Category Archives: Middle Grade 8-12

Review: Kyra Just for Today by Sara Zarr

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Kyra, Just for Today by Sara Zarr cover shows a girl standing at the water's edge on a sandy beach, looking up and shielding her eyes from the sun.

Kyra Just for Today
Sara Zarr
Balzer + Bray
Published March 5, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Kyra Just for Today

From award-winning author Sara Zarr comes a gorgeously crafted and deeply personal story about a young girl, her alcoholic mother, and the hope that ties them together. Krya has always felt like she’s a bit too much. Too tall. Too loud. Too earnest. But she’s okay with that, because she’s got her mom. Ever since Mom got sober about five years ago, she and Kyra have always been there for each other—something Kyra is thankful for every week when she attends her group meetings with other kids of alcoholics. When Mom is managing her cleaning business and Kyra is taking care of things at home, maybe, she thinks, she’s not too much. Maybe, she’s just enough.

Then seventh grade starts, and everything Kyra used to be able to count on feels unsure. Kyra’s best friend, Lu, is hanging out with eighth graders, and Mom is unusually distant. When Mom starts missing work, sleeping in, and forgetting things, Kyra doesn’t dare say “relapse.” But soon not saying that word means not saying anything at all—to Lu or to her support group. And when Kyra suspects that her worst fears might be real, she starts to question whether being just enough is not enough at all.

With sensitivity and candor, acclaimed author Sara Zarr tells a heartfelt, personal story about finding hope in even the most difficult places, and love in even the most complicated relationships.

My Review

I haven’t read everything by Sara Zarr, but I’ve really enjoyed the books I have read. She has this incredible ability to bring complex family situations and complex emotions or relationships to the table in a way that feels vulnerable and authentic and never preachy.

This book also nails that transition from childhood to adolescence, where so many of our friendships change. Sometimes the connections we treasured morph or stretch into new shapes. Having those changes on top of Kyra’s worries about her mom made for a story with a ton of emotional depth.

The scenes in which Kyra attends a support group for kids who have loved ones who are alcoholics were incredible, too. I think I sobbed through a couple of those right along with the characters in the scene. They were so moving.

All this makes the book sound like it’s packed with big emotions and tears, and there are some heavy scenes, for sure. I also enjoyed the scenes that showed how friendships can surprise us and how watching a beautiful snowfall can make everything else fade away for a little while. I cracked up during one scene in the cafeteria.

I think kids navigating transitions in friendships will enjoy the peer relationships in this book. I was around this age when it became openly discussed in our family that one family member was an alcoholic. I really didn’t understand what that meant beyond the excessive drinking behaviors, so a book like this may have really helped me put things into context. It may have given me a view of what recovery could look like and the ways in which supportive friendships or groups could look.

All in all, I loved this book, and I’m so glad Sara Zarr wrote it.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Kyra’s mom is an alcoholic in recovery. Her best friend’s dad is also an alcoholic and is still drinking.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Kyra’s grandparents are very religious and pressure her and her mom to come to their church with them. Kyra’s mom believes in the importance of a higher power, but she thinks of the ocean as her higher power because it’s so vast and deep.

Violent Content
A parent pushes a child away when the kid jokingly tries to grab her mom’s journal. A girl injures herself cooking and has to call for help.

Drug Content
References to adults drinking excessively. (The drinking happens off-scene.)

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

Review: Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Graphic Novel or Adaptation, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , ,

Brightly Woven
Alexandra Bracken
Adapted by Leigh Dragoon
Illustrated by Kit Seaton
Disney Hyperion
Published February 2, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Brightly Woven

A graphic novel about discovering your own power.

Extraordinary things just don’t happen to fourteen-year-old Sydelle Mirabil, a talented weaver who dreams about life outside of her tiny village. But that all changes when a mysterious young wizard named Wayland North appears and asks for Sydelle’s help. He’s got a shocking secret that could stop a war between kingdoms-if he can reach the capital with the news in time. North needs a navigator who can mend his magical cloaks, and Sydelle is perfect for the job.

As Sydelle and North race against the clock to deliver their message, they must contend with unusually wild weather and a dark wizard who will do anything to stop them. But the sudden earthquakes and freak snowstorms may not be a coincidence. As Sydelle discovers more about North’s past and her own strange abilities, she realizes that the fate of the kingdom may rest in her fingertips.

My Review

I stumbled into this book as I was looking for middle grade fantasy graphic novels for my niece. This past year, I read HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE for the first time and loved it, so the comparison of this book to that one also had me intrigued. I guess I see why the comparison was made if it’s because a wizard and a girl who doesn’t recognize her own power travel around and get caught in some political intrigue.

It didn’t take me long to read the novel, and I especially enjoyed the illustrations. I liked the way the relationship between North and Sydelle developed. It’s a sweet friendship with hints at their attraction toward one another.

This graphic novel covers the first part of Alexandra Bracken’s debut novel of the same title, which I have not read. It doesn’t look like there will be follow-up books to this one, which is sad since I’d have liked to read more.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 9 to 12.

Representation
Major characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
North is a wizard. His family has been cursed.

Violent Content
Situations of peril and (cartoonish) battle scenes.

Drug Content
None.

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

Review: Eagle Drums by Nasuġraq Rainey Hopson

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Eagle Drums
Nasuġraq Rainey Hopson
Roaring Brook Press
Published September 12, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Eagle Drums

A magical realistic middle grade debut about the origin story of the Iñupiaq Messenger Feast, a Native Alaskan tradition.

As his family prepares for winter, a young, skilled hunter must travel up the mountain to collect obsidian for knapping―the same mountain where his two older brothers died.

When he reaches the mountaintop, he is immediately confronted by a terrifying eagle god named Savik. Savik gives the boy a follow me or die like your brothers.

What comes next is a harrowing journey to the home of the eagle gods and unexpected lessons on the natural world, the past that shapes us, and the community that binds us.

Eagle Drums by Nasuġraq Rainey Hopson is part cultural folklore, part origin myth about the Messenger’s Feast – which is still celebrated in times of bounty among the Iñupiaq. It’s the story of how Iñupiaq people were given the gift of music, song, dance, community, and everlasting tradition.

My Review

I loved the writing style of this book. It reads like a folk tale, with straightforward descriptions and a focus on Piŋa’s family’s traditions and ways of life, and a lyrical feel to it, too. The story follows a boy named Piŋa whose family has lost two sons, both while they were away hunting for the family. He and his parents grieve for that loss, and it still feels very fresh.

When Piŋa goes with the eagle god, he worries his parents will assume he has met the same fate as his brothers, and the drive to get home to them helps keep him going as he faces tasks and challenges set out by his host. Piŋa is an easy character to root for. He does his best to be a good son, and he gets frustrated when he can’t master a new task as quickly as he wants to. Super relatable.

I can definitely see this book appealing to modern audiences and readers who enjoy folktales or historical fiction as well. I think the narrative balances the expectations of young readers and the preservation of folk-style storytelling really well.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Major characters are Native Alaskan, Iñupiaq.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
The main character, Piŋa, meets an eagle god and the god’s family.

Violent Content
Piŋa learns that the eagle god killed both his brothers.

Drug Content
None.

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

Review: The Unicorn Legacy: Tangled Magic by Kamilla Benko

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The Unicorn Legacy
Kamilla Benko
Bloomsbury
Published February 27, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Unicorn Legacy: Tangled Magic

From the creator of The Unicorn Quest series, a wondrous new series set in the magical land of Arden, full of unicorns and mystery!

Magic pulses bright in Arden, a world where humans who craft magic have been at war and separated for hundreds of years. Now a new era has dawned, the unicorns have returned, and the prime minister has decreed that apprentices from all four guilds will learn in the newly formed Unicorn Academy. But peace is tenuous: As rumors spread of dark magic and of unicorns disappearing, twelve-year-old apprentice Olivia Hayes is caught between her joy at newfound magical abilities at the academy and proving to everyone that her older sister, Laurel, is NOT a unicorn poacher. She and her friends must untangle the truth and the secrets of the past to spin a stronger future-or else the unicorns of Arden may be lost forever. This sweeping middle grade fantasy is about friendship, choice, and the ties that truly matter.

My Review

If you know me at all, you know I absolutely love sister books, and that includes the books in the previous series by Kamilla Benko, The Unicorn Quest. Getting to visit the land of Arden again (and even getting a quick cameo by a character from the other series!) was such a treat.

In this book, Olivia, who worries she has no magic at all, accepts an invitation to a special school for magic users of all kinds. Her older sister is a magical prodigy, having completed her training in record time, and Olivia feels even more left behind by the way her sister has changed in the face of her new success.

So many pieces of the story were placed opposite one another in the perfect way to create tension. Lots of times, I thought I knew what was going on, and then new information made me see things in a different way. I love when a well-constructed story does that.

The end of the book leaves no doubt this will be a series I closely follow. This book reminded me all over again why I loved Kamilla Benko’s writing and the sweet, complex sister relationships she explores in her stories. Fantasy fans looking for a magical school or unicorn story will not want to miss this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
One of Olivia’s friends is Black.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Very brief mentions of adults in romantic relationships. One line mentions a man married to a man. A woman blows a kiss to another woman.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have the ability to use magic. Unicorns and other magical creatures exist.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. A monster tries to eat a girl and injures someone. An earthquake destroys a building.

Drug Content
None.

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

Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays

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

Review: Garlic and the Vampire by Bree Paulsen

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Graphic Novel or Adaptation, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , ,

Garlic and the Vampire
Bree Paulsen
Quill Tree Books
Published September 28, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Garlic and the Vampire

A farm-fresh debut graphic novel starring a heroine who is braver than she realizes.

Garlic feels as though she’s always doing something wrong. At least with her friend Carrot by her side and the kindly Witch Agnes encouraging her, Garlic is happy to just tend her garden, where it’s nice and safe.

But when her village of vegetable folk learns that a bloodthirsty vampire has moved into the nearby castle, they all agree that, in spite of her fear and self-doubt, Garlic is the obvious choice to confront him. And with everyone counting on her, Garlic reluctantly agrees to face the mysterious vampire, hoping she has what it takes.

After all, garlic drives away vampires…right?

My Review

I’ve heard other reviewers raving about how much they love this book, so it’s been on my reading list for a bit. I grabbed a few more graphic novels for our home library recently and added a copy of this one to the shelf.

Most of the main characters are vegetables, which is really cute and different. Garlic, the main character, has a lot of anxiety, and she depends on her friend Carrot to help steady her. I think all the vegetable characters were originally created by a witch whose garden they used to work in. Now, they plant and harvest what they choose, and the witch sees them as autonomous beings with free will.

I really liked the scene in which Garlic meets the vampire. She’s terrified but trying to put on a big, brave front, and the vampire’s reaction made me smile. I liked the way the story resolved, too.

On the whole, I’m glad I read this one. It’s super short and really different. I think readers with anxiety will find Garlic easy to identify with, and those looking for a warm, fall vibe with a little Halloween flavor will find lots to love in GARLIC AND THE VAMPIRE.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Most characters are vegetables. There’s also a witch and vampire who appear white or white-passing. Garlic has a lot of anxiety.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
There are witch and vampire characters. The witch made the vegetable characters alive to act as her helpers, but now she respects them as individuals with autonomy.

Violent Content
Garlic worries about facing the vampire. She brings a hammer and stake made of hawthorn wood.

Drug Content
The vampire character is shown holding a wine glass full of red liquid. It’s not alcohol, though.

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

Review: Sick!: The Twists and Turns Behind Animal Germs by Heather L. Montgomery and Lindsey Leigh

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Middle Grade 8-12, Nonfiction, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

Sick!: The Twists and Turns Behind Animal Germs
Heather L. Montgomery
Illustrated by Lindsey Leigh
Bloomsbury USA Children’s
Published February 20, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Sick!

When a super sickness lands on the land, when a parasite becomes more than a pest, when an infection ignites an epidemic, what’s a body to do? Your body is an animal body, so why not ask the animals?

Follow the scientists, around the world and into their labs, who are studying animals and the germs that attack them. From fungus-ridden frogs with fevers to bacteria-resistant buzzards and everything in-between, animals have A LOT to teach us about infections. But-reader beware!!-the story of germs is filled with twists and turns.

In this fascinating, highly visual nonfiction book packed with colorful, comic-style art, you’ll discover not only the cool ways that animal bodies (and our bodies) fight back against pesky pathogens but also the amazing and surprising ways we can learn to work together with germs.

Sick! The Twists and Turns Behind Animal Germs is written by Heather L. Montgomery with graphic novel-style art from Lindsey Leigh.

My Review

The book begins with a note to readers warning them that not all the questions raised in the book have answers. There are lots of mysteries scientists still explore today and lots of things we can only guess at understanding. With my expectations appropriately tailored, I jumped into reading this book– and was hooked on the fascinating facts inside it.

For most of the book, each chapter focuses on one type of animal and the different pests– pathogens and parasites– that attack it. We learn what the animal has done to adapt to the invaders or, in some cases, what we suspect might be happening. From frogs and alligators to chimpanzees and bats, the book explores facts about lots of different types of animals. It also mentions ways in which our discoveries about these animals’ disease-fighting adaptations may be used to create treatments or vaccines for human diseases.

I found this to be super fascinating stuff. Because I read a pre-release, unfinished copy of the book, I couldn’t see a lot of the final illustrations. A few of the sketches that I could see were a little challenging to interpret. I don’t know if any of the artwork I was looking at is final, though, so it could be that the finished images relate information much more clearly.

On the whole, I think this is a great introduction to animals and diseases and how different species interact. It’s very upbeat and fun, so this isn’t something that intends to scare anyone. It’s engaging and definitely the kind of book that could spark a deeper interest in biology or medicine.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 up.

Representation
The text briefly mentions some scientists of diverse backgrounds.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
References poop, as you might expect in talking about animals and the transmission of parasites or germs.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Brief descriptions of territorial battles between alligators that leave the loser short a limb and the methods vultures use to get into carrion. Some brief descriptions of the ways germs and parasites destroy their hosts.

Drug Content
None.

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

Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays

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