The Forgotten Girl

On a cold winter night, Iris and her best friend Daniel sneak into the woods to play in the freshly fallen snow. There, Iris makes a perfect snow angel—only to find the crumbling gravestone of a young girl named Avery Moorse right beneath her.

Soon strange things start to happen to Iris. She begins having vivid nightmares. She thinks she sees the shadow of a girl lurking in the night, and she feels the pull of the abandoned grave calling her back to the woods…

Obsessed with figuring out what’s going on, Iris and Daniel start to research their town. They discover that Avery’s grave is actually part of an abandoned black cemetery, dating back to a time when white and black people were kept separate in life—and in death. They become determined to restore Avery’s grave and have proper respect finally paid to Avery and the others buried there.

Unfortunately, they have summoned a jealous and demanding ghost, one who’s not satisfied with their plans. She is tired of being overlooked and wants Iris to be her best friend forever—no matter the cost.

The Forgotten Girl is a heart-stopping ghost story intertwined with the historical significance of racism. As Iris and Daniel research their town’s history, they learn about when their junior high was desegregated and the history of segregated cemeteries. The story delves into history, but the examples of racism are completely integrated into the story and never feel like a lecture. Through the characters’ eyes, readers will be able to understand how racism isn’t always overt, but it is always painful.

The story also shines a light on how grief can change people’s lives. When Daniel’s father dies, Daniel becomes fearful and cautious. He spends more time at home and no longer spends time with his friends. However, Daniel is not the only person affected by a death. When Daniel’s grandmother, Suga, was a teenager, her best friend died during a snowstorm. The loss of her friend caused Suga to become fearful and superstitious. Through their experiences, the reader learns the importance of not allowing fear to control your life.

Iris and Daniel’s friendship will draw the reader into the story, but readers will keep reading because of the creepy events that happen. The Forgotten Girl uses an engaging story to present historical information that is both interesting and relevant. At the end of the book, the author’s note gives historical information about abandoned graveyards and her inspiration for the story. However, sensitive readers should be wary of reading The Forgotten Girl because the ghostly events are frightening; readers will be able to imagine the events happening to them. Despite this, The Forgotten Girl should be on everyone’s reading list because of the historical information and positive lessons.

 Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • While doing research, Iris and Daniel learn about when Nelson’s Pond Middle School was desegregated. “There were protests…Avery and the others were spit on, their hair was pulled, and things were thrown at them, when all they wanted to do is go to school. To learn.”
  • A ghost tries to drown Iris so they can be “forever friends.” Daniel sees Iris. “Iris’s head broke the surface of the pond, her mouth open to take a loud gasp of breath, before she was pulled back underwater…she’s pushed Iris into the pond and held her under. Iris tries to fight her, but couldn’t, her arms going right through her instead.” Iris survives the attack. The scene is described over six pages.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Suga has many superstitions. Suga believes that “Babies can talk to angels, you know.”
  • Suga believes that the snow spirits snatch children. She tells Iris the tale. “When you hear the winter wind, that’s the sound of their screaming. That’s when you’ll know spirits of the snow are ready for their feeding. Wandering children are their prey, lonely in the night. They take the children in the snow, feeding on their fright.”
  • When someone drops their fork, that means they will get an unexpected visitor soon.
  • Suga tells Iris, “If you looked over your left shoulder and saw a ghost, it was probably the devil. If you looked over your right, it was likely an angel.”
  • Suga tells Daniel, “Well, if a ghost is attached to a person, they’ve lost their way to where they were trying to go in the first place… They need to be led to where they need to go, so they can rest. A ghost obsessed with a person is a lost spirit.”
  • When Iris and Daniel are lost in the woods, Daniel “silently prayed, thought about his father… Daniel saw a light. He let himself become relieved. He was starting to see houses!” Iris is afraid that the light is a trap, but Daniel “didn’t think so. He didn’t feel afraid. The light felt like basketball and comic books and trying ties and haircuts…” When Daniel touches the ball of light, “a familiar, warm comfort washed over him. He felt the excitement he used to feel from holding a basketball. He felt his dad telling him that it would be all right, that he was proud of him. That he was at peace.”

Spiritual Content

  • While sneaking out of the house, Iris “tiptoed down the stairs praying that they wouldn’t creak.”
  • When Iris hears a tap-tap-tap, she “prayed that the spirits of the snow wouldn’t come for her tonight in her dreams.”
  • Iris falls asleep. When a noise wakes her up, “she stared straight at the ceiling, realizing she’d fallen asleep praying.”
  • Iris and her family go to church. “The pastor talked about the importance of helping those in need, talking about some of the community service drives they were holding…” During the church service, “they prayed their benediction.”
  • When Daniel’s family go to visit his father’s grave, “Suga closed her eyes in prayer.”
  • Before the meal, Iris’s sister “said a singsongy prayer.”
  • When Iris sneaks out of the house, the neighbor turned on the porch light and yelled to see if anyone was near. Iris “ran past the neighbors’ house, praying that they were already back in bed, not looking for anyone anymore.”

Forged by Fire

Gerald’s mother, Monique, has always been unstable. When his mom goes to jail, Gerald goes to live with his Aunt Queen, who gives him a stable, loving home. After six years, Gerald’s mom returns. Gerald has no desire to spend time with Monique. When Aunt Queen dies, Gerald’s life dramatically changes.

Monique and her husband, Jordan, bring Gerald into a home filled with anger and abuse. Jordan, a brutal man, doesn’t hesitate to use his fists. The only bright spot in Gerald’s new home is his stepsister, Angel. Living in a home of misery and despair, Gerald tries his best to protect Angel. When Gerald learns that Jordan is sexually abusing Angel, he finally reaches out for help.

When Jordan is behind bars, Gerald hopes their lives will get better, but his substance-addicted mother rarely pays attention to her two kids. Drug, violence, and uncertainty surround Gerald and Angel. When Jordan gets out of jail, he says he has changed and Monique welcomes him back home. Gerald doesn’t trust Jordan, but is he strong enough to face Jordan’s anger and protect Angel?

Forged by Fire vividly paints a picture of the devastation caused by addiction and abuse. As a three-year-old, Gerald was already consumed with the fear and pain of living with a neglectful, abusive mother. After a fire that almost killed Gerald, his mother spends six years in jail. When Gerald is thrust back into an abusive home, his apathetic mother refuses to acknowledge the physical, sexual, and mental abuse that is a daily part of Gerald’s and Angel’s lives.

Gerald is an admirable character, who tries to keep his stepsister safe. Despite his best efforts, Gerald cannot always shield his sister from abuse. To make matters worse, both Gerald’s friends and the adults in his life fail him because they casually accept the abuse and provide little support. Instead, they act as if the abuse is just something that Gerald needs to deal with.

Forged by Fire vividly describes Gerald’s abuse, which allows the reader to feel Gerald’s despair. In a world surrounded by violence, the brutal details of Gerald’s life come into focus. Since the story accurately portrays an abusive home, some readers may be disturbed by the images of abuse. Even though the story is engaging, the conclusion hints that Gerald’s life will always be full of turmoil.

Gerald’s story will stay with readers for a long time. Even though readers will admire Gerald’s perseverance, the story ends with a hopeless tone. Readers are left wondering if any adult will step in and help Gerald and his sister. Without assistance, Gerald’s future will be grim.

Forged by Fire is the second installment in the Hazelwood High Trilogy; however, the story can be read as a stand-alone. The events from Tears of a Tiger are mentioned, but they do not have the same emotional impact as they did in the first book of the series. While the story will spark conversations, both Tears of a Tiger and Forged by Fire don’t offer solutions. While both stories are engaging, they describe situations in detail that will make readers uncomfortable. In the end, the Hazelwood High Trilogy is an engaging, easy-to-read series that tackles difficult topics that are relevant to teenagers.

Sexual Content

  • Gerald’s mother was abusive, and “Mama got really mad when you woke her up, especially if she had somebody in bed with her.”
  • Angel’s father sexually abused her. “Terrified, she could only weep silently as he touched her, rubbing his hands over her arms, her back, her legs. He had done this many times before, ever since she was a baby… Jordan whispered in her ear, his breath hot and foul, ‘You remember our secret game, Angel… Touching is good. Telling is bad. If you tell, your mama will put you out in the snow all alone, and you will die. Now, let’s play.’”
  • When Angel gets chickenpox, Jordan stays home. “Angel tearfully removed her T-shirt while Jordan watched… He touched her back and she tensed at the roughness of his fingers. Angel wept silently while he explored her body for chickenpox spots. He took his time. He found all of them.” In order to keep Angel quiet, Jordan says, “Oh, by the way, if you’re lookin’ for the stinkin’ cat, it’s in the oven. Don’t worry, I didn’t turn it on. But if you say one word to anyone—I swear I’ll kill that cat and cook it!”
  • One of the boys on the basketball team jokes that college scouts are “knockin’ on my door, beggin’ me to drive six new Cadillacs to their school, to instruct the women in the dorms on the finer points of, shall we say, scorin’…”
  • When a girl calls Gerald looking for her boyfriend, Gerald says, “I bet he’s in the backseat of his car, kissin’ all over some real sexy woman!”
  • Jordan comes home drunk and finds Angel home alone. When Jordan grabs her, “Angel, eyes wide with fear, yanked free of his grip and ran screaming toward the door… He grabbed her again, both arms this time, and dragged her, kicking and screaming, toward her bedroom door.” The story implies that Jordan rapes Angel.

Violence

  • When Gerald was three, his mother caught him playing with a lighter. Mama “made the fire come out and she held his hand over the flame…” The flame “made his hand scream and made him dizzy with pain, and he could smell something like the meat Mama cooked, but it was his hand.”
  • Gerald’s mother “yells and gets her belt or her shoe and hits, and hits, and hits…” During his mother’s bad days, “she would slap him and he’d cry and he’d cuss at her and then she would slap him until his head hurt.”
  • Monique’s husband was “mean, and Monique was truly afraid of him. He would hit her whenever she made him angry, which was often… When he was drunk, it was worse.”
  • Angel tries to avoid Jordan. Angel “took a deep breath, lowered her head, and curried past him. But she wasn’t quick enough. His fist, like a hammer, connected with her back as she ran. She groaned in pain, but dared not stop.” Gerald tries to help. He “leaped into the room, jumped between Angel and Jordan, and the blow came down on him instead. Gerald was tough and strong, but the force of that punch almost made him lose his breath.”
  • When Gerald accidently walks in on Jordan molesting Angel, Jordan “slapped Gerald full in the face.” Gerald is too afraid to do anything.
  • Gerald tries to avoid Jordan, but “Jordan was mean—he smacked Gerald on the back of his head if he got a C on his report card, he punched him on his arm if he spilled milk, and he whacked his legs for not bringing him a beer fast enough.”
  • Gerald’s mother is hit by a taxi. The driver says, “She ran right in front of me! I didn’t see her!” Monique is injured.
  • Jordan gets angry at Monique, and “he raised his arm above his head and slapped Monique with the back of his hand so hard that she fell onto the bed. Pain and confusion filled her face… Gerald was coming back from his job. His fist hit Gerald full in the face. Blood spurted from Gerald’s nose and lip as he staggered to the floor.”
  • Gerald comes home to find the house on fire. “Angel lay on her bed, barely conscious. Jordan was walking slowly toward the foot of her bed…” Jordan and Gerald get in a fight. “With the steel toe of his cowboy boots, Jordan kicked Gerald squarely on the shin. Gerald screamed in pain. He heard the bone crack. He fell once again.” Jordan leaves the two kids to die in the fire.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Gerald learned to avoid his mother when “she sniffed the white stuff.”
  • Gerald’s step-dad Jordan gets drunk often.
  • When Jordan goes to jail, Monique “had not returned to the drugs, but she had developed a taste for whiskey and was finding more and more excuses to go out and drink with her friends.”
  • After Monique’s accident, the doctor prescribes pain pills. “She keeps insisting that her head hurt…but that’s only when she runs out of her pain pills. Jordan kept her supplied with refills of her prescription, and when the doctor wouldn’t give her anymore, he bought these weird-lookin’ shiny red pills…”
  • After a while, Monique “used beer now, instead of water, to wash down the pills that Jordan bought her.”
  • Several of Gerald’s friends go out drinking after a game. They are in a fiery car crash, and one of the boys dies.

Language

  • When Angel tells her mother about Jordan’s abuse, Monique calls her a “filthy liar.”
  • Jordan calls Monique a “witless idiot!”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • When Gerald almost died in a fire, his aunt says, “Well, Praise the Lord, he didn’t.”
  • When Gerald’s aunt tucked him into bed, she “prayed for strength.”
  • Before breakfast, Gerald’s aunt prays, “Dear Lord, be with this family. We’re gonna need you. Bless this food, and please be with Gerald on this special day. Amen.”

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Vol 3

Link continues on his quest to save the children from his village and dispel the dark clouds that are threatening to take over the land. Link returns to the Twilight Realm in the form of a wolf and quickly discovers that the children are stuck in the Twilight Realm as lost souls! With the help of an unlikely wolf ally, Link must learn to become a much stronger warrior if he wants a chance to save those he loves.

Much like the previous two installments, this graphic novel closely follows the plot of the video game with a few diversions and added elements. For intense Zelda fans, another taste of Twilight Princess will make this graphic novel enjoyable. However, casual gamers will likely be bored due to the repetitive plot, and those who are not familiar with the Twilight Princess game may be confused in a few places. All in all, this graphic novel is best for readers who are already a part of the Link fandom.

Link is a lovable character that will capture readers’ interests. While one of the children becomes slightly more developed in this installment, Link is mostly surrounded by two-dimensional characters. There is more action in this book than in the first book, but aside from the last battle, most of the battle images are not graphic. In Twilight Princess Vol 3, Link continues to explore what true strength really is, and he finally realizes that strength lies in protecting the innocent.

Twilight Princess Vol 3 has intense fighting and a dark tone. Even though the manga artwork is incredible, the fight scenes are a bit confusing because there is so much going on. Unlike the previous books, this volume shows different characters’ points of view, which helps develop the characters and gives the story an interesting twist. Twilight Princess Vol 3 continues to develop Link and his world. Although Twilight Princess Vol 3 contains action and adventure, the slow pace of world-building may make it difficult for some readers to get through the story.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • While in his wolf form, Link kills two monsters by ripping them apart with his teeth.
  • Link fights a skeleton warrior as part of a training session. At the end of their fight, Link cuts off the skeleton warrior’s head. The skeleton warrior then stands up, picks up his head, and congratulates Link.
  • A captured village girl considers committing suicide. The girl wonders, “Rather than living alone with monsters…” and almost cuts her wrist with the pottery shard, but is interrupted by a kitten that needs her help.
  • Link battles a monster and his minions during a 32-page battle. In the end, Link slashes the monster across the chest with his sword, and the reader sees the monster bleeding profusely before he falls into a gorge.
  • A monster clubs a village boy in the head, and then is attacked by a mob of village children.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Link lives in a world with magic, shadow beasts, and demons. When people from the land of light are engulfed by the Twilight Realm, they turn into lost souls. This is what happens to the children from Link’s village. When he finds them, he cannot interact with them, as they are merely lost souls.
  • When Link travels to the Twilight Realm, he is transformed into a giant wolf. While in his wolf form, Link can communicate with animals.
  • Link learns that “humans aren’t the only race living in Hyrule” when he meets a Goron. Gorons are giant rock-like creatures that “live in Death Mountain and eat rocks.”
  • Link meets a magical wolf that transports Link to his realm in the clouds. Once there, the wolf shows himself as a skeleton warrior and trains Link to be a better swordsman.

Spiritual Content

  • There is a legend that when evil people tried to use magic to take over the land, “the goddesses grew angry at this affront and sent four spirits of light to seal the upstarts’ magical power away in the shadow crystal. Furthermore, the mirror of shadow prevented these wizards from entering the world of light. They were exiled to the twilight realm.”
  • Renado, a shaman and physician, takes the children to his village to protect them.
  • The children hide from the monsters in a house. There is a statue of a spirit in the house. The shaman says, “perhaps the power of the spirit Eldin does not allow the monsters to enter.” Link later meets the Eldin, “one of the spirits of light who gather in Hyrule and protect this land.”
  • Renado says, “thank the gods,” when his daughter is saved by monsters.

by Morgan Lynn

Race to the Sun

Lately, seventh-grader Nizhoni Begay has been able to detect monsters, like the man in the fancy suit who was in the bleachers at her basketball game. Turns out he’s Mr. Charles, her dad’s new boss at the oil and gas company. He’s alarmingly interested in Nizhoni and her brother, Mac, their Navajo heritage, and the legend of the Hero Twins. Nizhoni knows he’s a threat, but her father won’t believe her.

When Nizhoni’s dad disappears the next day, he left behind a message that said “Run!” The siblings and Nizhoni’s best friend, Davery, are then thrust into a rescue mission that can only be accomplished with the help of Diné Holy People, who are all disguised as quirky characters. However, their aid will come at a price. The kids must pass a series of trials that seem as if nature itself is out to kill them. If Nizhoni, Mac, and Davery can reach the house of the Sun, they will be outfitted with what they need to defeat the ancient monsters Mr. Charles has unleashed. It will take more than weapons “for Nizhoni to become the hero she was destined to be.”

Middle-grade readers will relate to Nizhoni, who wants to be good at something but just isn’t. When her emotionally distant father is kidnapped, Nizhoni embarks on a quest to save her father. However, she isn’t alone; Nizhoni’s book-loving best friend and annoying brother join her adventure through the Southwest. On the quest, Nizhoni and her friends meet the “Holy People” as well as some scary monsters.

The fast-paced story combines Navajo mythology with moments of humor, unexpected twists, and timeless lessons about friendship, family, and failure. The importance of hard work and helping others is weaved into the story. Spider Woman says, “All good things come through hard work. If something is too easy to get, it isn’t worth much, is it?”

At first, Nizhoni doesn’t feel like she has the qualities to become a hero. However, Nizhoni learns that she doesn’t need to change. One of the story’s recurring themes is: “Don’t worry about what you’re supposed to be. Just be who you are.” While Nizhoni shows bravery, she is able to defeat the monsters only with the help of others.

Race to the Sun will take readers on an action-packed quest and introduce them to Navajo mythology. Nizhoni is an interesting but imperfect narrator. Readers will relate to Nizhoni’s insecurities and her moments of courage. The conclusion is rushed, and there are several holes in the plot, but this doesn’t take away from the book’s enjoyment. For readers looking for more marvelous mythology books, the following books will delight you: the Storm Runner series by J.C. Cervantes and the Pandava series by Roshani Chokshi.

Sexual Content

  • When Nizhoni’s parents are reunited, they kiss.

Violence

  • Charles tells Nizhoni that he wants her dead. Without thinking, Nizhoni runs “full tilt at Mr. Charles. His startled eyes are the last thing I see before I kick that knife right out of his hand… I’m not done. I head-butt Mr. Charles in the stomach… And for good measure, I execute a perfect elbow strike to the cheek, just like I learned in self-defense class Coach taught in PE last year.” Nizhoni’s dad comes in and stops her.
  • In the past, Nizhoni had to attend anger management classes for “punching Elora Huffstatter in the nose.”
  • Adrien, a bully, and his friends corner Mac. “Mac screams, an animal-like bloodcurdling cry of rage. He slams his hands onto the ground, palms flat… A low rumble rolls across the baseball field, like an army of badgers tunneling through the earth, and then, suddenly, all the sprinklers turn on…” Mac makes the sprinklers shoot at the bullies. “The jets are all pointed at them, zipping back and forth in sharp slashing cuts, or pulsing bursts aimed at their eyes.” The bullies eventually run away.
  • To save Black Jet Girl, Nizhoni needs to get by two buzzards. She throws a feather into a fire and “it explodes into a million tiny salt crystals that pop and sizzle. Hot granules fly everywhere… The salt strikes their protruding eyes and they stumble around, screeching in pain.”
  • Some people believe that Spider Woman eats children. However, Spider Woman helps Nizhoni and her friends.
  • Nizhoni and her friends are following the Rainbow Road. They enter a corridor surrounded by rocks. When Mac disappears, Nizhoni runs after him. When she finds him, “he’s staring right at me. With big red eyes… He bares his sharp teeth and hisses… Monster Mac takes a swipe at me, and I see that besides having long, pointy teeth, he has long, pointy claws, too.”
  • When Nizhoni sees monster Mac, she turns to “launch a swinging kick right at the monster’s stomach. It lands with an Oomph! I elbow him in the chest and he doubles over. One more kick—this time to his ribs—and he’s down. He’s on all fours, panting.” Monster Mac “becomes a cockroach. It scuttles off…” The fight is described over one page.
  • In a multi-chapter battle, Nizhoni and her friends fight to keep the monsters from returning to earth. “Nizhoni lifts her bow and…release. The arrow flies true, a streak of white lightning that hits the banáá yee aghání in its veiny red eyeball. The monster screeches and veers away…”
  • A banáá yee aghání goes after Nizhoni’s mother. “Mom waits until the buzzard is practically on top of her, and then she swings the sword. Lightning crackles from its tip, slashing the monster’s face. Ligai drops, almost too quickly, streaking under the buzzard and dragging its beak across the monster’s underside, tearing it open.”
  • During the fight, Mac falls off a flying bird. “A shimmery substance unfurls in the air underneath him like a silver net. He falls into the glimmering stuff, and it completely envelops his body, rolling him into what looks like a giant burrito.” Later, Mac finds out that Spider Woman put him in a spider web to keep him safe.
  • When Mr. Rock points a gun, Nizhoni’s mom “launches herself into the air, her sword slashing downward, and Mr. Rock’s gun goes flying—while still attached to his hand.”
  • Mr. Charles shoots an arrow at Nizhoni. “It’s a direct hit right over my heart. I scream as fire radiates through my body… I struggle to breathe, my pulse beating too loud in my ears… I fall to the canyon below.” Nizhoni discovers that she cannot be killed by her own arrow.
  • Nizhoni uses lightning “that’s been building up in my blood. And I blow Mr. Charles to smithereens… And then a sound like a bubble popping. And then more pops as all the banáá yee aghání in the sky above me burst into a blaze of white lightning and turn into ash that rains down on me.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • A girl tells Nizhoni that her mom “left us because I was a dirty Indian. Then she made war-whopping noises like something out of a bad Western.”
  • Adrien, a bully, and his friends bother Mac. The bully says, “Marcus Be-gay! Oh, please be gay!” The rest of the boys chant, “Gay! Gay! Gay!”
  • Adrien calls Nizhoni a loser.
  • “Oh my God” is used as an exclamation one time.
  • Heck is used three times. For example, when Mr. Charles meets Nizhoni and her brother, who are a mess, Mr. Charles asks, “But holy heck, what happened to you all?”
  • Nizhoni calls her brother a dork.
  • A buzzard tells his brother, “Don’t be an idiot.”
  • Nizhoni says her mom is “badass.”

Supernatural

  • Nizhoni can tell if a person is a monster in disguise. When she sees Adrien, a bully, “his eyes meet mine and that horrible sensation—my monster detecting—springs to life. The hair on the back of my neck rises, and a chill like the trail of an ice cube scuttles down my spine.”
  • Nizhoni knows the “language of animals” and can see in the dark.
  • Marcus can control water. He tells Nizhoni, “I’ve made water move before. Like in the bathtub.”
  • Nizhoni’s stuffed horned animal comes to life. Nizhoni had “been raised to take seemingly supernatural things in stride. Up to now, talking animals hadn’t been a part of my everyday life, but my shimásání taught me there’s more to the world than we humans can see…”
  • Mr. Charles is a shape-shifter who can look human. He is related “to a nasty kind of monster called a banáá yee aghání. These are vicious bird creatures.”
  • Nizhoni meets a crystal boy, who is made of white crystal rock, and a girl, who is made out of black rock.
  • Nizhoni and her best friend Davery go into a school that is having a prom. They are tempted to stay, but when they leave, “in an instant, the whole gym shimmers and disappears.”
  • Nizhoni looks into a mirror. She “leans forward to press my hands against the mirror, and suddenly the surface is not there anymore… I go plummeting into the glass.” Nizhoni is transported to a glade, “where she can see people, but they can’t see her.”
  • Nizhoni meets the sun, who is “wearing blinding bright armor and carrying a golden shield. And step-by-step on an invisible set of stairs, he appears to be climbing into the sky.”
  • Nizhoni finds her mom, her friends, and others encased in amber. When the amber cases shatter, Nizhoni looks up, and “Mac is standing on a platform, yawning and stretching his arms over his head.” All the people in the amber come back to life.
  • Nizhoni and her friends must fight a group of buzzards, but “only a monster slayer can look into their eyes.”

Spiritual Content

  • Along the journey, Nizhoni meets the Holy People. Someone tells her, “The tricky part is that the Holy People don’t always answer, or at least not in ways that you might recognize. But they are always there.”
  • After Nizhoni’s father is kidnapped, she prays “with all my might that he’s out of that trunk and getting food and water.”

Some Places More Than Others

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sexual Content

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

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

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

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

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

Out of Step

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Jill Johnson

The Siege of MacIndaw

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

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

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

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

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

 Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

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

Drugs and Alcohol

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

Language

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

Supernatural

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

 Spiritual Content

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

How to Steal a Dog

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

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

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

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

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

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

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

Language

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

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

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

Swing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sexual Content

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

Violence

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

Drugs and Alcohol

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

Language

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

Supernatural

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

Spiritual Content

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

by Alli Kestler

Clean Getaway

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

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

 Drugs and Alcohol

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

Language

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

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

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

The List of Things That Will Not Change

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sexual Content

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

Violence

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

 Drugs and Alcohol

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

Language

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

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

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

Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team

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

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

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

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

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

Sexual Content

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

Violence

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

Drugs and Alcohol

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

Language

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

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Alli Kestler

The Crossover (Graphic Novel)

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

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

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

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

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

Sexual Content

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

Violence

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

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Crystal’s younger brother “smokes cigars.”

Language

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

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

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

by Alli Kestler

 

 

Where the Red Fern Grows

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

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

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

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

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

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

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

 Drugs and Alcohol

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

Language

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

Supernatural

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

Spiritual Content

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

Patina

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sexual Content

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

Violence

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

Drugs and Alcohol

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

Language

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

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

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

by Alli Kestler

If the Shoe Fits

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

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

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

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

Supernatural

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

Spiritual Content

  • None

Benchwarmers

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sexual Content

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

Violence

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

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

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

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

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

by Jill Johnson

My Lady Jane

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

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

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

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

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

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

 Sexual Content

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

Violence

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

Drugs and Alcohol

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

Language

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

Supernatural

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

Spiritual Content

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

by Evalyn Harper

Love Like Sky

G-baby and her younger sister, Peaches, are still getting used to their “blended-up” family. They live with Mama and Frank out in the suburbs, and they haven’t seen their real daddy much since he married Millicent. G-baby misses her best friend back in Atlanta and is crushed that her glamorous new stepsister, Tangie, wants nothing to do with her.

G-baby is so preoccupied with earning Tangie’s approval that she isn’t there for her own litter sister when she needs her most. Peaches gets sick—really sick. Suddenly, Mama and Daddy are arguing like they did before the divorce, and even the doctors in the hospital don’t know how to help Peaches get better.

It’s up to G-baby to make things right. She knows Peaches can be strong again if she can only see that their family’s love for her is really like sky.

Youngblood creates a cast of realistic characters and tackles themes that are relevant. The story is told from G-baby’s point of view, and many readers will relate to G-baby’s difficulty figuring out how to navigate life in a blended family. G-baby has an array of feelings that often interfere with her ability to think logically. Instead, she is often overcome by anger and guilt. For instance, G-baby clearly loves her little sister, Peaches; however, when Peaches gets sick, G-baby feels guilty for not treating Peaches better.

Love Like Sky tackles many themes, including death, divorce, stepparents, racial inequality, peaceful protest, police brutality, growing up, and more. The story’s many themes are undeveloped and often do not feel like a natural part of the story. The story gives some examples of police brutality, but all of the events are relayed to G-baby. This allows the content to be appropriate for middle school readers. Love Like Sky’s many themes may spark readers’ interest in learning more about each topic.

The story’s main conflict is G-baby’s changing family. Throughout the story, G-baby discovers that even though her family may argue, they will always support each other to the best of their ability in the end. Despite the positive message, G-baby is not necessarily a likable character because she is sneaky, self-centered, and mean to those around her. When G-baby interacts with her best friend Nikki, the two spend so much time arguing, keeping secrets, and being snarky that it is difficult to understand why they are friends. Another negative aspect of the story is that Nikki, G-baby, and her stepsister all take unnecessary risks, like sneaking out of the house, that could have dire consequences. Instead of having to fess up to their parents, other people cover for their misbehavior.

Love Like Sky’s suspense revolves around G-baby’s conflict with her family and friends. While middle school readers will understand G-baby’s conflict, they may wish for more action. The story’s many topics and characters make Love Like Sky appropriate for strong readers. Readers interested in learning more about racial injustice should add A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramée to their must-read list.  Caterpillar Summer by Gillian McDunn is perfect for readers looking for an entertaining story about family relationships.

Sexual Content

  • G-baby doesn’t want to talk to her mom about “how to kiss a boy, or when it’s time to sneak a few cotton balls into my bra.”
  • G-baby’s stepsister has a boyfriend. G-baby thinks, “I know why Frank called the college boy ‘an octopus,’ and it wasn’t good. He might be like that one boy at my old school who got sent to the principal’s office for pinching girls on the behind.”
  • G-baby was spying on her stepsister when she “heard whispering and then…smacking. Loud smacking. Kissing.”
  • When G-baby’s stepfather leaves the house, he “kissed Mama’s lips and both cheeks… Mama walked to the door and kissed him again. A loud smack like Tangie and Marshall.”
  • G-baby’s best friend tells her, “I bet Tangie kisses boys. Just like you and your boyfriend.” G-baby gets upset because she has never kissed a boy and doesn’t have a boyfriend.
  • G-baby’s friend Kevin kisses her. She “felt his lips on my cheek like a buzzing bee had landed on it… I stood there with my hand on my cheek, like the kiss was gonna fly away.”
  • G-baby’s stepsister, Tangie, talks about her first kiss, which happened when she was 13. “One day he walked me to the porch. And I kinda knew it was coming because I closed my eyes… It lasted about five seconds. When it was over, he ran down the stairs… Neither one of use knew what we were doing. It was okay.”

Violence

  • When G-baby’s mother sees news stories on TV about Michael Brown, who was shot by a police officer, she says, “Bless his mama, Lord. Bless his mama.”
  • Tangie wants to go to a protest for Roderick Thomas. She says, “A boy at Marshall’s school got beat up pretty bad. Roderick Thomas. Busted lip. Black eye. Police stopped Roderick on his way home from a friend’s house…”
  • When Tangie goes to the protest, “the police told us to leave. Marshall’s roommate started shouting. Others joined in. Next thing I know, Marshall’s roommate was on the ground. When Marshall spoke up, they put him in cuffs, too.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • One of the character’s moms is a drunk. The character is talked about several times but never appears in the story.

Language

  • Darn is used three times.
  • Dang is used four times. For example, G-baby says that her stepmother can’t cook worth a dang.
  • “Oh my God” is used as an exclamation twice.
  • Lord is used as an exclamation once.
  • Tangie calls G-baby a “snoop tattler.”
  • When G-baby swears to God, she thinks, “Grandma Sugar was about to strike me for using the Lord’s name in vain.”
  • One of G-baby’s friends says, “No shit Sherlock” one time.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • When G-baby’s mother sees news stories on TV about Michael Brown, who was shot by a police officer, she says, “Bless his mama, Lord. Bless his mama.”
  • Tangie’s little sister was killed in a car accident. G-baby’s mom says, “Some hurt only God Himself can heal.”
  • When Peaches gets sick, G-baby prays, “God, I know I want a big sister, but Peaches is the best little sister in the world. Please, don’t let her die like Tangie’s little sister. I’ll do anything to make Peaches better, anything.”
  • G-baby prays. “Dear God, I’m so sorry for not being a better big sister. Please keep making Peaches better and don’t let her fall out of Your hands…”
  • G-baby’s best friend, Nikki, takes off. When she can’t be found, G-baby prays. “Oh, God. Please, please… don’t let my best friend be an Amber Alert.” When Nikki is found, G-baby thanks God.
  • When Peaches is moved out of ICU, someone says, “Thank the Lord.”
  • When G-baby lies, she “mentally asked God for forgiveness.”

Rescue Mission

During one of Ben’s baseball games, his dad is tasked with finding two escaped convicts. Ben promises his mom that he’ll stay home and be safe. Once he hears that his dad is missing, Ben knows he can’t keep his promise. After gathering supplies and sneaking out, Ben and Hero, his retired search and rescue dog, meet up with the police to find his dad.

Ben and Hero do everything they can to find his dad’s trail. Even with help from Officer Perillo and his new friend Tucker, finding his dad is tough. The duo fight through the forest, deal with dangerous snakes, and put their lives on the line. Ben’s dad is a cop – a hero in his own right – but the two convicts are clever and dangerous, forcing Ben and Hero to be extra cautious. The two escaped convicts won’t go down without a fight. Will Ben and Hero rescue his dad, or will the convicts win the day?

Hero: Rescue Mission is a very fast-paced story that centers on Ben. Through his point of view, the reader can understand his worries, fears, and frustrations surrounding his dad’s disappearance. Readers can also understand why Ben is so reckless. From the outside, it may look like Ben doesn’t seem to care about his own safety; however, he’s simply afraid he might never see his dad again.

The third installment in the Hero series focuses on how worry can make someone reckless. Ben wants to save his dad as fast as possible, but this also leads to him being bitten by a snake. That snakebite puts Ben in the hospital, which only makes the search more difficult. There are many times where Ben loses his cool and shouts at others because he thinks they aren’t moving quickly enough. Yet, through this adversity, Ben learns to take things slowly. He learns the value of caution, as well as careful planning.

Once again, Hero stars as one of the main characters of the story. The retired search and rescue dog is eager to find Ben’s dad. At the start of the story, Hero is just as anxious and reckless as Ben is. Through bonding and training, Ben and Hero begin to work as one. They need each other in order to save the day. Hero: Rescue Mission focuses on Ben and Hero’s fears as they race to find Ben’s dad. Despite the story’s fast pace, most of the story is about Ben learning to control both Hero and his emotions. Much of the conflict with the convicts occurs at the very end of the story. Once Ben finds his dad, he and Hero must battle the convicts and prevent them from robbing a convenience store. This mimics real police work and illustrates both the importance of the police and the danger they put themselves in.

Newcomers to this series do not need to have read the first two books in order to understand the plot. While there are references to the first two books, Ben explains the references. This book will appeal to young readers that have a parent or family member in the police force. With a realistic protagonist, an engaging emotional story, and a truly heroic search and rescue dog, Hero: Rescue Mission is a fun, exciting entry in Jennifer Li Shotz’s series.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • During Ben’s baseball game, his friend Noah is injured. The injury “had come when a foul ball had barreled toward Noah and hit him in the arm—hard. Noah had yelped in pain, and Coach Lee had called a time-out and jogged over.” After the game, Ben’s “best friend sat slumped over on a deck chair, his very swollen arm cradled in a sling.”
  • When thinking about Hero’s abilities, Ben thinks, “And… well, if it came down to it, Hero was pretty great at attacking bad guys too.”
  • Ben recalls a memory from his past when Hero was “getting attacked by two vicious dogs at the dogfighting ring.”
  • After picking up a rock, Ben is bitten by a snake. Before he “had time to process what it was, Ben felt a sharp sting, burning, and warmth spreading up his arm.” Immediately after that, Ben falls. He “staggered backward and fell to the ground. His arm was on fire, and he was so woozy he couldn’t even lift his head.”
  • Ben’s new friend Tucker carries around a slingshot. Tucker shoots a rock at one prisoner, “and the escaped prisoner let out a yell as it bashed him in the forehead. Blood spouted from a gash above his right eye, and he clutched at it with a meaty hand. He howled in shock and pain—and fell away from the window.”
  • The second convict has a gun. He points the gun at Ben and Hero. “There was no way Ben was going to let Hero get hurt—and this man clearly wouldn’t hesitate to shoot any of them, human or canine.” Ben then learns that the convicts are “going to rob [a convenience store] for supplies and cash and then head south for Louisiana.”
  • Ben’s dad attacks the convict without a gun. Ben’s dad, “swung the board in a high arc and brought it down on the man’s head with a deep, dull thwack.”
  • The convict with a gun goes to rob a convenience store. Ben sees “the prisoner, holding a gun. It was pointed straight at [the shop owners].” Hero leaps on the convict with “a thunk, and the man grunted as the air was knocked out of his lungs. He fell forward like a bag of rocks, hitting the ground so hard Ben felt the floor vibrate.” Tucker also “swung his mother’s bat with all his force. The sound it made when it connected with the convict’s leg was flat and disgusting.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • The second convict tells Ben that the first convict will be, “real pissed off when he wakes up.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Jonathan Planman

I Survived the Japanese Tsunami, 2011

Ben’s father had always wanted to take his family to his hometown in Japan. After he dies, Ben thinks his mom will cancel the trip, but Ben’s mom is determined to visit Shogahama. While in the small coastal village, Ben tries to avoid his uncle. Ben doesn’t want to see the pine forest his father explored, and he doesn’t want to see the cherry tree his father thought was magic. Consumed with grief, Ben refuses to think about his father.

A massive earthquake rocks the village, nearly toppling his uncle’s house. Then, the ocean waters rise and Ben and his family are swept away—and pulled apart—by a terrible tsunami. Ben is alone, stranded in a strange country millions of miles from home. Can he fight hard enough to survive one of the most epic disasters of all time?

When Ben is being swept out to sea, he doesn’t know if he has enough strength to survive. While he is floating in the sea, he thinks back to his dad’s words: “the fear is always there, but you can’t let it take over.” When Ben is trapped in a car, he thinks about his father’s water survival drills. Ben uses this knowledge to break out of the window and escape. Before the tsunami, Ben doesn’t want to think about his father. After the tsunami though, Ben realizes, “It was Dad who got Ben through his moments of panic in the quake, who helped him escape from that drowning car. It was Dad’s wisdom that echoed through Ben’s mind in those dark moments when he was alone in the ruins.”

Full of suspense, I Survived the Japanese Tsunami, 2011 uses kid-friendly descriptions to show the devastation of the tsunami. Even though Ben is scared, he shows bravery when he protects his brother during an earthquake. While the story focuses on the disaster, the story also gives readers a glimpse of Ben’s father’s experiences, which adds depth to the story. Even though the story is about survival, it also highlights the importance of relying on others in difficult times.

I Survived the Japanese Tsunami, 2011 is told from Ben’s point of view, which allows the reader to see the events without graphic details that might scare them. Throughout the story, Ben learns to deal with his grief over his father’s death. Even though the story deals with a natural disaster, it has some unexpected humor that breaks up the tension. In addition, Star Wars fans will enjoy the references to Darth Vader.

The story is accessible to all readers because Tarshis uses short paragraphs and simple sentences. Realistic black and white illustrations are scattered throughout the story and will help readers visualize the events. The story also shows people coming together to help each other during a difficult time. While the story weaves interesting facts throughout, the book also ends with more facts about the earthquake and tsunami of 2011. The I Survived Series gives readers a glimpse into deadly situations without including scary details. Each book is told from a young person’s point of view, which will help readers connect with the narrator.

 Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • After surviving an earthquake, a tsunami appears. “The wave carried parts of houses, a smashed car, an entire pine tree, slabs of wood and metal. It was devouring everything in its path. Two men were running on the sidewalk. Ben gasped as the wave swallowed them whole.”
  • Ben’s family jumps into a car and attempts to race away, but the water catches up to them. Ben’s mother, brother, and uncle are swept out of the car, but Ben is stuck inside of it. “But the water was higher now, thrashing the car back and forth. The door slammed shut. Waves crashed over the roof of the car. Freezing water gushed in, surrounding Ben. In seconds, it was up to his chest.”
  • Ben escapes from the car and still almost drowns because “the water seemed to be alive, with powerful arms that thrashed Ben, tore at him. Each time he fought his way to the surface to take a breath, the water grabbed him and pulled him down again.”
  • After Ben gets to dry land, he walks through the wreckage. “Ben hoped that one day he’d forget the terrible things he’d seen as he walked: the arm sticking out from under a pile of wreckage, the old man carrying a lifeless-looking woman on his back.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Rebound

Ever since Chuck “Da Man” Bell’s father died, Chuck’s turbulent emotions are holding him back from his relationships. When his mom sends him to his grandparents’ house for the summer, Chuck finds healing through basketball. With the help of his friends and relatives, Chuck also learns about his family’s past.

Chuck is an emotional 12-year-old who disobeys his mother and gets into trouble with his friend, Skinny. However, Chuck’s attitude towards life adjusts as his grandparents and cousin, Roxie, teach him wisdom and basketball. Chuck realizes that his grandparents are suffering after their son’s death as well, and Chuck makes an emotional connection with them. This story presents the multifaceted nature of grief through Chuck and his family. The narrative emphasizes this shared humanity rather than suppressing the trauma that the family has endured. The family helps Chuck come to terms with his emotional turbulence, and the end shows him as a happy adult who learned how to cope.

Chuck’s story pairs well with Alexander’s creative narrative styles. The poetry might be off-putting to some readers, but the flow is similar to reading prose fiction thanks to his free verse. The graphic novel panels help build excitement in the basketball/daydream sequences and give a different look into Chuck’s imagination. This book is a good introduction into poetry for younger readers.

Told in free-verse poetry and graphic novel panels, Rebound shows the turbulent healing process after tragedy strikes. As Chuck learns about basketball and how his family members deal with loss, he begins to understand the world outside his emotions. The book is told from Chuck’s perspective, but his grandparents are a large focus of the story. His grandfather, Percy, uses humor and tough love to help Chuck come to terms with his father’s death. However, Percy is serious and kind when Chuck is struggling the most, but Percy never comes off as preachy.

Alexander’s writing style is unique, and it switches between poetry and graphic novel panels. However, the story flows well and has many fast-paced basketball scenes. Alexander uses different poetic techniques to emphasize sounds, emotions, and dialogue. These portions and the graphic novel panels depicting Chuck’s daydreams help enhance his narrative voice and his dreams of success. Rebound is the prequel to Kwame Alexander’s book Crossover, but Rebound can be read as a stand-alone book.

Rebound tells a story about shared humanity and suffering, and it reinforces the need for family in difficult times. Alexander writes interesting and complex family dynamics, and his integration of basketball and comic books into the text feels natural with these themes. He grounds the abstract nature of grief in a manner that is digestible for younger readers. Rebound is a good read because it presents a character who rises above self-pity and gains perspective in dire times. Anyone who has faced a difficult situation will enjoy Rebound’s blend of poetry and graphic novel elements because they effectively portray themes of grief, love, and the power of family.

Sexual Content

  • Chuck’s friend CJ likes Chuck, a topic that is revisited somewhat often throughout the book.
  • CJ pulls Chuck out on the roller rink and “kisses [him]/on the cheek,/and, just like that,/ lets go/of [his] hand,/ and skates away,/and [his] heart/ almost jumps/ out of [his] chest.”
  • Chuck’s grandparents, Alice and Percy, kiss. Percy says to Alice, “Now give me some sugar.”
  • Chuck’s friend, Skinny, meets Chuck’s cousin, Roxie, and calls her “a pretty young thing,” which does not make Roxie or Chuck very happy.
  • Uncle Richard brings his boyfriend to the Fourth of July party.

Violence

  • Skinny mentions that his cousin “Ivan got into a fight” when his team lost a basketball game, but no other context is given.
  • Chuck says, “I remember/my father spanking me/when I was little,” as his mom tries to hit him for smack talking.
  • Chuck’s mom tries to hit him when he talks back. Chuck says, “Her hand/is like/a razor-sharp claw/about to slice/the air/lightning fast/in the direction/of my face, /but I duck/before the blast/almost rips/my head off.”
  • In her way of showing affection, CJ occasionally gives Chuck “a punch/to [his] stomach/that hurts/in a good/kind of way.”
  • Chuck says to his mom, “Some of my friends’ parents got divorced, /remarried, and the new fathers abused the/ kids, and that’s not cool.”
  • On a walk, Percy tells Chuck, “My/mother wasn’t so easy. Used to make me/get a switch from our peach tree, then we/ got whupped good.”
  • When Roxie sees Chuck sitting in the truck, she “punches [Chuck]/ in the arm.”
  • After Roxie and Chuck lose a game, one of the boys on the other team taunts them. The other boy says, “Maybe you should play on a girls’ team,” and Chuck narrates, “She raises/HER fist, / ready to punch, but I grab it, / and get/in HIS face.” Percy pulls them apart before an altercation can occur.
  • While waiting outside the rink, Skinny’s cousin and his friends run over to “this other/ crew of guys/ like they’re about/ to throw down.” It is implied later that they fight off-screen.
  • Ivan walks into the roller rink “with specks/ of blood/ on his shirt/ and a sneaker/ in his hand.” It is inferred that he was in the fight that occurred off-screen, and that someone was seriously injured. No other details of the fight are given.
  • Chuck says that Ivan is bragging about “the beatdown/ they just dished out.”
  • Someone brings a gun to the rink, and everyone scatters.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Before Chuck’s father died, “he promised/to get me/ some fresh sneakers/and let me/taste beer, /as long as/You don’t tell/your mother, Charlie.”
  • At the end of the book, Chuck narrates, “my mom/ let me taste beer/ and it was disgusting.”
  • Skinny has an uncle that “smokes incessantly.”
  • According to Chuck, “Ivan/used to be/pretty cool/and fun/to be around/till he started/smoking/and hanging out/with a group/of delinquents/he met/in juvie.”
  • It is insinuated that the older guys hanging with Skinny’s cousin are drinking alcohol “hidden in/ brown paper bags.”
  • The police stop Skinny and Chuck outside the rink, and they unknowingly have Ivan’s bag containing “three sandwich bags/ filled with/ cannabis.” They are arrested for possession.

Language

  • Words like stupid, sucks, punk, wimp, nerd, loser, and fool are used frequently throughout the book.
  • There are some loud altercations near the beginning of the story when Chuck’s mom yells at Chuck in creative ways. For example, when Chuck defies his mom and slams his door in her face, she yells, “Boy, I am this/ close to wringing your neck.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • After Chuck scores the winning point in a three-on-three basketball game, he thinks, “The gym / roars like / a hyped-up choir / in church /after a sermon.”
  • Of Chuck’s father’s death, Alice says, “There’s a masterplan, and I’m not the / master. We just have to trust in the plan.

by Alli Kestler

The Outcasts

Hal never knew his father, a Skandian warrior. But unlike his esteemed father, Hal is an outcast. In a country that values physical strength over intellect, Hal’s ingenuity only serves to set him apart from the other boys his age. The one thing he has in common with his peers is Brotherband training. Forced to compete in tests of endurance and strength, Hal soon discovers he’s not the only outcast in this land of seafaring marauders—and that his battle for acceptance has just begun.

Hal and his best friend, Stig, have always felt like outsiders. People have looked down on Hal because he is half-Araluen, and they look down on Stig because his mother makes a living doing other people’s washing. When the two boys go to Brotherband training, Tursgud and Rolland choose their team members, and the eight boys who were not picked form the third Brotherband. Hal is chosen as the reluctant leader of the third Brotherband, the Herons.

As the three teams compete against each other, the Herons learn to help and rely on each other. While few people believe the Herons can be turned into warriors, Hal and his ragtag group find creative ways to defeat the other teams. Even though many of the Herons do not have physical prowess, each member of the Brotherband has an important role. Everyone—even a half-blind boy—can contribute. Through their experiences, readers will learn the importance of controlling their anger, working as a team, taking responsibility for their actions, and using their intelligence.

Middle school readers will relate to Hal and the other Herons as they fight to prove their worth. The story focuses on Hal, who is often criticized for his creative intelligence. However, it is this very intelligence that allows the Herons to win competitions. The Skandia society admires warriors who have strength, courage, and are not afraid of going to battle. These Skandian qualities allow the fast-paced story to have many exciting scenes as well as many descriptions of bullying and violence.

The connecting story arcs, difficult vocabulary, and huge cast of characters make The Outcast best for stronger readers. The conclusion connects all of the story arcs together and ends with a surprising twist. The Brotherband Series features several adults that also appear in the Ranger’s Apprentice Series. Despite this, readers do not need to read the Ranger’s Apprentice Series in order to understand the Brotherband Chronicles. Both series appeal to a wide audience because of the engaging plots, the likable characters, and the life lessons.

Sexual Content

  • The Herons are declared champions and, “Hal was delighted when a certain blond-haired girl slipped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the lips.”

Violence

  • During a raid, village soldiers go after the Skandians. One of the Skandian warriors “slammed the flat of his ax into the shoulder of the charging horse, throwing it off balance. As it stumbled, he drove forward with his shield, hitting the animal again and sending it reeling to one side.” The rider falls off and when the Skandian scares the man, he runs away.
  • As the Skandians are heading back to their ship, one warrior named Mikkel is injured by a spear. “The heavy iron head penetrated underneath Mikkel’s raised arm, burying itself deep in his upper body. He let go a small cry and fell to his knees, then crumpled sideways.” Mikkel dies from his injuries. The raiding scene is described over three pages.
  • A known bully, Tursgud, insults Hal and Hal’s mother. Hal “thrust forward and shoved both hands into Tursgud’s chest, sending the bigger boy stumbling and falling in the soft sand.” The bully “grabbed Hal’s shirt front in his left hand and drew back his right, fist clenched.” An adult breaks up the fight.
  • Pirates attack a group of cargo ships. When the pirates board one ship, the ship’s captain “hears the sounds of battle, axes and swords clashing against each other. . . He heard men shouting, heard the defiant war cries of the Rainbow’s crew.” The Rainbow’s crew was “murdered in a few brief seconds.”
  • The pirates board another ship, the Golden Sun. “The clash of weapons had died away and there was a series of splashes alongside. He [the captain] realized that the pirates were throwing the crews’ bodies overboard.”
  • The pirates overtake a third ship. The Skandian crew “smashed into the disorganized pirates, their heavy oaken shields used as weapons of offense, slamming into the pirates and hurling them to either side. The first rank of the pirates fell before the massive onslaught. The deck ran red with their blood. . .” The pirates throw the captain and his nephew overboard and kill the entire crew. The pirate scenes are described over 10 pages.
  • One of the boys misinterprets an instructor’s command. Next, the instructor “realized that the tree trunk-sized club was whistling through the air at blinding speed, and in the next half second would knock his head clean off his shoulders. With a startled yelp, he dropped flat on the still-wet ground, feeling the wind of the massive weapon as it passed over his skull, missing him by a few centimeters.”
  • Tursgud and his brotherband corner Hal. Hal “sent two lightning left jabs into Tursgud’s face, feeling the other boy’s nose crunch under the impact of the second, then stepped forward and hooked savagely with his right at the big boy’s jaw, hoping to end it there and then.” The last punch misses and the fight continues.
  • Tursgud’s friends grab Hal and hold him captive. “Hal’s ears were ringing and he realized that consciousness was slipping away from him. A hand grasped his hair and pulled his head up, sending tears flowing from his eyes with pain. . . the fist scrape painfully along the side of his face, tearing at his ear, so that blood started to trickle down his face.” By the end of the fight, Hal is semiconscious. The vicious fight takes place over six pages.
  • During the fight, Tursgud’s brotherband ties up Stig, stopping him from helping Hal.
  • One of the brotherband’s competitions is a wrestling match. During a match between Bjorn and Stig, Bjorn throws insults. Stig angrily attacks, which allows Bjorn to pin him. Bjorn “raised his right foot and placed it in Stig’s belly. At the same time, he fell smoothly back onto the grass, then straightened the leg, adding his left leg to the thrust as he rolled backward into the grass.” Bjorn was able to pick up Stig and “the Herons’ representative flew for several meters, landing heavily on his back with an ugly thud that drove the air out of his lungs.” There are three wrestling matches that are described over sixteen pages.
  • During a competition, Stefan mimics Tursgud’s voice in order to confuse Tursgud’s brotherband. When Tursgud sees Stefan, Tursgud runs after him. Tursgud “rapidly overtook Stefan and hurled himself on him, driving him to the ground. Stefan curled in a half ball, elbows and knees up to protect himself from the wild punches Tursgud was throwing.” An instructor breaks up the fight.
  • Pirates sneak into town and kill two of the town watch. Someone reports, “Their throats had been cut.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Thorn becomes a drunk after his best friend dies in battle. At one point, Thorn “had become so drunk the previous night that he had lost his way while heading back to the boatshed where he lived. He had crawled into the shelter of the wall, out of the wind, and laid down, vaguely hoping to die.” While Thorn stops drinking in chapter two, others often talk about his drunkenness.
  • After his friend’s death, Thorn became depressed and looked “for comfort in an ale or brandy tankard. There was very little comfort in either, but there was oblivion, and a strong drink helped him forget his loss, albeit temporarily.”
  • After the Herons are forced to surrender their title, Thorn thinks about Hal’s dismal future and he wants to drink. He gets a strong brandy that was hiding in his room. He is able to resist the temptation because he realizes, “If he drank himself insensible, he would eventually wake up. And this situation would not have changed.” His struggle is described over three pages.
  • A ship was carrying “valuable goods—oil, wool, fleeces, and brandy.”
  • A pirate ship lands in Skandia; the ship is carrying wine.
  • When the Herons are declared champions, the town throws a celebration and many of the adults drink ale.

Language

  • The Skandians often use their gods’ names as exclamations. For example, when someone sees a drunk, Hal says, “Oh, by Gorlog’s claws and nostrils, Mam! He stinks.” Later, someone uses “Gorlog’s breath” as an exclamation.
  • Someone uses “Gorlog and Orlog” as an exclamation. Orlog “was Gorlog’s lesser-known brother, only invoked in moments of great stress or surprise.”
  • When two brothers argue they call each other names such as a “bowlegged monkey,” “ugly gnome,” and “numbskull.”
  • A boy calls Thorn an “old wreck” and a “dirty old cripple.”
  • While fighting, someone calls Tursgud a coward and another boy calls him “coward scum.” As Tursgud punches Hal repeatedly, his brotherband yells, “Kill him! Kill him!”
  • Hal is often reminded that he is half Araluen. One boy calls him an “Araluen weasel.” Later, another boy calls him a “mongrel.”
  • The characters call each other idiots a few times. For example, Hal yells at two arguing brothers, “You blasted, blithering idiots. . .”
  • When an instructor sees two brothers arguing, he tells the group leader, “Gorlog help you if they’re always like that.”
  • An adult calls someone a fool.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • The Skandians believe “if a sea wolf died in battle without a weapon in his hand, his soul would wander in the netherworld for eternity.”
  • Gorlog “was one of the second rank of Skandian gods, like Ullr the hunter or Loki the liar, although unlike them, Gorlog had no specialized skills.”
  • When Hal saw a boy fell, he “breathed a silent prayer of thanks” because the boy’s fall ensured Hal’s brotherband would not be punished.
  • Stig calls Thorn a “broken down tramp.” Later Stig apologizes. When Thorn accepts the apology, Stig says, “Well, praise Gorlog for that!”
  • While getting ready to sail, Hal tells one of his team members, “ ‘All right Ingvar, pull as if Hulde herself was on your heels.’ Hulde was the goddess of the dead, and definitely not someone you would ever want close behind you.”
  • After the Herons fail at protecting an ancient relic, someone says, “Orlog curse the lot of you!”
  • When the Herons leave Skandia, someone says, “ ’May Ullr guide you.’ Ullr was the god of hunters.”

The Paper Cowboy

More than anything, Tommy wants to be a cowboy just like the great Gary Cooper or the Lone Ranger, but really he’s more of a bully. He picks on other kids at school, gets into fights, and acts more like one of the bad guys than the cowboy he wants to be. But there’s a reason Tommy misbehaves: things at home are bad. After his sister is badly burned doing a chore that it was Tommy’s turn to do, his mother’s usual moodiness and scoldings turn into beatings. Tommy is racked with guilt. And without his sister, who is hospitalized, he’s left alone to face his mother’s anger.

As the beatings get worse, Tommy’s bullying spirals out of control. He’s even caught stealing from the neighborhood store. Instead of taking his punishment as a true cowboy would, Tommy seeks revenge on the store’s owner, Mr. McKenzie, by framing him as a communist. The results are disastrous.

But in his heart, Tommy knows a cowboy would make things right, so he sets out to find the real communist. But when the real communist is uncovered, it may make Tommy question what it really means to be one of the good guys.

The Paper Cowboy is a compelling story told from Tommy’s point of view. As Tommy navigates through life, he takes inspiration from the cowboys he has seen in movies. Tommy “longed to be a cowboy. Not a bully. But a cowboy who stands up to others. Who fights for the people he loves, for the town they live in.” After Tommy frames Mr. McKenzie for revenge, Tommy is racked with guilt and he becomes convinced that finding the real Commie is the only solution. As Tommy talks about his dilemma, one character says, “It only takes a little poison to ruin a well on a farm, or to spoil a reputation in a big city.” Later, someone tells him, “It doesn’t matter what you intended. The damage has been done. It’s easy to start a rumor. Much harder to stop it.”

The Paper Cowboy portrays the fear of the McCarthy Era by focusing on the townspeople Tommy comes into contact with. It is through these interactions that Tommy stops judging people based on their appearances and instead judges them based on their character. When Tommy is determined to prove that his neighbor, Mrs. Glazov, is a communist, he begins spending time with her hoping that he can find evidence. He thinks she is a communist, but as he learns more about Mrs. Glazov, he begins to like her and wonders, “What was wrong with me?” In the end, Tommy comes to the conclusion that Mrs. Glazov doesn’t belong in jail, even if she is a communist.

Readers will quickly get caught up in Tommy’s world. While Tommy isn’t always likable, readers will empathize with him as he struggles to become a better person, to right his wrongs, and to understand others. The Paper Cowboy takes readers back into time and allows them to understand how the politics of the McCarthy era affected one small town. In the end, Tommy grows into a cowboy, is able to emulate Gary Cooper’s good qualities, and makes his father proud. Tommy’s dad says, “It wasn’t the shoot-out that made Gary Cooper a great man. It was that he cared for others. He faced his problems. He didn’t walk away. He solved them. A good cowboy is a leader who looks after his heard and his posse. No one goes missing.” Tommy’s well-developed voice jumps off the page and his experiences will show readers the importance of finding your own voice and doing what is right.

Sexual Content

  • Tommy’s sister Mary Lou wanted to wear lipstick, but her mom “wouldn’t let her. She said it was only for loose women. I wondered what that meant. . .”

Violence

  • Tommy’s mom is abusive. She frequently yells and slaps him. After Tommy steals two yo-yos, his mother makes him take his pants down. “This was standard procedure for a whipping. I didn’t mind so much with my dad, but it was humiliating to pull down my pants and underwear in front of my mom. I put my hands on the kitchen counter. . . The belt whipped through the air. Eight, nine. It made a whistle and then a slap as it hit me. Ten, eleven. She didn’t stop. Mom kept hitting me, again and again, until finally the belt snapped back and hit her on the chin. . . In the quiet, I could feel each individual welt on my buttocks. There were tears on my face, but I wiped them away.” Tommy thinks he deserved the punishment.
  • Tommy mentions Mr. and Mrs. Rosenberg who were “convicted of spying for the Soviets.” They were executed. During recess, Tommy and his friends like to play “electric-chair tag.”
  • One of Tommy’s classmates has a burn scar on his face. The boy’s father explains, “It happened during the war. There was an air raid and we’d made it to the shelter. We thought we were safe. . . But a bomb caused a water heater to explode and it scarred his face.”
  • When a boy tells the store owner that Tommy stole the yo-yos, Tommy punched the boy in the stomach and the boy “bent over double.” Later, Tommy shoves the boy, who “lost his balance and fell into the dirt.”
  • Tommy’s mom gets upset at him and commands him to take his pants down. “When Mom started whipping me, I tried to make myself concentrate on normal things. . . But Mom just didn’t stop. I could feel the welts forming on welts on my butt. And when a lash went wild and hit my back, I couldn’t help crying out. . . Mom kept hitting me. It felt like a thousand bees, stinging me at once. . . Mom kept on. And Dad never came in to see if I was okay.”
  • Tommy’s neighbor tells him why she came to America. “The Nazis not just throw me in camp. They kill my boys and my husband.”
  • Tommy’s mom is upset that Tommy gave Mary Lou a pain pill. “Mom yelled at me to stop [crying], and I tried to, I really did. I wanted to be tough and stoic, but the tears kept coming. . .” Mary Lou told their mom to stop. “I knew Mary Lou was trying to help, but it was mortifying to have my older sister see me, my pants around my ankles, crying like a baby. . .Mom just ignored Mary Lou and kept hitting me. . .Mom paused, the belt dangling from her hand. . .Mom was breathing hard, sweat on her forehead, even though it was cold in the room.” Tommy’s dad intervenes.
  • Tommy and his friend, Eddie, play a mean joke on Little Skinny. At school, Little Skinny confronts them and “punched Eddie in the stomach. . . Little Skinny had his full weight on top of Eddie and was pounding away. One hit after another, I could see the blood pour out of Eddie’s nose.”
  • When Tommy is late, his mother slaps him. Tommy tells her, “’Go ahead. Slap the other side.’ She did.” One of the school nuns intervenes.
  • Tommy’s dog is hit by a car. “There was a huge red gash from one end of his belly to the other. . . I was pretty sure I could see his guts hanging out.” Tommy takes the dog to an adult friend, who is able to sew the dog’s wound. The dog lives.
  • When Tommy misses the bus, his mom “didn’t wait for me to pull down my pants this time, just slammed my hands down on the counter and started hitting me. . . I was too terrified to cry. Her blows were wild now, as likely to hit my back or my legs as my buttocks.” Tommy’s sister Pinky tries to stop her mom. “The belt flew through the air again. Pinky gasped. A big welt rose up on her skinny little arm.” Tommy yells and runs out of the house. The scene is described over three pages.
  • Tommy doesn’t keep his best friend, Eddie’s, secret. So at school, Eddie, “slugged me in the stomach. I wasn’t expecting the blow and I fell to the ground. My belly ached, twisted in knots, and for a moment, I thought I was going to throw up.” Tommy thinks about his mom’s beatings and doesn’t hit back.
  • Tommy, Eddie, and their dads go fishing. Eddie’s dad, Mr. Sullivan, gets drunk and the men start arguing. Mr. Sullivan “slapped Eddie on the cheek” for being disrespectful. Then Mr. Sullivan began shaking Eddie. Tommy thinks, “I bet it hurt being shaken like that. It had hurt when Mom had hit me.”
  • As the men’s arguing escalates, Mr. Sullivan “pulled out a handgun and pointed it at my dad’s face. . . Dad picked up the knife we used to gut fish.” Tommy and Eddie work together to diffuse the situation. Mr. Sullivan, “still had the gun pointed at my dad, but it was a bit lower now. . . Eddie and I both jumped onto his father, knocking him to the ground. The gun went off, but the bullet went wild, into the marshy grass.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • While Mary Lou is in the hospital, the doctors give her morphine for the pain. Her mother worries that “she’ll become an addict!”
  • When Mary Lou is allowed to go home for a visit, her mom “started rationing Mary Lou’s pain pills.” Her mom is worried that Mary Lou would become a drug addict.
  • When the sheriff goes to talk to the store owner, the owner gives the sheriff a beer.
  • On Halloween, a doctor gives Tommy’s mom “a pill” to help her sleep. After that, Tommy’s mom continues to take the pills and sleeps a lot.
  • After Tommy’s father goes to see Mary Lou, he comes home smelling like whiskey.
  • On Thanksgiving, Tommy’s father leaves and when he comes back, he “smelled like alcohol again.”
  • While in a courtroom, Tommy “listened to the next case: a man who had had too much to drink had backed his car into his neighbor’s bed of prize-winning roses.”
  • A man is fired because he was drinking at work.
  • While eating lunch with a friend, Tommy’s dad has a beer.

Language

  • The kids in the book occasionally call each other names such as stupid, jerk, and idiot.
  • Crap is used once.
  • A boy tells the store owner that Tommy stole the yo-yos, and Tommy calls the boy an idiot and a rat. Tommy’s friend calls the boy a tattletale.
  • Tommy calls a fat classmate, “Little Skinny.” Tommy often calls Little Skinny names such as idiot and fatty.
  • Tommy’s mom has to go in front of a judge for a speeding ticket. She curses to the judge in Polish, saying “pieprzony dupku!”
  • Tommy calls a girl, “Lizard-Face.” One of his friends joins in and calls someone else, “Monkey-Head.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Tommy’s family is Catholic and he goes to a Catholic school. When Tommy’s sister is burned, his mom says “prayers to the Virgin Mary.” Tommy says, “so many Hail Marys, it seemed like those were the only words left in the world.”
  • At school, the students have mass “every morning. That meant thirty-five minutes of peace and quiet—well, except for the standing up and kneeling, and chanting in Latin, but I could do all that in my sleep.”
  • After Tommy’s sister is injured, several people tell him, “We’re praying for your sister.”
  • When Tommy sees his sister for the first time after the accident, he begins to cry. He thinks, “I know I should be happy and thanking God, but I couldn’t stop crying.”
  • Tommy thinks the “Commies didn’t believe in freedom of religion either. Heck, they didn’t believe in religion at all.”
  • One man doesn’t want to include Sam when planning an event because his dad was rumored to be a communist. However, someone reminds the group of, “Ezekiel 18:20. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father.’”

Latest Reviews