I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and leaned in towards her.”

Violence

  • While talking to a group of girls, Jamie was teasing Jack and his friends. “Before I could stop him, Max launched himself at Jamie, shoving him hard in the chest and sending him crashing onto the cold, hard ice. . . Jamie was too shocked to even respond.” A teacher scolds the boys.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • “Oh my God,” and “Oh God” are used as an exclamation frequently.
  • Occasionally there is name calling, such as dummy, idiot, lunatic, loser, jerk, freak, and wierdo. For example, Kiera calls a mean girl and her friends “a bunch of rancid, pathetic losers.”
  • Crap (or a version of it) is used six times. Jack says, “The only snow I’ve seen is the crappy kind that turns gray and icy and melts within a day.”
  • Freakin’ is used three times. A boy yells, “You’re a freakin’ maniac, Max!”
  • Hell is used seven times. When Mouse disappears, Jack thinks, “I couldn’t tell what the hell was going on.”

Supernatural

  • Mouse and her friends use The Teen Witches’ Book of Spells to cast a love spell. As part of the spell, the girls make a circle out of their clothes and stand in the circle. Mouse’s friend Keira says, “We need paper and a pen. A true belief in magic. A full moon. . . A hair from your head and a mason jar.”
  • Mouse puts a piece of her hair in a jar. Then she writes a boy’s name and puts it into the jar. Kiera says, “Okay, now we’re going to hold hands, and we all have to sing, ‘Name is written / Hidden singing / Compel the object to my bidding / So mote it be.”

Spiritual Content

  • Mouse hides in a bathroom stall so she can hear a group’s conversation. While there, she prays, “Please, God, don’t let my phone ring.”
  • Occasionally the teens pray. For example, when Kiera writes Jack (Mouse’s crush) on her jeans, Mouse prays that Kiera “didn’t wear those jeans again this week.”
  • Jack asks Mouse if she wants to get a hot chocolate. When she turns him down, Jack prays, “Please, God, let something happen now to end this moment—a fire alarm, an avalanche, a rip in the space-time continuum. . . Anything.”

The Betrothed

The King of Corona, Jameson, is young and handsome, but he is not the type to settle down. Everyone has watched him flirt his way from girl to girl. So when Hollis catches the King’s eye, she assumes that Jameson will quickly lose interest and move on.

Hollis has grown up at Keresken Castle among other daughters of nobility, most of whom hope to catch the King’s eye. So when King Jameson declares his love for Hollis, she is shocked. Hollis soon realizes that along with the extravagant presents and fawning attention, this new life brings expectations—expectations that make her wonder if she’s really cut out for life as a royal.

With a visit from the King of Isolte on the horizon, Hollis sees a chance to prove to Jameson—and herself—that she has what it takes to be queen. But when she meets an Isolten stranger with the mysterious power to see into her heart, she realizes the future she wants is one she never dared dream of.

Even though the story is told from Hollis’s point of view, it is hard to understand why King Jameson would want her as his queen. Hollis’s behavior is immature and self-serving. She doesn’t want to be a good queen for the sake of the country. Instead, she wants to be a good queen so others will admire her. This is reinforced when several characters, including Hollis’s parents, do not believe Hollis’s behavior is fit for a queen. Hollis’s self-serving nature makes it hard to relate to her struggles.

While The Selection Series by Kiera Cass is an engaging, action-packed series, The Betrothed has a weak plot and underdeveloped characters. For example, masked men kill everyone at a wedding. However, the murders are never investigated and the only death that seemed to matter was the death of Hollis’ husband. In addition, the conclusion is anticlimactic and unbelievable. The Betrothed is appropriate for middle school readers who may find the simple romance entertaining. However, most readers will want to skip The Betrothed for a more compelling romance such as What Light by Jay Asher or Pugs and Kisses by J.J. Howard.

Sexual Content

  • While on a boat ride, Hollis believes the King thinks she is “irresistible.” Since there are other people around, the prince “was forced to settle for placing a warm kiss on my cool forehead. It was enough to send new waves through my stomach, and I wondered if every moment with him would feel like this.”
  • Hollis knows the King has kissed other girls and wonders, “if his not kissing me yet was a good sign or a bad one.”
  • The King kisses Hollis. She “leaned into it. To finally be kissed was a wondrous thing, and to be kissed by a king was even more thrilling. Jameson drew me close, holding my chin and pulling away when he deemed the kiss long enough.”
  • While alone, Hollis and Silas kiss. “Silas cupped my cheeks, holding me with such tenderness that I felt everything inside my body melting. I could feel the calluses on his fingers as they traced the edges of my face, and I couldn’t help but compare the feeling to that of Jameson’s perfectly smooth hands.” They break apart when they hear footsteps coming.
  • Hollis and Silas kiss again. “It was so easy, like falling into the rhythm of a dance or taking a deep breath. Kissing Silas was like something that had always been waiting for me, something I knew how to do without thinking. His hands went up into my hair, holding me tight, and his lips moved feverishly. . .”
  • Hollis and Silas kiss and she thinks “it was the most beautiful thing, to be free and alone with Silas.”

Violence

  • At a wedding, masked men come and kill everyone in the house. One girl survives. She tells her mother, “They came with masks down and swords drawn, stabbing at anyone in their way, even the maids.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Hollis invites some friends to her apartment. Wine is served and Hollis “picked up a glass of ale.”
  • During a festival, wine is served. The king is seen with “the chalice in his hand, amber ale spilling from one side.”
  • At a wedding, the guests have “goblets of ale.”

Language

  • A girl whose parents are divorced, is called a bastard. The girl tells Hollis, “When everyone was muttering that I was a bastard, you ignored them.”
  • When Hollis decides to marry Silas, Hollis’ mother calls him “your pig of a son.”

Supernatural

  • When Hollis leaves the king to marry Silas, some believe she is a witch. “With the way the king was acting, someone said you must have cast a spell on him to drive him to such madness.”

Spiritual Content

  • The King asks Hollis, “Do you ever thank the gods that you have me for a king and not that grouch, King Quinten?”
  • When King Quinten comes to visit, the King says, “The Lady Hollis and I welcome you as my father did, as a fellow sovereign, placed by the gods, and as a dear friend.”
  • During a celebration, someone says, “Let us today renew our devotion to King Jameson and pray for his life to extend for many years, and for his heirs to be plenty!”
  • During the celebration, the King says, “I pray for our kingdom to prosper.”
  • At a wedding, masked men kill everyone present. Later, Hollis says, “I am grateful. I know that living through a situation where I surely ought to have died is a gift but I cannot think of why in the world the gods would spare me.”
  • When Hollis goes to look for Silas’s mother and sister, she “prayed that if I stayed on this course, I’d find them.”

 

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