Reading Level: Junior High

Judy, Prisoner of War

Judy, an English pointer, is dedicated to helping humans on her ship. She has an uncanny ability to tell when danger is near. Her ability to warn the men of trouble makes her the perfect dog to be a part of His Majesty’s Royal Navy. She serves along with her human companions during World War II.

When the enemy sinks Judy’s ship, she and her fellow soldiers become prisoners of war. The conditions are harsh. The men lack food, so Judy hunts rats and lizards to share with the humans. Often the men’s morale is low, so Judy does what she can to lift their spirits. As the Japanese begin to lose the war, the POWs are given less food and more beatings. Can Judy figure out a way to keep her human companions and herself alive?

Told from Judy’s point of view, Prisoner of War gives a unique perspective of World War II. The story is based on a true story and covers the time period between 1936 through 1946. Because the story takes place over a long period, readers may have a difficult time keeping track of all of the events and the different humans that Judy meets. Although Judy’s point of view is interesting, the story often reads like a history book.

Judy eventually finds a human best friend, Frank, and is completely dedicated to him. However, readers will not get a clear picture of Frank’s personality. Although it is clear that Frank goes out of his way to make sure that Judy is able to stay with him, the story doesn’t portray the deep feelings that the two have for each other.

Prisoner of War takes the events of World War II and makes them more kid-friendly; however, the events of World War II may upset younger readers. Even though the war’s brutality isn’t described in detail, people are mistreated and people die. Through Judy’s eyes, readers will see that the war was full of destruction, but there was kindness as well.

Anyone who enjoys history should read Prisoner of War because the story is based on a true story. Historical information and pictures of Judy appear at the end of the book. Even though the story is not fast-paced, Judy’s story is interesting and will ignite readers’ interest in learning more about the events that happened during World War II. If you prefer action-packed stories, Survival Tails: World War II by Katrina Charman would be a good choice; similar to Prisoner of War, Survival Tails: World War II is a World War II story that is told from an animal’s point of view.

 Sexual Content

  • Judy met a dog named Paul. “Paul took one look at me and fell in love. . . But I played hard to get. He spent a lot of time showing off to get my attention whenever I was on deck or on the riverboat. . .” The humans have a wedding ceremony for the two dogs. “Paul and I had a three-day honeymoon on the Gnat . . .” Judy finds out that she’s going to have puppies.
  • While Judy was a prisoner, she went into the jungle to hunt. “On one of my nighttime treks into the jungle, I met a nice dog and we spent some time together. And boy was Frank surprised when he discovered I was going to have more puppies!”

Violence

  • Judy tried to stay away from the Japanese soldiers because they would kick her. Judy watched as Japanese soldiers attack Mr. Soo, a storekeeper. “And tonight there was a whole group of them yelling and throwing things around Mr. Soo’s shop. Mr. Soo tried to get them to stop. When he did, they started to hit him. He was already on the floor, bleeding, when I ran through the back door to the shop. . . One gave me a kick and another threw something at my head. Then a third one grabbed me by the neck and carried me outside.” Eventually, the soldiers leave and neighbors help Mr. Soo.
  • Pirates try to attack a ship called the Gnat. The pirates try to catch the ship with a rope. “The minute that rope hit our prow, the Gnat’s machine guns opened fire. Even so, the shadowy figures rose and tried to board our ship, only to be met with more gunfire.” The Gnat is able to get away.
  • The Japanese bomb Chinese cities. “One million Japanese soldiers, backed by Japan’s navy and air force, were on the outskirts of the city. Planes dropped bombs on the Chinese, and they were forced to abandon Shanghai.”
  • The Panay was sent to help civilian Americans leave China. “Suddenly, bombs started falling all around them. Three oil-carrying ships were hit and set fire. And the Panay . . . sank to the bottom of the river. Most of the people on board made it to safety on the lifeboats, but the Panay would never sail again.” During the attack, the Ladybird “had been hit repeatedly. Some of my friends were killed. Many more were injured.”
  • A Japanese sentry sees Judy, and “he screamed and raised his foot to give me a kick, but I danced out of his way. Then I rose up on my hind legs and growled at him. . . He grabbed his rifle and leveled it at my head.” One of Judy’s human friends helps by throwing the Japanese sentry into the river.
  • Japanese planes search for battleships. Two battleships are spotted by a Japanese submarine. “Bombs soon rained down on them from the skies while torpedoes hit them from under the sea. In just two hours, England lost any ability to stop the Japanese in the Pacific.”
  • When some British soldiers need to be rescued, a unit goes into the jungle to look for them. One man was “shot in the leg.” The man is taken to the hospital.
  • A Japanese seaplane “dropped a bomb over the Grasshopper, but luckily, it missed. The children hid their heads and screamed, and I watched as the seaplane turned to head for the Dragonfly. It dropped a bomb close enough to cause damage.” Later more planes arrive and, “Boom! The bomb hit the part of the ship where most of the women and children were staying. I had been with them just seconds before.” The survivors abandon the ship and swim to shore.
  • Later someone tells how “the Dragonfly had taken a direct bomb hit, and then two more. Explosions ripped the boat apart while sailors desperately tried to launch a lifeboat and rubber life rafts. . . the water was filled with men, clinging to rafts or bits of wreckage. The planes returned to shoot at them with machine guns. Bullets ripped across the surface of the water while men dove below to try to stay alive.”
  • A crocodile snaps at Judy. “Ouch! I danced back just in time to escape its giant jaws, but it managed to slash my shoulder with its claws before it escaped into the river.”
  • Some of the prisoners steal rice. When the Japanese search the barracks, the prisoners are worried that the Japanese will discover the rice. Judy comes to the rescue. She goes to a graveyard and digs up a skull, “and then I race back to the barracks. You should have seen the kickers’ [soldiers’] faces when I ran in with a human skull between my teeth! They screamed and yelled while I made three loops around the room.”
  • While a prisoner, Judy had to “hunt at night, and I brought Frank everything I caught and killed so we could share.”
  • The POWs were crammed into a ship. While they were sailing, torpedoes hit. “First one explosion and then another. Smoke and steam filled the cargo hold. Saltwater poured through the ship’s hull. . . POWs who tried to climb on lifeboats were kicked away with boots or rifle butts.” The men were later rescued.
  • While working as a POW, the men were beaten. “The guards shouted orders no one could understand and then beat the men for not understanding. Sometimes they beat the men just because they were bored and wanted something to do.”
  • A guard tries to shoot Judy. She “saw a flash and dodged out of the way just in time before dashing back into the jungle.” Judy stayed hidden until it was safe to come out.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World’s Most Notorious Nazi

Everyone had forgotten about it. The Americans are fighting the Russians. The British and French are starting to rebuild their countries. The Japanese are experiencing an economic boom. Germany is being split into two. The world had moved on and forgotten the world’s worst genocide—the Holocaust.

At the end of World War II, Adolf Eichmann, the head of operations of the Nazi’s Final Solution, disappeared without a trace. After sending millions of innocent people to their deaths, Eichmann said goodbye to his wife and sons, walked into the German countryside, and vanished. Sixteen years later, an elite team of Israeli spies is sent to Argentina with one goal in mind—capture and secure Eichmann and bring him to trial in Israel.

Faced with an impossible task, a lawyer, a forger, a doctor, a pilot, and a team of Israeli agents risk everything to capture the architect of the Holocaust. If they are caught, the team could face decades of imprisonment or even death by Argentinian Neo-Nazi groups. However, they have to take the risk–they must take Eichmann to Israel to remind the world of the Holocaust’s victims.

The Nazi Hunters will leave readers on the edge of their seats as it tells the thrilling, harrowing, and true tale of how a team of Israeli spies was able to secretly capture one of the top Nazis decades after his disappearance. Complete with photographs, maps, and top-secret documents, Neal Bascomb tells the story in a cinematic light that will engage readers and get them interested in reading nonfiction.

With his nonfiction novel, Bascomb not only shows readers how traumatic and terrible the Holocaust was but also the far-reaching effects of the genocide–affecting not only its Jewish victims but also the Jewish generations to come. After 16 years of silence, Eichmann’s trial highlighted the true nature of the Holocaust and allowed survivors to openly share their experiences in Nazi concentration and work camps.

Even though The Nazi Hunters contains historical information, the story is fast-paced and reads much like a spy novel. The story is exciting, and the pictures that are scattered throughout the story will remind readers that the events and people are real. Descriptions can sometimes be gory, such as with Eichmann’s hanging, but Bascomb uses the violence to show readers how brutal the Holocaust was and to ground the story in reality. With the countless number of names and historical events, young readers may have a difficult time following the story’s main characters. But, The Nazi Hunters is a fantastic book for middle school readers, rounding out their knowledge about the Holocaust by showing its everlasting effect on world politics.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • In December of 1959, Nazi sympathizers attacked Jewish synagogues and citizens in West Germany. “In the following days, anti-Semitic attacks and demonstrations broke out across West Germany, and police were stationed outside synagogues and Jewish cemeteries to prevent further desecrations. In total, 685 Jewish locations throughout the country were vandalized. These were more than the isolated actions of a few hooligans, and Jewish leaders in West Germany made it clear that the scene ‘evoked pictures that bring to mind the November days of 1938,’ referring to Kristallnacht.”
  • When initially capturing Eichmann, “Malkin burst forward, one hand reaching out to keep Eichmann’s right arm down in case he had a gun. His momentum, mixed with his target’s retreat, sent them both pitching to the ground. The agent seized Eichmann as they rolled into the shallow, muddy ditch that ran alongside the road.” Malkin and another agent eventually restrain Eichmann, placing a hand over his mouth so he can’t scream. Then, they throw Eichmann into the backseat of their car.
  • After the car is one hundred feet from Eichmann’s Argentinian house, Aharoni warns him, “Sit still and nothing will happen to you. If you resist, we will shoot you. Do you understand?”
  • After finding their father missing, Nick and Dieter bought three guns and “broke into a Jewish synagogue in the city, guns at their sides.” However, their father is not there and they continue searching.
  • While Eichmann was imprisoned and awaiting trial in Israel, “the prison commandant feared not only that Eichmann might commit suicide, but also that there might be an attempt on his life. His food was always tasted before serving, and his guards were carefully selected so that none of them had lost a family member in the Holocaust.”
  • After the news was released of the Israeli spies’ capture of Eichmann, some Argentinian neo-Nazi groups were eager to seek revenge on local Jewish Argentinians. “Some in Argentina were eager. Unable to strike against them directly, right-wing groups took their revenge on the local Jewish. Tacuara carried out the worst of these attacks, beating up several Jewish students at the University of Buenos Aires and chanting, ‘Long live Eichmann. Death to Jews.’ One student was shot, and later in a vicious assault, Tacuara radicals branded a swastika onto the chest of a teenage girl whose father was suspected of having helped the Israelis.”
  • The book describes Eichmann’s 1962 hanging. “The two guards hit their buttons, and the platform opened with a clang. Eichmann fell ten feet into a room below without a sound. The rope went straight, snapped, and then swayed back and forth. A doctor moved into the chamber, took Eichmann’s pulse, and declared the Nazi dead.” After he is hanged, Eichmann is cremated, and his ashes are thrown into the sea so that no shrine or tribute can be made to him.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • When leaving Argentina on an airplane, Eichmann has to be sedated in order to not cause trouble. “The doctor slid the needle into a vein and attached a tube. Then he delivered the sedative. Eichmann soon faded, mumbling, ‘No, no. I don’t need it.’”
  • While imprisoned in Argentina and awaiting transport to Israel, “Eichmann had spoken of his love for red wine, and Malkin thought that it wouldn’t do any harm to give him a glass. . . Malkin poured a glass of wine and placed it in Eichmann’s hands. The prisoner drained his glass. Malkin sipped at his wine. He put a record on the turntable and then lit a cigarette for Eichmann. Flamenco music filled the small, stuffy room. Eichmann drew deeply on the cigarette until it was almost at its butt.”

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Upon capture, Eichmann reveals that he knows a bit of Hebrew. Aharoni stops him from speaking, saying that, “The words were the beginning of the Sh’ma, the holiest prayer in the Jewish religion, recited in the morning and at night by the faithful. It was a prayer spoken at the hour of death, and millions, millions, of Jews had come to utter it because of Adolf Eichmann.”
  • After saying a quick prayer, Eichmann’s last words were, “Gentlemen, we shall meet again soon, so is the fate of all men. I have believed in God all my life, and I die believing in God.”

by Matthew Perkey

Beneath the Weeping Clouds

Echofrost, Shysong, and all of the Storm Herd are finally free, but their freedom came with a price. Sandwen Rider Rahkki Stormrunner has been captured by the Gorlan giants, who are quickly losing their patience with the Fifth Clan. With Rahkki in grave danger, the Storm Herd must join forces with the humans they have long feared to save him.

As sweeping monsoon rains threaten to ravage the region, enemies, friends, tame steeds, and wild steeds will have to engage in one final battle to decide the fate of all three groups—the Sandwens, the giants, and the pegasi.

The third installment of the Riders of the Realm Series focuses more on Rahkki’s experiences in the giant’s world. Even though Rahkki isn’t free to leave, the giants treat him as a welcomed guest. The giants hope to make a peace agreement with the landwalkers. Soon Rahkki realizes that many of his ideas about the giants are incorrect. In the end, Rahkki’s misconceptions prevail and end up destroying a chance at peace.

I’Lenna and Rahkki’s brother, Brauk, also plays a dominant role in the story. Unfortunately, a large part of the story focuses on Rahkki, Brauk, and I’Lenna attempting to find each other. Even though the publisher recommends the series for readers as young as eight, younger readers may be frightened by some of the story’s events. At one point, Rahkki is almost killed by giant ants and a giant spider. Another frightening event is when I’Lenna’s mother has her tied up as a sacrifice to a giant lizard.

Alvarez expertly weaves the important events from the past books into Beneath the Weeping Clouds, which will help readers keep track of the large cast of characters. Readers who have read the previous books will emotionally connect to the characters, especially Rahkki. Readers will root for Rahkki as he tries to bring peace to his world. The events of the conclusion are exciting and show the importance of not making assumptions about others. However, the conclusion also leaves many unanswered questions.

Beneath the Weeping Clouds is full of danger, adventure, and even ends with an epic battle between Rahkki’s family and the Queen’s supporters. The story reinforces the importance of communication and forgiveness. The Riders of the Realm Series will entertain readers. However, the long descriptions, the large cast of characters, and the complex storyline make the story suitable for strong readers. Beneath the Weeping Clouds explores the themes of friendship, freedom, and forgiveness and will leave readers wishing that they could bring Rahkki into their world.

Sexual Content

  • I’Lenna thinks about Rahkki who “kissed her.”

Violence

  • When an unfamiliar Kihlara rushed Echofrost, “She reared up just as Graystone thrust his large body between her and the charging steed. The chestnut smacked into Graystone’s chest and rocked backward, smashing into Hazelwind, who bit the chestnut’s neck and tossed him onto his side.” Echofrost stops the fight.
  • I’Lenna is tied to a sunstone as an offering to Granak. On the third night, I’Lenna hears “a tree crack and topple over.” She tries to escape. “Bracing herself, I’Lenna yanked against the iron manacles at the ends of the ropes, rubbing her flesh raw on the hard metal.” I’Lenna dislocates her thumb in order to get her hand free.” In order to free I’Lenna, some of her friends distract the dragon. Koka “snatched at Mut’s dagger and stabbed the dragon in the leg. The reptile twisted around, teeth flashing.”
  • I’Lenna’s friends set a herd of goats free. “As hoped, the easy prey drew the dragon’s bright eyes. . . In two mighty steps, she reached the goats and bit one, then two more. She lowered herself, waiting for her toxic venom to take effect.” The group hides and most people assume the dragon ate I’Lenna. The dragon scene takes place over five years.
  • Rahkki throws a fish in the giant’s soup. Then, “three giants grabbed him and began to pull his limbs in opposite directions. Rahkki howled as pain shot through his body.” Rahkki is then thrown in a cell.
  • Rahkki’s brother says that an ancient race was probably “exterminated.”
  • Rahkki is trapped by giant monsoon ants. Rahkki’s dragon tried to help him. “The golden burner soared through the raindrops and dived towards the insects, shooting blue flames, his hottest. Ants caught fire and exploded. Their disembodied legs and shells spiraled into the sky.”
  • Rahkki tries to run from the ants, but the ants “swarmed his legs. He drew Miah’s dagger and attacked, knocking the ants off his skin and skewering them. . . They scurried up Rahkki’s legs, clamped their mandibles around his flesh, and then jammed him with their stingers.”
  • Rahkki tries to climb up a tree, but vultures “attacked and pecked his arms. Rahkki fell backward and slammed onto the ground again. The savage ants flowed over him. He flailed.” Unexpected help arrives and saves Rahkki. The scene takes place over five pages.
  • Rahkki’s brother, Brauk, breaks into a guard’s room. When the guard appears, “Brauk shot up and struck the guard with the back of his elbow, knocking him unconscious before he could draw his weapon. The man toppled.”
  • A black magna spider traps Rahkki, who “tries to kick the silk away from him, but it stuck to his legs.” Brauk tries to help by throwing a dagger. “The dagger slammed into the spider’s belly. Blue blood squirted from the wound and splattered Rahkki and the tree.” Rahkki is saved. The scene is described over two pages.
  • After ripping out the spider’s venom sack, someone “gave the spider’s head a hard, fast jerk, killing it instantly.”
  • Divided over who should be queen, the villagers begin fighting each other. A blacksmith “raced toward the soldiers, hammer lifted over his head. The adult villagers charged with him. They swarmed the soldiers, who seemed frozen with shock.” The soldiers attacked and “lit firebrands and tossed them at the huts, setting thatched roofs on fire.”
  • During the battle, Brauk “twirled and thrust his sword. Kol reared, clubbing soldiers with his hooves.”
  • Both the wild herd and the tame herd fight the soldiers. “The flying armies collided. Riders swung their swords, hooves struck hides, and teeth tore into skin. Grunts and snorts, squeals and shrieks filled the sky… The Riders hollered to one another and slicked at the wild pegasi with their glinting swords.” Several of the pegasi are injured.
  • Brauk fights Harak. “As his sword clanged to the ground, Harak kicked, striking Brauk again in the spine. Brauk crumpled into a lifeless pile. . . Then a fist rose from the crumpled pile that was Brauk. He drove it straight into Harak’s nose. Blood burst out and streaked the blond man’s face.” During the fight, Harak’s stallion, “dived down and kicked Brauk in the back, flattening him to the ground.” One of the wild herd “glided past Harak Nightseer, [and] she kicked him soundly in the head. Harak crumpled, knocked out cold.”
  • The Queen is accidently stabbed with a dagger. “She dropped to the floor. . . Her eyelids fluttered, her lips pursed.” The Queen is gravely injured, but it is not clear if she lives or dies. The battle scene is described over 51 pages.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • In a previous battle, Rahkki “soaked his darts in poisonous dragon drool after first boiling out all the toxins, leaving only the anesthetic properties intact.”
  • The Queen’s Elixir heals people. The Elixir is made from “black magna spider venom.” “Unlike most poisonous creatures, this spider’s venom didn’t injure or kill—it healed its prey, rapidly curing disease, knitting broken bones, and restoring damaged tissue and organs.”

Language

  • “Bloody rain” is used as an exclamation frequently.
  • Bloody is used as an adjective several times. For example, someone said the soup was “bloody disgusting.”
  • Rahkki thinks he is an “idiot.”

Supernatural

  • The clan believes in omens. They think an early monsoon is “another bad omen.”

Spiritual Content

  • Rahkki’s brother implored his clan’s protection from “Granak and the Seven Sisters” when he prays, “watch over me.”
  • I’Lenna prays, “Granak, Father of Dragons. Please protect your people.”
  • When the giants attack, I’Lenna prays, “Granak protect us.”
  • Rahkki yells, “Granak! As a bloodborn prince of the Fifth Clan, I command you to protect us. . . Rahkii believed in Granak. Why did his people feed the huge lizard if not for his protection? Please, Rahkki thought, hear my call!”
  • “Lands to skies,” “sun and stars,” and “by Granak” are all occasionally used as an exclamation.
  • “By the Ancestors” is used as an exclamation once.
  • Someone says, “Praise the wind!”

Twilight

When Bella’s mother gets remarried, Bella leaves her home in sunny Phoenix and goes to live with her father in the perpetually rainy town of Forks, Washington. Forks is a tiny, gloomy town and Bella is fully prepared to be miserable for her final two years of high school. She doesn’t expect anything interesting to happen in Forks; that is, until she meets Edward Cullen.

Something is different about Edward. Breathtakingly beautiful and from a wealthy family, he baffles Bella with wild mood swings. When they first meet, he instantly despises her to the point of frightening her. Then—after disappearing for a week—he appears perfectly cordial. But it’s not until Edward saves her life in a feat of superhuman strength that Bella realizes the Cullen family is guarding a dangerous secret. It would be smarter to walk away, but by the time she realizes that, it’s too late. Live or die, Bella has fallen in love with Edward and she can’t walk away no matter the consequences.

Twilight is an epic story of love overcoming all challenges. The unique storyline has spawned an entire subsection of supernatural YA novels. The well-developed cast of characters will make the story come alive and hook readers immediately. Bella is not an overpowered heroine; she is quiet and clumsy to a fault, but she is fiercely loyal and brave. Bella risks everything for love, a choice that not all adults will agree with, but that most readers will understand and respect as they follow Bella’s journey with eagerness and excitement.

Twilight is a delightful start to a wonderful quartet. Parents may not want younger readers to pick up this book as Bella lies to her father about her relationship with Edward, and Edward frequently climbs in Bella’s window and stays the night (though they don’t go further than kissing). Aside from that caveat, Twilight is a wonderful story that swept through a generation of young readers like wildfire and will continue to be picked up by swarms of readers in years to come.

Sexual Content

  • When Bella and Edward kiss for the first time, “Blood boiled under my skin, burned in my lips. My breath came in a wild gasp. My fingers knotted in his hair, clutching him to me. My lips parted as I breathed in his heady scent.”
  • The second time Bella and Edward kiss, “His fingers traced slowly down my spine, his breath coming more quickly against my skin. My hands were limp on his chest, and I felt lightheaded again. He tilted his head slowly and touched his cool lips to mine for the second time, very carefully, parting them slightly.”
  • Edward and Bella kiss a few more times. These kisses are described briefly, such as “for the shortest second, his lips were icy and hard against mine” or “his lips touched mine gently.”
  • When saying goodbye, Edward “leaned in to swiftly kiss me just under the edge of my jaw.”
  • Bella gets lost in a bad part of town and is followed by several men. She considers dropping her purse, “But a small, frightened voice in the back of my mind warned me that they might be something worse than thieves.” Edward rescues her.
  • Bella asks Edward if marriage for vampires is “the same as it is for humans.” She then says, “Well, I did wonder…about you and me…someday…” Edward says he doesn’t think that would be possible, as humans are so breakable.

Violence

  • Esme tells Bella that after her baby died, “It broke my heart – that’s why I jumped off the cliff, you know.”
  • After Carlisle became a vampire, he “tried to destroy himself…He jumped from great heights…He tried to drown himself in the ocean.”
  • Bella is tortured and almost killed by a vampire. “A crushing blow struck my chest…He was over me at once, his foot stepping down hard on my leg. I heard the sickening snap before I felt it. But then I did feel it, and I couldn’t hold back my scream of agony.” This scene takes place over three pages.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Once, Bella “did something I’d never done before. I deliberately took unnecessary cold medicine – the kind that knocked me out for a good eight hours…tomorrow would be complicated enough without me being loopy from sleep deprivation.”

Language

  • Bella thinks, “Forks was literally my personal hell on earth.”
  • Bella says, “Holy crow!” a few times.
  • Bella says, “Darn it,” once.
  • Damn is used three times. Once, Edward says “Damn it, Bella! You’ll be the death of me.” Another time, Bella says “Dammit, Edward! Where are you taking me?”
  • When Jacob’s father sends him to warn Bella, Jacob asks, “Should I tell him you said to butt the hell out?”

Supernatural

  • A legend of the indigenous Quileute people “claims that [they] descended from wolves – and that the wolves are our brothers still.”
  • Edward and his family are vampires, and Bella meets another coven of vampires that pass through Forks. Unlike most vampires, Edward and his family survive off the blood of animals, so they do not have to murder people.
  • Some vampires have special abilities. Edward can read minds; his brother Jasper can control the emotions of those around him; his sister Alice can see bits and pieces of the future.
  • Edward tells Bella about a time in his life when he was a true vampire who fed on humans. He says that he “had a typical bout of rebellious adolescence…I wasn’t sold on [Carlisle’s] life of abstinence, and I resented him for curbing my appetite.”

Spiritual Content

  • Before the prologue, there is a Bible verse. “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest therof thou shalt surely die. Genesis 2:17”
  • At first, Edward tries to stay away from Bella because he thinks it would be safer for her. Then he decides “as long as I was going to hell, I might as well do it thoroughly.”
  • When Bella asks to be turned into a vampire, Edward says, “I refuse to damn you to an eternity of night.”
  • Carlisle’s father was a pastor who was “enthusiastic in his persecution of Roman Catholics and other religions. He also believed very strongly in the reality of evil. He led hunts for witches, werewolves…and vampires.”
  • In passing, Bella hears a legend that the indigenous Quileute people “tied their canoes to the tops of the tallest trees on the mountain to survive like Noah and the ark.”

by Morgan Lynn

Archimancy

Cordelia Liu wasn’t happy to leave California. As soon as she stepped into Shadow School, she knew things were going to be different. Still, she didn’t expect the school grounds to be filled with ghosts.

Cordelia soon realizes she’s not the only one who can see the ghosts; her new friend Benji can too. Together with super-smart Agnes, the trio are determined to find out why the ghosts are there and whether there’s a way to set them free.

But the school was created with more sinister intentions, and someone is willing to go to extreme lengths to ensure that the ghosts remain trapped forever. Cordelia and her friends don’t know who they can trust. Do they need to fear the living, the dead, or both?

Shadow School isn’t just another ghost story. White creates a unique setting that is spooky without being overly frightening. Cordelia and her friends are somewhat stereotypical, but readers will still enjoy the brainy Angus, the sullen cute Benji, and the curious Cordelia. As Cordelia and her friends help the ghosts leave Shadow School, readers may be slightly disappointed that the ghosts’ stories lack detail. Instead of delving into the ghosts’ personal stories, the ghosts are quickly dispatched.

Even though Cordelia solves each problem quickly, readers will still enjoy the mystery behind Shadow School as well as the character’s interactions. Since Cordelia is a new student at Shadow School, she struggles to make friends. Throughout the story, Cordelia learns the importance of forgiveness as well as the importance of being friends with people who are different than her.

Cordelia is far from a perfect character, but her flaws make her relatable. She has awkward moments with her parents, she isn’t sure who she can trust, and she doesn’t always know what to do. Cordelia thinks about ignoring the ghosts, but decides to continue helping them because “easy choices were seldom the right ones.”

Shadow School has just the right amount of mystery, friendship, and frightening scenes to keep middle school readers engaged. Readers will have to use context clues to decipher difficult vocabulary, such as pealegume, tessellating, assuage, and spile. Told from Cordelia’s point of view, Shadow School gives readers an exciting peek into a paranormal world. Readers who enjoy Shadow School will also enjoy Nightbooks, another spooky story written by J.A. White.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • While eating lunch, a food fight starts. “A plate of lasagna smacked” a boy in the face and “a piece of stringy cheese dangled from his nose as he searched for the culprit. . . Trays flew through the air, raining down lasagna, pizza, bagels, fries, sticky beverages, and the occasional healthy salad. There were no hurricane-forced gales, no apparent cause for the objects to be moving on their own. . . The table next to Cordelia was rumbling like a volcano about to erupt. She pulled Grant to safety as it slid across the room, right where they had been standing a moment before.” As the kids run out of the cafeteria, Cordelia sees a ghost. The chaos is described over three pages.
  • Cordelia hears a ghost whistle a lullaby and “Cordelia felt her limbs grow sluggish and saw the boy. . . could barely stay awake. His eyes fluttered, and he tottered uneasily from side to side before falling through the wall.” As Cordelia watches the ghost grab a tool with “a long pincer on one end, black and jagged like the claw of a prehistoric crustacean . . . the green-eyed ghost dug the pincer into the back of the hipster and pressed a trigger at the opposite end. The edges of the pincer closed. The green-eyed ghost pulled backward, and the hipster seemed to leap out of himself, though the version gripped by the pincer quickly deflated and hung like a suit of clothes.” Cordelia figures out that the ghosts fade away because someone snatched parts of them.
  • When Cordelia and her friend try to take blueprints out of a hidden office, a ghost sees them. The ghost named Elijah “raised his arm and point[ed] to the left, where the bronze compass that had been sitting on the table now hovered in the air, its rusty but still serviceable point extended in their direction. As Cordelia watched, the compass was joined by a utility knife and two pairs of scissors, while a row of sharpened pencils took position to their right.” A boy ghost “came out of nowhere, plowing shoulder-first into the back of Elijah’s legs and knocking him over.” Because of the boy ghost, Cordelia and her friend are able to escape. The scene is described over three pages.
  • Cordelia and her friends plan to trap the evil ghost in a ghost box. When one of the evil ghosts (Lenny) tries to grab Cordelia, “the hiker reached out and wrapped her arms around him. Lenny tried to shake her off, but the hiker dragged him backward with a fierce look of determination. Within a few moments, his entire body was inside the ghost box with her.”
  • As Cordelia goes down a hall, “the lockers to either side of her began to rumble and shake. . . Locks burst open and shot across the hall at dangerous speed. Cordelia heard one whiz past her ear while another clipped her wrist, sending a lightning bolt of pain all the way to her elbow. She broke into a run.” School supplies begin hitting Cordelia, then “the world went black.”
  • An evil ghost named Geist tries to get rid of Cordelia. When he catches her, “Cordelia suddenly rose two feet into the air and drifted toward the cart. She tried to fight it, but Geist was too powerful.” Cordelia’s friends save her and they capture Geist. “Cordelia grabbed a tool of her own and got to work, fastening the claw to Geist’s hip. The ghost snatcher spun in her direction, his green eyes glowing with malevolence, but there was nothing he could do. . .One, Geist was gone. Two, each one of their snatching tools now held a sad, deflated sac of skin.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Cordelia googled “Good Spirits” and instead of getting information on ghosts, the search “took her to a list of stores that sold alcohol.”
  • Agnes makes brownies and shares them with adults. Then she tells them, “I added crème de menthe. That’s alcohol!”

Language

  • Heck is used twice.
  • Cordelia says a boy is “a jerk.”
  • While telling a story Agnes says, “some idiot dumped a few northern snakeheads into a pond in Maryland. . .”

Supernatural

  • Some of the characters can see ghosts. The number of ghosts is “always changing. New ones arrive. Old ones fade away.” One of the characters explains, “Ghosts stay in one small area. A bench, like Newspaper Man. Or the gym, like the boy. There’s a doctor wearing green scrubs who mostly sticks to the supply closet, but sometimes she rushes down the hallway with her hands up in the air. It always happens real quick, like she’s just been called into surgery.”
  • Cordelia puts glasses near the Newspaper Man. When he puts them on, he “flipped to the next page and propped his feet up on the table. All the frustration left his body. . . A black triangle the size of a welcome mat appeared in the air above him, hovering a few inches below the ceiling. . . The triangle grew until it was half the size of the room. . . It slid open from the bottom, like a garage door, revealing a gentle, flickering light that brought to mind a cozy fireplace on a cold winter’s night.” The man enters the triangle and disappears.
  • Cordelia puts blush by a woman who continues to look in the mirror. When the woman picks it up, “the black triangle appeared a few moments later.” When the door slid open this time, Cordelia saw a room with “bright, pulsating light of a party.”
  • The ghosts that disappear “don’t seem so happy about it. Almost like they’re sick. . .”
  • Cordelia and her friends discuss what a poltergeist is. Someone explains, “It’s a special kind of ghost that can move objects around.”
  • The kids find the blueprints to make a box that traps ghosts. The owner of the school “believed that if he studied these [haunted] houses and tracked the similarities between them, he could use this knowledge to build a haunted house on purpose. He called this process archimancy.”
  • Ghosts have special goggles that let them see the living.
  • When an evil ghost whistles a tune, “the music wrapped itself around [Cordelia], squeezing the tension from her muscles and soothing all her worries. Cordelia know she should run, especially when she saw Whistler climb the first few rungs of the ladder, but moving required a huge amount of energy that she no longer possessed.” The Whistler grabs Agnes’ cheeks and “she instantly began to shiver. . . Agnes’s lips began to turn blue.” Someone blows a whistle and the “shrill sound was deafening in the small, round, overpowering Whistler’s song.” The kids are able to escape.
  • When an evil ghost, the Whistler, touches an object, a red triangle appears. “Instead of hovering in the air like its black siblings, the triangle lay flat on the floor, gleaming like a poisonous candy apple. It slid open. Puffs of smoky darkness polluted the room. . . Cordelia heard factory sounds: the pump of pistons, rumble of heavy machinery, roar of a furnace. And screams. There were lots of screams.” The Whistler falls into the triangle and the triangle vanishes.

Spiritual Content

  • None

Mac Cracks the Code

The Queen of England calls on Mac B. once again! This time, Mac must crack a secret code that has been recovered from a double agent. A series of clues leads Mac to France, to Japan where he comes face-to-face with his arch-nemesis the KGB Man, and to the world headquarters of Nintendo! Is the KGB Man secretly behind all of this? Are Mac’s video game skills good enough to face down his enemy at the Video Game World Championships?

Even though the events in Mac Cracks the Code are at times ridiculous, the story incorporates historical and language lessons into the events. The story teaches spy terminology such as cytologist, as well as portmanteau words. There are also world maps that show Mac’s travel routes, which helps readers understand where countries are in relation to each other. Readers will also be eager to try to figure out the clues to the mystery.

Mac Cracks the Case will entertain even the most reluctant readers with its fast pace and hilarious events. Short sentences, humorous illustrations, and simple vocabulary will help readers build confidence. Video games play a part in the story’s plot, which adds interest for those who like video games. Because several of the characters appear in the previous books, readers will get maximum enjoyment if they read the series in order.

In Mac Cracks the Code, Mac tells his own story with humor and puts a spotlight on the absurd. The conclusion will have readers cheering for Max and groaning when the Queen of England gives Max a gift. The Max B. Kid Spy Series continuously gives readers engaging stories that will have readers laughing out loud. Any reader who enjoys intrigue will want to add the Max B. Kid Spy Series to their reading list.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • The KGB man tells Mac, “You look like a doofus!” Mac uses the same words to describe the KGB man.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Bird & Squirrel On The Run

Squirrel is busy preparing for winter. He’s collected and stored enough acorns to last him through spring. Meanwhile, Bird is enjoying riding the air currents. When Bird invites Squirrel to go south with him, Squirrel isn’t interested. But when Cat decides that he’d like nothing better than to eat Bird for lunch, Squirrel jumps to the rescue. Unfortunately, he also loses all of his acorns. With his winter supply of food gone, Squirrel reluctantly decides to head south with Bird. Cat sneakily follows, waiting for a perfect opportunity to make Bird his lunch.

Filled with cat chases, misfortune, and other drama, Bird’s and Squirrel’s adventure is pure fun. The two friends are comically different. Every time something bad happens, Squirrel is convinced that “We’re gonna die!” On the other hand, Bird looks on the bright side of everything. When all of their possessions are lost, Bird holds up a toothbrush and says, “Look on the bright side, we still have your toothbrush.” The interplay between Bird and Squirrel will make readers laugh out loud.

Bird and Squirrel’s adventure is reminiscent of Tom and Jerry. Every time Cat tries to sneak up and eat Bird, Cat ends up being injured in some way. As Bird and Squirrel try to avoid Cat, they run into a funny family of moles, a raging river, a slimy snake, and other misfortunes. Even though Bird & Squirrel on the Run is full of slapstick humor, the graphic novel also teaches the importance of friendship and working together.

The story is illustrated with brightly colored panels. Much like a cartoon, the illustrations use exaggerated facial expressions to add to the humor. Each page contains one to six simple sentences. Bird & Squirrel on the Run will appeal to even the most reluctant readers. Bird and Squirrel’s silly antics will keep readers interested as it teaches the importance of enjoying life, even if you’re being chased by a cat. Readers who want more animal mischief should read the Pets on the Loose Series by Victoria Jamieson.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Cat spends a lot of time chasing Bird. The first time that Cat tries to chomp Bird, Bird crashes into a tree and falls to the ground. To help Bird, Squirrel throws acorns at Cat. When an acorn avalanche begins, it sweeps Squirrel and Cat into a river. The scene is illustrated over eight pages.
  • Bird and Squirrel pack up to head south, when Cat decides to chase them. Bird and Squirrel fall into the river and lose all of their belongings. The scene is described over three pages.
  • When Cat chases Bird and Squirrel, the two friends hide in a hole. Cat tries to follow, but he cannot fit inside the hole. With his butt pointing up out of the hole, Cat is hit by lightning. The scenes is illustrated over three pages.
  • Bird accidentally angers bees, and the bees chase him. Bird leads the bees to Squirrel, who is shown with stingers sticking out of his face and body. The scene is described over three pages.
  • While walking through a dark forest, a snake attacks Bird and Squirrel. The snake wraps its tail around Squirrel, and Bird flies to the rescue. The scene is illustrated over five pages.
  • A hawk scares Bird, who is carrying Squirrel. Bird drops Squirrel, but is able to grab him before he smashes into the ground. The hawk gives chase, but Bird is able to get Squirrel to safety.
  • When it looks like Bird is in trouble, Squirrel jumps on the hawk’s back. The hawk stops chasing Bird, and drops Squirrel, who falls to the ground. The scene is illustrated over six pages.
  • Cat again tries to eat Bird. When Cat holds Bird to the ground, Squirrel throws a rock and hits Cat between the eyes. Squirrel taunts Cat, “I bet you’re too slow and too stupid to catch me!” Cat chases Squirrel and the hawk grabs Cat and carries him away. The scene is illustrated over six pages.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

A Wind in the Door

When six-year-old Charles Wallace tells his sister he’s found dragons in the pasture, Meg doesn’t want to believe him. But lo and behold, Meg and her friend Calvin discover the enormous creature with hundreds of wings and thousands of eyes. A giant man claiming to be their Teacher tells them the dragons—which are really one creature, a cherubim—is one of their classmates. They’ve been brought together because evil creatures called Echthroi are trying to destroy creation—from the largest stars down to the tiny mitochondria in Charles Wallace’s cells. With her brother’s life on the line, Meg must learn how to love even her enemies or the Echthroi will succeed in destroying her brother and perhaps all of creation.

What follows is a fantastical conflict between the forces of good and evil; a struggle of life and love against hatred and destruction. Meg, Calvin, and the cherubim must work together to save Charles Wallace’s mitochondria from the Echthroi that would destroy. They are transported into Charles Wallace’s cells and meet the farandolae that lives inside his mitochondria. The farandolae have been led astray by the Echthroi and are refusing to grow up, killing the mitochondria. Meg and her classmates have to show the farandolae a better way and rescue them from the Echthroi, before the misguided farandolae kill the mitochondria, Charles Wallace and themselves.

Once again Meg complains and resists the tasks that are given her, but she rises in the end and learns how to look for the good in people even if she doesn’t like them. A Wind in the Door is more complex than A Wrinkle in Time and may be confusing for younger readers as it deals with mitochondria and the relativity of space and size. Still, for readers able to grasps its more complex topics, A Wind in the Door is a fun read that imparts the importance of loving your enemies and looking for the good in everyone. While A Wind in the Door doesn’t discuss religion directly, its storyline and themes are allegorical. For instance, the cherubim and Teacher explain that there is a battle between life and darkness, and to save Charles Wallace the children must protect the ‘song of creation’ from evil forces that would disrupt it.

A Wind in the Door is not a science book, but it does combine quantum physicals and biology to show that people are galaxies unto themselves. In order to accomplish this, the main character is reduced to the molecular level, which is made believable through L’Engle’s use of imagery. Besides being an interesting story, the reader learns about the importance of compassion, friendship, and love. Anyone who is interested in learning more about the nature of human relationships should read A Wind in the Door.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • The farandolae don’t want to grow up so they suck the nutrients from adult farandolae, called fara, killing them in the process. “A group of farandolae whirled about a fara; fronds drooped; color drained. The dance was a scream of laughter, ugly laughter.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Meg has a run in with an Echthroi impersonating Mr. Jenkins. Mr. Jenkins, “rose up into the night like a great, flapping bird, flew, screaming across the sky, became a rent, an emptiness, a slash of nothingness.”
  • Meg meets a cherubim. “Wings, it seemed like hundreds of wings, spreading, folding, stretching—and eyes how many eyes can a drive of dragons have? and small jets of flame.”
  • Meg’s teacher is a “huge” man whose “long robe seemed chiseled out of granite.”
  • A large black garden snake acts strangely human, bowing to Meg’s new teacher. While the snake never speaks, it’s said that she too is a “Teacher.”
  • Meg is shown how the Echthroi destroy matter; how they turn it into nothingness. “Across the sky, where the stars were clustered as thickly as in the Milky Way, a crack shivered, slivered, became a line of nothing-ness.”
  • Meg learns how to kythe, a form of mind-to-mind communication. “It’s how cherubim talk. It’s talking without words, just the same way that I can be myself and not be enfleshed.”
  • Farandolae, things that live inside mitochondria, are depicted as “a small, silver-blue mouse…[that] spoke, but with neither a mouse’s squeak nor a human voice. The sound was like harp strings being plucked under water.” Meg and her friends are transported inside a mitochondria, to help the farandolae.

Spiritual Content

  • What Charles Wallace thought were dragons turns out to be a cherubim.
  • The cherubim tries to explain exactly what the Echthroi are. “I think your mythology would call them fallen angels. War and hate are their business, and one of their chief weapons is un-Naming—making people not know who they are. If someone knows who he is, really knows, then he doesn’t need to hate.”
  • When Meg tries to stop the Echthroi, she sings the song of creation, “Sing for the glory of the living and the loving the flaming of creation sing with us dance with us be with us Be! They were not her words only. They were the words of Senex, of the Deepening Sporos…the cherubim and seraphim, wind and fire, the words of the Glory.”

by Morgan Lynn

The Spacedog Cometh

Klawde is not an average cat. He’s an exiled emperor from across the universe. Klawde spends his days plotting his revenge. He will use any means possible to return to his homeland. Klawde is cruel. He’s cunning. He’s also his human’s best friend.

As Klawde plots his cosmic revenge, the space dog Barx arrives on Earth. Barx plans to take Klawde back to his home planet, where Klawde will be punished for his crimes. Unlike Klawde, Barx is loyal and an overall good boy. He also loves to play catch. Barx is determined to bring Klawde to justice. Will the ferocious feline be able to avoid justice?

While Klawde is focused on evading Barx, Raj is faced with his own out-of-town visitor. Although his grandmother is from Earth, she may be even more formidable than Klawde. When Raj’s grandmother plans a birthday party for Raj, he is convinced that the party will lead to the ultimate embarrassment.

Klawde: The Spacedog Cometh brings in two new characters—Barx and Raj’s grandmother. Raj’s grandmother showers Raj with love. She not only begins packing him traditional Indian lunches, but she also invites his entire class to a birthday party that will feature traditional Indian food. Raj loves his grandmother enough not to complain, but he still worries about being different than his classmates. Raj’s relationship with his grandmother leads to some funny, awkward, and surprising situations.

As Raj is trying to survive his grandmother’s visit, Klawde is up to no good. He is convinced that torturing Barx is the key to returning to his home planet. The contrast between Klawde and Barx is amusing and leads to many fight-and-chase scenes. As Klawde and Barx create chaos, Raj doesn’t know if Klawde is being honest or not. After all, Klawde has told him, “Lies are the sharpest arrows in the warrior’s quiver” and “The truth is whatever I say it is.”

Klawde: The Spacedog Cometh continues the engaging, comical story of Klawde. The new characters keep the plot fresh and exciting. Although Klawde’s plans don’t turn out as he had hoped, the conclusion is heartwarming and proves that Klawde will never change. The story continues in the same action-packed format as the previous books. The engaging story has short paragraphs, easy vocabulary, and hilarious blue-and-black illustrations. Not only do the illustrations help the reader imagine the story’s events, but they also highlight Klawde’s various emotions of misery, distaste, and disgust.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • When Raj brings a dog home, Klawde attacks him. “SLASH! I struck the dog’s nose, claws fully extended. The beast’s eyes snapped open as it yelped in shock and pain. When it saw me, it began to growl, a low rumble that sounded like thunder. Then it charged! Only my superior feline reflexes kept me from the death trap of its snapping jaws.” Klawde hides in his litter box. When the dog follows, “I began to kick up sand with my back paws, creating such a flurry that the canine was blinded.” Klawde eventually races away from the dog, and jumps on Raj’s grandmother’s head. The fight is described over three pages.
  • Klawde calls the dog a “slobbering moron.” In response, the dog bites Klawde’s tail. “The pain—it was like my tail had been blasted by a Zzaxxannian laser torpedo! Fortunately, my cry of agony so surprised Barx that he loosened his grip.” Klawde gets away by climbing a tree.
  • When Klawde finds the dog sleeping, he “bit him on the leg.” The dog doesn’t respond; instead, “Barx merely yawned.”
  • Klawde hides in the bathroom. When Barx comes into the bathroom to drink from the toilet, Klawde attacks. Klawde “sprang from my hiding place, claws fully extended! My left paw slashed Barx’s nose, my right his ear. Barx stumbled backwards in shock.” The dog chases Klawde, who climbs onto the mantel and “flung down a stack of books that the father-ogre kept there. They hit Barx on the shoulder, and he yelped in anger.” Raj’s grandmother shows up and stops the fighting. The fight is described over four pages.
  • Klawde demands that Barx returns to his home planet. When Barx refuses, Klawde calls him a bad dog. “A low growl started in Barx’s throat, and the fur along his spine began to rise. . . ‘Don’t you growl at me!’ I said, slashing him across his hideous snout. Barx bared every single one of his deadly teeth.” Then, Klawde ran from Barx.
  • When Klawde returns to his home planet, the other cats attack. “Just then, the escape pod started to rock. We were being swarmed by the infuriated mob. . .The mob was clawing at the hatch, trying to pry it open.” Klawde makes a desperate last-minute call to Raj, who comes and saves him.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • In his thoughts, Klawde often calls others names. The characters also call each other names, including moron, idiot, jerk, dimwit, imbecile, fool, cowardly scoundrel, dolt, fraud, sniveling charlatan, vile flatterer, and two-faced mongrel.
  • Heck is used three times. For example, when Raj takes a traditional Indian meal to school, someone asks him, “What the heck is that?”
  • When Klawde keeps saying “sit,” Barx says, “Dang it!”
  • Darn is used once. Barx says, “Klawde did something pretty darn awful in my solar system. . .”
  • When Raj sees the lights from a spaceship he thinks, “No. . . freaking. . .way.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

A Good Kind of Trouble

Twelve-year-old Shayla is allergic to trouble. All she wants to do is follow the rules. (Oh, and she’d also like to make it through seventh grade with her best friendships intact, learn to run track, and have a cute boy see past her giant forehead.)

But in junior high, it’s like all the rules have changed. Now she’s suddenly questioning who her best friends are and some people at school are saying she’s not black enough. Wait, what?

Shayla’s sister, Hana, is involved in Black Lives Matter, but Shay doesn’t think that’s for her. After experiencing a powerful protest though, Shayla decides that some rules are worth breaking. She starts wearing an armband to school in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Soon, everyone is taking sides and she is given an ultimatum.

Shayla is scared to do the wrong thing (and even more scared to do the right thing), but if she doesn’t face her fear, she’ll be forever tripping over the next hurdle. Now that’s trouble, for real.

Told from Shayla’s point of view, A Good Kind of Trouble effectively explains the Black Lives Matter movement and Shayla’s budding awareness of political activism. When Shayla and her friends begin junior high, they struggle with the changes that come with growing up—crushes, changing friendships, and figuring out their own beliefs.

Readers will relate to Shayla as she struggles with the difficulty of junior high. Shayla’s teacher assigns an “eyeball journal” so students can write down their observations. As Shayla writes in the journal, her thoughts and emotions come to the forefront, which allows the reader to connect with Shayla on a deeper level.

As the story explains the Black Lives Matter movement, most of the information is introduced as Shayla’s parents listen to news about a trial where a black man was killed by a police officer. Shayla’s parents and several adults talk about the trial, but the events are not described in detail. Even though the story focuses on how African-Americans are unjustly stereotyped, the story also touches on how other races are also stereotyped. Shayla’s friends are different races—Isabella is Latin and Julia is Asian.

Throughout the story, Ramée incorporates quotes from famous people, such as author Ralph Waldo Emerson. Shayla’s parents and teachers also give positive advice. For example, one teacher says, “You can be different from the generations before you. You can celebrate people’s differences. Or step up and challenge beliefs you know are wrong.” As Shayla explores her own personal beliefs, she thinks about everyone’s opinions and applies them to her own life.

A Good Kind of Trouble will entertain readers as it introduces them to some heavy topics. The story will show the importance of taking a stand as well as discovering your own belief system. A Good Kind of Trouble would be an excellent story for parents to read and discuss with their children.

Sexual Content

  • Isabella tells her friends that “my dad has a new girlfriend. And you know my mom. She’s all freaked out about it, and worried that I’m going to freak out about it. . .”
  • For a science lab, Shayla is paired up with a cute boy. During the lab, “We both reach for the honey at the same time, and our hands brush. Then a few minutes later, there is this one moment when our heads get really close together. Thank God I brushed my teeth real good this morning!”
  • The students at school play a game and “command” a person to do something embarrassing. At the school dance, Tyler is “commanded” to kiss Shayla. Tyler asks Shayla to dance and “before I can say anything, Tyler kisses me. I’m not talking a peck on the cheek; his mouth is smothering mine. . . I know it’s not a nice kiss. It is slobbery, and even though he must’ve just had a mint so at least his breath isn’t bad, his lips are chapped and scratchy.”
  • Shayla is upset when everyone talks about her and Tyler’s kiss. When she talks to Tyler, she tells him, “And you should know it’s not cool to just kiss somebody. You can’t be all up on somebody who didn’t say it was okay.”

Violence

  • At school, a group of boys try to put Alex in the garbage can. Bernard tries to help. “Most of the boys are laughing, and a few try to grab Bernard’s arms, but Bernard is stronger than they are, and he hauls off and punches a guy and then yanks Alex from Daniel. . . Bernard pushes Alex behind him and then he clobbers Marcus, and that’s just when Principal Trask walks outside the cafeteria.”
  • Some of the students wear armbands in support of Black Lives Matter. “In fifth period I found out the fight was all about Noah Randolph getting commanded to take off his armband and he wouldn’t, so a bunch of other boys started whaling on him.”
  • Shayla’s father tells her about a woman who was “selling incense in front of a store.” When the police were called, “two officers shot her.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • While talking about other people, several characters are referred to as “jerks.” For example, when Shayla sees a boy in the school hallway, “A bunch of boys surrounded Alex, and I can tell they’re being jerks just by the way they’re laughing and nudging each other.”
  • While walking in the school hallway, a boy yells, “My dad says Black Lives Matter is racist.” Shayla thinks, “I want to tell him his dad is an idiot. . .”
  • Shayla’s sister calls her a dummy one time.
  • Dang and damn are both used once.
  • “Oh my god” is used as an exclamation once.
  • When a boy says, “Blue lives matter.” Shayla tells him, “Of course blue lives matter, stupid.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Shayla’s family prays before dinner. “Usually our prayer before dinner is really fast. Just a quick thank-you to God for the food, and sometimes Daddy will add something silly like thanking God for Momma’s brown eyes. . .But tonight Momma’s voice is slow and serious. . . ‘And protect our daughter, Hana, as she struggles to understand the horrible shootings and this troubling verdict. Keep her on the path of peace and nonviolence. And give solace to the poor families, Lord, who have lost young men way too soon.’”
  • During a relay, Shayla was afraid she would drop the baton. During the event she was “praying we’ll connect.”

Then Everything Went Wrong

Hilo can’t remember his past, so he decides to go back to his home planet. But D.J. won’t let Hilo return to his home alone and jumps through the portal before anyone can stop him. In order to hide their disappearance, Izzy makes a fake Hilo and a fake D.J. robot. The two friends need time to explore Hilo’s home planet. Will D.J.’s parents figure out that D.J. is missing?

Hilo knows he is supposed to save everyone, but what happens if danger appears when he is gone. As Hilo discovers his past, the military is quickly narrowing their search for him. Will Hilo discover the answers he needs before it’s too late?

With Hilo and D.J. on another planet, Izzy and Gina are forced to take drastic measures to hide their missing friends. Gina creates a fake Hilo and a fake D.J., but it’s impossible for her to make them act “normal.” Even though Izzy and the robots are supposed to blend in, they keep getting into fights at school. Polly appears on earth, which adds to the comical conflict. Despite the fights and the misunderstanding, it is clear that the friends will do anything to keep each other safe.

Then Everything Went Wrong is full of humor and heart. Izzy and Polly clearly don’t understand earth’s customs, and their well-intentioned mistakes will keep readers giggling. Izzy keeps telling everyone that she “knows how all of the pieces fit,” but does she know what’s best for everyone?

Brightly colored illustrations will capture readers’ attention, but readers will want to keep turning the pages because of the engaging story and the likable characters. The detailed illustrations show exaggerated facial expressions which will help readers understand the characters’ changing emotions.   For maximum enjoyment, the stories should be read in order. Even though the first chapter recaps the events in the previous books, the story’s plots build on each other.

The story hits on themes of friendship, fitting in, and the dangers of war. The book ends with a shocking cliff-hanger that will leave readers in suspense. Even though Then Everything Went Wrong is the fifth installment of the series, the plot continues to build and keep readers engaged. Hilo is a boy robot that readers will love.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Hilo decides to go back to his home planet, and D.J. refuses to be left behind. D.J. puts on Hilo’s spacesuit and goes through a portal. Hilo follows. They see space pigs and D.J. almost gets eaten by a space frog.
  • When Hilo and D.J. find Dr. Horizon’s secret lab, Hilo hits a button that begins a self-destruct countdown. Hilo creates a shield around himself and D.J. that protects them from the blast.
  • When a boy calls Polly a weirdo, she hits him. The boy falls on the ground and Polly jumps on his back and pulls his arm back.
  • When a group of girls yells at Polly, Polly says, “I won’t be fighting anyone.” A girl pushes Polly and fake Hilo and fake D.J. jump in to protect Polly. The fight is not described.
  • A woman tells Hilo a story about Tamir, who said, “I was a creature of rage and greed. I sought only to hurt and to conquer and to rule my world. . . I was born enslaved, beaten, starved, abused, and forced to work until the day I was strong enough to fight back.” Tamir changed when he felt love.
  • When the army shows up and wants to take Hilo, Gina shoots a beam of light out of her wand. It hits a man in the stomach and knocks him down, but doesn’t seriously injure him.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • For show and tell, Izzy says, “So, when I armpit fart—it attacks pigeons. . . If I cup my hand too much, it sounds too high and the pigeons don’t come. . . When I do my right armpit I can call seagulls.”
  • In the space void, D.J. asks, “does this place always smell like a gorilla’s armpit?”
  • Gina waves her wand at the portal and two big dogs come through. The dogs chase Izzy and Gina.
  • Polly says that the Furback Clan was “forced to make weapons for those dirt-snaking vermin.” Then he calls them, “Lizard poop.”
  • A military man says, “Dang it” three times.
  • Polly, disguised as a human girl, tells the class about “hippopotamus bees” that “weigh three tons, and carry twenty gallons of nectar in their pouches which are attached to their rather gigantic butts.” Polly then points to her butt.
  • A boy calls Polly a weirdo.

Supernatural

  • Gina sends a communication spell across dimensions.
  • Polly uses a “masking spell. It’ll change my appearance. I’ll look human.”
  • When Tamir went through a dimensional portal, the creature said, “In my world we call a door like that magic. Here you call it science. It’s mostly the same.”
  • Robots “don’t have emotions . . .But they feel. They’re so afraid.”

Spiritual Content

  • None

EndGames

Blue arrives in the capital city of Altalus, where she is determined to find her friend Crow, the boy who was created to be a flying war machine, and Jack, the engineer who built him. But soon she is inadvertently kidnapped by Snow and Red, twins from the enemy side of their ten-year war. They set off on a dangerous adventure that brings them to the front lines of the war, and eventually realize that they must work together to help end it. But with larger, more powerful forces at work, the fight for peace and survival will be more difficult than they ever imagined.

The majority of EndGames’ plot focuses on the war between Goswish and Grimmaea. However, readers may have a difficult time following the story because of the abrupt transitions. The story jumps from scene to scene causing readers to struggle with keeping up with the new characters and all of the new information. While NewsPrints focused on Blue and Crow’s relationship, in EndGames the two are separated and have little contact. Readers will miss the interaction between the two.

Even though the story is recommended for readers eight and up, younger readers may not be able to understand the more mature themes that appear in the book. The story is very anti-war and shows the dangers of using children to fight an adult’s war. EndGames also shows how governments only print news that is beneficial to them. Instead of being concerned with the truth, many newspapers only spread the government’s propaganda. The newspaper only runs an important true story when “the truth happens to sell even better for the Bugle.”

Unfortunately, EndGames tries to accomplish too much. The story has themes of imperialism, gender roles, and discrimination as well as an anti-war message. EndGames features both a blind character and a transgender character. A female aviator tells Blue, “Oh I’ve always knon I was a boy. . . Other people just didn’t know it yet.” However, the transgender reference is brief and awkward.

Although the artwork is stunning, younger readers may be confused because of the quick transitions. Even though the illustrations help tell the story, some scenes are still confusing. The frantic pacing allows the story to skip over information that may have made the scene’s action clear.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • While flying, two airplanes shoot at each other. A plane is knocked out of the sky by “friendly fire.” No one is injured. The scene is illustrated over six pages.
  • When another country’s Navy appears, a soldier uses a weapon in an attempt to “destroy that machine before your Goswish troops can get it back.” The weapon hits a target and starts a fire. The soldier is shown celebrating the destruction. The scene is illustrated over six pages.
  • As airplanes approach, the army is told “to protect Goswing, we must destroy Grimmaea!” Airplanes are shot down and fall into the ocean. The scene is illustrated over four pages.
  • Blue is left on unstable land that is being consumed by lava. Blue falls into a crack in the ground, but is saved.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • “Goose Butts!” is occasionally used as an exclamation.
  • Heck is used once.
  • Someone calls Blue an “idiot.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Lintang and the Pirate Queen

Lintang loves her family, but she doesn’t want to be a homemaker. Lintang dreams of leaving her island home. She longs to go on dangerous and daring adventures. When she meets the infamous pirate, Captain Shafira, Lintang wants to join her crew. When she gets her chance, Lintang promises to follow orders. However, Lintang’s curious, impulsive attitude always gets her into trouble.

Lintang discovers that living on a pirate ship can be difficult. Her loyalties are divided when she finds that her best friend, Bayani, has stowed away and is desperate to stay hidden. Lintang knows that Bayani is hiding a secret that could change the world. However, she has promised the pirate queen that she will never lie to her. How can Lintang impress the pirate queen and keep Bayani’s secret at the same time?

Readers will relate to Lintang, who has a difficult time following orders. Despite her best intentions, Lintang gets into trouble time and time again. When Lintang is demoted to a cabin girl, she gains the crew’s respect through her positive attitude and work ethic. During her voyage, Lintang “had turned into Lanme Vanyan (the mother of all monsters), faced a Kanekonese siren, fought a dragon, almost drowned twice, battled a sea serpent, [and] worked as a cabin girl.”

Moss creates a beautiful world full of mythies. Some mythies are friendly and others are deadly. In order to introduce the different creatures, many of the chapters being with a page from The Mythie Guidebook, which describes each type of mythie. The information describes how to eradicate the mythie, their behavior, danger level, and provides a description.

Lintang and the Pirate Queen has non-stop action as Lintang, Captain Shafira, and her crew embark on a dangerous journey where they fight fearsome monsters. The story ends in an epic multi-chapter battle that has many surprises. Because of the complex world, the complicated plot, and the large cast of characters, Lintang and the Pirate Queen is best for strong readers. However, adventure-loving readers will love this tale of friendship and adventure.

Sexual Content

  • Lintang tells a legend about Pero, who “was not afraid of the Goddess of Death.” When he left home, he “packed his bag, said goodbye to his mother, kissed the barmaid, and left.”
  • Avalon is transgender. One of the ship’s crew treats him unkindly. She says, “Avalon pretends she is a boy. I remind her she is not.”

Violence

  • While walking in the forest, Lintang and Bayani are attacked by a malam rasha. “A night terror (malam rasha) is a humanoid forest mythie in the predator category. It appears as a woman with wooden skins, long dark hair, and a white dress. Instead of arms, it has tree roots, which are sharp enough to dig through flesh.” Bayani’s fey friend, Pelita, helps. “Before it could attack, a ball of white light zipped in front of its face. The malam rasha recoiled, snarling.” Lintang raised her sword and the “malam rasha reared up. It moved to strike with its arm of tree roots, but she stabbed and it retreated. Slash. Dodge. Stab. Dodge. . . Lintang ran to Bayani, shoved him to the ground, and threw herself over him.” When the two are laying on the ground, someone chases the mythie away. The fight scene takes place over four pages.
  • The malam rasha goes to the temple and goes after Lintang. “The mythie barreled into her. She landed on the stone floor, winded. Pelita fluttered out of the way just in time. The malam rasha curled its lip and slashed at Lintang’s stomach. . . The malam rasha tried again, clawing and tearing until the front of Lintang’s sarong was in tatters.” Panna leaves that were smeared on Lintang protected her. Captain Shafira jumped in to help. “Captain Shafira aimed sword blows at the malam rasha so fiercely that it was forced to retreat.” The Captain’s crew assists her in capturing the malam rasha. “Captain Sharfira brought her sword down and chopped off its arm. It released an earsplitting shriek.” The battle is described over three pages.
  • Once the malam rasha is captured, Captain Shafira “directed a kick to the malam rasha’s wooden head, and it slumped, unmoving.” Later when the light of day appears, the mythie “burst into flames, leaving only a silhouette of ash and the broken fishing net.”
  • A predator mermaid uses her power to make Lintang jump into the sea. “Stinging spread across her body, from both the impact and the chill. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered anymore. She was with the mermaids now.” The mermaids try to pull Lintang deeper into the ocean. “Splinters sliced at Lintang’s lungs. Her head felt light. . . She barely noticed the flash of steel, or the clouds of blood in the water, or the fact that the mermaids had released their deadly grip.” Lintang is saved. The scene is described over a page.
  • When leaving the island, Nyasamdra picks up Captain Shafira’s ship. Nyasamdra “let them float in the air. She watched them swirl inside the bubble, her face childlike with curiosity.” Trying to help, a “bird darted past Nyasamdra’s fingers and pecked the bubble. There was a pop, and everyone had to hold on as the ship plummeted back into the waves.” Bayani comes above deck and gives Nyasamdra the correct tribune, then she lets them pass. The scene is described over four pages.
  • A sea serpent attacks Captain Shafira’s ship. The huge serpent tries to break the ship up by squeezing it. “Lintang acted without thinking. She raced forward and shoved a harpoon into the serpent’s mouth to wedge it open. The serpent started to snap but stopped as the dragon’s claw dug into the roof of its mouth and sprayed blood across the deck.” One of the crew members “swung out on a rope, caught the harpoon with one hand, and used the dragon talon to slash the serpent through the neck.” Lintang is injured. The fight is described over three pages.
  • When Governor Karnezis tries to get Lintang to give up Captain Shafira’s location, Lintang tries to escape. “. . . Governor Karnezis snatched her hair. She cried out as he yanked her backwards.” Lintang uses a dart to put the governor to sleep. Captain Shafira and her crew help Lintang escape.
  • Farah and her family helped Captain Shafira when she was injured. The Vierzan counsel sent “people to kill Farah’s family and burn the place down.”
  • While under the sirens’ spell, Avalon attacks a crewmember, Mei. “Avalon lunged. He wrapped his arm around Mei’s throat. . .Mei strained to pull his arm from around her neck. Her round cheeks turned pink. She was suffocating.” A crew member hits Avalon over the head with a frying pan, causing him to pass out.
  • Captain Shafira boards Captain Moon’s ship and the two fight with swords. “The two thrust and parried, each as skilled as the other. A few clashing blades and a clever maneuver later, they’d switched positions. . . Captain Shafira managed to kick Captain Moon’s ankle, dropping her to one knee. Captain Moon blocked an attack while she was down, then stabbed forward so violently that Captain Shafira had to jump two steps down the staircase. . .” When the sirens threaten both ships, the two captains work together.
  • The ship’s dragon awakens. Captain Shafira and Captain Moon bait the dragon, causing it to tear down a locked door.
  • At one point in the fighting, Bayani is “standing on the bridge with the spear side of the khwando pointed at Zazi’s neck.”
  • Lintang jumps in the ocean, then turns into the mother of monsters named Lanme Vanyan. Lanme attacks a dragon. Lanme “sprang, clamping her hands on the dragon’s shoulder. It tried to toss her aside, but she held on and slashed at its wings. They twisted in the air like a whirlwind.” She flings the dragon away and then attacks a siren. “Lanme zipped toward it and bit it beneath the arm. . . The siren tried to crush her with its free hand. She bit its fingers. Bubbles hissed from its mouth, but it didn’t pull back.” The siren swims away.
  • The dragon returns and attacks Lanme again. Lanme “whipped her tail into the air, wrapped it around the dragon, and slammed it onto the waves. The dragon shuddered with the impact, then floated, stunned.” Then, Lanme turns back into a human.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • The Vierzans developed a medicine that “kills dangerous things in your body. Stops illnesses, disease; you name it, the Curall fixes it.” When Pelita is sprayed with Curall, she glows brighter. “Pelita’s squeaks turned into tiny shrieks. She sounded like she was in pain. . . And then, as swiftly as a sneeze, a human body burst out of the pixie. A girl lay in Pelita’s place, an Islander barely ten years old.”

Language

  • While practicing sword fighting, Lintang says to her best friend, “You ebony-nosed loobatoon! You brown-tailed barbanees! You blood-eyed ruberrince!”
  • “By the Gods” is used as an exclamation four times.
  • When Lintang scares the ship’s cook, she says, “Mother of monsters, you scared the petticoats off me!”
  • Someone calls another character a gnome.

Supernatural

  • Lintang’s world has various mythies, such as sirens, propheseeds, mermaids—both predator and friendly types. For example, “Propheseeds are sky mythies that take the form of three glowing dandelion seeds. They appear harmless, giggling childishly, and do not physically attack. . . The propheseeds will say your name three times, then, in a form of a riddle or rhyme, give you the time and details of your imminent death.”
  • Those born on the twin Islands have “small, shiny fish scales” on the back of their necks. A ship can only leave the island if they have someone from the Twin Islands. But the island’s mythie guardian Nyasamdra drowns ships “that tried to leave her territory unless they carried someone with her mark.”
  • Sirens are predator mythies. “Like the common siren, it calls for males, but unlike the common siren, it gives power to its victims, making them strong and violent, unable to think of anything but getting close to the mythie.”
  • Mythies did not appear in Lintang’s world until “shooting stars had passed overhead when the mythies arrived. No one knew why the Three Gods had sent the mythies. The creatures had caused havoc throughout the world, but the priest always said in serene voices that the Gods had reasons for everything they did, even if humans could not understand them.”
  • One of the characters is a talking clamshell.
  • Lintang turns into the mother of monsters named Lanme Vanyan.

Spiritual Content

  • People believe in Ytzuam, which is “high above, past the clouds, past the sun, there’s a world in the stars. . . It’s separated from our world by a single thick curtain. There are three Gods who live there: Niti, Patiki, and Mratzi.”
  • As Lintang walks she sees the temple, which makes her think about the gods. “Lintang used to learn about the Gods from the priest there when she was younger, but the only time she visited now was during seasonal festivals.” The three gods are Neti, the creator of the stars, Patiki, the planter of stars, and Mratzi, the harvester of stars.”
  • When Lintang accidentally sets the house on fire, she needs water fast. “Their offerings to the Three Gods had been freshly lain on the stone alter that morning. She reached between a scattering of juicy bubleberries and thin, smoldering sticks of mollowood to take the earthen jug.” She uses the water to help fight the flames.
  • When Lintang fights the malam rasha, she was “praying to the Three Gods that her plan would work.” Then she “dredged up a memory of a prayer from temple. ‘Hear me, Niti, Patiki, Mratzi—Gods of Ytzuam, givers of life, guardians of stars. Please protect us, please don’t let the malam rasha eat us.”
  • People believe that when someone dies, they continue to live. Lintang thinks about her dead grandfather. “Lintang hoped her grandfather’s star, blazing high in the sky” was not ashamed of her.
  • Bayani had died and Mratzi told him that the mythies were human. She then allowed him to return to the living.
  • Lintang trusted the Pirate Queen, but then “prayed to Niti she wasn’t wrong.” Later, when the Pirate Queen decides to stay with Lintang until she gets to her destination, Lintang “sent a silent prayer of thanks to the Gods.”
  • In Vierzan, the people have destroyed the Gods’ monuments because “they think the Gods sent mythies to wipe humans out. . . Now they refuse to pray or build temples or leave offerings.”
  • When Lintang must jump off a building, Bayani thinks she is injured. When he discovers that she is fine, he says, “Thank the Gods, thank the Gods—”
  • When almost drowning, Lintang sees a vision. Shooting stars crashed “through a field of unplanted seeds. . . the impact of the shooting stars scattered seeds throughout the world. . . She saw a man unwittingly absorb one of the star seeds, then he burst apart as a gnome sprang from him.” The vision shows Lintang how humans became mythies.
  • Lintang turned into a mythie.

 Cabin Fever

Most people love the holiday season, but it makes Greg a nervous wreck. Greg believes that if he makes a mistake in the first eleven months of the year, it’s not a big deal, but if he does something wrong during the holiday season, then he’s in trouble with Santa and won’t get any presents. With Thanksgiving gone and Christmas fast approaching, Greg becomes obsessed with playing Net Kritterz online – a game where he takes constant care of his internet pet Chihuahua. Greg needs money in order to feed and clothe his virtual pet, but after his mom says money is tight, Greg has to create new ways to earn cash quickly.

After Greg’s request to his local church for a ‘donation’ and his snow shoveling business fall through, Greg and his best friend, Rowley, decide to hold their own Holiday Bazaar where they will sell concession snacks, offer holiday games, and make gifts like their school’s own Bazaar. However, after Vice Principal Roy stops them from handing out advertisements at school, the young duo decides to advertise their Bazaar by hanging signs on the outside school wall. But while taping them up, rain begins to pour and the paint on the signs runs, staining the bricks a neon green. With the police hot on their tails, Rowley and Greg flee the scene of the crime.

After the local newspaper carries a story about the vandalism and Vice-Principal Roy demands that the guilty parties come forward the next day, Rowley submits an anonymous note indicating that he and Greg are responsible for the vandalism. Refusing to identify Rowley as his partner in crime, Roy forces Greg to clean the outside bricks alone for hours. When Greg gets home, he learns the police have paid his house a visit and left a note saying that they would be back later. That night, a huge snowstorm traps Greg and his family inside their house. Greg now has to wait out the snowstorm while stressing about the police as his family’s food rations and electricity run out. Will Greg survive the snowstorm and get the chance to clear his name or will he be sent to jail like he fears?

Cabin Fever’s plot revolves around everything that happens in Greg’s life and is told from his 12-year-old perspective. The story contains a lot of bathroom and childish humor and at times the humor and illustrations can be crude and inappropriate for really young readers. At one point in the story, Greg clears a neighbor’s driveway of snow using a sprinkler and feels annoyed when his neighbor slips on the resulting ice. In another part, Greg tries to steal from the collection tray at church in order to pay for his Net Kritterz. Many illustrations also depict a butt, someone using a toilet, or Greg in his underwear.

Despite the book’s bathroom humor, Cabin Fever has positive lessons for young readers. Jeff Kinney has a natural talent for using humor to mask important messages. In this book, Kinney uses Greg and his humor to address gratefulness. When Greg is on the verge of losing everything – electricity, food, shelter, video games – while snowed in, he realizes how grateful he is for his family, friends, and home.  Also, the consistently funny black-and-white comic illustrations will help younger readers transfer their reading skills from picture books into full-fledged novels, helping even the most reluctant of readers start reading. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever is a fun, easy-to-read story that will entertain readers and teach them to be grateful for their families and friends.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • One of Bryce Anderson’s cronies shoots Greg with a BB gun.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Bathroom and immature humor are used consistently. Words like stupid, jerk, and poop are used frequently.
  • After Greg went to the bathroom, somebody asks, “Did you poop?”
  • Every time someone gets hurt on a piece of playground equipment, the teachers remove it for safety issues. Eventually, the only thing left is the balance beam and Greg thought it would never leave, “but believe it or not, some idiot wasn’t looking where he was going the other day, so now that’s gone, too.”
  • Greg thinks Rowley’s skipping “looks stupid.”
  • When Greg was in elementary school, his teacher, Mr. Harkin, accidentally walked in on him while he was using the bathroom. Greg says he “felt like a jerk” after he told his mom about it.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • It’s Christmastime in the novel; Jesus and God are mentioned.
  • The family goes to church three times and to folk mass one time. Greg says, “Our family usually goes to church at 9:00 a.m., but today we went to the folk service at 11:00.” Greg and his family even go to church on Christmas morning.
  • Greg feels bad for people who have their birthday right around the holidays because it gets lumped together with Christmas and they get cheated out of a gift. Greg guesses it’s been happening for thousands of years and an illustration shows God handing a gift to Jesus saying, “This gift counts for Christmas AND your birthday, Jesus!”

by Matthew Perkey

The Grand Escape: The Greatest Prison Breakout of the 20th Century

At the height of World War I, brave Allied and German forces battled on land, air, and sea. During these battles, captured Allied soldiers and pilots were sent to the dangerous web of German prisons where they were neglected, beaten, and robbed. The most troublesome prisoners of war were sent to

Holzminden – an inescapable landlocked prison designed to break prisoners. The prisoners are in the middle of Germany, locked down by armed guards and barbed-wire fences. The camp’s ruthless commandant, Karl Niemeyer, enforces the camp’s cruel rules. Escape seems impossible for the rag-tag prisoners.

Faced with a Herculean task, a group of determined Allied soldiers and pilots defy the impossible, daring to escape the prison by building a tunnel right under Niemeyer’s nose. Scraping away mere inches of dirt every hour, the team tunneled through the prison’s foundation underneath guard towers, dogs, barbed wire fences, and into a nearby farm. As Niemeyer becomes suspicious of a possible escape, the team of escapees works tirelessly forging documents, smuggling in supplies, and bribing guards. The hardest challenge of escaping Holzminden was yet to come for the 29 men—making it back home undetected through war-torn Germany.

The Grand Escape will leave readers on the edge of their seats as they read the true story of how a team of Allied prisoners banded together to escape Germany and became an inspiration for their fellow countrymen during World War I’s darkest hours. Bascomb does an extraordinary job bringing the story to life. His vivid details, page-turning suspense, and well-developed research alongside photographs, maps, and diagrams of the tunnel and prison camp make the reader feel like they are actually in the tunnel escaping with the prisoners.

The suspense will keep readers turning the pages until the very end. However, the book discusses some of the atrocities of World War I, including the intense violence and hatred between the German and Allied soldiers. Some descriptions are graphic; therefore, the book is not for the faint of heart. This book is aimed at older readers who have some pre-existing knowledge about World War I and the development of modern aircraft. Nonetheless, The Grand Escape is a terrific nonfiction book that will teach readers to persevere through hard times.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • When Cecil Blain and Charles Griffiths are sent on a mission to find warehouses in Germany, they are shot at by German artillery. “A shell rocked one plane on the port side of their formation, but its pilot recovered. Another cut confetti-sized slits into the wings of Blain’s plane, and shrapnel pinged against his engine cowling.” Although no one is injured, Blain and Griffith’s plane sustains heavy damage and they are forced to land behind enemy lines where they are soon held as prisoners.
  • On a bombing run, English pilot David Gray and his machine-gunner are ambushed by Böelcke. A “close-quarter rake of bullets from Böelcke ripped through Gray’s engine and shredded an aileron. Propeller stopped, balance control lost, the plane plummeted into a spin.” Gray and his gunner are both severely injured, with broken bones and lacerations covering their faces, but they manage to survive, crash landing behind enemy lines.
  • Holzminden’s commandant, Karl Niemeyer, is easily angered and loves to both psychologically and physically torture his prisoners. In one instance, he “ordered a guard to fire at prisoners in the barracks building who were mocking the Germans during their morning drill marches.”
  • Private Dick Cash was “ordered across no-man’s land in an early morning assault on the strategic German stronghold at Bullecourt. The Australians faced withering heavy machine-gun fire in their approach to the enemy lines. During the attack, Cash was shot in the chest. The bullet punctured his left lung, but he continued ahead. A series of mortars threw him first skyward, then sideways. Shrapnel pierced his back, and many of his teeth were knocked out before he landed in a shell hole, boots first.” However, Cash manages to “survive the maggot-infested squalor” and is sent to Holzminden after recovering in a German hospital.
  • At another camp, Harold Medlicott and Joseph Walter were murdered, but the German guards lie to prisoners, saying they were shot on the run. The guards return to camp with two stretchers covered in dark sheets and “while several British officers distracted the guards watching over the bodies, another officer rushed up and threw aside the sheets. Medlicott’s and Walter’s bodies were riddled with over a dozen bullets and stabbed with several bayonet wounds.” The British officers realize that Medlicott and Walter were not shot while escaping, but brutally murdered by their captors.
  • While escaping to Holland, a border guard sees Bennet and Campbell-Martin and starts to fire. “The crack of a rifle echoed behind as they charged headlong into Holland. The first shot and the next missed. They ran and ran until they splashed into the Dinkel River in free Holland.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • On their way to a new POW camp, the guards and prisoners stop at a train station restaurant and form a temporary truce where “the British bought every bottle of wine behind the bar, some of them a lovely pre-war vintage.”
  • During a Christmas party at Holzminden, “Douglas Lyall Grant, of the London Scottish Regiment, supplied a cellar’s worth of bottles that he joked cost more than a night out at London’s swanky Carlton Hotel.”

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • On the night of the escapes, “A religious man, Butler muttered a short prayer before pushing his kitbag into the tunnel and following it in.”

by Matthew Perkey

Through the Untamed Sky

After winning the wild Pegasus mare named Echofrost in a contest, Rahkki Stormrunner is officially a rider in the Sky Guard army. Rahkki is terrified of heights though, and Echofrost doesn’t want to be tamed. But with Echofrost’s herd captured by the giants and a fierce battle looming on the horizon, the duo will have to conquer their fears if they want to fly with the army and free the herd.

Meanwhile, back in his village, Rahkki learns of a growing rebellion to overthrow Queen Lilliam. Unfortunately, the queen suspects Rahkki’s family is behind it, and she places him under intense watch.

As Rahkki and Echofrost escape to Mount Crim to save Storm Herd, Rahkki worries that the greatest danger may not come from the impending battle against the giants, but from within his own clan.

Through the Untamed Sky continues the story of Echofrost and Rahkki. In order for Echofrost to free her herd from the giants, Echofrost joints the Sky Guard with Rahkki. However, it soon becomes apparent that none of the Landwalkers (humans) care whether Rahkki lives or dies. To make matters worse, someone is actively trying to assassinate Rahkki. In a world where political power can only be gained by killing the current Queen, danger lurks in the shadows.

Although Echofrost’s desire to be free is understandable, she never thinks about Rahkki’s needs. Echofrost’s selfish behavior continues to the very end of the story. It takes a battle with the giants for Echofrost to see that “freedom meant choosing her bonds, because a Pegasus could not live alone or act only for oneself.”

The second installment of the Riders of the Realm Series shifts its focus away from Echofrost’s conflict and focuses more on the political unrest. As the story unfolds, Rahkki remembers the night his mother died. Even though the flashbacks help explain the political structure, readers may become upset that someone would kill a pregnant woman in order to gain the throne. The death of Rahkki’s mother is not the only violence in the story. An epic battle is fought and many lose their lives. Although the descriptions are not gory, there is blood and violence that may upset sensitive readers.

Through the Untamed Sky will entertain readers. However, the long descriptions, the large cast of characters, and the complex storyline make the story suitable only for strong readers. Like the first book in the series, Through the Untamed Sky ends with a cliffhanger that will have readers reaching for the third book in the series, Beneath the Weeping Clouds.

Sexual Content

  • The princess and Rahkki are talking when the princess “placed her hand in his, and a jolt of heat shot through his body.”
  • During the battle, Rahkki “leaned forward and kissed [the princess’s] lips. She tasted sweet, like peppermints.”

Violence

  • As part of a ceremony, Rahkki and Echofrost are branded. After the branding, Echofrost’s “eyes bulged and her breath came in rapid bursts as she absorbed the pain of the branding. Rahkki’s body had gone numb except for his throbbing shoulder.”
  • The giants come to talk to the queen, but the queen upsets the giants, then, “The Sky Guard ascended. Guiding their pegasi with their legs, the Riders fired arrows at the Gorlanders. . . Led by the two elephants, the Gorlanders rushed out and their huge strides carried them swiftly toward the jungle.” The Gorlanders’ dragons “dived down, shooting hot jets at the new pair. Rahkki cringed when the flames licked the back of his neck.” The scene is described over three pages. No one is seriously injured.
  • A giant lizard, Granak, chases after Rahkki and the princess. In an attempt to hide, the two “quickly pushed vines and leaves over their bodies, but Granak reared back and uprooted their tree with his massive clawed foot. Thick roots popped out of the soil, throwing Rahkki and l’Lenna into the air.” As the two run, their pegasi “swooped down, attacking like angry birds. Echofrost landed a barrage of kicks to Granak’s head. Shysong kicked him hard across his ear hole. . . The lizard’s huge foot swung at the roan, just grazing Shysong’s wing. She spun out of control.” When I’Lenna gets to the fortress, the guards close the gate, locking Rahkki out.
  • When the lizard catches up to Rahkki, “Granak swiped his huge paw and slammed Rahkki’s chest. The boy tumbled across the yard. . . Rahkki tumbled across the soil, his body vibrating from the power of the dragon’s paw. His armor clanged, protecting his skin. . .” Rahkki throws hot pepper spice “straight into the dragon’s open mouth. Granak reared back with a roar and shook his great head.” The lizard flees. Some people believe Rahkki defeated the giant lizard with magic. The chase scene is described over eight pages.
  • Rahkki remembers the night his mother was assassinated. His mother’s Pegasus was injured as he tried to fly the kids to safety. “A long sharp sliver of wood was embedded in the stallion’s chest like a spear. . . [Rahkki’s] tears dripped onto the stallion’s face. They mixed with the rain as he [his brother] stroked the boy’s cheek and listened to his soft breaths.”
  • Giant spiders attack and try to wrap the pegasus in their web. Rahkki’s brother, Brauk, tries to help. “Brauk picked up a sharp stick. The closest spider had reared back and shot a band of silk at them. . . then he charged the waist-high spider and smashed it across its fangs.” The spider is able to grab Brauk with its web. The pegasus is able to help. “Drael stomped its head, and pale-blue blood squirted across Rahkki’s nightdress.” The spider scene is described over three pages.
  • Someone tries to kill Rahkki with a poisonous snake. “A pillow slammed onto Rahkki’s head. He tried to shove it aside, but the person pressed it into his face, cutting off his air. Meanwhile, the serpent bumped against his thigh.”
  • When Echofrost tries to find her herd, giants see her. “A small tree spiraled up from the Gorlan party, thrown like a spear. It struck her between the eyes.” Echfrost and Rahkki fall to the jungle floor. “Hot blood trickled from Rahkki’s hairline. He ran his hands along his body, checking for injuries; but other than his raw skin, a few cuts, his throbbing ear, and a pulled muscle in his thigh, he was undamaged.”
  • A giant finds Echofrost. “Suddenly, a rock struck her flank and she whirled around.” Echofrost saw “an adult Gorlan male, squatting and facing her . . . Reaching into a bag strapped to his back, the giant threaded out a long rope. At the sight of it, Echofrost pinned her ears back. He caught her, tugged hard, and rolled her onto her side.”
  • Rahkki finds the captured Echofrost and fights the giant, who is a prince. “Desperate, he sliced the prince’s arm with his dagger.” Then a huge python reached the giant and “it sank its teeth into his short neck. The giant roared and toppled onto his back, and the snake’s great weight pinned him.” Feeling sorry for the giant, Rahkki helps. “He reached the base of the python’s skull and drew his dagger. . . Then he tightened his fists around the pommel and drove the sharp blade straight into the python’s brain.”
  • When the Land Guard is commanded to attack the giants, Rahkki is forced to go with them. The army is supposed to steal the wild herd from the giants. While trying to get to the pegasi, “screams and shouts and smoke filled the valley.” The tiny dragons use their fire and “several Land Guard soldiers rolled across the grass, trying to snuff out their burning tunics. Others swiped at the burners with their sawa blades, cutting them out of the sky.”
  • The giants use their saber cats to help them fight the battle. “The first saber cat reached the captured wild herd, and its long fangs punctured a mare’s throat, severing the vein.”
  • A saber cat attacks Rahkki. The cat “galloped at him, tail lashing, jaws wide.” Echofrost threw Rahkki out of the way. Rahkki “grabbed his sawa sword instead. The cat turned on him, muscles rippling, lips curled back in a snarl, whiskers bristling. . .” Echofrost goes to help and “kicked the cat in the head, knocking it out. It tumbled onto Rahkki, pinning him to the ground.”
  • When the princess claims to be “the rightful Queen of the Fifth,” the head soldier Harak tries to kill her. General Tsun helps the princess, then “Harak loosed the arrow, and the shaft plunged straight through Tsun’s throat. His breath cut short, the general collapsed and his life force pooled atop soil. . .”
  • When the giants take the princess captive, Rahkki jumps in to help her. “Rahkki sliced the bindings around I’Leanna’s wrist. . . the king roared at the sight of I’Leanna being cut free, and the line of ten giants loosed their stones at the princess. Rahkki clutched her close, blocking her body with his.” Rahkki is injured when a stone “slammed into his anklebone. Another stone struck his helmet. He released I’Lenna and crumbled to his knees, his ears ringing.”
  • Harak shoots an arrow at Rahkki, but Echofrost “darted between the arrow and Rahkki’s neck. It slid between her armor and into her rib cage. . .”
  • During battle, a mare named Rizah “tossed the man across the field and then kicked another.” A young soldier shoots an arrow at Rizah. “The arrow lodged deep in Rizah’s neck . . . The golden mare pinwheeled toward land and struck the grass. She toppled over, wheezing.” The battle scene takes place over 50 pages.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • When Rahkki’s brother is injured, he is given “medicine to keep him asleep.”
  • An animal healer explains how she uses dragon drool to make a medicine that puts people to sleep. “Boiling the venom removes all of the toxins but leaves the anesthetic properties intact.”
  • During a meal, the Queen’s table has food and rice wine.
  • A merchant sells food and rice wine to shoppers.
  • After Rahkki gives a girl his food, she was found “convulsing in the dirt. Another groom screamed for help as white froth poured from the girl’s mouth.” It turns out that Rahkki’s food had been poisoned.
  • During the battle, Rahkki uses “drool-soaked” darts to put giants to sleep.

Language

  • Bloody rain is used as an exclamation frequently.
  • Lands to skies, sun and stars, and by Granak are all occasionally used as an exclamation.
  • Rahkki’s brother says, “My brother’s an idiot.”
  • By the Ancestors is used as an exclamation once.
  • When a group of boys was wrestling, a boy calls someone a “Gorlan-blooded freak.”

Supernatural

  • Each clan “claimed a different mascot, and the queens fed their respective beasts live animals to keep them content, then stared at the gnawed bones as if their futures were written in them.” In one clan, the queen’s adviser “oversaw the sacrifices to the clan’s mascot, read omens, and made predictions.”
  • Someone tells Rahkki that curiosity calls the kaji spirits. “Kaji spirits harassed the seven clans, causing people to trip and slip and blunder where they were otherwise sure-footed and agile. Kajies came in flurries when Sandwens were either up to no good, full of pride, or curious about things that had nothing to do with them.”
  • When attacking a python, Rahkki says, “Granak protect me!”

Spiritual Content

  • After winning Echofrost in a contest, Rahkki goes to talk to the queen. When he returns, he climbed onto her back, “with a small prayer to the wind spirits.”

 Masters of Mischief

After successfully trapping Ralph and his two cronies in South Ridge Middle School, Max’s crazy night seems almost over as police sirens approach. There is just one last thing to do – go home! While evading the police and possible suspensions, Max and Erin dive into the back of a pickup truck just as it is about to take off. What they don’t know is that the pickup truck is driven by the thieves – Ralph, Tucker, and Moose – who all escaped from Max’s traps and the police!

Successfully ditching the pickup truck when it stops for fast food, Erin and Max head home for some well-needed rest. Throughout the weekend and at school on Monday, Max must dodge police, his parents, his nosy neighbors, and a brutal bully to avoid any possible suspicion for his involvement with Friday’s robbery. If Max is caught, he risks detention and probably homeschooling by his grandmother for the rest of his life. However, Max and Erin discover the thieves’ new plan – to pose as security guards to steal the new, expensive school computers when no one is looking. Can Max and Erin avoid detection and detention while stopping the malicious thieves?

Masters of Mayhem is a fun, suspenseful read for young readers. Throughout her three books, Russel has created a character who is troubled just like any other boy his age but manages to strive through his problems and think of others. Max does not flaunt or boast about how he stopped Ralph and his gang and saved the school but instead keeps it to himself. He considers the consequences of his actions and worries about involving Erin and tarnishing her perfect school record. Max cares about other people more than he cares about himself. He even swears to put a stop to the thieves again, risking his own life to protect his new school. He is a role model for young teenagers.

Unlike other books in the series, Russel does not depend on bathroom humor or inappropriate behavior for her jokes. Instead, she puts Max in hysterical and wacky scenarios to entertain her readers. In addition, the book’s cartoonish, manga-like black-and-white illustrations will help readers transfer their reading skills from picture books into full-fledged novels, making this story great for young, reluctant readers.

The Misadventures of Max Crumbly is a series that should be read in order. Like every book in the series, Masters of Mischief ends with a suspenseful cliffhanger, so make sure you have the next book in the series ready for your reader.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • After Max and Erin fall into the school dumpster, Max worries that unless he and Erin “can figure out how to get out of this stupid dumpster,” they might never roam free again.
  • Erin doesn’t want her ice princess costume to get damaged. Max says, “Erin only cared about her STUPID ice princess costume.”
  • When Max and Erin hide in the back of a truck, Max worries that “those Neanderthals would see us through that big window in the back of the truck and try to run over us or something.”
  • Max says that if “Erin could sneak out of her house to rescue me, then I could at least sneak INTO my house to save my butt.”
  • Max screams when he sees his sister in an oatmeal face mask. Max’s sister tells him, “Shut up, you birdbrain!”
  • After the police visit their house, Max’s sister comes downstairs and asks if the police were there. Max says his sister is hearing things and she responds with, “Actually, the voices TOLD me to give YOU some mouthwash, BUTT BREATH!”
  • Thug Thurston, Max’s bully, asks Max, “Did you have a nice weekend, BARF?!”
  • Erin fumes and says they “can’t just let these JERKS get away with this!”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Matthew Perkey

Scarlett Hart Monster Hunter

Scarlett Hart isn’t afraid of monsters. As the orphaned daughter of two legendary monster hunters, she is prepared to rid the entire city of monsters! The only problem is that the Royal Academy for the Pursuit and Eradication of Zoological Eccentricities says she’s too young to fight perilous horrors. But that doesn’t stop Scarlett and her trusty butler. They fight mummies, a horrid hound, and save the city from a monster attack.

Scarlett is a plucky heroine who isn’t afraid to fight. With the help of her butler, Napoleon, Scarlett is able to keep her monster hunting a secret. However, her parents’ rival, Count Stankovic, wants all of the monster hunting glory for himself. The Count will try anything to get Scarlett out of the way. Every time Scarlett turns around, the Count is hiding in the shadows, waiting for his chance to get proof that Scarlett is breaking the law. When a group of monsters starts mysteriously manifesting, Scarlett knows she has to risk breaking the rules and being put in jail. She will do whatever it takes to save the city.

Scarlett goes around the city fighting sea monsters, fire-breathing monsters, and gargoyles. Even though the monsters always meet their demise—sometimes in creative ways—the illustrations keep out the bloody gore. Most of the story revolves around battling monsters and the Count. However, Sedgwick includes enough detail and family background to give the story a little depth.

Scarlett Hart Monster Hunter is an entertaining story with elements of steampunk. Even though the action revolves around monsters, no one is seriously injured. The story has many elements that will entertain middle school readers, like the string of funny, creative insults Scarlett uses when referring to the Count. The illustrations use many onomatopoeias, such as, “creak, fazaza, tweak, phut, phut, sputter.” The cartoon-like illustrations use shades of brown to mimic the darker tone of the story.

Readers who love monster fighting fun and have read The Last Kids on Earth series will miss the humor and friendship that is lacking in Scarlett Hart Monster Hunter. Despite this, Scarlett Hart Monster Hunter is a fast-paced story that is worth spending an afternoon reading. However, readers may want to make sure they aren’t alone in the house when they decide to jump into Scarlett’s spooky world. Monster-loving graphic novel fans should also add Ghostopolis by Doug TenNapel to their reading list.

Sexual Content

  • When the Count is running after Scarlett, his pants slip down and show his buttcrack.

Violence

  • While walking, a monster jumps out and a man falls into the water and sinks.
  • The Count uses a rocket launcher to fire a weapon that blows up a monster. The scene is illustrated over two pages.
  • Scarlett reads a newspaper article that says, “The Black Dog of Suffolk County. Also known as Black Shuck. Ghost-dog with glowing red eyes. Has caused four deaths this past month alone. Last sighted in Devil’s Hollow.”
  • Scarlett goes to capture the Black Dog. When she shoots at it, the Black Dog attacks her car. When the Black Dog runs off, Scarlett chases it and hits it with her car. They load the dead dog into a sack and put it on top of the car. The scene is illustrated over five pages.
  • When a mummy sees Scarlett and Napoleon, it says, “Urrr. Brains. Fresh brains. . .” The mummy chases Scarlett and Napoleon. A group of mummies appears, trapping the two monster fighters. Scarlett uses her sword and a stage curtain to capture the mummies. The scene is illustrated over five pages.
  • While hunting a ghost, a ghostly bishop jumps out of a closet and chases Scarlett and Napoleon. The Count shoots the ghost who shrivels. “Fzzzzz. Pop.” The ghost disappears. The scene is illustrated over four pages.
  • When the Count takes a picture of Scarlett ghost hunting, she holds a gun up to threaten him. The Count gives Scarlett the camera and leaves.
  • Scarlett follows the Count. When he hears her, he shoots at her. Scarlett shoots back. Then, she throws a container of black spiders at the Count, who freaks out and drops the gun. The scene is illustrated over three pages.
  • Scarlett and Napoleon go to a cathedral and see swarms of living gargoyles attacking people. The Count drives up and begins shooting the gargoyles. When a gargoyle grabs the Count, Napoleon drives into the creature, saving the Count. A gargoyle grabs a boy and Scarlett shoots the gargoyle. The boy falls safely to the ground. The scene is illustrated over 10 pages.
  • Napoleon tells Scarlett about a dance her parents attended. Scarlett’s father and the Count argued over a girl. The Count “went to punch your father. . . Stankovic (the Count) fell over a balcony into a fountain. He was humiliated. Everyone laughed at him. He left in a huff, and no one saw him for months.”
  • When Scarlett and Napoleon are put in jail, someone slams a car into the building to free them.
  • When a group of monsters attacks, several people (including Scarlett and Napoleon) try to stop them. People use a variety of weapons, including a gun, a shovel, and a sword. A giant octopus-like monster with many eyes goes after Scarlett. She jumps in a car with Napoleon and drives away. The battle takes place over 14 pages.
  • Scarlett jumps in an airplane and looks for an octopus-like monster. When she finds the monster, she shoots it. The monster throws parts of a building at the plane. Scarlett drops a bomb into the monster’s mouth and it blows up. The fight is illustrated over 16 pages.
  • When Scarlett is flying home, she sees the Count hit Napoleon with a car. The Count points his gun at Napoleon. Scarlett flies close and the Count shoots at the plane. When Scarlett turns the plane around, she flies close to the Count, who falls off a cliff. He falls into a shark’s mouth. Later, the Count is seen hanging onto the shark’s fin; it is not clear if the Count is a zombie or still living. The scene is illustrated over eight pages.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Scarlett goes into a pub and orders “a triple whisky and easy on the ice.” The bartender glares at her. Then she says, “Just kidding. Ginger beer, please.”
  • After battling monsters, Napoleon tells Scarlett, “Since you will arrive first, perhaps you could ask Mrs. White to pour me a glass of beer? A large one.”

Language

  • Scarlett exclaims, “leaping lizards, piston heads, and gaskets and cylinder rings.”
  • Scarlett says, “I’m just a great idiot.”
  • Scarlett calls the Count a series of names, including: “pea-brained tire muncher,” “scabby nosed cat eater,” “animal-faced sewer dweller,” “dog-bottomed ferret face,” and “weasel-headed monkey brain.”
  • Scarlett says, “that toad faced Count stole our kill the other day.”
  • Someone calls Napoleon “an old fusspot.”
  • Someone calls the Count a “swine.”

Supernatural

  • Scarlett has a pair of ghost goggles that let her see ghosts. Without the goggles, ghosts “only materialize when they want to scare you.”
  • The Count learns how to bring monsters to life.

Spiritual Content

  • While hunting ghosts, Napoleon takes holy water and Scarlett takes the Bible.

Six of Crows

When it comes to the magic-wielding Grisha, nothing is ever easy. Especially not when Grisha are subjected to jurda parem, a dangerous new drug that not only enhances their latent abilities but also throws those same Grisha into a never-ending cycle of addiction and suffering.

Now, the only man who knows the formula to jurda parem, Bo Yul-Bayer, is locked up in the Ice Court, one of the most secure prisons in the world. There are many people looking to free Bo Yul- Bayer in order to use his knowledge, but Kaz Brekker is hired for the exact opposite.

Kaz and his crew, Inej, Jesper, Nina, Wylan, and Matthias, are about to breach the toughest prison in the world to free Bo Yul-Bayer and make sure he doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. They could very well die or be imprisoned, but the promise of four million kruge (the main currency of their home city of Ketterdam) is all too compelling. Plus, the six want the chance to fix all the mistakes they have made over the course of their lives. Kaz and his crew are the best at being thieves, yet not every plan can go perfectly. Jurda parem could flip the world on its head, and if the six fail, the world could plunge into a world war.

Bardugo’s Six of Crows is an adventurous story from the very beginning. The story follows the distinct personalities of gang leader Kaz, the silent assassin Inej, the sharpshooter Jesper, the Grisha Nina, the aristocrat Wylan, and the Fjerdan witch-hunter Matthias. The story ebbs and flows between the six main characters and their grand plan to sneak into the Ice Court to free the maker of a powerful drug.

There’s suspense, great action, and wonderfully compelling characters. Most of all, there’s a great sense of progression, both in the overarching plot development and in the main six characters.

Bardugo incorporates the members of Kaz’s crew into the flow of the story, and each character is vital in the plan to infiltrate the Ice Court. For instance, Matthias was once a guard was stationed at the Ice Court, allowing him to be the one to create a map of the prison. Each character’s backstory also comes into play quite frequently, bringing forth the idea that each member is struggling with something that has been haunting them for years. This is a strength of Bardugo’s writing, as her themes of overcoming one’s past and staying true to one’s feelings play out brilliantly. The biggest example of this is found in Matthias and Nina’s relationship. The two are obviously in love, but because one is a Grisha and the other is a Grisha hunter, the two often get very close to killing each other, quite literally. In the end, they manage to overcome their past prejudices and open up to each other.

Overall, Six of Crows is a wonderful read for any young adult reader. Its main characters are incredibly likable and the story flows well. The plot isn’t overly complicated, though there are a lot of characters to keep track of. Six of Crows is a page-turner that will have readers wanting more. For readers who want a blend of romance and a group of skilled characters pulling off a heist, Six of Crows is definitely the right choice. This novel also would be best suited for mature young adults.

Sexual Content

  • When a guard is mulling over how to tell if a girl likes her, his companion says, “Just tell her she’s got skin like moonlight. Girls love that.” That same guard later thinks, “He and Anya only ever exchanged a few words on his rounds, but she was always the best part of his night.”
  • In the pleasure district of Ketterdam, known as the Barrel, there are many brothels. Inej, one of the main characters, was in a brothel known as the Menagerie before she came to the dregs. “She’d lost most of her modesty during her time with the Menagerie, but really, there were limits.” In the Barrel, “peepholes were a feature of all the brothels.” Inej thinks about the Menagerie, “If you had a taste for a Shu girl or a Fjerdan giant, a redhead from the Wandering Isle, a dark-skinned Zemeni, the Menagerie was your destination.”
  • Kaz and Inej have a budding romance throughout the novel. For instance, Inej thinks, “What would Kaz say if she suddenly stripped down and started washing herself in front of him?” Again, Inej thinks, “One minute he made her blush and the next he made her want to commit murder.” Later, Inej thinks, “Feeling anything for Kaz Brekker was the worst kind of foolishness.”
  • When talking to Nina Zenik, Kaz says, “A man doesn’t need a bed to get ideas, Nina.” During their conversation, Nina “shucked off the red kefta, revealing a slip of satin so thin it barely counted as cloth.”
  • Kaz also points out to Nina, “You have crumbs on your cleavage.”
  • Nina and Matthias have a dangerous relationship. Nina thinks about Matthias: “In another life, she might have believed he was coming to rescue her, a shining savior with golden hair and eyes the pale blue of northern glaciers.” After rescuing Matthias from prison, Nina “pressed a kiss to his temple.”
  • Matthias thinks at the same time that “In the bad dreams, he kissed her.” Again he thinks, “He kissed her, buried his face in the sweet hollow of her neck.”
  • After first meeting and surviving an explosion on a boat, Nina and Matthias huddled naked together for warmth. “He gave the fire a stern jab, but she ignored him and stripped off the rest of her clothes.”
  • When thinking about her parents, Inej remembers her father “leaving little bouquets of wild geraniums for her mother to find everywhere, in the cupboards, the camp cook pots, the sleeves of her costumes.” When thinking about her own love life, Inej thinks, “There had been no boys to bring her flowers, only men with stacks of kruge and purses full of coin.”
  • Jesper and Wylan, two main characters, flirt sometimes. When Wylan tells Jesper to close his eyes while they’re under attack, Jesper says, “You can’t kiss me from down there, Wylan!”
  • When she was captured by Fjerdan witch-hunters, Nina heard one say about her, “I like this one, still nice and round. Maybe we should open that cage door and hose her down.” Immediately after this, Matthias asks his comrades, “Would you fornicate with a dog?”
  • When Kaz and Inej finally reveal their true feelings to one another at the end of the book, Inej says, “I will have you without armor, Kaz Brekker. Or I will not have you at all.”

Violence

  • A merchant has his guard cut open a boy’s arm for an experiment with jurda parem, a powerful drug. “The guard gave the boy a pat then slashed a bright red cut across his forearm. The boy started crying immediately.” In that same experiment, the merchant tells the guard to “Cut off the boy’s thumb.” This is commanded to be done because the merchant wants to see if a Grisha, a magic user, can use their power with the extra boost of jurda parem to heal a body part that was cut off.
  • When thinking about Kaz, Inej thinks, “The boy they called Dirtyhands didn’t need a reason any more than he needed permission—to break a leg, sever an alliance, or change a man’s fortune with the turn of a card.”
  • When Inej climbs into a tank, she’s desperate to get it working. “Finally one of the guns rolled upward. She pulled on the trigger, and her whole body shook as bullets rattled against the enclosure glass like hail, pinging off in all directions.” Inej fires the tank at Fjerdan soldiers, who are desperate to either capture or kill her and her comrades.
  • Nina attacks Jarl Brum, who was once Matthias’s drüskelle captain. “Then her hand shot out once more, and Brum shrieked. He clapped his hands to his head, blood trickling between his fingers.”
  • When Kaz and the others free Matthias from Hellgate prison, Matthias attacks Nina. “He launched himself forward, flipping her to the ground, hands fostered tight around her throat, straddling her so that his knees pinned her arms to the ground.” Nina isn’t injured in this interaction.
  • Big Bolliger, a member of Kaz’s gang, betrays Kaz and Jesper, so Kaz retaliates. “It was certainly why he’d let Holst put a bullet in Bolliger’s gut.”
  • As Jesper and Wylan are about to be killed by a Shu Tidemaker, a member of a foreign team, Jesper uses his Grisha powers to save himself and Wylan. “The female Tidemaker screamed as the metal burrowed into her flesh, and she tried to turn to mist.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Gambling is a backdrop for the Dregs (the gang Kaz and the others work for). Kaz has “been the floor boss at the Crow Club for more than two years.” The Crow Club is where the Dregs make the most money through gambling. Drinking is sometimes mentioned at the Crow Club, as explained below.
  • The drug, jurda parem, is a main focus of the story. Jurda parem is a drug that enhances a Grisha’s magical abilities, but also one that is incredibly addictive and dangerous. It comes in a “powder” substance. For instance, “Jurda was nothing to fear, a stimulant everyone in the stadwatch chewed to stay awake on late watches.” Van Eck, the man who hires Kaz’s crew to hunt down the creator of jurda parem, says, “Jurda parem is something completely different, and it is most definitely not harmless.” He also says, “It’s lethal. An ordinary mind cannot tolerate parem in even the lowest doses.”
  • When Kaz’s crew is surrounded by the Fjerdan military, Nina takes jurda parem to alter her Grisha abilities in order to save them all. “Her blood began to thrum, and her heart was suddenly pounding.” After Nina takes jurda parem to save the entire group from the Fjerdan military, she thinks, “Everything felt wrong. All she could think of was the sweet, burnt taste of the parem.”
  • Kaz and Geels, a fellow gang leader, make small talk about “the suspicion that the Kooperom was serving watered-down drinks now that the rent had been raised.”
  • Per Haskell, the leader of the Dregs, “preferred to sit in the warmth of his room, drinking lukewarm lager.”
  • When talking about the success of the plan to steal Bo Yul-Bayer, the creator of jurda parem, Kaz says, “We’ll have waffles. And whiskey. If this job doesn’t come off, no one’s going to want to be around me sober.”
  • When Kaz is attacked by two Grisha in an alley, before passing out he thinks, “‘Drugged,’ Kaz thought, trying not to panic. ‘I’ve been drugged.’” Immediately after, he thinks, “A ghost with a syringe?” Later on, it says about Kaz that “Whatever they’d injected him with had left him groggy.”

Language

  • The word crap is used a few times. For instance, Kaz, the pseudo leader of the Dregs, is called a “cocky little piece of crap” by a fellow gang leader. When that same gang leader threatens to shoot him, Kaz replies with, “Find your balls and give the order.”
  • The word ass and bastard are used sometimes. For instance, Kaz calls the Black Tips, another gang, “a spectacular bunch of asses.”
  • The word hell and damn are used frequently. For example, when Kaz wakes up after being kidnapped, he says, “so what the hell was going on?”
  • The word whore is used sometimes. When Kaz is debating with a high-class merchant, Van Eck tells the merchant, “I don’t run whores, and I kill for a cause.”
  • When bantering with Jesper, Kaz “replied with a time-saving gesture that relied heavily on his middle finger and disappeared below deck.”
  • The word fuck is used once in the novel. When Kaz once demanded to see the man who ruined his life, he says, “Jakob fucking Hertzoon. I want to talk to him.”
  • When someone’s watch is stolen, the person says, “Son of a bitch.”

Supernatural

  • Magic is a backdrop, with most magic users known as Grisha.
  • Matthias is a drüskelle, “one of the Fjerdan witch-hunters tasked with hunting down Grisha to face trial and execution.”
  • Grisha are typically placed into different groups based on their power. The groups include the Corporalki, the Etherealki, and the Materialki. Corporalki “specialized in the human body. They could stop your heart, slow your breathing, snap your bones. They couldn’t get inside your head.” An Etherealki, the Tidemaker, “can control currents, summon water or moisture from the air or a nearby source.” Materialki, as the name suggests, allows Grisha to create a variety of materials: “Because it’s made with Materialki corecloth. It can withstand rifle fire.”
  • A Grisha “raised an arm and a gust of air slammed Joost backward.”
  • Kaz’s ship is attacked while the group is on an island. “Before anyone could draw breath to protest, two huge walls of water rose and shot toward the Ferolind. They crushed the ship between them with a resonant boom, sending debris flying.” Inej is kidnapped after the ship is destroyed by another Grisha: “The Squaller barreled into Inej and sped upward with her into the sky.”
  • When Grisha are given jurda parem, their powers become amplified. For instance, when a Grisha named Anya uses her power on a boy, “She waved her hand through the air, the gesture almost dismissive, and the cut on the boy’s arm sealed instantly.”
  • Another Grisha used his powers to kidnap Kaz. “And then a figure stepped through the wall.” The Grisha steps through the wall behind Kaz and then restrains him.
  • Under the influence of jurda parem, Nina stops an entire army. “‘Sleep,’ she commanded. Nina swept her hands in an arc, and the soldiers toppled without protest, row after row, stalks of wheat felled by an invisible scythe.”
  • Nina alters a person’s appearance. “Nina had been a passable Tailor at best—under the influence of jurda parem, well, as Van Eck had once said, ‘Things become possible that simply shouldn’t be.’”
  • Some Grisha use other means to amplify their powers such as “animal bones, teeth, scales.”

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

Enemies

Klawde and Raj are back! As summer turns to fall, our favorite warlord cat remains in his pitiful, exiled existence. But Raj has an even scarier prospect than cosmic exile: starting at a new school. And if things didn’t seem complicated enough, both cat and human are confronted with two figures from their past they did not expect to pop up in Elba, Oregon.

While Klawde trains three kittens to become warriors, Raj is trying to make new friends and win a robotics contest. The tense story atmosphere chronicles Klawde and Raj as they both seek revenge on an enemy. When Klawde feels depressed and hides out in his bunker, Raj cheers him up with Klawde’s own words: “Revenge is a dish best served as often as possible! Revenge is the best medicine!” Klawde is truly an evil alien warlord who believes “an excellent lie is better than an inconvenient truth.” Even though Raj realizes that revenge isn’t the best medicine, the story has some bullying and gives no advice on how to conquer the problem.

Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat #2 jumps back and forth between Klawde’s and Raj’s points of view. The story focuses on the drama of middle school, using humor and fun illustrations that are washed in blue. Klawde’s violent behavior is often outrageous and humorous, and he perfectly captures cats’ disdain for others. The conclusion shows Raj learning that revenge isn’t the right course of action because it hurts others.

Readers will enjoy the fast-paced story but may have difficulty with some of the advanced vocabulary, such as perfidious, malevolence, nefarious, and exponentially. However, readers will be able to use context clues to understand the meaning of the difficult words. Short chapters, large font, and pictures that are scattered throughout the story will keep even reluctant readers interested. Even though Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat #2 doesn’t have an anti-bullying message, the highly entertaining story will keep readers flipping the pages until the very end.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Klawde teaches kittens to be warriors. As they train, the calico kitten “dispatched each of her brothers so quickly that, for the final match, I paired both girls against her. The fight was even, until on one the grays caught the calico with a strike to the head that sent her sliding across the floor. She crouched in a corner, meowing pitifully… The boys went to check on the state of their sister. Once they were near, the girl sprang forward with a leap so lightning-fast, they had no time to react. She landed on their backs, slashing and biting and yowling with glee.”
  • The calico pretended to be heading towards a nap and then, “she turned, rose up behind her brothers on her hind legs, and crashed their skulls together.”
  • Klawde finds his enemy, who was “finished slurping up the innards of whatever creature he had captured, and crunched its bones between his teeth.”
  • Klawde and his sworn enemy fight. Klawde “cuffed him on his cheek as an answer to his insolence. Then I reached with my other paw to strike at his shoulder. I ducked his next swing, and at the same time used my right hind leg as a surprised cudgel, jackhammering him with a blurred series of blows.” The fight is described over two pages.
  • Klawde is upset, so he attacks a human by “grabbing at his leg. His hideous bare skin now bore four perfectly parallel scratch lines.”
  • After Klawde tampers with Raj’s robot, the robot goes crazy during an assembly, and “it shot the coffee out of Miss Natasha’s hand, and next it sprayed water at Principal Brownepoint, nailing him right in the crotch of his pants. It looked like he’d peed himself!”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Klawde gets high on catnip.

Language

  • On the human side, there is some name-calling, including jerk and dork.
  • Klawde has many funny names that he calls both humans and cats alike. For example, he calls a cat an ignorant imbecile, a dim-witted dolt, and a moron.
  • Heck is used twice.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • When Klawde challenges his enemy to a duel to the death, his enemy “looked like he’d just seen the ghost of King Si-uh-meez, whose spirit is known to appear to cats on their deathbed.”

Double Team

Eleven-year-old Amar’e Stoudemire has always had fun playing basketball with his friends. Competing in tournaments with his two best friends, Deuce and Mike, has made Amar’e realize that his true passion is basketball.

Amar’e and his two best friends usually play as a team, but when the competition gets intense, Amar’e thinks that he is the only one capable of getting the ball into the net. Amare’s getting attention from older, better players. When Amar’e gets invited to a special invitation-only tournament, he wonders if ditching his friends is the right thing to do. Will Amar’e’s friends stand by him even if he leaves them behind on the basketball court? In order to keep his friends, will Amar’e need to turn down the opportunity to play in the special tournament?

Basketball fans will enjoy the play-by-play action Amar’e and his friends compete in a tournament. When Amar’e’s friends get angry that he is “hogging the ball,” Amar’e doesn’t try to see things from his friends’ point of view. Instead, he is overconfident and focuses on how his friends aren’t being fair. In the end, Amar’e talks to his mother and brother about the conflict, which allows him to solve the problem and keep his friends. Amar’e brother tells him, “You’ve got to do your thing, but you don’t want to hurt anyone along the way.”

Although Amar’e has positive interactions with his parents, the story focuses on the tournaments. Because the play-by-play action is told from Amar’e’s point of view, he comes off as arrogant. Amar’e is confident that he is the only reason the team wins so he cuts his teammates out of the action. In the end, Amar’e realizes that friendship is more important than winning.

Basketball fans will appreciate Double Team’s easy vocabulary and the black and white illustrations that are scattered throughout the story. Amar’s has positive interactions with his family and works hard. Younger sports fans with enjoy Double Team because of the relatable character and the realistic conflict. Readers who are looking for similar books should try the Zayd Saleem Chasing the Dream Series by Hena Khan.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • “Holy Finger Roll” is used as an exclamation.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Maybe This Time

One year. Nine events. Nine chances to . . . fall in love?

Weddings. Funerals. Barbecues. New Year’s Eve parties. Name the occasion, and Sophie Evans will be there. Well, she has to be there. Sophie works for the local florist, so she can be found at every big event in her small hometown, arranging bouquets and managing family drama.

Enter Andrew Hart. The son of the fancy new chef in town, Andrew is suddenly required to attend all the same events as Sophie. Andrew is entitled, arrogant, and preppy. Sophie just wants to get her job done and finish up her sketches so she can apply to design school. But every time she turns around, there’s Andrew, getting in her way and making her life more complicated. Until one day she wonders if maybe complicated isn’t so bad after all . . .

Told from Sofie’s point of view, the reader comes to understand why Sofie is focused on getting out of her small town. However, Sofie’s obsession with moving to New York has made her judgmental, snobbish, and self-centered. When Sofie meets Andrew, she automatically dislikes him and often says things just to irritate him. Sofie ends up falling in love with Andrew, which comes as no surprise. The change from dislike, to friendship, to love is very natural. Instead of instantly falling in love, the two slowly learn about each other, which allows their feelings to change.

Maybe This Time doesn’t just focus on the romance. The story also hits on difficulties with parents, misunderstandings with friends, and the dynamics of a small town. Even though Sofie often is snarky, her sweet side also comes out in unexpected places. Sofie’s little brother is one of the highlights of the story, and Sofie’s love for him is apparent.

Maybe This Time will give readers insight into small-town life. The story progresses at a steady pace and has many interesting characters. In the end, Sofie realizes that she actually loves her small town and even though she does plan to leave, she will always come back. The sweet romance touches on friendship, ambition, trust, and dreams without getting bogged down with a message. Readers looking for an easy-to-read romance will enjoy Maybe This Time.

Sexual Content

  • When Sofie hurts her foot, Andrew “squatted down, his hand brushing along my calf until it reached my ankle. Tingles spread up my leg all the way to my stomach. My cheeks went hot, and I leaned my head back against the mirror to try to keep that fact to myself. He wasn’t allowed to have this kind of effect on me.”
  • While walking by a car, Sofie sees a boy and a girl “in the passenger seat, and they were kissing.”
  • When Sofie and Andrew were arguing, Sofie’s “body seemed to be on autopilot. I leaned forward and pressed an angry kiss to his lips. . . Then all at once his free hand moved to the back of my neck. . . He tilted his head, deepening our kiss.” The kiss is described over ½ a page.
  • While serving at a dinner, a drunk man dropped a fork. When Sofie went to pick it up, she “felt a hand brush [her] leg. The man gave me a creepy smile and I stood. I pointed his own fork at him. ‘Please keep your hands to yourself.’”
  • Sofie doesn’t want to think about “a certain hot day by a certain shed kissing a certain boy whose mouth tasted like cherries.”
  • At a New Year’s party, Sofie’s friend says, “In fact, I’m going to find myself a boy to kiss at midnight tonight. I don’t care who.” Later Sofie’s friend says, “He was a midnight kiss. . . Don’t try to tie me down to someone I kissed at midnight.”
  • During a New Year’s party, Andrew kisses Sofie. Sofie thinks, “He tasted like heaven.”
  • Andrew and Sofie kiss several times. Once he tells Sofie, “You’re beautiful.” Then, “his lips brushed mine softly.”

Violence

  • Sofie’s brother is afraid of firecrackers because “Momma had a party in the backyard. . . Some guys started shooting their guns into the sky and my window got broke and a piece of glass hit my arm and I thought I was shot.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • While Sofie was at a wedding, she stepped on the “amber colored glass of a broken beer bottle.”
  • During a eulogy, the pastor talked about how the man “had a problem with alcohol when he was younger.”
  • While serving at a dinner, some of the people drink wine.
  • At Thanksgiving dinner, Sofie’s mom says, “Point me to the wine.”

Language

  • Holy crap is used twice.
  • Crap is used five times.

Supernatural

  • Sofie had a short conversation about her belief in an afterlife. She says, “I believe in an afterlife . . . I’m not sure exactly what it will consist of, but I believe we all have a soul, something that makes us who we are. When my gran died, I remember looking at her body and knowing something was missing, that she was no longer her.”

Because of the Rabbit

On the last night of summer, Emma tags along with her father, who is a game warden, on a routine call. They’re supposed to rescue a wild rabbit from a picket fence, but instead, they find a little bunny. Emma convinces her father to bring him home for the night.

The next day, Emma starts public school for the very first time after years of being home-schooled. More than anything, Emma wants to make a best friend in school. But things don’t go as planned. On the first day of school, she’s paired with a boy named Jack for a project. He can’t stay on topic, he speaks out of turn, and he’s obsessed with animals. Jack doesn’t fit in, and Emma’s worried he’ll make her stand out. Emma and Jack bond over her rescue rabbit, but will their new friendship keep Emma from finding the new best friend she’s meant to have?

Because of the Rabbit combines several subplots into one story. Not only is Emma struggling with attending public school for the first time, but she also is upset that her brother, Owen, has less time for her. Emma’s family demonstrates healthy relationships and positive communication skills. Emma revisits tales that her grandfather shared with her. She also names her pet rabbit Monsieur Lapin after a character from her grandfather’s stories.

Attending public school isn’t an easy transition for Emma. The author does an excellent job describing Emma’s complex feelings in kid-friendly language. Like many students, Emma hopes to find a best friend and worries that telling the whole truth will make others dislike her. One of her classmates, who appears to have autism, is kind to Emma. Even though Emma likes spending time with the boy, she worries that others will judge her if she spends time with him. In the end, Emma learns that it is important to look at things from another person’s perspective. Emma realizes that “I’ve wanted them all to be the kind of friend I needed, but I hadn’t tried as hard to be the one they needed.”

Anyone who has ever been left out of a group or is facing a new school will relate to Emma. Because of the Rabbit is beautifully written and has many positive life lessons. However, the story focuses on Emma’s personal conflicts. Readers who enjoy fast-paced, adventure stories will have a difficult time staying engaged. Because of the short chapters and easy vocabulary, Because of the Rabbit would be an excellent story for a parent to read aloud to their child.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

A Wrinkle in Time

Meg’s father is a physicist. Or at least he was, before he disappeared. While her mother insists that he will come back, Meg and the rest of the town doubt he’ll ever return. It doesn’t help that Meg is having trouble at school and thinks that her curls, glasses, and braces make her a “moron.” In fact, Meg is convinced that her life will be terrible forever–until Mrs. Whatsit blows into her kitchen one stormy evening.

Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which definitely aren’t from Earth, and Meg doesn’t trust them. But her little brother Charles says they’re alright, and Charles has always been able to see below the surface of people. When Mrs. Whatsit says they can help the children find their father, Meg doesn’t care what they are, as long as they can help. Suddenly Meg finds herself traveling to other planets with Charles and their friend Calvin. Together will the three of them be able to rescue Meg and Charles’ father? Or will they too become lost?

A Wrinkle in Time has memorable characters that will quickly find their way into readers’ hearts. Meg is very relatable to young readers, as she deals with her fears, her braces, and with not fitting in at school. Watching Meg struggle, grow, and find her inner strength will leave readers cheering for her. The beautiful, imaginative planets that Meg journeys to will awe and delight.

Throughout A Wrinkle in Time, Meg will glimpse a cosmic battle between good and evil, light and darkness, and knowledge and ignorance. While rescuing her father is just a tiny piece of this battle, Meg’s journey is filled with gravitas. Numerous lessons are learned along the way: Meg learns how to be brave, how to take responsibility rather than blaming others, and she discovers the one thing that the Shadow doesn’t have: love.

Sexual Content

  • The rumor is that Meg’s father “left your mother and [went] off with some dame.”
  • When Meg has to go into mortal danger to save her brother, she says goodbye to Calvin. “Calvin came to her and took her hand, then drew her roughly to him and kissed her. He didn’t say anything, and he turned away before he had a chance to see the surprised happiness that brightened Meg’s eyes.”

Violence

  • Charles thinks a man is a robot, so he “darted forward and hit the man as hard as he could.” When he realizes the man is not a robot, he says, “I’m sorry if I hurt you.”
  • The mind in charge of a planet that has been lost to the Dark Thing tells Meg, “We let no one suffer. If it is so much kinder simply to annihilate anyone who is ill . . . Rather than endure such discomfort they are simply put to sleep.”
  • When Charles is hypnotized, Meg tries to knock him back to his senses. “She hurled herself at him. But before she could reach him his fist shot out and punched her hard in the stomach. She gasped for breath.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Charles says, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
  • Moron is used often. The town thinks Charles is a moron because he never talks, and Meg calls herself a moron several times. When Charles speaks to Calvin, Calvin is surprised. “Aren’t you the one who’s supposed to be the moron?”
  • Calvin calls Charles and Meg “dope” several times as an affectionate nickname. “Look, dope. I just want to get things straight.”
  • Ass is used once. Mrs. Who says, “And old ass knows more than a young colt.”

Supernatural

  • Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which are not from earth, though they can appear in human form. It’s never directly stated what they are, but it’s mentioned that Mrs. Who is a “paltry few billion years” older than Mrs. Whatsit, and that Mrs. Which is even older.
  • At one point, Mrs. Whatsit morphs into a new form. “Outwardly Mrs. Whatsit was surely no longer a Mrs. Whatsit. She was a marble white body with powerful flanks, something like a horse but at the same time completely unlike a horse, for the magnificently modeled back sprang a nobly formed torso, arms, and a heard resembling a man’s but a man with a perfection of dignity and virtue.”
  • The children tesser across space (a form of faster than light travel) several times with Mrs. Which. “All light was gone. Darkness was complete . . . Just as light and sound had vanished, she was gone, too. The corporeal Meg simply was not . . . She was lost in a horrifying void.” They visit several different planets and meet the occupants of those planets.
  • The children visit the “Happy Medium,” a very happy woman who can see the entire universe through a crystal ball.
  • The children visit a planet that has been lost to the Shadow. There, they find a man who is possessed by IT, the mind in charge. “His eyes were bright and had a reddish glow. Above his head was a light, and it glowed in the same manner as the eyes, pulsing, throbbing, in steady rhythm. Charles Wallace shut his eyes tightly. ‘Close your eyes . . . He’ll hypnotize you.’ ”
  • The children finally meet IT and realize, “It was a brain. A disembodied brain. An oversized brain, just enough larger than normal to be completely revolting and terrifying. A living brain. A brain that pulsed and quivered, that seized and commanded.”

Spiritual Content

  • On one of the planets they visit, centaur-esque creatures are singing a song of pure joy. Mrs. Whatsit tries to translate the song into words: “Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles; and the inhabitants thereof. Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift their voice; let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory onto the Lord!” When Meg hears the song, she “felt a pulse of joy such as she had never known before.”
  • The children learn their father was taken prisoner while fighting the Dark Thing. Meg sees the Dark Thing, a huge shadow stretched across space. “What could there be about a shadow that was so terrible that she knew that there had never been before or ever would be again, anything that would chill her with a fear that was beyond shuddering, beyond crying or screaming, beyond the possibility of comfort?” When they ask what it is, Mrs. Which says, “Itt iss Eevill. Itt iss thee Ppowers of Ddarrkknesss!”
  • The children realize that many people have fought the darkness on Earth for years. Mrs. Whatsit says, “They’ve been lights for us to see by.” They include Jesus, Gandhi, Buddha, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Bach, Pasteur, Madame Curie, Einstein and more.
  • Meg’s father said, “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
  • When struggling to describe Mrs. Whatsit to aliens, Calvin says they are “Angels! Guardian angels! Messengers! Messengers of God!”
  • Before Meg goes to confront It, Mrs. Who tells her, “The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble men are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are.”

by Morgan Lynn

 

 

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