Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: Cabinet of Earths

This is my 201^st post. I missed my 200^th post, so we’ll celebrate at the next milestone. For now, enjoy Number 201!

Middle Grade Author Shannon Whitney Messenger began Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays a while back. If you love middle grade literature, check out her blog on Mondays for a list of other sites featuring MG books.

Today I’ll talk about Cabinet of Earths by Anne Nesbet.

From Goodreads: On their first day in Paris, Maya and her little brother, James, find themselves caught up in some very old magic. Houses with bronze salamanders for door handles, statues that look too much like Maya’s own worried face, a man wearing sunglasses to hide his radiant purple eyes . . . nothing is what it seems. And what does all that magic want from Maya?

With the help of a friendly boy named Valko, Maya discovers surprises hidden in her family tree. And now the shimmering glass Cabinet of Earths, at the heart of all these secrets, has chosen Maya to be its new Keeper.

As she untangles the ties between the Salamander House, the purple-eyed man, and the Cabinet of Earths, Maya realizes that her own brother may be in terrible danger. To save him, Maya must take on the magical underworld of Paris . . . before it is too late.

From Vicki: First, thanks to Akoss Ket for highlighting this book on her blog and bringing it to my attention. So, of course I had to read this: Paris, magic, purple eyes. And how cool is that cover?

Maya’s story is easy to follow and I enjoyed her friendship with Valko, her struggle to fight the magic for her brother’s sake, and the setting (of course!). The writing is a bit old-fashioned, but that fits the story.

What’s your favorite magical adventure set in a distant real-world land?

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: School of Fear

Middle Grade Author Shannon Whitney Messenger began Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays a while back. If you love middle grade literature, check out her blog on Mondays for a list of other sites featuring MG books.

Today I’ll talk about School of Fear by Gitty Daneshvari.

From Goodreads: Everyone is afraid of something…

Madeleine Masterson is deathly afraid of bugs, especially spiders.

Theodore Bartholomew is petrified of dying.

Lulu Punchalower is scared of confined spaces.

Garrison Feldman is terrified of deep water.

With very few options left, the parents of these four twelve year-olds send them to the highly elusive and exclusive School of Fear to help them overcome their phobias. But when their peculiar teacher, Mrs. Wellington, and her unconventional teaching methods turn out to be more frightening than even their fears, the foursome realize that this just may be the scariest summer of their lives.

From Vicki: I had wanted to read this one since it was published in 2009, but was so focused on young adult that I didn’t take the time. It was worth the wait.

It’s a different style than I’m used to, but I enjoyed that aspect. Instead of just one main character, we essentially get four. A distant third-person narrator tells each child’s story in alternating chapters. Each kid (each character, too, in fact) is extremely quirky in a different way and has a different voice. I think my favorite would have to be Teddy, who is full of facts about different ways to die. But I enjoyed all the characters and their interactions and how they learned to work together as a team to solve their biggest problem.

I figured out the twist, and some kids might as well, but it didn’t detract from the story. I was still hooked and had to read on to see if I was right, and to see how the kids would handle it in the end.

Definitely one of the more original books I’ve read this year. Does this remind you of another book? What’s the most original concept you’ve read this year?

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: Charlie Woodchuck is a Minor Niner

Middle Grade Author Shannon Whitney Messenger began Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays a while back. If you love middle grade literature, check out her blog for a list of other sites featuring MG books.

Today I’ll talk about Charlie Woodchuck is a Minor Niner by Dalya Moon.

From Goodreads: It’s 1988, and Charlie Woodchuck is the most minor of niners. At thirteen, she’s the youngest girl at Snowy Cove High School, and so clueless, she wore leg warmers and acid-wash jeans on her first day. Big mistake! Almost as big a mistake as signing up for a boys-only shop class. Doy.

Just when she thinks the first week of high school can’t get any more weird, Charlie discovers she may be adopted. According to her Science textbook, her eyes should be blue, not brown.

Now the girl with the boy’s name will have to use her detective skills to uncover the mystery of her identity. She’ll need the help of best friend Stacy, expert blackmailer, and new friend Ross, expert class clown.

Before the year ends, Charlie will face down the biggest bullies of all: the all-powerful members of Snowy Cove’s School Board. The Board doesn’t like what Charlie’s been up to, and they’re all out of doughnuts.

From Vicki: Not sure why this was set in 1988, which is when I went to high school. (Oops, did I really say that out loud?) It wasn’t necessary to the story except that certain classes were only for girls or boys. I don’t remember that situation in my high school, but there’s a lot I don’t remember from those days, despite having been a goodie-goodie. (Oops, there I go again, ruining my exciting, world-weary reputation.)

Anyway, that aside, this was a heart-warming and well-told story. The ‘80’s details were subtle and didn’t detract in any way. Charlie was an easy-to-like main character trying to find herself in a more literal way than usual, in a situation providing some mystery elements. I do appreciate some mystery.

Dalya Moon self-published this (and a few others, I’ve noticed) and apparently, she did it the right way. Definitely worth a look.

My Kids and Books

Here are some excerpts from a post I wrote on the blog in 2009.

My six-year-old son started reading this Spring. We started with the basics – Dr. Seuss. He was so proud when he finished Green Eggs & Ham.  The Cat in the Hat took about three nights. He picked and chose pages in One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.

But he kept coming back to Green Eggs & Ham. He read it to my parents at Passover. He read it during a family camping trip to all his big cousins. He takes it out on the deck in nice weather to read to himself.

For a school assignment, we raided the little one’s bookshelves for Eric Carle and PD Eastman. Now we have moved on to the easy to read section at the library.

That six-year-old was later dubbed A-Read and is now about to turn 9. He has moved from Dr. Seuss to Shel Silverstein, from Eric Carle to Brandon Mull.

“The little one” is now 6 and reading, and raiding A-Reads bookshelves. This year at Passover he read my parents Pigeon Wants a Puppy by Mo Willems and last night he started one of his big brother’s favorites from that summer after kindergarten: Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot by Dav Pilkey.

As an avid reader, a writer and a mom, I am so excited by his interest in reading. His ability to read has grown exponentially in such a short time.

We can barely get his nose out of the new book. Just like his mother!

How cool that I can now say this about my youngest son! He’s going to need his own reading-related nickname now. Any suggestions?

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: Dust

Middle Grade Author Shannon Whitney Messenger began Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays a while back. If you love middle grade literature, check out her blog for a list of other sites featuring MG books.

Today I’ll talk about Dust by Arthur Slade.

From Goodreads: Seven-year-old Matthew disappears one day on a walk into Horshoe, a dust bowl farm town in Depression-era Saskatchewan. Other children go missing just as a strange man named Abram Harsich appears in town. He dazzles the townspeople with the promises of a rainmaking machine. Only Matthew’s older brother Robert seems to be able to resist Abram’s spell, and to discover what happened to Matthew and the others.

From Vicki: In short, creepy, well-written, intriguing. I was interested in this one because of its Saskatchewan setting, thanks to a bestie who lives there. I wasn’t sure I’d like the whole dust bowl, Depression thing, but it worked so well with the story. The setting enhanced the ambience.

The story flowed beautifully and the mystery unfolded effortlessly. The creepy factor was up there with Coraline by Neil Gaiman. I may never think of butterflies the same way again. Ooh, my spine is tingling just remembering that part!

Like any good middle grade mystery, the main character has everything to do with whether the mystery is solved, whether the town is saved, and whether Robert ever sees his younger brother again.

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: Skulduggery Pleasant

Middle Grade Author Shannon Whitney Messenger began Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays a while back. If you love middle grade literature, check out her blog for a list of other sites featuring MG books.

Today I’ll talk about Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

From Goodreads: Meet Skulduggery Pleasant. Sure, he may lose his head now and again (in fact, he won his current skull in a poker match), but he is much more than he appears to be—which is good, considering that he is, basically, a skeleton. Skulduggery may be long dead, but he is also a mage who dodged the grave so that he could save the world from an ancient evil. But to defeat it, he’ll need the help of a new partner: a not so innocent twelve-year-old girl named Stephanie. That’s right, they’re the heroes.

Stephanie and Skulduggery are quickly caught up in a battle to stop evil forces from acquiring her recently deceased uncle’s most prized possession—the Sceptre of the Ancients. The Ancients were the good guys, an extinct race of uber-magicians from the early days of the earth, and the scepter is their most dangerous weapon, one capable of killing anyone and destroying anything. Back in the day, they used it to banish the bad guys, the evil Faceless Ones. Unfortunately, in the way of bad guys everywhere, the Faceless Ones are staging a comeback and no one besides our two heroes believes in the Faceless Ones, or even that the Sceptre is real.

So Stephanie and Skulduggery set off to find the Sceptre, fend off the minions of the bad guys, beat down vampires and the undead, prove the existence of the Ancients and the Faceless Ones, all while trading snappy, snippy banter worthy of the best screwball comedies.

From Vicki: This was a really fun, but slightly dark, read. Stephanie is a kick-tush heroine who gets involved in a world she doesn’t know and doesn’t understand, but can’t stay out of. This world has skeleton-detectives, evil magicians, minions made of paper, vampires, sword-wielding troll-busting girls, and rich uncles with secrets. Who wouldn’t want to read about that?

One of my favorite lines: “Being a detective isn’t all about torture and murder and monsters. Sometimes it gets truly unpleasant.”

This is one of those books that, even though I barely have time to keep up with what’s current, I really want to read the sequels (5 or 6 of them).

Anyone read one or more of these books? What did you think?

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: Earthling Hero

Middle Grade Author Shannon Whitney Messenger began Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays a while back. If you love middle grade literature, check out her blog for a list of other sites featuring MG books.

Today I’ll talk about Earthling Hero by Anita Laydon Miller.

From Goodreads: Imagine waking one summer night to see someone standing beside your bed. The “someone” is a complete stranger, but looks exactly like you. That’s what happens to eleven-year-old Mikey Murphy. The next few days of his life are filled with adventures – breaking into a high-security military installation, engaging expert assassins in hand-to-hand combat, searching for an evil alien’s hideout in the middle of a national landmark – all with two new alien friends at his side. Can Mikey and his friends survive their adventures and save the world?

From Vicki: This is one of the good self-published novels out there. Sure, it isn’t perfect (but plenty of traditionally-published books aren’t either), but it was a fun story that would absolutely appeal to kids. And it wasn’t riddled with easily fixed mistakes to drag down the narrative. I do wonder what the sales were like considering that I can’t get my middle-grade reader to read ebooks yet. Maybe over a school break when he doesn’t have to bring his book to school every day.

This was my kind of sci-fi. An adventure that took place in a world I could understand, with characters kids can relate to.

Anyone out there read it? What did you think?