la linea by Ann Jaramillo

Miguel's parents left him and his little sister in Mexico while they went to California to start a new life.  That was nine years ago.  Miguel is now 15, and finally, his father has sent for him.  Miguel will make the dangerous journey north to the border.  It would have been hard enough alone, but when Miguel's sister Elena steals away after him, it might be impossible.  Without enough money for two, they'll have to take even more risks in the hopes of reaching la linea.

This is such a slim little book, but so powerful.  Jaramillo captured the fear, the danger, the determination, and the hopelessness of the kids who try to cross the border.  Some to rejoin families, but some are completely alone.

Spoilers ahead.

The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley

Years ago orphaned Corinna became Corin and started a new life as a Folk Keeper.  A Folk Keeper is important.  It is they who keep the Folk satisfied so they don't cause the crops to spoil and animals to sicken and die.  Everything changes when she is taken to be Folk Keeper at Marblehaugh Park, a manor house by the sea.  By the sea, Corinna is suddenly overwhelmed by powers she didn't know she had, and begins to piece together who she really is.

I loved Chime by Franny Billingsley but hadn't read anything else by her.  The Folk Keeper has some similarities with Chime, in particular the story twists and turns and keeps you guessing and then all comes together wonderfully in the end.  The Folk Keeper wasn't anywhere as confusing as Chime, which I always warn kids that they won't know what's going on for the first half but stick with it because it gets awesome.

Corinna decides to become a boy because she's suffered through life as a servant for others.  As a boy, she can be a Folk Keeper.  She has no training, of course, but she learns by listening and bribing others and becomes quite a good one.  Corinna has constructed for herself a very careful world devoid of emotions or attachments.  If someone does her wrong, she quickly and quietly gets revenge on them.  This is how she has survived alone for many years.  She is cold and vindictive and careful to make sure everyone respects the position she has so carefully built for herself.

Corinna is thrown when Sir Edward and Lady Alicia come asking for her by her true name, as she's gone as Corin for years.  She meets with Lady Alicia's husband, who speaks with her briefly before dying.  He wants to take her into his household.  She refuses, but agrees to come if she can stay Corin and be their Folk Keeper.  So Corinna, still as Corin, travels to the seaside where Marblehaugh Park is.

At Marblehaugh Park Corinna meets Lady Alicia's son, Finian.  Finian is heir to the estate, but all he wants to do is build boats and sail.  Corinna, for all her boasting and confidence in her abilities finds the Folk of Marblehaugh Park are nothing like anything she's experienced before.  They are ravenous and blood thirsty and Corinna is hardly able to hold them off.  In order to arm herself against them, she makes a deal with Finian.  He will tell her secrets of the estate she might be able to use to protect herself against the Folk, and she will give him convictions to be able to stand up to his mother and stay with the sea he loves.

Corinna has more people in her life then she ever had before.  She is actually beginning to care about people, which she doesn't like at all.  She is also experiencing strange things.  Why did she take to sailing so easily?  Why did swimming in the water feel so natural that one night?  What is Sir Edward hiding?  Why did Lady Alicia's husband want her here in the first place?  Who is the Lady Rona?

Just like Chime, everything comes together in the end.  Corinna pieces everything together and then must make a choice: stay with the people she perhaps has grown to love, or return to her true home.

Great middle grade fantasy with mystery, betrayal, and a little bit of romance.

Bluffton: My Summer with Buster by Matt Phelan

It's 1908, and not much happens in Muskegon, Michigan.  But all that changes when a troupe of vaudeville performers come to summer not far from Muskegon.  Henry can't believe his eyes.  The elephants, zebras, and the kids who travel with their families!  What a life!  Henry befriends Buster, a kid his age who is part of his family's act.  Henry wants Buster to teach him all his tricks, but all Buster wants is to play baseball and pull some pranks.

Henry is a fictional character, but all the vaudeville people mentioned in the book are real, and they really did summer at Bluffton where Joe Keaton, Buster's father, founded The Actor's Colony.  Buster, of course, is Buster Keaton, famous comedian and film star.  Before he became that famous film star, we learn, he was part of a family act where he was "the human mop."  He got throw around, took lots of falls, and got right back up again.

Henry is jealous of Buster.  Henry thinks his life is boring.  Here he is in this nothing little town, where nothing every happens.  His father owns a store.  He helps his father in his store.  He goes to school.  That's his life.  But Buster!  Buster gets to travel the world!  He can do all sorts of tricks and falls.  He can juggle.  He meets all kind of interesting people.  He's personable and friendly.  Henry wants to be like him.

Buster, we the reader can see, does not think he's quite so lucky.  He wants to spend his summer, the only time he doesn't have to perform, playing baseball.  He doesn't want to teach Henry falls and tricks.  He doesn't want to do them when he doesn't have to.  We can tell Buster wishes he'd had more schooling.  Perhaps more of a "regular" life.  That maybe he doesn't want to be in vaudeville forever, but Henry can't see that.

There's a lovely moment in the book where Henry talks to his father about not wanting to be a store keeper.  His father tells him he never expected him to be.  He wants Henry to do whatever will make him happy.

The art is done in lovely pale water color.  It invokes a feeling of "another time."  There are many wordless panels where everything we need is in a look or gesture.  A beautiful book.  Might take some pushing to get kids to read it.  It might not be one they'll just pick up.  Sell it by talking about the elaborate pranks Henry and Buster pull on the school principal.

Jane, the Fox & Me by Fanny Britt, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault

Helene used to be friends with a group of girls at schools.  But now they all make fun of her, calling her fat.  Helene has no one now.  She finds comfort in reading Jane Eyre.  Jane had no on either, but she was still smart and capable.  The final straw comes when Helene is humiliated in front of everyone on a school trip.  Not even Jane Eyre is enough anymore.

This was lovely.  A heartfelt story about bullying, the feeling of isolation, and the impact a single person can make by reaching out to another.

Helene takes things especially hard because the girls who are now tormenting her were once her friends.  Helene doesn't really know what happened, but now she has no one.  No one will talk to her.  She is a social outcast.  Helene works her way through Jane Eyre, finding a companion in isolation and comfort that things can work out OK, even for someone who is friendless.  Helene begins to despair when things take a bad turn for Jane, and she has to go on a retreat with her whole class.

It's on this retreat that Helene, feeling more alone than ever, sees the fox.  The fox is beautiful and approaches her.  But even this magical moment is ruined and makes her feel like a freak.

I was confused throughout the book by how Helene was draw.  All her ex-friends are calling her fat.  She's sure her mother is ashamed of her.  But she didn't look overweight at all.  It all becomes clear toward the end when Helene goes for her yearly physical and her doctor informs her she's right on track.  Helene insists she's fat.  The doctor informs her she isn't anything of the kind.  The kids at school calling her fat got into her head until Helene truly believed that she was.  And the kids calling her fat were just being cruel.  It was based on nothing.

The illustrations were for the most part in gray and black, reflecting Helene's depression and feelings of isolation.  The only color was when we saw Jane Eyre.  Jane's life had a little color in it, although Jane herself was still all black and white.  For Helene, everything is gray until the fox appears.  The fox is bright with color.  A fleeting brightness in Helene's life.  But then it's gone and everything is black again.

As Helene makes friends with Geraldine, color begins to come into Helene's world.  Not right away.  But after making a friend and realizing she isn't actually overweight, we begin to see a few spots of color.  On sneakers and tee shirts, in the trees, and it ends with Helene walking into a world of color.

Nightbird by Alice Hoffman

Twig isn't allowed to have friends.  She can't invite any over to her house.  Then they might find out the secret.  A witch placed a curse on Twig's family two hundred years ago.  The curse effects the men of Twig's family.  No one must find out about her brother.  But this summer strange things are happening.  There are rumors of a monster in Twig's town of Sidwell.  A family moves back to town with an ancient connection to Twig's.  The time has come to break the curse.

This was a lovely, strange, little fairy tail.  It's a slim book, and honestly there wasn't a whole lot of character development going on, which added to the fairy tale feel of it.  We don't really get to know any of these people very well.

Twig's older brother, James, is not suppose to leave the house.  No one in town even knows the Twig has a brother.  She isn't allowed to get close to anyone.  Accepting an invitation would eventually mean inviting someone to her home, and that is not allowed.  Twig's mother, a baker, keeps to herself as well, even though she grew up in Sidwell and at one point had many friends.  When Twig's family returned to Sidwell after both children being born and living in New York, they returned after dark and without Twig's father.  Twig doesn't know much about her father.  But she can guess the reason why he left.

Twig's isolated world is shaken when Julie and her family move into the abandoned Mourning Dove Cottage.  Julie's family is warm and welcoming and open, and Julie seems to like Twig right away.  But then Twig's mother forbids her from having any contact with the family.  They are related to Agnes Early, the Witch of Sidwell who had cursed the family two hundred years ago.

For the first time, Twig disobeys her mother.  She and Julie become friends.  James is also disobeying his mother.  He leaves the house at night.  It is during one of these evenings that he is seen by Julia's older sister Agate.  The two fall in love.

It seems that a tragic destiny is going to repeat itself.  But then Twig, Julie, James and Agate decide to try and break the curse.

We really don't know very much about James, and even less about Agate.  Just that she's beautiful and makes her own clothes.  There are a few other characters, mysterious Collie and Dr. Shelton, both who have large impacts but we really don't know much about.  Twig's father appears, with a reason for his long absence which, I just didn't buy.  Maybe he stayed away out of respect for his wife's wishes.  But you'd think he's still want to see his kids.

It's a nice, quick fairy tale.  Romance and drama and friendship and a happy ending.

Nightbird comes out February 26, 2015.

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

Twins Jude and Noah once shared everything.  But when they were 13, a chain of events pushed them apart.  Now at 16, the two hardly speak, each having knowledge of something that would make the puzzle pieces of the last three years fit together.  But each is trapped in their created world of lies and jealously and fear.

I'll Give You the Sun just won the 2015 Printz Award.  So convenient since I'd just read it the week before and it was my favorite YA of the year.  The Printz Award has never gone to my favorite YA of the year, so it was all very exciting.

This was really beautiful.  The framing device worked perfectly, the characters were relatable, and even when they did some pretty terrible, I cared about them and wanted everything to work out in the end.  I actually ruined it for myself by flipping around and reading things out of order to find out what happened.  Don't do that!  It all comes together quite nicely if you let it.

Gabi A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero

Gabi starts keeping a diary the summer before her senior year of high school.  She writes about her life.  Her best friend Cindy, who finds out she's pregnant, her father and his meth habit, her mother who worries that Gabi's too fat, her friend Sebastian who's just come out, the boys Gabi has crushes on, and the poetry class she is coming to love.

It sounds like every single Issue Storyline is in this book.  And I guess it is.  But it worked, so, so well.  It did not feel like an after school special.  It felt heartbreakingly realistic.  This was Gabi's daily life.  This is what she is surrounded by in her community.

Gabi is hysterical.  She's sassy and vulgar and completely open.  She does not mince words.  She's full of self-doubt like any teenage girl, but also has a wonderful spirit.  She is empowered.  And she only becomes more so. 

Her mother is constantly telling her she's too fat and to lose weight.  No one will ever love her when she's fat.  Gabi thinks about this sometime.  She'd like to lose weight and be skinny and, in her mind (and her mother's), prettier.  But it's also clearly not the most important thing to her.  Gabi thinks on it, certainly, but she does not let it define her, despite her mother.  The other physical aspect Gabi thinks about is her skin color.  She's light skinned, and people sometimes don't know she's Mexican.  Some people think she doesn't look Mexican enough.  It frustrates her and makes her angry.

Gabi has two great friends who are also going through some tough issues.  Cindy is pregnant and is going to keep the baby.  Sebastian has been kicked out of his house after coming out to his parents.  Gabi tries to be a good, supportive friend, even though she doesn't always agree with their actions.

The saddest part of the story, I thought, was Gabi's father.  He's a meth addict, and is constantly disappearing for weeks or months on end.  Gabi is afraid he'll die while he's out on one of his binges and they'll never see him again.  She's so angry with him for doing this to their family, but loves him anyway.  She loves her mother, even though sometimes her mother says some really cruel things to her.  She tries to help her little brother, who acts like he's OK, but is feeling so much it's exploding out of him in destructive ways.

All this serious stuff is going on, but they're all still just teenagers, and Gabi wants to find herself a boyfriend.  She's excited to go out on dates and kiss boys.  She makes lots of mistakes, messes things up, tries to fix things.

A definite bonus to this book was that the diary entries were done in a realistic way.  There was no, "I'm writing this while I'm supposedly in the middle of a big dramatic fight with someone."  All the entries are Gabi writing after the fact, telling what happened and reflecting on how she dealt with things and how she feels now.

Gabi is such a wonderful, relatable, joyful character.  Teens will connect with her and care about her and see aspects of their own lives in her stories.  This is definitely a book for older teens, because language and some graphic content.

Really wonderful.  A must read.

The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio by Lloyd Alexander

After years of working (and supported by) for his uncle, Carlo is on his own.  In his possession is a treasure map to the hidden treasure on the Road of Golden Dreams.  Carlo doesn't know if the map is even real, but he is willing to take the chance.  Carlo sets off on his journey picking up along the way a rag-tag group of wanders who together try and find their heart's desires.

I am a Lloyd Alexander fan.  I loved The Chronicles of Prydain series.  I read those over and over again growing up.  This is the last book of his that was published.  I had high expectations that were not met.

I just wasn't very interested in either the story or the characters.  Neither seemed to have much of a point.  The plot wandered along, seeming unsure if it wanted to be a philosophical tale or an adventure story. 

The characters lacked depth, which was very disappointing.  We don't even really get to know Carlo that well.  He seems a bit of a bumbling fool.  Is there more to him?  It's hard to say.  We learn absolutely nothing about Shira, the Kirkassi girl who is traveling with him.  He falls in love with her.  She falls in love with him.  Why do they like each other?  She's really beautiful.  He's kind of an idiot.  I have no idea what she saw in him.  We'll never know since her character is completely undeveloped.

The two others in their party are Baksheesh, the world's worst camel-puller and Salamon, a philosopher who loves animals.  Off all the characters, I thought Baksheesh was the most developed.  We learn a lot about him through his dialogue.  He's a lazy sneak who will do anything to avoid work.  He's a fast talker who can talk his way out of almost anything and is also fiercely loyal.  Salamon was another character that I wasn't quite sure why he was there.  We didn't learn much about him.  He's wise and wants to see the sea.  He's good with animals.  That's about it.

The adventure story was mixed with philosophical musings about life and dreams.  It didn't work well together.  I think this last work was meant to be a look at the meaning of life, but it doesn't really come through.

Not Lloyd Alexander's best.

Smek for President! by Adam Rex

Tip is frustrated.  She and J.Lo saved the world but no one knows it.  Her mom has finally decided to start acting like a mom when Tip has been taking care of herself her whole life.  So when J.Lo suggests visiting the Boov's new home planet, New Boovworld, Tip agrees, even though her mom told her no.  The two pack up Slushious (their flying car) and head to New Boovworld to clear up the whole misunderstanding about J.Lo letting the Gorg know where the Boov were and all.  Things do not go as planned.

I loved The True Meaning of Smekday and was very excited for a sequel I didn't even know was coming.  It did not disappoint.  Maybe it wasn't quite as delightful as the first one, but it was still pretty delightful.

We are reunited with all our old friends, Tip, her mom, J.Lo, Dan Landry, who's taken all the credit for conquering the Gorg, and meet lots of fabulous new characters.  We are finally introduced to the legendary Captain Smek, who's having some trouble on New Boovworld.  It seems that some of the Boov are calling for the first presidential election the Boov have ever had!  Captain Smek is in trouble.  But capturing Public Enemy Number One (who happens to be J.Lo) might make him look a bit better.  When J.Lo is arrested and put in prison on New Boovworld, Tip teams up with a friendly flying billboard she names Bill to try and set things right.

Like the first book, beneath all the hilarity and silly antics of the Boov, it's a story about family and friendship.  Tip is struggling with some growing pains and the relationship with her mom, who she knows loves her but won't get off her back.  And as much as Tip says she doesn't care if no one knows she saved the world, she does, in fact, really care that no one knows she saved the world!  I mean, SHE SAVED THE WORLD! 

The story was funny, sweet and had some great twists and surprises.  And lots of hilarious Boovian accents.

Smek for President! comes out February 10, 2015.

Stealing the Game by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Raymond Obstfeld

Chris is a quiet kid. He keeps his head down and doesn't stir the pot.  Chris' parents have high expectations for him.  They expect him to go to law school like his older brother Jax, who Chris looks up to.  But then Jax turns up, apparently having dropped out of law school and gotten involved in some pretty questionable things.  Chris is confused.  Something doesn't seem right.  This isn't the brother he knows.  Has Jax gotten himself into something bad?  Or is something else going on?  Chris has never thought of himself as the smart kid who could figure things out.  But this is something he's willing to take on.

What we have here is mystery story with a good dose of sports action.  Chris and his friends all play basketball, and one of the shady things Jax does is set up Chris and his friends to play a game against another team, a team who turns out to be way older and bigger than they are.

The story has plenty of action and excitement.  Aside from the basketball games, there are blow-ups with family and friends, elaborately staged break-ins, amateur sleuthing, and more sports action.  Chris gains confidence throughout the book, realizing he's not just the dumb younger brother who will never live up to his parent's expectations.  He's got a lot going for himself, and he finds the courage to speak up and show what he's good at.

What's actually going on with Jax seemed a little far-fetched and out of the realm of likelihood for me, but I think it will work just fine for middle school boys, who will find the story exciting and probably won't focus on plausibility so much.

I will definitely get this book for my library, along with the first one in the series, Sasquatch in the Paint.

Stealing the Game comes out February 1, 2015.

A Plague of Bogles by Catherine Jinks

There have been an unusually high number of child disappearances in particular corner of London, and bogles are to blame.  But bogles don't usually like to live next to each other.  Something strange is happening, and it's up to Birdie, Jem, and Alfred to find out what.

This is the sequel to How to Catch a Bogle, which I really liked.  The sequel wasn't quite as exciting as the first, but still thoroughly enjoyable.  Like the first, it's lightly disturbing and creepy without becoming full-blown horror.  Yes, children get eaten by monstrous creatures that lurk in the dark, but we never actually see that happening.  There are a few close calls, but our heroes never succumb to the bogles.

At the end of the first book, Birdie was taken in to be fostered by Miss Eames and take real music lessons.  Birdie is having a hard time adjusting, and misses her exciting life when she felt like she was doing something useful and important.

Jem wants revenge on Sarah Pickles for betraying him and attempting to feed him to a bogle, but Sarah Pickles is nowhere to be found no matter how hard Jem searches.  Jem becomes Alfred's apprentice as more and more people turn to Alfred for help as children disappear.  Alfred had sworn to not go bogling anymore, since it is so dangerous for the child who is used as bait, but Alfred keeps getting pulled back in by the thought of even more children dying.  Jem wants to be bogler's boy, even though he finds it pretty scary.

As more and more bogles are found in one area of London, Alfred realizes something strange is going on.  Bogles don't like to live too close together.  Something is forcing them all into one spot.  A good follow-up and great for fans of not-to-horrible horror.

A Plague of Bogles comes out January 27, 2015.

Hold Tight, Don't Let Go by Laura Rose Wagner

Magdalie was living with her aunt and sister-cousin Nadine in Port-au-Prince when the earthquake struck.  Magdalie's aunt is killed when the house she worked in collapsed.  Magdalie and Nadine are like sisters.  They forget that in actuality they are cousins and that Manman wasn't Magdalie's mother by blood.  This makes all the difference now, because this means that Nadine, who's father is in the United States, can get a visa to go live with him, and Magdalie can't.  Nadine promises to do everything she can to bring Magdalie to the U.S., but years pass, and Magdalie has difficulty letting go of her anger at being left behind.

Nadine leaves to live with her father early on in the book.  She swears she will bring Magdalie to America.  She'll convince her father, who she hardly knows, to get another visa.  At first, Magdalie and Nadine talk often.  Nadine says she's doing her best.  But as time goes on, Nadine calls and texts less and less often.  And when she does, she does not mention bringing Magdalie to live with them.

As long as Magdalie has the hope that Nadine will find a way to bring her to America, she has no reason to try and make things better for herself in Haiti.  What's the point of going back to school?  Or finding a better place to live?  Or making connections with anyone?  She'll be leaving soon.  She tries some desperate schemes to make money to buy a plane ticket, even though she doesn't have a visa and couldn't have gone anyway.  Magdalie falls into an angry depression.

Her life is grim.  She's living in a refugee camp with an uncle she was never close to, but they are each other's only family in the city.  There's little food, Magdalie doesn't have the money to return to school, and there's violence and despair everywhere.  Is there any reason to try and move forward?

Magdalie struggles with that question.  She isn't able to move forward for years after the earthquake and Nadine leaving.  Magdalie grows up a lot during those years, and finds her inner strength, and the strength to let go, move forward, and move on.

The book ends with a hopefully look at the future.  The author envisions Haiti in 2020, clean, safe, rebuilt and beautiful.  Magdalie and Nadine are reunited, and Magdalie is able to understand why Nadine drifted away after leaving.  It is a beautiful picture on Haiti, let's hope it comes to pass.

Hold Right, Don't Let Go comes out on January 6, 2015.

The Map to Everywhere by Carrie Ryan and John Parke Davis

Fin has a strange ability: he's instantly forgettable.  It's part of what makes him a master thief.  And also incredibly lonely.  Fin lives in a world filled with magic and monsters, all connected by the Pirate Steam, which is made of magic itself.  Marrill is use to going on adventures with her parents, but now her mother is sick again, and Marrill is afraid.  When the Pirate Stream accidentally bumps into Marrill's world in a search of the Map to Everywhere, Marrill jumps at the chance of magic that might cure her mother.  Fin hopes the Map to Everywhere will help him to find his mother, but they'll have to stop the end of all words first.

This was a great start to a new fantasy series.  Marrill and Fin were both fully realized characters, and there's some excellent world building going on.  This is a series I will definitely get for my library, and would be interested in reading more as they come out.

All the different worlds are touched by the Pirate Stream, and the more magical worlds have more of a connection to it.  That's why Marrill's regular world (our world) hardly ever sees the Stream.  Fin's world, filled with magic, has a harbor that connects to the Stream.  If something should happen to the Pirate Stream though, all words are effected.

The Paper Cowboy by Kristin Levine

It's 1953, and Tommy just wants to hang out with friends, be a cowboy and pretend to fight communists.  But then Tommy's older sister Mary Lou is terribly burned in an accident, and things begin to fall apart.  Tommy's mother, who was always moody, has violent outbursts and beats Tommy.  Tommy starts bullying other kids at school, and frames a shopkeeper for being a communist.  Rumors of communism spread out of control, and Tommy doesn't know what to do to set things right.

This was very well done.  The story is about Tommy and his family, but it's all the more powerful for being set against a backdrop of McCarthyism.  Tommy doesn't realize the consequences of his actions when he puts a communist newspaper in Mr. McKenzie's store.  He's angry and wants to do something mean.  It's shocking to him how quickly people turn away from Mr. McKenzie and boycott his store, even when it's made clear it was a prank.  Everyone is so afraid of being labeled a communist.  Tommy decides to find out who the communist newspaper actually belonged to, thereby finding the real communist and clearing Mr. McKenzie's name.  Every time he's ready to accuse someone else, he realizes things were not what they seem to be.  It takes a while for Tommy to learn not to make quick accusations, and also, that having different beliefs don't make a person bad.

The story of Tommy's family is a sad one.  Today, Tommy's mother would probably be diagnosed with a manic depressive disorder.  There are scenes of her staying up all night cleaning or cooking, and then spending days refusing to get up.  She could go from sweet to violent in a second, and seemed paranoid about people making fun of her.  After Mary Lou is burned and hospitalized, Tommy's mother because more physically violent.  His father doesn't know how to deal with it, and rather than protecting his children he stays away from home as much as possible.  It falls on Tommy to take care of his two little sisters, and take up Mary Lou's paper route.

Tommy, who has no one to vent his feelings to, turns into a bully at school.  In particular he picks on the new boy, Sam, who is Mr. McKenzie's son.  Tommy and his friend Eddie are cruel to Sam, making fun of him, tricking him, and getting him into trouble.  It was an interesting perspective to see where a bully might come from.  It doesn't excuse Tommy's actions, but it was understandable that he might lash out in this way.

Things finally reach a breaking point and Tommy has to make some hard choices.  He learns to ask for help and that accepting charity is not a bad thing.  There are people around him who can support him.

It sounds like there's a lot going on in this book, and there is, but it all worked together perfectly.  Great historical fiction read.

The Watcher by Joan Hiatt Harlow

It's 1942 in Berlin, Germany.  Wendy has just arrived in Berlin with her newly found mother, Adrie.  Wendy's grown up her whole life in America and speaks no German.  As happy as she is to be with Adrie, it is hard for Wendy to transition to being a German girl.  The war, which seemed so remote in America, is the focus of everything in Berlin, and many things Wendy doesn't understand.  It seems she has two choices.  She can close her eyes to what's happening, or she can do something about it.

The Watcher is a companion novel to Shadows on the Sea, which I hadn't read.  Wendy was a supporting character in that book, and I guess at the end she disappears with her newly discovered mother to Germany.  I went a lot of the book thinking that it was going to turn out that Adrie wasn't actually Wendy's real mother, that it was a trick to get Wendy to Germany because they needed an American girl for some secret task.  Adrie works for the German military intelligence unit as a spy.  I guess if I'd read the other book I would have know that it was true that Adrie was Wendy's real mother.  Although honestly, I think it would have made more sense if my idea had ended up being true.

This book didn't work for me very well.  I thought it was confusing and choppy.  I didn't think it made sense for Adrie to decided that 1942 was the time to let Wendy know she was her real mother and bring her to Germany.  Even if she was completely convinced Germany was going to win the war.  Why wouldn't she have waited until after?  The story of Wendy's father didn't really make sense.  Wendy's father was Jewish and they were married briefly but then her father was jailed and Adrie got a divorce and someone was able to make it look like their marriage had never happened and then Adrie got remarried and his name is the name on Wendy's birth certificate, but then Adrie decided to send her daughter to America to be safe, and also to pretend that she was her aunt and that her sister and her husband were Wendy's parents.  Yeah.  Confusing.  And also, it's Germany.  You think a member of the Germany military intelligence unit wouldn't have been carefully investigated and it wouldn't have been found out she was married to a Jew?  I don't think so.

So the whole premise I found a bit shaky.  I liked that the book focused on a couples aspects of WWII that many people would not have heard about.  Wendy ends up volunteering at a Lebensborn Nursery.  These were places were children who had been kidnapped from other countries because they had the correct Aryan look were taken to be raised to be good German citizens.  Lebensborn also housed the children of unwed German women and German soldiers who had been approved as having German ancestors.  The children born were taken from their mothers and were considered to belong to the state.  At the nursery, Wendy meets Johanna, a girl who has been assigned to Lebensborn for "reeducation."  She is a Jehovah's Witness (Bibelforscher), one of the many groups considered undesirable by the Nazis.  All Johanna would have to do would be to sign a piece of paper swearing her loyalty to Hitler and Germany and renouncing her religion, but she refuses to do so.

As Wendy befriends Johanna and realizes that Johanna could be sent off to a concentration camp, or killed, for refusing to renounce her religion, Wendy begins to question whether her plan of ignoring the bad things happening around her is going to be possible.  Wendy also becomes friends with a blind young man she meets in the park, whose grandfather knows all about Wendy's real father.  Wendy also adopts a German Shepard puppy that couldn't make it as an SS dog.

Wendy decides she must escape from Germany and get back to the United States, and the rest of the book is planning and executing the escape.  I didn't find it especially gripping or interesting.

So, thumbs up on looking at aspects of WWII that we don't often see in middle grade books.  But the books itself I would pass on.

The Watcher comes out November 4, 2014.

Running Out of Night by Sharon Lovejoy

She's never had a name, and she's never known a friend.  She takes care of her father's house and is treated brutally.  Everything changes when Zenobia, a runaway slave, stumbles into her home.  Zenobia names the girl Lark, and the two set out together, determined to find their freedom.

Such an interesting story.  Very different from other middle grade of YA stories I've read about slaves running during the 1800s.  First there is the aspect that Lark is white, but no less a slave than Zenobia is.  She realizes though, that while she was cruelly treated, it was still nothing like what Zenobia and other Black slaves suffered.

Unusually, story begins and ends in Virginia.  Zenobia and Lark run, but they never actually get very far away from Lark's home, despite all their traveling and hardships.  This book really showed the ruthless determination that slave catchers had, especially when a big reward was involved.  And Lark's father is not about to let her go so easily.  We never actually see any of the characters safe to freedom.  We never see them get out of Virginia.

Zenobia knows about the Underground Railroad, but despite that, it's not so easy to jump on.  And even when they do find a safe house, they're not safe.  That was definitely a theme of the book, looking for safety and freedom, never quite finding it, never stopping hoping it's out there somewhere.

Zenobia and Lark are taken in by a Quaker woman, Auntie, who shelters them and arranges for Zenobia's escape to Canada.  Canada, at this point in history, is pretty much the only safe place to run to, because even if a slave made it to the North, they could still be captured and returned.  The Quakers believe in nonviolence and are against slavery.  Many in the Quaker community are becoming reluctant to help runaways, because the runaways' harsh treatment is coming down on them too.  Indeed, when Zenobia is discovered and taken, Auntie is taken too.  She never stops believing that nonviolence is the only answer though.

Lark undergoes some changes throughout the book.  At first, she's too afraid to have anything to do with Zenobia.  She doesn't want any more trouble then she already has.  But she can't help but see Zenobia's fear is similar to her own.  And Lark starts to think about why she's never left the people who hurt her.  She realizes she's been a slave too, and that she doesn't have to anymore.  She can care and help other people, too.

The book ends with hope.  And we are left so wanting these characters to find their Promised Land, after everything they've been through.  Great historical fiction read.

Running Out of Night comes out November 1, 2014.

Stronger Than You Know by Jolene Perry

Joy is fifteen and until three months ago she lived a terrifying existence with her mother.  Now her mother is in jail, and Joy is safe, living with her aunt, uncle and two cousins.  But Joy doesn't feel safe, even though she knows she is.  She can't stop the panic attacks when she has to talk to someone, especially men.  She feels completely crazy and out of control and isn't convinced that things will ever get better.

For most of the book, it isn't stated explicitly what happened to Joy.  Depending on the maturity of the reader, you might make different assumptions.  Joy has a very hard time speaking to men.  Being alone with a man, even her uncle or cousin, can cause a panic attack.  She's afraid of the smell of beer.  She can't stand people looking at her.  I assumed she's been emotionally and physically abused by her mother, and raped by her mother's boyfriend, which we find out at the end of the book, at the trail of her mother, that's what happened.  The word "rape" is not mentioned the entire time until one sentence at the very end.

Because of this, this book might be a good choice for upper middle grade looking for a serious issues book.  It's not graphic or explicit.  It deals mainly with the aftermath and Joy trying to work her way through what happened to her and try and learn that she's safe now.

It does not happen all at once.  When the book starts, Joy has been with her aunt and uncle for three months and hadn't made very much progress.  She's not convinced she'll ever make progress.  But she slowly begins to.  She's able to be in the same room as her uncle, and then she's able to talk to him.  They eventually become close and he becomes her biggest advocate.  Joy starts making friends.  She is able to speak up a little more, and discovers new things about her personality.

It isn't all smooth sailing.  Joy has lots of stops and starts, and sometimes she falls backwards.   She worries what an imposition it must be to her aunt and her family to have to take her in.  She is surprised to learn her aunt feels horrible guilty for not getting Joy away from her mother earlier.  Joy has to deal with one of her cousins who is tired of everyone tiptoeing around her and doesn't understand why she can't just be normal already.

I thought Stronger Than You Know did an great job showing the aftermath of trauma and how it is truly a process to overcome it.  The book ends with hope, and we know, that even as Joy continues to struggle, she'll come out on top.

Stronger Than You Know came out September 1, 2014.

Shadows of the Silver Screen by Christopher Edge

Penelope Tredwell is 13, but that doesn't stop her from owning the Penny Dreadful, a magazine filled with horror stories of her own writing.  No one knows the stories are written by Penny, as she writes under the name of Montgomery Flinch and has hired an actor to play the part of the now famous writer.  Talking movie pictures are beginning to capture the population of Victorian Britain's imagination, and a filmmaker has approached the Penny Dreadful for permission to turn one of Montgomery Flinch's stories into a movie.  But as filming begins, strange things begin to happen, and actors seem to be becoming their characters.  Penny must find out what's behind the horror before her own creation is the end of them all.

Shadows of the Silver Screen is the second in a series.  The first was Twelve Minutes to Midnight.  I don't think Shadows of the Silver Screen stands up well on its own.  It felt like all the character development must have been done in the first book, so it wasn't bothered with in this one.  It seems like Penny is suppose to be a plucky heroine,  but in action, she really wasn't that interesting and didn't really do very much.  She was under the spell of the magical movie camera as much as anyone else.  She didn't really do anything on her own.  She planned to, but then couldn't because of one thing or the other and had to be rescued in the end. 

Having not read Twelve Minutes to Midnight I don't know if that holds true in the first book as well, or if Penny is more interesting and more of a character.

The plot of Shadows of the Silver Screen was confusing and contrived.  The filmmaker has a camera that brings ghost into the world by taking the souls of others.  I didn't understand why he went to all the trouble of getting the rights to Penny's story, especially since he changed it dramatically to make it fit his own lost love story.  That was the foundation for the whole thing, and I didn't think that made a whole lot of sense so the story itself was a bit shaky.

I think there are much better, much more exciting middle grade mystery stories.  I would skip this one.

Shadows of the Silver Screen comes out September 1, 2014.

The Turtles of Oman by Naomi Shihab Nye

Aref Al-Amri has lived his whole life in Muscat, Oman.  Now his family is moving to Ann Arbor, Michigan so his parents can get Ph.D.s.  The last thing Aref wants to do is leave his home, friends, grandfather, and everything familiar.  In the last days before the move, Aref spends time with his grandfather, Sidi, enjoying his country.

This was a lovely, quiet book.  It was not what I was expecting.  When the book started and it was about a boy nervous about moving, I assumed the story would be about his nervousness, the move, being new, and then making new friends and realizing everything was fine.  That was not the story at all.  In fact, Aref does not even leave Oman for Michigan in the book.  It was entirely about Aref and Sidi enjoying the time they have together, doing things that Aref loves, and gradually learning to accept the move.

Aref struggles with the idea of leaving his home.  His father has gone on ahead to get their apartment ready, and Aref and his mother and packing up their home and getting ready to leave.  At least, that's what Aref is suppose to be doing.  He can't quite start packing his suitcase.  What can he possibly bring from his home?  None of the important things, like his friends or his cat or his entire rock collection.  Aref tries to express to his mother how he is feeling, but his mother, who clearly loves him very much, is busy and assures Aref that this is an adventure and he'll make friends and everything will be fine.

Aref finds solace and empathy in his grandfather Sidi.  Sidi lets Aref talk.  The two take a camping trip together, and go see sea turtles lying on the beach.  Turtles are Aref's favorite.  Sidi allows Aref to come around in his own time and his own way.  He is the one who finally helps Aref to pack his suitcase, and helps him to feel better about his cousins living in his house while he is away.

Over the course of the story, I was aware of how old Sidi was.  He gets tired sometimes, and is stiff.  Sidi mentions not being quite as spry as he once was.  I kept thinking how it was possible that Sidi might die before Aref and his family returns.  They will be in the U.S. for three years.  I think this was intentional.  I wonder if middle grade kids will pick up on it?

This is one of those books that might be a hard sell.  It's beautiful, but not a whole lot happens.  It's thoughtful and lovely and paints a beautiful picture of the country and family and life.  Maybe a good book to be read in a book group or in class where a discussion can be invovled.

The Turtles of Oman comes out August 26, 2014.

Amulet: Escape from Lucien by Kazu Kibuishi

The sixth book in Kazu Kibuishi's Amulet series finds Navin and Alyson stranded in Lucien, a supposedly abandoned city, in a search for a beacon that must be activated.  Meanwhile, Emily, Vigo and Trellis head back into the Void with Max, where they confront the Voice itself.

Such an exciting volume!  Some really crucial and dramatic stuff happens!  I can't tell you what because it would totally ruin it! 

You definitely need to start from the beginning with this series.  I skipped a couple and I know I'm missing things.  I need to go back and read them all straight through.  It's definitely a series worth reading.

The development of the characters continues to build in each book.  We learn more and more about them, what motivates them, how far they are willing to go for their desires or their friends.

We meet some new characters that clearly are going to become a bigger part of the upcoming story, and some old characters we haven't seen in a bit are brought back in.

The art is beautiful as always.  Since I had an ARC, most of the book was black and white, but the first section was in the full color.  There are beautiful double paged spreads, close ups on characters to show emotion and the images always enhance, not just support the story.


I wish I could say more, but I'm hesitant because I want everyone to go and read this series and enjoy it!  Highly recommended.

Escape from Lucien comes out August 26, 2014.