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Just as an apple, cut and cored, cannot be put back together, Nella Sabatini–a young Italian Catholic girl–feels undone, confused, and incomplete.  Restless with desire for things her parents cannot afford, for popularity that evades her, and for a sense of peace and quiet that is in short supply with a houseful of “barbarian brothers” and a grandmother who is demanding and grumpy, “ancient and ignorant,” Nella aches for answers to life’s toughest questions and difficult dilemmas.  With happy moments so ephemeral, she wishes, “If only you could store up happiness. . . . Dig a happiness hole, or keep a happiness piggy bank, savingRead More →

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After a school year plagued by panic attacks and trouble eating, Annie Stockton is hoping for a good summer. Her therapist has recommended freedom from the schedules and spreadsheets that Annie’s mother is so good at, hoping to help Annie feel happier and less stifled. Annie loves her mom, but she is tired of feeling trapped every day. “I wanted room to breathe. I wanted to make my own decisions, pick my own passions, study when I chose, and not clean my room if I didn’t feel like it” (183). Annie wants a summer full of the kinds of adventures that she writes about, butRead More →

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Sixth grade is hard, especially for a person who has a strong sense of justice and believes the yearbook should be a snapshot of the school, not just a scrapbook of the popular students in the upper grades.  This tension forms the core conflict in Kristen Tracy’s latest book, Project [Un]Popular. Excited for middle school, Perry and her best friend—the bold and sensible Venice Garcia—join the yearbook staff at Rocky Mountain Middle School in Idaho Falls, Idaho, hoping to share their photography talent and to make a difference.  Perry sees herself as a serious artist and wants her photos to matter.  But the Photography Editor,Read More →

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Both a quick read and a somewhat hilarious book, The Tapper Twins Tear Up New York by Geoff Rodkey features sixth graders Claudia and Reese, who are as different as salt and pepper.  Their relationship reminds me of that shared by siblings Robert and Jessie in John Grandits’ companion books of concrete poems, Blue Lipstick and Technically, It’s Not My Fault. Claudia is a humanitarian and a reader who admires Gandhi and detests the social inequities she sees, while her brother Reese is a competitive, athletic, leet-speaking gamer.  Both sibs decide that Culvert Prep, an elite middle school in New York City, should hold aRead More →

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When she was eight years old, Bridget Barsamian loved Charlie Chaplin, Volkswagen Bugs, and roller-skating.  All three passions contribute to a life-changing accident on a New York street for this young Armenian-American.  After four surgeries and a year of physical therapy, Bridge is back in the game but uncertain about who she really is.  Now she’s in seventh grade wearing cat ears and trying to define love and the purpose of life. Although this is the basic plotline for Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead, the novel wrestles with some of life’s biggest complications along the way: youth, high school, and friendships—where reality really can be asRead More →

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Matt and John have been through so much together, it’s a wonder they aren’t actually brothers. Yet after a turbulent and tragic four years, their lives have finally begun to settle and they begin preparations for life after high school. The New York born boys set their eyes on Montauk for the summer, selling ice creams along the beach to local kids – saving money for tuition. Then they meet Driana, Jojo, and Stef: three rich Brazilian kids spending the summer in the Hamptons. Matt -utterly smitten with Driana- convinces John to go with him to a party Driana is throwing at her father’s summerRead More →

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Seven Reasons to Read The Seventh Most Important Thing Set in Washington, D.C. in 1963, The Seventh Most Important Thing recalls a time when Looney Tunes, Bazooka bubble gum, and Mad magazines were popular and when diner tables were often cloaked with red and white checkered table cloths and it took a dime to use the pay phone. It features characters like thirteen year old Arthur Owens who struggles to stop remembering his dad who died instantly when he hit a tree while riding his motorcycle and about whom his mother often said, “Tom Owens’s biggest problem was that he never grew up” (79); like probation officerRead More →

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Francis Meredith is clever, funny, interesting, and creative, but he is too worried about the judgment of others to recognize his gifts.  Because he is chided at school for his interest in fashion, design, and sewing, he thinks it is impossible to be happy being himself. So, when he encounters Jessica Fry, he believes he has enough problems without adding an ability to see and hear dead people. Jessica, a ghost who can think herself into a wardrobe, becomes Francis’ friend in what he sees as an otherwise friendless world.  They have an interest in clothes in common and both can talk about synthetic fabricsRead More →

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In: Elementary Book Reviews, General Book Reviews, Middle Grade Reviews, Reaching Reluctant Readers, Realistic Fiction, Sports
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Twelve year old Peter Lee and his family are avid baseball fans. Even his strict Chinese immigrant father Ba -who has Peter do homework on the way to games- has some regard for the sport. However, once tragedy strikes, and takes with it a cherished loved one, no one talks about baseball anymore. Peter’s mom stops talking altogether. Convinced that what brought them together before can keep them together now, Peter joins a Little League team. The only problem? The league is short one coach. Ba steps in to seemingly save the day, but his methods rub Peter and his teammates the wrong way. Now whatRead More →