Category Archives: Middle Grade 8-12

Fall 2024 Backlist Reading Check-In

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Fall 2024 Backlist Reading Check-in

Fall 2024 Backlist Reading Check-In

Normally, I start a post like this at the beginning of the season and add to it as I finish reading each book. That gives me a diary-like record of my experience with each book, which I enjoy looking back at later.

This time, I forgot to start the post and only remembered about it in mid-November when I began making my calendar of list posts for next year. At any rate, I did manage to get my Fall 2024 backlist reading list together, and I’m excited to talk about some of these books.

I somehow managed to get to a lot more backlist titles than I thought I did. My guess is that this is because I read many of them as audiobooks. A few that I read as ebooks or hard copies were basically mood reads.

I’ve had some of these books high on my reading list for quite a while, like Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews, Show Me a Sign by Ann-Clare LeZotte, and Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley. Others, like Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price, The Game of Silence by Louise Erdrich, and We Are All So Good at Smiling by Amber McBride, are newer to my reading list, but I am really glad I got to them.

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Fall 2024 Backlist Reading Check-In

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: This is one of the top ten most frequently banned books in the US. It’s about two best friends who learn that a classmate has been diagnosed with cancer.

Published March 1, 2012 | My Review to Come

Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: stuff stuff

Published April 6, 2021 | My Review to Come

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: This feels like a convention-setting novel, and I’m glad I read it. Some of the commentary about the characters is very dated, which might make it challenging for today’s readers. It’s a fascinating mystery, though.

Published June 1, 1997 (Orig. 1978) | My Review to Come

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: Weirdly, I read Warrior Girl, Unearthed before I read Fire Keeper’s Daughter, so there were a couple of elements of the plot that I already knew about. I did enjoy getting to see Pauline and her sister as younger kids and reading Daunis’s story. It’s a tightly plotted, intense book. Highly recommended.

Published March 16, 2021 | My Review to Come

The Betrayal of Anne Frank by Rosemary Sullivan

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What you need to know: I read Anne Frank’s diary earlier this year, and I immediately put this book on my reading list after that. The book carefully tracks an intricate investigation into who betrayed the Frank family. It’s an amazing book.

Published January 17, 2023 | My Review to Come

Tricks by Ellen Hopkins

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: Five teenagers spread across the US who become involved in human trafficking. This one is pretty dark with fairly straightforward characters. It’s one of the most frequently banned books in the US.

Published August 25, 2009 | My Review to Come

The Ballad of Never After (Once Upon a Broken Heart #2) by Stephanie Garber

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My thoughts: Evangeline’s adventures continue! This might have been my favorite book of the three. We learn more about the fairytale for which Evangeline is named and what Jacks is truly after. It’s a pretty wild ride.

Published September 13, 2022 | Review to Come

We Are All So Good at Smiling by Amber McBride

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: A powerful novel-in-verse about magic, depression, and the power of the stories we tell ourselves. Amber McBride is pretty much an auto-buy author for me. She’s amazing.

Published January 10, 2023 | My Review to Come

A Curse for True Love (Once Upon a Broken Heart #3) by Stephanie Garber

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What you need to know: The finale of the series. I think the second book was my favorite, but I definitely wanted to know how things turned out for Evangeline and her love. If you like Garber’s work, I am pretty sure you’ll like this series.

Published October 24, 2023 | My Review to Come

The Game of Silence (The Birchbark House #2) by Louise Erdrich

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What you need to know: Omakayas’s story continues as her family faces new threats to their way of life. Her dreams prove a powerful force, but is she brave enough to listen to them? I am loving this series so far.

Published June 16, 2006 | Review to Come

Show Me a Sign by Ann-Clare LeZotte

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: This is the first book about Mary and her community on Martha’s Vineyard. I wish I’d read this one first, though I don’t think you have to in order to follow the series. Reading this book made the areas of focus in the other books make more sense to me. It’s a fabulous historical fiction book.

Published March 3, 2020 | My Review to Come

Coyote Queen by Jessica Vitalis

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: The back cover copy calls this book moving and voice-driven, and boy is it both of those things! An unforgettable tale of a girl with a troubling home life finding her voice.

Published October 10, 2023 | My Review to Come

Those Pink Mountain Nights by Jen Ferguson

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What you need to know: The story of three friends and their connection to a local pizza parlor and a missing girl. Moving, thoughtful, and intense. Each point of view has amazing characterization.

Published September 12, 2023 | My Review to Come

This Town is on Fire by Pamela N. Harris

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What you need to know: An incisive exploration of relationships and activism and the opportunity to continue to learn and grow. Powerful storytelling here.

Published June 20, 2023 | My Review to Come

Did you read any books in the past few months that came out before 2024?

Did you do any reading over the fall season? If so, what were your favorite books?

Have you read any of the books on my Fall 2024 Backlist Reading list? Please leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Review: The Game of Silence by Louise Erdrich

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The Game of Silence (Birchbark House #2)
Louise Erdrich
HarperCollins
Published June 13, 2006

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About The Game of Silence

Winner of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, The Game of Silence is the second novel in the critically acclaimed Birchbark House series by New York Times bestselling author Louise Erdrich.

Her name is Omakayas, or Little Frog, because her first step was a hop, and she lives on an island in Lake Superior. One day in 1850, Omakayas’s island is visited by a group of mysterious people. From them, she learns that the chimookomanag, or white people, want Omakayas and her people to leave their island and move farther west.

That day, Omakayas realizes that something so valuable, so important that she never knew she had it in the first place, could be in danger: Her way of life. Her home.

The Birchbark House Series is the story of one Ojibwe family’s journey through one hundred years in America. The New York Times Book Review raved about The Game of Silence: “Erdrich has created a world, fictional but real: absorbing, funny, serious and convincingly human.”

My Review

It’s easy to see why this series has won the awards and received the acclaim that it has. The author welcomes readers into the story of a young Ojibwe girl as she navigates changing seasons, life as a middle child, and the recipient of a powerful gift of dreams.

Omakayas learns about medicine from her grandmother. They collect plants for different purposes and help others who fall sick or become injured. She watches her older sister growing up and falling in love, though she doesn’t fully understand what’s happening and feels shut out of her sister’s thoughts and feelings sometimes.

The relationships between characters strike the perfect balance between presenting information as a child would understand it and offering clues that older readers will interpret to more fully explain what’s happening. This is especially true of the relationships between female characters, such as Omakayas and her older sister, her mother, and her grandmother.

The story also includes characters who don’t fit the traditional expectations for women or men. One example is a woman named Old Tallow, who lives on her own with several dogs and is a renowned hunter. Another instance is Omakayas’s cousin, Two Strike Girl, who refuses to help with what she terms “women’s work” and impresses the tribe when she brings down a bull moose with a single shot. The tribe leaders sense that she could become a great leader, or she could make choices that put her life or the lives of others in danger. They feel it’s important to nurture the girl’s strong spirit and understand her path will look different than the others’.

Readers who enjoy mid-nineteenth century history, especially American history, will enjoy this clever, beautiful story about community, family, and finding one’s own path.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Omakayas and her family are Ojibwe. Most characters in the book are Ojibwe.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Omakayas witnesses and participates in spiritual practices and rituals of her people. Her family are friends with a priest who serves at a church in a nearby town, but they do not share the same beliefs. There are references to other tribe members who practice Catholicism.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Someone hunts and shoots a moose. Omakayas helps her grandmother, a healer, remove a frostbitten finger from someone in their care.

Drug Content
Some tribe members smoke tobacco in a pipe. Vague references to alcohol. (No one drinks alcohol on scene.)

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.

28 Books Still on My Fall 2024 Reading List

Lists, Middle Grade 8-12, News and Fun, Young Adult/Teen 12-18

28 Books Still on My Fall 2024 Reading List

What happened to the fall? Is this what a reading slump feels like? These are the questions I’m asking myself this weekend as I finish up this post about my lack of fall 2024 reading and prepare it to go live. Whew. It has been a wild month, y’all.

One of the really terrible things that I’m learning about myself is that when my anxiety level peaks past a certain point, I almost physically cannot read. It’s like my eyes and brain simply do not cooperate. I start the page taking in letters, words, sentences, but within a line or two, I realize I’m not reading anymore. My gaze is just sliding down the page like neglected ice cream down a cone in the summer heat we Northern-hemisphere-dwellers miss right now.

It’s only gotten that bad a few times, but every time it does, I panic. Do I give up my blog? Email publishers and authors and sob into their inboxes? (I do not do this, but the fact that I consider it also kind of scares me?)

I have found Zen Coaching to be a helpful practice during these times as it helps me reconnect to my body and approach accepting what’s happening right now and what I can do to support and acknowledge it.

Right now, it seems like the need I have is for slowing down, which means the list of books I want to read this fall but haven’t picked up yet is much longer than usual. I’m hoping that I will still get to several of these before the year ends, but I’m probably past the point of being able to read them all, sadly.

Anyway, here’s the list of books I still want to read this season. Let me know if you’ve read them or still have them on your fall 2024 reading list!

Note: This post contains affiliate links that do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. Thanks for using them to do your shopping.

Middle Grade Books Still on My Fall 2024 Reading List

Thea and the Mischief Makers by Traci Badua

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: Two Filipino goblins wreak havoc at Thea’s Stunt Warrior summer camp. This sounds like loads of fun!

Published October 15, 2024 | My Review to Come

Vanquishers: The Rise of the Wrecking Crew by Kalynn Bayron

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: Boog and her friends are ready for more vampire-butt-kicking adventures in this much-anticipated conclusion to one of my favorite MG series.

Published October 8, 2024 | My Review to Come

Sylvia Doe and the 100-year Flood by Robert Beatty

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What you need to know: A hurricane and a flood. Magical creatures. A girl with no knowledge of her history discovers an unexpected connection with a mysterious boy. Sounds incredible.

Published October 8, 2024 | My Review to Come

Camp Twisted Pine by Ciera Burch

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: A spooky summer camp story (with an inclusive cast) in which campers go missing. I loved another book by this author, so I’m desperate to read this one.

Published September 17, 2024 | My Review to Come

Keeper Chance and the Conundrum of Chaos by Alex Evanovich

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What you need to know: This one looks like a good fit for fans of Percy Jackson (that’s me!) Something about the book summary reminds me of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog. I definitely need to make time for this one.

Published October 8, 2024 | My Review to Come

Freedom Fire: Black Girl Power: 15 Stories Celebrating Black Girlhood edited by Leah Johnson

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What you need to know: Every time I see even just the cover of this book, I want to drop everything and read it. What a timely collection of stories. That title says it all.

Published November 12, 2024 | My Review to Come

Wingborn by Marjorie Liu and Grace Kum

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What you need to know: I have been waiting for this one since the moment I finished Wingbearer, the first book in the series. I can’t wait to see where the adventure leads next.

Published October 1, 2024 | My Review to Come

Bye Forever, I Guess by Jodi Meadows

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What you need to know: The first time I saw a social media post about this book, I immediately ordered a copy. Teens playing a MMORPG and drama ensues, you say? I must know more!

Published October 22, 2024 | My Review to Come

House of Elephants (Witchlings #3) by Claribel A. Ortega

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What you need to know: This is another series I can’t get enough of. Seven and Thorn face prejudice from their community and loads of new witchlings into the Spare coven. I know they’re smart enough to make it through, but I gotta read it anyway.

Published October 1, 2024 | My Review to Come

The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys

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What you need to know: Ruta Sepetys is one of those authors that brings history beautifully (and tragically) to life. I love the historical moment this book centers on and the fact that it’s about a brother and sister duo.

Published October 8, 2024 | My Review to Come

Take It From the Top by Claire Swinarski

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What you need to know: Since her debut, Claire Swinarski has been a must-read author for me. I love the sensitivity she brings to her stories and the exploration of complex relationships and emotions. This one alternates between two former best friends, relating the story of what happened between them.

Published November 19, 2024 | My Review to Come

My Vampire, Your Werewolf by Paul Turbin

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What you need to know: This is outside the norm of a book I’d normally pick up, but I am really fascinated with the idea of this series. It reminds me a lot of conversations my nephews might have, and maybe that’s why it has been climbing my reading list.

Published September 3, 2024 | My Review to Come

Wishbone by Justine Pucella Winans

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What you need to know: I still think about one of Winans’ other books on an almost weekly basis, so I cannot miss this one about the unexpected consequences of wishes.

Published September 17, 2024 | My Review to Come

Note: This post contains affiliate links that do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. Thanks for using them to do your shopping.

Young Adult Books Still on my Fall 2024 Reading List

Warrior of Legend (Heromaker #2) by Kendare Blake

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: I’ll be honest. I’m really on the fence about reading this book, but not because I don’t expect it to be great. I don’t know if I can handle it emotionally. Ha. The characters faced such huge odds in the first book, and I really invested in them, and I’m scared not all of them are going to make it through to the end, especially considering our main girl’s superpower is to aid heroes who will die. Oof.

Published October 29, 2024 | My Review to Come

Drown Me with Dreams by Gabi Burton

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: I enjoyed the first book in this series, but I’m super intrigued about where it looks like the story is headed next. I think I remember Carrick, the best friend/betrayer, and I really want to know what Saoirse discovers on her quest. I’m sure it’ll upend everything she thinks she knows.

Published August 20, 2024 | My Review to Come

Guava and Grudges by Alexis Castellanos

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: Rival bakeries! Is there anything I love more in an enemies to lovers rom com? This sounds a bit like Salt and Sugar by Rebecca Carvalho, which I liked.

Published September 3, 2024 | My Review to Come

Fortune’s Kiss by Amber Clement

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: Best friends Mayté and Lorena enter a high-stakes magical game. Will their friendship survive? Will they? I need to know.

Published November 12, 2024 | My Review to Come

The Whispering Night (The Luminaries #3) by Susan Dennard

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: I’ve devoured this series so far, and even followed some of the “Sooz Your Own Adventure” social media posts by the author, which were hilarious. The first and second books left me with so many questions about the town next to a forest that spawns monsters and the people responsible for keeping them from escaping. I have to know how it all concludes.

Published November 19, 2024 | My Review to Come

The Dagger and the Flame (City of Fantome) by Catherine Doyle

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What you need to know: I became a fan of Catherine Doyle through her MG series, The Storm Keeper’s Island and stayed for the magical-twins-separated-at-birth trilogy she cowrote with Katherine Webber. Sign me up for this rival assassins/enemies to lovers novel stat!

Published October 1, 2024 | My Review to Come

The Glass Girl by Kathleen Glasgow

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: A novel about teen alcoholism by the author who nearly wrecked me with You’d Be Home Now. I cannot wait to read this.

Published October 1, 2024 | My Review to Come

Where the Library Hides by Isabel Ibañez

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: I loved the first book in the Secrets of the Nile series. I didn’t realize when I read it that it would become a series, so when I saw this continuation of Whit and Inez’s stories, I was thrilled.

Published November 5, 2024 | My Review to Come

Rani Choudhury Must Die by Adiba Jaigirdar

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What you need to know: Adiba Jaigirdar’s contemporary romance novels have been a smash hit with me, so as soon as I saw this book announced, I put it on my reading list. Two girls played by the same boy team up to compete as partners in the European Young Scientist Exhibition. Love and smart girls? Yes, please!

Published November 12, 2024 | My Review to Come

Our Deadly Designs (This Dark Descent #2) by Kalyn Josephson

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: I love that this series is a duology because I truly don’t think I could wait another year to find out what happens to Reid, Mikira, Ari, and Damien. It looks like it’s going to be a wild ride.

Published November 12, 2024 | My Review to Come

The Shadow Road by J. D. Kirchner

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What you need to know: Dragon-like monsters invade, leaving two heroes responsible for saving humanity. Has there ever been a better time to read an underdog story?

Published October 15, 2024 | My Review to Come

This Dark Paradise by Erin Lukens

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: Described as “perfect for fans of Hotel Magnifique“– That’s me! A magical island with a hidden curse? A bisexual love triangle? Count me in.

Published October 1, 2024 | My Review to Come

In Want of a Suspect by Tirzah Price (Lizzy and Darcy #1)

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: Elisabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy return in a new murder mystery filled with Jane Austen’s beloved characters. A cozy mystery sounds like exactly what I need right now.

Published November 12, 2024 | My Review to Come

Heir by Sabaa Tahir

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: A new sweeping fantasy from the author of An Ember in the Ashes. Do we even need to know more?

Published October 1, 2024 | My Review to Come

Celestial Monsters by Aiden Thomas

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: A trio of semidioses (demigods) must take on the Obsidian gods and return the sun to the sky to save the world. I’ve loved the rich worldbuilding in Aiden Thomas’s books, so I’m super eager for more!

Published September 3, 2024 | My Review to Come

Do you still have books on your fall 2024 reading list?

There are too many good books coming out much too quickly for me to keep up. Are you like me? Are there still books that came out in the fall of 2024 on your reading list?

If you’ve read any of the books on my list, please let me know what you thought about them by leaving a comment.

Review: Rise of the Shadowfire by Jaimal Yogis and Vivian Truong

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Middle Grade 8-12, ,

Rise of the Shadowfire (City of Dragons #2)
Jaimal Yogis
Illustrated by Vivian Truong
Graphix
Published October 17, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Rise of the Shadowfire (City of Dragons #2)

Grace and friends return for a new adventure in this second installment of the bestselling City of Dragons series!

Ever since the battle in Hong Kong, Grace and her friends have been trying to find a way to get to Paris. When Nate suddenly appears and whisks Grace away to the Dragon King’s lair, she learns that Daijiang and his underlings are searching for an ancient relic that will let them subjugate the dragons, and Grace needs to find it first!

With Grace’s burgeoning Hùnxuè powers, the team must get to Paris and stop Daijiang’s plan. But their new ally, Dr. Kim, may not be all she appears, and Daijiang has formidable allies of his a strangely familiar accomplice and a terrifying, powerful dragon that could threaten all of Paris.

My Review

Grace’s adventure continues in the second book in the City of Dragons series, picking up soon after the first book ends. The fast-paced race to save Nate the dragon and stop Daijiang’s plan is punctuated by goofy moments between Grace and her friends. They struggle over whom to trust, especially adults since they were badly betrayed in the past. Grace and her dragon, Nate, share some tender moments, too.

This was a fun read. The story begins in Hong Kong, but the characters travel to Paris during the story, so it was fun seeing scenes in both places. I thought there was a good balance between the serious and silly elements of the story. The bright colors of the panels add to the overall upbeat storytelling. I especially loved the illustrations showing tender moments between Grace and Nate. Those were so sweet.

I can’t find anything definitive on when the third book in the series will be released. There’s a two-year gap between the release of book one and book two in the series, so I would guess that the third one could come out in the fall of 2025.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Grace is Chinese American and biracial. Her mom is white, and her dad is Chinese American. Her friend Ramesh is Indian, and her friend James is Black and Australian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
References to spiritual forces and an immortal enemy. Dragons exist in the story and have magical abilities.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Bad guys chase Grace and her friends, threatening to harm them. Something explodes. A shadowy dragon-like figure attacks Grace’s friends. A dragon uses magic to fight others.

Drug Content
References to research using dragon blood.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Dog Trouble by Kristin Varner

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Graphic Novel or Adaptation, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , , , , ,

Dog Trouble
Kristin Varner
First Second
Published October 29, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Dog Trouble

From the author of Horse Trouble comes a graphic novel perfect for fans of PAWS and Allergic!

Ash is a good kid at heart. But his grades are slipping, and when he gets caught vandalizing an old building, it’s the last straw. It’s decided: Ash will spend some time away from the city, at his dad’s place on Ferncliff Island.

It’s bad enough that Ash has no friends on the island (just an annoying little stepsister), but his parents are also making him do community service! He volunteers at the local animal shelter, even though he’s not really a dog person. Dogs slobber! They smell! And the dogs at the shelter bark, bark, and bark. But as Ash bonds with the dogs―especially Cooper, a clever, fun-loving pointer that gives sloppy kisses―he starts to see that maybe his time on Ferncliff Island isn’t a total loss.

My Review

If a book had the power to make me a dog person, this one would probably do it! (I don’t hate dogs, but I’m solidly a cat person.)

The story follows Ash, a boy who must spend his summer volunteering at an animal shelter after getting into trouble with some friends. At the start of many of the chapters, a dog profile appears, introducing readers to a dog that will appear later in the story and giving some information about its breed and personality. Some terms related to the care of animals appear in bold in the text. Those are defined at the bottom of the page. I liked that format of keeping the panels focused on the story but continually making caring for animals accessible to inexperienced readers.

Ash makes a lot of mistakes, and sometimes, even when he’s doing the right things, accidents happen. I loved that his supervisor at the shelter responded calmly, acknowledged his anxiety, and helped him navigate whatever issue was at hand.

Ash also makes an unexpected friend and forms a closer bond with his stepsister than he imagined would be possible through his experience of staying with his dad for the summer. Having gone through some of the blended family challenges, I felt like the portrayal of those relationships made a lot of sense, and the evolution felt organic.

All in all, if you love dogs and/or stories about navigating family challenges or skateboarding, Dog Trouble is one story you won’t want to miss.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 9 to 12.

Representation
Ash’s parents are divorced. His stepmom and stepsister are Black.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
References to animal abuse or trauma. (Nothing shown on scene.) One of the dogs in the book dies (off-scene). The loss is unexpected and difficult for Ash.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

MMGM Review: Unsinkable Cayenne by Jessica Vitalis

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Historical, Middle Grade 8-12, Poetry, , , , , , , , ,

Unsinkable Cayenne
Jessica Vitalis
Greenwillow Books
Published October 29, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Unsinkable Cayenne

When her unconventional parents finally agree to settle down in one place, twelve-year-old Cayenne’s dreams come true—but the reality of fitting in is much harder than she imagined. Acclaimed author Jessica Vitalis crafts an unforgettable historical novel-in-verse about belonging, family, and social class for fans of Lisa Fipps’s Starfish and Jasmine Warga’s Other Words for Home.

Cayenne and her family drift from place to place, living in their van. It hasn’t been a bad life—Cayenne and her mother birdwatch in every new location, they have a cozy setup in the van, and they sing and dance and bond over campfires most nights. But they’ve never belonged anywhere.

As Cayenne enters seventh grade, her parents decide to settle down in a small Montana town. Cayenne hopes that this means she will finally fit in and make some friends. But it turns out that staying in one place isn’t easy.

As her social studies class studies the Titanic tragedy (the wreckage has just been discovered and her teacher is obsessed), Cayenne sees more and more parallels between the social strata of the infamous ship and her own life. Will she ever squeeze her way into the popular girls’ clique, even though they live in fancy houses on the hill, and she lives in a tiny, rundown home with chickens in the front yard? Is it possible that the rich boy she likes actually likes her back? Can she find a way to make room for herself in this town? Does she really want to? Maybe being “normal” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Unsinkable Cayenne is a character-driven novel-in-verse about family, friendship, first crushes, and fitting in. Set in the mid-1980s, this literary novel is for readers of Megan E. Freeman’s Alone and Erin Entrada Kelly’s We Dream of Space.

My Review

This is the first book by Jessica Vitalis that I’ve ever read, though Coyote Queen is already on my reading list! I saw nothing but high praise for that one and added it to my reading list immediately. If I wasn’t planning to read it before, I would definitely be planning to now.

I love novels in verse because it gives an author a chance to tell a story in which each word really counts. Delivering rich characters and vivid settings in just a few words takes really precise writing, and I can’t help but appreciate when it’s done well– as in this book.

Cayenne lives an unapologetically unconventional lifestyle. While she longs for the stability of a more permanent home and school experience, she understands how much her parents value the life they’ve crafted. She relates her experiences sans outside judgment. This is simply how her life is.

At school, her history teacher introduces a unit of study on the Titanic, which allows Cayenne and her classmates to think about the impact of classism through a really specific situation in which someone’s class dramatically impacted their likelihood of survival. Cayenne relates to the prejudice and classism described in the disaster as she tries to navigate relationships with kids whose families have fancier houses and clothes than hers.

It’s a thoughtful story filled with metaphors about birds and emotive descriptions of middle school moments that will still resonate today. I could see readers of Starfish or other thought-provoking novels in verse really enjoying this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Cayenne’s dad has depression.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to nudity.

Spiritual Content
List.

Violent Content
Cayenne learns about the Titanic disaster.

Drug Content
Cayenne’s dad smokes pot.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday

I’m sharing this post as a part of a weekly round-up of middle-grade posts called Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday. Check out other blogs with posts about middle-grade books today on Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays at Always in the Middle with Greg Pattridge.