Reading Level: Junior High

The Boy in the Black Suit

Matt wears the same suit every day. Even to school. He needs the suit for his job at Mr. Ray’s funeral home, which he does because his mom died and his dad’s struggling with the bills and alcohol. Despite his mom’s recent death, Matt doesn’t mind working in a funeral home. In fact, he likes sitting in on the services and finding the most grief-stricken person. It makes him feel less alone.

Then Matt meets Love, who has experienced even more tragedy than Matt. She’s tough and kindhearted despite her circumstances. Matt finds himself drawn to her strength. Love understands Matt’s pain and loneliness, and she might be able to help him be strong too.

Death is the main focus of The Boy in the Black Suit, and the topic is handled gracefully and respectfully. Although the content is dark, Reynolds balances this with lighthearted moments. The funerals that Matt describes often have some element of comedy. Some characters treat the funeral as a celebration of life rather than a loss. Matt likes seeing both the positive and tragic responses because it gives him an outlet for his own pain.

Throughout the novel, Matt quietly deals with his grief. Matt’s grief over his mother’s death is not immediately obvious, but his thoughts slowly let the reader into his carefully locked-away emotions. Many of the other characters struggle with grief as well. For instance, Matt’s father sinks into alcoholism after his wife’s death. The funeral homeowner, Mr. Ray, still struggles with his wife’s tragic passing many years ago. Matt also discovers that when Love was younger, she witnessed her mother’s murder.

The grief-stricken characters deal with their sadness in realistic ways. Reynolds manages to create well-rounded characters while still showing how grief has influenced their personalities. The Boy in the Black Suit offers a variety of responses to terrible events. After her mom’s death, Love continues her mom and grandmother’s work with the homeless and carries their spirits with her. Despite the tragedies in Love’s life, she doesn’t let them get her down. Because of her compassion and quiet strength, Matt is drawn to Love. With her help and the powerful supporting cast, Matt can begin to come to terms with his grief.

The Boy in the Black Suit tells a story about grief and growth in an accessible way for young adult readers. The themes are universal, and many characters learn to grow from their unfortunate circumstances. The Boy in the Black Suit is an important read because it shows that kindness exists even in dark times, and it introduces topics like death in a mature way for readers. Although this book is somewhat darker, fans of Reynolds’s other work will enjoy this thoughtful story.

Sexual Content

  • Matt thinks about his best friend Chris Hayes and how “girls had a thing for his shaved head.”
  • One of Matt and Chris’s classmates, Shante, “got pregnant sophomore year.”
  • Mr. Ray, the funeral homeowner and Matt’s friend, tells Matt that he “was thinking about one thing only—skirts,” meaning girls. Matt misunderstands and says, “You were thinking about wearing skirts?”
  • Mr. Ray tells Matt that once he and his brother “Robbie done wrecked many a car, taking our eyes off the road to check out some lady’s hind-parts.”
  • Matt’s mom wrote on the cover of a cookbook: “The Secret To Getting Girls, For Matty” because “cooking is what girls really like.”
  • While in Mr. Ray’s basement that was dedicated to his dead wife, Matt “watched [Mr. Ray] take a few more moments down memory lane, back when he could make the game-winning three-pointer, then kiss his girl after he came from the locker room.”
  • At her grandmother’s funeral, Matt flirts with Love. Matt tells Chris about it later, and Chris misunderstands. Chris asks, “The girl from the Cluck Bucket [a local restaurant] is your girlfriend?” Matt says no, but he does express that he likes her.
  • Matt explains Chris’s dating history. Chris “used to kick it with Shannon Reeves, a certified winner. Shannon was so fly, all the older dudes would try to get at her until they found out she was only sixteen. And even then, some of them still tried to get at her. [Chris] also used to kick it with Lauren Morris and Danni Stevens at the same time. Danni was kind of geeky, but in a cute way. And Lauren was a cheerleader at our school, so she had that whole thing going on. Long hair, pretty smile, in shape, all cheery, all the time. The two girls knew about each other, because Chris was up front and told them the truth.” This exchange continues for several pages.
  • Matt tells his dad about how Matt and Love are having Thanksgiving together. Matt’s dad says, “And if for some reason you feel like having dessert, think twice, son. One slice of her pie could equal a lifetime of your cake, if you know what I mean.” Matt is mortified at this innuendo.
  • Matt and Love help at a homeless shelter. When handing out chicken, Matt asks, “Leg, wing, or breast?” An older man replies, “Well, I’m known to be a breast man.” The lady standing behind him “slapped him on the back of the head.”
  • At the park, there’s a couple making out on a park bench. Matt says, “The girl across from us moved her mouth to her boyfriend’s neck. Yuck.”
  • Love kisses Matt at the Botanic Gardens. He spends a page hyping up his feelings, and then describes the kiss as “a peck… Yup. Just a peck.”
  • After the Botanic Garden date, Love and Matt kiss again. Matt describes it, saying, “I pressed my lips against hers again, this time kissing her longer and pulling her as close as possible. I wrapped my arms around her, and I could feel her hands gripping my back.” This description lasts for less than a page.

Violence

  • When someone tried to steal a bag of chips from the local bodega, the owner, Jimmy, “pulled the biggest knife I’ve ever seen—I mean, like a machete—from behind the register and started banging the blade on the counter… He then said that if he catches anyone stealing, he’ll leave their fingers on the bodega floor for the cat to nibble on.”
  • Matt’s mom gives Chris’s mom “the green light to pop [Matt] if she needed to.” In a flashback where Matt is suggesting breaking the rules, Matt considers this potential consequence.
  • One night, Chris and Matt hear Chris’s neighbor get into an altercation with her boyfriend that ends with the cops and paramedics at the apartment complex. The boyfriend shot and killed her. The description of the altercation lasts for a couple of pages but is only told through what the boys can hear. Matt describes, “All of [the man’s] words were long, like he was halfway singing, so we knew he was drunk. And the lady was pretty much screaming, ‘It’s over! It’s over!’ and kept telling him to go home… the loudest sound I had ever heard in my entire life came rushing toward us, making both of us shout out and slam the door. Then came the screams of the woman, and the drunk man in the hallway now mumbling something about him being sorry and that he didn’t mean it.”
  • A car hits Matt’s dad. He was drunk. “When he got to the corner of Fulton and Albany, he lost his balance and stumbled out into the street. Gypsy cab got him.”
  • Mr. Ray’s wife “slipped, hit her head, and was gone before anyone could even get to her.”
  • Matt destroys the wilted flowers sitting on his mom’s grave because he’s upset. He “grabbed a fistful of the flowers by their brittle stems and began beating them against the ground… as if [he] were hitting a drum.”
  • When Love was seven, her mom was murdered. The guy was “accusing her of cheating. He called her all types of names… About five minutes later… gunshot.”’
  • The guy that asked Love for her number at the beginning of the book is killed. No explicit details are given, but Matt works the funeral.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • At a funeral for a man named Speed-O, Speed-O’s friend, Mouse, tells a story about a horse that’s dead-tired. Mouse says that Speed-O said, “that somebody slipped a cigarette in the horse’s mouth to smoke because the dang horse looked so stressed out by the heat… ‘I know it was real because I was the one who lit the horse’s cigarette!’” It is made clear that the cigarette was not real but alluded to because of the exhaustion. However, later Speed-O was “lighting a smoke.”
  • Matt thinks about how rumors spread and warp into lies, including when it comes to his mother’s death. Matt thinks, “Knowing this neighborhood, people were probably saying it was a drug overdose because that’s always what people say. ‘Yeah, she used to get high. That’s why she was always so funny.’”
  • Outside of Chris’s apartment building there is often drug dealing. Matt describes, “There’s always a gang of dudes posted up outside all night, talking trash, and pushing packs of whatever to whoever.”
  • The night when Matt’s mom died, his dad was “down in the kitchen, pouring shot after shot of cognac since around midnight.” It is later described that after his wife’s death, he becomes an alcoholic. One night, Matt finds his dad in the kitchen, and Matt notes, “his words were slurring. I ran down the steps to find him on one knee, holding on to the kitchen counter, trying to pull himself up… On the kitchen floor was a soggy paper bag, soaked with what was obviously cognac. The bottle had broken and glass had torn through the bag and cut his hand. Liquor and blood, everywhere.”
  • Matt’s dad was an alcoholic before he met Matt’s mom. Matt thinks about how his mom says, “Baby, the bottom of the bottle was your daddy’s second home… And if I didn’t stop him, he would’ve made that second home his grave.”
  • Mr. Ray’s youngest brother “was a straight-up drunk” and is often seen loitering outside the liquor store.
  • On the way to the hospital to see his dad, Matt says that he would’ve “taken anything [Mr. Ray] offered [him]. Even a cigarette.”
  • Matt says that “Chris used to always tell [him] that drug dealers played [chess] to keep their minds sharp.”
  • Mr. Ray tells Matt about his friend who would “invite me and [Mr. Ray’s wife] to his shows—this was before he was doing Broadway—and we’d all go out afterward and run through a pack of smokes like it was nothing.” Matt notes that Mr. Ray was “probably thinking about his own cigarette habit that he couldn’t kick, even after cancer. Twice.”
  • Mr. Ray and his brother sometimes smoke cigarettes.
  • Outside the homeless shelter, “there were a few guys… all huddled up. One was holding a handful of cigarette butts while the others sifted through, picking out the ones that still had a little tobacco left in them.”
  • Outside one of the funerals, “teenagers stood on the steps and watched [the procession], some lighting cigarettes, others slipping fingers behind their sunglasses to wipe hidden tears.”

Language

  • Profanity is used frequently. Profanity includes asshole, crap, damn, and shit.
  • Fuck is used once. Mr. Ray has a shrine to his wife who passed away, and he shows it to Matt. Mr. Ray tells Matt, “I was a goddamn mess [when she passed], which is when I started this room, this shrine of all the fucked-up things that happened to me.”
  • A kid ran up behind Chris and Matt at school, “slapped [Chris] on the ass, and rambled off some dumb joke, calling us gay or whatever.”

Supernatural

  • None

 Spiritual Content

  • Mr. Willie Ray is the neighborhood mortician. Matt thinks, “after he beat [cancer] the second time, he basically became, like, a Jehovah’s Witness for cancer, knocking on doors and passing out pamphlets. He swears the only reason God spared his life twice is so that he could spread the word about the illness.”
  • Matt says that his mom used “to always joke with [Mr. Ray] and say, ‘Willie, God saved you just so you could torture the hell outta the rest of us?’”
  • Matt thinks about his father’s alcoholism. “All I could do was pray to God that he would get a handle on it.” Other characters also say, “Lord knows…” to explain their thoughts.
  • Matt works at Mr. Ray’s funeral home, and Matt often sits in on the funerals that take place in the church. Prayers lead by the surviving family members usually occur.
  • Matt attends a funeral for a woman named Gwendolyn Brown. The minister giving the opening speech says, “We don’t come in sadness. No, we come in joy, for sister Brown is finally at peace with the mighty King of Kings.” The funeral program stated that Brown “loved God.”
  • Matt goes to his mom’s grave and tells her about Love. He thinks, “I was going to ask my mother to make me and Love work out, like maybe she had some kind of magic power, or could ask God and the angels to fool around with Love’s mind to make sure this whole thing goes smooth.”

by Alli Kestler

The Maze of the Menacing Minotaur

Zeus the Mighty and the gods of the Mount Olympus Pet Store are exhausted from the sweltering heat. In order to restore Greece to a cooler temperature, Zeus and Poseidon team up to defeat the menacing Minotaur. As Zeus and Poseidon argue their way through the Minotaur’s Maze, they meet an unlikely ally. However, the minotaur isn’t the only threat. The bully Sinis, a Harpy, and the soothsayer Phineus all want to teach Zeus a lesson. Is there any way Zeus and Poseidon can work as a team and make it out of the maze alive?

Join Zeus the hamster, Athena the wise cat, Demeter the loyal grasshopper, Poseidon the proud pufferfish, and Ares the treat-loving pug on their newest adventure.

In The Maze of the Menacing Minotaur, everyday objects become the relics and monsters of ancient Greece. Boyer uses imagination and comedy to bring the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur to young readers. A high-action plot, humorous situations, and black and white illustrations blend to make a fun series that will keep readers turning the pages. Each illustration shows the Greek gods, which gives the reader a visual and helps them understand the plot and the gods’ emotions. Large illustrations appear every 1-5 pages.

The second installment of the series focuses on Zeus and Poseidon, who both want to call the shots. As the two learn to work together, they discover that the soothsayer Phineus is really Cronus, who wants to teach Zeus how to be a better ruler. According to Cronus, a leader should “delegate” instead of lead others on adventures. Cronus says, “Why, I had your minions running all over Greece, doing my bidding. And I didn’t have to lift a paw. That’s how you rule.” However, Zeus realizes that it is important to work as a team and allow others to make decisions.

The Maze of the Menacing Minotaur takes the reader on a fun adventure and introduces Greek mythology. Readers that are unfamiliar with Greek mythology will want to read the historical information about the Olympians, Theseus, and the Minotaur that appears at the end of the book.

The Zeus the Mighty series is perfect for young readers who aren’t ready to jump into The Percy Jackson series. The Maze of the Menacing Minotaur will not only have readers eager to read, but it will also spark their interest in Greek mythology.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • A Harpy tricks Zeus into jumping into a ladle. Poseidon and the Harpy play tug-of-war with Zeus. Zeus “held fast, caught between the lord of the sea and a fiend of the sky. Zeus’s paws ached. They began to slip… He released his grip and plummeted to the ground… Zeus flopped onto his back…”
  • When Zeus upsets Poseidon, “Poseidon had poked Zeus’s rump with” a spear.
  • With Poseidon’s help, Zeus attacks the Minotaur (a furnace). Zeus “took a deep breath and heaved the spear, burying its tip directly into the orange pit of the beast’s nostril… He pulled on the spear, but it was stuck up the nose of the beast… The Minotaur’s teeth began to unclench, exposing the black pit of its mouth. The boiling gale increased, blowing bits of animal fur dislodge from the Minotaur’s teeth.” Zeus is able to extinguish the Minotaur’s fire.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Zeus calls Poseidon “puff-’n-stuff” and “fish lips.”
  • Periphete calls Zeus a rodent.
  • A Harpy calls Zeus a “flea-ridden fool.”
  • Zeus calls Sinis a jerk, and Demeter calls him a “blowhard.”
  • Twice, Cronus calls Ares a fool.
  • Zeus uses “oh gods” as an exclamation one time.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

The Other Side of the Wall

It’s Christmas break. Tess and Max are in London staying at the posh Sanborn House with their Aunt Evie. As they wait for their parents to arrive, there is an unusual snowstorm that makes the city seem as if it’s caught in a snow globe. It’s the perfect weather for an adventure in Hyde Park. But when Max, Tess, and Aunt Evie leave to search for a cab, they find a horse, carriage, and driver curiously waiting for them at the curb. And that’s just the beginning…

Soon Tess is charmed by a mysterious boy named Colin who lives at the hotel all year round—on the 8th floor. Max is sure the elevator only had 7 floors the day before. How come everyone at the hotel seems to ignore Colin? Things seem to get stranger and stranger. There’s a 1920s costume party in Colin’s parents’ apartment, a marble that seems to be more than it appears, and a shadow that passes mysteriously by Tess and Max’s hotel window.

Tess wants to figure out what’s going on, but she finds only more questions. Is it just a coincidence that Colin’s last name is Sanborn, the same as the hotel? Why does the cat’s-eye marble look eerily similar to the crystal at the top of their hotel room key? And, most importantly, what happened in that hotel one Christmas long, long ago?

Tess and Max are realistic characters who travel back in time. The world building is beautiful, but some readers will quickly become bored because the beginning of the story lacks action. When Tess and Max meet Colin, they are slow to realize that he is a danger. When Colin possesses Max, Tess begins calling him “the person who used to be Max.” This phrase was used too often, and the repetition is annoying. Despite this, Tess’s dedication and love for her brother is both realistic and enduring.

Unlike traditional Christmas stories, The Other Side of the Wall is both mysterious and creepy. The story takes the reader back in time and ends with the sad death of Colin. Readers who have not read the first two books in the series will be slightly confused. Even though the story hints that Tess sometimes sees things that are not really there, her behavior is never explained. The Other Side of the Wall ends abruptly leaving many unanswered questions.

Anyone who wants to add a little fright to their Christmas night will want to read The Other Side of the Wall. The unique story replaces jingle bells for spooky spirits. However, if you’re looking for a fast-paced adventure, you will want to leave The Other Side of the Wall on the library shelf. For those looking to put a little scare into the holiday season, you might want to ask Santa to put Young Scrooge: A Very Scary Christmas Story by R.L. Stine into your stocking.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Tess and Max go into the hotel’s lobby. “There were two young men in the library (which also had a fully stocked serve-yourself bar in a small room adjacent to it).”
  • Tess’s aunt tells her that, “My friend Bobbie rang up and asked if I’d run down the road to a pub for a holiday drink.”

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Tess and Max go to a party where they meet a seer. She tells them, “I ask the question, or you do, but it’s the cards that tell me the answer. I’m not much more than a conduit.”
  • Tess and Max meet a boy named Colin. When Colin begins to go pale, “Max reached out to touch him, but it was as if his hand seemed to go right through Colin’s arm. As if he had become transparent or he wasn’t really there, as if. . .” When Max moves away, Colin “started to walk towards Max, purposefully, step by step, directly to him, almost as if Colin was playing chicken or else he wanted to whisper something to Max. . . But then there was the most startled look on Max’s face. . . as Colin walked directly into him and simply disappeared.” Colin takes over Max’s body.
  • Tess pets a terrier. The dog suddenly vanishes “and Adele the psychic was standing in front of her.” Tess wonders how the dog could transform into Adele.
  • Max walks “straight through the wall. . . and simply disappeared.” Frightened Tess runs out of the room and talks to a man. “But before she could finish the sentence, she saw the gentleman’s face begin to crack and tiny pieces start to break away, first his cheek and then part of his nose as if he was made of plaster.”
  • Tess follows Max into a dark hallway where orange vectors appear. As Max walks on the vectors, Tess follows.
  • Following Max, Tess jumps in a carriage. The horse, Comet, raced so quickly, “it was as if Comet was able to, levitate would be the right word, or simply fly just off the ground, carrying the carriage behind her through mid-air, cold air, spectacularly dotted with snow. . .”

Spiritual Content

  • None

Top Prospect

Travis is starstruck when Elvis Goddard, head coach for the Gainesville Fighting Gators, comes to his house to offer his older brother, Carter, a football scholarship. Carter isn’t the only one who gets an offer.  When Coach G sees Travis’s talent as a quarterback, the coach offers him a scholarship even though he’s just an eighth-grader. This once-in-a-lifetime offer turns Travis into an overnight sensation, landing him VIP access to the Gainesville University gym and football field, an interview with ESPN, and instant popularity at school.

Meanwhile, Carter is learning the ropes of being a college football player. He and his roommate, Alex, start part-time jobs at a car dealership under the guidance of Walter Henry. Walter secretly gives Carter hundreds of dollars, something for which the Gainesville team has already been investigated. Carter feels guilty but accepts the money. When Alex tears his ACL in a football game, he miraculously recovers.  Alex confesses that he is taking steroids to help his healing process. Although Carter doesn’t agree with Alex’s decision, Carter promises to keep it a secret.

Back home, as Travis graduates eighth grade and enters high school, the pressure of keeping a scholarship gets more intense. He is chosen as the high school quarterback, but he feels used because the coach just wants a job at Gainesville University. For the three players, everything is going according to plan until Alex collapses from an apparent heart failure at a football practice and dies. Carter knows the real reason for Alex’s death—the steroids—but chooses not to tarnish Alex’s name by sharing his secret.

Shaken by Alex’s death, Travis’s skills deteriorate. During a game, Travis injures his elbow and must begin a slow, painful recovery. After a devastating loss of a game that costs Travis’s team the championship, Walter Henry offers Travis steroids. Travis hesitantly accepts the steroids, but he decides to ask for Carter’s advice on whether or not he should take them. Carter, knowing the steroids killed Alex, blows up and attacks Walter. Although Walter is investigated, nothing happens to him; however, Coach Goddard resigns, and Travis’ scholarship is withdrawn. Even though Travis is heartbroken, he is happy to be relieved of the pressure of keeping a scholarship.

Football players and fans will enjoy Top Prospect because it explores different aspects of football. The story explores multiple football issues including steroid use, the never-ending pressure to perform well, and under-the-radar payment from sponsors. Readers will relate to Travis’s, Carter’s, and Alex’s passions for football. However, the games and practices are tediously described, which might bore readers. In an afterword, Paul Volponi recounts a few real-life stories of eighth graders being offered college scholarships that inspired this book.

In addition to football issues, Travis also goes through personal issues. Travis’s parents are divorced, and he has to deal with his dad’s emotional and physical distance. The story is told mostly from Travis’s point of view, but there are also several short chapters from Carter’s perspective. Carter is initially frustrated to always have Travis tailing behind him, but the time they spend together ends up strengthening their relationship. Besides his brotherly bond and love of football, Travis is not a relatable character. He overcomes many conflicts, and he learns not to push himself too hard and to always be honest with Carter. However, Travis does not change as a person. He is self-centered and is never humbled. There is no real plot to the story, and the book ends abruptly. However, Top Prospect will suit older readers looking for a football-intense story.

Sexual Content

  • Travis recounts a date with Lyn, a girl he has a crush on. Travis “had even worked up the nerve to kiss her by the end of it. My first real”
  • Travis goes to a party where “five or six cheerleaders kissed [him] hello on the cheek.”
  • Travis, a freshman, is going on a date with a sophomore. His mom has “the talk” with him and tells him, “This is an older girl. I just want to make sure that you’re ready for these relationships.”
  • At the movies, Travis runs into Lyn, who is on a date with a junior boy named PJ. Before the movie starts, PJ “gave [Lyn] a quick kiss,” which makes Travis jealous.

Violence

  • During a Gator’s football game, Carter blocked a defender. “You could hear the huhh of air leaving that defender’s lungs as Carter flattened him like a pancake.”
  • During a Gator’s football game, Alex tears his ACL. “Alex caught a cleat in the turf while he was making a sharp cut. His left knee twisted with a ton of torque, buckling beneath him. He fell to the field screaming in pain, with both hands clamped around his knee.” As he is brought to the locker room on a cart, he “slammed the cart’s metal railing so hard [Travis] thought he might have broken his hand.”
  • During a game, Carter gets tackled in mid-air. “At the height of [Carter’s] leap, a defender hit him in the thigh, sending Carter into a mid-air backflip. He crashed into the ground.”
  • During a game, Travis takes his first sack of the season. “A heavyweight lineman…pounded me pretty hard. But I went with his momentum and didn’t try to fight his force. I bounded up off the ground right away.”
  • During a game, one of Travis’s D-backs “absolutely drilled” the opposing team’s receiver, “burying his shoulder pads into the receiver’s chest and causing the loudest pop [Travis had] heard in a long time.”
  • During a game, Travis decides to ram into a senior linebacker. Travis “lowered [his] right shoulder and stuck it square into his midsection. The crowd let out a roar as my body shook from the collision. But that all-state linebacker flew back almost as far as I did.”
  • During a game, Travis dives for a football that lands close to his feet. Travis “got to the football first and tucked it beneath [him] when the Bruiser slammed into [his] left elbow. A bolt of pain shot through [his] entire body. Then it happened again and again as other players piled on top.”
  • Believing Coach Harkey, the Gainesville fitness coach, gave Travis the steroids, Carter “grabbed [Coach Harkey], running Harkey back against a wall… [Carter] tried to shove that vial down Harkey’s throat.”
  • When Carter realizes Walter gave Travis the steroids, Carter drives to Walter’s dealership. Carter “aimed the car straight for [Walter], jumping the curb… By the time Walter looked up, [Carter] was almost on top of him… [Carter] slammed on the breaks, stopping just a few feet away, nearly pinning him against the glass of the showroom.” After Carter gets out of his car, he “grabbed Walter by the collar and rammed him against the hood of the car.” Then, Carter “punched [Walter] in the solar plexus.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Alex tells Carter he is taking PEDs to help his knee recover quickly.
  • Alex explodes on Carter and Travis for talking too loudly while he is trying to sleep. Carter knows this is a side effect of Alex taking PEDs. In his inner thoughts, Carter thinks, “PEDs—that was the only way I could explain what I’d witnessed.”
  • Walter Henry tries to give Travis steroids to help his elbow heal. Walter justifies using steroids by saying, “Travis, steroids are everywhere in society. They’re in the feed we give chickens and cows to make them healthier. These are for humans… The mildest you can take. Just a few steps above aspirin or Tylenol. But instead of making pain, they heal the problem at the source and promote growth… It’s what plenty of scholarship athletes do to compete when they’re injured.” Walter gives Travis “two vials of pills.”
  • When Walter initially offers Travis steroids, Travis tells him, “I can’t. They’re drugs. Anyway, it’d be cheating.” Later that day, though, Travis “talked [himself] into believing [he] really wouldn’t be cheating… taking steroids would be about getting healthy, not about becoming a better player. [He] already had the talent in the first place.”
  • Walter hands Travis the steroids and gives directions for taking them. Walter “produced two vials of pills. ‘It’s a seven-week cycle,’ [Walter] explained. ‘The first four weeks, you take the ones in the container with the blue stripe. The next three weeks, take the ones from the red. They’re stronger.’”

Language

  • When Travis is offered a scholarship, Carter wonders, “Why was I busting my butt in the weight room and staying up nights studying the playbook?”
  • When Travis does an ESPN SportsCenter, his mom asks if it’s live. When he nods, she mouths, “My God!”
  • Damon, a member of Travis’ football team, fumbles a ball and calls himself “a moron” and “a fat idiot.”
  • Alex tells Carter they need to talk, and Carter wonders if it’s about Alex’s mom or “God forbid, somebody from the NCAA heard about Walter’s money.”
  • After a bad first half of Travis’s football game, his coach furiously yells at the players, “If you’re going to get your butts whipped, at least keep your heads up!”
  • When Travis shows Carter the vial of steroid pills, Carter asks him, “Who gave you this crap?”
  • When Carter realizes Walter Henry gave Travis the steroids, he says, “God, I should have seen it.”
  • When Carter tells Coach Harkey he knew Alex was taking steroids, Harkey says, “Relationships aren’t easy. Lord, I only wish I’d had a better one with Alex Moore.”
  • Travis “wished to God [he] could have been there when Carter beat [Walter’s] behind.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • In testimony to Alex, Coach Goddard says, “[Alex] was totally committed to fight back from his injury and to play to the very best of his God-given abilities… I’m sure that his spirit and memory will remain a vital part of this team.”
  • Carter says, “After the EMTs put Alex in the ambulance, we all held hands in a circle and got down on one knee to pray.”
  • After swearing he will never tell anyone about Alex taking PEDs, Carter says, “God bless you, fam.”
  • After he dies, Alex’s jersey hangs inside his open locker. “Players passed by it and crossed themselves or bowed their heads, like it was a sort of shrine.” Travis “ran [his] fingers over the fabric, trying to feel Alex’s spirit.”
  • Carter tells Alex’s mom he took steroids. She responds, “I’ll let God judge my son’s mistakes.”

by Jill Johnson

I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912

George Calder must be the luckiest kid alive. He and his little sister, Phoebe, are sailing with their aunt on the Titanic, the greatest ship ever built. George can’t resist exploring every inch of the incredible boat, even if it keeps getting him into trouble.

Then the impossible happens: the Titanic hits an iceberg and water rushes in. George is stranded, alone and afraid, on the sinking skip. He’s always gotten out of trouble before…but how can he survive this?

Readers will relate to George, whose curiosity gets him into trouble. Because George loves to explore, the reader is able to see different areas of the Titanic. In the end, George’s curiosity helps him save his sister and aunt. Even though the story focuses on the Titanic, George is also dealing with the death of his mother, which has caused friction between George and his father. However, George’s relationship with his sister is sweet and adds some humor to the story. Because George has many facets to his personality, the conclusion has several surprises that give depth to the story.

I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 answers the broad questions about the day’s events without giving readers a graphic image of the passengers’ deaths. When the ship begins to sink, George’s curiosity and perseverance help keep him and others safe. Even though the story is historical fiction, the ending doesn’t focus on those who died. Instead, the story leaves the reader with a sense of loss and with a sense of hope. In the end, George and his father begin to repair their relationship.

I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 uses a relatable character and suspense to answer readers’ questions about the sinking of the Titanic. 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 break up the text. While the story weaves interesting facts through, the book also ends with more facts about the Titanic. I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 uses kid-friendly descriptions to educate readers about the Titanic and can be used as a springboard for learning more about the sinking of the ship. Proficient readers who would like to learn more about the Titanic should add Survival Tails: The Titanic by Katrina Charman to their must-read list.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • George snuck into the baggage room, trying to find a mummy that was rumored to be on the ship. While there, “something leaped out of the shadows and pushed him to the ground.” George sees a man “with glittering blue eyes and a scar running down the side of his face.” Before the man could hurt George, “there was a tremendous rumbling noise… A trunk tumbled off a shelf and hit the scar-faced man on the head.”
  • When the Titanic begins to sink, a steward locks a gate so the third class passengers cannot go up deck. As the passengers begin to get rowdy, the steward “took a pistol from his pocket. His hand shook as he waved it toward the crowd.”
  • George’s aunt and sister are able to get on a lifeboat, but George is left on the ship’s deck. As the Titanic was sinking, “Lounge chairs sailed past them and crashed over the side. People clung to the rails. A few slipped and were swept overboard.” A man helps George jump into the water and swim away from the sinking ship.
  • When the ship goes down, George hears “people calling for help. More and more people, screaming and yelling, hundreds of voices swirling together like a howling wind.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

Shadowcaster

Alyssa ana’Raisa, the reluctant heir to the Gray Wolf Throne, must overcome the impossible. After suffering the loss of her sister, brother and father, as well as an attempt on her own life, she wants nothing more than to end the war that’s consumed her world for decades. To protect her mother and her friends, Lyss will do whatever it takes to strike a blow against Arden.

Halston Matelon is simply trying to survive the king of Arden’s wrath. Once Hal’s father betrays the king, a target is put on Hal’s back, forcing him into dire situations that could end his life. But when Hal’s captured by an enemy commander, he must confront his own prejudices, as well as a budding, forbidden love for the woman who bested him.

Breon d’Tarvos has stayed far away from the front lines of the war. Performing as a street musician for a little bit of coin, Breon has managed to survive on the streets. Yet that all comes to an end when he’s pulled into an assassination attempt on Princess Alyssa. Now Breon is on the run, hoping to escape to a safe haven on the coast. But nothing is ever that easy.

Shadowcaster is a great follow-up to Chima’s first entry in the Shattered Realms series, Flamecaster. Following three main characters, Lyss, Hal, and Breon, the story unfolds in the northern Queendom of the Fells. Whereas the first book focused on the fanatical religious state of Arden, its prejudices against wizards, and the political intrigue of King Gerard’s court, the sequel explores the different cultures of the north, where wizards are both respected and free, and where many cultures co-exist.

Each of the main characters is linked to the various themes present within the story. For instance, Lyss’ storyline explores dealing with grief. Throughout the novel, Lyss’s motivation stems from the deaths of her family, and she’s forced to confront the pain of finding out her brother may still be alive.

The theme of confronting prejudice is squarely placed in Hal’s storyline. When Hal is captured by Lyss, he is forced to see the northerners as people, and he even falls in love with her. This opens Hal’s eyes to the idea that his prejudices are wrong.

Breon’s story focuses on struggling to survive. As a poor street musician, Breon fights to get food on a daily basis. He also struggles with addiction to a drug known as “leaf.” With little money, no home, and few friends, Breon represents the civilians who are trying to survive amidst a war. Each of these themes is well written, and each is powerful in its own right.

Lyss, Hal, and Breon are all likable, relatable characters. Lyss is relatable because she struggles to fit into people’s expectations of a princess. Rather than lead, Lyss wants to continue as a soldier, fighting for what she believes in. Both Hal and Lyss want to protect their family. Plus, Hal is fiercely loyal to his men, wanting to protect them in dire situations. Breon, while suffering from drug addiction, is likable for his desire to make honest coin and to live with his sweetheart, Aubrey. These three, combined with some thrilling battle scenes, will keep readers on the edge of their seats. In addition, the romance between Hal and Lyss will leave readers wanting more. Their romance sets a fun, exciting pace that ends in a cliffhanger. Readers will look forward to continuing this epic story continues in the third book, Stormcaster.

Sexual Content

  • Lyss has a crush on her friend, Finn. Later on, she admits to herself, “She’d had a crush on Finn sul’Mander since she was eleven years old.”
  • When Finn gets engaged to Julianna, they were “blushing and Finn was smiling. Julianna held up their joined hands to display her engagement ring.” Later on, Lyss watches as “He kissed Julianna again. And again.”
  • The diplomat tells Lyss, “You’re not the beauty that your mother is, or your sister, Hana, may she rest in peace, or your cousin Julianna—such a lovely girl—but there’s a lot can be done with the proper staging.”
  • Hal overhears Bosley, a member of Lyss’ squad, talking about his conquest of Lyss. Hal thinks, “Bosley had described a series of recent trysts with her in embarrassingly graphic detail. Maybe customs were different here in the north, but it seemed crude and dishonorable to share that.”
  • Hal thinks, “If Bosley was sleeping with his commanding officer, the last thing Hal wanted was to get caught in that crossfire.”
  • Hal and Lyss begin a short romance. After falling on top of her by accident, Hal thinks, “it took everything that was in him not to finish their match with a kiss.” Later, Hal thinks, “The truth was, he wanted to kiss this northern girl, and go on from there. He wanted her more than any woman he’d ever known.”

Violence

  • In a battle between squadrons, Lyss sees Hal “lean down from his horse and scoop up a soldier who was staggering around aimlessly, blood pouring from a head wound.”
  • In the Clans, a group residing in the Fells, the amount of braids one has indicates how many people they’ve killed. Less notices “The many braids in Shadow’s hair were evident that he rarely said no to a fight, and that he usually came away with a kill.”
  • Hal thinks back on the people he’s killed. “Several times in the past, Hal had discovered that the man he’d just killed was actually a woman.”
  • When thinking of his friends, Breon thinks, “And Goose? He’d cut your throat for a wad of leaf, but other than that he’d always been a harmless sort.”
  • In an assassination attempt on Lyss, one of her squad is hit with an arrow. Lyss “ran her hand over his uniform tunic until she found the arrow shaft embedded in his right lower back.” Just after that, she’s attacked again. An assassin strangles her, and “his fingers didn’t loosen until Lyss’s shiv transfixed his throat and blood spilled over her leathers.”
  • In the city of Delphi, the residents have been fighting back against Arden’s occupation. The former mayor “was found dead in an alley, his throat cut, his body wrapped in an Ardenine flag.”
  • When arguing with Hal, Lyss tells him, “When Princess Hanalea was murdered, your king sent her head to her mother in a golden casket with a note, in case she didn’t give credit where credit is due.”
  • Sasha tells Breon that he’ll be executed for the attack on Lyss. She says, “But two of her escorts were killed in the attack. That ought to be enough to hang you.”
  • Someone says, “Whenever Montaigne got a little down, he just murdered a few people, and that set him to rights.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Breon and his friends often use leaf, which is a street drug. Breon thinks, “People said that leaf fried the brain, and maybe that was true. He could quit anytime, and maybe he should.”
  • On a trip to the coast, Breon thinks, “Or maybe it just seemed longer because Breon has passed much of the trip in a pleasant haze of leaf.”

Language

  • Ass is used several times. For example, when trying on a pair of pants, Breon thinks, “he had to cinch in the breeches to keep them from sliding down his bony ass.”
  • Asshole is used several times. Lyss tells off someone, saying “At least that’s fixable. Being an asshole isn’t.” Asshole is used a few times in the novel.
  • Hell and damn are used a few times. For example, when asked if he’s a wizard, Breon retorts, “Damn right I am.”
  • Sasha tells Breon, “Poke me, and I’ll poke you back, you scaly, scum-sucking sneaksby.”

Supernatural

  • Flashcraft refers to magical items that are created by the Clans in the Fells. Lyss receives a flash craft locket. “When she touched it, the portraits would shift, displaying first one person and then another.
  • In Arden, wizards are called mages and are typically slaves.
  • Hal, who is from Arden, believes witches like Lyss can turn humans into animals. However, this isn’t true.
  • Mystwerk is a school where wizards learn magic.
  • In the Fells, the ruling line of Queens can see wolves that bring prophetic dreams and visions. Less tells Ash, “I just keep having these dreams, where everyone’s dead and I’m all alone on Hanalea Peak, just me and the wolves.” Just after that, Ash tries to soothe her with his magic. Lyss snaps at him, “Stop soothing me!”
  • While Breon is imprisoned someone threatens to use magic on him to get him talking. Breon thinks, “What did he mean by persuasion? Magic? Torture? Hypnosis? Could this mage really make him tell the truth?”

Spiritual Content

  • A dedicate at a temple hands out food to those who need it. Breon notices “The dedicate offered a blessing along with the bread and fruit.
  • The Church of Malthus is the state religion of Arden. Lyss asks Hal, “Is there any way your war-weary people and your bloodthirsty church would allow them to live?”

by Jonathan Planman

 

 

 

The Lions of Little Rock

Twelve-year-old Marlee, who is shy and quiet, feels like her whole world is falling apart. And she’s sure that starting middle school is only going to make things worse until she meets Liz, the new girl. It may look as if they have nothing in common—Liz always knows the right thing to say, and Marlee can barely stand to speak up in class—but they become fast friends. Then, Liz is caught “passing” for white and leaves school without even a goodbye. Marlee decides she wants her friend back. But to stay friends, Marlee and Liz must be willing to take on segregation—and the dangers their friendship could bring to both families.

The Lions of Little Rock is historical fiction at its best. Not only is the story engaging, but it also sheds light on the struggle to desegregate schools in Little Rock Arkansas during the 1950s. The story focuses on Marlee and Liz, who refuse to give up their friendship just because they are of different races. Both girls help each other face their fears, and they encourage each other during difficult times. Through their interaction, Marlee comes to realize that, “A friend is someone who helps you change for the better. And whether you see them once a day or once a year, if it’s a true friend, it doesn’t matter.”

When someone finds out that Liz is passing as white, Marlee tries to understand her friend’s actions. Marlee’s family maid explains why passing as white is so dangerous. “If you’re really lucky, you lose your job or you’re kicked out of school. If you’re a little less lucky, you get beat up, but after a few weeks your injuries heal and you’re left alone. If you’re not lucky, a lynch mob comes and firebombs your house killing you and everyone you love.” Through Marlee and Liz as well as historical examples, the reader will come to understand racism.

Marlee changes from a timid girl who barely talks into a confident person who is willing to fight for what is right. Much of Marlee’s inspiration comes from the Little Rock Nine because they “believed they had a responsibility to make things better. Believed they could make things better, even though they were still just kids.” Marlee isn’t content to just watch the adults try to make a difference. Instead, despite her mother’s objections, Marlee joins the Woman’s Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools. As part of the organization, she helps fold pamphlets, talks to voters, and performs other small jobs that make a huge impact. In the end, Marlee learns the importance of standing up for herself and others.

The Lions of Little Rock won the New York Historical Society Children’s Book Prize. The entertaining story teaches important life lessons about friendship, facing fears, and finding your voice. The story is historically accurate; the author’s note at the end of the book explains which parts of the story were fictional and which events were factual. The book also includes three pages of discussion questions. Everyone should read The Lions of Little Rock because it will help readers understand racial tensions in the late 1950s as well as show the importance of making a difference in your world.

Sexual Content

  • Marlee has a crush on JT. When Marlee drops her pencils and begins gathering them, “JT handed me one of the pencils and our fingers touched and I could almost hear the wedding bells. . . By lunchtime I’d planned our honeymoon in Italy and was trying to decide if we should name our first son Orbit or Cosine. . .”

Violence

  • Marlee’s father invited a “colored minister” to speak at church. “The next day there was a note tucked in with our paper. It said, ‘You let your youngest walk to school tomorrow, she won’t make it.’ And it was signed, KKK.”
  • On Halloween, JT and his brother egg a house. JT’s brother tries to force Marlee to throw an egg at the house. Later a “colored boy” is arrested for the crime.
  • Marlee’s father tells her about Emmett Till. “He was a young Negro boy who went down to visit some relatives in Mississippi. One day someone saw him talking, some say flirting, with a white woman. . .He was murdered. . . He was only fourteen years old.”
  • The story implies that JT’s mother, Mrs. Dalton, is abused by her husband. Marlee “remembered her because she had a scar over her left eyebrow. . . JT had said once she’d got the scar when she tripped on the stairs.”
  • The story implies that JT’s father hits him. JT shows up at school with a black eye.
  • Someone tells Marlee about John Carter, “a colored man.” He was “taken by a mob of people. No one did anything. . . They hung him and shot him and dragged his body down the street and then burned him.”
  • Marlee was at the “colored pastor’s” house when she saw JT’s brother drive by several times. Everyone goes outside and then, “we suddenly heard a car pull up in front of the house. . . There was a crash and the sound of breaking glass. A screech of wheels, driving off. And then, an explosion.” No one is injured.
  • When the schools are integrated, protestors show up. In order to break up the protestors, “the firemen turned the hoses on. In an instant, the segregationists were soaked.” Several people are arrested, but no one is injured.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Marlee compares people to drinks. When she meets Liz, she wonders if Liz is “like a shot of whiskey given to you by your older cousin.”
  • At a football game, Marlee sits by JT and one of his friends. The friend, “smelled funny, like a warm beer.”
  • Marlee and her sister used to go to a pond to have picnic lunches. “At night, sometimes teenagers would park there on dates or sneak off to drink beer.”
  • Marlee sees JT’s brother and his friend at the zoo. On the bench they are sitting at are “some beers.”

Language

  • Marlee thinks that someone is a jerk. Later, she tells her friend that, “JT is a jerk.”
  • Nigger(s) is used 4 times. Someone discovers that Liz was passing as white. JT’s brother tells Marlee, “We’ll find your little friend and show her whole family what we think of niggers who try to pass.”
  • Someone calls Marlee an idiot.
  • Several people call Marlee a “square” because she likes math.
  • Someone calls Marlee a coward.
  • Darn is used several times.
  • “Oh Lord” is used as an exclamation once.
  • After someone throws an explosive into a house, the person’s father asks, “What the hell were you thinking?”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Marlee has a hard time talking to her family’s maid, Betty Jean. Marlee “just stood there, helpless, praying Betty Jean would understand.”
  • At church, Marlee hears the Bible verse, “But even if you do suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed.” Often, when Marlee has to make a decision, she reminds herself of this verse.
  • Marlee goes to meet Liz at the colored movie theatre. When a woman questions Liz, Marlee “prayed for the lights to go down and the newsreel to start.”
  • When a “colored boy” is arrested for throwing eggs at a house, Marlee’s father bails the boy out of jail. When the boy’s mother sees him, she says, “Oh, thank God.”
  • Marlee’s church makes a float for the Christmas parade. The theme was from Matthew 19:14. “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”
  • Marlee’s family goes on a plane. Her mother and sister are nervous. Marlee “thanked God that neither one of them had actually thrown up.”
  • Marlee’s mom is a substitute at Marlee’s school. Marlee “prayed no one would see us together.”
  • JT and his brother see Marlee in the woods. Marlee tries to distract them so they do not see Liz. She “started walking, praying they would follow me.”

The Twelve Pets of Christmas

This Christmas, Quinn Cooper is combining the two things she loves the most—painting and animals—by making ornaments to raise money for her local pet shelter’s “12 Pets of Christmas” drive. The goal of the drive is to find forever homes for twelve cats and dogs before Christmas. With half the proceeds from her ornaments going to the shelter, Quinn plans to use the rest of the money she raises to buy a plane ticket to visit her best friend who moved away last summer.

As Christmas draws closer, the adopt-a-thon is going great… but Quinn’s favorite dog at the shelter, Buddy, is proving especially hard to place. Quinn finds the perfect home for the dog, but the family can’t afford to take on the financial responsibility of adopting him. Will the magic of Christmas help make sure that Quinn and all the pets have a very merry Christmas?

Quinn is a likable, relatable character who has a kind heart. When she tries to befriend Eliza, Quinn is afraid that Eliza has “blown her off.” Even though this conflict plays a part in the story, Quinn’s work at the animal shelter takes center stage. Quinn doesn’t only give her time to the animals at the shelter, she also helps with the shelter’s fundraiser. In the end, Quinn gives away something that is important to her in order to give Buddy a magical Christmas gift.

The Twelve Pets of Christmas highlights the needs of every animal to find a perfect forever home. Because of her work at the shelter, Quinn meets many adults. Even though none of the adults are well-developed, they are all portrayed in a positive manner. Quinn is surrounded by a warm, helping community that reaches out to help each other.

The Twelve Pets of Christmas is an easy-to-read story that focuses on helping animals. Animal lovers who enjoy character-driven stories will find The Twelve Pets of Christmas a sweetly satisfying story. Anyone looking for a little Christmas cheer should add The Twelve Pets of Christmas to their reading list.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

The Crossover

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

Kwame Alexander’s The Crossover is told in free-verse poetry. As with the prequel novel Rebound, his free-verse poetry works really well with the beat of the basketball games and Josh’s narration. Oftentimes, the basketball lingo and Josh’s internal monologue intermix, and readers will find that the verses enhance the experience.

The Crossover does an excellent job of mixing different storylines. The tensions between the twins’ father’s health, the upcoming basketball championships, and the brothers all get a good amount of page time and work together to raise the stakes. Josh and JB have more arguments as the pressure increases in basketball, and their father has more and more complications with his health as the book continues. The climax of the book is foreshadowed well early on, and each plot point finds an end.

These plot threads help create the themes of family, atonement, and inheritance. The dynamic between the twins, their mother (Crystal), and their father (Chuck) is healthy, though they do occasionally argue. JB and Josh argue with each other often. But when JB refuses to speak to Josh after Josh nearly breaks JB’s nose with a basketball, Josh reveals just how much he loves his family. He also does everything in his power to atone for his actions, and he and JB soon forgive each other. The boys also deal with their father’s legacy and how the legacy impacts their futures. Chuck was a basketball star, and the boys have inherited his prowess on the court. However, high blood pressure and stubbornness also run in the family, and the boys struggle with the fact that they may also inherit these negative characteristics.

While this Newbery Medal Winner is short, Alexander handles all these topics well. Basketball fans will enjoy The Crossover for the sport aspects, but the appeal of the book reaches further than the court. Josh and his family are realistic characters who experience universal emotions like love, anger, and loss. The Crossover is an excellent story that even non-readers and non-sport fans will find enjoyable. The story shows that despite differences in time, space, and opinion, we carry our loved ones in our hearts, always.

Sexual Content

  • Josh and JB’s dad, Chuck “Da Man” Bell tells his sons about how back in the day, he “kissed/ so many pretty ladies.”
  • Josh says that the only reason why JB has been “acting all religious” is because his classmate “Kim Bazemore kissed him in Sunday/ school.”
  • Josh does his homework while his teammate “Vondie and JB/ debate whether the new girl/ is a knockout or just beautiful,/ a hottie or a cutie,/ a lay-up or a dunk.”
  • Josh teases JB and asks if “Miss Sweet Tea” (Alexis) is his girlfriend. JB dodges the question. However, it is clear that he likes her a lot because “his eyes get all spacey/ whenever she’s around,/ and sometimes when she’s not.”
  • Chuck faints, and his wife Crystal demands that he see a doctor. Chuck refuses, and they argue. In an attempt to diffuse the tension between them, he says, “Come kiss me.”
  • After Crystal and Chuck stop arguing about Chuck’s health, Josh narrates, “And then there is silence, so I put the/ pillow over my head/ because when they stop talking,/ I know what that means./ Uggghh!” This happens a couple of times throughout the book.
  • JB and Alexis walk into the cafeteria, and she’s “holding his/ precious hand.”
  • JB and Alexis kiss in the library, and Josh sees them.
  • JB tells Alexis “how much she’s/ the apple of/ his eye/ and that he wants/ to peel her/ and get under her skin.”
  • Josh says, “Even Vondie/ has a girlfriend now…She’s a candy striper/ and a cheerleader/ and a talker/ with skinny legs/ and a big butt/ as big/ as Vermont.”

Violence

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

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Crystal’s younger brother “smokes cigars.”

Language

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

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

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

by Alli Kestler

Ice Dogs

Her father’s death could have been avoided. That’s what fourteen-year-old Victoria Secord believes. If she had been with him, he would still be alive. Now that her father is dead, Victoria wonders if her mother is going to force her to leave Alaska. After all, her mother never understood her or her father’s love of dogsledding.

Thanks to her father, Victoria is an expert dogsledder. He taught her how to be independent and self-reliant, even in Alaska’s wintery bush. When Victoria finds an injured city boy, Chris, she doesn’t think twice about helping him. The two are soon lost in a fierce snowstorm. It’s up to Victoria and her dog team to keep everyone alive. Stuck in a frozen wilderness, Victoria doesn’t have enough food for her or her dogs. With temperatures dropping, how can Victoria keep everyone alive?

Ice Dogs takes the reader on a winter journey through the icy Alaskan wilderness. Although the plot is somewhat predictable, Victoria’s personal struggles add an interesting twist. Victoria is struggling with the death of her father, which has caused friction between her and her mother. However, her father’s death isn’t the only conflict that moves the plot along.

Victoria is unexpectedly responsible for Chris’s life. The injured city boy doesn’t know anything about surviving in the Alaskan wilderness. Freezing temperatures, lack of food, and wild animals are only some of the obstacles they will have to overcome. The two must also find a way to get along if they are going to survive. As the two fight to stay alive, they build a friendship as well as grow as individuals. Victoria and Chris are both unique, interesting characters that readers will relate to.

Ice Dogs is a fast-paced survival story that shows Victoria’s determination to keep her dogs and an injured boy alive. Faced with difficult situations, Victoria reflects on her father’s teachings; this allows her to endure each obstacle. Through the story, Victoria comes to realize that no one is to blame for her father’s death. Even though Ice Dogs has some predictable plot points, readers will enjoy Victoria’s relationship with her dogs as well as the interplay between Victoria and Chris. Full of adventure and danger, Ice Dogs highlights the importance of communication and relying on others. Middle school readers who enjoy Ice Dogs may also want to read Johnson’s other book, Dog Driven, as well as Survival Tails: Endurance in Antarctica by Katrina Charman.

 Sexual Content

  • Victoria finds an injured snowmobiler. When she tells him to get into a sleeping bag, he says, “We’ve just met and you’re already t-trying to get me in the s-sack.”
  • Victoria’s dog gets into a fight with another dog. Victoria “pretended not to notice the two dogs caught in a canine version of wanton lust, which was pretty hard since Beetle was squealing like a vixen.”

Violence

  • A moose stands in the trail, blocking Victoria’s sled. Victoria stops the sled and “I don’t think—just bend down and yank off my snowshoe. When I stand, she is less than ten paces from us. Bearing down…I fling the snowshoe as hard as I can. It flies through the air like a Frisbee. It hits her square in the face. The thwack sound is surprisingly loud in the cold air.” When the moose charges, “the dogs explode forward, with me hanging on to the gangline.” Victoria is dragged under the dogs and is slightly injured.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Freaking is used twice. When starting a race, Victoria thinks, “I freaking hate starts.”
  • Crap is used once and heck is used three times.
  • Victoria tells her dogs, “Get back, you little turds.”
  • Someone tells Victoria that “some jerk sideswiped us, though. Took the mirror off my mom’s Chevette.”
  • When Chris accidently burns a map, Victoria calls him a “jerk.” Later, she calls him “the biggest milquetoast loser I’ve ever met.”
  • When the dogs take off after a moose, Chris says, “Holy crap, holy crap.”
  • Victoria calls Chris an idiot one time.
  • Victoria’s youth group leader says, Oh Lord three times and Lord twice. For example, she says, “Oh Lord, can you imagine, our own Victoria Secord, a national hero!”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • When Victoria’s dog is injured, she sends “a silent prayer to Dad to heal Bean overnight.”

Ghosted

When Ellie entered junior high, she promised herself that she would never look weak. She became the smartest, prettiest, best-dressed, and most popular kid at Lincoln Heights Middle School. She is also the most feared. Ellie has figured out that the more horrible she is, the more people fear her, and the more they respect her. Ellie has perfected the ability to manipulate people through fear.

The night of her junior high winter dance, Ellie has a terrible accident. As she lays unconscious, a ghost takes Ellie on a trip to her own past, present, and future. Ellie is forced to relive her parents’ divorce, her struggles with school, and the loss of her best friend, Marley. Can what Ellie sees, inspire her to change her ways?

From the first chapter, the story focuses on Ellie’s mean, manipulating ways. While the reader comes to understand the events that lead Ellie to become such a horrible person, it is hard to relate to her. When Ellie’s parents first divorced, Ellie was surrounded by her best friend Marley and Marley’s two dads. Instead of being comforted by their supportive presence, Ellie focused on what she didn’t have and “let those feelings of hurt and sadness fester into something ugly.” For the reader, Ellie’s ugliness overshadows every other aspect of the story.

Margolis clearly shows the dangers of Ellie’s meanness – both for Ellie and the people she encounters. However, some of the events are unrealistic and portray preteens as sheep who follow the most popular person out of fear. None of Ellie’s peers have the strength of character to stand up to Ellie, even when Ellie makes them do outrageous things. In reality, parents and teachers would have stepped in and protected Ellie’s classmates from her cruelty.

Ghosted follows the same format as The Christmas Carol, and like Scrooge, Ellie changes her ways. Ellie learns and finally admits that “making other people feel bad and weak distracts me from my own pain. And it props me up.” Ellie chooses to own up to her mistakes and apologize; however, the conclusion has several plot holes that readers will notice. For example, while at school Ellie falls and is unconscious for 15 minutes; however, the students do not get a teacher, and they call off the ambulance because when Ellie comes to, she feels fine. In addition, the story glosses over the hurt and pain that Ellie caused others and hints that all will be forgiven.

The story moves at a fast pace. The ghost, who is sarcastic and mean herself, adds interest. Although the message is pertinent to middle school readers, Ellie’s cruelty makes it hard to root for her. Readers looking for another story inspired by the Christmas Carol should pick up Young Scrooge: A Very Scary Christmas Story by R. L. Stine. On the other hand, if you’re in the mood for a Christmas story that will leave you with a warm glow and a positive message, add the Celebrate the Season series by Taylor Garland to your must-read list.

 Sexual Content

  • Ellie takes a video of Marley, who is joking around. Marley pretends that she is boy crazy and says, “I have never kissed a boy, but sometimes at night I practice by kissing my old American Girl doll. I cut the hair off so she looks like a boy.”

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • On Christmas Eve, Ellie and her mom have dinner with friends. Ellie’s mom drinks a glass of wine.

Language

  • Ellie thinks that her classmates have “marshmallows-for-brains” and are morons.
  • The ghost calls Ellie stupid and a dummy.
  • Ellie thinks the ghost and her dad are both jerks.
  • OMG is used as an exclamation three times.
  • My God is used as an exclamation once.

Supernatural

  • After a fall, a ghost shows Ellie her past, present, and future self. The ghost can also read Ellie’s mind.
  • The ghost drags Ellie “from place to place, year to year, shrinking you down to fit into the snow globe, changing your regular outfit into a bikini for the fish tank, only to go and transform you back into your regular size.”
  • The ghost takes Ellie to different places. One of the places is a mural that some classmates made. Another place Ellie is transported to is a tunnel in a loaf of bread.

Spiritual Content

  • None

Young Scrooge: A Very Scary Christmas Story

Rick Scroogeman hates Christmas. He can’t stand the carols or the pageants. He doesn’t like the lights or the mistletoe. But the worst part about the season is having to watch the old movie version of A Christmas Carol, especially since all of his classmates have started calling him Scrooge.

When Rick finds out that he didn’t get a part in the school play, he’s determined to get revenge. When Rick’s terrible prank successfully ruins Christmas for his classmates, he feels victorious. But when three ghosts appear, Rick realizes what he thought was just a nightmare might become real. Can anyone teach Rick the true meaning of Christmas?

Rick is truly a terrible boy. He thinks being mean is funny. He enjoys stomping on people’s feet, taking his brother’s jelly beans, and getting revenge. Rick bullies his way through life and doesn’t understand why so many people don’t understand his humor. When the Christmas ghosts appear, Rick learns how it feels to be bullied. Even though Rick learns how it feels to be bullied, the ending is ambiguous enough to make the reader wonder if Rick will change his horrid ways.

In Young Scrooge, Rick tells his own story. His snarky comments and ungrateful attitude show he is completely unaware of others’ feelings. When the ghosts take him to different realities, Rick is put on the receiving end of a bully. Yet for the majority of the story, Rick is more concerned with getting home and getting his Christmas gifts. Even though Young Scrooge is based on A Christmas Carol, the ending won’t give the readers a warm fuzzy feeling.

Readers who want to put a little horror into the holidays will find this ghost spooky but not scary. The story’s short chapters and easy vocabulary make the story easy to read. Even though the story shows the harmful effects of bullying, the story is never preachy. Although parents might find Young Scrooge lacking, younger readers will enjoy the fresh twist on A Christmas Carol. Young Scrooge will never become a Christmas classic, but it will entertain readers and would be a great conversation starter on bad behavior.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Rick splashes water on Davey. Rick thinks it’s funny because “everyone will see the dark spot on the front of his pants and think he had an accident.” When Davey gets mad, Rick slaps “him hard on the back. He goes sprawling into the yellow tile wall.”
  • When Jeremy asks Rick, “What do you want, Scrooge?”, it makes Rick angry so he tromps “down on the top of his sneaker as hard as I can with the heel of my shoe. . . That must hurt. He starts to hop up and down on one foot.”
  • When Rick walks into one of his classes, he sees Lucy. “First, I take my thumbs and smear the lenses on her glasses. Then I take both hands and ruffle her hair as hard as I can.”
  • Rick makes fun of a boy that stutters, then, “[he picks] him up by his waist and lifted him into his locker. And then [Rick] closed the locker door with him inside.”
  • While walking to the front of the class, Rick “tromped really hard on Josh Cratchit’s foot as I passed by him. I couldn’t believe how loud he screamed.” When Rick returns to his seat, he “gave it another good hard stomp as I passed.”
  • Josh sees Billy O’Brian, who is fat. Instead of calling Billy by his name, Rick calls him Belly O’Beast. Rick likes “to grab his big belly with both hands, jiggle it up and down, and shout, “‘Earthquake!’ especially when there are girls watching. Belly’s fat face always turns bright red.”
  • When Rick finds out that the kids did not want him to be in the play, Rick puts ants in their costumes. “Some kids sprawled on their backs, scratching. Others were frantically pulling off their costumes. I saw ants scurry out of the clothes and over the stage. Ants crawled all over Belly’s cheeks and forehead.”
  • When Rick gets home, he sees his brother Charlie. “I dropped my backpack on the floor. Then I grabbed both of his ears and tugged them as hard as I could.”
  • When Christmas carolers come to Rick’s house, he throws snowballs at them.
  • Rick is taken to a school in the past. A kid “raised his big boot and tromped his heel down as hard as he could on top of my right sneaker. . . pain shot up my leg, up my entire body. . . The pain was unbearable.”
  • When a girl laughs at Rick, he “grabbed the back of her hair and gave it a tug. You know. Playful. Not too hard.” The girl then dumps ink on Rick’s head.
  • A boy “stuck his foot out and tripped [Rick]. [Rick] stumbled into the big globe. Landed on top of it. And the globe and [Rick] rolled across the floor.”
  • While building snowmen with Ashley, Rick “grabbed up a big handful of snow and molded it into a snowball. . . and smashed it into Ashley’s face. [Rick] held it there, rubbing it over her cheeks and eyes.”
  • While in the future, Rick is taken to his grave. When he peers in it, he sees some of the kids from Dead Middle School. “They were huddled in my grave—and I could see right through them! They were transparent, all in shades of gray. No color. And now they raised their arms. All at once, they shot their arms up out of the hole. Hands wrapped around my feet. Two guys floated up and wrapped their arms around my waist.” Rick is able to pull himself free, but “One of the arms holding my waist fell off. The arm ripped off at the shoulder and fell to the dirt.” The scene is described over five pages.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Rick thinks most of the kids in his school are losers.
  • Mr. Pickwick didn’t give Rick a part in the play. Rick thinks it is because the teacher is a jerk.
  • When a girl dumps ink over Rick’s head, the other students laugh. Rick thinks, “I felt like a total jerk.”
  • The Ghost of Christmas Present takes Rick to his friends’ Christmas party. Rick overhears the kids saying he was a “total jerk.”

Supernatural

  • Rick sneaks into his attic looking for his Christmas presents. The attic door closes and the lights go out. Then, Rick sees “an eerie green-yellow mist swirling at the other end of the closet. . .It curled up on itself like a snake. [Rick] stared without breathing, without moving as the mist curled and uncurled, up to the closet ceiling, then down again.” The mist is replaced by a man. “His nose came to a sharp point. His eyes glowed red like burning coals.” The man is the ghost of Marly. The ghost discovers that he is in the wrong house and leaves.
  • After the ghost of Marly disappears, another one appears. “His long gray robe reached the floor, covering his whole body. It billowed like drapes at an open window, and I heard a sound like rushing wind. . . He turned toward me and I could see into the hood. I saw only blackness in there. No face. No face at all.” The ghost is the ghost of Christmas Past.
  • The ghost of Christmas Past touches Rick, then “The wind picked up again. . . [Rick] covered both of [his] ears with [his] hands as the blast sent [him] flying off the floor. Flying into a deep blackness.” When Rick opens his eyes, he is in the past.
  • After being in the past, the Ghost of Christmas Present appears and transports Rick to his time. “We plunged down, then started to slow. Colors swirled up in the gray, bright flashes of green and blue and red. So bright, I shut my eyes.” When he appears, Rick discovers he is now part of a different family.
  • While trying to leave his new family, two snowmen stop him. “I lowered my head and tried to swerve around it. But it moved quickly, silently gliding over the snow, staying close, pushing its big bulk in front of me. . . I pulled my arm back and shot my fist as hard as I could into my snowman’s frozen head” When another snowman comes near, Rick hits it as well. “The snowman didn’t seem to feel it. I tugged myself back—but now both hands were stuck in its icy grip. I pulled and pulled again, leaning as far back as I could, but I couldn’t free them.” One of the snowmen transforms into the Ghost of Christmas Present.
  • The Ghost of Christmas Future appears in the form of a robot and takes Rick to “Dead Middle School” where everyone is dead.
  • Rick hides in a closet. “And then I felt a puff of cold wind. I opened my eyes in time to see the closet fill with a purple light. . . The closet began to shake. The shelves rattled.” Rick is transported home.

Spiritual Content

  • None

On Thin Ice

Over the last couple of years, Ked’s life has slowly fallen apart. He’s been diagnosed with kyphosis, which has deformed his back. His friends have deserted him. Ked’s mother walked out on him and his dad. Ked doesn’t think things can get worse. Then he discovers that his dad has gambled away their rent money.

The thought of becoming homeless motivates Ked to fight back. He sneaks into his dad’s room and steals enough money to buy a broken down, vintage minibike. Ked is sure that he can repair the minibike and make a profit. The only problem is that Ked needs tools, which can only be found at the school’s maker space. Going to the maker space forces Ked into the path of a school bully who torments him about his condition. Can Ked and a few unlikely new friends find a way to build the bike and save his family from going under before it’s too late?

On Thin Ice begins with Ked’s very slow, detailed account of how his disease changed his life. Even though Ked tells his own story, some readers will have a difficult time relating to Ked, who has a messy life full of conflict. Ked blames most of his problems on his disease and never takes steps to stop the school bully, Landrover, from tormenting him. Ked doesn’t ask others for help but seems resigned to his lonely life.

Ked’s story mostly focuses on his need to fix the minibike. As he works on the mechanics, the story gives many long descriptions of his work. Readers who are interested in engines will find the descriptions interesting; however, readers with no knowledge of mechanics may quickly become bored. The pacing picks up as the story progresses, and the conclusion allows the reader to understand how many of Ked’s problems were actually a result of his own behavior. After a near-death experience, Ked finally relies on others and realizes that he must take steps to improve his life. He says, “I used to think my whole life had been stolen, piece by piece, but I figured something out. That’s how you put a life back together too. Just little pieces, but they add up.”

Despite the slow start, middle grade readers interested in mechanics should read On Thin Ice because it has many positive life lessons including the importance of honesty and communication. Ked also learns that he cannot be defined by his disease. Readers who want a more engaging story that tackles family problems should add Almost Home by Joan Bauer to their reading list.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • While at school, Ked sits in the only available seat. The boy next to him “delivers a sharp punch to my thigh, grinding his knuckles in at the end.” Ked yells out in pain, but when the teacher asks what happened, he lies and says it was a “cramp or something.” Another boy “drills me in the other thigh. All I can do is bite my lip and take it. The punches stop after that.”
  • When Ked takes the motorized bike on a test drive, a classmate named Landrover chases him on a four-wheeler. Ked crashes the bike. “I am flying off the trail and into the woods, already falling as I go. Falling and flying, flying and falling…Then impact… My left knee hits the ground first, and the pain shoots through me in a hot, electric burst. My body hits next, and the pain fills my upper back like water flowing into a hollow place.” Ked is banged up, but not seriously injured.
  • Landrover walks on a frozen pond and falls through the ice. “Landrover’s face is slick with water and contorted with fear. His numb hands are pawing uselessly at the edge of the ice, breaking it into chunks.” After Ked saves Landrover’s life, he is upset that Landrover “didn’t even say thank you.”
  • After Landrover falls in the ice, he tells Ked, “Dad’s gonna kill me!” Later, Ked sees Landrover with a bruised face and thinks, “it looks like his dad gave it a good try.” Ked makes an “anonymous tip” that leads to Landrover and his father getting family therapy.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Some of the kids at school call Ked “freakins” and “freak.” For example, a boy tells Ked, “You’re dead meat, freak.”
  • Someone calls Ked a loser several times.
  • While in the library, a boy gives Ked the book The Hunchback of Norte-Dame. Ked thinks, “Frickin’ Quasimodo.”
  • Heck is used twice.
  • The characters refer to others as jerks.
  • Ked frequently refers to himself and others as idiots. For example, when Ked gets upset at his father, he thinks, “I want to shout at him and tell him I know and he’s an idiot…”
  • Several times Ked refers to himself as an idiot.
  • A girl calls Ked “garbage boy.”
  • A girl calls the class bully a scumbag.
  • “Oh my God” is used as an exclamation three times.
  • The school bully calls Ked a “dipstick” and a “dummy.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Ked said a quick prayer, and then later he thinks, “I consider another quick prayer, but it’s not like the first one worked out so great.”

The Christmasaurus

Once upon a time—long, long ago, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth—an egg rolled away from its mother and landed in the ocean, where it froze solid and stayed peacefully for thousands of years. Then, one day Santa and his elves discover the frozen egg, and Santa sits on it to see if it will hatch. But he would’ve never guessed what’s inside. . . . a dinosaur!

Meanwhile, a young boy named William Trundle has only ever wished for one thing for Christmas: a dinosaur! So, when Santa accidentally gives William the real Christmasaurus instead of a stuffed replica, it’s the BEST CHRISTMAS EVER! That is until Hunter, an evil man known, decides a dinosaur will be the perfect addition to his collection.

The story draws readers into the text by using large text for some of the sillier words, such as “big,” “astronomically,” “intergalactically,” and “outer spacey-wacey big!” The black and white illustrations have wonderful details and show the characters’ emotions. Although younger readers may be interested in the topic, the difficult vocabulary and long, descriptive passages may be hard for some readers to tackle.

The Christmasaurus tackles themes of loneliness, friendship, and seeing things from another person’s perspective. Both the Christmasaurus and William are lonely because they are different from others. However, unlike the Christmasaurus, William is the target of bullying. Through William’s experiences, the story shows how words are “the most powerful weapon of all.” Brenda uses nasty words that “infected the whole school,” making everyone avoid William. Soon William feels lonely and different. “Brenda had planted those awful words like rotten seeds in William’s brain, and they were beginning to grow into rotten thoughts.” However, in the end, William and Brenda both learn valuable lessons about kindness.

Despite William’s difficulties, William remains kind and his true desire is that his father finds happiness. The heartwarming story brings Santa’s magical world to life. However, The Christmasaurus is never predictable and has several surprising plot twists. In the end, The Christmasaurus is a sparkly story that teaches the importance of putting others first.

 Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • In the past, a meteorite killed all of the dinosaurs. The rocks “smashed straight down like red-hot thunderbolts that exploded into thousands of fireballs as they hit the earth! Panic and chaos consumed the jungle.” The Momosaurus and Dadlodocus tried to save their egg, but it “rolled into the stampede, unharmed.” The egg eventually hatches.
  • William accidentally wheels over Brenda’s foot. “She jumped backward in pain, sending her tray of barely edible sludge flying up into the air. . .” Brenda’s food ends up in her hair. Then, “she pulled back her hand and launched the plate of green slop into William’s face at point-blank range. It hit him with such a wallop that it sent his wheelchair whizzing backward across the cafeteria, through the emergency exit, and out into the parking lot.”
  • Brenda bullies William and throws things at him. “She’d use her skill to hurl sticks like javelins from the far side of the playground straight into the spokes of William’s wheels. They’d jam the wheels so suddenly that his wheelchair would stop. . . but William wouldn’t.”
  • When the teacher leaves the room, “a shiny black stapler flew across the classroom, straight at William’s head. William tried to block it with his notebook, but the force of the throw was so strong that the book smacked him straight in the face, and the stapler stapled it to his forehead.”
  • While at the grocery store, someone throws “a tub of double-thick, extra-creamy whipped cream” at William. “The flying wave of dairy hit him with such force that it sent his wheelchair whooshing backward, slipping and sliding on the cream-covered floor of the cereal aisle, until he smashed into the shelves . . .” The sprinklers go off “transforming the supermarket into the world’s largest bowl of cereal.”
  • The Hunter is a villain that hunts animals. “He liked to hunt really ridiculously rare animals. . . He had the ears of a pandaroo, the gills of a horse-shark, the tail of a snailwhale. . .”
  • The Hunter wants to kill the Christmasaurus. “BANG! A bullet suddenly whizzed past, inches away from William and the Christmasaurus. It smashed the streetlight behind them, sending shards of glass showering onto the street below.” Both William and the Christmasaurus are able to run away.
  • Santa tells a story about a boy named Huxley, who takes a hunting knife and “began to hack at the reindeer’s antlers! The deer launched high into the air inside the stables, smashing through the roof!” The deer takes off, dragging the boy behind him. “The young boy was so scared as he clung to the dangling reins in the sky that, in his panic, he began to wish the deer couldn’t fly.” The boy takes a piece of the reindeer’s antlers.
  • The villain sets a trap. When William goes down this, he is trapped in a net. “He stopped fighting for a moment as he swung helplessly and took a glance around. . . Santa was lying in a large heap on the floor below him with his hands tied tightly behind his back so that he couldn’t move.” William’s father was also “tied up with thick rope in the corner of the room. . .”
  • William’s father, Mr. Trundle, tries to stop the Hunter from killing the Christmasaurus. “Bang! The gunshot rang out, deafening loud as it tore through the street.” Mr. Trundle is alright, but The Hunter shot the Christmasaurus. “There was only a shadowy heap, lying very still in the distance where the dinosaur had been.” The dinosaur is not injured.
  • The Christmasaurus ate the Hunter and “there was nothing left of that beastly evil man.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • The story uses some name calling. For example, “Most bullies are stupid, jealous jellybrains.”
  • Santa calls someone a “repulsive, evil, maliciously rotten skinbag.”
  • When the Christmasaurus charged the Hunter, he says, “What the devil?”
  • The villain tells William, “Now, listen to me, you stupid, puny little child. I’m going to speak to you slowly so that your undersized brain can understand me. . .”
    Supernatural
  • Santa’s reindeer can fly because “millions of children believe that Santa’s reindeer can fly. They believe beyond any shadow of a doubt, and belief is the most powerful magic there is.”
  • Santa can learn things about anyone. Santa holds the person’s letter and “his sky-colored eyes closed and rolled back in his head, and after a few seconds, he knew everything there was to know about William Trundle.”
  • Santa can make magical toys. “He once made a rocking horse. . . which he enchanted so it came to life every Thursday night.” Another time he made a prince a “racing car so that it got smaller and smaller each time the young prince misbehaved!”
  • Santa is able to enter through a chimney by making everything big. “It was almost as if the entire world grew very large all of a sudden. . .”
  • The Christmasaurus is able to fly because William believes he can.
  • When the Christmasaurus gets to the North Pole, he disappears. William “put the candy cane in his mouth and bit off a chunk. POP! As he bit down, the most spectacularly magical thing happened. He didn’t disappear, as the Christmasaurus had. Quite the opposite, in fact: everything else appeared.”
  • Santa’s tears are the only thing strong enough to banish a person from the North Pole.

Spiritual Content

  • None

Dog Driven

Fourteen-year-old McKenna Barney is determined to keep her failing eyesight a secret, even if that means distancing herself from everyone—her friends, her parents, and even her sister. The only place McKenna feels any peace is when she’s on the trail with her dogs.

McKenna’s sister, Emma, is fighting a losing battle against eye disease. When Emma asks McKenna to enter a dog sled race, McKenna can’t say no. McKenna plans on leading a team of eight sled dogs in a race, even though she’s not sure she can see the dangers on the trail. To finish the race, McKenna will have to face three days of shifting lake ice, sudden owl attacks, and bitterly cold nights. As McKenna deals with snow squalls in the Canadian Wilderness, she must also come to terms with her terrifying vision loss.

McKenna hides the truth from everyone, including her toughest rival, Guy. As McKenna and Guy become friends, she wonders if she will be able to keep her secret from him. Is McKenna willing to risk everything, including her life, to keep her secret safe?

Throughout the story, McKenna’s fear of losing her sight and her independence becomes clear. McKenna’s parents cannot deal with her sister’s loss of vision. Between her overprotective mother and her angry father, Emma’s life is far from normal. McKenna is determined not to be a burden to her parents. As she drives her team of dogs through the wilderness, McKenna learns that with help, her loss of vision does not have to stop her from achieving great things.

Dog Driven is an easy-to-read story that shows the harsh conditions of the Canadian Wilderness. Throughout the story, McKenna faces every obstacle with the help of her dogs and her new friends. With family drama, teen pranks, and terrifying winter conditions, Dog Driven will entertain readers until the very end. Even though the story discusses the eye disease, Stargardt, the information never slows down the pace of the story. Instead, seeing the disease through McKenna’s point of view will allow readers to understand the effects of the disease as well as how one family deals with it.

Readers will sympathize with McKenna and cheer for her as she continues the race. Her friend, Guy, adds interest to the story when he discusses how his relative used a dog sled to deliver mail in the 1800s. Each short chapter ends with a letter—sometimes the letter is from the current time, and other times the letter is from the past. The letters incorporate other people’s thoughts and experiences, which gives the story more perspective. Dog Driven will not disappoint readers; the story will take readers on an epic race across the ice. Snuggle up with a warm blanket and sled your way into the Canadian wilderness with McKenna and her dogs.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • An owl attacks McKenna’s head. “I can’t help laughing as I probe the back of my head. There’s a tender spot and a bit of blood.”
  • A group of dogs get in a fight. “Horrifying sounds of their fight seep into me and root me where I stand. Mad chaos. Dogs everywhere snapping and scrabbling, some trying to get away, some tearing into whoever appears to be losing. It’s the biggest dog brawl I’ve ever seen.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • “Oh my God” is used as an exclamation twice.
  • Crap and heck are both used once.
  • Freaking is used three times. For example, when McKenna gets attacked by an owl, she says, “I’m going total ninja on this freaking owl if he comes back, I swear.”
  • When a dog fight breaks out, someone says, “Oh-God-Oh-God-Oh-God.”

Supernatural

  • Guy makes a comment about a wendigo. “I grew up hearing how ice caves are doorways to the Otherworld. The malevolent spirit of the early people, the wendigo, was the bringer of winter starvation and disease.”

 

Spiritual Content

  • McKenna’s mom says, “Thank God you’re whole, McKenna, and we don’t have to worry about you.”
  • When someone gives McKenna a pair of sunglasses, she thinks, “Thank God for Harper giving me her spare.”

Home for the Holidays

Christmas is coming, but this year feels different for Alyssa Sing. Not only is she in Florida instead of the snowy Northeast, but Alyssa misses having good friends like she did in her knitting club at her old school. Things seem to look up at the Palm Meadows Holiday Festival when Alyssa meets Rachel, Elle, and Becca, who all show an interest in Alyssa’s homemade scarves. But trouble arises when Alyssa finds out her new friends used to be friends with each other. . . but aren’t anymore. While Alyssa is glad to have Dasher, a mysterious cat that appears in her backyard, to confide in as she navigates her new school, she can’t help but wonder: Will Florida ever feel like home?

Alyssa doesn’t mean to worry, but she does worry a lot. She especially worries about making new friends. When Alyssa first meets Elle and Rachel, she is excited to finally be on her way to having friends. And when Alyssa meets Becca, she’s hopeful that Elle and Rachel will be excited to include Becca in their friend group. When trouble starts, Alyssa gets good advice from both her mother and her brother. Alyssa’s family encourages her to talk to her new friends and let them know how she feels. Alyssa’s brother gives her good advice when he tells her, “Elle and Rachel can’t tell you not to be friends with someone. And if they do, then they’re not really your friends after all.”

Home for the Holidays is a cute story that is told from Alyssa’s point of view. Alyssa is a likable character who has a relatable conflict. The story has many positive aspects, including teaching important lessons about friendship and portraying Alyssa’s family in a positive light. The story illustrates the importance of communication and working through problems. In addition, when Alyssa finds a stray cat, Alyssa’s mom insists on taking the cat to the vet and seeing if the cat’s family can be found. Even though Alyssa has grown attached to the cat, she knows that the cat must be returned to its family.

Home for the Holidays is an easy-to-read Christmas story that focuses on friendship drama. Younger readers will understand Alyssa’s fear of telling others her feelings, and they will enjoy Alyssa’s family as they try to make a warm Florida Christmas memorable. Alyssa learns that snow and sugar cookies don’t make Christmas perfect. Being surrounded by friends and family are what truly makes the season special.

 Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • OMG is used as an exclamation twice.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

The Oddyssey

Sometimes it feels like Oddonis can’t do anything right—especially compared to his perfect twin brother, Adonis. But this time, Oddonis really messed up. He accidentally turns his father, the all-powerful king of the Gods, Zeus, into a giant baby! Now Oddonis must assemble a team and journey to the underworld to reverse the curse and rescue Mount Olympus. Along the way, he’ll have to overcome a series of dangerous obstacles—like his obnoxious brother, his own self-doubt, and the horrible farts of his best friend, Gaseous! Can Gods as unlikely, unusual, and unheroic as Oddonis and his friends really save the day?

Unlike most stories, The Oddyssy’s heroes are not perfect, beautiful, or even brave. Many readers will relate to Oddonis who struggles with feelings of inferiority. Despite this, he agrees to travel to the Underworld and talk to Hades in order to reverse the spell. Throughout the journey, Adonis wants to use strength to attack his enemies. However, Oddonis and the other odd gods are able to complete the journey because of “their quick thinking, their ingenuity, and their diplomacy skills.” In the end, Adonis learns a powerful lesson: “the power of using your brains, instead of your fist.”

Like Odysseus in The Odyssey, Oddonis must face trials and tribulations on his journey. The fast-paced, funny story gives The Odyssey a unique spin. However, the story uses immature humor that revolves around farts, underwear, and puns. For example, when toddler Zeus goes outside naked, the illustration shows Zeus with a blurred groin. In addition, some of the humor is odd; for example, when Oddonis and his crew go to Mumce’s island, she wants them to call her Mumzy Wumzy because she “wants to be a mommy. Mumzy Wumzy NEEDS to be a mommy. And you will all be Mumzy Wumzy’s children. . . forever!” Oddonis and his crew are able to defeat Mumce by acting like bratty children.

Readers who enjoy The Treehouse Series by Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton and The Misadventures of Max Crumbly Series by Rachel Renée Russell will also enjoy the Odd Gods Series. Even though The Oddyssey is not a graphic novel, it has easy vocabulary, short paragraphs, and humorous black-and-white illustrations on every page. While the story has some juvenile humor, the story will entertain readers and has a positive message about using your brain instead of brawn.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Hades puts Adonis and his friends in a cage that is suspended over a volcano.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Someone calls Oddonis and his friends “Booger Brains!”
  • Oddonis calls Adonis and his friends idiots.
  • Mumce calls Oddonis and his crew “horrible brats.”
  • Toddler Hades says, “Adonis Poopy head!”
  • “Oh my Gods” is used as an exclamation twice. “OMGs” is used as an exclamation four times.
  • Heck is used twice. When Oddonis sees the Cyclope’s he asks, “What the heck is that?”
  • Darn is used twice. When toddler Zeus gets out of the house, Adonis says, “My bad.” His angry mother yells, “You’re darn right, your bad!”

Supernatural

  • Hades tricks Zeus into saying a spell that turns Zeus into a child who acts “as though you’re only three!” When Zeus says the spell, he changes into a demanding toddler. Later, Oddonis tricks Hades into saying the spell.
  • Zeus is a shapeshifter who can “turn himself into whatever he wants by just thinking it.”
  • Mumce changes some boys into pigs. She says, “I taught these naughty boys a lesson: if you act pigheaded, you might end up being pigheaded.”

Spiritual Content

  • None

InvestiGators #1

Alligators Mango and Brash, secret agents for the Special Undercover Investigator Team, have been called into action. It’s up to them to find out what happened to the famous chief, Gustavo Mustachio. The cupcake master disappeared right before his new recipe was revealed! Before the alligators get far in their investigation, an explosion rocks a group of scientists who were about to reveal a new invention. In order to find out if the two events are connected, Mango and Brash rush to the scene. As they dig deeper into the mystery, more questions continue to pop up. Will the two investigators be able to solve the mystery? Can they outsmart the villain?

Readers will laugh their way through InvestiGators, a graphic novel with bright, colorful illustrations. The story’s fast pace takes readers on a winding path through the absurd. Many events are over-the-top, unbelievable, and silly. Mango and Brash often get distracted from their goal of solving Gustavo Mustachio’s disappearance, and they are able to solve several mysteries. However, the story does leave one plot thread unanswered, which will have readers reaching for the next book in the series, InvestiGators Take the Plunge.

The InvestiGators world has alligators, sharks, and other animals working side by side with humans. The world is not only silly, but it makes any absurd thing seem possible. The wordplay, puns, and potty jokes will have readers laughing out loud. The plot is outrageous and has many side stories thrown in. The interesting characters, jokes, and mystery will have readers flipping the pages until the end. The humor in InvestiGators is much like that of Dog Man and Captain Underpants.

Even though the graphic novel will entertain, the winding, wild plot is confusing and at times a little too crazy. In addition, ethnic stereotypes are used for comic effect. Several professions are also stereotyped in a negative way. The stereotypes may cause a giggle in a graphic novel; however, the jokes could be considered offensive. Another flaw of the story is the potty humor. Even though the potty humor is mild, some parents may object to jokes about poop. Lastly, some of the characters talk in slang. For example, when a man apologizes, a scientist says, “S’all right bruh!”

Middle-grade readers will enjoy the silly story; however, parents may want to bypass this book for a story that doesn’t border on the offensive. If you’re looking for a humorous, animal graphic novel, there are a lot of great ones to choose from including the Two Dogs in a Trench Coat series by Julie Falatk, Mac B. Kid Spy series by Mac Barnett, and Klawde by Johnny Marciano & Emily Chenoweth.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Someone kidnaps the baker and forces him to bake.
  • Someone blows up a cake and scientists go flying.
  • A helicopter attacks a man. Someone shoots an arrow, hitting the helicopter causing it to fly away. The man calls the helicopter a “foul beast.”
  • While on a case, an investigator falls into a “vat of radioactive cracker dough…I became one with the dough. Machines rolled me out and baked me into individual saltines…I combined with all of the other me crackers and burst through that vacuum seal, forevermore to be known as Crackerdile.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • When the baker makes a crumbly cook, his captor yells, “You’re no baker! You’re a fool!”
  • A cameraman calls a group of scientists eggheads.
  • One of the investigators yells, “Dang it man, lives could depend on this!”
  • One of the investigators writes a text using poop emojis.

Supernatural

  • When reporters come to town in a helicopter, “the local mystic cursed their flying contraption with rabies.”
  • A helicopter bites a doctor. A man tells him, “That machine’s curse is coursing through your veins. And that’s bad news. Now, whenever there is news, you will be forced to transform into a news copter to report on it.” Later in the story, the man turns into a helicopter.

Spiritual Content

  • None

Long Way Down

Somebody shot and killed Will’s brother Shawn, and Will thinks he knows who did it. The morning after Shawn’s death, Will picks up his brother’s gun and gets in the elevator of the apartment building with his heart set on revenge. That’s when things get weird.

Sixty seconds. That’s how long it takes Will to reach the bottom and exit the elevator, but in those sixty seconds Jason Reynolds crafts a story where Will confronts nasty truths about the events that killed not only his brother but his other relatives and friends over the years. Will faces literal ghosts in the elevator that he never thought he’d have to confront. In those sixty seconds, Will must shape the course of his life.

Although Long Way Down takes place over a course of a minute, the story is packed with twists and turns. Early on, Will learns that the other people who entered the elevator are ghosts come to warn him. Each ghost is someone from Will’s past, and through discussion and memories, Will forms new understandings about the violent, revenge-hungry world that has shaped him and his ideas of justice.

The ending is ambiguous and the reader does not find out if Will follows through on his revenge plot. It is clear from the ghosts’ stories and Will’s code of justice that if he takes vengeance, he’ll end up dead like the ghosts. It could be insinuated that they are asking Will if he’s ready to join their ranks by making the same mistakes. Will learns that violence is cyclical and feeds itself. Long Way Down has a heavy message but shows that Will has the power to choose a different path. Even though he and his family have been wronged, the themes within the story make it clear that revenge is never the way out. And, most importantly, Will is the only person in charge of his own destiny. The ghosts give him the tools to determine his fate, but only he makes his own destiny.

Will’s story is told free-verse which highlights the speed at which Will learns from the ghosts and the speed of the descending elevator. Long Way Down packs a punch because it’s short and moves quickly. In this way, the message never leaves center stage, but it’s also never beaten like a dead horse.

Long Way Down is one of Reynolds’ more serious stories, and the plot works well with the somber tone. It’s a hard-hitting tale that demands that each person evaluates the meaning of justice and the consequences of their actions. Some of the events described are dark and may upset younger readers, but these scenes all highlight the main themes. Long Way Down is an excellent story that presents the power of choice and compassion in the lives of everyone, including the people we never get the chance to meet. Fans of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol will appreciate the similarities that appear in Long Way Down. While Reynolds doesn’t mold his story around the Christmas season, both stories show how one event can drastically change a person’s life.  Readers can also find Long Way Down in graphic novel format.

Sexual Content

  • Will and Shawn’s mom prayed that Shawn “wouldn’t get Leticia pregnant.”
  • Shawn gives Will some of his cologne and said that “[Will’s] first girlfriend—/ would like it.”
  • A girl enters the elevator, and Will describes her as “Fine as heaven… [Will] was/ walking [his] eyes/ up her legs,/ the ruffle and fold/ of her flower/ dress, her/ arms, her/ neck, her/ cheek, her/ hair.”
  • Will doesn’t want to flirt with the girl in the elevator because “it’s hard to think about/ kissing and killing/ at the same time.”
  • The girl knows Will’s name. Will thinks, “if a girl says she knows you/ but ain’t never met her/ then she’s been/ watching you./ Clockin’ you./ Checkin/ you.” He continues to “load up [his] flirts.”
  • The mystery girl’s name is Dani; she and Will were childhood friends. Dani says to Will, “You remember, on this day,/ I kissed you?”

Violence

  • Will’s brother Shawn “was shot/ and killed.” Will has flashes where he describes Shawn’s death. Once, Will narrates, “And then there were shots./ Everybody /ran, /ducked, /hid, / tucked/ themselves tight . . . the buzz of a bullet,/ ain’t meet us.”
  • Will lists off “The Rules” for when someone is killed in their neighborhood. The third rule is “If someone you love/ gets killed,/ find the person/ who killed/ them and/ kill them.”
  • Shawn’s side of the bedroom is all neat and clean except for one drawer that “was jacked up on purpose to keep [Will] and Mom out/ and Shawn’s gun in.”
  • Will thinks that Shawn’s so-called friend, Carlson Riggs, shot Shawn. Will has a few theories for why, including that Carlson moved and joined a gang called Dark Suns. Will thinks Carlson shot Shawn because Shawn crossed into their turf “as the corner store/ that sells that special soap/ my mother sent Shawn/ out to get for her the/ day before yesterday.”
  • Will plans to kill Carlson with Shawn’s gun. Will would “pull my/ shirt over my mouth and nose/ and do it.”
  • While playing in the park, Dani was shot and killed by unnamed gunmen. “Gunshots,/ she said . . . Dani said her body burned/ and all she wanted to do was/ jump outside of herself,/ swing to somewhere else.”
  • Will saw Dani die. “Her eyes wide, the brightness/ dimming. Her mouth, open./ Bubble gum/ and blood.”
  • Another ghost enters the elevator and accosts Will. “Two large hands . . . snatched fistfuls of my shirt,/ yoking me by the neck,/ holding me there until/ the elevator door closed.”
  • Uncle Mark videotaped everything he could, including, “gang fights,/ block parties.”
  • In order to take Uncle Mark’s drug-dealing corner, a guy killed him. Will says, “Unfortunately,/ [Uncle Mark] never shot nothing/ ever again./ But my father did.”
  • Will narrates, “Shawn always said/ our dad was killed/ for killing the man/ who killed our uncle./ Said he was at a pay/ phone, probably talking/ to Mom, when a guy/ walked up on him,/ put pistol to head . . . But that was the end/ of that story.”
  • Will’s dad tells Will about how he killed Uncle Mark’s killer. Will’s dad says, “Hood over my head./ Gun from my waist/ and by the time he saw me/ I was already squeezing.” Later Will’s dad discovered that he killed the wrong guy.
  • Will’s dad takes Will’s gun and puts it up to Will’s head. “Pop stood over me,/ the gun pressed against/ the side of my face.” Will freaks out and Pop backs up, giving the gun back to Will.
  • A ghost named Frick enters the elevator. Buck says, “This is the man/ who murdered me.”
  • Frick “shot [Buck]/ twice/ in the stomach,/ in the street.”  Frick was only supposed to rob Buck, but Buck “swings at [Frick]… I got scared./ So I pulled/ the trigger.”
  • To be a Dark Sun, one must have “a cigarette burn under the right eye” and rob, beat, or kill someone.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Buck smokes a cigarette in the elevator. Buck offers one to Dani, who takes “one/ from the box.”
  • Uncle Mark is seen in family photos with a “cigarette tucked/ behind ear.” He also smokes in the elevator.
  • Will says of smoking, “I don’t smoke./ Shit is gross.”
  • Uncle Mark lost his camera. To get another, he decided “to sell [drugs] for one day. . . Uncle Mark/ took a corner,/ pockets full/ of rocks to/ become rolls.” One day turned into months.
  • Will’s Mom “cried and drank” herself to sleep.
  • Will talks about Buck. Will remembers that Buck was “a small-time hustler,/ dime bags on the corner” until Will’s dad was killed.

Language

  • Profanity is used often. Profanity includes damn, asshole, and hell.
  • The word “fuck” is used once. Shawn has his gold chain on him when he’s shot. Will says about the chain, “Them fuckers ain’t even/ snatch it.”
  • After Shawn’s death, Will sees himself in the mirror and says “I looked and/ felt like/ shit.”

Supernatural

  • A childhood friend of Shawn’s, Buck, appears in the elevator. Buck is a ghost because he was shot and killed years previous. When Buck smokes, there’s “Fire./ Smoke./ But no ash.” As new people enter the elevator, it becomes clear that several ghosts are visiting Will to give him guidance and warnings.

Spiritual Content

  • Will thinks about God and says, “I swear sometimes/ it feels like God/ be flashing photos/ of his children,/ awkward,/ amazing,/ tucked in his wallet/ for the world to see… God ain’t/ no pushy parent/ so he just folds/ and snaps/ us shut.”
  • Buck’s stepfather was a preacher, “praying for anyone,/ helping everyone.”

by Alli Kestler

 

Let It Snow!

Chloe can’t wait to spend the weekend before Christmas in a snowy lodge. However, she’s a little nervous to meet her dad’s new girlfriend and her daughter, Sandy. Chloe has always wanted a sister and she’s hoping she and Sandy will become best friends. But when Chloe’s dog and Sandy’s cat begin to fight, everyone knows that a storm of trouble might be right around the corner.

Unlike Chloe, Sandy isn’t happy about meeting her mother’s new boyfriend. Sandy struggles with her parents’ divorce and secretly hopes her parents will get back together. To make matters worse, an incoming blizzard makes the roads impassable. Now, Sandy won’t be able to see her dad on Christmas. With a swirl of emotions, Sandy just might ruin the holiday trip for everyone.

Chloe tries to understand Sandy’s quickly changing moods. However, “She didn’t understand why Sandy would be having a hard time. After all, she’d [Sandy] had three years to get used to it.” Chloe is trying to be patient, but she wonders, “Why are her [Sandy’s] feelings more important than everybody else’s?” Despite this, Chloe goes out of her way to show Sandy kindness. She even uses her holiday spending money to buy Sandy a gift.

Let It Snow! has relatable characters, relationship drama, and a positive message. However, Chloe isn’t the only person to show kindness. When the group is snowed in, the resort management wants them to move out of their pet-friendly cabin and into the hotel. While waiting to check-in, a couple overhears the conflict, and they offer to give up their cabin. The woman tells them, “We don’t mind giving up a cabin so your poor little fur babies have a nice warm place to stay.”

When Chloe’s father and Sandy’s mother discover why Sandy is so upset about being snowed in, they invite Sandy’s father to join them for Christmas dinner. Even though Chloe’s and Sandy’s families are not traditional two-parent families, the story shows how families change – sometimes in unexpected ways – but that doesn’t mean a “family was ruined or broken. It was just different. Bigger.”

Anyone who needs a cup of Christmas cheer should add Let It Snow! to their reading list. The entertaining story highlights the importance of kindness. So grab a cup of hot cocoa, curl up next to holiday lights, and get ready to read about some snowy fun.

 Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

The Breakaways

Shy fifth-grader, Faith, has never played soccer. When popular girl, Amanda, invites her to join her soccer team, Faith figures that it’s an opportunity to make friends. There’s just one problem: when Faith arrives at practice, she finds out that Amanda is on the best team, while she is on the C team—the worst team. Faith finds herself stranded on a ragtag team where it seems like no one is interested in playing soccer, and many of the players aren’t interested in being friends with each other.

The Breakaways is a graphic novel that follows Faith and her teammates as they navigate middle school, their relationships, and soccer. The story concept is unique and funny as it is an inversion of the standard sports story. Unlike most sports books, Faith and her teammates aren’t serious about their sports, and they don’t strive to be great. The characters in The Breakaways aren’t good at soccer, but they discover that their friendships don’t rest on wins or losses. Many of the players even bond over their dislike for the sport, showing that their lives are much more than the sport that they play.

The Breakaways has a diverse cast of characters and several characters are LGBTQ+. This includes Faith, who is bisexual, and Sammy, who comes out as trans. There is also an array of cultural differences in the characters. For instance, Yarelis and her mom have a conversation in Spanish, and Nadia wears a hijab. The diverse characters make the story relatable for readers who don’t otherwise feel represented in literature. Johnson creates an inclusive environment for the team and for the readers as well.

Despite the diversity and the fun concept, the book feels too short, as none of the characters have a well-developed individual story. Some characters, like Yarelis, get only a couple of pages, and then their stories stop abruptly. Some pages are dedicated to scenes that aren’t expanded upon. For instance, Faith has daydream sequences where she envisions herself as a young knight on a quest. Although these scenes and the rest of the book are beautifully illustrated, these sequences don’t seem to add anything to the plot and are never really addressed outside Faith’s imagination.

The Breakaways discusses themes of friendship and acceptance through this ragtag soccer team. Despite joining for a variety of reasons, the players come together and try to make their experience fun. Even though the characters’ stories are cut short, the overall message is about learning how to make the best of a bad situation. For a reader searching for an empowering and feel-good book, look no further.

 Sexual Content

  • Sodacan tells Faith, “I saw you looking at Molly’s bra today.” Faith is flustered.
  • Jennifer tells Molly, “I’m gonna hit on Jalissa’s brother today.”
  • Molly and Jennifer argue about Marcus, the boy they both like, during a soccer game.
  • In one illustrated panel, Molly kisses Marcus on the cheek.
  • Marie likes Sammy and admits her feelings one night. Sammy, another member of the team, comes out as trans. He says, “I think I’m a boy.” They briefly discuss it, then they kiss because they like each other.
  • One player, Zoe, asks Faith, “Do you like boys?” Faith responds, “I don’t know who I like. Maybe boys. Maybe girls.” She then talks about her aunt who “lives with her wife in New York.”
  • Zoe admits that she is attracted to girls.
  • Zoe compliments Yarelis’s ability on the bass, and it seems like flirting. Yarelis blushes in the next panel.
  • Sammy tells Sodacan that he’s a boy. Sodacan doesn’t understand, and Marie says, “He’s trans.” Sammy explains further and says, “It means when I was born, the doctors said I was a girl, but I’m actually a boy.”
  • Marie and Sammy are dating.

Violence

  • Sodacan claps Faith on the back in a friendly way.
  • After they discuss Yarelis joining their band, Yarelis hits Sodacan’s head with a vinyl sticker.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Marie says of another player, “Miss Prissy is too good for us dogs!” Other terms like goody two-shoes are also used often.
  • Two players are called Bulldog (Molly) and Warthog (Jennifer). It is implied that they do not know about these nicknames.
  • Rude language is used frequently by the teens. Rude language includes: dumb, stupid, turd, shut up, crazy, fool, suck, dweeb, nerd, crappy, and losers.
  • Molly and Jennifer pick on Faith because her name sounds like fart. When another player defends Faith, Jennifer tells Sodacan, “You’re such a pig.”
  • Marie asks Sodacan why she’s sticking up for “that baby” when talking about Faith.
  • One player jokes that the team sucks and people laugh. Molly makes the same joke, and Coach makes the team run laps. Molly says, “What? Sammy does it and it’s okay? Only tiny girls get to be rude?”
  • Jennifer rejects a car ride from a classmate on the way to school. He calls her, “Ugly, trashy Warthog.”
  • Marie and Sodacan make up. Marie says, “I should hit you, though. You deserve it. You are sorta a jerk.” Sodacan replies, “You are too. We’re sorta jerks together. That’s our thing.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Jennifer gets mad at Molly after her remark causes the team to run laps. Jennifer says, “God, Bulldog.” Another player yells, “Oh my God” in frustration during practice.
  • One player, Nadia, wears a hijab.

by Alli Kestler

Piper

Maggie lives in a small village in the middle of a dark forest. Because she is deaf, the people in her small village have shunned her. An elderly woman, Agathe, is the only person who has shown Maggie kindness. In the evening, Maggie uses her imagination to weave stories that Agathe writes down. Despite Agathe’s company, Maggie dreams of finding her fairytale love.

The village is plagued by rats, who are devouring the food and biting the people. A mysterious Piper comes to town, promising to rid the village of rats. Maggie is captivated by the Piper and thinks she has finally met her true love. However, Maggie soon discovers that the Piper has a dark side. The boy of Maggie’s dreams might just turn out to be her worst nightmare…

The graphic novel’s artwork is amazing and beautiful. Jeff Stokely uses a variety of colors that help enhance the scene’s mood. Each illustration highlights the character’s emotions, and the village is painted in vivid detail. Piper’s artwork is by far the best part of the graphic novel; each picture tells so much of the story in detail.

While the artwork is fantastic, both the characters and the plot are underdeveloped. Maggie’s backstory is confusing, and the reason the village shunned her is unclear. Maggie is deaf but has taught herself how to read lips. However, in most of the panels she isn’t looking at the person who is talking, yet can somehow understand their words. Even though the readers should empathize with Maggie, she is so underdeveloped and predictable that her story doesn’t evoke an emotional reaction.

The plot jumps around from Maggie, to the village, and then flashbacks of the past. In addition, Maggie makes up stories about the town folk. The story’s transitions are often awkward and confusing. So little information is given about the Piper that he is difficult to understand. The conclusion is quick and leaves the reader with too many questions.

As a retelling of the Pied Piper, Piper is a dark story that lacks depth. While readers will enjoy the artwork, the actual story and characters are not memorable. However, the story does touch on the theme of greed. When the villagers refuse to pay the Piper for his services, one person says, “So much evil is traced back to greed. And greed makes us choose what we believe.”

Readers who want to add a little fright to their life may want to leave Piper on the shelf. If you’re looking for a spectacularly spooky story, Nightbooks by J.A. White and City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwa would make an excellent addition to your reading list.

Sexual Content

  • Someone asks the rat catcher, “Do you think the rats stop fornicating when you get distracted?”
  • Maggie kisses the Piper.

Violence

  • Rats infest a village. They destroy food and crops. They also bite a baby; the illustration shows the crying child with a bloody bite on the arm.
  • Maggie tells a story about boys that lost a coin. They couldn’t find the coin “so they put their heads in the holes! Their heads become stuck in the holes. The rabbit mistook their ugly faces for cabbage. And it was very hungry.” The last illustration shows the rabbit’s huge teeth.
  • Any angry woman flicks a seed and hits Maggie in the head. Maggie runs away crying.
  • When Maggie and her brother were children, a group of boys shoved them into a barrel, shut the lid, and threw it into a river. A man jumped in to save the children, but Maggie’s brother died.
  • A drunk man yells at Maggie. The man grabs her, pinches her face, and puts his finger in her ear. Maggie falls to the ground and begins crying.
  • After the man yells at Maggie, the Piper uses a dart to put the drunk man to sleep. The Piper throws the man into the river by the water wheel. The next day, someone says, “I warned him, if he was going to stumble about drunk at night, stay away from the river. I was not even thinking of the water wheel.” Another man says, “I never imagined it could take a man’s head off his shoulders.” The illustration shows the man being thrown into the water.
  • A boy gets his shirt caught in a grinding stone. The Piper hears the boy’s yells. The Piper holds a knife against the boy’s throat and says, “It’s not what you did to me that makes me want to kill you.” Even though the Piper is upset that the boy was mean to Maggie, he cuts the boy free.
  • Angry that the village leaders refuse to pay him, the Piper uses his flute to lead the children out of the village. Maggie finds the children and takes them home.
  • The villagers burn the church with the Piper and “many many others” inside of it.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • A man tries to poison the rats, but “it killed all the cats!”
  • When a strange man comes into the village, he says he can get rid of the rats for a price. When he tells his price, a man says, “You must have chugged your drink too quickly.”
  • Maggie tells a story about a blacksmith. His wife “shut him out of their home one winter evening after he’d been out drinking too many nights. In the morning she found him passed out on a stump.” The blacksmith was frozen.

Language

  • Maggie tells the story about a blacksmith. “The drunken fool pissed himself frozen to the stump.”
  • When the village children disappear, one of the women says, “Oh God!”

Supernatural

  • The Piper plays a “cursed flute. Its magic will make anything obey.”
  • The Piper plays his flute and leads the village rats into the river where they die. Four panels show the rats’ death.

Spiritual Content

  • After a wedding, the guests dance near the church’s graveyard. The priest says, “I would think those who have passed would be pleased by the joy of the living… The Lord knows they deserve one evening of merriment.”
  • Maggie’s caretaker says, “We should pray for the well-being of everyone, but it is great fun to imagine how they may seal their own fate.”
  • A man who is cleaning the church window says, “I pray my soul is always like this window, pure and clean.”
  • When a man expresses his fear of the Piper, the priest says, “Ephesians calls us to be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might…not our own strength, or that of a magical flute.”
  • Maggie tells the Piper, “I will pray that they give you what was promised.”

Secret Snowflake

Riley has been looking forward to the English class’ Secret Snowflake project all year. As part of the assignment, the students are having an anonymous gift exchange. Riley is even more excited when she gets to be the Secret Snowflake for her crush, Marcus Anderson. Based on a smile, Riley is convinced that Marcus might be her Secret Snowflake too!

Riley wants to make the gifts extra special. She uses her crafty nature to make homemade gifts. Riley’s best friend thinks Marcus might think homemade gifts are lame. Trying to find the perfect gift, Riley begins paying extra attention to Marcus. Soon, she wonders if her secret crush is really as wonderful as she imagined.

When Riley starts receiving gifts, she knows that her Secret Snowflake has paid extra attention to her. All of Riley’s gifts are sparkly and perfect. Is Marcus really Riley’s Secret Snowflake. . . or will Riley be crushed when her Secret Snowflake’s identity is revealed?

Riley’s excitement and enthusiasm for Christmas make Secret Snowflake a sparkly read. Middle school readers will empathize with Riley, who is experiencing her first crush. However, Riley’s crush doesn’t take over the story. Instead, Secret Snowflake is a story of friendship, family, and bringing Christmas cheer to others. Riley is a relatable character with positive qualities. She is kind to her brother, is part of a choir that sings in a nursing home, and helps her best friend reach out to a new girl.

In the end, Riley learns that her secret crush “focused an awful lot on things that Riley didn’t really care about. . . Sure she could be interested in someone who loved sports—but not someone who measured worth in dollars and cents. And definitely not someone who would throw a handmade gift in the trash like it was garbage.” When Riley’s crush says mean things about his Secret Snowflake’s gifts, Riley is hurt and cries in the school bathroom. However, she doesn’t mope for long. Instead, she joins the festivities and realizes that a boy is worthy when he is kind, caring, and thinks of others.

Secret Snowflake will get readers into the gift-giving holiday spirit. The engaging story shows how simple things like baking cookies and making ornaments are what the season is all about. There’s a lot to like about Secret Snowflake. Riley is a good friend, her family is portrayed in a positive light, and the story shows the importance of thinking about others. Young girls will fall in love with Riley and be motivated to create their own crafty gifts. Anyone looking for a fun, positive holiday story should put Secret Snowflake at the top of their reading list.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • When Riley thinks her Secret Snowflake might think her homemade Christmas ornament is “dumb or babyish,” her brother says, “Then he sounds like a jerk!”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Erak’s Ransom

What does it mean to earn the Silver Oakleaf? So few men have done so. For Will, a mere boy and apprentice to the most difficult Ranger to please, that symbol of honor has long seemed out of reach. If he is to ever earn it, he must prove himself in ways he never imagined.

Now, in the wake of Araluens’ uneasy truce with the raiding Skandians, there comes word that the Skandian leader, Erak, has been captured by a desert tribe. The Rangers, along with a small party of warriors, are sent to free him, but the desert is like nothing these warriors have seen before. Strangers in a strange land, they are brutalized by sandstorms, tricked by one tribe that plays by its own rules, and surprisingly befriended by another. Like a mirage, nothing is as it seems. Yet one thing is constant: the bravery of the Rangers.

Erak’s Ransom goes back in time, before the fifth and sixth installments of the series. When Erak is taken captive, the Skandians ask for the Araluens’ help. For the first time ever, Halt, Horace, Will, and Evelyn travel together. The interplay between the characters is interesting. Readers will appreciate seeing how people from different cultures can respectfully work together without having to hide their beliefs.

Like the previous books in the series, the story ends with an epic battle. However, one of the best aspects of Erak’s Ransom is the political negotiating, the clashing of beliefs, and the honor of desert tribes. Even though the story’s plot is complicated and there is a huge cast of characters, readers familiar with the characters will not have difficulty understanding the plot. The Araluens, Skandians, and two desert tribes come together to defeat an evil raiding party. Each group has a different strength, and all contribute to freeing Erak and defeating evil.

Erak’s Ransom is another fast-paced story that readers will not want to put down. Although male friendship is highlighted, Evelyn’s strong personality also comes to the forefront and shows how women can be capable leaders. Erak’s Ransom will leave readers wishing they could sit around the campfire and have a conversation with the Araluens and the Skandians because at this point in the series, they seem like trusted friends.

Sexual Content

  • At Halt’s wedding, “there had been the inevitable tearful flouncing and shrill recriminations when the girlfriend of one of the younger warriors from Sir Rodney’s Battleschool had caught her boyfriend kissing another girl in a dark corridor.”

Violence

  • A group of men finds a caravan that was slaughtered. “Horses, mules, camels and men were scattered about the desert, lifeless shapes surrounded by darkening patches of dried blood that had soaked into the sand… The men and animals had been killed, and then hacked in a senseless frenzy. There was barely a body with just a single killing wound.”
  • Will shoots an arrow near Umar’s grandson. Angry, Umar’s “fist struck Will backhanded across the jaw. He staggered and fell, the bow dropping from his hands… Will, stunned by the blow, tried to regain his feet but a savage kick from Umar winded him and sent him sprawling again.” Umar stops when his wife yells at him.
  • While the Araluens, Skandians, and Arridis are traveling together, they are attacked. The group makes a shield wall. Gilan and Halt use their bows. “Already, half a dozen riderless horses were running wildly with the group charging from the front, their riders lying in crumpled heaps in the sand behind them… The battle became a heaving, shoving, hand-to-hand melee, with curved swords rising and falling, hacking and stabbing along the line. Men cried out in pain on both sides as they went down, then cried out again as comrades and foes trod them down in their efforts to reach the enemy.” Both sides lose men. The attack is described over four pages.
  • The Araluens, Skandians, and Arridis surrender. The leader of the other army imprisons those who will be valuable to sell as slaves. Everyone else is left without shoes and water. The leader says, “You’re brave enough now, boy, but wait ‘til your tongue is dry and swollen so large that it fills our throat so that you can hardly breathe. Wait ‘til your feet are torn and blistered by the heat and the rocks. Your eyes will be blinded by the glare of the sun and you’ll wish your leader had allowed me to kill you here, and now.”
  • The captives are bound, and “The guards mounted and herded their captives on foot toward the camp… Urged on by spear butts and curses, they stumbled on the uneven ground.” When the captives arrive at the camp, they see Erak. “…He was seated on the ground, chained between two noisy, complaining camels. His face was bruised and his hair matted with dried blood. One eye was almost closed and there were whip scores on his arms and back.”
  • Tualaghi forces the captives to walk for three days. “If anyone falls—and inevitably they did, since they were kept off balance by having their hands tied together in front of them—he was immediately surrounded by riders jabbing with lance points or striking down at them with the butts of their spears.” The men are bruised and sore by the time they arrive at their destination.
  • Halt upsets the Tualaghi leader. Two men grab Halt, “forcing him forward and down until he was on his knees in front of Yusal. The Tualaghi Aseish then rained closed-fist blows on Halt’s face, left and right, striking again and again until the Ranger’s face was cut and bleeding and his head lolled to one side… he crumbled to the sand, facedown, and semiconscious.”
  • When a woman looks at Yusal, he “had her savagely whipped.”
  • When the prisoners are taken to be executed, “there were those who chose to jeer at the prisoners and throw stones, clumps of earth or garbage at them.”
  • Will and Aloom try to find a vantage point so they can see the captives. Three of the enemies appear and “crowded upon him (Aloom), swords flashing, rising and falling as they attacked.” In order to help, Will jumps and “landed feet first on the shoulders of the Tualaghi leader. The man gave a cry of shock and pain and crumpled beneath the force of Will’s body. Will heard the snap of bones breaking somewhere, then a sickening thud as the bandit’s head slammed into the hard, rocky ground.”
  • During the fight with Will and Aloom, Will uses his saxe knife, and “the Tualaghi gave a short cry, half surprise, half pain, and sank back against the wall, his sword dropping from his hand…” The three Tualaghi are killed, and Aloom is severely injured and eventually dies from his wounds.
  • Will watches as Aloom “coughed and scarlet blood stained the front of his robe.” Will must leave Aloom in order to help the captives.
  • Will shoots the executioner. “Only then did those on the platform see what had been visible to the crowd in the square: the gray shafted arrow buried deep in the executioner’s chest.”
  • Will shoots an arrow at Yusal. The arrow “took him in the muscle of his upper left arm… He screamed in pain and fury…” Yusal flees, but “there were still armed Tualaghi all over the platform, threatening his friends.” Will shot arrows until “the guards began dropping with shrieks of agony and terror.”
  • A Tualaghi strikes his sword at Horace, and “a thin red line formed immediately, then blurred as blood began to well out of the cut… Horace simply brought the massive brass-pommeled hilt back in a short, savage stroke, thudding it into the man’s head.”
  • Evelyn uses her sling to fling a stone at Yusal. “A solid smacking sound could be heard clearly around the square. Then Yusal’s hands dropped and revealed a mask of blood covering his eyes and upper face, flowing down to soak into his blue veil… He fell full length to the hard ground below.” Evelyn uses her sling to drop another man. The man “doubled over, clutching his face and moaning in pain.”
  • Toshak, a Skandian traitor, tries to run from the fight. Erak “launched himself at Toshak, the sword swinging down in a blow that would have split the traitor down to the waist. There was a massive ringing clang as Toshak caught the blow on top of his double-bladed ax head… With a mighty roar, Erak used his left arm to thrust himself up from the cobbles while he drove the sword deep into Toshak’s unprotected body.” Toshak dies. The battle is described over three chapters.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Wine and barrels of ale are served at Halt’s wedding.
  • When a couple of Skandians meet a desert people, one of them replies, “Don’t know how you all keep going without a good drink of ale… Settles the mind in the evenings, ale does.”
  • A dying man is given “a few drops of clear liquid” to relieve his pain.
  • At a celebration, the Skandians are given “brandy made from fermented dates and peaches.”

Language

  • The exclamation “Gorlog’s beard” is used occasionally. “Gorlog was a lesser Scandian deity who had a long beard, curved horns and fanglike teeth.”
  • “God’s above,” “good God,” and “my God” are used as exclamations a few times.
  • Several times someone is called an idiot. For example, Halt wonders why he needs to invite “the Iberian ambassador and his two idiot daughters to my wedding.”
  • Evelyn “frightened the devil out of” a guard.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • A diplomat thanks the lord for Evelyn’s character and courage.
  • A group of raiders are referred to as “the Forgotten of God.”
  • When Will begins a journey, he says, “I’ll see you in a few days.” The person replies, “I hope the god of journeys wills it so.”
  • When Will appeared, Halt “whispered a prayer of thanks.” Later, Halt puts his bound arm on the execution block and “prayed that his friend had got the message.”
  • The desert people “believed that djinns and devils and spirits all lived in these ancient mountains.”
  • The Skandians believe “that if they were to die in battle without a weapon in their hand, their soul would wander for all eternity.”
  • After Evelyn negotiates successfully, Halt says, “Lord forgive me, I’ve created a monster.”
  1. Pages:
  3. 1
  4. ...
  5. 22
  6. 23
  7. 24
  8. 25
  9. 26
  10. 27
  11. 28
  12. ...
  13. 44

Latest Reviews